Just Off the Crown Princess - April 22-May 6. We are leaving Princess.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

A bit of back story. We have cruised10 times and of those 8 were with Princess. I say were because wehave decided to spend our money elsewhere. Our cruises with Princessstarted in the late 1990's and we have been pleased. We only hadinedible food from the Lido on one of the Grand ships.

 

 

This cruise on the Crown was the worstwe have ever experienced with Princess. I will begin by saying thatif anyone has snarky comments or wants to argue their point I willnot respond. This has been our experience and if you have a questionI will do my best to answer honestly.

 

 

We arrived at Southampton in theafternoon and breezed through embarkation because we were the onlyones in the terminal. We were on board in less than 5 minutes! Our cabin steward was attentive and friendly. Oh my freakinggod.........the bed was horrendous. My single side had the largestcrater and as I kneeled on it I softly face planted onto my husband! I was laughing and rolled over only to land in the crater on my backand like a turtle, no matter what I did I couldn't get out. So Ihad nightly dreams of my bed at home.

 

 

Two friends joined us on this cruiseand we choose Anytime Dining. Our first night at the dining room thewaiter and assistant were virtually non existent, they didn'tintroduce themselves or come back to ask how things were, fill waterglasses or ask if we needed anything. We looked at each other as ifto say, “Where are we?” Our friends have been with Princess fora long time also so they were on the same page and were veryconfused.

 

 

The next night we found the Maitre d'and asked if we could change to Traditional Dining which was noproblem and were given a table for 4.

 

 

Now comes the warning to all of youbecause I am going to be talking about Formal Night. Again, this hasbeen our experience and is related honestly. We always dressbusiness casual and we do not attend Formal Nights except twice whenon two different Princess ships the Maitre d' asked if we wouldattend and we told him we would not because we only wear businesscasual. Both times they said it was fine and they would love towelcome us into the dining room because they did not like to turnpeople away if they were dressed nicely.

 

 

So, on to the first formal night on ourcruise. We were waiting for our friends back by the stairs while wewatched others go into the dining room to gauge if there was anyonedressed in business casual and if they were turning people away. Wesaw a handful of men in shirts less business like than my husbandsand one man in a very old worn and torn sweater and none of those hadon a tie.

 

 

Our friends showed up and we made ourway to the door. At the hand sanitizing station the head waiterloudly told my husband he was not allowed in the dining room and wasrequired to be in formal wear. We didn't say a word and left ourfriends standing there alone. Our waiter was very upset that we werenot allowed in but there was nothing for him to do. Publichumiliation from a supervisor to a passenger is a disgusting practiceand he was representing Princess as he did this. It could have beenhandled much more politely and quietly as not to cause a scene. Wewere offered a tie from our friends but choose not to justify thehead waiter's decision.

 

 

If Princess chooses to make FormalDress Mandatory, which it is only a wish and suggestion right now,then they must enforce it to the ladies also. I saw so many women onformal night in long moo moo beach dresses with rubber flip flops andmaybe ones that were sparkly. In no way, shape, or form is thatconsidered formal. Princess, don't just pick on the men here, beconsistent throughout all ships and either let in everyone fromformal to business casual or have a Princess Police at the door toturn people away because one person is not happy with what you haveon that night.

 

 

We attended the regular dinners andevery night the head waiter would either avoid our table or come overand specifically speak to and look directly at our friends and notacknowledge us at all. One night after the last formal night hecame over and said in a very condescending tone, “It is nice to seethe table full again!” Wow, that was really uncalled for.

 

 

We wrote a letter and dropped it off atthe front desk the next night after we were turned away and did nothear from anyone the entire cruise. We have filled out our emailquestionnaire and voiced our opinions on several matters concerningthe same head waiter and a supervisor in the Lido. We witnessed thissupervisor loudly dress down a crew member. As I walked passedwithin inches I could see her face burst into tears and I could tellthe man was angry. There is no reason to for any supervisor tochastise a worker and humiliate them publicly in front of passengersand fellow crew members. Again, there are other ways handle thosesituations.

 

 

Food – In the Lido was much betterthan in the dining room. The choices were abundant, the food was hotand the salads were fresh and crisp. In the dining room the foodwas either extremely salty to the point of being not even dog worthyor lacking any flavor at all. The portion sizes were huge or smallalmost appetizer size depending on what you ordered. The dishes werebarely warm when they arrived. The classic Caesar Salad was sounappetizing it looked like it had been sitting on the pass forhours. It was soggy and wilted and very sad. Our friend and I hadon two different nights the Fettuccine Alfredo. How can one mess upthat old standard favorite that Princess has been doing for years. One night the noodles were over cooked mush and the other they werenot even close to al dente and were chewy.

 

 

I was not feeling up to par one nightand asked for a small bowl of rice. What comes to mind would beplate with rice on it in the form of round overturned bowl so itlooks nice maybe with a little parsley as a garnish....that seems nottoo unreasonable, right? Our waiter was so embarrassed andapologized when he set the bowl in front of me and I looked at it andthen up at him with a shocked look on my face. The bowl was the sizeof a platter and the rice was just plopped in and almost overflowing.It was really disgusting looking and I felt like whoever was in thekitchen was like.........OK you want RICE, here is your F...ing RICE!

 

 

We spoke to another passenger that saidhe asked to have someone help him with his severe garlic allergy andthey told him they would see what they could do but would notguarantee anything and never came to help him. He is not new toPrincess either.

 

 

The cutbacks are obvious everywhere. They have a Strings Group playing in the Piazza and if you arereading this and have any musical background you might want to sitdown. We were talking to a passenger that had been on since FortLauderdale and he said that two of the three women left and had to bereplaced because Princess refused to hire a fourth member. Ok,when a piece of classical music is written for a String “Quartet”you must have 4 string instruments to play the piece. The women didadmirably for how hard it was to play without an essential part ofthe group. Really, Princess......this is beyond ridiculous.

 

 

The hard sell was more than in the pastand we felt like they hired the hawkers from shore because everywherewe turned we were asked to purchase one thing or another. One of theshore excursions we took was hugely misrepresented in the descriptionon the website and in the brochure. It was termed a “Small Group”to Portofino, Santa Margherita and Rapallo from Genoa. It was moreexpensive and appeared to be intimate with 12 people in the smallvan. But, there was 4 vans with 12 all going to the same place atthe same time along with the large tour buses and when we got on theboat we where with our small group and many others on a standardlarge ferry boat. If you are thinking of doing this one, the vanswere so cramped my knees were hitting the seat in front of me and Iam only 5 foot tall. We would have been better off with a large busand it would have been much cheaper too.

 

 

 

The Crew was as usual outstanding andwe always had smiles and laughter and professionalism from them. It is a shame that in our minds Princess has devolved into a companythat does not respect their passengers or their crew. We will becanceling the two cruises we have booked with them for next year andare looking into Azamara and Celebrity instead.

[JF - retired RRT]

We spent 43 days on the Crown. We didn't like that particular ship (although not for any of your reasons).

So, we decided not to sail on the Crown again. Our experience didn't sour us with the whole fleet.

Most of your issues were the kind that can occur on any cruise line at any time. Some of them should have been addressed as they occurred.

Best wishes wherever you go.

[fishywood]

It is very disappointing to read of the dining room staff behavior you were subjected to.

 

However I wish you would specify what exactly you were wearing when turned away, beyond "business casual". I certainly trust your observation that others were wearing "less than" but what matters is what you were.

 

Because the Princess non-formal-nights are not "business casual", they are Smart Casual.

 

Smart Casual

Guest attire should be in keeping with what they would wear to a nice restaurant at home.

• Skirts/dresses, slacks, and sweaters for ladies
  
• Pants and open-neck shirts for men
  

Inappropriate dinner wear such as pool or beach attire, shorts, ball caps and casual jeans (with fraying and/or holes) are not permitted in the dining rooms. Shoes must be worn.

 

In my experience "business casual" is considered a level less dressy than the above, usually consisting of khaki pants and either a polo shirt or cotton uniform-style shirt.

 

 

Now if you were wearing a button-down dress shirt as you indirectly imply, then you have every right to protest. I hope you shared your experiences, accompanied by the offender's names, on the post-cruise survey.

 

 

(No snark intended, while admittedly a little pedantic)

[taxatty]

Wow, much of this seems awful and inexcusable. Did you ask them to replace the stateroom mattress? As for "business casual," we have seen Princess many times admit men on formal night with short sleeve dress shirts and khakis, no jacket, no tie. What were you wearing?

[ggprincess2004]

We had friends disembark the Crown in Southampton, as you embarked. They also had complaints which had them wondering about brand loyalty. But they were not the same as yours - cleanliness of the cabin and problems with their onboard account billing were issues for them. It seems Crown has some problems these days. Hopefully Princess will address this, as they likely have been getting some significant complaints recently. In all our cruises with Princess, we have had one "bad" cruise, a few that were just good, but most were outstanding. I would submit that your experience was probably a one-off situation for the fleet, and you are likely to find things to be much better on both the Sapphire and Pacific, if you keep your future cruise plans in place.

 

Sorry your experience was not up to par this past cruise.

[catwoman6226]

I'm getting really discouraged about our cruise next February on the Crown after seeing SO many negative reviews. Yes, of course, there are always negative reviews about this or that ship, but it seems like the Crown has had more than its share lately (or maybe exactly its share if it's really that bad!). It's not my nature to look for the negatives; I'm more likely to go in with lower expectations, and then be pleasantly surprised at what does go well. Hopefully lots will go well in February!

 

Anyway, OP - sorry to hear that your cruise experience wasn't better.

[Astro Flyer]

We spent 43 days on the Crown. We didn't like that particular ship (although not for any of your reasons).

So, we decided not to sail on the Crown again. Our experience didn't sour us with the whole fleet.

Most of your issues were the kind that can occur on any cruise line at any time. Some of them should have been addressed as they occurred.

Best wishes wherever you go.

I agree that such experiences can happen at anytime on any ship & our Crown Princess cruises thankfully didn't have the OP's bad experiences.

 

Duck Duck Cruise...I'm sorry to read about your poor experiences but fortunately overall the crew was good. Whenever negative changes happen to the Princess cruise experience, I research other cruise lines. What I've discovered is that other cruise lines have similar problems. There may be fewer issues on cruise lines such as Azamara, Oceania or any of the luxury cruise lines such as Crystal. However they are more than we're willing to pay & overall Princess is still my best option.

 

Thankfully whenever something isn't up to Princess standards, reporting it during our cruise usually makes the situation better.

[tcdcruiser]

I was on the Crown between 5 February and 20 March (33 nights). This was my 21st cruise with Princess. IMHO the Crown's service, food, cleanliness, and state of repair was totally fine and represented a very typical Princess experience.

[yags]

We were on the Crown Princess in March of this year. For the most part it was a good cruise. We did attend the second formal night and I did not wear a tie or a jacket but had a dress shirt and slacks and no one said anything to me.

 

Our main issue was the Clown (crown) Grill. There were four of us and we had one of the worst dining experiences on sea or land. If your interested look under Clown Grill in April 2nd postings on this website.

 

One thing I noticed is that we did not have really bad service (except for the clown grill) but generally we did not have really good service. The kind of service I would rave about at home. I sympathize with your circumstances, but Astro Flyer is correct to the extent that personal service has diminished throughout the industry.

 

We decided to give them another try and are doing Alaska in June of 2018. Although we will not be doing the upscale dining venues. Better luck wherever you travel.

[Musky Ike]

We were on the Crown the end of March. I did notice some decline but noting like you found. We have sailed on many Princess ships and I find the Crown at present to be my least favorite. I would not let it serve as a standard to judge the entire line.

 

On our cruise there were several gentlemen in the dining room on formal night without ties. I hate wearing a suite or tux but will tolerate a dress shirt, slacks and tie until after dinner then the tie is in a pocket ;).

[CruzinNoony]

We were on the Crown for the TA and got off in Southampton when you got on. We had a great time, had excellent service in the dining room (late traditional), had no complaints about the food, had a comfortable bed and an attentive room steward. :)

[Bemidji Ty]

For those choosing not to abide by the suggested dress codes, maybe you should have some printed posts by our most vocal supporter of the "I'm on vacation, I'll wear what I want." member to hand to the Matre' D.

[Shmoo here]

I think it's a bit of an over reaction to dismiss Princess on the basis of one cruise. They've had 10 cruises (8 on Princess) that were apparently good enough for them to continue cruising. And one bad experience shuts them down?

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[capriccio]

I was on the Crown between 5 February and 20 March (33 nights). This was my 21st cruise with Princess. IMHO the Crown's service, food, cleanliness, and state of repair was totally fine and represented a very typical Princess experience.

 

We (group of 4) had a similar experience on a 31 day Crown Princess cruise this past early December to early January. We had the best wait staff in the traditional MDR on any Princess cruise ever (we are elite) plus other excellent staff in Adagios and Vines. We enjoyed the MDR meals so much we never once ate in the buffet. We also had an excellent dinner at Sabatinis and a good (my steak wasn't cooked to my preference but every one else enjoyed their meal) in the Crown Grill. Based on our personal experience we would go on the Crown again (although our next cruise is 25 days on the Royal) but I can understand that personal experiences and opinions vary from passenger to passenger and that crew changes all the time. I hope the OP is happier on her next ship whichever cruise line she choses.

[wrk2cruz]

We will be on the Crown in July....I really hope it is not as bad as posted. Its been a while since we sailed with them. So we were looking forward to this trip...We stopped sailing NCL for similar reasons many years ago....

[Astro Flyer]

We will be on the Crown in July....I really hope it is not as bad as posted. Its been a while since we sailed with them. So we were looking forward to this trip...We stopped sailing NCL for similar reasons many years ago....

 

My CC experience is that negative reviews are better remembered than positive reviews. This thread has many positive experiences & I'd happily sail the Crown again. I've enjoyed a total of a couple of months on the Crown without any of the OPs experiences.

 

Experiences will vary but as you can read in this thread different passengers can have vastly different cruise experiences on the same ship. If I based my cruise decisions on negative reviews then I wouldn't have enjoyed many cruises.

 

All cruise lines have "bad" reviews but in over 50 cruises I've never had a "bad" cruise and if I had a future cruise on the Crown it would be with the expectation of another great cruise. :D

Edited May 8, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

Only sailed Crown once - in 2015. Absolutely loved the ship, the cabin, the crew, and the food.

 

Enjoy whatever line you choose in the future. Just remember: You said you are finished with Princess. Best of luck to you in all you do.

 

Edit: Oh! Look how easy it is to edit a post. You may want to try it sometime and fix the words that are run together. Really. It's easy. Just click the little button.

[Host Jazzbeau]

...we'll be on the Crown in October doing the New England cruise out of Quebec...

 

Oct 4? Come join our Roll Call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2285867

[easyboy]

Sorry about what you experienced. Thanks for the feedback.

[toescat]

We were on the Crown two years ago and loved every minute of our cruise. Did you go to the hotel manager to tell him about your bed. If you had they would have changed it for you. We were on the. Dawn with friends a few years ago and they had an issue with their bed. There told their cabin steward and he suggested he go to the hotel manager. They did and their mattresses were changed that day. It is always best to let your concerns known to the staff, if you don't they will not be able to fix what is wrong.

[CZEE]

We were on the Crown last October and were somewhat disappointed, as well. I wrote the dining room up extensively after the cruise. The Maitre 'd had been with the line for a while, so I was surprised that anytime dining was so chaotic. We had the worst service every time we went to dinner. The dress code wasn't enforced at formal night or any other night. People wore shorts and flip flops to the dining room. Either have standards or don't. The food was average. I did see a head waiter working diligently helping a woman with celiac chose her food for the next night. So, they do try to help. Departing for shore excursions was disorganized, as was tendering. This was a B2B cruise from Vancouver to LA, then round trip LA to Mexico, a combination of two mass market cruises. Maybe they just don't work very hard on those. It wasn't enough for me to leave Princess. But, the standards had slipped a tad.

 

Good luck wherever you end up.

[jeanandjim]

We were on the Crown this past March for a quick 5 day get-away. We were very disappointed with our anytime dining experience. We had absolutely horrific service on our first night with a 2 hour plus experience being mostly us waiting. We normally do traditional and get to know our servers and trade conversations with them. Our second night we had a dinner that was about 45 minutes from soup to nuts. Please let me finish a dish before you bring the next one.

Here is the strange part. We ran into one of the headwaiters for the dining room. We have known him from two other cruises. Last January on the Carribean out of Houston he was as friendly as could be and doted on our grandaughter. He was pleased to see us on the Crown last fall on a b2b2bcruise out of LA. I believe that he was just newly aboard at that time. He remembered us, asked about our granddaughter and even remembered our table number and servers names. Impressive!!! Now fast forward to March. We asked him if it would be possible to get a certain server's table in the dining room as our first two nights were not up to par. His response to us was "if you want the same waiter, you should have asked for traditional " and walked away.

I believe that I thought at the moment that I had just witnessed 'burnout'. but maybe the answer is in who he reports to. Has the Maitre 'd changed? Has the Captain changed?, Has the Hotel GM changed? It seems to me that the Crown has changed, and not just our friend the Headwaiter.

[SkystheLimit]

I was on the Crown between 5 February and 20 March (33 nights). This was my 21st cruise with Princess. IMHO the Crown's service, food, cleanliness, and state of repair was totally fine and represented a very typical Princess experience.

 

We were on the same cruise around South America in Feb. and March. Service was good to outstanding in the dining rooms, bars, and cabins. Yes, the ship is not brand new but she sure did prove herself worthy in many ways including in some very rough seas. Air conditioning worked great in some very hot ports of call. Our bed was comfortable and no sags. We saw them offloading mattresses for exchange in two ports so there are new mattresses on board. Just ask.

 

There were no problems with dress code amongst our group and no one was dressed in formal wear(coats and ties were the standard although not required). The Crown Grill was disappointing to some in our group. I had the veal chop and it was great. Suggest asking your server what they recommend. That worked for me.

 

Was if perfect-No. But, it was a fun trip and we would happily sail on the Crown again. I am sorry that the original poster did not have a good experience.

[SenorBruce]

I was on the Crown between 5 February and 20 March (33 nights). This was my 21st cruise with Princess. IMHO the Crown's service, food, cleanliness, and state of repair was totally fine and represented a very typical Princess experience.

--------

We were on the Crown from March 26 to April 8. Did not experience any of the problems highlighted in the MDR or Crown Grill. We wore either smart casual or business casual every night including the 3 Formal nites. Had AD and moved around the different dining venues along with different times. Never questioned--I even wore a Hawaiian shirt for 2 of the Formal nites.

 

Admittedly the Crown needs to be refurbished but we had no issues with our cabin, bed or crew. In fact our room steward Freddy was one of the best we have had in our 30 sailings on Princess. We have never experienced the problems described above on any of our cruises.

 

Sorry those folks had a bad experience but as other posters have stated every cruise is relative. Our cruise was one of the few where we saw the Maitre'D---Neville---just about every day all over the ship. He made himself available and spoke to passengers and crew alike. I am surprised they never spoke with him directly with their issues.

 

Happy future cruising to them...