Crown Princess 7-14 Review

[jsfofec]

I’m not one that normally writes reviews (writing is not my specialty), but I thought I would write about this cruise.

This is our 3rd cruise, 1st on Princess (the previous cruises were on Carnival). Traveling was myself (age 47), DW (doesn’t want anybody to know here age), DD (age 6) and my mother in law.

We arrived at the Brooklyn Pier about 11:25 and by 12pm we were dropping our luggage off in our rooms. Embarktation was absolutley amazingly fast. DW and I had D530 (mini-suite) and my mother in law was in D712 (inside room). Once we embarked, we headed straight to the buffet. The space and layout does take some getting used to, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined by some of the previous comments I read.

Passengers:

There were a lot of kids on the ship, all together almost 600, I believe that around 500 were between 13-17. I just wanted to say that I have never seen such a great group of kids. Everywhere we went, we would run into some and they were always polite, courteous and friendly. I must commend all of the parents of the kids onboard, they all did a great job of raising their kids. We spent a lot of time at the pool with the movie screen, which had a lot of kids all the time. The entire week, they were just having good clean fun, but always were courteous and kind to the older adults who also used the pool.

I read on a previous review of teenagers hanging out in stairways and being rude. That was absolutely not the case on this cruise. There was never any “hanging out” going on anywhere that I could see. I guess it’s just the luck of the draw.

As far as the adults go, again a great group of people to travel with. So many people were so friendly and kind. It seems like there was always somebody who had something nice to say to us. Never once ran into any obnoxious or rude people…again I guess it was the luck of the draw.

Crew:

We found the crew to be very attentive and willing to help. We were always approached and asked if we needed anything. Our room steward (I can’t remember his name right now), kept our room spotless and neat. We ran into him all the time and he always seemed to have something nice to say and ALWAYS had a smile on his face.

We had anytime dining and on our 3rd night, we sat at a table with Jon as our head waiter and Max, his assistant. The service we received from them was so amazing that we requested a table with them for the remainder of the cruise. I have never had such friendly service before either on a ship or on shore at any restaurant I have ever been to. Jon was so good, he always had time to talk to us, and talk to those at all other tables he had, never seemed rushed, but always had things out to us right on time. He has been doing this for some 15 years, so he knows his stuff. The night we celebrated our aniversary, he brought out his guitar and sang us a song. Then on the final night he brought his guitar again and sang a song especially for our DD. Then other tables wanted him to sing them songs. After we left, he was still there singing songs at different tables. One thing I noticed is that all the tables in our section by the 5th night, we always the same people. They all requested Jon for the remainder of the cruise…he was just amazing.

Ship:

All I can say is that we loved the ship. It was absolutely beautiful and super clean. We never had trouble getting around and it just didn’t seem to be as big as it was. Our room was located dead center, D530, so we had easy access to anything above or below us. We spent most of our time at the pool, which by the way, I love the fresh water it has, rather than sea water that Carnival has.

Food:

We never ate at the speacialty restaurants, after we found Jon, we never wanted to go anywhere but with him. For us the dining room food was very good, in the case of the Beef Wellington, it was excellent. Buffet food was very good, depending on what you had. I did like the pizza, much better than Carnivals. Hamburgers were also good, about the same as Carnival, but the french fries were very very good, much better than Carnival. I wish they had something other than just ice tea or water with meals. I liked the lemonaide you could get on Carnival. I had a soda card, so I always had my soda with me.

I was at the International Café every morning to get the chocalate donuts, they were delicious. First I was just getting one, but by the end of the cruise, I was getting four of them and bringing them back to the room to eat on the balcony as a “pre-breakfast snack”.

I also read on reviews that sometimes people were ingored by the wait staff or bartenders with a soda card. That was never the case with me or anybody else I saw that had a soda card. I was given immediate service every single time. Of course if somebody was ahead of me, they were served first, but I was never ignored.

Excursions:

Well, we never really did anything except walk around Old San Juan and shop and hire a taxi in St. Thomas to give us a tour and go shopping. DW likes shopping. I’m more of a sit around and do nothing person.

Disembarktation:

As luck would have it, we were the very last group called off the ship. We had to wait 3 ½ hours for our color to be called. Then when we left, it was in the middle of a rainstorm. But, when we did get off the ship, our luggage was sitting right where it was supposed to be. Things got a little hectic getting a town car or taxi, but we survived and made it to the airport.

As you can see, it sounds like we had a great cruise and we did, except for one horrible incident. On the 2nd day, we were on our way down to the dining room for the 1st formal dinner. We took the steps down rather than the elevator and when we got to the 6th floor, my mother in law stepped off the very last step and as she did it, the ship rocked slightly and she lost her balance and fell into a post, breaking her wrist. First she wanted to take some formal pictures and then we brought her to the ship’s doctor. After examining her, they said that the break was so bad that it caused nerve damage and she needed immediate surgery. At first they wanted her to have the surgery in Bermuda and then she may be able to meet up with the ship in San Juan. We then had to decide who was going to stay with her, did we all want to stay or was my wife only going to stay? We could see the entire vacation crumbling in front of us.

By the next morning, the doctors thought it would be better that she was shipped back to San Francisco for the surgery rather than have it done in Bermuda. After a lot of discussion, between DW and my mother in law, she decided that she wanted to fly back by herself. Fortunately we purchased travel insurance through princess. Princess paid for her flight back to SF, and will reimburse us for her doctor visit. So our Bermuda visit was very difficult as we watched my mother in law drive away in a taxi headed for the airport.

One thing I wanted to point out, is that the hospital staff on the ship was top-notch and went out of their way to make all of us comfortable. Not much is ever said about them, mostly because we never have to interact with them. One person I wanted to mention was Chris, one of the doctors. He was so gentle and kind to my wife, who was in tears and my mother in law. He went to the point of leaving the ship and sitting at the taxi stand with my wife and mother in law until the special taxi arrived for her. He went well beyond his duty to keep her comfortable and I really want to commend Chris for this. He really helped out during a very frustrating and painful period.

This was my mother in law’s first cruise, but she is very up-beat about it and can’t wait to try it again. I think we’ll stick with the elevators next time. BTW, after seeing a specialist in San Francisco, he said that surgery wasn’t necessary…which means she could have stayed with us on the cruise. But, I totally understand the ship’s doctor’s decision. Why risk something that could lead to permanent damage. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

We still had a wonderful cruise and my wife is already planning out our next one. Anybody who is on the fence if they want to cruise on the Crown Princess, trust me, you will not be disappointed. It was great!

[dforeigner]

I am glad everything worked out and you enjoyed your cruise. Although a necessary evil, travel insurance is a must. Even for younger people. Could you please give us (your opinion of course) between Carnival and Princess. Also, on your Carnival cruises, were they 7 day cruises or shorter ones. Thanks.

[CMM]

Enjoyed your review. Glad to hear the medical facility is so good.

[jamscckmc]

Sorry to hear your MIL missed some of her cruise! I wanted to ask you which dining room Jon and Max where in. Was their section near the windows? Welcome home and thanks for the great review!

[jckvpa0]

Well for someone who has never written a review you did a fantastic job !!!

 

Wow, your mother in law is a very strong woman to take a flight back by herself, think she's a keeper !!!

 

I also would like to hear a little comparison, thanks again for the review !

[jsfofec]

I am glad everything worked out and you enjoyed your cruise. Although a necessary evil, travel insurance is a must. Even for younger people. Could you please give us (your opinion of course) between Carnival and Princess. Also, on your Carnival cruises, were they 7 day cruises or shorter ones. Thanks.

 

We weren't going to get the insurance at first, my wife didn't think we needed it, but after reading messages here, I felt it was worth the extra cost...just in case and in our case, just in case actually happened.

 

the first carnival cruise was a 7 day cruise to Puerto Vallarta in '99 and the 2nd was 8 days to Alcupulco (sp?). I really enjoyed both of those cruises, I felt the first was better than then 2nd. However, the Princess cruise was so much better than both. Just the beauty of the ship, full of wood trimming just seemed so much more elegent. I guess it probably really depends on the individual ship. One thing that carnival had that princess doesn't is the NY style deli. Those sandwiches on carnival were to die for. Princess has these little sandwiches at the international cafe, but that is nowhere close to the NY style Deli.

 

The pools are much better on Princess, being fresh water rather than sea water. Of course carnival has the water slide, if you're into that stuff.

 

As far as the rooms go, Carnivals rooms are larger, but princess's are classier and felt fresher. We had a minisuite which is comparable to a regular room on carnival and my MIL had an inside room, which my mother had on carnival. The princess inside cabin looked much nicer, with large mirrors that seemed to expand the room.

 

If I was to choose my next cruise, I would pick Princess over Carnival

[jsfofec]

Sorry to hear your MIL missed some of her cruise! I wanted to ask you which dining room Jon and Max where in. Was their section near the windows? Welcome home and thanks for the great review!

 

Jon was in MichaelAngelo. We were seated near the back wall, not near any windows. I would love a window seat, but I much rather sit at Jon's table.

 

I don't know if waiters rotate to different dining rooms for each cruise or not. Jon said he' going to be on the Crown Princess until November, then he's going home for a few months. He said he's going to be on the Golden Princess starting in February.

[jsfofec]

Well for someone who has never written a review you did a fantastic job !!!

 

Wow, your mother in law is a very strong woman to take a flight back by herself, think she's a keeper !!!

 

I also would like to hear a little comparison, thanks again for the review !

 

Princess is definitely a step up in almost every area, except for that NY style Deli carnival has. Plus carnival has the lemonaide fountain drinks available all day, and icecream. You have to pay for the icecream on Princess, except for the 1 free hour of icecream each day.

 

International Cafe is really nice, that's something carnival doesn't have.

 

When we were on the Carnival Spirit, they also had a station style buffet like Princess has, but there's is much larger and organized with different style of food at each station. So if you want asian style food, you go to a particular station, if you wanted deserts, you go to a station, if you want american food, you go to it's station. Easier to get what you want.

 

Overall, I believe the food is much better on Princess. I loved the fresh cookies all day long. Another nice touch is that in the middle of the afternoon, on Princess they walk around the pools with trays of cookies and a canaster of milk to give to anybody who wants some. It's a nice little touch to get your afternoon cookies and milk

[C&F]

Thanks for the great review. I was on the same sailing and will be posting a review next week. I learned firsthand 3 years ago that cruise insurance is a must. My arms were badly burned (2nd and 3rd degree) in a fire just weeks before my cruise. We were on the fence until a few days before we were to leave. We decided to cancel rather than have me in the blazing Mexican sun with bandaged arms.

The funny thing is that I was not going to purchase the insurance. Something just nudged me toward buying it about 2 weeks before my accident.

Hope your MIL is doing better. We laso really enjoyed this cruise on the Crown which was our second. Now I am looking at our cruise for next summer to cure my cruise withdrawal.

[Spender Nui]

Glad that everything worked out for you under very difficult circumstances. But checking your dates ... do you mean 7/5 - 7/14?

[hill6]

Glad that everything worked out for you under very difficult circumstances. But checking your dates ... do you mean 7/5 - 7/14?

 

 

 

probably July 14-23.

[hill6]

Sorry to hear about your mother in law's accident but I am glad to hear that the medical staff was so diligent and caring and that your mother in law is fine.

[spingal]

I really enjoyed reading your review. :D Thank you so much for taking the time to write it.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your MIL. Glad to hear that she is doing OK. I was on the Crown in November and had a minor diving incident involving jelly fish. I too used the medical center and they were AWESOME!!! It is nice to know that they are there to help if you need them. And I hope anyone reading this NEVER needs medical center attention.

[scooterzidel]

We were also on this sailing with our 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son - and I totally agree with your review, we had the greatest vacation and found the ship and it's staff superb:) . Our kids love to swim so we spent most of our time at the MUTS pool - I enjoyed watching whatever was on the screen and the kids played with their friends, as that pool seemed to have lots of kids from 5-12 years old. The bartender Gregor from Germany always had a big smile and was always very friendly, and the kids enjoyed going and getting their own drinks.

 

The funniest thing was that as everyone is drinking all these fancy expensive drinks they are complaining about spending $1.50 on some decent ice cream!! We found the ice cream to be delicious and certainly didn't let the cost stop us from getting it. The free pizza and hot dogs at that pool were also great - and the Horizon buffet was conveniently located there as well. Our kids did not want to go to the kids club, so they spent all their time with us and their new friends - although the kids club seemed to have tons of activities.

 

We had the 1st seating of Traditional dining in the Botacelli dining room with our waiters Simon and Albert and absolutely loved it. One night in the middle of the cruise we decided to dine with some new friends so we all went to the Michealangeo dining room and it was a totally different negative experience - no warmth and the service was definitely slower and not as careful (one of us had the wrong main dish given to us twice) so we never went back there again - we preferred our table in the Botacelli

 

In planning for our next cruise I don't think that I want to cruise on a ship with no Movies Under the Stars - does any other cruise line offer something like that at their pools?? All in all, we were absolutely thrilled with our trip, and by doing laundry every 2 days in their lovely big "laundromat" I ended up not coming home with a suitcase of dirty clothes.

[mlmorrison]

Thanks for your great review jsfosec! I've cruised on Princess only (including the Crown), and although I'd like to try other lines, I hate to "mess with success" during valuable vacation time -- so it's nice to hear your comparisons of other lines.

 

And, regarding your assessment of the hospital staff:

 

I must agree that an often overlooked or unreported “positive” experience with Princess was (in our experience) very good medical care facility. My husband and I came down with horrible sinus infections on the Crown last October. The doctor and staff were terrific. Fees for both the appointment and prescription/OTC medications were quite reasonable – at LEAST equal to or better than what we’d pay at home, rather than horrifically marked up. They didn’t process any insurance coverage – all charges were applied to our on-board account, and then we filed claims to our insurance providers after we got home (-- now THAT part was not a very smooth experience!)

 

The ship doctor also provided documentation to assure we received a full refund of our scheduled scuba diving trip, even though we were past the excursion cancellation deadline. (We still held out hope that we’d be able to dive, but that’s a pretty stupid thing to do with sinus problems!)

 

The cardiology units on the ship are reportedly quite comprehensive and better than available in many small towns. (My husband works in the industry, and had a great talk with the Doc about them.)

 

Ahhhh - Yet another reason why, when some day we retire, we’ll want to live on a ship for a few months each year 

[vickie_bernie]

great review for your first one and I was reading and then when you said one thing bad did occur I thought (here it comes) but was impressed that you turned a sad incident into a positive review. I am confident now by your comments that if something should happen medically I will be taken care of with compassion.

 

Hope you how MIW is doing well

[jsfofec]

Thanks for the great review. I was on the same sailing and will be posting a review next week. I learned firsthand 3 years ago that cruise insurance is a must. My arms were badly burned (2nd and 3rd degree) in a fire just weeks before my cruise. We were on the fence until a few days before we were to leave. We decided to cancel rather than have me in the blazing Mexican sun with bandaged arms.

The funny thing is that I was not going to purchase the insurance. Something just nudged me toward buying it about 2 weeks before my accident.

Hope your MIL is doing better. We laso really enjoyed this cruise on the Crown which was our second. Now I am looking at our cruise for next summer to cure my cruise withdrawal.

 

When we got the insurance, I wasn't even thinking of something happening on the cruise, I was more concerned with something happening before the cruise. I'm sorry you missed that other cruise, I'm sure it was a tough decision to make. My MIL is doing fine, she'sreally enjoyed looking at the photos, but I'm sure she wished she was there to experience it all.

 

She was only on the ship 2 days, but became very popular with the staff in that short period of time. We were stopped on numerous occasions by people asking how she is doing...the word got around amongst the princess staff very quickly.

[jsfofec]

Glad that everything worked out for you under very difficult circumstances. But checking your dates ... do you mean 7/5 - 7/14?

 

No, we were on the 7/14-7/23. I wish we were on the 7/5-7/14 because then we would have had b2b :)

[jsfofec]

Sorry to hear about your mother in law's accident but I am glad to hear that the medical staff was so diligent and caring and that your mother in law is fine.

 

yes, they were really great. I think the entire staff was Australian. Very good bedside manner

[jsfofec]

I really enjoyed reading your review. :D Thank you so much for taking the time to write it.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your MIL. Glad to hear that she is doing OK. I was on the Crown in November and had a minor diving incident involving jelly fish. I too used the medical center and they were AWESOME!!! It is nice to know that they are there to help if you need them. And I hope anyone reading this NEVER needs medical center attention.

 

yes, I hope that was our last time.

 

Another thing happened on the ship that I wanted to mention. I know that everybody has fears of getting sick and having something spread through the entire ship. One day near the pool, somebody vomited and immediately the staff usered the person away and sealed off the area of the incident. They kept the area closed for hours after it was cleaned and sanitized. It was right in front of the bathrooms between the 2 pool areas. So even though it was a heavy traffic area, they still kept it sealed off until they felt it was safe to pass through again.

[jsfofec]

We were also on this sailing with our 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son - and I totally agree with your review, we had the greatest vacation and found the ship and it's staff superb:) . Our kids love to swim so we spent most of our time at the MUTS pool - I enjoyed watching whatever was on the screen and the kids played with their friends, as that pool seemed to have lots of kids from 5-12 years old. The bartender Gregor from Germany always had a big smile and was always very friendly, and the kids enjoyed going and getting their own drinks.

 

The funniest thing was that as everyone is drinking all these fancy expensive drinks they are complaining about spending $1.50 on some decent ice cream!! We found the ice cream to be delicious and certainly didn't let the cost stop us from getting it. The free pizza and hot dogs at that pool were also great - and the Horizon buffet was conveniently located there as well. Our kids did not want to go to the kids club, so they spent all their time with us and their new friends - although the kids club seemed to have tons of activities.

 

We had the 1st seating of Traditional dining in the Botacelli dining room with our waiters Simon and Albert and absolutely loved it. One night in the middle of the cruise we decided to dine with some new friends so we all went to the Michealangeo dining room and it was a totally different negative experience - no warmth and the service was definitely slower and not as careful (one of us had the wrong main dish given to us twice) so we never went back there again - we preferred our table in the Botacelli

 

In planning for our next cruise I don't think that I want to cruise on a ship with no Movies Under the Stars - does any other cruise line offer something like that at their pools?? All in all, we were absolutely thrilled with our trip, and by doing laundry every 2 days in their lovely big "laundromat" I ended up not coming home with a suitcase of dirty clothes.

 

We were at the same pool everyday. Our daughter also didn't want to go to the kids club because she also wanted to play with her new friends at the pool. They would play in the pool, then go sit in the hot tub, then back to the pool. I'm sure we probably so you out there. I agree with you, the bartender always had a smile on his face. We also paid for our icecream, it was worth the price

[jsfofec]

Thanks for your great review jsfosec! I've cruised on Princess only (including the Crown), and although I'd like to try other lines, I hate to "mess with success" during valuable vacation time -- so it's nice to hear your comparisons of other lines.

 

And, regarding your assessment of the hospital staff:

 

I must agree that an often overlooked or unreported “positive” experience with Princess was (in our experience) very good medical care facility. My husband and I came down with horrible sinus infections on the Crown last October. The doctor and staff were terrific. Fees for both the appointment and prescription/OTC medications were quite reasonable – at LEAST equal to or better than what we’d pay at home, rather than horrifically marked up. They didn’t process any insurance coverage – all charges were applied to our on-board account, and then we filed claims to our insurance providers after we got home (-- now THAT part was not a very smooth experience!)

 

The ship doctor also provided documentation to assure we received a full refund of our scheduled scuba diving trip, even though we were past the excursion cancellation deadline. (We still held out hope that we’d be able to dive, but that’s a pretty stupid thing to do with sinus problems!)

 

The cardiology units on the ship are reportedly quite comprehensive and better than available in many small towns. (My husband works in the industry, and had a great talk with the Doc about them.)

 

Ahhhh - Yet another reason why, when some day we retire, we’ll want to live on a ship for a few months each year 

 

They charged the medical expenses to the room and now we'll deal with the insurance company. Although when we got home, the claim forms were already here waiting for us. Princess did pay for the airfair, so I won't have to worry about claiming that.

[Travelitis]

In planning for our next cruise I don't think that I want to cruise on a ship with no Movies Under the Stars - does any other cruise line offer something like that at their pools??

 

The Carnival Liberty has it.

 

I'd like info on the kid's program and if there were kids participating in it.

[Travelitis]

Stupid thing won't let me edit. I meant to ask if many kids were participating in the kid's program. Of course some would, but I'd like to ascertain if the program is as good as Carnival's kid's program. I already know that my dh and I like Princess ships better than Carnival.

[Dixe Lee]

What a wonderful, refreshing review! I'm sure that one of the reasons that you had such a great cruise is your attitude, which is super and comes out in your post. People who go expecting negatives usually get negatives and vice versa. Glad your MIL is doing okay.