Crown Review 3/24-3/31-what A Great Time We Had!!

[mrscaribbean]

We had a great time on the Crown. There were six of us in our group. Me, DH, 2 Son’s, Son’s girlfriend, & MIL. We had 2 balcony cabins on the Baja deck (B506 & B510). We loved the location of our rooms.

Embarkation:

What a breeze this was. We got there sometime after 3:00 & there were no lines. It took a minimum of about 10 minutes for check-in.

Dining:

We had anytime dining. We loved the wait staff that we had the first night, so we made a standing reservation the rest of the week with them. Our waiter (Jon) was very efficient & entertaining. He brought out his guitar on several evenings & sang to us. Our Maitred (Francesco) was one of the best we ever had on any cruise. The food was always delicious. We also did afternoon tea in the dining room which is offered everyday from 3:30-4:30. This is something you have to go to at least once. They offer scones with cream & jam, finger sandwiches & mini desserts. Yummy!!

Ports:

Barbados-We did the Malibu Beach Getaway excursion. It was nice. The kids enjoyed the beach because there we some good waves for them to jump into. On this tour they also offered the tour of the Malibu Rum Factory. My son & his girlfriend went on the tour & they really liked it. After we were done at the beach we went shopping in town. We didn’t really care for the shopping here much. This was our first time in Barbados, & don’t really care if we go back or not.

St. Lucia-We did the Catamaran Cruise to the Pitons excursion. We really enjoyed this tour. This island is absolutely beautiful. They made a stop so we could swim for a little bit. Once again the kids loved this because they got to jump off the catamaran & thought that this was cool. This was also our first time visiting this island & we would love to go back & explore it some more.

Antigua-We didn’t have any tour planned on this island, so we went shopping for a little bit & went back to the ship & enjoyed the pool. This was our second time to this island. It seems as if they cleaned it up some from the last time we were here. Next time I would like to explore the island a little more.

St. Maarten-Our favorite island. We did the French Riviera Beach Rendezvous excursion. We have done this in the past & loved it just as much as the first time. Orient Bay Beach is beautiful. We went shopping after our tour & made most of our purchases here. As always, we had a great time here.

St. Thomas-We didn’t have any tour planned on this island either. We just went shopping in town & came back to enjoy the pool again. I must agree with everyone about docking at Crown Bay, it is a bit of a disappointment. Even if they do get the buildings filled with shops, they won’t be the same as over at the Havensight dock.

Entertainment:

I only went to the one comedian that everyone raves about which is Sarge. He was good, but my son said that he liked Al Katz better. We went to Trivia practically every night & had a blast. We even won the last night. They gave us reversible tote bags which are pretty nice. My DH & MIL were in the casino till wee hours of the night. No big winnings for either of them, but they enjoyed themselves. The entertainment that they had in the Piazza was a nice treat.

Debarkation:

This was also a breeze. We were called around 9:15 to disembark, found our luggage right away & were at the airport sometime before 10:00.

There was so much going on all the time. If anyone was bored, then there was something wrong with them. The ship is absolutely beautiful. We would highly recommend this ship to everyone. We highly recommend Princess to everyone!!

The only disappointment on the entire cruise was the weather, which of course was no ones fault. There were several days with overcast skies & some light rain in St. Maarten & St. Thomas, but it didn’t rain for very long & it most certainly didn’t ruin our time. This was very unusual for this time of the year. Even the islanders were saying how they couldn’t believe all the rain they were getting in the month of March.

It’s hard to believe that all this planning & waiting & it’s over so fast. I have all of the Patters if anyone has any questions. I’m sure I missed telling a lot more, but I’m still in a bit of a fog & this rocking won’t stop & I’M HUNGRY TOO!! Now I have to get my stomach use to not eating all the time.

[CruiseKing]

Hi Donna,

Great news. Myself, DW & In-Laws sail in 6 weeks on the Crown. Could you tell me who the Maitre'D and CD were? It's usually listed in the embarkation day.

Thanks,

[GOBOLTS]

Thanks for the great review! Were the formal nights sunday and thursday? also could you tell us which night was caribbean night. Did you try Sabatini's?

[mrscaribbean]

CruiseKing: The Maitre'd is Nicola Furlan & the CD is Kelvin Joy.

 

GOBOLTS: Formal nights are Sunday & Thursday. Caribbean Night is Tuesday. We ate at Sabatini's on Monday. It was delicious. Lots of food. Service was excellent.

 

You are all going to love the Crown. Have a wonderful trip!!

[cabana]

Could you please tell me what time the Ballroom Dance classes were during the week.

Glad you had a nice time.

Thanks again

[CruiseKing]

CruiseKing: The Maitre'd is Nicola Furlan & the CD is Kelvin Joy.

 

GOBOLTS: Formal nights are Sunday & Thursday. Caribbean Night is Tuesday. We ate at Sabatini's on Monday. It was delicious. Lots of food. Service was excellent.

 

You are all going to love the Crown. Have a wonderful trip!!

 

Thank You,Donna

[mrscaribbean]

Could you please tell me what time the Ballroom Dance classes were during the week.

Glad you had a nice time.

Thanks again

 

Hi Cabana!

 

The only day that they offered it was on Sunday @ 10:30 am. That was our only day @ sea. Enjoy your vacation!

[Dixe Lee]

Hi, Donna,

Wonderful review! We are so excited for our cruise in October. We will be in Baja deck B335. We have read so many posts about the Caribe deck balconies that we are a little concerned that we will be disappointed with our balcony - we don't plan on spending a whole lot of time sunning, so it will probably be enough for us. What did you think?

[FloridaLaura]

Donna...off topic for a minute we have cabin B335 on the Caribbean Princess coming up this month, wondering if the crown and CB are the same layout? Just caught my eye B335!!! Have a great cruise

[Books]

Donna, thanks for the review. We are boarding the Crown this Saturday for our very first Cruise. Did you find that one formal night was more formal than the other? I have one elegant gown and one simple cocktail dress. Trying to figure out which one to wear on which night. Thanks

[mrscaribbean]

Dixie Lee: We loved our balcony room on the Baja Deck. It is entirely covered, & no one can look down at you. The Caribe deck is half covered & half not...you get a bigger deck, but when we looked down there, you can see them...we even got to see a lady standing outside in her underwear...LOL! That was not a pretty sight, especially since she was an elderly lady...at least she had a top on.

 

FloridaLaura: Yes, the Crown rooms are the exact layout as the CB.

 

Books: I didn't really see much difference in the formal nights, but my son's girlfriend opted to wear her long dress on the second formal night.

 

I hope that helps you all out. I hope you have a wonderful cruise & that you enjoy the Crown as much as we did.

[Dixe Lee]

Dixie Lee: We loved our balcony room on the Baja Deck. It is entirely covered, & no one can look down at you. The Caribe deck is half covered & half not...you get a bigger deck, but when we looked down there, you can see them...we even got to see a lady standing outside in her underwear...LOL! That was not a pretty sight, especially since she was an elderly lady...at least she had a top on.

 

I hope that helps you all out. I hope you have a wonderful cruise & that you enjoy the Crown as much as we did.

 

Thanks, Donna,

Glad to hear that no one can look down on us. Will heed your advice about looking down - we will be careful with that :D