crown princess review 2/8-2/15 very long

[lyorko]

This was our very first Princess Cruise and we had heard very good things about Princess. I would like to say that that had absolutely no bearing on why I chose this ship. I wanted an Eastern Caribbean and the Crown won.

 

We flew from Fort Wayne to Fort Lauderdale on Staturday the 7th, rented a car to go sight-seeing and spent the night at the Marriott Springhill Suites. Nice hotel, except they did allow smoking in the lobby. we did drive to the inlet park and watched the ships leave Saturday. It was only a dollar to park for an hour, and watching the ships leave only added to our excitement.

 

The next morning we took the car back to the airport and picked up a Taxi for 15.00 for the two of us and we were sitting waiting to board. We were at the pier at 10:50 and we were in our room by noon at the latest. We were expecting the nightmare we had always had with Carnival and couldn't believe how simple and easy it was.

 

Our room was on the Lido deck 306. I had been nervous because of all the negative posts I had read about having our room. If you have this room, don't worry. We heard nothing. We both liked the room. I had more than enough storage space and didn't even begin to use the closet space. This was also our first balconey. I can sum it up in three words" OH MY GOSH" Loved it loved it and will never ever go back to an inside ever.....

 

Our impression of the Crown was that it was an elegant ship and wasn't out there like Carnival. I am not dissing Carnival, we had a wonderful time on Carnival, I just happen to like the Princess decor better. It is more to my taste. One of the first things we did notice right away on the Crown, was that it was a much older crowd than when we were on Carnival. I would judge the average age to be about 60. So I was a youngun at 47. I hardly saw any children on this cruise, I would have been surprised if there were 100, and the ones we saw were very well behaved.

 

We ate our lunch in the Horizons and it was okay. I am not into buffett's of any kind ever, so for me it was so-so. My husband is far less finicky and loved it. We then went exploring the ship and by the time we did Muster Drill, we sort of knew our way around the ship.

 

The muster drill was painless and you sat for the entire time. On carnival we stood outside 5 deep for years......or it seemed that way at the time. Then off we went. We did the sail away from our Balconey. It was great.

 

We had the late seating in the traditional and changed it to early withoutany problems. We ended up doing the anytime most of the nights and will go that route on our next cruise.

 

I can't recall what we ate the first night, but do remember the desserts and they were great. The meals were all well prepared. I can think of only one night that I didn't get excited over our dinner and that was Friday night. I know I ate the southern fried chicken and it just wasn't the greatest, but they did have a 3 goat cheese soufle that was to die for. I am getting a little off track here, but my husband just reminded me that on the Buffett one day they had a sugar free key lime pie thatwas awesome. I don't like keylime let alone anything sugar free and this dessert was awesome. Justwanted to share.

 

Monday first day- It was still a little cool, and we decided to stay on the boat and do the sanctuary. Loved the sanctuary. It was cozy, quiet and we had the lounge chairs that you could snuggle together on.....later in the story you will understand the snuggle part.

 

After dinner we noticed it was getting windy and the boat was having a little more motion...not bad but noticeable.....It rocked us to sleep.

 

Tuesday was a sea day and formal night and our wedding vow renewal. Back to the Sanctuary after breakfast and realized we were the only ones up there. The winds we found out later were almost gale force at that time, and it sounded like you were in a wind tunnell. We had to hold on to each other to stand up right. Needless to say itwas cool and the double lounge chairs plus my sweater, plus 5 or6 towls kept us warm. I slept on deck for 3 hours. Very relaxing.

 

First formal night was great. We went to the Chappel at 5:45 for our renewal and met Capt Andy. What a great man. By this time the ship was really rocking, rolling and jerking at times. It was not easy to walk a straight line. Had our vow renewal, pictures, and my flowers were lovely. I felt like a bride. We ate dinner that night in the Crown Grille. I hate to say it, but the food wasn't any better than the formal dinning room and our waite staff was lacking. My fillet was good, but not the best I have ever had. The apple-berry cobler is to die for.

 

Wednesday_-St Maartens. We did the America's Cup excersion............The regatta was the most exciting thing I have ever done. We had a blast. I now am a Wench Wench...notmany people have that going for them.......If you ever get a chance to do this, go. You won't regret it. Because of the winds and high seas we had the ride of our life.

 

I will tell you that you work you butt off on this excursion. After dinner Wednesday I was done and we were in bed by 10. The winds either Tuesday or Wednesday night were at gale force and the seas were rough. We were standing on our balconey and got wet from the spray of thewaves. We were on the15th deck.........I liken it to a water ride roller coaster you cant' get off. Princess doesn't know this butI wouldhave paid extra for this.

 

Thursday was Snorkeling in St Thomas.... we had done this before on Carnival and loved it.

2nd formal night. One of the things I noticed on Princess was that the majority of the people dressed up, and if they didn't they didn't eat in the formal dinning rooms.

We had fun dancing to the music and listening to the piano music. We went to one show and it was very good. I enjoyed the comedians who were on the boat.

 

One of things I am going to mention and I don't mean to offend, but I think others who are traveling for the first time on Princess need to know this. My husband and I are not smokers and were pleasantly surpised on the Crown that many of the bars/lounges were non-smoking and we were able to enjoy the music. I also want to say how the smokers on this boat were extremely courteous and thoughtful of how and where their smoke was blowing. I appreciate that so if you were one of the smokers thank you for being courteous. That was a very new experience for us on a cruise ship, and for that alone we would go on Princess again.

 

Friday was Grand Turk and we enjoyed the beach until our Ike Devestation tour .

Saturday was ourlast sea day and a reminder that our trip was almost over.

Sunday disembarkation was as smooth as glass.........

 

We loved Princess and bought the FCC. I can hardly wait to book another cruise

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, thanks for posting. :)