Update to 9/29 Crown Princess Review

[Trainman52]

I have updated the review to include a description of the "behind the scenes" tour that we received on board the Crown from James Deering.

 

http://richlevow.com/crownprincess.aspx

[jbrambach]

Trainman,

Thank you for such a wonderfully written and thorough review. I can't wait to board the Crown in 9 Days!!!:)

 

One question, I read in your review that you brought sodas onboard; did you by any chance also bring on wine? If not, did you hear of anyone onboard having difficulty bringing more than the alotted 1 bottle of wine per person?

[Trainman52]

Trainman,

Thank you for such a wonderfully written and thorough review. I can't wait to board the Crown in 9 Days!!!:)

 

One question, I read in your review that you brought sodas onboard; did you by any chance also bring on wine? If not, did you hear of anyone onboard having difficulty bringing more than the alotted 1 bottle of wine per person?

 

We are not big wine drinkers and did not bring any aboard. Sorry, but I didn't hear of anyone bringing wine on board.

 

Have a fantastic cruise! The colors should definitely be changing by then.

[jbrambach]

We are not big wine drinkers and did not bring any aboard. Sorry, but I didn't hear of anyone bringing wine on board.

 

Have a fantastic cruise! The colors should definitely be changing by then.

Thank you....BTW, we are on the repo cruise (I hope:eek: :D )

[rdsqrl]

Thanks, Rich! Lucky you -- that sounds like it was fascinating!

By the way, your photos are all lovely. I didn't see any from the behind-the-scenes tour . . . did I misunderstand your statement at the end of the review, that you had posted photos from that, or did you mean you had posted photos of the entire trip? It's possible my reading comprehension skills are a little eroded after a glass of wine! Anyway, thanks for sharing your review and pics with us!

[Atomica]

Argh!! That just makes me wish I was still on the Crown :)

 

Fantastic review - thanks for taking the time to post it. You're very much correct about James Deering: Princess is lucky to have him.

[Trainman52]

Thanks, Rich! Lucky you -- that sounds like it was fascinating!

 

By the way, your photos are all lovely. I didn't see any from the behind-the-scenes tour . . . did I misunderstand your statement at the end of the review, that you had posted photos from that, or did you mean you had posted photos of the entire trip? It's possible my reading comprehension skills are a little eroded after a glass of wine! Anyway, thanks for sharing your review and pics with us!

They are the last 20 photographs in the album. They went up yesterday afternoon. I just looked and they are there.

[Trainman52]

Thanks, Rich! Lucky you -- that sounds like it was fascinating!

 

By the way, your photos are all lovely. I didn't see any from the behind-the-scenes tour . . . did I misunderstand your statement at the end of the review, that you had posted photos from that, or did you mean you had posted photos of the entire trip? It's possible my reading comprehension skills are a little eroded after a glass of wine! Anyway, thanks for sharing your review and pics with us!

 

I corrected the link into the album. For some bizarre reason the cut and paste keeps messing up. Try this:

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560968680BxyKNX

 

When you get to the last page of photos, you will see the ones from the behind the scenes tour.

[San10s]

Rich

 

Thanks so much for your review and photos. We loved the Crown last February and are looking forward to being on her again next week for the repositioning cruise. I look forward to meeting James Deering during the cruise. I enjoyed the "behind the scenes" stuff. How great that he took his time out of what is surely a busy day....everyday. I was particularly interested to read through the Service Creedo. (I had to insert two "ee's" instead of one in Creedo as for some reason the word changes to all asteriks if I don't!) Overwhelmingly I have had Princess staff "live" their Creedo on every cruise with Princess. I also was interested to learn the the crew's rec area was on ....I think you said deck 8. I would have thought that most of those areas were on the lower decks.

 

Thanks again for taking your time to provide us with your experiences.:D :D

[Trainman52]

Have a great time on the cruise. James told me that he enjoys doing that kind of thing. He really is what we call a "people person" (a term that tends to be overused, but not in his case). Now that you know what he looks like, I'm sure that he would love to have you stop him just to say hello.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

[cruisinbuddy]

Well that's the first novel I've read for a review.:) Very inciteful(sp). We're sailing the Crown in Feb. and can't wait, especially after reading this. Thanks for taking the time.

[rdsqrl]

I corrected the link into the album. For some bizarre reason the cut and paste keeps messing up. Try this:

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560968680BxyKNX

 

When you get to the last page of photos, you will see the ones from the behind the scenes tour.

 

Thanks, I've found them! Great photos, they really told a story! James Deering sounds like a terrific guy, hope to meet him myself one of these cruises. Anyway, thanks again for taking so much time to write that great review and all that good info/captions on all those photos.

[WendyG]

jbrambach: I was on the Crown 9/29 but flew into NY so I didn't bring wine with me as I wasn't sure of airline regulations. When I hop on a ship in Ft Laud or Miami (where I live) I usually bring my favorite wines in my carryon.

 

At the first port of call (Halifax) we stopped in one of their liquor stores and bought 4 bottles of wine, different kinds of beer and a few single 8 oz bottles of vodka mixed drinks I have never seen or heard of! We carried them right onto the ship, through the scanner and into our room, no questions asked.

 

I'v eheard they only frown upon hard liquor but wine and beer they seem to be ok with as we have been on 8 princess cruises and have never had an issue with bringing wine, beer, and soda onboard.

[arizonaperson]

One question, I read in your review that you brought sodas onboard; did you by any chance also bring on wine? If not, did you hear of anyone onboard having difficulty bringing more than the alotted 1 bottle of wine per person?

I flew in to JFK on this cruise and packed a small cardboard box with water bottles,coke, and wine, all wrapped in bubblewrap and checked it in with the luggage at airport and then at pier put a Princess luggage tag on it. It was never opened by anyone except me. Broke down box and put it with the trash in room. So very easy to do. I did this last time on my cruise as well.

[jrw]

The two best places to find James will be:

 

1. International Café -- he eats lunch here every day and I know why, it is very good!

 

2. Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle -- if your Roll Call sets one up, James will show up. We had 2 of them, and he came to both, with lots of info and answers to any/all questions. He personally handled the arrangements for the second meeting, as well as a dinner reservation for those in the Roll Call who wished to have dinner together after the second meeting (arranged after the first meeting).

 

We are just off the Crown yesterday...and ran into James almost every day. He is very personable and definitely enjoys his job.

 

Oh, and he is on Cruise Critic every day...he told us that he does log in and read everything...and that he prints out the threads with complaints so that he can pass them along to the powers that be, and they can see exactly what is being said and the relative volume of specific gripes.

[princess girl]

Thanks of posting the link to your photographs. It is nice to see what the new Crown Princess looks like.

 

It differs hugely from when I worked for Princess, as crew did not have the luxuries that you can see in the cabins you have taken photographs off. The crew bar was a shabby old area and the crew mess was not really a place you ate as the food was so terrible.

 

Were you shown any bartenders/cabin stewards accomodation ?

 

I think Princess have made sure that you have seen the areas that they wanted you to see. I am sure that the food crew are given today, is completely different to the food that the officers eat.

 

I would not be happy knowing that passengers were being shown around private areas if I still worked for Princess. The areas that you were shown would have been part of our home for the 6 -10 months that we were aboard.

 

Not sure why passengers feel the need to look around crew areas - would you be happy with a bunch of strangers walking around your house ??

 

Anyhow, sorry to butt into your post. Just felt I had to give my two pennies worth.