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Semi Live Crown Princess


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If it's where I'm thinking, there's a Chipotle (& maybe a couple other places) on the same side as the hotels. There is a light to cross 84 to get to the shopping plaza, but if you don't start running right when it changes, you barely get across!

 

Thanks. This morning I started looking at other hotels and was able to get another hotel just south of the airport for $56 LESS at a Hampton Inn. Will have to walk to a restaurant but not crossing a major street.

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Pre-dinner lounge set up only for Platinum, Elite and Suite guests. If you are one of those there will be a card in your cabin upon arrival or soon after.

 

we sailed on Regal March 5

It was our 1st Platinum cruise- There was no card in our cabin inviting us to this's lounge--so next cruise I guess I ask someone?!

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we sailed on Regal March 5

It was our 1st Platinum cruise- There was no card in our cabin inviting us to this's lounge--so next cruise I guess I ask someone?!

 

Just so you know the card will least each day and say what the "specialty" will be. Example, shrimp, stilton, guacamole, etc.

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Thanks for the semi-live. Hope you are having a great time!

 

I board on 4/8 for the TA. We were notified of a 7pm departure too. Sure would like to know the reason for these delays.

 

Are they doing the happy hours- buy one get one for $1? When, where?

 

How is your CD? Paul something something?

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we sailed on Regal March 5

It was our 1st Platinum cruise- There was no card in our cabin inviting us to this's lounge--so next cruise I guess I ask someone?!

 

Ask the Captain's Circle rep.

 

Many people overlook the card as it is mixed in with all the other papers that are in your cabin when you embark.

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Ask the Captain's Circle rep.

 

Many people overlook the card as it is mixed in with all the other papers that are in your cabin when you embark.

 

How do you go on if one in the Cabin is Elite and the other is just Blue. Can you both attend please.:(:(

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So…we hit four islands in a row…got crazy busy….I came downwith a bad respiratory infection….and that’s what happened to the “semi-live”review….so sorry folks! I’ll try and wrap it up here for you as neatly as Ican!

 

 

Tuesday was our first stop, Antigua, and we’d reserved spotsat “Beachlimerz” for the day. I’d recently found out about the place here onCruise Critic. We were able to find others to join us and a total of 13 of usspent the day there. What can I say? The place is AMAZING!!!! I won’t go anywhereelse from now on! Oh, and by the way….it was ONLY the 13 of us there!!!!

We did an all-inclusive option that came out to $53 perperson. It included: Beach chair, umbrella, 2 rum punches, 2 waters, buffetlunch and the use of paddle boards, kayaks and snorkel equipment. It was a $6pp r/t cab ride, and Gail, the owner, arranged for the cab to pick us up at theport. The setting idyllic, waters, calm, NO drop off into the water, food,drinks and service were DOWN RIGHT AMAZING. I’ve posted pictures under theAntigua link on the “Port of Call” page. The teens had a blast with the water toys and the parents had a greattime with the rum punches. We headed back to port at 2:00 to shop, at least theparents did, the teens headed to the ship to take a nap!

 

 

Wednesday we arrived in St. Kitts. We’d make reservations atCarambola and arrived promptly at 9:00. The chairs and umbrellas were waitingfor us and we had a great day. The beach in St. Kitts doesn’t hold a candle toAntigua, but none the less we had a fabulous time. We rented two jet skis for$100 for 30 minutes and Dad went on one with his 15 year old and I let theboyfriend drive my daughter. And good thing I did….Dad was driving like amanic, boyfriend was responsible. Maybe because I threatened him not to breakmy daughter? Lot of food, lots of drink and a big tab later we headed back toport for some shopping. Dad and the boyfriend headed back to the ship to napwhile the girls did what we do best, shop for jewelry.

 

 

My friend’s teendaughter picked up a beautiful Tanzanite necklace….and I have to tell you whatthat sweet girl said.

My friend told her daughter that her Dad wanted her to pickup a small piece of jewelry to remember the trip by (so sweet). And herresponse was “Mom, I want Dad and Ryan to pick up something for Jordan (mydaughter)…she doesn’t have a dad to buy her anything.” We all wept. What anamazing kid! My husband passed 6 and a half years ago from cancer.

As it turned out, Lindsay found her beautiful necklace andit came with a free omega necklace with Tanzanite charm that she promptly gaveto Jordan. We will all remember that day and how incredibly selfless andgenerous Lindsay is!

 

 

That night we had reservations for Crown Grill. Now we weresupposed to go there on Sunday night but as green as the group was we waiteduntil later in the week. I was glad we had as I’d been hearing horror storiesof how over booked there were due to the online reservations not having beentransferred properly to the ship. I was hoping this would have been rectifiedby Wednesday. As well, Ryan had a very special surprise for Jordan.

 

 

We arrived and were promptly seated. Where we waited, waitedand waited for someone to take our drink order. A waiter in a Hawaiian shirt(obviously on loan from the buffet) arrived and took our drink orders. And wewaited, waited and waited before said drinks finally arrived. Our “official”waiter finally stopped by and took our dinner orders. That’s when I learnedthat they no longer serve the lobster tails freely. If you want a lobster tailwith your main entrée it will cost you $10 extra dollars EACH. Not to worry, Iordered 5 tails for the table. He also informed us since we were a “large”group (ummmm…there are 8 of us?) it would take a while to be served. Seriously?

 

 

We waited, waited and waited before our first course was brought.I always order the lobster cake and it is always steaming hot. Not tonight, itwas luke warm. We waited, waited and waited until finally the second coursearrived. My black and blue onion soup look like it had been waiting to arriveunder a heat lamp. Not impressed.

 

 

We waited some more and our main courses were finallydelivered. Nirvana….I LOVE the filet! I promptly sliced it down the middle onlyto find my medium rare steak was actually MOOING back at me. My mother’s welldone steak also had a few choice words to say to her. We sent both of them backand I continued to, well, you know….wait.

 

 

I got up and went and spoke with the head waiter. Thiscertainly wasn’t the experience I’d been looking forward to. It was downrightridiculous. Oh, and by the way, the freaking restaurant was empty. He took somenote…apologized profusely, and I headed back to the table where my entrée wasfinally waiting. I dig into my steak (after all, I’m totally famished, Ihaven’t grazed in a few hours) and it was dry as a bone. They took the steakthat I’d cut into and put it back on the grill. All of the moist, yummy juiceswere totally gone.

 

 

No fear, I have a coveted $10 lobster tail to satiate myhunger. So I dunk the yummy goodness into some butter, it hits my lips, andit’s totally over cooked. Can someone shoot me now?

 

 

 

The only saving grace of the whole evening is that the headwaiter did what my father and Ryan asked. When dessert was delivered Jordanreceived a plate and written in chocolate was “Jordan will you go to prom withme?” She promptly said yes, the wait staff sang “Let me call you sweetheart”and thank God we were finally able to leave, almost 3 hours after we’d firstarrived. The absolutely worst experience I have ever had at the Crown Grill.Note, they did remove the charges for all of the lobster tails but nothingelse.

 

 

More to come!

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Thursday morning it was early off the ship for us as we hadreservations with Tribal for a private catamaran snorkel excursion. We were offby 8 and headed to get a cab. Now this is where it gets sticky. Tribal hadgiven me written instruction on where we were to meet. A very small marinaclose to Crown Bay. Of course, we were docked at Havensight. The same of theplace is “Krum Bay.” When we approached the cab line I told them where we wantedto go and they said “Oh, Crown Bay!”…..

 

 

Me: ”ummmm…no….Krum Bay, with a ‘K’.”

 

 

The guy then said “They’re the same place.”

 

 

Me: “Ummmm….no, they aren’t….I have the directions here.”

 

 

He put the seven of us in a cab and off we went, and we hadno idea where we’d actually end up.

After dropping a few others downtown we arrived at, youguessed it, Crown Bay. I jumped out of the taxi and told her driver AGAIN thatthis isn’t where we wanted to go. I showed him the directions and it becameimmediately evident that the poor man didn’t know how to read. I read thedirections, he understood and off again we went.

 

 

We arrived at Krum Bay just as Captain Jesse arrived withthe dingy to take us out to the tri-cat for our 2 stop snorkel excursion. Firstmate for the day was Travers. We kicked off our flip flops and boarded theboat. A quick safety briefing and we were off to our first stop, swimming withsea turtles. We saw a bunch of turtles, several sting rays and lots of otherfish. The water temperature was perfect, seas very calm, bright blue skies….asimply perfect day.

Once back on board and famished (hello? It’s been two hourssince we grazed) we scarfed down cheese, crackers, pretzels and plenty of rumpunch. And it was GOOD rum punch! We pulled up anchor and headed to the second snorkelstop of the day.

 

 

The second spot was along a reef, plenty of fish and coral,but a pretty bad current. If you stayed with the current you were okay but itwas exhausting to try and swim. We stayed in for only around 45 minutes and allheaded back to the board. We sailed backto Krum Bay, took the dingy back to land and the taxi driver was waiting aspromised. We LOVED our day with Tribal and would HIGHLY recommend them toanyone looking for a private snorkel excursion for the day!

 

 

We shopped some at the port and then exhausted, we draggedourselves back on the ship. This is where I began to feel not so hot….It wasformal night tonight plus the captain’s cocktail party.

 

 

We dined early at 5:30 so that we could be at the party by7:15. Dinner that night was the Chateaubriand, lobster tail, etc….I ordered myusual, Chateaubriand with a lobster tail on the side. That’s when the waiter toldme they couldn’t do that. Seriously? He’d have to bring me TWO full entrees andcouldn’t serve one until the other was cleared. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW STUPIDIS THAT? Not a problem then, happy to waste the food. Bring me both, please andthank you.

 

 

We headed to the cocktail party after dinner and Elvis, ourservers in the PES lounge, immediately spotted us and brought us our usualdrinks rather than the wine, rum punch, crappy champagne they were serving. Godhow I love this man. Pretty please may I bring him home with me?

 

 

I was exhausted after the party and headed straight to bed.My upper respiratory infection was beginning to take hold and I was fallingfast. I think I was sound asleep by 9:00.

 

 

By Friday morning I REALLY felt crappy. We were docking inGrand Turk at 1:00 and it’s always been one of my favorite spots. I took iteasy all morning but as soon as lunch was done I headed back to bed while therest of the group got ready to get off the ship.

 

 

I ended up in bed for the rest of the day and didn’t evenmake it to dinner that night. The group had a great time in Grand Turk,choosing to shop and grab a bite at Margaritavile. I was sad to have missed oneof my favorite places.

 

 

Saturday morning dawned and it was our last day. Where doesthe time go? Didn’t we just board the ship? Now you want to kick us off? We allmet for breakfasts and made our plans for the day. Kids had several things theywanted to participate in and we all needed to get packed up.

 

 

We met at 5 for our final cocktail hour together. Of courseit was steak tartar night so my dad was in heaven. No thank you, I’ll take apass! Several cocktails later and we bid our incredible server Elvis adieu andheaded for our last supper. Elvis took superior care of us all week and wasjust down right FABULOUS!

 

 

I always love the menu the last night of the cruise. Themeatloaf is my “go-to” and never disappoints. Of course, the parade of thebaked Alaska is always a good time and we all screamed and yelled when ourassistant waiter John Carlo appeared. We banged breadbaskets with pepper mills,clanged knives against the wine buckets, and pretty much annoyed everyone aroundus. It was awesome!

 

 

Time to once again say good-bye, this time to John Carlo andJanos. Two of the BEST waiters I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. They wereboth highlights of the trip for our entire group.

 

 

I headed to bed once dinner was over while the rest of thegroup partied on. We’d meet in the morning for breakfast before disembarking. Afterall, I needed to have someone place a napkin in my lap at least one more time.

 

 

 

We woke early and met at 8:00 for breakfast. Service wasslow, but we weren’t bothered as my daughter and I and our friends weren’tgetting off until the bitter end as we had later flights. Graham Cracker andPop-Tart only needed to collect their car and drive the two hours back to Ft.Myers. We enjoyed every last bite before we said a fond farewell to my amazingparents and headed up on the open deck to drink in every last bit of warmth andsunshine before we headed back to the soggy mess and cold waiting at home. Wewere walking off by 10:15 and our 8 days on the Crown Princess had finally cometo an end.

 

 

Coming up, my final thoughts.

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Final Thoughts

The ship I found to be in poor condition and in dire need ofdry dock. Understand, having taken my last 5 Princess cruises on the Royal andthe Regal, the Crown just doesn’t compare. I found her to look tired, worn outand in need of a good face life. Kind of like myself on certain days, Iprobably shouldn’t be so judgy.

 

 

The service as by far the worst I have in 10 Princesscruises. Simple acts of kindness like being greeted as you walk by a staffmember in the hallway was non-existent. The Cruise Director’s staff I foundstand-offish, not wanting to engage in conversation or get to know you. Evenwhen I started conversations with them they never once asked my name and theiranswers were always one simple word, never wanting to engage with thepassengers. I tend to really enjoy the games and goings on that the staff runand on this particular cruise with the lack of engagement of the staff, it justwasn’t the same.

 

 

The internet was PAINFULLY and I do mean PAINFULLY slow.Worst I’ve ever had.

 

 

The movement on the ship starting Saturday night and all daySunday was the worst I’ve ever experienced in the Caribbean. Coupled by thefact that the captain NEVER came over the loud speak to make ANY announcement aboutwhy it was so rocky or how long it was going to last was beyond me. I remember thatSunday waiting for the navigational announcement at noon thinking surely they’dsay SOMETHING and they NEVER DID. People got REALLY sick those first two daysand I personally felt it was remiss for the staff not to say something. It wasdifficult to walk at times and some type of assurance would have been nice.

 

 

We only ate breakfast in the buffet one time and had theremainder of our meals in the main dining room or just grabbed pizza. The foodon this sailing was outstanding, actually much better than the food on theRoyal in January. But I guess I’m at the age where I’d take poor food andbetter service over great food and crappy service. A smile and a thank you go along way in my book.

 

 

The worst part was the way my daughter was treated. Yes, sheis 18 years old, yes she is a teen ager, but I am here to tell you she is oneof the nicest, kindest, well behaved teens you will EVER meet in your life. She’svery mature, focused (4.0 GPA) and this wasn’t her first time at thisparticular rodeo. The kid will kill you with kindness and has impeccable manners.And you know what? She was treated like DIRT by the staff on the ship. She wasCONSTANTLY being yelled at FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN BEING A TEENAGER. The teenshad been on deck all morning and when they went to grab lunch a deck attendant toldthem if they left their towels and belongings would be removed and their chairsgiven to others. Jordan calmly explained they were only running down to grablunch at the grill and would be right back. As soon as they stepped away hedumped their belongings off of the chairs and took their towels. Ryan went backand held the chair while the girls went on got lunch. Jordan saw the same attendanttreat other kids the same way, but he NEVER approached ANY adults about savingchairs. Oh, and by the way, when I was on deck at 6:45 that morning EVERYSINGLE CHAIR on the pool deck was saved with towels…where was that deck attendantthen?

 

 

Overall, the activities listed daily in the patter werelimited at best. I’m used to Royal and Regal where every 30 minutes you have adifferent activity to choose from. When I’d get my copy of the Patter eachnight the lines were triple spaced. Whereas I’m used to participating in threeor four activities every evening there was usually only one, and on a rareoccasion two.

 

 

The service in the casino was also at an all-time low. Theday I hit the jackpot, after having waited 20 minutes with the service lightflashing, someone was nice enough to go over and get someone for me. There wasalways a long wait at the bar for drinks, and forget about drink service if youwere sitting at a machine. There was a big player on board (for those that playon the ships you’ll understand what I mean by big, he had over 60,000 points onthe last day) and the casino staff seemed to cater to his every wish. I watchedone machine being held for him for over 6 hours, even after guests asked toplay it, they continued to hold the machine for him. I guess that would havebeen fine, had the guy not been a totally rude jerk who yelled at anyone whosat next to him. Way to go Crown Princess Casino Staff, take care of the guythat offends everyone else in the place! Honestly Princess, you could haveprobably made some nice money off of me this sailing, all you had to do was benice to me. I’m really not that particular. I’ve never sailed when I haven’thad a member of the casino staff approach me at least one time daily to makesmall talk and ask how I was. Not this sailing, never once, not at all, ever.

 

 

Our highlights by far were Elvis, Janos and John Carlo, therest of the crew you can keep, thank you very much. If it hadn’t of been forthe three of them I don’t know what we would have done.

 

 

I won’t sail the Crown Princess again. We were scheduled ona TA on her next year and when we got back to port on Sunday I emailed bytravel agent to cancel the booking before I even got of the ship. Will I sailPrincess again? Of course, each and every other time I’ve sailed I’ve had anamazing trip!

 

 

Overall, we had a great time. There’s nothing better thanbeing surrounded by those you love. While my friends don’t have the samesentiments (they hadn’t sailed in over 20 years and didn’t have anything tocompare it to) my parents, daughter and I were all gravely disappointed.Princess, you’ve REALLY missed the mark on this one!

 

 

I truly believe that life is what YOU make of it. I’ve NEVERhad a cruise I didn’t enjoy, and even with the boat in lousy condition and a downrightsurly and rude staff, we did have a great time. I’m not ever going to allow thecondition of the ship or the way a crew member chooses to treat me ruin myvacation. But what it will do is make me think twice before choosing which shipI’ll sail on next time.

 

 

Again, please accept my apologies for dropping off the way Idid! I did head to the doctor as soon as I got home which resulted in a prescriptionfor antibiotics for the next two weeks. I almost feel human again.

 

 

 

Wishing you all smooth sailing!

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Checked out your signature and saw that you will be on the Royal TA in October. We are cruising from Rome to FTL. Looking forward to meeting you as I've really enjoyed your LIVE reports! Karen

 

Yeah!!! We are going to have an AMAZING time!

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Thank you for the review. I'm enjoying it. I completely understand about going from the Royal and Regal back to Grand Class. I know I'm going to miss how beautiful and sparkly the Regal is. Plus, I just love the different venues. We may change our Europe cruise to the Regal or Royal even though we love the Sapphire. We are in "discussions". :)

 

I did two cruises on the Sapphire 5 years ago and loved her. For years she was my favorite. We always had outstanding service on the Sapphire and I wouldn't hesitate to sail her again!

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We are booked for the December 9th sailing, with the same itinerary, and now I'm worried.

We have some friends who have never cruised before who are considering joining us, and now I'm considering talking them out of it.

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We are booked for the December 9th sailing, with the same itinerary, and now I'm worried.

We have some friends who have never cruised before who are considering joining us, and now I'm considering talking them out of it.

I'm not sure of when but I believe the Crown is going into dry dock this year, potentially before you cruise.

 

I know they had a pretty difficult season in South America which I believe may have negatively impacted the crew.

 

That being said, for myself, this isn't the ship. I guess it depends on your standards (my kids tell me I'm high maintenance, even so, my 18 year old recognized the lack of service) and I've become accustomed to a certain level of service on Princess that just wasn't there that trip.

 

Maybe see if you can sail on the Royal or Regal? I know some don't like the Royal class of ships but I personally find them second to none!

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We've been on the Royal. Regal, Grand, Caribbean, and Coral, with our favorite being the Coral, even though the buffet on the Regal is hard to beat.

It doesn't look like the Crown is hitting the dry dock until sometime in 2018. It also seems that they won't get any of the new mattresses until then either.

 

We chose this sailing due to the itinerary, we've never been to Antigua or St. Kitts.

Thankfully, we have 7 months for the crew problems to be resolved. Yours is not the only review where service and attitude were noted and I'm hopeful that Princess is just as concerned as I am and plans on addressing the problem(s).

 

 

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