Crown Princess - 9 thru 17 December Review

[USCcruisecrazy]

Okay folks, this is a first for me...I've never written a review before from a cruise vacation. If I go way off track and ramble a bit, my humble apologies up front. I did not take notes because I didn't want to spend vacation time worrying about a review. What you will read from the 8 days (or so) is my memory of the trip, my personal opinion on things like the food, the room, and the islands. If you have questions, please ask...I'll try to give my best answer. I'm not going to bother with the trip down (we drove with 4 vehicles and 4 people joined us that flew in from PA). I'll start with the day we Embarked.

 

Day 1: Port Everglades. Arrival to the Port was non-eventful. We waited for about 15 minutes to get checked by the Security folks before entering the Port. There were 3 or 4 ships leaving that day, so it wasn't very busy compared to past trips. Once we arrived at Pier 2 the congestion was more apparent. It was about 1130 so people had started flowing into the area at a pretty heavy pace. I recommend if you drive, roll the window down because I couldn't read the security guys lips and it caused him to have heart burn for missing the exact spot he wanted me to pull over at to unload. The unloading was quick and simple...the porters loaded the bags, I gave them a nominal tip and proceeded to park the car in the 4-story garage. Note to those driving: to access the garage you need to actually leave the pier area, make a U-turn and then proceed towards the gate to retrieve a ticket. Car was secured and I made my way down 3 flights to meet the group and head into the terminal.

 

In-processing was very simple. We went through the scanner first to ensure no one was locked and loaded. It went rather quickly, as did the entire Embarkation process. After going through the metal detectors, there was a small table to the side for checking in our wine. We were bringing 8 bottles overall so needed to get six bottles "checked in"...which was nothing more than filling out a log and getting a receipt for the corkage fee ($90 for the extra 6 bottles). The next step was filling out a medical paper stating my current condition (took like 1 minute) and then getting into line to in-process the ship. We made it through the line in about 5 minutes, another 2 minutes o get our cruise cards, and then onto the ship. The entire process took about 30 minutes from start to finish and seemed very well organized.

 

Once on board, we went straight to the room and dropped off the carry-on items. The room was ready, very clean, and a nice surprise. It was our first time in a mini-suite. We had as a group the D523 thru D605 mini's with the exception of D601. The 4 younger folks with us were on a different deck. We met the room steward (Watcharin) and asked him to please open the balconies to the 4 rooms together in our section. After that we headed for the 15th Deck to prepare for departure with a cold drink in hand. First (and overall) impression of the ship was that everything seemed in working order, if you looked for flaws or signs of aging you could find them (but they weren't very noticeable as you walked around), and everything was always well decorated and pleasing to the eyes. This was my third time on Princess (Emerald, Regal, and now Crown) and like the other two times, I was very pleased with the ship. Of course, I'm not a very critical guy, so maybe my critique here will be less than adequate for those that like to pick things apart. Anyway, as I proceed through the days I hope to just give you some ideas of how I saw things and not try to persuade anyone that my opinion of the Crown, Princess, or the ports we visited is Gospel.

 

After a successful transition to the open waters, we went back to the room were our luggage awaited us. After securing our items for the trip, we called to room service for glasses of orange juice (each room got 4 glasses), cracked open some champagne, and toasted the start of our trip. From there it was cleaning up, getting dressed into our casual clothes, heading to Crooners for a couple pre-dinner martini's and then heading to our 7:45 seating at the MDR. We had 2 tables for 6 and a table for 4 all by each other and often just rotated who sat at which table each night...no rhyme or reason. For those that criticize the food, you must eat way better than us every day. We thought the selection was just right (too many choices make it impossible to try all the things you want to try), the presentation was fabulous, and none of us ever had a dish we did not like or wasn't made to our specifications. Overall, I give the MDR an "A" for service, ambiance, and especially the food itself!! After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show (sort of) in the Princess Theater before retiring to our balconies for a night cap and a good night's sleep.

 

Day 2/3 will be next. Time to rest the fingers for now!! :D

[voljeep]

did any of you have the drink packages?:cool:

[TSM AND JP]

Thanks for posting this. I will follow along as we are going on the Crown in March.

[voljeep]

we were also on in November, 2017 and hopefully will be on in March. I'll let you know after 1/10/18:cool:

[USCcruisecrazy]

did any of you have the drink packages?:cool:

 

Only one guy in our group had the drink package. For him it was worth the money, because he was boozing it up quite a bit. For my wife and I, we had the bottles of wine for dinner, usually had a few beers during the day on sea days and maybe one fufu drink, then a martini or two pre-dinner, and an after dinner night cap. Including the $90 I paid for corkage fee on 6 bottles, our bar tab was about $600. So, the drink package would have been a huge waste. We felt it would "force" us to drink more. But realize, we had 4 port days (3 of which were pretty long and the 4th that was 1:00 until 6:30 in Grand Turk) that we drank off the ship and never had a drink on ship until our Crooner's stop in the evening.

[USCcruisecrazy]

Day 2 and 3 will be combined, because they were both sea days...no excursions or ports to talk about. One thing we did every night before retiring for the night was fill out the pre-order room service for coffee and maybe a light pre-breakfast snack. :) This worked great every day. You choose a 30 minute window for delivery, but we received our coffee within the first 3-4 minutes of the window every day. That provided us a relaxing start of the day as we sipped coffee on the balcony and watched the flying fish or chatted with other members of the group. Since we had more time those first few days at sea, we chose to eat breakfast at the Da Vinci DR. The sit down breakfast is so much more enjoyable to us than the buffet breakfast. The food was always very good, the staff was friendly (and different each day), and it was very relaxing to sit and eat a good meal and talk about the day ahead. Obviously, the entire group didn't do this each day. Our largest group at breakfast was 8 people. Part of the agreement before we started this adventure was that everyone does their own thing...no pressure to be in a group all the time...just we wanted to do at least 1 excursion together (actually did 3) and try to eat dinner most nights together to recap our days. Anyway, I digress.

 

Since we were at sea these two days, we found activities on board (day one was cloudy so not good for pool time). We did the putt putt tournament, the Premium wine tasting (get some good knowledge, the wines were pretty good, and the food pairings were very interesting...I recommend it for $25 a head), and few other ship adventures like trivia. We did find the Aft Pool to be our favorite. It was less crowded and you had easy access to restrooms near the Adagio lounge. There was also access to a large hot tub (was really nice on the cloudy day). Overall, the time on the ship was very relaxing. A few notes for those that have read all the different threads on Cruise Critic...remembering this is just my very humble opinion: 1) we did the couple's massage on the second sea day. The massage was nice, but I would say it was a bit over-priced. The worst part was that the staff tries to sell you on a bunch of products. That took the nice edge off by the time I got out of there...and no, we did not buy any products. 2) The food around the pool deck was all I would expect. From the hamburgers/cheeseburgers, to the brats, the fries, and the pizza. They had a specialty pizza each day, so you could get a variety as well as the standard pepperoni or cheese. Yeah, it wasn't the best pizza I've ever eaten, but it was good and compares to ant "fast-food" pizza you get. Sitting around the pool and wanting a little munchies, it works great...same for the burgers, brats and fries (my wife thought the fries were excellent every time...for me, any French fries are great...especially with Catsup) :). 3) Okay, I have to throw this in...we never seemed to be lacking for butter at dinner...of course, there's more than enough in the buffet for anyone's taste. 4) We never had an issue with any of the crew being less than enthusiastic or helpful or pleasant to talk to. We finished up day two and three with a nice meal in the dining room and a nightcap at Crooner's. Oh yeah, one more note...our Waiter in the MDR would always bring two bowls of the linguine for our table on top of what we ordered. If you go hungry in the MDR, it's your own fault.

 

Next up: first port day!!

[Gemini8]

Appreciate your thoughts - we leave on the 22nd for your similar itinerary!

[USCcruisecrazy]

Day 4: Basseterre, St. Kitts. This was our first port day and everyone was pretty excited. Not just because it was our first day on land, but because it was our day to swim with the dolphins. We never did this before in any port, so it was going to be a new experience. Disembarking in the port was pretty simple and took about 30 seconds...no lines at 8:00 in the morning. I guess part of that was the fact we would be in St. Kitts until 10:00 that night. After exiting the boat, we did the standard photo op with the "pirates" and moved to the end of the pier. At the expected meeting time, we were greeted by folks from the Dolphin Adventure and transported by small bus to their facility. It was a really cool experience. We learned 4 different hand signals...have the dolphin lay their head in our hands for a kiss, hands straight out for shaking their fins, hand above shoulder to get them out of the water, and hands in front down under the water to have them lay in your arms. We also had a ride holding their fins where they dragged us back to the dock (key is holding your arms straight...they get more speed up) and a ride on a boogie board where they push you by pressing their nose on your heal (keep the legs stiff and ankles stiff with toes pointed down and they really generate a lot of power). Needless to say, I highly recommend this excursion. BTW: we did all our excursions through Princess (pre-booked on line). Yeah, you can get them a few dollars cheaper other ways, but this guaranteed our return to the ship on time. Honestly, booking them right when the opportunity comes up, we paid about the same price as directly to the merchant...the prices went up later. You can't bring a camera, so you need to purchase a photo if you want a hard-copy memory. I usually go for the "imprinted on my brain" sort of photo package.

 

The excursion was over by 1100 so we had a lot of day left. Everyone went different directions and had some cool stories to tell at dinner. Four of us decided to do the Train around the island. It left around 1230 and returned like 3 hours later. Anyway, it was a beautiful tour of the island. We saw some really great sites...cliffs with beautiful water, excellent views of the mountains and the sea...and the guide told us the entire history of St. Kitts. The only down side was that we saw a lot of impoverished areas...although that motivated my wife to spread a little more love (and cash) for the locals. They provided refreshments (alcoholic and non) and even had a few people go car to car and serenade us a bit with Christmas carols. All things considered, it was another excursion that was well worth the price of admission.

 

Once we returned to the port area, we met up with some of the group, found a nice spot to sit and drink a few Caribe beers and let the women do a little shopping. It was a very pleasant day and nice start to the 4 straight days of ports. The rest of the day was pretty well scripted out like the first few before that...shower, meet at Crooner's Lounge, dinner at 7:45 and then take in a show.

 

I was remiss mentioning that the first Formal Night (I know, the favorite subject of so many on here) was Sunday. Just for the record, my very best friend of 40+ years owns Formal Wear of Myrtle Beach so he provided all the gentlemen with nice Tuxedos. To my surprise, reading things on this site, I would have thought we would stick out like sore thumbs. Fact is, I did not look around at all the tables to do a head count of tuxedos, suits, dinner jackets, or some other attire, but everyone in the proximity of our tables was wearing at least a dinner jacket. Yes, many of the men, including us, took the coats off during dinner. I did not see a single person try to enter the MDR without at least a tie (there were a few dressed that way when we were standing outside the doors) and I sure didn't see anyone in anything more casual than a long-sleeved shirt with a tie. Perhaps it's because I really didn't look at everyone...I didn't care how they dressed...we enjoyed the evening getting all spiffed up. The wait staff of course was decked out and they seemed appreciate of our outfits (received a lot of compliments on that Navy Blue trim line Tux).

 

Next up: Antigua!!

[greenie082756]

Thanks for sharing!

Sounds like you all had a great cruise.

 

Our favorite place to be is the aft pool as well for the same reasons.

[LovetheSea]

Great so far! Thank you for posting this.:cool:

[Cancruizer]

Thanks for the review! I`m enjoying hearing your perspective about the ship and cruise. Just curious, is the 15$ corkage automatically charged at check in? I have brought bottless in the past and was planning on doing so again and opening and consuming mostly in cabin and my understanding was that in this case no corkage is charged. What happens in this case? Also, you mentionned 4 bottles, were they strict about how many bottles per person? Thanks

[USCcruisecrazy]

Thanks for the review! I`m enjoying hearing your perspective about the ship and cruise. Just curious, is the 15$ corkage automatically charged at check in? I have brought bottless in the past and was planning on doing so again and opening and consuming mostly in cabin and my understanding was that in this case no corkage is charged. What happens in this case? Also, you mentionned 4 bottles, were they strict about how many bottles per person? Thanks

 

When we first went through the security check is when we declared the extra bottles. We actually had 8 bottles, 2 for drinking in the room and 6 for anywhere else (although it was always dinner). The agent will have you fill out a line and sign it...it includes your stateroom so they know where to charge the $90 ($15 per extra bottle above the 2 free ones). We could still drink them in the cabin if we wanted.

 

On the first night, I brought a bottle to dinner and showed our waiter the receipt for 6 bottles. I told him I would be bringing them to dinner each night. He never questioned me after that nor did he question the rest of the folks at our table that brought a bottle. Between the three couples at our table we brought 2 bottles each night plus had 1 bottle of sweet red for the one lady that didn't drink any other wines. The staff kept the bottle for her until it was gone (about 3 nights) and then she brought another one. Be friendly to your wait staff and they will be very quick to ice your whites and keep everyone with wine in their glasses.

[USCcruisecrazy]

Day 5: St. John's, Antigua!! This was one of our favorite ports. People began to disembark around 0800 but we didn't have an excursion until 0930, so we started out with a big breakfast, this time in the buffet. One thing that did annoy me a bit was the 2 people sitting at a table for 6, which caused us to walk around and try and find a spot to plant our behinds. We usually had 6 in our part of the group. On this morning in particular, there was a table that could easily sit 7-8 people with one young lady sitting there. I'm guessing she either had the rest of the party leave or she was inviting "company" to dine with her. Either way, I asked if she would mind if we sat down and she was very receptive. After filling up on a good breakfast, we disembarked and headed for the end of the pier where we were instructed to meet the excursion guide. Our excursion was on the Excellence, a catamaran that can hold around 75 people if I had to guess...there may have been more, but we weren't crowded at all so it was all max nix. The excursion was awesome! We did a half circumference of the island and then landed in a secluded beach area. For those that wished, you could get snorkeling equipment and snorkel out over the nearby reef. For those that didn't want to snorkel, there's a nice white sand beach (and you get to start on the included adult beverages as well). We chose to snorkel and it was well worth the effort. After about an hour (or so), we went back into shore and started to enjoy some of the rum punch (more rum than punch). About half an hour later we were served jerk chicken and fish fresh off the grill along with a few different side dishes. The food was pretty good for having been cooked on a grill stationed at the back end of a catamaran. You could eat on the boat or the beach. After another 30 minutes of hanging out and having some fun, we boarded the Excellence for the trip around the other half of the island and back to the Port. The scenery was great, the hosts were excellent, the rum punch was plenty strong, and we had a great time.

 

This was the night we decided to do the Specialty Dining and since we had never done Sabatini's, that was the restaurant of choice. We had a few folks not make it due to effects from the rum punch, but they had a table for 14 set-up (12 showed up) and we anticipated a great dinner together. To be fair, my father owned an Italian restaurant when we were kids so I grew up eating some great Italian food and later learned to cook some great Italian food. The meal at Sabatini's did not qualify as great Italian food. Perhaps it was a bad day, perhaps it was the choice of dishes they offered, or perhaps the chef entrusted someone to cook the lobster properly and they failed in that quest. Sabatini's was the only thumbs down experience from the entire trip. Don't get me wrong...the food was okay...some was pretty good (like the calamari), but overall it was not worth the $29 upcharge. The MDR was so much better every night. We wrote it off as "sometimes things happen" and went and enjoyed a comedy show and a late night drink. After all, we were still in the Caribbean and it's tough to beat that!!

 

Next up: St. Thomas, USVI

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review. We haven’t done the Dolphin Adventure and your account, especially the hand signals, is very encouraging to try. Will be on our bucket list for next time.

 

 

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[jakey2004]

Loving the review! We are doing the same itinerary 2/2.... can't wait!

Edited December 19, 2017 by jakey2004

[USCcruisecrazy]

Day 6: Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI. This was a highly anticipated stop because the USVI have always been one of our favorite areas. The plan this time was to take the tour to Blackbeard's Castle, a few hours at Megan's Bay Beach, and then a little shopping before heading back to the port area. We were docked at the Primary Port (I actually like the area around the secondary port much better), so as soon as you disembarked the ship the excursion guides were there getting people into their respective group. Since we had such a large party, we were given most of one super-sized open-air van. First stop was a pull out that overlooked the bay. It was a magnificent view and gives you the best opportunity for a picture of your ship. From there we expected to head to Blackbeard's and taste a little rum. However, due to the hurricanes, the castle was closed. Instead we went to something like Top of the Mountain. There was a gift shop, a banana daiquiri bar, and a look out over the island. On the ride up was the first real evidence of the damage. There were many homes with blue tarps, trees and shrubbery mangled beside the road, and even a few roads completely washed out. It was a little disheartening, but reminded us of how much they could use the infusion of cash the cruise ships provide. After that brief stop we headed down to Megan's Bay Beach.

 

This has always been one of our favorite stops. If you like to snorkel, go somewhere else, because all you'll see is clear water and white sand (well, maybe a few fish). We picked a nice spot and set up camp for the next few hours. The beach has been completely cleaned (the sand was very white and soft), the water was beautiful and there was no evidence anywhere of debris in the water. The main food and beverage building was damaged pretty bad and was under reconstruction. They did have an area set up for food and drinks, so we did our part and grabbed some hot dogs and cold beer. Perhaps the three things that stuck out the most: 1) the mangrove behind the beach was completely destroyed. It was sad to see, since it was always such a beautiful place to walk. 2) the beach was lined with a lot of palm trees and bushes but they were all brand new and still being supported by wood planks. 3) facing the water, the mountains to the left looked pretty healthy and greening up nicely, but the mountains on the right had quite a few broken trees that were evident rather easily. There was a lot of green there as well, but you could see the remnants of the storms more readily. The attitude of the people was great and I think they were very appreciative of the tourists coming to pay their respects. After the beach break, we were taken to an outdoor shopping area. Shopping really isn't my thing anyway, but it seemed like their goods were priced higher than normal. I guess it's their attempt to help the recovery. After shopping, you catch a ferry boat back to the dock. Overall, it was an enjoyable day, but it did remind me of how blessed I feel every day!

 

This was the second Formal Night because we left port around 4:00 that afternoon. This was the steak and lobster night. Okay, because the before mentioned friend owns a Formal Wear shop, he hooked us up for night #2 with some really stunning tuxedos...mine being a set of nice tails with all white/ivory buttons and cufflinks. Yeah, we may have been a bit over dressed, but he wanted pictures from each of the guys to advertise his "Cruise Ship" deals to perspective customers. All I know is that it was pretty cool walking around in that outfit. We had a little extra time that evening, so we did two martini's at Crooner's Lounge before heading to dinner. I'd like to shout out to the Crooner's Staff because they were always very quick to wait on us, especially our guy Lester from India. I think when you react in a positive manner each day with the staff, they begin to establish a very good friendship and everyone (them and you) have a much more enjoyable and memorable trip. Dinner was superb!! I still shake my head thinking about the folks that have bashed the food. I really need to eat with them every day if what they eat at home or in local restaurants puts the food to shame. I never saw one dish not properly presented, or one dish returned for not being properly cooked, or one dish cols (unless it was supposed to be). I particularly liked the different soups offered each evening. After dinner we saw one of the better shows of the cruise. I am bad at names, but it was the singers, dancers, and orchestra playing some nice music. Very professional!

 

Next Up: Grand Turk!

[USCcruisecrazy]

Enjoying your review. We haven’t done the Dolphin Adventure and your account, especially the hand signals, is very encouraging to try. Will be on our bucket list for next time.

 

 

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We always hesitated doing it because we had no idea how much interaction we would really get and the cost is a bit pricey. The one offered through Princess was definitely well worth the cost...a once in a lifetime kind of adventure! I hope you enjoy it when you get the chance!!

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[USCcruisecrazy]

Day 7: Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos. This is another port we have always been fond of. Seven years ago we were introduced to Jack's Shack so really wanted to get back there and see how everyone was doing. The ship didn't dock at the pier until 1:00pm, so we had time to burn in the morning. We went to the Da Vinci for breakfast and ate another really good meal. All I could think about was who in the world is going to cook me breakfast like this once we get back. My beautiful bride of 36+ years gave me the answer...me! Guess I better start practicing now. After breakfast the ladies did a little on-board shopping while a few of us guys went to the casino. Normally I will play some Blackjack when in Vegas, but don't often gamble on the ships. Looking back at the trip I remember a lot of 7's...our bus was #7 on one excursion, we had locker #7 at the Dolphin Swim, our cabin was D527...so many 7's everywhere, so I decided to play a slot machine I saw with Blazing Seven's. Call it luck...call it karma...call it payment from the cruise Gods...but I threw $20 into the machine and walked away with $400. So, yes, I recommend the Blazing Seven's on the Crown, starboard side entrance , immediate to the right, middle machine of the three on the wall. LOL!!

 

We had a little snack before disembarking (hit the pizza bar) because we knew we'd need energy to trek down the beach to Jack's. It was still standing and the staff was friendly as ever. First things first, if you let Jack (John is his real name) know you are coming and on which day, they will have a shot of rum for you. We had a nice lunch and tried a few local beers, stood in the water and enjoyed the view, and when Topher (their golden doodle) came over we got a photo with him. What a crazy dog. I recommend the Cracked Conch...plus the fires are yummy, but that may be me and fries! After a nice afternoon we headed down to Margaritaville for the last hour or so. My wife went to get a beach towel that says Grand Turk (she has one from every Island we visit so she can be reminded of the island as we lay by our pool far from the Caribbean) and discovered the sale of the century. They had Johnny Walker Blue, two bottles for $254. For those of you that like Scotch and know the cost of JW Blue (normally in the $225 per bottle range), you can appreciate that I went for the 2 bottle deal. Our time on the island was very relaxing...we didn't do an excursion there...never have...so I can't recommend anything besides enjoying the beach and crystal clear water.

 

That night was Italian night in the MDR. It was so much better than Sabatini's. The Veal dish was superb and the simple but tasteful spaghetti and meatballs was excellent. We really enjoyed that evening as much as any in the DR. To top it all off, our waiter came over with a carafe of lemoncello. I should note that our table of 6 were the only ones to survive Margaritaville, so none of the others were at dinner. Our waiter proceeded to pour multiple shots and even had one himself to assist in finishing off the carafe. It was an awesome night...and short as well. We all laughed and giggled our way back to the staterooms, hung out for a few minutes, and then crashed. I think the gentlemen on the elevator with us is still suffering from PTSD, but it was the perfect way to end a relaxing and enjoyable day.

 

I'll finish up with day 8 and the next morning disembarkation tomorrow. Time to start cooking something fancy for dinner. Now where did I leave my Martha Stewart cookbook??

[voljeep]

Jack's Shack is our absolute favorite in Grand Turk - so glad to hear it's doing OK.

 

Hope to be back there in March 2018!

 

Just remember to not get Kenley's beach chair - it has her name on it, and she will let you know about it:cool:

[suzyed]

Okay folks, this is a first for me...I've never written a review before from a cruise vacation. If I go way off track and ramble a bit, my humble apologies up front. I did not take notes because I didn't want to spend vacation time worrying about a review. What you will read from the 8 days (or so) is my memory of the trip, my personal opinion on things like the food, the room, and the islands. If you have questions, please ask...I'll try to give my best answer. I'm not going to bother with the trip down (we drove with 4 vehicles and 4 people joined us that flew in from PA). I'll start with the day we Embarked.

 

Day 1: Port Everglades. Arrival to the Port was non-eventful. We waited for about 15 minutes to get checked by the Security folks before entering the Port. There were 3 or 4 ships leaving that day, so it wasn't very busy compared to past trips. Once we arrived at Pier 2 the congestion was more apparent. It was about 1130 so people had started flowing into the area at a pretty heavy pace. I recommend if you drive, roll the window down because I couldn't read the security guys lips and it caused him to have heart burn for missing the exact spot he wanted me to pull over at to unload. The unloading was quick and simple...the porters loaded the bags, I gave them a nominal tip and proceeded to park the car in the 4-story garage. Note to those driving: to access the garage you need to actually leave the pier area, make a U-turn and then proceed towards the gate to retrieve a ticket. Car was secured and I made my way down 3 flights to meet the group and head into the terminal.

 

In-processing was very simple. We went through the scanner first to ensure no one was locked and loaded. It went rather quickly, as did the entire Embarkation process. After going through the metal detectors, there was a small table to the side for checking in our wine. We were bringing 8 bottles overall so needed to get six bottles "checked in"...which was nothing more than filling out a log and getting a receipt for the corkage fee ($90 for the extra 6 bottles). The next step was filling out a medical paper stating my current condition (took like 1 minute) and then getting into line to in-process the ship. We made it through the line in about 5 minutes, another 2 minutes o get our cruise cards, and then onto the ship. The entire process took about 30 minutes from start to finish and seemed very well organized.

 

Once on board, we went straight to the room and dropped off the carry-on items. The room was ready, very clean, and a nice surprise. It was our first time in a mini-suite. We had as a group the D523 thru D605 mini's with the exception of D601. The 4 younger folks with us were on a different deck. We met the room steward (Watcharin) and asked him to please open the balconies to the 4 rooms together in our section. After that we headed for the 15th Deck to prepare for departure with a cold drink in hand. First (and overall) impression of the ship was that everything seemed in working order, if you looked for flaws or signs of aging you could find them (but they weren't very noticeable as you walked around), and everything was always well decorated and pleasing to the eyes. This was my third time on Princess (Emerald, Regal, and now Crown) and like the other two times, I was very pleased with the ship. Of course, I'm not a very critical guy, so maybe my critique here will be less than adequate for those that like to pick things apart. Anyway, as I proceed through the days I hope to just give you some ideas of how I saw things and not try to persuade anyone that my opinion of the Crown, Princess, or the ports we visited is Gospel.

 

After a successful transition to the open waters, we went back to the room were our luggage awaited us. After securing our items for the trip, we called to room service for glasses of orange juice (each room got 4 glasses), cracked open some champagne, and toasted the start of our trip. From there it was cleaning up, getting dressed into our casual clothes, heading to Crooners for a couple pre-dinner martini's and then heading to our 7:45 seating at the MDR. We had 2 tables for 6 and a table for 4 all by each other and often just rotated who sat at which table each night...no rhyme or reason. For those that criticize the food, you must eat way better than us every day. We thought the selection was just right (too many choices make it impossible to try all the things you want to try), the presentation was fabulous, and none of us ever had a dish we did not like or wasn't made to our specifications. Overall, I give the MDR an "A" for service, ambiance, and especially the food itself!! After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show (sort of) in the Princess Theater before retiring to our balconies for a night cap and a good night's sleep.

 

Day 2/3 will be next. Time to rest the fingers for now!! :D

Keep it coming!! We were on the Crown in November and so far we agree with all your points!!

[Clarea]

Excellent review for a first time reviewer!

[suzyed]

Excellent review for a first time reviewer!

Agree! Bravo!

[winncruiser]

Awesome review!! Thank you!

 

 

 

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[mellon1]

Did your mini suites have the new beds? If not what were the conditions of the beds? Just saw a very recent review in the review section and it showed photos of the bed, two combined, with huge craters, and that was the owners suite. Very concerned as we are going for 34-35 days.