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The second night at 6:15 was a champagne waterfall in the piazza and introduction of officers. Many guests were gathered around to watch it. I had seen it online and it was fun to see in person. I had made us a 6:20 reservation on the app for dinner in the da Vinci dining room. I noticed a LONG line of people waiting to get in to the dining room. There has been talk on the ship of how messed up the dining situation is. People with reservations have been waiting in long lines to get in and not being seated on time and those without reservations are also waiting. We decided we would wait longer for the line to go down. Big mistake. When the introduction of officers was complete, everybody left and obviously decided to go to dinner. So, the LONG line was even longer. We decided to eat in the buffet. It was okay, but I have always liked eating in the main dining room. We are hoping it gets better after the first few nights. (Last night in Cabo, we ate on shore.) We will see how the MDR dining is tonight. The evening entertainment was a production show called Motown Soul or something like that. It was so good. 4 singers, 10 dancers and a live band. A wonderful stage production with very talented performers. Holland gave that up years ago and now has a traveling dance group that dances to pre-recorded music. They will occasionally have one of the singers from their other venues join them. They are good dancers, but I have missed the live production shows for a long time and was happy to see them still happening on Princess. Yesterday, we got to Cabo about 1:00 pm. It is a tender port. We had a sailing experience booked. We met at 12:45 in the Wheelhouse Bar and they gave us a tour number. They sent us to the showroom. Then, we sat and sat. I don’t know what the problem was, but we didn’t get on the tender until close to 2 pm. The excursion was nice, though, once we got on it. We had a good time, got back to shore about 6:30 and found a restaurant for dinner. The shuttle ride back to the ship was easy and we decided to skip the cultural show in the showroom, went to the buffet to get a sugar-free dessert and called it an early night. We had an overnight in Cabo, so we are getting ready to go back to town today for a little while.

No, nothing has been mentioned that I have heard. Mazatlan is not on the itinerary, but Puerto Vallarta is. It is our last port. We will see what happens.

So far, in the main showroom there has been an instrumentalist, a fantastic production show the second night, last night was a local group that came onboard from Cabo to do a cultural show, tonight is a comedian.

Just wanted to say that this ship has about 2700 passengers this cruise, so it is not at capacity. It doesn’t feel crowded. It’s not fully staffed yet, either, according to the CD.

I guess this is going to turn in to a (somewhat) live report. I was a little concerned how this medallion was going to work. As we walked up to our room after getting on the ship, we got to our door and it unlocked by itself. That was pretty cool. We have a balcony room. It’s a little smaller than Holland. No couch, just a chair. And the bathroom and shower are really small! Don’t try to shave your legs in there. It’s not easy. LOL But, it’s still a nice room. No hooks on the wall like Holland provides. But, I already knew that, so I brought magnetic ones and they work great. We watched our safety drill on TV and reported to the muster station. Just touch the medallion to their iPad and it registered us. Easy. We go and explore the ship. This is a beautiful, older ship. Very classy looking. Lots of wood. The crew that we have met are very friendly and very helpful. Servicing the rooms twice a day is standard protocol for all guests. Our room steward, Geronimo, is great. There is a sail-away party mid ship by the pool. The entertainment staff is huge. They dance and sing. There is a band that plays. The CD introduces them. It’s a fun group, but not wild like Carnival. Very entertaining. I had read that the dining situation could be rough the first few days, so we made a reservation at the steak house for dinner. It was good, but I like the Pinnacle menu better. After dinner, we skipped the main show, an instrumentalist, and instead went to karaoke. We like that and Holland did away with it years ago. So, that was fun. We also tried the Dirty Monkey drink that Princess seems to be known for. Yummy! We walked around the ship a bit and tried to familiarize ourselves with the set up. Lots of live music was playing around the ship. Got to bed about midnight. The bed is comfortable. Day one in the books. Day 2 is a sea day. I ordered room service coffee. It came on time but tasted like hot water. We like strong coffee. So, I got dressed and went down to the International cafe and got us freshly brewed coffee. Much better. I always do that on Holland, too. We love sea days. We found a nice hot tub at the rear of the ship by the aft pool and got in.This is an adult only area. We like that and Holland doesn’t have an adult pool anymore. We like the people we have met so far. Everybody is so friendly and we have a lot in common with many we have met. Many are around our ages. We are in our early 70’s and still very active. We went to the buffet for lunch. It’s a serve yourself set up. I like it better that Holland serves you in the buffet. So far, the food taste and selection is much better on Holland. We watched the football game out by the pool. There is always something playing on the outdoor movie screen. Then, we head to our room to get ready for dinner.

We embarked yesterday for a 10 day Mexico and Sea of Cortez cruise on the Crown. This is our first Princess cruise. We sail with Holland America almost exclusively and are seasoned cruisers. I’ve been wanting to try Princess for awhile. I will be posting my thoughts on our experience and some comparisons: Embarkation: Because we are 5* with Holland, we get priority boarding. On Holland, we usually have to get in line to go through security before we can go to the kiosk, so we wait in line a bit anyway, even with priority embarkation. Once through security, it moves pretty quickly and we are usually on board soon afterwards. Holland uses keycards and they are waiting for you onboard in the mail slot by your room. We parked at the port and had to walk a bit because parking was filling up fast. I had taken time to get my medallion in the mail and had green status with the QR code, but no one even looked at it. The line was long, but moved surprisingly fast. We got to the kiosk and I placed my medallion on the reader. The lady took our picture, looked at our passport and gave us a boarding group. We then went through security to a large waiting area. Our number was called within 10 minutes and we were quickly onboard. I think I am liking this medallion. Not a bad experience at all. So far, so good. To be continued…..

@rideevI am taking my first Princess cruise tomorrow. I appreciate these menus. I see chicken is available every night under Princess favorites. Do you know if one could request a steak each night or are they pretty adamant about sticking to the menu? Thank you for your report!

I love that about Carnival!

For us, I really think that we would spend less by paying for drinks as we go, as we aren’t big drinkers. However, it is really nice to not have to keep track of the prices and amount of drinks every day. I like to try new drinks. On our last cruise, I think we each had about 3-4 alcoholic drinks a day, plus soda and coffee. We always get internet and usually book a shore excursion or two through the cruise line, so that is worth it. I really like that you can book the cruise with a refundable deposit when you do the HIA promotion. Otherwise, the deposit is non-refundable. We are five star so already get two free speciality dinners. We ended up doing speciality restaurants a lot on our last cruise to take advantage of HIA. Bottom line, I think booking with HIA costs us a little more than what we actually spend, but we find it worth it to not have the big bill at the end. I also try to book HIA when crew incentive is included.

@abbydancerIt sounds like you guys just go to dinner when you are ready, without a standing reservation. Is that true? We are on Crown next week and it is my first time on Princess. I am wondering how this dining system works. I made a standing reservation for 6, but we really like going when we are ready each night. Do you think that would work out? Thanks for this review!

Thank you!

So, if using google maps, do I put in 100 Swinford St and that will take me to the parking area?

Just wanted to follow up on my original post to say that all of my 5* prepaid dining was refunded on the ship without a hitch. I didn't even have to ask. They already knew.

I saw this all over the ship on my recent N Statendam cruise. I have never seen it like that before. We got real coffee cups for room service. Maybe they are quarantined? Weird.

Thanks!

We are cruising (first time with Princess) on Jan 6, 2022. Our Medallions have been shipped, but are still in transit. We just added Princess Plus to our booking a few days ago. I just wondered if anyone knows if our Medallions will show that we upgraded to drink package when we order drinks, even though they had already been shipped when we added it. I don’t want to be charged for drinks after purchasing the package (Heaven forbid!) 🙂 Thanks!

I am on N. Statendam right now. 300 kids and they are all in the Sea View pool on sea days. 😢 I love kids, but I want a pool space for adults. The sign says Over 18 only, but it is not enforced.

Question deleted. I found the answer. 🙂

Thank you so much! You’ve made it so easy to understand. I already had booked the 2 free HIA dinners, so the other two I paid for upfront which are refundable for being 5*.(Then I also prepaid a third dinner at Pinnacle, so I should get half of that one back as my loyalty discount.) I appreciate your help!

One more question. When they refunded you, did they refund it back to your credit card or did it show as a credit on your onboard statement? I have the Have It All, plus crew appreciation included and onboard credit of $775. I just started thinking that I may not even have any charges on my statement with all the perks I have, so how would I get that money back? Will it show as refundable onboard credit? Do you understand what I mean? It’s so confusing. I probably won’t book ahead of time again. LOL

Well, since one of the bookings is the last night of the cruise, I may have the same problem.

Good idea.Thank you.

Thank you. I will keep an eye on my account. One problem I might have is that I booked one of them on the last night of the cruise. Probably not the smartest thing to do. Did you say anything to the waiter or maitre d when you sat down for dinner or after dinner before you left the restaurant?

We are 5 star and we get two free dinners at the specialty restaurants. Because the earlier dining times on our upcoming cruise were all being taken, I decided to book them ahead of time, pay with my credit card and try to get reimbursed onboard. Has anyone had an experience with this? Is it going to be a big hassle? FYI, we will be on the N Statendam.