REVIEW Crown Princess Hawaii/South Pacific

Welcome to our review of our recently completed 28 day cruise to Hawaii and the South Pacific on the beautiful Crown Princess.

First, a brief introduction. We are two sixty-something cruisers from a little town in upstate New York, Mexico, the Mother of Towns. There's is a long story behind that name and to quote nearly every periodical these days, "more information can be found online". This was our 42nd cruise overall and our 13th with Princess. We celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary while on board.

Next, the itinerary. We left from Los Angeles World Cruise Port on October 17th followed by 4 full days at sea. We arrived in Hawaii and spent the next four days hopping from island to island visiting the big island, Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, and Kauai in that order. After departing Hawaii, we spent another 4 full days at sea followed by our arrival in Apia, Western Samoa. Next stop was Pago Pago, American Samoa followed by two more sea days. We arrived in Bora Bora which began our 4-day French Polynesia visit. We had full days in Bora Bora and Moorea. In Papeete we docked at 8 pm in the evening and left the following evening at 5 pm. After departing French Polynesia we had 8 more full days at sea prior to our arrival in LA on 14 November.

Preparation: We booked this cruise in July 2014 so we had plenty of time to prepare. The primary source for much of the information regarding ports and excursions was the very active roll call for this cruise and the outstanding Shutterfly site started by RetiredNTraveling and watched over by a host of hosts. It was the go-to place for tons of good information and also where other members, who had organized private tours, kept track of reservations and wait lists. We took advantage of several of those tours and would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all the hosts and coordinators and thank them for helping to make this cruise a once in a lifetime adventure.

Pre and Post cruise arrangements. We always arrive a day early and this was especially important for this cruise. Miss the ship here and it's a long way to the next port. Here is another area where the Roll Call and Shutterfly Site coordinators shined. Info was posted for airport shuttles (Super Shuttle and Prime Time Shuttle). We opted for a shared van from LAX to the hotel and a private van from the Port to LAX. Our flight back home was relatively early (11:45 am) so we didn't want to take a chance having to wait for a shuttle to fill up. As it turns out, there were plenty of shuttle vans at the airport and at the port so it wouldn't have been a problem.

Group rates were negotiated for two local hotels (Best Western Plus and Doubletree)and posted to the Roll Call and Shutterfly Site and we took advantage of same. We stayed at the Best Western Plus for one night pre-cruise. The neighborhood was a bit dicey after dark but hey, there were two liquor stores within a few blocks and a few places to eat so I guess it fit the bill. We ordered in so it wasn't an issue for us. The room rate included a buffet breakfast and free shuttle to the port.

We took the 10:00 am shuttle to the port but boarding was a bit delayed and didn't begin until around 12:15 pm. Most folks were patient but a few kept edging into areas the staff were trying to keep clear such as aisles and other transit spots. Crew members moving tables and carts of supplies had a tough go of it. Anyway, we finally set foot upon the deck at 12:30 and soon had a glass of bubbly in one hand and a num num from the International Café in the other as we lounged on our Caribe deck balcony. The cruise had officially begun!

Next: Muster, sailaway and getting settled in. Bon Voyage!

Thanks!

Can't wait to hear more.:)

Cheers.

Great start

Srpilo

I had intended to post some Pics of the ship and ports but I have been foiled by a dead computer. Returned home and logged on and you couldn't believe the noise coming from the CPU. Long story short, after being able to log on that first session, Windows refused to load again, all recommended fixes failed and telephone support wanted $150 to help restore with no guarantees. Opted instead to order a new computer and until it arrives I'm reduced to borrowing a friend's laptop so no photos at this time.

Sea days for us can be better phrased as sea daze. Typical day starts with sleeping in till 8 or so, room service coffee and perhaps a croissant then off to find a cozy nook to read. Joyce does a lot more than me during the day, lectures, shopping, casino, demos etc. but eventually makes her way back to the room for some sun and reading on our balcony. Me, I prefer the air conditioned lounges where it's quiet and comfy and devouring a good book is my kind of entertainment. Sounds boring eh? Not for us. We brought around 12 paperbacks each and by the last third of the cruise we were scouring the library for more.

A few observations (my opinion only): the cruise director, Kelvin, is a personable, approachable fun-loving guy. There were lots of activities planned each day and while Joyce opted in for a few (she learned how to Hula in 5 not-so-easy lessons, can fold a napkin with the best of them, and can cook up a storm on demand) I opted out except for attending a few movies shown in the afternoons in the Princess Theater.

The food on this cruise has been superb as it has been on all of our Princess cruises. I've read a bunch of negative reviews regarding Princess food offerings and I am always amazed and wonder where those people are dining.

This is our 5th cruise on the Crown and the ship is in great condition for a gal her age. She's what? 10 next year. Doesn't look a day over 3 to me.

The crewmembers were a delight, one after another. Maybe if more folks would smile, they might get more in return.

Folks are always asking about entertainment and specifically what shows we went to see and the answer is not many. We really surpassed our usual on this cruise as we went to see TWO shows. Wow! It was exhausting! We saw the new show "Magic To Do" and the Tahitian Folkloric Show. "Magic To Do" was impressive with great magic, great effects and spirited performances. The Tahitian show was as high-energy as they come and the dancers were spectacular.

Another favorite venue for us was the Piazza with the International Café and a wide variety of performances and activities throughout the day. We enjoyed the specialty coffees and the food offerings there were varied, fresh, and delicious.

After four days at sea we were really psyched to get to Hawaii and explore.

Next-up: the Aloha State.

Harry

Good stuff... More please :)

Srpilo

Nice start! Keep 'em coming.

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading more. [emoji106]

Enjoyed your review.

Keith

 

Joyce does a lot more than me during the day, lectures, shopping, casino, demos etc. but eventually makes her way back to the room for some sun and reading on our balcony. Me, I prefer the air conditioned lounges where it's quiet and comfy and devouring a good book is my kind of entertainment. Sounds boring eh? Not for us. We brought around 12 paperbacks each and by the last third of the cruise we were scouring the library for more.

 

After reading this I just had to jump in and respond! I thought I was the only book-obsessed one out there.. :p lugged along 6 books on my recent 11-night cruise and constantly worried about finishing them too quickly.

love your style of writing and I'm looking forward to reading more about your Hawaiian and Pacific adventures. pictures too, once your computer is back up and running!

Aloha, This is the cruise my wife and I want to take to celebrate my retirement. May of 2023!! That will make 43 yrs as an airline pilot. We live in Hawaii, and we met on a layover ( yup, Pilot and Flight Attendant) in Pago Pago in 1986. I can't wait to hear more about your cruise.

How early doe Princess publish cruise dates? I'm going to sign up on day 1 as I know what room I want. Any info would be great.

Mahalo, Tim and Suzanne

Waiting to hear more

Harry, you have started out just great! So glad that Judy and you enjoyed the ship, cruise, events & everything. Betty and I are enjoying all of the reviews and comments from all of you guys.

Keep them coming, your new almost friends. :eek:

Just Mike :D

Ah, Hawaii.

I have to admit that my perception of Hawaii was formed more by what Hollywood presented than by anything else.

Yes, and especially by Elvis and his movies and songs.

For example:

Blue Hawaii

Elvis Presley

Night and you

And blue Hawaii

The night is heavenly

And you are heaven to me

Lovely you

And blue Hawaii

With all this loveliness

There should be love

Come with me

While the moon is on the sea,

The night is young

And so are we, so are we

Dreams come true

In blue Hawaii

And mine could all come true

This magic night of nights with you

Come to karaoke and I'll sing it for you:D.

We had originally decided to rent cars at the Hawaiian ports but after reading the roll call, we decided to opt for the 4 excursion package offered by Roberts Hawaii. Four guided excursions for $154 and that pleased Joyce as well as she hates to ride with me. She thinks that I should have chosen the screen name "Drives like Mario" but it was already taken.

First up was the big island of Hawaii. We met our tour guide, Miles and off we went. First stop was Rainbow Falls. Breathtaking (I'm afraid I'll be wearing out that adjective) describes it. We were fortunate that we beat most of the crowds to most of the venues as you can imagine most tours take in the same sights.

After a 15 minute stop for photos we headed off to our next stop, the macadamia nut factory. You could do a self-guided tour of the factory (not on the floor but looking through windows to see the whole process) then it's into the store for the free samples and a chance to purchase the goodies. Here's a tip: buy your macadamia nut products at this stop. We are comparison shoppers and found the prices here were the best. We stopped at numerous places after this and I'm glad we stocked up there as they had the very best prices.

Next up was Volcano National Park. In a word, breathtaking (see, I told you I would be wearing out that adjective). The volcano is active and there was a considerable plume of smoke rising from the caldera. In fact, the area around it was closed to traffic due to the noxious fumes. Moonscape or even Marscape describes the surround area; stark yet surprisingly beautiful. There is a very informative museum/gift shop there which tells the tale of the volcano and surrounding landscape. From there we drove to the 1974 lava flow field. We could walk about on the lava and see the extent of it's encroachment. The road has been cleared but the flow was evident all around.

Next was a visit to the lava tube formed by the massive lava flows in the past. You could walk through about a quarter mile of it. Breathtaking! (tired of it yet?) Next was a visit to an orchid greenhouse with a ____________ array of flowers (yeah, that word again). The final stop was at the Candy Factory store and an opportunity to gorge on free samples and decide how much we could dare to buy and still make weight at the airport. We bought three boxes of macadamia nut shortbread cookies and should have bought more. They are to die for!

We changed showered and changed clothes for dinner and headed out to the Elite lounge for a couple cocktails before dinner. Tomorrow, Oahu.

After we got off the ship in Oahu, we wandered about looking for the Roberts Hawaii Rep. Things were a bit chaotic here as the guides were wandering here and there trying to get their groups to the right bus. After boarding our bus we met Gregg, our guide. He was a huge disappointment after our great guide the day before but finally all aboard and off we went. This was to be a coastal tour with lots of photo stops, a visit to and trolley ride through a pineapple plantation. Gregg seemed aloof and interested only in monetary information; how much it cost to live here or there, how much money folks spent on their mansions, what movie stars had homes there and that sort of thing. The sights were (insert cliché description here) and the beaches were inviting. We arrived at the pineapple plantation and this stop included a narrated trolley/tram ride through the growing areas. The young lady driving the trolley gave us a wealth of fascinating info; showed us how to husk and open a coconut, and generally kept us enthralled with her insights into Hawaiian life past and present. From here we mostly retraced our route back to the port with a short photo stop at the Governor's Palace.

After being dropped off at the ship, we caught the local bus to Waikiki beach. $2.50 one way or $1 if you show your medicare card. We went to the Hali Koa resort, the military owned and operated facility right on the beach. We had two delicious Lava Flows; a delicious mix of this (alcohol) and that (various sweet and creamy concoctions). There was a nice discount when I showed my retired I.D. card and we added a plate of deluxe nachos at the nearby snack shack. We decided to see if there were any must haves at the enclosed PX (Post Exchange) but prices were not very special. The macadamia nut products were priced higher than those at the factory so we headed back to the bus stop and back to the ship. Phew! I'm all tuckered out now so I'll stop here. Next up: Maui

Harry

Harry, you have started out just great! So glad that Judy and you enjoyed the ship, cruise, events & everything. Betty and I are enjoying all of the reviews and comments from all of you guys.

Keep them coming, your new almost friends. :eek:

Just Mike :D

Hi Mike and Betty. Joyce and I were sorry you couldn't cruise with us on this fantastic voyage especially after all your hard work contributed so much to it. Hope our musings will entertain.

Harry

I'm really enjoying your review; thank you for taking the time to do one.

The concept of a macadamia nut "factory" is making me giggle. I mean, isn't the factory, um, Nature? Or are macadamia nuts not grown but actually a manufactured substance? I successfully avoided any Botany courses all through school; my horticultural knowledge involves being able to tell a rose from a pine tree. On a good day. So, forgive my ignorance.

I'm really enjoying your review; thank you for taking the time to do one.

 

The concept of a macadamia nut "factory" is making me giggle. I mean, isn't the factory, um, Nature? Or are macadamia nuts not grown but actually a manufactured substance? I successfully avoided any Botany courses all through school; my horticultural knowledge involves being able to tell a rose from a pine tree. On a good day. So, forgive my ignorance.

Actually, the factory we visited is in the middle of a macadamia nut grove but processes ALL the macadamia nuts harvested on the island. So proper terminology would have been macadamia nut PROCESSING factory. It's good to know that I'm not the only pedant out there.

Harry

Great review so far.....:):):)

Bob

OK, I confess. I was seriously confused. Thank goodness Joyce keeps a detailed journal and after I started reviewing our shore excursion in Maui I realized that we did the MAUI Plantation trolley tour in Maui and not in Oahu. DUH! Oahu tour was coastal sightseeing with several scenic stops but not much else.

Now that I'm back on track, before we did the Plantation Tram ride we drove through a few scenic valleys, making an obligatory photo stop or two. Iao Valley was spectacular and after a few more pics of the Iao Needle (tower-like rock formation) we did indeed tour the Maui Tropical plantation. Upon our arrival back in Lahaina, we stopped at the local watering hole, Capt. Jerry's, for a couple large brewskis then shopped our way back to the tender dock.

Our last day in Hawaii was also our 46th wedding anniversary. The tour today was a small bus tour to Hanalei with several beach and photo stops along the way. Our guide started the tour by singing a welcome song while playing the ukulele. She had a very good voice and seemed genuinely happy to be sharing her island with us. Unfortunately, she spent most of the tour rehashing her own family history. A bit disconcerting was her narrating the trip with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the microphone. The other drivers used a head set but I think she didn't want to muss her hair. Go figure. We saw the bay where much of South Pacific was filmed and walked on the beach used for the "There is nothing like a dame" number. While walking out on the pier there we saw a HUGE sea turtle. Neat! Once back at the pier, we took the short walk over to the Marriott Hotel to see the Botanical Garden with it's massive Koi pond. Well worth the walk. There is also a nice public beach there and we saw lots of folks from the ship (those blue and white striped towels are a dead giveaway);).

Once back aboard we headed to the Elite lounge for our evening cocktail and when our waiter heard it was our anniversary, he presented us with a complimentary split of champagne. Combine the cocktails with the split and our bottle of bubbly with dinner and we knew a casino visit was out of the question. We took our small anniversary cake back to our stateroom and after a nightcap wished ourselves many more and turned in.

All in all we thought our Roberts Hawaii excursion package was a great deal. The Volcano tour was the longest at around 7 hours and the others were between 4 and 4 1/2 hours each. The Volcano tour was on a large bus (50 people) and the other three we on smaller shuttle-type buses (8-12 people).

Comparable tours with Princess would have cost around $260 so Roberts price of $154 a significant savings. If we had to do it over we would have opted for the Waimea Canyon tour on Kauai instead of the Hanalei tour. We made a vow to return to Hawaii one day for a more intense experience.

After saying goodbye to Hawaii, we were off on our four sea day journey to Samoa and the South Pacific. Next up: Apia, Western Samoa.

Harry

Doing great Harry, reliving it with your writing and getting a mind fix

Enjoying the review...........it's a LONG 11 months until we get to do this cruise!!!!

Makes the time go faster...............keep it coming..........

Sharon

Very much enjoying this review. Excellent job. I'm posting so that I get e-mails when there are updates.

:D

Haven't had much time to get a post together. Tomorrow is the opening day of deer season here so I've been getting my gear together. Staked out a spot today and got my tree stand set up so posts will have to wait for now. For those hunters out there, wish me luck. For those non-hunters , don't wish me luck but please don't wish me ill either;).

Harry

Haven't had much time to get a post together. Tomorrow is the opening day of deer season here so I've been getting my gear together. Staked out a spot today and got my tree stand set up so posts will have to wait for now. For those hunters out there, wish me luck. For those non-hunters , don't wish me luck but please don't wish me ill either;).

 

Harry

I saw two deer while on my mid-day constitutional in the wilds of Diamond Bar, today. It's not unheard of, but it is a tad unusual.

I'm not a hunter, but I will wish you good luck, Harry. I like venison, but I suspect that all the venison I have ever eaten was raised on a farm.

:)

Harry Thanks for the great review so far, sounds like a wonderful trip. Happy Anniversary!

We were booked on this cruise, but had to cancel due to family commitments. We hope to do this itinerary one day!

Where on the shores of Lake Ontario are you from? We are on the north shore - a little town called Toronto.

Ron

Harry Thanks for the great review so far, sounds like a wonderful trip. Happy Anniversary!

 

We were booked on this cruise, but had to cancel due to family commitments. We hope to do this itinerary one day!

 

Where on the shores of Lake Ontario are you from? We are on the north shore - a little town called Toronto.

 

Ron

Hi Ron,

You are on the northwest shore and we are directly kitty-corner from you on the southeast shore in the town of Mexico NY. If we stand on our tippy toes we can almost see the Tower;). Mexico made the news on the second day of our cruise with 9 inches of lake-effect snow :eek:. We may be in for another blast this Sunday.

Went hunting this morning and got settled in my tree stand by 6 am. Sunrise was 7:06; it was about 30 degrees out so I was pretty chilled by the time a seven-point buck walked by at 8 am. I was able to unwind and get in position for the shot and now venison is back on the menu. I will share some of it with the landowner and of course my venison-loving sister is in line for several steaks and chops. Joyce is not the biggest fan of venison though. I went back to college 6 years after I got out of the Army and money was tight so I kept the freezer full of venison. I think it was the only red meat that we ate for four years. Now her nose goes up at the very mention:(.

Harry