Crown Princess review w/ photos - Feb 5-9, 2016

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

Muster drill ...

 

 

Crown Princess - Feb 5 to 9, 2016 - Super Bowl cruise

 

First a little about myself. This is my 29th cruise, my third with Princess and my first on the Crown Princess (though I did tour the Crown Princess in October 2014 – I have a great travel agent). My prior Princess cruises were on the Caribbean Princess in 2010 and the Sapphire Princess in 2012. Most of my cruises have been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. This is a four-night cruise leaving from San Pedro and going to Sandy Ego, a day at sea (on Super Bowl Sunday) and Ensenada, Mexico.

 

The people wanted more details in the reviews, so I have been writing my reviews while on the ship for over ten years now. Then the people wanted photographs, so I have been adding photographs to my reviews since 2010. However, posting the photographs is both time consuming and boring. So for my last review I posted some of the photographs and provided a link to the rest. The advantage of posting some and providing a link to the rest is that it is quicker and allows access to hundreds of photographs. I’m not sure how I’ll do it this time.

 

I participate in the roll calls, and I am a bit of a wise guy. But I do try very hard to avoid insulting jokes. While I admit the joke was not the funniest joke I have every posted, it was not insulting. Nonetheless, for the first time on a roll call, the person I was responding to took great offense to my post and got personal and rude in the attack on me. Eventually I had no choice but to report the person. Several posts were removed and that person did not post on the roll call again.

 

I put all that behind me and I am looking forward to the cruise. My friend is going through a tough time, so I invited him and his wife to come. I paid for their balcony cabin on the Caribe deck (the Caribe balconies are bigger than the standard balconies). We are next door neighbors (well, at least for this cruise, in real life we live about 30 miles apart).

 

My cabin is down there somewhere ...

[Cuizer2]

I found it...

 

Looking in from the entry door ...

 

The dressing area. The bathroom is to to the right, the bedroom is to the left ...

 

The bathroom ...

 

 

Oh room steward, I don't think you got everything out of the shower from the last cruise ...

[Cuizer2]

The bedroom from the dressing area ...

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Friday, February 5, 2016 - Travel and embarkation day.

 

San Pedro is a drive to port for me. Princess sent an email stating that we would not board until 1:30pm, and I foolishly believed them. So, I was not planning to leave until 11am. I have a packing check list that I use, and I figured I could pack in thirty minutes. So I did not begin packing until after 10am. As a result I ended up leaving at 11:30am. With traffic it took me about 70 minutes to get to the port. My friends arrived about three minutes later. So having parked next to each other, it was off to the ship we go.

 

My friend packed his travel papers in a pocket of the suit case that ended up getting stuck. Fortunately the porter was able to unstick the zipper and he was able to retrieve his boarding pass and luggage tags.

 

I had been warned that the health form ladies were rather strict about filling out the health form in front of them. Well I filled out my health form that morning (to save time) and I swear I did not leave the country nor meet up with anyone who was sick from the time I filled out the form until I handed it in. Simply put, the health form ladies were not paying all that much attention. My friend had filled out his form, but only for himself and his wife had not filled out one at all, so in the end we didn’t save any time.

 

 

Then we went upstairs. The lady on the escalator in front of my friend forgot her boarding pass at the health form table. My friend had never met this lady before, but offered to go get it for her. Very nice, but I would not have done that for someone I just met five seconds ago. Holding the door open is one thing, but running downstairs to get something for someone you never meet before is going above and beyond.

 

Check-in was quick and after a short bathroom break we boarded the ship. We boarded before our 1:30pm time slot. Next time I’m going to arrive early like I usually do.

 

We put our carry-ons in the cabins and then went our separate ways to explore the ship. I had just toured this ship before, so I figured I would grab lunch. The lunch lines were long, so I ended up photographing the ship first. The Queen Victoria was docked next to us, so I also took a few pictures of it. Finally I went to lunch when I noticed the line was a reasonable length. I should have been given the last set of silverware on the serving table, but someone said she didn’t get her silverware and I was left silverwaeless. I picked out my food (roast beef, mac & cheese and a few cookies - a real power lunch) then went back and got my silverware.

 

Tables were in short supply, so I found one that had been abandoned and was not too dirty (it had not been cleaned off yet) and had lunch. Then I took more photographs. I was in the kids’ club (whatever Princess calls it) and took some photographs in the little one’s area. Then went to the middle one. Took a few photographs when I was told I wasn’t allowed to. I said, “But there are no kids here.” Sorry sir, that is our policy. That ended that.

 

I think I got everything on the outside that I wanted to get when I heard the muster drill warning. So I headed back to my cabin to drop off the big camera (a DSLR) got my travel camera (a point & shoot camera that fits in my pocket) and headed to the theater for the muster drill. My friends were already there and I took a few pictures of them. Unfortunately my P&S camera only does okay in dim light. The photographs were not that great (the DSLR does much better in dim light).

 

The muster drill was quick and I headed back to the cabin to put away my life vest and get my good camera for sail-away. Although we were leaving from San Pedro, for some reason we were sailing to the Long Beach side (it is actually one big harbor) and enter the Pacific through the Long Beach opening in the breakwater (it is the one Carnival usually uses).

 

I like late seating, but was not sure when my friends would like to eat, so I took Anytime Dining (yuck - I prefer a set dinner time when you know there is a seat waiting for you and you have the same service staff the entire cruise). The theory for anytime dining is nice, but as a practical matter, a lot of people wanted to eat at 6:30pm, as did my friends. I had them wait in line while I checked on the wait time. I was told it was thirty minutes from the front of the line (they give out those flashy light things that vibrate once you get to the front of the line) and I figured it would take at least twenty minutes to get to the front of the line. So we decided to come back at 7:40. When we returned there was no line and the three of us ended up sharing a table for six with a family of three.

 

I had the shrimp cocktail and the prime rib. Both were good. The six of us had some very interesting conversation. A good thing too, because service was a little slow. It even got to the point that the father of the family of three got up and spoke to the head waiter about it. As soon as he did, we received our dinners. The entire dinner lasted two hours. The family had a nine-year-old boy. He was very well behaved and did not have any electronic distractions (no cell phone, no electronic games . . .).

 

After dinner we went back to our cabins and went to sleep. This is a large ship and touring all the upper decks can easily lead to a mile work. So until tomorrow, good night.

 

[Cuizer2]

The Caribe balcony ...

 

 

 

Looking up at the regular balconies above me ...

 

 

The mini suite balcony below me ...

[Cuizer2]

The hairdryer (conveniently located on the other side of the cabin from the shower), the phone, the electrical outlets and the switch for the over desk lighting ...

 

Temperature control ...

 

The microwave ...

 

The central atrium ...

 

 

[shredie]

Great pictures. Thanks. Brings back memories (of last month, LOL.) Yes, they will be strict about taking pictures around the kids' areas. Better safe than sorry, and all that, I guess.

[Cuizer2]

Guess services ...

 

On-board shops ...

 

 

The casino ...

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Saturday, February 6, 2016 - Sandy Ego

 

I was really looking forward to this port stop. Originally my friend was going to join me and his wife was going to meet a friend in town. However, the friend in town went to Las Vegas and my friend stayed with his wife.

 

Last time I was in Sea World was early May 2012 (it was a port stop for the one week California Coastal cruise aboard the Sapphire Princess). It was getting close to winter time in Antarctica, so they dimmed the lights in the penguin exhibit. That time I had my P&S camera. This time it was summer in Antarctica and I took my DSLR. I’ve been to Sandy Ego several times and I’ve been to the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Wildlife Park and Sea World several times each. So believe it or not, getting the good penguin photos was the reason I was in Sea World today.

 

Admission to Sea World will get you in the gate and lets you see the shows and ride the rides. One has to pay extra to get behind the scenes tours. They can be expensive for a family of four, but they are worth it, in my opinion. Last time I met and fed the beluga whales and went inside the penguin exhibit. This time I did the behind the scenes tour and the penguin tour.

 

I left the ship around 9:30am and arrived at Sea World via taxi (about $25 each way plus tip) at 10am (which is when Sea World opened today). I bought all my tickets (admission and tours) online, so there was no line waiting for me (except to find out where the tours meet). The first tour was the behind the scenes tour at 10:40. This gave me the chance to check out a new exhibit featuring “cleaner fish”. This is the name Sea World gave the fish. If you have an aquarium and want to buy the fish, they are knowns as “algae eaters”.

 

These are freshwater fish that eat algae. Apparently they also eat dead skin. The instructions are, put your hand all the way to the bottom (easy for me, a little harder for the kids who have shorter arms). Then keep still (again, easier for me, a little harder for little kids who don’t understand why they need to keep still). Any movement and the fish scatter. Hold still and you get a manicure of the hands (finger nails not included). The fish will eat all the dead skin off your hands. The fish have no teeth and it does not hurt at all. In fact, it tickles. And once again, I’m better at holding still while being tickled than the kids are. The end result is, I get more fish than the kids do, and after all, that is the reason one sticks his/her hand in the water in the first place. This is actually quiet fun. I returned here a couple of times. I had both hands done. The fish do a really good job. So good in fact that I can only count to four on my left hand now. I stayed until it was time to meet up with my first tour guide.

 

My first tour was a behind the scenes tour. Interesting name, since all the tours go behind the scenes. Maybe it got its name because we go behind two scenes, where the penguin tour only goes behind one scene. At any rate, first we are lead behind the big aquarium with the pretty fish and big turtles in it. There we find four tanks. One has a big turtle in it. The tour guide doesn’t know why the turtle is in an isolation tank. Perhaps they are getting ready to transfer the turtle into the big tank with the other turtles and fish. Perhaps the turtle is sick and is getting special medication. Or perhaps there is some other reason.

 

Another tank is filled with moon jellyfish. The tank is lit by a blue or purple light. I guess it is to give it a nighttime feel. We are told we can gently touch the jellyfish. We should only touch the clear dome gently, not the stingers. But don’t worry, the sting from a moon jellyfish doesn’t hurt that much. I didn’t notice anyone touching the moon jellies.

 

Another tank has cleaner shrimp. They are just like the cleaner fish (except they look different and live in saltwater) and the rules are the same. They must have been hungry because as soon as I put my hand on the sandy bottom I had four shrimp on me. I couldn’t feel them picking at my hand, but I could feel them walking around my hand and arm and that tickled.

 

The last tank has archer fish. I was hoping that the tour guide had some meal worms. Well, they were not meal worms, but they were worms of some sort and the tour guide put the worms on the fake tree branches and the archer fish got out their little bows and arrows and soon had breakfast. Actually they shoot water and knock the worms off the tree branches into the water. Apparently they do not go by the rule that you eat what you kill. Once the worm falls in the water it is very fish for itself. What they shoot are called water bullets. But if that is the case then they should be called pistol fish or rifle fish. Since they are called archer fish I think what they shoot should be called “water arrows” or “water darts”. But, for some reason I was not consulted on this.

 

From behind the scene we went to in front of the scene and saw the fish and turtles in the big tank, just like the rest of Sea World’s guests. From there we went behind the scenes where the veterinarians work. There was a large tank with pilot whales and another large tank with dolphins, including one mother and baby. The tour guide said the tanks were about 16-17 feet deep.

 

In some smaller pens were injured seals that were being rehabilitated so they could be let back into the wild. The keepers interact as little as possible with the seals and the seals were hard to see because the keepers don’t want the seals to get used to people, so that the seals can be set free once they are healthy again.

After the tour we could ask question, including questions about other tours. Someone asked about the penguin tour. I said it was cool. Seeing that they didn’t get the joke, I added that it was about 36 degrees (turns out is about 26 degrees). So the penguin tour is quite literally cool!

 

With the one hour tour over it was time to enjoy a thirteen dollar cheese burger. Actually it was better than a school burger but not as good as a McDonald’s burger. But after paying thirteen bucks for it, I’m going to say I enjoyed it. It did include fries.

 

Basically all I was looking for was edible food, a short line and a place to sit in the shade. I found it and that is where I ate. Sea World has other places to eat serving pizza, chicken, BBQ …

 

My next tour was at 1pm, so I stopped by the cleaner fish to pass the time. Soon it was time for the penguin tour. As I mentioned, this was the reason I came here. People brought warm jackets for this tour. Wimps. It was only 26.4 degrees Fahrenheit inside the penguin exhibit. All I had was my white polo shirt (it was around 80 outside) and I was fine.

 

We meet out by the Magellanic penguin exhibit. The Magellanic penguins are warm weather penguins and are outside. The tour guide gives us a short preview, then asks for questions. I asked if the lights were dimmed inside the exhibit. No (good!). But my question gave the tour guide the chance to talk about how they dim the lighting in the summer because it is winter where the penguins live.

 

We took a look at the Magellanic penguins. They live in southern Argentina and Chile. The weather in San Diego is about the same as where the Magellanic penguins live, so they get to live outdoors. I asked if they dim the sun for the Magellanic penguins in the summer time (no).

 

From there we walked behind the main penguin exhibit and met in the kitchen area. One of the keepers spoke to all of us and then cut us in half (what a bloody mess that ended up being). Half the group goes into the penguin exhibit and the other half gets to pet one of the penguins. No, not an Emperor penguin. One, the keeper did not want to carry a one hundred pound bird and two, Emperor penguins do not do well in room temperature, even for a short period of time. It is a penguin that was hand raised, so it was used to people and stood or laid there so they rest of us could pet it (it is standing on towel with a blue ice pack under the towel to help it keep cool). The penguins are soft.

 

After a while we switch, the half in the penguin exhibit comes out and gets to pet the penguins and we get to go into the exhibit to cool off and see the whole gang. I was able to get some nice photographs. The penguins mostly just stand around just like cruisers waiting for the restaurant doors to open on formal night. Now I can tell everyone that I’ve been to Antarctica, and I’ve got the pictures to prove it.

 

With the tour over I went to check out the other animals that don’t spend all day in the water. The dolphin stadium and the sea otter exhibit were being refurbished. I was not that interested in the shows anyway. Despite the beautiful weather, it was winter time and thus the slow season for Sea World (though today is a Saturday).

 

I did however find some bat rays to feed. Stingray City is more fun.

 

I saw a beaver (it was behind a log so the picture didn’t turn out to well). There were porcupines, but they were outside in a special play area enjoying the summer like weather. The monitor lizard was not that interesting. The poison dart frogs were all hiding.

 

The only reason I went to see the flamingos was so I could ask you why they stand on one leg? The answer, because if they lifted the other leg they would fall down (HA HA). I did see a sloth. Not much fun to look at, but they are fun to hold (I held one during a port stop in Columbia, South America). Unfortunately the keeper was not about to share.

 

It was getting time to return to the ship. So I made another stop at the cleaner fish exhibit, then bought some cold bottled water (three dollars) and some fudge ($3.80). Once I finished it was 4:30pm, so I headed out to the taxis.

 

I found a cab and asked the driver if he knew where the cruise ship was. He said yes, but he thought it left at 4pm. I told him it was leaving at 6pm. When we arrived at the pier a little after 5pm the ship was still there (that is a good thing). I walked to the other side of the ship so I could get a picture of the entire ship and then boarded the ship.

 

Looking back I realized I should have left Sea World at 4pm, but no big deal, I boarded the ship before 5:30pm.

 

I bought my Sea World tickets on line for a total of $154 including $75 for the two behind the scenes tours. The two taxi rides with tip was another $60. Since I live close enough to San Diego to drive there I paid an extra $10 to have a full year pass.

 

The ship excursion was $150 each. Something similar would have been $70 for the one day pass (without the extra $10 for the full year pass) plus $60 for the taxi is $130 for one or $200 for two (verse $300 from Princess). Got a family of four? $70 x 4 plus $60 for the taxi is $340. Four people via the Princess shore excursion is $600.

 

I did a lot of walking yesterday and today and it was hot. I laid down in my cabin and did not wake up until the ship was backing away from the pier. My friend’s wife was too tired for a sit down dinner, so we went the buffet route. I brought my food back to the cabin so I could eat on the balcony.

 

Then I worked on this a bit and uploaded my photographs to the computer. It is much easier to view the photographs on the computer’s fifteen inch screen than on the camera’s three inch screen. Soon I too, even after a short nap, was ready to join dreamland. Fortunately tomorrow is a day at sea.

 

Here is a link to my Sea World album ...

 

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/Princess%20Crown%202016/Sea%20World

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

View out the front window ...

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Super Bowl Sunday, February 7, 2016 – Day at sea

 

Good morning. With nothing special planned, I slept in. Made it to the buffet at the end of breakfast. While I was eating, the staff was getting ready for lunch. My goals for today was to take some photographs, relax, watch the Super Bowl and check out the ship’s store. I bought a gray Polo shirt with a breast pocket for $26. Had I done the math properly I would have also purchased the navy blue shirt (more on that later).

 

Prior to brunch, at about 8:15am, I took pictures of the two pools. The MUTS (movies under the stars/sun) pool (aka the Calypso pool) had already been fully chair hogged (in preparation for the Super Bowl) while the Neptune pool still had plenty of unhogged chairs available. The Super Bowl would not start for another seven hours.

 

After brunch I worked on this and uploaded my photographs. With nothing better to do for a while, I think I’ll describe my cabin. The Princess cabin design creates a dressing area with the bathroom on one side, the closet on the other side and the wall between cabins forming the third side. It is kind of like a walk in closet with no doors. I think this creates more shelf and storage space. Where you lose out is that there is less room in the main area. That basically means that there is little to no sitting room. If you want a true sitting room, you need to book a mini suite.

 

The Caribe balconies are much larger than the standard balconies and a little larger than the mini suite balconies. The regular balconies are fully covered and the mini suite balconies are fully exposed. The Caribe balconies are about 1/3 covered and 2/3 exposed.

 

The bathroom is a lot like the Carnival bathrooms except the shower is smaller. The shower is about the same size as the Royal Caribbean showers, except the Royal Caribbean shower have clam shell doors, not a shower curtain like Princess. The NCL bathrooms that I have been in are sort of divided into three, with the shower on one side, the toilet on the other side and the sink and floor area in the middle. Frankly, I like the NCL bathroom setup the best.

 

Eventually ESPN started showing its pregame show with reminders that the game would be next. Having already determined that all the MUTS chairs were taken, I decided to watch the game in my cabin. At 3:35pm my friend came over asking what happened to the game. I didn’t realize it was so late. So I went down to the theater to see the game. It was all set up to show the game, three screens were down guaranteeing everyone would be able to see from every seat, but they were not showing anything. So we went over to the Explorer’s Lounge. Where we were lucky and able to find seats, though we were looking at the screen from a very sharp angle. Why wouldn’t Princess show the game in its biggest lounge? And why wouldn’t Princess show the game in the cabins. The Anthem of the Seas was in a storm with hurricane force winds and they were showing the game in the cabins. I was not happy with the way Princess handled this at all.

 

We (all three of us) had reservations at the Crown Grill (Princess’ steakhouse) for 7:30pm (shortly after the game ended). I was treating my friends because I had a $200 OBC and figured I would not use it up unless I treated them. Here is where I made my math mistake. At $25 each the two of them would be $50. I then multiplied $50 by the three of us and came to $150. Add in the gratuities and I would go over the $200 OBC. It was not until I got the bill for $75 that I realized my mistake. Oops! I don’t think any of my OBC is refundable.

 

Well, by the time dinner was over (dinner was very good) it was 9:30pm and we were all tired. Tomorrow is Ensenada and our plans are to go into town, do a little shopping and get back to the ship. I wanted to go at 9am (we arrive at 8am) to avoid most of the heat. So with that I say, good night.

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

A mermaid ...

 

Super Bowl Sunday morning ...

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Super Bowl Sunday morning (about 8:15am) ...

 

 

 

 

 

[jennybenny]

Love all the photos!! Thanks for your review!

[Cuizer2]

Monday, February 8, 2016 – Ensenada

 

I was on my balcony as we came into the harbor. There were not as many seals as there were when the Sapphire Princess docked here in May of 2012. After we docked I showered and dressed. Then my friend and I headed to the buffet for breakfast.

 

After breakfast we head into town. The round trip is three dollars on the shuttle bus. My friend is looking for ponchos and I am looking for belts. After walking about four block down the main street, we both had what we wanted and headed back to the ship. It may be February, but the weather felt more like May. Back on the ship I laid down for a while.

 

After a while I did walk around the ship a bit. I considered going swimming, but decided against it because I didn’t want to pack a wet bathing suit.

 

I packed before dinner and put my bag outside to be picked up. I know that most people on these short cruises self-disembark and I did not want to be part of that big crowd.

 

We purposely went to the alternate ATD (Any Time Dining) restaurant. The regular ATD restaurant opened at 5:30pm. The alternate ATD dining does not open until 7:15pm (after first seating). The main reason we did this is because this would mean we ate in a different restaurant each night (a first for me on any cruise):

 

Friday night – Michelangelo Dining Room

Saturday night – Horizon Court Buffet

Sunday night – Crown Grill

Monday night – De Vinci Dining Room

Tuesday night – Home kitchen

 

I had printed out my onboard account (no interactive TVs on this ship) and saw that I still had more than a four dollar credit, so for desert I ordered an expensive cognac. It goes for some outrageous price per bottle in the store. However, for twenty some odd dollars I got to try it. I wasn’t impressed.

 

After dinner I worked on this, uploaded some photographs and fell asleep. Not exactly the most exciting day I have spent on a cruise, but it was relaxing and to me that is one of the things I like about cruising.

[Cuizer2]

Skywalkers ...

 

 

 

View from Skywalkers ...

 

 

Edited February 16, 2016 by Cuizer2

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cuizer2]

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 – Debarkation and travel home.

 

My onboard bill for the entire cruise (which included three people at the Crown Grill, but no shore excursions) was $17.60.

 

Princess wants us out of our cabins by 8am. I and my friends are in the 9am debarkation group which is after the self-carry group. We left our cabins at 8am and had a quick breakfast. Then went to our designated meeting place. Turns out the line to get into Club Fusion (where we were supposed to go) and the line to debark are one in the same.

 

The problem is clear, Princess is not verifying that the people in line are the people that should be in line. It was clear that some of the people were in the departure line before they should be. As a result things were backing up in customs. It took about 45 minutes from the time we got in line until the time we got to the cars.

 

From there, it was another seventy minute drive through workday traffic to get home. Without traffic it would take me about 45 minutes.

 

Random thoughts:

 

I enjoyed the cruise. My friend and his wife loved it. It was my friend’s first cruise with Princess and third cruise overall. It was my first four night cruise. It was a bit too short for me (I like the longer cruises). However, it was a nice break from work and only cost me three days’ vacation (Friday, Monday and Tuesday).

 

I can now say that I have been on a three night, four night, five night, six night, seven night, eight night, nine night, ten night, twelve night, thirteen night and fourteen night cruise. This December I’ll add the missing eleven night cruise.

 

I have cruised with five different cruise lines, include Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Princess at least twice each. People ask me which I prefer. I have enjoyed all the cruises. I pick my cruise based on the ship and itinerary, not based on the owner of the ship. My two favorite cruises are my third cruise on the Carnival Pride to the Mexican Riviera with my sister, brother-in-law and two nephews and my full transit of the Panama Canal on the maiden voyage of the NCL Jade. In 2017 I have booked a ten night cruise in the Royal Princess.

 

I think that because I was a solo cruiser I get two cruise credits which should make me Platinum, which will mean that I have reached the second highest loyalty level with three different cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess). There are at least three more lines I would like to try (HAL, Costa and Celebrity).

 

From 2012 through the end of this year I will have taken thirteen cruises. Seven of the cruises (more than half) have been on Royal Caribbean. I like Royal Caribbean. However, lately it seems Royal Caribbean has been playing games, and I don’t like what they are doing. Carnival has very few cruises in excess of eight nights, and as I said, I like longer cruises. So I am going back to Princess and NCL to see how things are going. This cruise gave me a good taste of how Princess is (my last cruise on Princess was four years ago). I liked what I saw and I am looking forward to my next cruise on Princess (which is about one year away). I haven’t been in a suit on Princess yet. I’ll likely give that a try sometime in the future, just so I can compare it to Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

 

Well, at any rate, I hope this provides you with something of use, whether it be an introduction into cruising with Princess, what a short cruise to Ensenada is like, a better idea of what the Crown Princess is like or just a smile. Normally I would have more details and more pictures, but when I am with friend or family I have less time to devote to the review. Still, it is over 5,500 words which makes it longer than most one week cruise reviews. I have to admit, I chuckle when I read that someone is claiming their review is long simply because it is more than three paragraphs. I look forward to your comments. I will try to answer any questions.

 

So I bid you farewell, until my next cruise. Now I just have to finish sorting my photographs so that I can post this. Perhaps a disclaimer before I go. I toured the Crown Princess in October 2014. Some of the pictures I will post are from that tour. I’m also posting a few pictures from my 2012 day at Sea World.

[Cuizer2]

 

 

 

 

 

[shredie]

Good pictures of the Wheelhouse and the Salty Dog decor. Really gives a feel for what the place looks like now.

[Cuizer2]

San Diego ...

 

 

 

 

 

Security at the entrance to Ensenada Harbor ...