LIVE LIVE LIVE from the Crown 7/11 2nd Try

[jillybabes]

Carol, Also am enjoying your posts...Hope you have a smooth ride home and that Nancy wins....Later, Jill:cool:

[Hve2cruise]

Carol..............I look forward to your posts each day. You are hilarius (sp.?) and the kind of person I would love to cruise with. Thank you for taking the time to give us the heads up and and for sharing your voyage with us. I hope you have smooth sailing on your trip home.

 

Happy Sailing!!!!!

 

Helane

[Nick Needs To Know]

Carol,

 

I just read Nancy's post. Are you both ok? Please let us know, we're all concerned for you! And please let us know what happened as soon as you find out!

 

Nick

 

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, read this thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=381758

[w8ng 2 cruise]

Carol......please let us know you are OK.....the TV news reports a sharp list and many injured.....this is so very upsetting....our thoughts and prayers are with you!

[rubrrick]

Carol.........hope all is OK......but if you need anything, you know how to get ahold of me privately!

 

My prayers are with Nancy and you.............and of course.......everyone else onboard.

 

Well..........thank goodness that you are with us still!! Your days of comedy still reign!!:D

 

Rick

[Cruising89143]

Carol, did not get to read all of your posts but was there any dueling pianos on board???;) Hope that your trip home was a good one.

[GoinCruisin]

Carol, did not get to read all of your posts but was there any dueling pianos on board???;) Hope that your trip home was a good one.

 

I was wondering the same thing :D LOL!

 

Carol, glad you had a great time... sorry about how it ended, but I'm so glad you are okay!!!!!!!

[Merion_Mom]

Sorry that I haven't been keeping up with THIS thread.

 

Did I mention that when they announced free internet usage yesterday, the line was about 50 deep for a few hours? I didn't get free rein until after midnight.

 

Nope, no dueling pianos. And the piano guy in Adagio was distinctly unavailable, and actually sort of creepy. ;)

[Merion_Mom]

Do you know what I would have been doing right now?

 

First of all, we would have just finished a fantastic meal at Sabatini's. Then we would have gone directly to Club Fusion, where I would be Nancy's date at the Champagne Reception for the finals of Princess PopStar. She would be having nervous fits, and trying to control them with shots of tequila. In anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes from now, Nancy would have sung and won Princess PopStar.

 

<sigh>

[Cruisin' Chick]

I enjoyed your reporting live from the Crown and am so glad you're okay.

[Sandytoes]

News reported that shows were cancelled last night...

Wondering if they closed the bars? Or was there a mob scene there too (like the internet)?

Choices - choices Internet or Bar-------Hmmmmm? After that kind of experience ---:p

Did MUTS go on -- Titantic movie....?

[Cruising89143]

Do you know what I would have been doing right now?

 

First of all, we would have just finished a fantastic meal at Sabatini's. Then we would have gone directly to Club Fusion, where I would be Nancy's date at the Champagne Reception for the finals of Princess PopStar. She would be having nervous fits, and trying to control them with shots of tequila. In anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes from now, Nancy would have sung and won Princess PopStar.

 

<sigh>

 

Carol all things that happened yesterday put aside, it sounds like you had a ball on the Crown and your attitude during this is A+. How hard is it going to be to cruise with RCI again or do you find positives in both lines?

[Merion_Mom]

Bars open and quite quite free.

 

The announcement was that the comedian would still perform in Explorers Lounge. I don't know if it happened, because we were having SUCH a good time in the Michelangelo dining room with Simon. We had the 8:30 seating, and we didn't leave until about quarter of 11.

 

I heard no announcement about the open bars, but word of mouth was pretty effective. It was mostly younger people getting quite wasted. I can't really blame them; they merely seized the proferred opportunity.

 

The entire Lido Deck was closed. The most damaged area was the Horizon Court area, all of it, including Cafe Caribe. So, no Titanic. :D

 

I asked Jacinta if anyone lost his or her job over the showing of Titanic. (What were they thinking?????)

 

Of course, I'm the one who suggested:

 

a. that someone should go over to the grand piano in the Piazza and start playing "Nearer My God To Thee"

 

b. to the Future Cruises guy, "Do you think that this will affect future bookings?" :D :D

 

(by the way, he was one of only two Princess employees who reacted or spoke meanly or inappropriately - everyone else was a veritable picture of perfect poise and care. He snapped at me, "You should just be glad you're alive" - I said, "Lighten up. I was trying to bring a little humor into our situation".)

[Merion_Mom]

Carol all things that happened yesterday put aside, it sounds like you had a ball on the Crown and your attitude during this is A+. How hard is it going to be to cruise with RCI again or do you find positives in both lines?

One thing that I had been saying to Nancy just before (and I mean JUST before) this happened was that this was the first time I had been on a cruise for more than 7 days, and usually, we would have gotten off the ship that morning, but here we were with two more glorious days stretching out in front of us..................

 

:rolleyes: Do you think that there's a message in here?

 

Gordon, I'm going to do a whole write up of comparisons, because that is truly what people seem to ask the most, whether they are thinking of going from P to RC or RC to P.

[Cruising89143]

One thing that I had been saying to Nancy just before (and I mean JUST before) this happened was that this was the first time I had been on a cruise for more than 7 days, and usually, we would have gotten off the ship that morning, but here we were with two more glorious days stretching out in front of us..................

 

:rolleyes: Do you think that there's a message in here?

 

Gordon, I'm going to do a whole write up of comparisons, because that is truly what people seem to ask the most, whether they are thinking of going from P to RC or RC to P.

 

Thanks Carol and I'm looking forward to reading it.:)

[sealegs9]

Hi Carol-

Glad to hear you made it back home safely. Your daily (several times) posting made me really laugh.

I hope others don't take this the wrong way- I'm trying to keep Carol's spirits up:

What was the fate of the blow up doll?:rolleyes: Was it on deck, occupying a chair when the list occurred? :rolleyes: She may have been deflated by all the broken glass :D. (I really don't expect answers). Keep up the upbeat attitude.

 

P.S. I had to convince my DS to still go on our 8/25 voyage. He finally agreed.

[Quenby]

Carol - glad you got home safely.

 

How was the tour of the Kennedy Space Center?

[KennyC]

... that someone should go over to the grand piano in the Piazza and start playing "Nearer My God To Thee"

You owe me for a new keyboard!! :D

[Merion_Mom]

Hi Carol-

Glad to hear you made it back home safely. Your daily (several times) posting made me really laugh.

I hope others don't take this the wrong way- I'm trying to keep Carol's spirits up:

What was the fate of the blow up doll?:rolleyes: Was it on deck, occupying a chair when the list occurred? :rolleyes: She may have been deflated by all the broken glass :D. (I really don't expect answers). Keep up the upbeat attitude.

 

P.S. I had to convince my DS to still go on our 8/25 voyage. He finally agreed.

OMG, I forgot all about her! Hey, maybe she was swept out to sea! Humans were swept right out of the pool and onto the surrounding deck (but fortunately not all the way to the railings). Can you imagine being a sailor and finding her bobbing on the waves????? ;)

[Merion_Mom]

Carol - glad you got home safely.

 

How was the tour of the Kennedy Space Center?

KSC was amazing. I highly recommend this tour, and the only way to do it is through the cruise line.

[bstrauss3]

Nancy is acutely bothered by the fact that the ship is less than a month old, and someone has already vandalized the "M" in Movies Under The Stars.

 

I don't think it's vandalism - I think it's bad glue. We were on the inagural and every one of the MUTS had a different letter which had fallen off.

 

-----Burton

[Merion_Mom]

I don't think it's vandalism - I think it's bad glue. We were on the inagural and every one of the MUTS had a different letter which had fallen off.

 

-----Burton

You mean like Bad Glue, Bad, Bad, Bad! BAD GLUE! ;)

 

Oh, and I "broke" our cabin. I am short. (ok, I'm *really* short), and I can't just *put* things on the closet shelf. I have to toss them up there. Well, I tossed a bag of t-shirts up there, skimming the wall with it, and the "crown molding" fell down. (cheap crap :))

[cprofits]

Did you love it? Were there any negative aspects of the location compared to a similar balcony on either side? You initially posted that your steward was quite happy that you slept late one day. Did you continue to find him accomodating? I'm just assuming here that stewards stay put. Do they keep the same cabin assignments or do they move around? Were there loungers on the balcony? How did the cabin fare after the 'incident'? Was there any damage?

 

I've been following your posts and you were very entertaining and informative. It was also extremely informative to get your first hand immediate account of what was happening immediately after the 'incident'?

 

Thanks for all your posts! You've been great.

[C&F]

Glad to hear you are ok. We are on the next sailing and are hoping all will be ok. I don't have a laptop and am not going to the internet room, but hopefully others on our sailing will post and let you know how things go. I'm sure many things will be altered, but as long as we have a safe trip, I'll be happy. I was worried we were gonna miss Bermuda as I want to revisit where I proposed to my wife, but we are going there. This makes me happy. I'll miss San Juan, but maybe next year. Throughout this whole thing I have only thought " Maybe my vacation is altered, but what about those injured?!" So far as they are all ok, I can still enjoy our vacation. It would be selfish of me to think any other way. I know others on our board feel the same way. We have a great, compassionate roll call over there.

Here's to a great cruise,

F

[Merion_Mom]

Did you love it? Were there any negative aspects of the location compared to a similar balcony on either side? You initially posted that your steward was quite happy that you slept late one day. Did you continue to find him accomodating? I'm just assuming here that stewards stay put. Do they keep the same cabin assignments or do they move around? Were there loungers on the balcony? How did the cabin fare after the 'incident'? Was there any damage?

 

I've been following your posts and you were very entertaining and informative. It was also extremely informative to get your first hand immediate account of what was happening immediately after the 'incident'?

 

Thanks for all your posts! You've been great.

Oh, that's right! You have *our* cabin on your cruise.

 

Ok, here's the scoop. I really want the report. You have to tell me if they fix the two things that we damaged: The crown molding in the closet that I mentioned. It's just to the right of the cabinet that's at the end of the closet. You'll see when you walk in. The other is the red wine stains. When the ship listed, I had a (perfectly legal) glass of Beau Tour '85 Cabernet on the bar countertop. It went ALL over Nancy's brand new white pants and all over the carpet.

 

Other than that, no damage at all. Our TV didn't fall down - the little metal railing stopped it.

 

The balcony: large and well-shaped. Two metal chairs and two different metal tables, one round and dining type, one low and cocktail type. Two blue more comfortable sitting chairs. No loungers. We possibly could have requested them - there's room for them, but we were fine with what was there. No light, but there is a sprinkler system now. :) Great views. Fabulous place to "hang out".

 

Cabin is not large. Beds are not large. If they are pushed together and made up together, I guess that you'd have a normal-ish queen sized bed. Apart, each is not quite a twin. I sleep in a Q at home, and a narrower-than-twin size does NOT make for restful sleep.

 

Linens and comforter VERY NICE. Vicente didn't make towel animals, but there was a chocolate on the pillow each night (except the last horrible night, but our luggage was all over and he very nicely didn't mess with any of it - but he still re-did the bathroom with all clean towels!!!) He did make pretty fans and layouts of our nightgowns, though.

 

To me, the Princess cabins are poorly designed. (I'm a Royal Caribbean cruiser, and RC takes advantage of every possible place to put some storage) Princess squanders those opportunities. Even the desk top has no desk drawer under it. For two women, there was a sad lack of places to store things out of sight. Fortunately, being the obsessive CCer that I am, I knew to take my handy dandy over-the-door hanging shoe bag rack. It held most of our stuff that we wanted to put away somewhere on shelves or in drawers, but these shelves and drawers weren't there.

 

The bathroom is a typical cruise ship bathroom. I found the shower perfectly adequate, and the water pressure and temperature adjustments were excellent. The sink stopper is broken, but who cares? We pulled the stopper up, and stuck in the up position. If you wanted to fill the sink, you shove it down, and have to pry it back up to empty. Should it function correctly the normal way? Of course, but who really cares? As Nancy loves to say, Build a bridge and get over it. :D

 

The TV has a quirk. When you hit the power button on the remote control to turn it off, it turns itself back on. Very Twilight Zone-ish. And I mean that this goes on again and again and again........like the TV is possessed and won't let itself be turned off. Small but functional refrigerator. Vicente will bring you a large or small ice bucket at your request, and keep it chockfull every day.

 

If you don't want the sodas or bottled water, and they're in your way, Vicente's not allowed to move them. Just stick them behind the curtain.

 

The dryer is on the wall next to the phone in front of the mirror. (it took me five minutes the first morning to find it :o ) Only two plugs, so if you think that you might want to plug in more than two things at once, bring a power strip. If you want to plug things in bedside, bring a 25' extension cord.

 

The area behind the bed is mirrored and has a padded decorative framing. I used pins and stuck things up there to save or store them, like our excursion tickets, and the coupons from our TA for free stuff. (like a bulletin board)

 

LOTS of hanging space. If you actually need more hangers, Vicente will be happy to bring them. (if he doesn't take any out that we left in there, there is NO WAY that you'll need more :)

 

If the robes aren't in the room when you arrive, just ask. They are usually in the laundry from the previous cruise, so they're not there immediately. You keep the same robe all cruise. I guess if you threw it on the bathroom floor with the towels, he'd bring you a new one, but we were happy (and clean) with just the first one all cruise long.

 

Wakeup call on the telephone works well, and you have to get out of bed to answerit/shut it up. There is caller ID on the ship, so you can see who is calling as soon as the phone rings. I think that there's a flaw in the system. It displays the cabin number and name of the caller. What if I don't want someone to know my whole name?

 

Joanie and I were on the phone when the *Incident* happened. That was freaky. Her screaming was unnerving. She was in a hallway (we were talking about making dinner reservations) and had nothing to grab onto. At least there was also nothing to fall onto her.

 

If you have ever sailed on RC and can tell me the ship and cabins you have been in, I may be able to draw more direct comparisons for you.

 

You will have a fabulous cruise, just like us. But don't expect the same excitement. :eek: