OttawaJohn

Thanks all for the responses!  We're waiting on pricing to make a decision but good to know the ship itself isn't a deal breaker.

Hi all

 

I've been reviewing older posts about the Edge vs the Beyond but almost all of them focus on the newer or expanded bars on the Beyond vs the Edge.

 

If you don't drink or care about the bars, is there any real differences to care about?  We're looking at changing our next Celebrity cruise from an itinerary on the Beyond to one on the Edge and are wondering if the ship should be a factor.

 

Thanks in advance.

Thanks all for the thoughts!

Curious, since Disney doesn't do packages like some other lines, do most of you pre-pay your tips or settle at the end of the cruise?

Anyone by chance have pictures of a typical day's breakfast and lunch for one of the MDRs?

 

Thanks in advance!

9 hours ago, Teechur said:

I noticed that on the Sun Princess there are no table lamps except in full suites. Wall lamps instead.

That will be a blessing for C-pap users and people who want to place tablets/phones/etc. on the nightstands. The question that remains is: Do they have an available electrical outlet near the headboards? With no table lamps, there might not be an outlet of any voltage. It seems incredibly shortsighted of Princess to force people to run extension cords around the cabins, causing tripping hazards.

 

Again, it's the older ship design annoyances.  Now that I've done few cruises on more 'modern' ships, I notice the quality of life things a lot more.

 

I'm not sure if they didn't address it during the refurb because they didn't see it as a priority, didn't think of it or the ship's infrastructure couldn't handle the increase power drain of more outlets and chargers.

 

We managed to keep things on the desk for the most part but it was irritating. 

On 1/22/2024 at 10:36 PM, suzyluvs2cruise said:

We'll be on Discovery for RT Hawaii. Curious about the Menus for 15 nights and if they're the 7 night x 2 plu 1 or if they have 15 different MDR menus. 

 

Hi Sue

 

As with the formal nights, keep in mind it was a Christmas cruise, so the MDR had special menus twice, Christmas Eve and NYE.  

 

All the menus had the same 'favorite' items each day.  

 

Breakfast had two items each day that were new.

Lunch had a couple items new.

Dinner had the most variety.

 

We did see the same dishes pop up more then once but we didn't feel they repeated the whole menu completely.  And there were items we only saw once.

 

So no, I don't think they just repeat the same thing twice, but there is repetition in the dishes for sure.

 

That said, they did a 'British Pub Lunch' twice, identical menus, but that's more a theme thing then a general recycling I think. 

 

Note: I fell in love with the Mac n Cheese on the lunch menu and strongly suggest you try it if you're a cheese lover 🙂

48 minutes ago, nini said:

 

Unfortunately, the lamps would not be a good fit if they were moved to the back of the nightstand, due to the lamp shades not fitting against the wall. And often, the steward makes twin beds, not a queen so I am not sure how that configuration would work with the lighting on the wall.

Agreed, but newer lamps could work well, like a lot of other lines or newer ships use.  And a light on either side works, like again, most other newer ships.

 

Again, just a comment about how it's a more dated design and there are some quality of life improvements they could do in the next refurb.  Not a big thing.

13 hours ago, Palo4911 said:

Can you please tell me which days were the 3 formal nights?

Thanks!

 

This is why we keep the Patters 🙂

 

Keep in mind this was a Christmas cruise so formal nights were probably planned around the holidays.

 

Formal nights were:

 

Day 3 - Dec 24th
Day 10 - Dec 31st
Day 14 - Jan 4th

8 hours ago, trbarton said:

What ship were you on?  Have you cruise with Princess before?

 

Iv’e had 35 cruises with Princess & having 2 lines for the MDR at night. I’ve never seen more than 1 dinning room opened for either Breakfast or Lunch. 
 

Suggestion about the plugs in your stateroom is to do like I do & that is to post a question in advance as to the number of plugs & where they are. You may find someone like myself that has posted photos of the plugs & location. The lamps can’t be moved because of a safety reason incase of high seas they don’t move which could cause a serious problem. 
 

Thanks for your post. 
 

Tom😀

 

Hi Tom

 

We were on the Crown.

 

Yes, done two before with Princess but that was years ago and if having the two lines is standard, we forgot.  Still a brilliant idea though 🙂

 

I get why the lamp is bolted down but think the design is lacking.  It could be mounted at the back of the table, or even elevated off the table and embedded into the wall, to increase the space.  Just an older ship with older ideas, all good.

8 hours ago, kluv2cruz said:

@OttawaJohn I’ve done this princess Hawaii cruise and it feels like a lot of sea days (which I like, and are decadent), but not enough Hawaii time. Consider a Celebrity one way cruise where you fly one way. We’ve usually done the fly to HNL, stay a few nights then board the ship and sail to multiple Hawaiian ports, then to Vancouver (RCL has done this too). Or, HAL does a there and back like this Crown that you did, only out of Vancouver and is 10 days at sea and 6 Hawaii days. Just feels like a bit more Hawaiian time. Thanks for the review! 

 

We are considering that, Celebrity and a few others have one way cruises to the islands.  We are also looking at doing a relay flight, fly to Vancouver, spend the night, then the next morning fly out.  Make it two longer flights instead of one massive flight.  

 

We're considering the NCL cruise in the islands, as they focus on the islands with no travel time to get there on board.  

 

But we love cruising, and would rather do 16 days on ship then 16 hours on a plane 🙂

19 hours ago, LAnn said:

Thank you very much for your detailed review - I was booked with my family on this cruise but we canceled and did a land-based vacation on Kauai instead. I particularly enjoyed your wry observations of passenger behavior. It is a shame, though, that there were so many bored teenagers wearing headphones; I wonder if it was due to a lack of engaging social activities for their age on the ship or if they just prefer cyberspace?

 

 

Yeah I really don't know.  I didn't love doing stuff with my parents either but it's hard to imagine being so jaded at 11 that a trip to Hawaii on a cruise ship would be 'meh'.

Thanks all.  The drinks thing is bizarre but maybe it's to keep the bar service focused on alcohol?

 

Can you get water for free from the bars?

Hi everyone

 

We've only sailed with Disney once and it was years ago and we can't figure a few things out. 

 

We are sailing on the Fantasy in August.

 

1-WiFi.  Is there free WiFi on the ship?  If not, where/how do you buy an internet package if you want?  I can't seem to find anything on the reservation where I can add it.

 

2-Sodas.  Finding this odd and wondering if I am misreading it.  It says that soft drinks are available at the refill stations for free but if you get one at a bar, you get charged?  Is that right?  How does that make sense?  If it's true, is there a drink package you can get that lets you get it shipwide free?

 

Thanks in advance!

7 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Thank you for your detailed (anecdotal) review.  

Just for your information:  the Iwilei Costco in Honolulu is one of the busiest/revenue producing stores in the chain.  There are many local items to be purchased as “omiyagi” (gifts).

 

Happy to hear you enjoyed our islands.  E Komo Mai…welcome and please do come back.

 

Didn't your tour guide on Kauai mention that the feral chickens are result of 2 hurricanes?

 

 

 

Very cool to know, didn't think of local items, most Costco's we go to are standard fare at any!

 

And yeah, he mentioned the reason for the chickens, still found it funny.  We have pictures of parking lots with more chickens then cars 🙂

12 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Thanks for the report...however (and admittedly I only did a rather quick scan) unless I just plain missed it, I never saw the name of the ship.  If it's there...apologies!

Oppsie, as mentioned by DUCHESSRN, was the Crown Princess!

TL,DR:

 

Hawaii amazing.

Crew mostly great.

Ship mostly good but old and it shows.

Activities boring.

Entertainment great.

Would consider the cruise again but not anytime soon.  Will return Hawaii though for sure.

 

In detail.

 

Flew into San Francisco a few days ahead and spent some time in the city.  Really enjoyed it but not a cheap city to visit.

 

Boarding went well, no hitches save traffic trying to get to the port.  From getting out of the taxi to sitting for lunch on board was probably only an hour.

 

Going to break this down into a few sections.

 

First, the ship itself.  Quick note that our last two cruises were on a newer ship, so that doubtless affected us in noticing some quality of life stuff missing.

 

The cabin was nice overall.  The bed was very comfy, we slept really well in it.  Luggage delivered by 1pm, so able to get it all put away.  We loved the ample closet space.  We did miss a couch though, we always like a nice sitting area, and on a 16-day cruise, we did notice it even more. 

 

Overall, it's an older ship and it shows.  Lights aren't very bright, AC is taxed even in cooler weather, linens frayed, rust, damages, etc. Elevators were unreliable, several times just not going anywhere.  You'd step in, hit the button and it would just sit there.  A door on Lido deck wouldn't open, and another would close very quickly.  Things like that.

 

The AC in our room was not that cool, we called down a few times about it over the cruise.  And the toilet stopped flushing multiple times as well through the cruise, once for nearly an entire day and we had to go to another deck to use the washroom.  And a light went out for three days before it was fixed.

 

There was also a lack of charging options in the room, with only two AC plugs I could find and a single USB charger, all on the one side of the room.  If you wanted to plug your phone or another device on the other nightstand, out of luck.  Also annoying, the lamps were bolted into the middle of the table, with no capacity to move them at all.  This limited the number of things you could have on the nightstand.

 

I saw some posts about the motion sensor lights in the cabin.  They didn't bother me, but I do agree an option to disable would be nice.  They can be a bit oversensitive.  My wife moves around a lot as she sleeps and moving the blanket or kicking her leg out would cause it to go on.

 

The shower was hot and great pressure but small. Only one shelf as well, so limited in how much stuff you can bring in.

 

The buffet was average but was very small it seemed to me.  Only a few stations with a few options.  Nothing world changing.  Breakfast was the worst I felt, we went twice and never enjoyed it.  And the juices were literally hot, not just room temperature but literally felt hot in the glasses.

 

Sit down dining in the MDR was good, though found breakfast very limited.  Lunch was better but still, the options didn't change that much.  I did like the lunch sized portions though.  Dinner was very tasty though with a good selection. 

 

One thing I thought was odd was why only one restaurant open for lunch and breakfast?  We eat early, so it didn't effect us but we left at 1 and saw 60+ people waiting to get in, when it closed in 30 minutes to new guests.  

 

Also, the MDR is closed for lunch on port days, which means if you don't get off, you got buffet or International Cafe only, no sit down.

 

I did love how the MDRs had two lines, one for those with reservations and one for without.  Just makes it more streamlined.

 

Crown Grill was delicious, top notch.  Sabatini’s was very tasty but way too much food for us.  Glad we only went the once.  Salty Dog Gastropub was really tasty, and we thought it a shame it's not open for lunch!

 

The casino is pretty small and has an open smoking section on one side.  I feel really bad for the Shore Excursion people who's desk is right outside the smoking part, that entire area reeks.  Interesting, at the Coffee with the Captain talk, someone asked about it and his response was basically 'It's Princess corporate, not my call.' 

 

The Piazza is a cool idea and looks nice, but I felt it was too small for everything they tried to cram in there.  Santa, dances, live music, games, there is not enough seating to really take part.  At the same time, other parts of the ship are basically ignored.  I think there was an average of two events a day in Skywalkers, one of which was an unhosted knitting hour.  Why not have a dance party there for NYE, instead of just the Piazza and upper deck?

 

Service and Crew.

 

Our room steward, Jimmy, was great.  One of the best we've had on a cruise.  Items we asked for were delivered quickly, never had to ask a second time or chase him on anything. 

 

One server in the MDR, Mia, was absolutely amazing, a machine.  On Christmas Eve, she seemed to be handling an entire section of Michelangelo’s by herself! 

 

Audrey, a Shore Excursion Officer, was above and beyond. I had an issue with a credit and she had to email the office to clarify.  As it was over Christmas, she said it may be a bit till she hears back, which I understood.  Several days later, I was walking down the corridor and she passed me by, recognized me and gave me an update.  That's service and professionalism.

 

The cruise director, Jody Miles, was great.  She was engaging and funny and everything you want one to be.  It sometimes felt like she never slept, was just everywhere at once.

 

The Captain, Christopher Lye, is funny and informative.  His lunch time announcements were always engaging and he was clear about expectations, like bad weather or other situations.

 

A few disappointing parts though as well.

 

Sometimes service in the MDR could be really slow, like 45 minutes for appetizers or 20 minutes for drinks.

 

Our travel agent setup a birthday surprise for wife but Princess forgot, so that was a shame.

 

Wait times at the Salty Dog are insane.  Even if no one else is there or has ordered, it could take 10-20 minutes to get a burger or fries.

 

A sommelier showed up at our table one night and said 'you don't look like wine people' and just left.  *****?

 

We also kept getting one bad waiter.  He'd forget items, get annoyed at us for then 'changing our order', took forever and would not clear our appetizers before giving us our mains, and getting annoyed with us about it.

 

I wish they wouldn't turn major corridors into photo shoots.  Queues of people trying to get by.

 

And sadly, the DJ was not very good.  He'd play a song most people liked, so a few would dance, then he plays stuff no one likes, and everyone leaves. He doesn't seem to care if anyone enjoys his music selections or not.  He was a good mixer, but horrible at reading the floor.

 

Entertainment/Activities.

 

We found the activities limited and a bit boring.  They just didn't wow us.  I have no doubt many enjoyed them, but it wasn't for us. 

 

The entertainment though was high end and we enjoyed most of it.  A few parts in the early bit were a bit out of our wheelhouse but most were a lot of fun and very well done.  One of the bands, Plus 2, had an amazing and really friendly lead singer, I think her name was Vodi?  She was great.

 

I would say though for both the activities and some of the entertainment, it was geared to the audience.  A lot of it was what I'd called 'nostalgic', mostly playing older music, ABBA night, two of the featured entertainers in the theater basically just told stories of being Boomers and knowing old classic stars.  Still, we typically found a few things we liked each day, and as I said, most of the entertainment was great.  Favs for the shows were Stephanie Hodgson and Todd Adamson as singers, and the Encore, Disco and Christmas show.

 

The trivia was not well done in my opinion.  We went to several and most had issues, ranging from just not being able to do one due to a USB issue to questions not matching answers or incorrect things, such as songs not from a decade showing up in the list. 

 

I did love the Enrichment stuff they did, even if I didn't go to some of it, I appreciated that they were there.  My favorite was the naturalist, Robert Raincock, he was entertaining and informative, a great mix. 

 

The Cruise.

 

Sadly, fog caused a bunkering delay, so we sailed away at 7, and couldn't see Golden Gate.  Bummer.

 

There was pretty rocky weather on trip out but the Captain was great at communicating about it.  Back wasn't as bad.  We loved it honestly; we love the rocking.  I saw some people here and on ship complain a lot though about it.  It seems a couple people disembarked in Honolulu due to not wanting to face bad weather back. 

 

An odd thing, several people said this was their first cruise.  Can't imagine 16 days for my first try!

 

We loved the app, but a few quality of life improvements would go a long way.  Some examples include:

*See hours of operation for places and services.

*Easily switch between parts without reloading the app

*Chat notifications outside of the app

*Scrolling in the Journey Timeline and more filtering options

 

Things like that.

 

Loved the medallion, worked great, no issues.

 

The water is so beautiful, such a different blue then we're used to.  And as always, I love Christmas at sea.  Love that the air, even further out, smells different.  And even with some annoyances its gorgeous here. Sipping coffee watching the sun rise in Hawaii.

 

The mix of very elderly and younger on board is very amusing when they collide, I'll admit.  An older woman was waiting for an elevator when a younger (30's) man got out.  He said something along the lines of 'I'll hold the door for you' a bit loudly perhaps and she covered her ears and ranted at him to be quiet.  So he left and she missed the elevator.

 

The number of people who have done this cruise before or are doing it back-to-back is amazing!  I love how among our friends we are veteran cruisers, but on ship, we're newbies compared to people we talk to.

 

The number of people on their phones amazing.  I Google some stuff and check in on my mom.  That's it.  But some people never seem to put theirs down.

 

For those wondering, the Christmas music stopped on the 27th I think but the decorations stayed up.  However, on the 7th when we were disembarking, I noticed boxes next to all the trees for them to go back into.  I'm sure by the time people boarded that day, there was nary a garland to be seen.

 

Some odd things as always.  I came across several people who got off the ship and went to Costco?  Even if you wanted a granola bar or something, you need a box of 40 on a cruise?

 

Elevator opened one day to a teenager sitting on the floor and reading twitter.  Just, what?

 

I saw many kids in the halls, at the tables eating, with their headphones on all the time on their phones or playing games/watching shows.  Just no socializing at all.  One girl, about 10, I saw nearly every day for some reason, just a fluke, and I never saw her without her headset on. 

 

A new section to just get it off my chest and vent about some people 🙂

 

Woman toured the dessert area on last day, lots of cakes. Then goes and brings her 5 friends back with her. Stops at each one for 30 or so seconds to talk about it. Blocks the aisle completely while doing it.  Then gives us a dirty look when we politely ask if we can get by.

 

A table with 5 young teens at dinner being pains, clicking their glasses, running fingers on the rim creating loud noises, throwing things, etc. I had to ask them to stop, while their parents just quietly sat there and did nothing.  Why?!? Couple next to us said they were even worse the night before.

 

Some people are just so rude and entitled.  Shoving, cutting in line, acting as if they are the most important.  Woman charged ahead of me and literally elbowed me away.  On the catamaran tour we did, they said food service would start after drinks service, but someone went and peeled the container open and helped themselves.

 

A band of 3-5 young hooligans took over the pool one day, throwing each other into the pool onto other people trying to enjoy the pool.  We told the deck attendant; he laughed it off. Asked bar staff for help, they shrugged. So helpful.  I know there is no lifeguard but come on.  Captain made announcement two days later about pool behavior and later we saw security at the pool making misbehaving teens leave.

 

Hawaii

 

We loved that the servers in the MDR were wearing Hawaiian shirts while in Hawaii.

 

We did a Catamaran Excursion in Kauai, ok, but nothing great.  It said it would show possibly dolphins or whales, and other cool stuff but all it did was a river tour.  Nice but felt it was misleading a bit in the listing.

 

Second Excursion there was not that great. Kilohana Plantation rail was cool but then 30 minutes to 'experience ' the area, aka shop.  Opaekaa Falls beautiful but looked to be a kilometer away. Chickens everywhere were funny though.

 

In Honolulu, we did a hop on/off which was great overall but started out annoying.  We were picked up in a large double decker bus like the pictures.  Dropped off and put into small bus with limited seats. 20 people standing room only for a 2 hour tour. Thankfully an hour or so in, many got off. Gorgeous views but tour organization not great.

 

On the next day, we went to cheeseburger in paradise for lunch then swam at Waikiki beach. 

 

In Hilo, we did an Excursion that went to the Akaka Falls, Macadamia Nut Shop & Tropical Garden Zoo.  It was a lot of fun and much better than our Kauai one.

 

Due to changes in timing, we were able to do a full day in Ensenada but we weren't planning to get off so it didn't effect us much.  Others enjoyed it a great deal though.

 

In the end, Hawaii is gorgeous and I can't say enough good things about it.  We will return.  Just maybe not on this cruise or ship.

 

12 minutes ago, memoak said:

Used to live in the area so have sailed from there many times over the years

My wife and I would do so many more cruises if we lived in a port city.  Sadly, Ottawa, as great as it is, lacks cruise ships sailing up to it 🙂 

1 minute ago, memoak said:

There are only 2 piers for cruise ships in SF and they are in the same general area. We will be taking the Crown to Mexico next month and will be interested in the tides

 

Good to know, only been to the port once as a stop.  This will be our first time boarding there.

27 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

It's silt buildup combined with low tides.  You can't "resolve" nature. 

I more meant, if they know the berth isn't viable at the time, possibly planning ahead and using an alternate one.  And if none are available, having a plan like the Hyatt or another option in place and ready.

3 hours ago, BEAV said:

Here’s one of no doubt many news stories about the embarkation in SF on Tuesday. 
 

A good friend of mine is aboard, and she was just about to get into the shuttle to the 
hotel around 6pm when word came from Hyatt that they were curtailing the service. 
She finally got into her room onboard just after Midnite. 
 

I hope everyone on board is recovering from the inconvenience and enjoying themselves! 😉

 

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/crown-princess-passengers-frustrated-delay-san-francisco-mexico-cruise/3396692/?amp=1

 

 

 

Getting on next week for the Hawaii cruise, hope there isn't a repeat.  Like to think they'll get it resolved by then.

33 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

 

Usual mix of stuff that seems endemic to Princess.  Various elevators out of service.  Random up/down call buttons inop.  Way more broken stuff than I see on (cough) Royal.

 

In the not-broken-but-poorly-designed category: elevator lobby with 6 elevators.  4 in one bank, 2 in the other.  Hitting a call button on one bank doesn't call both banks.  You have to hit a button for each one.  Why?  Who knows?  That just chafes the engineer in me.  Personal OCD-ish problem.  😛

 

I hear you, hope it's not too noticeable for us on next week's Hawaiian cruise. 

 

1 hour ago, mk-ultra said:

Elevators are every bit as messed up as I remember from Ruby Princess.  How hard is it to get that right?

 

 

Can I ask what the elevator issue is?

The Shipmate app seems pretty good, I didn't look too far back but it had what we needed for 2012.

In the beginning of our travels, we used a TA who never gave us the final copies of the invoices, so we don't have copies, either electronics or paper.  We have our notes but in this case, we missed writing down a port, hence our confusion.

 

We're much more methodical now and have detailed notes on all our trips to keep track of it.