Crown Princess 01/27 - 02/03 Review/Comments

[sailorsbewe]

Returning from the Caribbean to the FREEZING cold at home was not what I was looking forward to at all. Especially after having such a wonderful time on the Crown Princess.

I will do a quick review - and can only compare it to one previous cruise that my husband and I took last year on Carnival Valor.

We arrived in San Juan a day early and stayed at the Hampton Inn Suites - it was a very nice, clean, accomodating hotel with a wonderful outdoor pool and swim up bar! (a great way to start the vacation) We walked to the local Pueblo store (the locals grocery store) and stocked up on our wine and liquor to pack into our luggage for the cruise. There were no problems getting it through onto the ship, but realized that in the terminal where we boarded the ship, we could have purchased liquor and wine there and just carried it on board the ship in our carry on. The people that run the security check in San Juan are not Princess employees and don't care what you take on board.

The ship was very large, and clean - we were on the Aloha Deck - with a balcony. We had the room steward (Narcisco- excellent) open the balcony doors with our 2 neighbours - and this made for a great meeting area, pre dinner drink spot and morning coffee place!

Our room was clean - and very comfortable. I asked for a top sheet to add to the comforter, and this was just perfect. I had thought I would ask for an egg crate topper to the bed for extra softness, but didn't need it. The pillows were very comfortable - not feather - but great after a day in the sun. We had heard about the rooms being too warm, but never had a problem. The air conditioning was set at the lowest it would go, and during the day, we would return to our room after the steward had been there, and we could close the curtains to keep any sun and heat out. This worked perfectly! Tons of storage space for all your clothes (yes I took too much) and the luggage (all of it) easily stored under the bed.

 

Ports of call were Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, St Thomas - so if there are specific questions about any of these islands you can ask. We did one shore excursion through the ship - Sail and Snorkel in Antigua - but the rest we were very lucky in grabbing a van and because there were 8 of us in our group we were able to wheel and deal with the drivers. We had no problems in any of the ports getting transportation, but the worst place for being bombarded with taxi drivers was St Lucia - the drivers want to take you on a tour of the island and the first driver wanted to charge us $55 per person - and we just kept walking through the gauntlet of taxi drivers and at the end of the street we ended up having a tour with a driver (Aaron) for $15/person. IT was great and he took us wherever we wanted to go.

 

The food on the ship was good - not always great, but the presentation - although I love chilled soup and also enjoy seafood. We ate at the traditional sitting each night, except for the Seafood Buffet night. Out waiter was very accomodating, but I enjoyed his assitant better, she was non intrusive and quietly went about her job.

 

I personally found everyone to be very polite and accommodating, but did notice that some people complained about the service. I have been in the service industry and know how it is to be treated poorly, so I always say please and thank you and when I do that, I am treated with the same respect. Sometimes the service was slower around the pool areas, but overall it was fine.

 

I'll write more later - I need to get back to work!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review and glad you enjoyed the Crown Princess, we went twice last year and loved the ship. :)

[Cruisex234]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. My wife and I are doing the exact same cruise on April 7. We too are on the Aloha deck, but opted for an inside cabin this time around. THought we would save some there and enjoy more things abroad.

 

Tell me a little bit about your Antigua excursion, which beach did you go to? We were looking for something to do there.

 

What night was the seafood buffet ? I can't wait for that.

I was also thinking of trying the Italian restuarant on the ship one night for dinner, I can't recall the name right now.

Did you have anytime dining? We are going to give that a try this time around.

Thanks again,

Larry :)

[nikita]

thanks for your review. We are doing the same intinerary this coming Sat! Also, our last cruise was on the Valor last June so I'm very interested in hearing some comparisons. We thought the food was pretty good on the Valor - a step up from our previous Carnival cruises. How did this compare to the Crown? Did you try any of the alternative restaurants? How was the entertainment compared to the Valor - we thought the Valor shows were lacking and also the lead singers were terrible (especially the female!) What side of the ship were you on - if the starboard could you tell me of your views while in port? I'm sorry you had to come back to such freezing weather - it is terrible!! Hope you can survive and your first day back at work isn't too torturous for you!

[willysgrandma]

What pier did the ship leave from? Has it been permanently been moved to Pier 4?

[NJSunWorshiper]

I was on the 1/27 cruise also and loved it. I had no problems with the temperature but I'm the type of person who is always cold. We had perfect weather. I have been on the Star and Golden Princess and found that they have made many small improvements on this ship, although it's 85% the same.

Here are some of my thoughts:

 

Food:

Our waiter Costel was fantastic (his magic tricks and jokes were very entertaining!) and I loved the food. We had late seating but every day we would get a "snack" at the Cafe Caribe buffet around 5:30 to hold us over until dinner. I think it has much better food than the Horizen court. I heard the international cafe had great stuff (for free) like sandwiches and cookies but I always missed it because it was open I think 11-5? and I was always in port.

 

Ports:

Barbados - went to the Boatyard - worth the $15 (includes chair/drink/return taxi) this was the kids' favorite because of the trampoline, iceburg and rope swing in the water. Got my 9yr-olds hair braided ($1/braid)

 

St Lucia - Did a boat trip (11 of us got our own boat) down the coast - $55pp

included ride to volcano, waterfall, stopped for snorkeling and stopped at Marigot Bay. It was all day (9:30-4) well worth it - better than driving. Although I was a little disappointed in the snorkeling. Just ok.

 

Antigua: went to Long Bay. BEAUTIFUL beach! Decent snorkeling. Got my 6yr-olds hair braided by Olive - it took 2 hours but she did a great job. Its lasting better than it did last year.

 

St Martin: went to Orient beach. Very pretty beach.. pretty crowded.. We got chairs at Pirates. I didnt mind the topless or even nude people until I went snorkeling and almost ran into a nude snorkeler!!!! btw, the snorkeling was much better than I expected. I didnt expect any snorkeling at Orient, but theres a small reef right where the nude beach starts. Its small but packed with fish!

 

St Thomas. Went to Coki. Small but gorgeous beach. Best snorkeling all week! You dont even have to go underwater - the fish swarm all over you when you walk in. You can snorkel the left side and the right side of the beach. Had a drink called a BBC - awesome if like Banana, Bailys and Cocunut!! Last year we did Sapphire and LOVED it. I would rate Sapphire a little higher than Coki, but Coki has slightly better snorkeling. The bathrooms at Coki were lacking, but its still a gorgeous beach.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions.....

[NJSunWorshiper]

One more comment... In St Thomas we docked at a different pier than last year. Its further away from Charlotte Amalie which stinks because you cant walk to town and you're farther (which means more $$) from everything

[willysgrandma]

One more comment... In St Thomas we docked at a different pier than last year. Its further away from Charlotte Amalie which stinks because you cant walk to town and you're farther (which means more $$) from everything

 

That would be Crown Bay and the Crown is supposedly permanently docking there.

 

NJ, when you did Orient Beach, did you pre-arrange to have someone drive you and pick you up?

[NJSunWorshiper]

NJ, when you did Orient Beach, did you pre-arrange to have someone drive you and pick you up?

 

No, there are signs with the rates based on # of passengers. It was $6pp each way for our group (we had 16 people) but I think we negotiated half price for the children. I think its like $18pp if you are only 1 or 2 people.

[NJSunWorshiper]

Another thing... the same driver will come to pick you up at whatever time you ask, and you dont pay them until you leave. (I guess they insure your business for the ride home that way)

[booklady26]

We sailed on the Crown last September and are going back on this August with my sister and her husband and some friends. It's sis's 60th birthday, so it should be a blast.

 

Here's answers to some dining questions and my own two cents.

 

We had anytime dining. We would normally go to the dining room around 8:15-8:30 and never had to wait except for "lobster night" which was the second formal night. Even then it was only about 10 minutes. You get a beeper so you can wander around. We always asked for a table for 2 and got it. That's one of the reasons why we love the concept.

 

Sabatini's is the Italian alternative. Lots of courses. Eat light at lunch the day you go and don't have any late PM snacks.

 

Crown Grill is the steak house. Food was pretty good, although steaks were not quite as tender as I would have liked. We went the night of our 35th wedding anniversary. It should have been a very special occassion but instead we had a really bad service problem. However, instead of just getting upset, my husband complained about it. The next day we received a call from the asst maitre'd who invited us back at no charge. Problems do occur, but it's how they handle the customer is what counts. Maybe our being Elite CC members had something to do with it, but we were very pleased with the outcome.

 

Both Horizon Court and Caribe had lots of choices for breakfast and lunch. While there's no omelet station at breakfast, orders are taken for omelets and made to order eggs (over easy,etc) in the center of the Horizon Court by the open kitchen and you just pick up your eggs when they're ready. We never went for dinner.

 

Really good pizza too.

[ginnynj]

One more comment... In St Thomas we docked at a different pier than last year. Its further away from Charlotte Amalie which stinks because you cant walk to town and you're farther (which means more $$) from everything

 

The crown dock is just about as far from downtown as the Havensite side, and less traffic. Now, once all the ships get open, it'll be better. Open bus ride still only $4 pp each way.

[NJSunWorshiper]

It costs us more to get to the beach this year from this pier... maybe all the prices went up? And there was virtually no shopping... just a few small stores at the pier. I seem to remember the pier last year being much nicer.

[DeLa Cruisers]

Hey, just read your replies and I bet that we must have run into eachother at some point b/c we were at The Boatyard, Orient Beach and Coki Beach also!!!

 

I was there with my husband, and our 3 girls (2 of them had their hair braided just on top). BTW, my husband is originally from the Caribbean and I have pale skin and red hair, so we're pretty hard to miss!

[sailorsbewe]

We too were at Coki Beach and it was an amazing beach. We loved it.

 

Caron,

Now that you have described your family, I know I did see you, your husband and three girls. They do look alike but at the time, I wasn't sure if it was you or not.

At Coki Beach we were close to showers and bathrooms (not the nicest) but originallky we were going to go to Sapphire Beach but luckily met a lady in town who said that the electricity and water wasn't working at Sapphire and that Coki is much nicer.

 

Im just now freaking because I got home last night and my camera that I took ALL the pictures on, has told me that the chip has no pictures on it. Im taking it tomorrow to the photo shop and hopefully they will be able to recover the pictures. My fingers are crossed.....if Idon't have any luck, I might have to ask all of you to forward me your pictures of the places that you went and then I can relive the cruise through all of you:o

 

Ports that we did

Barbados - hired a van for the 8 of us...decent price and excellent driver (Gary) who took us around the entire! (I mean entire) Island. We ended up at a beach in the afternoon near The Blue Monkey and spent the afternoon looking for my husbands snorkeling gear that fell off when he went in the water. (Never did find them) LOL

 

St Lucia - two of our group went on the zipline (one of them probably pooped his pants), one stayed on the ship, and the remaining 5 of us went on another tour - grabbed our own driver and he took us around the island (not sure the name of the beach we went too, but not too crowded and a little overcast) We returned to the mainpart of town to walk around abit and then took the water taxi back to the ship.

 

Antigua - two of us went on a catamaran sail and snorkelling out to the barrier reef - fantastic, but a little choppy in the afternoon. Still beautiful water and took (fingers crossed) great pictures with the underwater camera. The rest of the group grabbed a van and went to a marina for the afternoon

 

St Martin - went to the French side, walked through the village and side streeets, ate crepes at a sidewalk cafe (awesome) and returned to the Dutch side for an afternoon of walking around there - lovely island and the highlight of this day was watching the Carnival Valor back into its berth beside us. This is the ship that my family went on last year and loved cruising so much, we booked this trip

 

St Thomas - Coki Beach - absolutely lovely and wish I was there right now!

Great cab driver who took us all over the place on the way back to the ship to get awesome views of MAgens Bay, and the rest of the island.

 

San Juan - back to San Juan and flights were not until 3:30 for all of us, so we grabbed our luggage and threw it into the back of another van and spent the better part of the day driving around Old San Juan seeing some sights, beautiful marble buildings, the Old Fort, and then a sightseeing tour of an area for the rich and famous. ATe at Lupis (great food) at Isla Verde and then to the airport.

 

All in all, a great trip - all islands I'd go back to again and discover more.

 

Post some pictures and I'll do the same.

 

Anyone who was around may have heard us the odd time saying things in a big deep voice "There's a storm a brewin'"

[Quadsd]

We were on the Crown last week too! It was our first Princess cruise and we had a fantastic time. We really enjoyed the anytime dining and met lots of different people each time we ate in one of the dining rooms. Crown Grill was very good with excellent service.

 

We tried Turners Beach on Antigua and it was GORGEOUS! We also went to Malibu on Barbados, a small beach on Pigeon Island in St Lucia and just used the beach by the ship in St Maarten after doing the Segway tour. Hated to come home to the cold weather.

[DeLa Cruisers]

Sailorsbewe...I probably walked right past you b/c I took 2 of the girls to the shower (yuck) and the smelly change room at Coki Beach. My oldest dtr didn't even go in the water. Once she heard there was a lot of fish, that was her cue to stay ashore!!!

 

Barbados ~ We went to The Boatyard. I agree with NJSunWorshipper, worth the money. Tehya and India had their hair braided there, so I spent most of my time under the boardwalk in the shade where the girl was doing it.

 

St. Lucia ~ We did the Caribbean Pirates excursion. I thought it was great! The crew on that boat were friendly and accommadating. We sailed to Pigeon Island where we did a Treasure Hunt to find 6 keys. Once back on board the "Brig Unicorn" the people with the keys had to try and unlock the treasure chest. Tehya had the winning key and ended up winning a beautiful amethest from Diamonds International. Great Fun!

 

Antigua ~ Met up with that tour guide "Rodney" and ended up going on a good driving tour around the entire island for $80 for all 5 of us. Went to Darkwood Beach as well.

 

St. Marteen ~ Did the "Best of St. Marteen" bus tour with Lynette and Mr. Dominc as guide and driver. Saw both the French and Dutch sides. We stopped at Orient beach and had a blast swimming in the crashing waves!! Oh yea, went jewellery shopping and bought a gorgeous diamond ring!!!

 

St. Thomas ~ We tried to book the Sea Blaster Speed Boat and Snorkelling tour but it was sold out. We ended hoping in a taxi and went to Coki Beach to do some snorkelling. I actually saw an octopus in the reef!! If Glen hadn't pointed it out, I would have never seen it...it blending right into the rocks!! And of course, the water camera was sitting still in it's original packaging in the suitcase...on the ship!!

 

Our flight didn't leave San Juan until 6pm, so we locked our luggage up at this place across the street from the pier and took the free trolley to the shopping area and spent the day walking around Old San Juan.

 

All in all, had a great trip, got massively sunburned and have probably close to 1,000 pics to go through (all 3 girls had their cameras):eek:

[sherry52]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. My wife and I are doing the exact same cruise on April 7. We too are on the Aloha deck, but opted for an inside cabin this time around. THought we would save some there and enjoy more things abroad.

 

Tell me a little bit about your Antigua excursion, which beach did you go to? We were looking for something to do there.

 

What night was the seafood buffet ? I can't wait for that.

I was also thinking of trying the Italian restuarant on the ship one night for dinner, I can't recall the name right now.

Did you have anytime dining? We are going to give that a try this time around.

Thanks again,

Larry :)

 

Hi Larry, so this is where you are hiding. Just Kidding. Great to hear from you. We are doing the Eli's Eco tour in Antiqua. Check it out. Awesome tour it seems. Several of us from the roll call are doing it. Sabitini's is probably what you were thinking about. I tried it last May on the CB. I did not like a few of the things, but you just have to give it a try. Well worth the money. Hope to hear from you soon. Mike probably misses another man on the board, too.

[Laurab23]

Would love to see a picture of the room and balcony on Aloha deck, we booked a balcony on Aloha for Sept.

[nikita]

We were on the Crown last week too! It was our first Princess cruise and we had a fantastic time. We really enjoyed the anytime dining and met lots of different people each time we ate in one of the dining rooms. Crown Grill was very good with excellent service.

 

We tried Turners Beach on Antigua and it was GORGEOUS! We also went to Malibu on Barbados, a small beach on Pigeon Island in St Lucia and just used the beach by the ship in St Maarten after doing the Segway tour. Hated to come home to the cold weather.

 

How was the segway tour? I had booked that for our cruise next week but then canceled because I couldn't find anyone who had done it - it was pricey so didn't want to take a chance. Was it fun/worth the money?

[2boyzmom]

What time did you board and was there a long wait?

[willysgrandma]

I am so happy to see four different posts from people on the same sailing and all were happy with the cruise.

 

For awhile, there were a few negative posts about the ship, but she is a beauty and a wonderful ship. These positive comments from four different cruisers should let anyone else going on the Crown rest assured the ship is wonderful.

[sailorsbewe]

WE boarded the ship around 1:00, but had we waited until later in the day (drop off our luggage at the pier and then leave to go to Senor Frogs or something) it wouldn't have been a line up for an hour.

 

Our whole group waited in line and after an hour did get through and onto the ship. Some of our luggage was already at our rooms, and for me, I unpacked and then discovered the ship with my husband. Other in our group got off the ship and went back into San Juan. They had absolutely NO problems getting back on the ship and literally just walked on - no line ups nothing.

[argosy]

How was the segway tour? I had booked that for our cruise next week but then canceled because I couldn't find anyone who had done it - it was pricey so didn't want to take a chance. Was it fun/worth the money?

 

I didn't do the segway, but my friends did. They weren't that impressed with it. After learning how to ride it, they did two loops up and down the boardwalk with the guide and then it was over.

[nikita]

I didn't do the segway, but my friends did. They weren't that impressed with it. After learning how to ride it, they did two loops up and down the boardwalk with the guide and then it was over.

 

Glad I canceled - doesn't sound like it was worth the money!