Some comments on Crown Princess (Oct 23 - Nov 7th) Canada NE to FLL

[Coral]

Crown Princess Oct 23 – Nov 7 (Quebec to FLL)

 

Here are some random comments about the Crown Princess and the cruise/ship. This is the first time I had been on the “extended Grand class of Caribbean, Emerald, Ruby, Crown). I have wanted to do this itinerary for awhile (13 ports in 15 days) and had booked the cruise for 2010 but decided at the last minute to go in 2009.

 

I booked an AD or an AE Guarantee and while holding the cabin for 8 hours while trying to get the time off, I had been assigned Cat AA Cabin D402 (very centrally located). After having a few centrally located cabins, I much prefer the cabins more aft (D600 series near the aft elevator) but this was ok.

 

We flew in early and stayed at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. This is a very large and scenic hotel in Quebec. Thankfully it was large as we were surprised with a surprise snow storm the following day after we flew in. I read from someone else that Quebec received 5-7” of snow that day. Not sure how accurate but it did snow all day. There was plenty of shopping that can be done here and many of the ship’s tours (Crown Princess over-nighted here) were here which made the hotel very crowded.

 

The day we left for the ship was a zoo as there were tons of people leaving for the ship (Princess hotel) and several people arriving – the lobby was just filled. It was difficult to get a bell captain even though we were told on 5 different times that one had been sent to our room. There was also some confusion as the person on the phone said that if we were going to the ship, we could just leave our luggage in the room (not sure if they thought we booked the hotel through Princess) but people downstairs said that wasn’t true.

 

We got to the pier at noon. I thought that would be ok time as that is the time I always seem to embark on Princess ships and also because the previous cruise overnighted, I thought they would have had people off the ship quickly. Well – not sure why, but embarkation was the worst I have ever seen at any port that morning. Maybe the port is not used to handling 3000 people go through it or what but the lines were very very long at noon. I know those who embarked at 7 pm and didn’t have any problems. We had planned to go to the “falls” through the hotel but with the weather, they let me cancel with out penalty. It had stopped snowing the day we embarked but it was cool (high 30’s low 40’s) and if it was icy, I didn’t want to go.

 

Once on the ship, we were able to take care of some arrangements that needed to be done and were able to see the Matride and switch to Traditional dining (which I was glad as we were waitlisted number 500). We wandered around the first day and saw some of the differences that this class of ship had (the piazza) that the other ships have or have retrofitted and look somewhat different. I did like the floor that they did around here and thought it looked nice (my later impression of this changed). We also stayed on the ship the following day and relaxed as the weather was still pretty cold. I did speak to some people who did some Princess tours and they were somewhat limited due to the weather (not able to get to the falls because of ice/snow still on ground).

 

We had 3 Captains on this cruise (Nash, Proctor and then Commodore Romano). Not exactly sure why but I heard that Captain Proctor was supposed to be on for our cruise and in his contract, he can take a week off here and there. His wife was onboard with him and someone on the ship commented that the first week “he had business in Bermuda to do”. I really like Captain Andy Proctor and unfortunately did not see him. I did run into Commodore Romano and had a nice conversation with him at dinner one evening and he is quite the gentleman.

 

The passengers on this sailing were “very well traveled”. There were 24xx Captain Circle members and 300 elite members. They had 5 Captain Circle parties (2 parties 2 separate nights and then 1 party the third night). The passengers were also not loyal to any particular line as many were attracted to this unique itinerary (Quebec to FLL and 13 ports in 15 days). It was not uncommond to run into people who had been on 100 plus cruises.

 

There is a lot written about a lot of the ports so I won’t go into each port. Just some comments – we skipped CornerBrook, NF. It had been rough the night before and the weather had not been good (our first port). Thankfully from that point on, we had wonderful weather. Started out in the 40’s in the first Canadian ports and was in the 70’s by Boston and higher as we went South. In Boston, Princess ran a shuttle for $15 RT to Quincy Market. I did do a combination of staying on the ship for a port (NYC), doing ships tours (Boston, Bar Harbor, Charleston) and then doing things on my own and private tours in other ports (so a little bit of everything).

 

The huge disappointment was in NYC as Princess only offered 4 or 5 tours here with one being “walk the Brooklyn Bridge”. Our paperwork had mentioned that our stop would be in Manhattan or Brooklyn and everyone was hoping for Manhattan but alas, that was not to be. I had friends who had tried to find out which pier we would be at and it wasn’t until a few days before we docked that we had confirmation. There were a lot of complaints that Princess did not run a shuttle to Manhattan. There had been a big celebration in Manhattan as the USS New York arrived that day (I think that was the ship). Due to the lack of tours and lack of transportation that day – a lot of people stayed on the ship that day. Those who did Princess tours didn't seem overly impressed and they seemed like "bus tours" with a lot of pointing.

 

Those who had made arrangements for cars, limos to pick them up seemed to have a good day. Otherwise, the taxis at the pier were very limited here (not sure why) and I often saw hundreds in line for a taxi there with just one or two taxis arriving at a time. I did try to walk off the ship early that morning (not the first off but within the first hour) and the pier area was just packed (before you walked outside). I asked what was going on and no one knew. Then, they tried to organize tours amongst the mob and it just didn’t work. Princess isn’t used to using this pier as a port stop and it was obvious. The pier probably works great for checking people in and out but they did a poor job getting people on their tours and letting others outside of the building. There is a subway station near by and friends who did go that route just to explore did enjoy their time but felt they had to head back to the ship at 1 or so because they were not confident how long it would take to get back and didn’t want to miss the ship.

 

Some surprises – Norfolk, VA – what a great port. They built this beautiful cruise pier and it is the nicest I have ever seen. The USS Wisconsin is right next to where the ship is docked and is free to walk on (not in as the ship may still be deployed). There is a Nauticus building right next to the pier (and the USS Wisconsin is next to that). This had a wonderful museum to walk through and offered quite a few things. There were boat rides from here also. There were a lot of people from Norfolk outside providing advice and tourism information to those with out tours. Many went to Williamsburg that day through the ship.

 

Boston – I did a full day tour with Princess to Lexington and Concord and then of Boston. This was a pretty good tour. I had debated between this and Salem and I heard from our tour guide that because it was Halloween, they were expecting tens of thousands to Salem that day (popular spot on Halloween). Everyone said that we were there on their “best fall day” that year and it was truly a beautiful day there. It was fun to walk around Harvard Yard with people dressed up in costume. There was also a pet costume contest in Quincy Market that day.

 

CruiseCritic group – we had a very large and great CC group. I wasn’t as active as the others but very much enjoyed those who I met and spent time with. I think due to the size of the ship/amount of passengers, it was difficult to see people again. Heck – I had friends who I saw at the hotel in Quebec who I didn’t see again until the last day at sea and that was because we went out of our way to setup lunch. I had other friends on the cruise who I rarely saw. On the other hand, I always seemed to run into Shogun and his lovely wife in the atrium at night as we were trying to walk through crowds and got stuck looking at items on a sale table.

 

Dining room service – we were glad we had Traditional dining and we had good wait service. Because it was a 15 night cruise – it was nice to have some different menus! It made me realize how tired I am off the current menus (even when they re-arranged them on the menus it is still the same food). Our asst. matride did make several unique/special dishes for us and we asked him to stop as by the 5th day realizing we had 10 more days, we needed to stop eating as much. I did ask him to make my favorite soufflee which Princess has discontinued and I did enjoy that. The Matride was very gracious and always checked in on us.

 

Now -the strange thing is that we had a table for 2 next to us that had someone the first night and then they left to join friends elsewhere. Then, on maybe the 4th night, they put someone there that had an issue with a head waiter in another dining room and then they never showed up again. The Matride kept this table for them the entire cruise as their assigned table even after it became obvious that they were not going to show up again. So while there was a waitlist of 500 people who wanted traditional dining, no one else was assigned to this table. So, we often brought friends down and moved the two tables together and had dinner with friends. At first, we asked if we could bring people down and they were like “assuming the others didn’t show up” but then I stopped asking and just brought people down. There was another table for 2 farther down that was empty from day 2 and then another couple showed up one night (like the 5th night or so) and then they showed up maybe 4 or 5 total nights through out the entire cruise. We were told that table was not assigned (so even if the 2 showed up next to us, we could rearrange things) but this couple seemed to have access to the table when they showed up. Items like this was not uncommon in other parts of the Traditional dining room. Except for one night, we did show up every night to the dining room – that night we went to the Crown Grill.

 

Crown Grill – We walked by the Crown Grill every night and I have to say that I never saw more then 2 or 3 tables ever. I spoke with some who felt they had to make reservations right away and they saw the same thing and wondered why they made reservations. We walked by one night and decided to skip the dining room and try this. While the menu is expanded – I am not a seafood person and stuck with the other side of the menu. Let me preface this by saying I am from Nebraska where we have fabulous beef and a lot (a large majority) of the prime beef served through out the US is from here so I am used to good beef. This is the first time I have paid the $25 for the meal. Previous meals were on the Star which was $20 and through out the years, I had paid less. I have to say that I probably won’t eat here again. I realized that $25 is probably too much for this meal (IMO) as I can eat at better steak houses where I live for this prince and get a better meal back home. Well – maybe not the porter house but but I don’t order this as I prefer ribeyes and fillets.

 

The steak (ribeye) was fine (not outstanding but fine) but the side dishes were disappointing. They seem to want to impress by big quantities as opposed to quality. The garlic mashed potatoes had more garlic then one could eat in an entire week (and I usually like garlic mashed potatoes), we had asparagus again (which another review mentioned was on every meal and that seemed true for us) and a few other items that didn’t wow me either. They brought out 2 bowls of mushrooms and one bowl for the two of us would have still provided leftovers. They did bring out a pork chop for me as I didn’t order any seafood and this was tough to cut through. I did ask about why it was so empty and they answered it was because it was a 15 night cruise and it spreads people out over 15 nights as opposed to 7 nights. I still don’t buy this as we only saw one other table used during our entire dining experience. If their logic was true, half the tables would be used. I couldn’t help but reminess about eating on the Sun Princess in Mexico. Their steak house was outside back then (a deck above/overlooking the pools) and they used the hamburger grill I think to make the steaks and we had dinner overlooking the sunset in Acalpulco and it was $6. I far enjoyed that meal a whole lot more compared to what they are doing now. I don’t consider myself cheap but if I can get a better meal at home for $25, why pay for that on a ship?? It was nice to have a quiet meal as “quiet” was difficult to come by on this ship.

 

Overall – the staff on the ship were happy, cheerful, etc... I know that the Purser’s Desk gets a lot of complaints and they were also in pretty good spirits. Though – I did run into some issues with them that are small but I was surprised at. I tried to put $400 in travelers checks on my account to pay the account down. The individual I asked to do this had never encountered Travelers Checks for 2 and insisted it required 2 signatures to cash. I tried to show him that there was only a place for 1 person’s signature and he just didn’t buy it. I had to have him ask someone else to get this done. The other issue I had was that when we checked in, it was so crowded and busy, we just put 1 credit card down (which I have done before) and I went up and tried to change it so that my charges went to a different credit card and another person working there insisted that I could not do this. Again, I had him ask someone else and they did tell me that yes, it could be done.

 

Some “big negatives” on our sailing – I have read several readers who say that the Crown (and her sisters) are not any more crowded compared to the Star, Grand, Golden, Sapphire, Diamond, etc.... I personally didn’t understand how that could be with 500 more passengers but because it was an itinerary I really wanted, I decided to give the ship a try. Well – the Crown was very crowded. I have heard people say “well it was because it was cooler outside and everyone was inside and it is the same on other ships”...... With the exception of the first few days – the majority of our trip had good weather for a Canada NE trip. It was the same weather I had for a previous Canada NE trip I had on the Star Princess. I have also been on ships in other cooler destinations when people are inside and by no means did the other ships get this crowded.

 

For example – it was not uncommon to go to the Horizon Court in the morning and I was unable to find a table. I then asked for help from a head waiter I knew from downstairs and he also could not find 2 seats at a table that were free (even sharing). He would look for 10 minutes and by then the food was cold. Or another example would be that I would get my food and after a long search, I would find a table that someone had just left that was dirty. By the time I got a hold of someone to clean the table and then someone to get silverware and then a drink, it just didn’t seem worth it (as the food was cold by then anyway). So – I decided to try the International Café and every table was filled all the time. It was difficult to get a seat during breakfast, lunch or after dinner here. Well – there is always the dining room, right. Well, if you got there right at noon, you were fine but if you got there late (same as for breakfast), there were often lines of 50-75 people waiting to be seated here. We stood in line for 20 minutes once for the dining room for lunch. And this was to “share a table”. Granted the hamburger and pizza stands were empty but they have been on other Canada NE cruises and Alaska cruises I have been on (with similar temperatures). I have never experienced the lines for dining and not being able to find a table at the Horizon Court on any cruise. Granted, this probably related to everyone eating at the same time but again, I have been on other cruises that are port intensive with similar temps and never had a problem before.

 

Food venues wasn’t the only thing that seemed affected by the crowdedness. We were often 20 minutes late making it to the Traditional dining room (along with others) due to being unable to get into an elevator. At night – we would try to walk from the aft elevators on Deck 7 to the atrium and could not get past large groups of people. For example, several nights there was entertainment in the Explorer’s Lounge which had people standing to the back of the furniture in the walk way which made it impossible to walk through. If we got past that, there were tables of sales out in the atrium. Their choice of location on the sides is poor compared to the Grand class as it seemed narrower (or maybe it was just more crowded) but on the Grand class they tend to do more in the front side as opposed to the sides. Well, that was another traffic jam and if you wanted to look at what they were selling, you were trampled.

 

There were also entertainment in the piazza (sp?) at night but there was never a table/chair there either to watch. I heard someone say people slept there and I doubt they were exaggerating as people would sit there for 4 plus hours.

 

Entertainment at night – we gave up. After traditional dining, there was never a seat left to see the entertainment unless I wanted to catch the 10 pm show. Since I don’t sleep well on Princess beds and since the trip was very port intensive, I had no desire to waste 2 hours until a 10 pm show (besides, I am not sure where I would waste it since I couldn’t find a seat anywhere). I had dinner with friends one night and they had sent their other friends up an hour early to save 2 seats so that they could go to the show that night. Many others I spoke to mentioned having to get to a show an hour before just to get seats. I have never had to do this on any Princess ship, ever, previously.

 

Maybe these ships are fine in the Caribbean when people are at the pools all day and people are not inside the ship as much but on cooler climate cruises, this ship did not work for me. Again, I have been on other Princess ships in cooler climates (and on a Canada NE cruise with similar temps) and have never encountered the problems I encountered on this ship.

 

Disembarkment (crazy). We could not use EZ Check as we were flying Southwest going home and they did not participate in it (they did have a van outside where you could check in and pay $10 per bag). We went out with our color only to find that none of the bags had been unloaded. The longshore men were just starting to unload bags and they didn’t seem too quick about it. We waited over an hour (felt like 2 hours) for them to get done. At first, I looked at the colors they were unloading and they were the last colors to be called. Then I was told that “red” was being unloaded in the next room but we couldn’t go in there (nor could anyone take any bags) until they were done. I have never walked off a ship at my scheduled time to not find luggage outside. I mentioned this to the Princess person directing people and he was critical of me not using EZ Check – I then told him that Southwest was not on the list and he seemed surprised.

 

I have been on 10 night cruises and at least 3 B2B 7 night cruises. I have never been anxious to get off a ship as I was on this trip (15 night cruise). I do have to say I did like the ports but when on the ship, it just seemed too crowded and too much work to do things such as go to entertainment, get an elevator, find a chair in the dining venues, etc... It really made the trip not enjoyable. I was glad that I had positive cruise experiences to compare this trip as when I got back, I realized that I was on the same cruise as a co-worker’s parents and this was their first cruise and they never want to go on another cruise again. I have to also say this cruise turned me off on cruising. I had the same cruise booked for next year (I still love the itinerary) but that got cancelled right away.

 

I am booked on the Golden in Alaska in May and am not sure if I am going (I sailed on the Star this summer and had no problems what so-ever) but a part of me wants to see if I can get on a smaller ship. This trip also made me realize that the direction Princess is going with their ships doesn’t match my interests. It would be easy for people to respond and say “go with an R class” but I am still in my 30’s and spending $4k on a vacation is not something I can do often. I have grown out of the Caribbean/Mexico cruises as being in port with 10 other ships just isn’t appealing and isn’t the Caribbean I remember when I first started cruising. And with ships carrying 5000-6000 people and with new Princess ships carrying 3000 people – the amount of people in port in these islands is just not my type of thing. The reason this cruise appealed to me (and many others on the trip) was the unique itinerary but the cruise experience diminished the enjoyment of the trip. When I emailed my TA from the ship – her first response was “I see HAL in your future”. While I still consider myself young, I have to say I enjoyed the HAL Oosterdam cruise I took from a ship stand point and my TA may be pretty accurate as far as my future. I am watching prices on the R ship from Seattle and the Sea Princess out of SFO for the summer and if those don’t come down, I may still go on the Golden as I did not have any problems with crowding on that ship. On the other hand, land vacations seem more and more appealing to me now. I don’t think I am entirely alone in this thinking – I had friends onboard who have cruised longer and more then I have. They really liked the British Isles cruise itinerary on this ship and considered booking this with a TA for a B2B and including 20 some days. Part way through the cruise, they mentioned they were going to go back and look at any other cruise line that had a similar itinerary and were now also considering trading a time share and doing a land trip instead of a cruise. While they were not ruling out the Crown Princess entirely, I could tell their minds were working trying to come up with something else. They were also going to look at HAL and previously they had mentioned to me that “they thought they were too young for HAL”.

 

If you have any questions – let me know.

 

Theresa

[Coral]

2 more comments...

 

The ship looked brand new. It was in excellent shape and I did not see one thing that would indicate that it was a few years old.

 

Secondly - I still don't understand the appeal of Club Fusion. I keep going back and fourth to ships with Club Fusion and ships with out (those with Vista Lounge) and the ones with the Vista Lounge seems to make better use of the space.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

It was very nice to meet you on board the Crown.

 

Princess needs to use ships like the Grand with its sliding roof for cold weather cruises,

 

not only

 

is there less people but with the roof so much more space.

 

While on the Crown in the med. the ship was so different.

 

yours Shogun

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[jean s]

Thanks for the well written review. I agree with you about the crowding situation. I prefer the Grand/Star/Golden over the Crown.

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. We are looking at a Europe cruise in the near future and the Crown traditionally does that cruise in June. I think 2000 pax is "crowded", so maybe we should look at the smaller 670 pax. We really enjoyed the Tahitian Princess for it's intimacy and compactness.

[rdsqrl]

Thanks for the detailed review. I think the lack of a covered pool area may be a big problem on these cold weather itineraries, but that doesn't explain the extreme crowding inside at night. I sailed on her (on a warm-weather itinerary) and don't recall that at all. Maybe it was just the people on this cruise? More big groups or older people who moved slowly and tended to "settle" in one spot rather than move around? In any case, I'm very sorry that the experience was so awful for you. I personally love the Dawn-size ships and wish they would have more that size, as I agree with you that $4K for a cruise on the little girls is really pricing it out of reach for solo cruisers and/or those who work for a living (well, depending on the work -- your average crime boss probably has no problem dropping 4 large!).

By the way, glad you liked Norfolk; that's my mother's hometown (she comes from a family of naval officers) so we're partial to it in our family.

[Megsdad]

Hi There,

 

It was very nice to meet you on board the Crown.

 

A mutual experience?;)

[Coral]

Thanks for the detailed review. I think the lack of a covered pool area may be a big problem on these cold weather itineraries, but that doesn't explain the extreme crowding inside at night. I sailed on her (on a warm-weather itinerary) and don't recall that at all. Maybe it was just the people on this cruise? More big groups or older people who moved slowly and tended to "settle" in one spot rather than move around? In any case, I'm very sorry that the experience was so awful for you. I personally love the Dawn-size ships and wish they would have more that size, as I agree with you that $4K for a cruise on the little girls is really pricing it out of reach for solo cruisers and/or those who work for a living (well, depending on the work -- your average crime boss probably has no problem dropping 4 large!).

By the way, glad you liked Norfolk; that's my mother's hometown (she comes from a family of naval officers) so we're partial to it in our family.

 

I obviously left out the part about not having a covered pool. Many people were disappointed in this. I heard a few say that they called Princess to confirm that a pool was covered and was told yes. This would have helped a bit as we would have swam some days (as we don't do this at home). We did swim outside in Charleston and on the sea day. It may have also helped with people eating at the grill, etc.. As it was, very few people used the hamburger/hot dog and pizza station.

 

I didn't think the overall group on the cruise was "old". There was a wide range of people and ages on this cruise. I guess I have been on cruises with an older demographic - this seemed normal for a Nov/Dec non-holiday cruise. Though - there were only 6 kids onboard I believe. I saw 2 of them at muster drill and never saw any kids again.

 

Norfolk was impressive and I think most were surprised by the port. I sure hope all of their efforts helps with future cruises using Norfolk as home port or stopping there. After wandering around all day I then decided to try to find a grocery store or walgreens to buy some more bottled water before returning to the ship. I asked one of the "security - helpful tourism guys" that was walking around. He then walked me 3 blocks to a minimart to make sure I found it and then asked if I knew where I was in relation to the cruise ship to find my way back to the ship. This is a port where the locals really want the ships to come.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Thanks for your detailed review. I enjoyed reading it, and I do love sailing on the Crown. Good choice on your Boston tour. Haunted Happenings in Salem, MA attracts more than 100,000 and this year probably exceeded that due to the warm weather.

[Coolmama_1]

2 more comments...

 

The ship looked brand new. It was in excellent shape and I did not see one thing that would indicate that it was a few years old.

 

Secondly - I still don't understand the appeal of Club Fusion. I keep going back and fourth to ships with Club Fusion and ships with out (those with Vista Lounge) and the ones with the Vista Lounge seems to make better use of the space.

 

I agree! When we were on the CB, Club Fusion was empty most of the time and it seemed like a huge waste of space. We much preferred the Vista Lounge on previous cruises.

[crusdiva]

2 more comments...

 

The ship looked brand new. It was in excellent shape and I did not see one thing that would indicate that it was a few years old.

 

Secondly - I still don't understand the appeal of Club Fusion. I keep going back and fourth to ships with Club Fusion and ships with out (those with Vista Lounge) and the ones with the Vista Lounge seems to make better use of the space.

 

Theresa,

Great review thanks!

Happy to hear that you enjoyed your stop here in Boston.

I could not agree more about your thoughts on Club Con-Fusion. The Vista Lounge is a beautiful room one of the Princess' prettiest and it can be used for a variety of demos and smaller shows.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I agree! When we were on the CB, Club Fusion was empty most of the time and it seemed like a huge waste of space. We much preferred the Vista Lounge on previous cruises.

Me too! I just don't understand Club Fusion. The sightlines are very limited, and why would one go to "live" entertainment just to watch it on a TV screen? (Even worse, when they pipe the live entertainment from the Princess Theater into the Explorers Lounge where one can watch it on the big screen). In addition, the sorts of entertainment that plays in Club Fusion (game shows, etc.) is not our bag. We want to be entertained by professionals, not our fellow cruisers (I can sing for DH at home, and, trust me, it's not a pretty picture). And, with all the crowding in the entertainment venues, one would think that the dis-use of Club Fusion would have the PTB rethinking its purpose.

 

Coral, thanks for the review. We were unconvinced that we would like the Crown Class of ships until last year on the Emerald, where, for the most part, we loved the experience (theater and buffet crowding aside). We'll soon discover if that was a one off or if we can handle the larger ships, with the Ruby and Crown in our future. I have good friends taking an HAL ship to Hawaii in January, and I'm anxious to hear their thoughts. I would also consider myself too young for HAL, but, then again, I'm not getting any younger...

[Coral]

 

Coral, thanks for the review. We were unconvinced that we would like the Crown Class of ships until last year on the Emerald, where, for the most part, we loved the experience (theater and buffet crowding aside). We'll soon discover if that was a one off or if we can handle the larger ships, with the Ruby and Crown in our future.

 

Maybe this proves the fact that they should not use the Crown (and her sisters) in cool climate cruises (though we had temps in the 70's plus). The crowding doesn't seem to be an issue in the Caribbean (from what people have reported).

[Coral]

Theresa,

Great review thanks!

Happy to hear that you enjoyed your stop here in Boston.

I could not agree more about your thoughts on Club Con-Fusion. The Vista Lounge is a beautiful room one of the Princess' prettiest and it can be used for a variety of demos and smaller shows.

 

I totally agree!

[PescadoAmarillo]

The crowding doesn't seem to be an issue in the Caribbean (from what people have reported).

I think it's an issue, but less of one, and it totally depends on how a person spends his/her time on the ship. We did well on the Emerald by virtually never dining in the buffet (did go to Cafe Caribe for dinner a couple of nights), never trying to lounge poolside at the two main pools, and never trying to go to an Anytime Dining dinner between 6:30 and 7:30pm. It can work, but we found we kind of had to march to the beat of a different drummer in what/when we chose to do things. The theater situation, however, was our biggest issue. The only way around it was to consistently attend the shows intended for late diners, and that just doesn't work with our natural body clocks.

[BandBlady]

Really sorry you had so many problems on Crown .We were on the same cruise and loved every minute of it .No complaints at all !!!!!

We along with our friends stayed on for the B2B had a blast

.Took lots of happy memories back to Bonnie Scotland:)

Would do it all again

[Woobstr112G]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Woobstr112G]

I agree! When we were on the CB, Club Fusion was empty most of the time and it seemed like a huge waste of space. We much preferred the Vista Lounge on previous cruises.

 

I totally agree. The Emerald and Ruby, I rarely saw anyone at all in Fusion. On another note, one thing I noted about the Diamond (Saphire) was the huge wasted space by how big the internet cafe was.

 

Bob

[NSWP]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. We are looking at a Europe cruise in the near future and the Crown traditionally does that cruise in June. I think 2000 pax is "crowded", so maybe we should look at the smaller 670 pax. We really enjoyed the Tahitian Princess for it's intimacy and compactness.

Kinkacruiser, 2000 on the Crown ?..how about 3200 !!! We had that many on our 27 days B2B Western Med and British Isles back in June/July, Shogun was aboard! The Crown's stats show a pax max of 3100, strange that. But even with 3200 on board, there was still space. I have no complaints about the Crown Princess, allround, crew, food, service, entertainment, very good.

 

Totally agree, Club Fusion is very under used, during our B2B, never saw more than 50 people in the place, and often no one. I think Princess needs to re vamp the Club Fusions.

[mii]

Thanks Teresa for your review of that particular route. We have alwayw wanted to do it but because of where we live and the airfare toa get there it would be pricey. Now after reading your review and I trust your judgement we are having second thoughts. I will be on the ruby for the first time next March and I am also curious as to the crowded or hopefully not crowded conditions. We will be doing a Eastern Caribbean 10 day one. Again thanks.

 

Marilyn

[Coral]

Kinkacruiser, 2000 on the Crown ?..how about 3200 !!! We had that many on our 27 days B2B Western Med and British Isles back in June/July, Shogun was aboard! The Crown's stats show a pax max of 3100, strange that. But even with 3200 on board, there was still space. I have no complaints about the Crown Princess, allround, crew, food, service, entertainment, very good.

 

There had been several people (Shogun included) who found the ship crowded during our sailing but had different experiences in Europe. I am not sure if the temps were warm this summer and people were utilizing the pool area. I think the fact that no one used the pool area and there was no covered pool (which other ships have) caused problems on this "cooler cruise".

 

I just found it very frustrating trying to find a place to sit or having to wait in lines which I have never had to do on any other princess ship.

[CaribbeanIsland]

We were also on this cruise. We have not cruised with Princess for awhile and this was our first cruise with them in a few years. We were disappointed with the ship and the crowds also. We are probably going back to Holland America for our next cruise.

[canuckcruzingirl]

I debarked on Oct 23 when you were embarking - agree COMPLETELY with your review (my posted review is very similar) - would not recommend taking Crown to any cold weather areas! For a warm weather cruise where the crowds are spread outside, this ship would be wonderful.

[caber]

Hi Theresa,

 

We were on this cruise also. I don`t agree that the ship was too crowded. Apart from the usual scrum round the shop tables, which I have encountered on all Princess cruises I have done, making a difficult to get from A to B on deck 7, we found plenty of space around the ship. Skywalkers and Adagios were always quiet and lovely places to sit. We never had a problem getting a table in Vines, even at busy times.

 

We ate most mornings in the dining room. I couldn`t be bothered fighting for my food in the Horizon Court. Sometimes we had room service for breakfast. The only downside to that was that it wasn`t warm enough to have it on the balcony for most of the cruise.

 

The pools were really well heated. I had a swim on two occasions before we reached Fort Lauderdale.

 

I enjoyed your report on the ports. We have some great memories and photos of these.

 

In all we had a great cruise with good company and a great cc group.