10/18 - 10/27 Crown Review

[scaaty]

Sorry to be a little late, but getting over a bad cold which I caught at the end of the cruise.

 

We were on the Crown Oct 18 - 27 and are still suffering PCD! The ship is beautiful, the staff extremely friendly and overall the trip was fantastic! :D

 

Embarkation and Room:

We arrived via van a little after noon with 6 friends, embarkation was a breeze and we were in our rooms in under a half hour. First order of business was to reserve the Ultimate Balcony Dinner for our anniversary on Saturday. With that done, it was off to the buffet for a bite to eat.

 

We went back to our room (C752) to meet our room steward Vicente so we could request an egg crate for our bed and just relax on our aft balcony. The room is a Cat BB and had plenty of room and storage for two people. The balcony was completely covered and we enjoyed it for relaxing and listening to the wake.

 

Vicente was an excellent steward and took woderful care of us. And we did give him a challenge with frequent before dinner wine gatherings, the UBD and doing the balcony breakfast for 5 people one morning! We were sure to give him extra tips for all of his wonderful service.

 

Dining:

We had anytime dining and since we all did our own thing during the day, our group of 8 decided to have dinner together most evenings, we made a standing reservation for 8pm with Nicolae and Adrian as our wait staff. They are an excellent team, very professional and very friendly. Sergio the head waiter took extra special care of us and offered us a number of special treats during the week. I caught a cold the next to last day of the cruise, and Nicolae brought me extra soup and Adrian brought me lemon tea in an effort to help me feel better.

 

DH and I prefer breakfast in the dining room over the buffet. We had excellent service every morning except for once, guess not everyone is perfect.

 

I didn't do lunch most days, but would get a late afternoon snack at the International Cafe on deck 5. I usually had one of their great pannini's (tuna, mozzarella with prociutto or mozarella with tomato and basil) with a glass of wine. They also had shrimp, mushroom salad, quiche and a number of other items at no charge. I never got to try the gelato or other desserts, but they did look great. DH usually hit the Horizon court since he hung out at the pool.

 

The UBD was great and worth the money. The UBB was great also. Would not hesitate to do either again.

 

Activities:

We met our cc group in Skywaler's on the first sea day and had a great turnout and get together. It was fun to see familiar faces all during the cruise.

 

Based upon the raves, we were sure to catch Sarge and he lived up to his billing. Didn't see the other production shows as DH and I prefer the casino. Just wish the casino had better ventilation. As an ex-smoker I was able to tolerate the smoke, but some of our group avoided the casino because of it. It's the only area of the ship that I feel needs improvement.

 

I enjoyed trivia, spelling bee, jeopardy and was part of a pathetic team at the scavenger hunt. I also enjoyed my hot stone massage at the spa.:D

 

Ports:

Grand Turk - We went to the beach at the pier. There was a strong undertow that day making getting out of the water a bit difficult. Thankfully lots of friendly folks around to lend a hand. Definitely need water shoes as there are lots of coral and rocks in the water.

 

Ocho Rios - We went swimming with the Dolphins. We had done this 3 years ago and they have since changed the routine. It was great but definitely better the first time around. We also did a little bit of shopping. We found that the liquor prices were better in Grand Turk.

 

Grand Cayman - DH went to the seven mile beach with some friends and I and another friend walked downtown and did a bit of gift shopping.

 

Port Canaveral - We didn't get off the ship since it was a short stop. Also, this was the day my cold started so was happy to kick back and do nothing.

 

All in all it was a great cruise with a good mix of port and sea days. Even though the ship was full, it never felt crowded. We did put down deposits for two future cruises. Just have to decide where and when. :rolleyes:

 

Any questions, I will be happy to try to answer.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[Sandytoes]

No question here.....Enjoyed reading your review.........I am sorry that my DH & I were enjoying our Crown cruise so much that we didn't find the time to go & put down a deposit for our next cruise....

[Canuck Cruzer]

Thanks for the review.

 

We have that cabin in March. Can't wait to try the aft balcony.

[sunprincess]

HI Dianne,

 

Glad to hear you are getting over your cold. Another PCD sufferer here.

Not sure I can hold out until February for my next cruise.

Hearing from my friends on the Crown makes me want to book another now.

 

Great review............Crownies Rule. We really did have a great CC group.

 

Take Care

 

Cathy

[swom]

Any pics of your cabin? We are going to be in C753 in April and would to see more. LOL

Tell me please how you liked the aft cabin. Anything you didn't like about it?

[Laurab23]

Scatty-I really enjoyed the cruise too. Enjoyed everything about our first Princess cruise. Jeff says from no on nothing but Princess. We really enjoyed the fresh water pool at the Lotus spa.WE had a couples hot rock massage that was really nice. We loved the thermal beds too.The crew was the friendliest of any cruise I've been on.All the people in our CC roll call were so nice.Some,like you, we ran into alot and others we never saw again.The ship never felt crowded to us either.And we loved Sarge too.

Who knows-maybe we'll meet up on another cruise out of NYC.

 

Laura

[jennbill]

We were in C752 on 9/21 and loved it. This was our second time in that cabin (Golden '04) and love it. Vicente was our steward as well as was very good at his job. We didn't request anything out of the ordinary but he was always a delight. We found the ship to be very nice. A little hard to navigate at first, kinda like the Dawn, but we got used to it. Omar was okay as a cruise director but his staff was GREAT. Found the food to be very good and the service just fine. Loved football on MUTS. Especially Monday night with a plate of fine German food and a brewski sitting in San Juan. One of my favorite cruise memories. This was a very good cruise and no one should ever hesitate to book the Crown. Happy that you enjoyed it as well. Aft balconies are the absolute best.

[scaaty]

Any pics of your cabin? We are going to be in C753 in April and would to see more. LOL

Tell me please how you liked the aft cabin. Anything you didn't like about it?

We loved the aft cabin :D:D When we were on the Caribbean Princess last year we had checked it out and we booked it on the Crown for this year as soon as we got back. The balcony is larger than the other standard side balconies. It's fully covered and you're protected from the wind. We only had full sun some afternoons dependent upon the ship's position. This was fine with me since I'm allergic to the sun and need to avoid it. I also happen to love the sound of the wake and find it relaxing.

 

We often had pre-dinner wine parties and fit six people comfortably on the balcony. The balcony had two high back loungers, two chairs, a small dining table and a small side table. We'd bring out the other two chairs from the room and still could manuver. The only picuture of the balcony I have is from our dinner. It's too large for me to attach. I'll add it to our CC group pictures and you can check it out at www.kodakgallery.com/scaaty

 

We also did the balcony breakfast for 5 people. We had the food on the two tables and ate picnic style. It was great! I'm sure you'll enjoy your balcony :D

[swom]

Great pics. Thanks for posting the site. Was the aft balcony very hot when the sun was shining on it without the wind?

[scaaty]

Great pics. Thanks for posting the site. Was the aft balcony very hot when the sun was shining on it without the wind?

 

Depends upon your definition of hot. DH was happy out there at all times yet for me there were times I needed to go in to the AC to cool off. Luckily, with the blinds open I still had a great view out the door and could see the wake while remaining cool :D

 

I still prefer the aft balcony with limited breeze than a side balcony with too much wind.