2/1 Crown Review

[janotay]

Hey everyone. This is just a quick "laundry list" review of the Feb.1 sailing of the Crown from my view.

 

1. Boarding the ship was a breeze. Very well done.

2. The ship is very pretty. This was my first Princess trip having sailed on Celebrity in the past. I do prefer the more "open" feel of the Summit and Millinium. Personally I did feel a bit crowded at times but overall the ship was fine.

3. Loved the balcony on the Caribe! Really nice staterooms.

4. Service was good. Always, nice and prompt. Didn't see the cabin steward after introductions but that is the way I like it. The cabin was always in good shape.

5. Food was good. I would compare the food in the dining room to that on Celebrity. It was very well done. Sabitinis was really worth the extra charge. Loved it. The buffet was not terrific but typical. I agree with all those that have said it is laid out poorly.

6. Always found a seat somewhere around the pool. Lot's of chair saving but nothing out of the ordinary.

7. The ship did seem to have more "movement" than any I have been on before. Was it the ship or the seas? Don't know. Didn't hinder me in any way.

8. Missed Grand Turk which was a bummer. Bad wind.

9. There were 10 in our group and the Casino was kind to all of us at some point during the trip. Nothing huge but fun. I really loved the cashless system.

10. Didn't go to any of the shows.

11. Bingo and Horse racing was fun.

12. I was dissapointed in the shopping on the ship. Not much there at all and very crowded in the spaces provided.

 

Over all a very nice cruise with lots of good times and memories to bring home. Happy sailing to all. :D

[janotay]

Forgot a couple of things I wanted to mention:

 

Pizza by the pool was really good as were the french fries!

Anytime Dining: I didn't really like it. We couldn't get in until about 8:30 every evening. I prefer a scheduled seating.

MUTS: This seemed very popular. We watched the beginning of the Super Bowl and that was fun. It was just a bit too cool and windy.

Vines: This was a really nice place to go before dinner. Hervy was terrific. Great suggestions for wines.

Crooners: Good martinis. Try the Black Martini! It is beautiful and tastes soooo good.

 

Questions?

[TwinCruiserMom]

Forgot a couple of things I wanted to mention:

 

Pizza by the pool was really good as were the french fries!

Anytime Dining: I didn't really like it. We couldn't get in until about 8:30 every evening. I prefer a scheduled seating.

MUTS: This seemed very popular. We watched the beginning of the Super Bowl and that was fun. It was just a bit too cool and windy.

Vines: This was a really nice place to go before dinner. Hervy was terrific. Great suggestions for wines.

Crooners: Good martinis. Try the Black Martini! It is beautiful and tastes soooo good.

 

Questions?

 

 

I am glad you had a great time on the Crown. We can't wait until March 1st when it is our turn :)

 

I had a question for you about anytime dining. When you say you could not get in until 8:30, do you mean by reservation? If you showed up at 6pm, would you have been seated or would you have to wait a very long time? Which anytime dining room did you visit?

 

Thanks for the info.

[janotay]

Actually both. When we made reservations it seemed that was the earliest time available and when we just came down - that was the time. Keeping in mind there were 10 of us and I am sure that made a difference. Smaller groups seemed to get in quicker. I have to admit we may have not called early enough for reservations. We weren't unhappy with the time just a bit later than we would have liked. We tried both dining rooms.

 

J

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Nice review. Easy to read. Thanks for taking the time to post. I agree about the shops.

[davidnsteph]

Janotay,

 

Thanks for your review. We prefer fixed seating dinner, too. We've also enjoyed the wooden horse racing. The bets are small, and it's a lot of fun.

 

DavidnSteph

[kem]

Thanks for the review, we just booked March 15 sailing. What was the earliest you could board? We have never been on Princess and agree about the assigned dining. We usually go Celebrity. On NCL we felt the service suffered because of "freestyle". We enjoy getting to know the wait staff, etc. I haven't had time to check out how anytime works.. so you can make a reservation? How far in advance ? I thought you just showed up and they took your name. How much was the charge for Sabatini's?

 

How was disembarquement? Whats the latest time you can get off the ship?

 

many thanks!

Karen

[custompcsys]

I have been on the Crown twice now, in June and December of 2008, both times with anytime dining. The December cruise was the last cruise before her drydock. On either cruise the longest I had to wait for a table was 10 min. Most times they took us right in. Granted, there were only 2 of us, not 10. I think that had a lot to do with your wait. We also went early - about 6:00. Never a problem.

[sherman931]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review and sharing your thoughts.

[janotay]

Thanks for the review, we just booked March 15 sailing. What was the earliest you could board? We have never been on Princess and agree about the assigned dining. We usually go Celebrity. On NCL we felt the service suffered because of "freestyle". We enjoy getting to know the wait staff, etc. I haven't had time to check out how anytime works.. so you can make a reservation? How far in advance ? I thought you just showed up and they took your name. How much was the charge for Sabatini's?

 

How was disembarquement? Whats the latest time you can get off the ship?

 

many thanks!

Karen

 

Actually I didn't realize you could do reservations either until one of my co-travelers did so. My mistake not checking it out. However, the service was really good and did not suffer.

 

We were on board by 1 pm. I am not sure what the earliest is but there were a lot of folks on before us.

 

Sabatini's was $20 per person and so worth it! We loved it.

 

We disembarked at 9:30 am. Didn't take any time at all. Smooth. Again I don't know how late you can get off but by the way folks were hustling I would guess we were one of the last.

 

Jan

[kem]

Thanks Jan!! Hope your rentry back to every day life is smooth!

[janotay]

Well since returning I have had the "mother of all colds." Talk about returning to the real world. The cruise just went too fast!

[BballinQT24]

Sounds like you had a nice trip! I went on the Crown in November and loved it!