A lovely 10 day sailing on the Crown 2/15-2/25

[CineGraphic]

Embarkation:
We arrived at Port Everglades, sometime around 10:30am, and they had not yet begun security screening in the terminal.
There were probably 50 people ahead of us in line. Once they opened up, and went through the metal detectors, we went to the wine desk to pay the corkage on the extra bottles we were bringing on board. Simple math seemed problematic at first, but eventually everyone agreed that when bringing on 5 bottles, I only had to pay corkage for three of them. A quick show of our medallions and passports and we were directed to sit downstairs. A female local agent with an alpha-male complex insisted that the priority lounge was only for elite, and not for platinum.
I'm guessing that some folks complained, so her supervisor came over and escorted us upstairs, but we ended up in a room separate from the elite, with no amenities. I believe we ended up boarding around 11. We stopped by our cabin to drop off our carry-on bags and wine. The steward was still cleaning our room and seemed a bit surprised, we excused ourselves and walked around the ship a bit. The dining room wasn't open yet, so we went up to the buffet, which was thankfully/momentarily quiet.

 

Dining:
We ended up eating most of our meals in the buffet, as it was very convenient to our cabin location (R744). We only ate in the main dining room once, and that was for lunch on our last sea day. It was easily the worst meal of the entire cruise, with matzoh balls that were more like rubber balls, in a ruddy looking broth. The dining staff on the Lido deck were all very friendly and accommodating. We also dined at the Crown Grill three times, and one time each at Sabatini's, Crab Shack and Salty Dog Pub. The food and service at the Crown Grill was mostly excellent, except for our last night, when a newer server seemed to be mostly lost. Sabatini's featured the older menu. Crab Shack was "meh", not good, not awful, but certainly not worth the same $29 per head that the Crown Grill charges. The platinum/elite lounge held in sky walkers was crowded most days, but they had plenty of servers, so there was never much of a wait for a drink. Carmen was holding court in Vines, and she was clearly the queen bee. If only Princess, could clone her. Every ship needs a Carmen. Room service was also very efficient, I only wish there was more of a selection to choose from.

 

Ship's condition:
The ship was in overall good shape, with lots of work constantly going on. The only exceptions would be dinged up cabin walls, and the gold foil adhesive wrap that they used to line the interior of the aft-elevators. It was nicked and torn, and looked very cheap. Surely, they could have found a better way to refurbish these elevators. The medallion net was lightening fast, although using the app to locate your travel-mates was always good for a laugh. While my wife was sitting on the promenade deck, reading her book, the app said she was in someone's cabin on deck 8. Thank goodness I'm not the jealous type, lol!