Crown 7/2 sailing comments

[pes949]

I have just returned from the Crown Princess 7/2/06 sailing.

I will be glad to share my experiences and thoughts about the ship, staff, cabin D736 (St. Thomas Suite). I have decided to post my initial thoughts for now to get things going

 

Sadly my experiences on the Crown have turned my family and I off form Princess for a great number of reasons...

 

The fuel mixup was a disaster and unacceptable from the start.... However things on this issue went from bad to worse... The initial message to passengers was the delay would push back sailing until 9:00pm. Then... finally some time after midnight the captain wakes up the entire ship to let us know we are finally underway and will miss Grand Turk. The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

 

Now lets do some math.... $200 x 3000 passengers = $600,000.

All used for ship board credit so factor in profit from all funds spent at the extra sea day and margins.... Princess easily recovers almost all of the $600k they gave back. Who loses???? Certainly not Princess.

 

Dining room food was a borderline 3 in a scale of 1-5. I would compare the food to mid tier chains such as Bennigans.

 

Horizon court.... All low end buffet food IMHO. Nothing special here.

 

Carnival Spirit to Alasks in 2004 ran circles around the Crown base menus.

 

So... if you want a 4 or 5 star meal you have to pay for it.

 

On a 9 day Cruise we have 5 days at sea which became 6. Same activities each day. Gets a little boring.

 

Steward did the minimum. I was hoping that being in a premium suite would get me a decent steward. Even the basic needs were always a struggle and basic requests/questions were refered to the Passenger Service desk.

 

Ok as a Suite passenger I got premium embarkation (Nice). I was in the last group to be disembarked. Inside cabins were off the ship nearly 2 hours sooner. I was in no rush but the Elite passengers were sent to Club Fusion.... Nothing to eat or drink was offered.

 

Ok... The service was awful food was borderline.... Shops were a joke.

 

The cabin.... Ahhh the cabin was the best part of the trip.... Nice and private. Large deck. 2 teak loungers and a table with 4 chairs. TV's were Zenith 20" flat panel but do not get excited as they were low end TV's and regulat TV's were just as good. Batteries in the remotes were dead and had to be replaced when I boarded(they did not even have alkaline batteries). Oh... same thing with the safe. Dead batteries. Steward got me the batteries but simply left them in the room and I had to put them in myself. This is no big deal but I certainly did not get the feeling like I was being treated like a guest.

 

The drop down bunk rattled(very loudly) while underway. We used towels to cram into creavaces which helped.

 

The list goes on.... Lost laundry items.... Ceramics class items were cracked during firing(was offered a refund-but this activity was a waste of time and we had nothing worth taking home).

 

The ship has a nice stable ride but there was always a bit of vibration present in every location. The stablizers seemed to cause more of a side to side motion rather than up and down which was noticeable everywhere on the ship. On my balcony the sound of churning sea was always present but I kind of like the sound and it was not too loud. No problems with fumes at all. Air on the balcony was always fresh.

 

Shows--Destination Anywhere was good. Motor City was simply awful. but Simon Cowell would have a field day with the pitchy vocals. Costumes were great.

House bands-Awful

Piazza shows were pretty decent.

 

James the Cruise Director worked his tail off and was everywhere. Great guy but he has a second rate staff except for his direct assistants.

 

Shopping expert Freddie YAWN.... clueless and obviously on the take with selected shops. One shop I went into in SanJuan showed me that in order to be on "the list" is a $15k investment and to get a big place on the Flyer is $25k.

 

All she could discuss was overpriced Jewlrey. She knew nothing about souvineer shopping or electronics. The Photo guys were great however and I was able to get info from them.

 

Time on shore in every port was pathetic. No time to really enjoy and explore. One excursion and you are done.

 

Sooo... Despite this open rant... I actually did enjoy my vacation and my cabin was my own sanctuary simply because the Vista Suite was quite large and comfortable.

 

Send me your questions and comments.... I will be glad to offer what ever I can.

[Tristan]

Hi Pes949. Thanks very much for your review.

I will be sailing the Crown next week (my first time on Princess.)

 

I am somewhat disappointed about what you said, but, alas...many things I've come to expect.

(knew about the short port times, and cruise food is never anything to write home about.)

 

What were the highlights of your trip?

[maria1122]

I too was on the Crown, and will never sail Princess again. I agree with everything you said and more. The food is definately one reason why I would never return. I am not a fish eater and that seemed to be the big thing on the menus. Drinks were over priced. Tours expensive and not what they were stated to be. We took a bus tour of Old San Juan and the traffic was so bad the driver took a road along the piers which was full of pot holes and was making a joke of it. we never did get to see Old San JUan, I could go on and on. Princess - Never Again!!

[snorklinbarb]

pes949,

 

Your review certainly didn't help me get excited about our upcoming 10/9 cruise. You have so many negatives I won't explore each one.

 

But I am curious about your comment that DR food was borderline "3" at best on a scale of 1-5 and that the buffet was bad, too.

 

Yet you don't give any examples at all. Could you please tell us all the reasons, with specifics about food offerings, that make you come to this conclusion? Was it at all meals? One particular place?

 

Did you try Cafe Caribe? How was that? How about the specialties?

 

Besides the production shows, how was the other entertainment?

 

I'm always bewildered with reviews that go on about how the entertainment was awful or food below par but never tell us exactly why.

 

Thanks.

[mkl55]

Don't forget the constant sell, sell, sell...fees, fees, fees. We actually had an excellent, very accommodating room steward. Everything else you said and more we also experienced. I found the blatant deck chair saving with the lack of enforcement of the 30 minute rule the most frustrating. One day I counted 20 people actually in and around the pool, yet every deck chair had a towel or someone's belongings on it. Also, the adults only rule for the jacuzzi was a joke. I wish I had taken the photo of the adults only sign posted in front of the jacuzzi loaded with at least 10 children...no adults. I noticed that the children's pool was never operational so that left parents with no other options except the main pools. There was so little seating in the Terrace Pool area that unless you paid for "The Sanctuary", you were stuck. I wouldn't do that just on principal!! If the rules had been enforced, you wouldn't need the sanctuary. My balcony was my sanctuary. I agree that the crew worked so very hard but the deck was certainly stacked against them with so many passengers. No more big ships, no more princess for us.

[Host CJSKIDS]

I too was on the Crown, and will never sail Princess again. I agree with everything you said and more. The food is definately one reason why I would never return. I am not a fish eater and that seemed to be the big thing on the menus. Drinks were over priced. Tours expensive and not what they were stated to be. We took a bus tour of Old San Juan and the traffic was so bad the driver took a road along the piers which was full of pot holes and was making a joke of it. we never did get to see Old San JUan, I could go on and on. Princess - Never Again!!

 

I'm not a fish eater at all, hate it, but have never found a problem finding something for dinner. Yes, it seems that on many cruise lines there is a lot of choices when it comes to seafood, but then again, it's the same way at most land based restuarants unless it's a steakhouse!

 

Drinks are not overpriced. Actually drinks on Princess are reasonably priced, especially compared to NY and even where I live in Naples. I pay more for a martini or even a bottle of beer here by a few dollars.

[crusingisthewaytogo]

PES949 you are entitled to your comments and they are appreciated. I would not want you sailing on my ship. You don't like anything.

[airgirl]

These comments are valid. Hopefully someone from Princess reads these boards and adjusts. Obviously there is some working out to do on this new ship. This sailing was the first mostly paying passengers non TA group.

[Redsgj]

The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

I'm just curious as to why you feel the on board credit amount should have been based on cabin level. If the credit was supposed to be a refund of the cruise fare, this would make sense. However, I'm fairly sure it was not a refund; it was compensation (a "financial apology" as such) for the lost port and the delayed departure. This affected all passengers equally regardless of cabin level.

 

Now lets do some math.... $200 x 3000 passengers = $600,000.

All used for ship board credit so factor in profit from all funds spent at the extra sea day and margins.... Princess easily recovers almost all of the $600k they gave back. Who loses???? Certainly not Princess.

Just a "clarification" on this (not trying to be a cheerleader :))

 

While it is true that Princess recovers the $600K, they still have lost. While some of the passengers probably used the $200 credit to buy items they would not have bought otherwise, I'm sure a lot of people simply spent as they normally would so that is $200 in revenue lost from those people. And in any case, Princess still has to pay their costs for providing the items paid for by the credit.

[wineandbeach]

I have been on 2 cruises that missed a port and changed to an extra sea day. On Celebrity, they gave us $25 credit per cabin for missing and on Royal Caribbean they gave us an hour of free screwdrivers. I would be jumping up and down if someone gave me $200 credit per room.

[erdnap1]

I was fortunate enough to sail the 6/23 cruise on the lovely Crown and I've been reading the reviews of the Crown ever since the beginning. I just find it funny that people write about all these negative experiences, but their post with, "it was a wonderful vacation". When we were on board, we heard some complaints from folks, but it always came from people who just loved to complain for the sake of complaining. Some people would never be happy and are only happy when they complain or nit-pick. If it's such a downer to vacation, then don't!:(

[Down The Shore Guy]

I was also on this sailing and, I have to disagree with most of what the OP has stated regarding the negative comments, then again, maybe I am the type that takes things in stride more easily.

 

Yes, I agree that the delayed departure and missing the first port was a bit more than frustrating but, I simply took at as things that happen during the course of any given vacation. Certainly nothing horrible like the Star Princess fire. And, personally, I have no problem with the $200 pp refund and I was in a mini-suite. Ok, yes, it was disappointing to miss Grand Turk, since this would have been our first time there but, it's certainly nothing to throw a tantrum over...when the cruise contract specifically states that the cruise line and/or captain reserves the right to change the itinerary...you have to take that it could happen on any given cruise.

 

Food? Subjective. I thought it was good to very good, and, thought the alternative restaurants were excellent. I agree that the cruise director was good...not the best...but good, and, the shows were good (I'm not the biggest show fan, so I'm not the best judge here).

 

I'll be writing my own review shortly but, I did want to add my opinion to this growing list and, also wanted to add that I found Crown Princess to be a very pretty ship and, I had such a horrible time that I'm booking it again for next summer's vacation....

 

Eddie

[pes949]

Food...

Ok Let me start at the top of the Dining Room Menu....

Linguine (If you don't all the the offerings this was a no frills choice) - noodles lacked consistancy-Pasta should always be very pliable but not mushy-had a little of both-sometimes on the same plate.

Beef-Ok but a little tough(I tried most cuts offered)-Certainly not top shelf or even close-Asked for Medium and got Rare. Changed to Medium well and got well.

Fish-I personally love fish. Fish is very hard to screw up. They did OK but again no great shakes-I tried King Crab(not Alaskan), Lobster, and Swordfish. All pretty good. Out of the 3, the lobster was the best. The Swordfish was tough.

In the dining room you can always ask for a second course which I did often so I could call it surf and turf.

The deserts were good(average-similar to chain resturants)... but it was the meals that I was most interested in.

Appetizers were again good but nothing special.

Our waiter Ramon was the best staffer on the ship IMHO. However his assistant was obviously in training and could not keep our drink orders straight(we were basically the same every night).

Service was fast-a very good thing and not a waste of time.

Caribe(back buffet) offerings of specialty foods- Each day was a little different(Chinese, Mexican, Italian etc.). Food here was average buffet quality. Nothing to write home about. I always checked it each day. I guess I hoped for more. Sushi is not my thing unless served at a five star resturant and certainly a high risk on a cruise ship. I passed on the Sushi offering so someone else who was braver than I will have to report on that.

Pizza was ok. You could get regular(kind of skimpy on cheese and always very runny), pepperoni, or with extra toppings. Pizza is always a good standby if you don't like the other offerings.

Burgers and dogs-OK

Popcorn-NO BUTTER ughhhhh!!!!

Pools were crowded and I only went in a couple of times. Parents were not around to watch kids(probably hiding in Sanctuary). One kid was so bad(diving in head first) into the 5' pool!!!! The had to get security to escort him back to his cabin after he refused to listen to the staff. I think the poolside staff handled this well.

Jacuzzi's on a cruise ship.... Not me, I would not go near one and parents should keep the kids out for health reasons...

MUTS-YAWNNN. Movies were all older releases. The highlight was watching the teens take a shot playing Guitar Hero on the big screen. However there was a huge delay so the game was hard to play. Kids love it anyway.

Shops-30% off list on watches!!!... Get with it Princess!!!.... Go to K-mart, Walmart, the Internet, JC Penny or any mall and get a Citizen, Guess or Seiko for 40-50% off list. Selection was poor. I was glad I bought my watch over the internet before the cruise.

No medium to high end watches offered on the ship except for a pair of diamond encrusted watches offered in Facets $10k(His)-$9k(hers). Nobody in a sober state of mind would buy these. They were simply placed in the window to draw curiosity.

Fair selection of Lladro but why buy overpriced Lladro on a cruise ship... This was a waste of retail space.

Inch of gold.... I called it an inch of junk... Ok good for the kids.

Again... with the ship stores I was simply hoping for more and a better selection. I love to shop but being a savvy shopper I only bought a few trinkets as souvineers.

Do NOT waste you time with the ceramics painting. Most of the items were ruined in the firing process. You kids will be crushed when they see their creations cracked or bubbled. (Princess was willing to refund but they insisted on keeping the piece). My daughter was devastated by this as she loves crafts.

The Art Auction onboard. Believe it or not, this was very interesting(of everything else was just that boring). The Auctioneer Nino knew his stuff and ws fun to listen to. Less than half of the items shown were sold. They had some nice pieces though. It was obvious though he was pushing specific artists harder than others.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Food...

Ok Let me start at the top of the Dining Room Menu....

Linguine (If you don't all the the offerings this was a no frills choice) - noodles lacked consistancy-Pasta should always be very pliable but not mushy-had a little of both-sometimes on the same plate.

Beef-Ok but a little tough(I tried most cuts offered)-Certainly not top shelf or even close-Asked for Medium and got Rare. Changed to Medium well and got well.

Fish-I personally love fish. Fish is very hard to screw up. They did OK but again no great shakes-I tried King Crab(not Alaskan), Lobster, and Swordfish. All pretty good. Out of the 3, the lobster was the best. The Swordfish was tough.

In the dining room you can always ask for a second course which I did often so I could call it surf and turf.

The deserts were good(average-similar to chain resturants)... but it was the meals that I was most interested in.

Appetizers were again good but nothing special.

Our waiter Ramon was the best staffer on the ship IMHO. However his assistant was obviously in training and could not keep our drink orders straight(we were basically the same every night).

Service was fast-a very good thing and not a waste of time.

Caribe(back buffet) offerings of specialty foods- Each day was a little different(Chinese, Mexican, Italian etc.). Food here was average buffet quality. Nothing to write home about. I always checked it each day. I guess I hoped for more. Sushi is not my thing unless served at a five star resturant and certainly a high risk on a cruise ship. I passed on the Sushi offering so someone else who was braver than I will have to report on that.

Pizza was ok. You could get regular(kind of skimpy on cheese and always very runny), pepperoni, or with extra toppings. Pizza is always a good standby if you don't like the other offerings.

Burgers and dogs-OK

Popcorn-NO BUTTER ughhhhh!!!!

Pools were crowded and I only went in a couple of times. Parents were not around to watch kids(probably hiding in Sanctuary). One kid was so bad(diving in head first) into the 5' pool!!!! The had to get security to escort him back to his cabin after he refused to listen to the staff. I think the poolside staff handled this well.

Jacuzzi's on a cruise ship.... Not me, I would not go near one and parents should keep the kids out for health reasons...

MUTS-YAWNNN. Movies were all older releases. The highlight was watching the teens take a shot playing Guitar Hero on the big screen. However there was a huge delay so the game was hard to play. Kids love it anyway.

Shops-30% off list on watches!!!... Get with it Princess!!!.... Go to K-mart, Walmart, the Internet, JC Penny or any mall and get a Citizen, Guess or Seiko for 40-50% off list. Selection was poor. I was glad I bought my watch over the internet before the cruise.

No medium to high end watches offered on the ship except for a pair of diamond encrusted watches offered in Facets $10k(His)-$9k(hers). Nobody in a sober state of mind would buy these. They were simply placed in the window to draw curiosity.

Fair selection of Lladro but why buy overpriced Lladro on a cruise ship... This was a waste of retail space.

Inch of gold.... I called it an inch of junk... Ok good for the kids.

Again... with the ship stores I was simply hoping for more and a better selection. I love to shop but being a savvy shopper I only bought a few trinkets as souvineers.

Do NOT waste you time with the ceramics painting. Most of the items were ruined in the firing process. You kids will be crushed when they see their creations cracked or bubbled. (Princess was willing to refund but they insisted on keeping the piece). My daughter was devastated by this as she loves crafts.

The Art Auction onboard. Believe it or not, this was very interesting(of everything else was just that boring). The Auctioneer Nino knew his stuff and ws fun to listen to. Less than half of the items shown were sold. They had some nice pieces though. It was obvious though he was pushing specific artists harder than others.

 

 

I do agree with you on the food, though I haven't sailed on the Crown yet, just the Golden and the Star I find the food okay on Princess. Not bad, but certainly nothing to write home about. I do enjoy the food in Sabitinis however and will also visit the Crown Grill in November. Desserts on Princess are okay in my opinion.

 

I also agree about the shopping but then again I don't really shop on cruise ships and my only other experience is on Disney and all they sell is Disney stuff!

 

I find the pools crowded and hate fighting for a lounge chair so we tend to enjoy our balcony. It doesn't bother us since we not only have our own pool and spa on my lanai but have a large pool and spa and our clubhouse in my development.

 

Hope you enjoyed your cruie anyway. We're set to sail on the Crown on 11/4 and I can't wait. I do enjoy Princess and from the looks of the Crown it seems like we'll love it as much as the other ships we've been on if not more. We've gto a premium suite on Caribe for our sailing and I'm looking forward to enjoying cocktails and relaxing out on my balcony.

[Sandytoes]

mike1117 - I feel a $200 credit as compensation is totally inadequate and unfair given the differences in fares that people paid for the different cabin levels.

 

Pes949 - The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

 

So, by what you both of you stated, people should be treated differently according to their stateroom. How sad is that......

 

No matter what you paid for the cruise and where your cabin was, you should not have excepted more.

It was very kind of Princess to give $200 shipboard credit. Princess didn't have to do that.

 

Why do you feel you're a better passenger because of cabin choice?

I'm sure that a lot of passengers appreciated the credit, I would. no matter the cabin location. So sad to hear, you didn't.....

 

Sorry but needed to post this here as well.

People are equal and I'm glad Princess treated everyone as such.

[alprzy]

My first time on Princess, thought it went pretty well after Sunday. IMHO they handled the situation OK. I had an interior cabin with 4 people. $800 on board credit - not bad for missing 5 hours in Grand Turk. Yeagh I was dissapointed but I'm well over it already.

 

Grand Turk was the big loser, missing 3000+ people + crew out and about for a few hours. Ouch...

 

Lots of people saying the only reason they took this cruise was for Grand Turks. Are you kidding me? 5 hours of a 9 day cruise. I think they need to just fly there if that's the case. I enjoyed the extra day at sea, even though it was raining. Plus I needed time to spend that $800. Ha, Ha...

 

Very briefly, food was good. I had something on the menu that pleased me every night as did my family. I ate 2nd seating in Botticelli, excellent staff at our table. Lunchtime as well as breakfast in the restaurant was very good and ate there daily, the buffet stuff is not appealing and I snacked there only.

Never tried the pizza or burger stuff either.

What I was dissapointed in was no food after 12 midnight. They want you in the clubs until 1 or 2 then nothing for late night snax. And there were alot of people walking around hungry after 12. Room service was very limited selection and average at best.

 

Cruise director James was pretty good, better than most I've seen on other lines. Much stronger than his direct staff.

Crew in general are very accomodating, always a bright hello no matter where you are.

 

Shops are a joke, 2 floors of nothing. But I did buy some liquor with my credits.

 

Entertainment was the weakest of any cruise I've been on, don't base your night around the after dinner shows. Even the clubs have some very marginal quality entertainment. I honestly thought my Carnival Miracle cruise couple years back had much better entertainment. Princess should do a little better.

 

I did like the "Youth Security". I found the adult areas, especially in the front of the ship, deck 16 by the sanctuary, to be kid free as was the wave pool there all week. Saw no packs of kids virtually all week, as is common on other lines.

 

Sanctuary was basically empty all the times I walked by, and always good selection of empty chairs just in front of there - for free. The Buddha wave pool is there and adult only, and was while we were using it.

 

The whole Italian Piazza thing is over rated. I've been all over Italy and seen nothing on the ship that reminds me of it, with the exception of the work of art I bought during an auction of Positano on the Amalfi coast. The whole atrium is beautiful and impressive, don't get me wrong, but I missed the Italy part of it.

 

All in all the cruise worked for me. But I did not find any negligible difference overall between RCCL, NCL and even Carnival that we make Princess an exclusive for me. Just MHO.

 

AlPrzy

[roe2ship]

The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

I certainly understand your disappointment for missing a new port, however I am not sure what makes you feel that your disappointment is worth more credit b/c you booked a premium suite??:confused: I actually thought that the credit was $200.00 per cabin and thought that was a great deal.

 

On my balcony the sound of churning sea was always present but I kind of like the sound and it was not too loud.

:confused: Was this your first balcony?? Most people LOVE the sound of the wake, maybe an aft cabin is not for you.

Time on shore in every port was pathetic.

I agree with you on port times for this cruise, but didn't you realize this before going??

[ISABELLA]

"Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable. "

I have one question:

Why do you think that Pax in Premium suite should have received a different $$ on board credit? Did you miss more ports than people in inside cabin?

The only time amount of on board credit is different is when you book a suite as a reward vs booking an inside room.

About 5 years ago we were on old Crown Princess in Europe and we missed Barcelona due to mechanical problem with tender's motors. Lots of people were very upset, missing such a great port, but $150.00 we received improved all our mood.

I do agree that overall quality of food has declined in the past 5 years. It is sad - we loved Princess.

[sema4]

Food...

Ok Let me start at the top of the Dining Room Menu....

Linguine (If you don't all the the offerings this was a no frills choice) - noodles lacked consistancy-Pasta should always be very pliable but not mushy-had a little of both-sometimes on the same plate.

Beef-Ok but a little tough(I tried most cuts offered)-Certainly not top shelf or even close-Asked for Medium and got Rare. Changed to Medium well and got well.

Fish-I personally love fish. Fish is very hard to screw up. They did OK but again no great shakes-I tried King Crab(not Alaskan), Lobster, and Swordfish. All pretty good. Out of the 3, the lobster was the best. The Swordfish was tough.

In the dining room you can always ask for a second course which I did often so I could call it surf and turf.

The deserts were good(average-similar to chain resturants)... but it was the meals that I was most interested in.

Appetizers were again good but nothing special.

Our waiter Ramon was the best staffer on the ship IMHO. However his assistant was obviously in training and could not keep our drink orders straight(we were basically the same every night).

Service was fast-a very good thing and not a waste of time.

Caribe(back buffet) offerings of specialty foods- Each day was a little different(Chinese, Mexican, Italian etc.). Food here was average buffet quality. Nothing to write home about. I always checked it each day. I guess I hoped for more. Sushi is not my thing unless served at a five star resturant and certainly a high risk on a cruise ship. I passed on the Sushi offering so someone else who was braver than I will have to report on that.

Pizza was ok. You could get regular(kind of skimpy on cheese and always very runny), pepperoni, or with extra toppings. Pizza is always a good standby if you don't like the other offerings.

Burgers and dogs-OK

Popcorn-NO BUTTER ughhhhh!!!!

Pools were crowded and I only went in a couple of times. Parents were not around to watch kids(probably hiding in Sanctuary). One kid was so bad(diving in head first) into the 5' pool!!!! The had to get security to escort him back to his cabin after he refused to listen to the staff. I think the poolside staff handled this well.

Jacuzzi's on a cruise ship.... Not me, I would not go near one and parents should keep the kids out for health reasons...

MUTS-YAWNNN. Movies were all older releases. The highlight was watching the teens take a shot playing Guitar Hero on the big screen. However there was a huge delay so the game was hard to play. Kids love it anyway.

Shops-30% off list on watches!!!... Get with it Princess!!!.... Go to K-mart, Walmart, the Internet, JC Penny or any mall and get a Citizen, Guess or Seiko for 40-50% off list. Selection was poor. I was glad I bought my watch over the internet before the cruise.

No medium to high end watches offered on the ship except for a pair of diamond encrusted watches offered in Facets $10k(His)-$9k(hers). Nobody in a sober state of mind would buy these. They were simply placed in the window to draw curiosity.

Fair selection of Lladro but why buy overpriced Lladro on a cruise ship... This was a waste of retail space.

Inch of gold.... I called it an inch of junk... Ok good for the kids.

Again... with the ship stores I was simply hoping for more and a better selection. I love to shop but being a savvy shopper I only bought a few trinkets as souvineers.

Do NOT waste you time with the ceramics painting. Most of the items were ruined in the firing process. You kids will be crushed when they see their creations cracked or bubbled. (Princess was willing to refund but they insisted on keeping the piece). My daughter was devastated by this as she loves crafts.

The Art Auction onboard. Believe it or not, this was very interesting(of everything else was just that boring). The Auctioneer Nino knew his stuff and ws fun to listen to. Less than half of the items shown were sold. They had some nice pieces though. It was obvious though he was pushing specific artists harder than others.

Judging by all your posts, you are obviously too upscale for Princess. I suggest a more upscale line the next time you cruise

[cws]

The fuel mixup was a disaster and unacceptable from the start.... However things on this issue went from bad to worse... The initial message to passengers was the delay would push back sailing until 9:00pm. Then... finally some time after midnight the captain wakes up the entire ship to let us know we are finally underway and will miss Grand Turk. The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

 

Cruise contracts clearly state ports can be missed for any reason and no compensation is required. You should be appreciative you got the $200 per passenger.

 

Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas just returned from Alaska. According to a review it missed the scheduled stop in Juneau because the satellite was down and the manifest couldn't be transmitted to the Coast Guard 24 hours in advance as required. Guest services was telling people up until 8a the ship was on schedule, but at 10:20a the captain said no Juneau. The credit offered was $100 per room - far less than what you got.

[crusdiva]

Originally Posted by pes949The icing on the cake was finding out that Princess would only offer on-board credit on $200 per passenger regardless of cabin level. So basically an inside cabin got the same credit as a Premium Suite. I hardly feel this is equitable.

 

I agree with the previous posters I think this was quite generous. In 2001 DH and I sailed the "old" Crown from Hawaii to Tahiti - we missed Maui, Kauai and Christmas Island. After three days of silence from the bridge we FINALLY got a note in our cabin offering us a "free cocktail hour" (it was madness, nearly impossible to get a drink) and a future cruise discount of $150.00 per person "to encourage you to sail with us again" the note said. We received NOTHING onboard except for our refunded port charges.

I for one am happy that Princess has learned from it's mistakes and at least deals with these problems in a timely manner.

[pmshirl]

We too just returned from the 7/2 sailing. I was upset also with missing the Grand Turk's port, but got over it. Our problem was with our room. I paid for a balcony cabin for 3. There was no 3rd berth in the room and reported it to the cabin steward and was referred to the pursor's desk. They sent the supervisor to our room who gave us a cot which was placed in front of our balcony door. This gave limited access to the balcony and drawers that had our clothes in. Next came the air conditioning in the room. It didn't work at all. The electrician came to check it but it never was fixed. Now the fridge wasn't cold at all. So we woke up ring and wet and had warm drinks in fridge. After the 4th day the blow dryer broke. We didn't bother reporting it, since none of the other issues were resolved. The food was poor quality and a limited variety to choose from. The desert choices were bad, coice of a cheese cake, ice cream,sugar free item, was very limited also.There was NO midnite buffet on any nite. The shows were medioker. The main show room was full 20 minutes prior to the show and within 15 minutes after the show started, people were clearing out (due to poor shows). Pool area was packed with all chairs taken and no one in them. I made the best of it since I love to Cruise and could cruise to nowhere. Our friends who were along ( a prior Navy man) were very disgusted with missing the port in Grand Turk's due to the fact he was stationed there 40 yrs ago and was hoping to see the island again. I can usually adjust to any conditions of a vacation, but I was annoyed of the inconvience of my room. This was my 1st Princess cruise and I have cruised 15+ cruises and never encountered so mant negative aspects on a vacation. I am cruising in 3 weeks on another cruiseline and I am looking forward to a better trip! For a brand NEW Ship they sure have problems! The last nite the oven in the caribe cafe broke and the chef stated it will be weeks before it is fixed. Good Luck for future cruisers on this Ship! May your experience be better than mine.

[madelinerose]

IMHO, all of these issues are unacceptable.

 

 

We too just returned from the 7/2 sailing. I was upset also with missing the Grand Turk's port, but got over it. Our problem was with our room. I paid for a balcony cabin for 3. There was no 3rd berth in the room and reported it to the cabin steward and was referred to the pursor's desk. They sent the supervisor to our room who gave us a cot which was placed in front of our balcony door. This gave limited access to the balcony and drawers that had our clothes in. Next came the air conditioning in the room. It didn't work at all. The electrician came to check it but it never was fixed. Now the fridge wasn't cold at all. So we woke up ring and wet and had warm drinks in fridge. After the 4th day the blow dryer broke. For a brand NEW Ship they sure have problems! The last nite the oven in the caribe cafe broke and the chef stated it will be weeks before it is fixed. Good Luck for future cruisers on this Ship! May your experience be better than mine.

[Host CJSKIDS]

We too just returned from the 7/2 sailing. I was upset also with missing the Grand Turk's port, but got over it. Our problem was with our room. I paid for a balcony cabin for 3. There was no 3rd berth in the room and reported it to the cabin steward and was referred to the pursor's desk. They sent the supervisor to our room who gave us a cot which was placed in front of our balcony door. This gave limited access to the balcony and drawers that had our clothes in. Next came the air conditioning in the room. It didn't work at all. The electrician came to check it but it never was fixed. Now the fridge wasn't cold at all. So we woke up ring and wet and had warm drinks in fridge. After the 4th day the blow dryer broke. We didn't bother reporting it, since none of the other issues were resolved. The food was poor quality and a limited variety to choose from. The desert choices were bad, coice of a cheese cake, ice cream,sugar free item, was very limited also.There was NO midnite buffet on any nite. The shows were medioker. The main show room was full 20 minutes prior to the show and within 15 minutes after the show started, people were clearing out (due to poor shows). Pool area was packed with all chairs taken and no one in them. I made the best of it since I love to Cruise and could cruise to nowhere. Our friends who were along ( a prior Navy man) were very disgusted with missing the port in Grand Turk's due to the fact he was stationed there 40 yrs ago and was hoping to see the island again. I can usually adjust to any conditions of a vacation, but I was annoyed of the inconvience of my room. This was my 1st Princess cruise and I have cruised 15+ cruises and never encountered so mant negative aspects on a vacation. I am cruising in 3 weeks on another cruiseline and I am looking forward to a better trip! For a brand NEW Ship they sure have problems! The last nite the oven in the caribe cafe broke and the chef stated it will be weeks before it is fixed. Good Luck for future cruisers on this Ship! May your experience be better than mine.

 

You have every right to be upset about your cabin situation, from not having the proper amount of beds to the ac not working. I would certainly take this up with Princess. Sorry you didn't enjoy your Princess cruise. I would suggest trying them again as they really are a great cruise line.

[IKE]

I also feel the $200 per person Shipboard Credit was a fair compensation for missing Grand Turk. I have been on over 50 cruises and have missed several ports over the years and never received any compensation like this.I have sailed all cruiselines and Princess did the right thing for their passengers this Cruise.. The visit at Grand Turk was only for about 5 hrs anyway. I understand it is a lovely island but really not much to see and do. I think I could accept the Shipboard Credit and be quite happy.It is disappointing but I think I would get over it and still have a nice cruise.I sail myself on the "Crown" this coming Sept. and I have never been to Grand Turk and Bermuda. I would be disappointed too if We missed these islands.There is always next time! Sorry so many of you had an unhappy cruise! Ike