Just Off Crown 3/22-3/29

[neptune18]

Just off Crown. Had a great time on great ship with wife and two boys, 14 and 12. Sailed Crown last year on Aruba itin. This time did Barbados. Thought food was better in dining room than last year. Did Crown Grill twice and Sabatini's once, both outstanding and well worth addt'l charge. Stayed in AC mini-suite. Room steward Romlin was great.

 

Didn't do any shows except comedians. First night was some comic/magician in Princess Theater who was awful. Saw him the next day doing the Easter kiddie show in Piazza. Other three were Philadelphia, an Asian comic who also juggled and Sarge. This was second time we saw Sarge and thought he was just so so both times. The other two guys were very funny.

 

Barbados- Silver Moon II. Highly recommend, would do it again.

 

St. Lucia- Taxi to Reduit Beach. Great beach. Rented waverunners.

 

Antigua- Taxi to Dickenson Bay. Beautiful beach. Kids went tubing. Nice downtown. Much nicer than Castries ( St. Lucia ) which was seedy.

 

St. Thomas- Went into town in morning, then did BOB excursion in afternoon. Was okay, would not do again.

 

Tortola- Wild taxi ride to Cane Garden Bay. Beautiful beach. Huge waves.

Rented boogie boards for kids. They were in water for hours and had a blast. Beach got very crowded with only two ships in port.

 

Overall, agreat cruise. Almost everyone in crew very nice and attentive, even at pursers desk. Dining room staff and Sabatini's/Crown Grill staff outstanding. Only complaint is with outside bartenders who always seem to ignore you and are unfriendly, especially to kids with coke cards. Cruise director, J.J. was okay but Deputy Cruise director (can't recall name ) was hillarious, should have his own show.

[bwjm]

What did your 14 year old think of it? Enough to keep them busy? Mine will be 14 when we cruise next year.

Thanks

[Pia1913]

I wonder if someone else can give us the name of Deputy CD. JJ I can live without.

 

Pia

[IWanttocruisenow]

Just off Crown. Had a great time on great ship with wife and two boys, 14 and 12. Sailed Crown last year on Aruba itin. This time did Barbados. Thought food was better in dining room than last year. Did Crown Grill twice and Sabatini's once, both outstanding and well worth addt'l charge. Stayed in AC mini-suite. Room steward Romlin was great.

 

Didn't do any shows except comedians. First night was some comic/magician in Princess Theater who was awful. Saw him the next day doing the Easter kiddie show in Piazza. Other three were Philadelphia, an Asian comic who also juggled and Sarge. This was second time we saw Sarge and thought he was just so so both times. The other two guys were very funny.

 

Barbados- Silver Moon II. Highly recommend, would do it again.

 

St. Lucia- Taxi to Reduit Beach. Great beach. Rented waverunners.

 

Antigua- Taxi to Dickenson Bay. Beautiful beach. Kids went tubing. Nice downtown. Much nicer than Castries ( St. Lucia ) which was seedy.

 

St. Thomas- Went into town in morning, then did BOB excursion in afternoon. Was okay, would not do again.

 

Tortola- Wild taxi ride to Cane Garden Bay. Beautiful beach. Huge waves.

Rented boogie boards for kids. They were in water for hours and had a blast. Beach got very crowded with only two ships in port.

 

Overall, agreat cruise. Almost everyone in crew very nice and attentive, even at pursers desk. Dining room staff and Sabatini's/Crown Grill staff outstanding. Only complaint is with outside bartenders who always seem to ignore you and are unfriendly, especially to kids with coke cards. Cruise director, J.J. was okay but Deputy Cruise director (can't recall name ) was hillarious, should have his own show.

 

Thanks for the review. Any trouble getting reservations for the specialty restaurants? Any tips?

 

What was the average age of passengers on the ship?

[Chilly Sauce]

Thanks for the review. Any trouble getting reservations for the specialty restaurants? Any tips?

 

What was the average age of passengers on the ship?

 

I can't answer the first question, but I thought there was a good mix of ages. This cruise probably had more teens and kids than most Princess cruises do just because of Spring Break and families traveling. So if I had to guess, I would say the average age was somewhere low 40's, but definately all ages were represented.

[kendon]

Just off the Crown last month. We have two teenage boys. Fun is what they make of it. Once they meet up with other kids, they have a great time whether in the teen center or not.

[neptune18]

No problem getting reservations. Just call as soon as you get on.

There was a good mix of ages, probably more kids than usual but we always go during spring break.

 

My 14 year old had a great time but he didn't go to the kids club. We only had one sea day.

[pineapple1176]

We were on Crown 3/15-22 and the Deputy Cruise Director was Mark. He was wonderful; mostly in the Explorer Lounge. Cute british accent and great timing and sense of humor.

[Pia1913]

We were on Crown 3/15-22 and the Deputy Cruise Director was Mark. He was wonderful; mostly in the Explorer Lounge. Cute british accent and great timing and sense of humor.

 

Thanks for the reply. Will look forward to his humor, if of course he's still on board when we get there.

[Familycruzer11]

THanks for posting the review. We were also on Crown for "aruba" itinerary last year and will be doing "barbados" in a few weeks. I had read positive reviews about the food and was wondering how it compared to last year - glad to hear it's even better.

 

We were thinking of taxi to Cane Garden Bay - can you tell me what was "wild" about it? I'll have elderly mother in law with me.

 

What time did you board and how was embarkation?

 

Thanks again!

[neptune18]

Family- They will herd you onto open air or closed buses for the ride to CGB. The ride is up and down steep, winding hills on narrow roads. Try to get onto an open air bus. Your mother in law will be fine, there were all ages there.

 

Embarkation was fine as we got to pier very early. We were staying at Sheraton O.S.J. and the kids were antsy so we walked over with luggage. They let us on at about 12:00 and we were among first on ship. We got off at about 3:00 to buy water and the lines waiting to board inside the terminal were pretty long. By the time we got back about an hour later they were gone.

[caribcruiser787]

Thanks for the review! Less than 4 days to go!!! :D

[Familycruzer11]

Family- .... The ride is up and down steep, winding hills on narrow roads. Try to get onto an open air bus. Your mother in law will be fine, there were all ages there.

 

 

Embarkation was fine as we got to pier very early. We were staying at Sheraton O.S.J. and the kids were antsy so we walked over with luggage. They let us on at about 12:00 and we were among first on ship. We got off at about 3:00 to buy water and the lines waiting to board inside the terminal were pretty long. By the time we got back about an hour later they were gone.

 

Thanks Neptune (maybe it is really me I am worried about :o )

 

We are staying at Sheraton OSJ also - so, I think we've got our plan!

 

Thanks again!

[dforeigner]

Welcome back.

[heartofamerica]

 

What time did you board and how was embarkation?

 

Thanks again!

 

I was on the 3/15 sailing of the Crown - we booked air and pre cruise hotel thru Princess...they had us on busses (put us in the Marriott resort) at 1 for the short ride to the pier. It was about 30 minutes from stepping off the bus until stepping aboard the ship, and that included a stop in the liquor store before boarding. Beautiful ship.

[nabby]

LOL on the description of the Tortola taxi ride. I've been in the BVI plenty of times and those drivers really are pretty crazy. Love the blind curves! They don't seem to have many accidents. Put MIL in the middle and tell her not to look, especially when driving along the ocean cliffs (no guard rails). You will be fine.

 

P.S. You couldn't pay me to drive a car down there. Oh, and make sure you leave plenty of time to get back to the ship. You never know when the taxi will be stopping for cows, chickens, extra people, etc.