Crown Princess West Caribbean Review and Photos

[bhrm]

Hello all!

 

I figured its only fair if I contributed a review since I took so much from other people's reviews.

 

I was on the Nov 21-28th cruise.

 

Food:

- top notch, good selection in daily specials.

- awesome service, had 6PM dining at the Michelangelo and served by Fabrizio and Daniel (gone home to Ukraine for 2 months now)

- Breakfast and Lunch at Dining rooms is highly recommended, I found it to be way better than the buffet.

- Sashimi/Tapas at Vines is awesome. They had yellow tail and I think I ate enough to form a whole fish. Sushi/Asian lunch at the buffet was terrible.

 

 

 

 

The Ship:

- There are certain areas that are confusing to get around, good thing all staff gave clear directions and maps were plenty

- Upper decks can be slippery

- Ship all around had a very classic look, incandescent lighting.

- plenty of areas unobstructed by glass to enjoy the sea

- overall very clean and well kept

 

 

Ship Stuff:

- Pools are small. Don't expect to really 'swim'

- Hot Tubs are crowded most of the time

- Movie under the stars was pretty neat, some nights got pretty chilly with the winds though. Good movies were played, Star Trek notably, Wall-E.

- Chair hoggers were rampant

- Princess Theatre movies were okay...no surround sound system and sound quality was too boomy and not evenly separated for clarity.

- Shows were great except for the ones that were clearly out of my generational understanding...like What a Swell Party. The Motor City one and the show the Crew put on were really really really really good. The crew really have awesome talent, notably Margarita the Bartender with her amazing singing voice. She was better than the Princess Performers. Way better. Waaaaay better.

- The Gym is good, I chuckled at the lack of ceiling height for the tall people. I'm short so didn't bother me. Equipment was well kept and very new.

- Piazza Performances were nice too, there was a big Italian presence on the boat, and a few songs were sung by passengers and accompanied by the string quartet which was awesome.

 

The Room:

- had an interior room on Deck 9

- It was big enough for two, didn't feel cramped.

- washroom was reasonable for one at a time, shower may be a little tight for those who are bigger.

- Room Attendant was friendly and knowledgeable, his Thai accent was tough for my gf's mom but I understood every word he said.

(i'll upload a video in a bit)

 

Excursions:

- I only booked one with Princess, the Underground Cavern Snorkel which was very unique and enjoyable, but I wouldn't do it again! It was dark and cold and wet...plus it rained in Playa Del Carmen which sucked...and waaay too much "shopping time", 3 hours out of the 8.5 hour excursion. 1.5 hours was already spent on traveling time.

- Roatan was at the Coxen Hole Port, not the new fancy one

- Roatan is EXPENSIVE, we walked out of the port and found a taxi driver, $40 for 4 got us to the West Bay beach, the best beach on the whole trip. We should've stayed longer but some people wanted to shop...At the port, tour operators were charging $20 per person to go to the beach. $30 per person for private beaches

Awesome snorkelling though:

- Our waiter explained that people in Roatan realized no one bargains so they raised their prices and people pay the prices. Most of our excursions and shopping tips came from our waiters at the dining room.

- Grand Cayman, we went with Glenda for the Stingray Snorkel for $30 per person. It was an okay deal but I can see the value of the $40 one moby dick runs, they had a nicer boat and nicer everything. We wanted to save a bit of money for the same experience.

 

 

More to come...

[Colo Cruiser]

Excellent photos, thanks.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Thanks for posting, who was your captain.

 

I think the folk of Roatan learn quickly when we were there it was cheap,

 

everything was a dollar.

 

yours Shogun

[Crewzer33]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Crown at the end of this month. We too have always asked our waitstaff what to do on the islands and where they go, and have always been happy with their suggestions. We're happy to just find a nice beach with a bar to spend the day. Can't wait!

[jdavid]

Greetings from Halifax. Your review and pics are great. We've been on the Crown for a 14 day b2b in 2008. Going again Dec 12. We've never tried Vines. Must do this time and try a few apps with good wine this time.

[justluv2cruisewithhubby]

Thank you for the cool photos...enjoyed the review. Was your inside cabin like the sample they show on Princess.com?

[Coolmama_1]

Love your pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[TwinCruiserMom]

Great pictures and review :)

 

Only 4 more days until it is our turn!

[kywildcatfanone]

Great review! Love the Pics! We will be on her in a couple of weeks and your review make me wish it was tomorrow!

 

Mike

[jedokids]

Thanks for the great review and great pictures! Do you remember which nights the 2 Formal nights were? We are trying to plan our Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Did you try the seafood buffets?

 

Thanks!

[bhrm]

Thanks for the great review and great pictures! Do you remember which nights the 2 Formal nights were? We are trying to plan our Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Did you try the seafood buffets?

 

Thanks!

 

The formal nights are the ones at sea, which gives plenty time to get ready for.

 

Seafood buffets yes, late night snacking. The lobster claws aren't very tasty but then I'm used to Cantonese Styles Lobster cooking (ginger and onion stir fry), so I found it dry and tasteless. Some of the shrimp dishes were nice. Squid too.

 

Food is better on formal nights.

 

They do post the menu for the day so if the selection isn't to your liking, you know when to do your balcony dinner.

[bhrm]

Thank you for the cool photos...enjoyed the review. Was your inside cabin like the sample they show on Princess.com?

 

Yes, and there were two available bunks too for a max cap of 4.

 

One annoying thing is outlets, a power bar with cord is a must. The outlets themselves are too tight to use side by side if you have an awkward battery charger. There's one outlet behind the LCD tv, two by the desk/mirror and one in the bathroom.

[bhrm]

Underground Cavern Snorkel Review:

 

I wish there were reviews of this earlier...but since there's none I'll make one!

 

 

This excursion takes place in PLAYA DEL CARMEN even though the ship docks at Cozumel! I didn't know that and it irked me a bit!!

 

 

If you don't mind dark, cold, and wet and tight spaces, this is a very interesting excursion and there's nothing like it. I wish I had a better camera with a more powerful flash, maybe an off camera flash firing remotely but I went alone as the rest of my party went shopping in Cozumel. Its extremely dark and the flashlight doesn't do enough for photography but good enough to navigate through the darkness. If you go with a group, make sure the flashlights are a group effort! Its REALLY dark.

 

What really sucked was where we put our belongings, it rained on and flooded a bit, most of my stuff was soaked but things I had in bags or ziplock bags were fine. I had a towel and extra shirt so I didn't freeze to death.

 

BRING BUG SPRAY. Where the caverns are is in the middle of an ecological reserve aka JUNGLE. Watch out for snakes too!

[bhrm]

More photos of Playa Del Carmen, clearly a tourist trap area. However there's plenty of good clean food like Johnny Rockets, McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, etc

[bhrm]

Piazza Entertainment with an Italian song and dance.

 

 

Ball drop for the Captain's Ball. Also to answer the question, the Captain was Martizze which I probably spelled wrong.

[bhrm]

More Ship photos

 

Terrace Pool and Deck area, it tended to be quieter since its far away from food and at the very back of the ship and at the 14th deck.

 

 

I think this is the Calypso Pool and Deck, where live bands play on and off the day. They throw a power line into the pool to keep the kids away with 70,000 volts of electricity. I'm joking, this photo was taken very early morning.

 

[fcorey]

great review, fantastic photos. thanks for taking the time to post. We're sailing on Crown in January. You wouldnt happen to have the daily patters would you? This is going to be our first time on Princess and I am really looking forward to it

[bhrm]

great review, fantastic photos. thanks for taking the time to post. We're sailing on Crown in January. You wouldnt happen to have the daily patters would you? This is going to be our first time on Princess and I am really looking forward to it

 

I didn't keep the patters, most of the items were not of interest to me.....Princess Cruises and my age range/generation aren't too compatible. Days at Seas, I spent them swimming, napping, eating, and photography.

 

I can tell you most of the shows are worth going to, except "What a Swell Party". The stand up comedy act was so-so...Phil Tag. Cruise humour was okay but overall was lacking....

 

All Live Bands are worth seeing too.

 

I forgot to mention we didn't get to dock at Princess Cays which was a huge disappointment especially when Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen was rainy and grey and cold. I wanted to shoot myself for two days at sea in a row. The waters were too rough for the tenders and we watch the tender boat test the crossing and it almost flipped over. 10 ft waves.

[bhrm]

I also highly recommend at least witnessing a sunrise and sunset at least once.

 

[tmitchell82]

We were on the Crown for her first Western Caribbean cruise last month. Had a great time. Great pictures. What type of camera did you use to take them with?

 

Tim

[Britter16]

I'm on the crown now and yesterday we were the first ship to go to Mohagany Bay in Roatan - it was excellent. Typical tacky shops but the beach was amazing. First time I saw people clapping to the guys on the pier as we pulled away. Weather is much better than last week so we may get to Princess Cays this time.

[sunsetme]

fabulous--thanks for the update!

[bhrm]

We were on the Crown for her first Western Caribbean cruise last month. Had a great time. Great pictures. What type of camera did you use to take them with?

 

Tim

 

I spent most of the time with my Canon A570IS P&S as I took it everywhere, most of the on the ship ones were with my Olympus E-510 DSLR with a variety of Minolta MC, Pentax, and Image MC lenses.

[roe2ship]

Loved your pictures! Thanks for posting.

[Momma Mojito]

Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing them with us. We too were on the Crown for the November 7th sailing. Our second time on the Crown. She is a beautiful ship. It rained the day we were in Roatan and was disappointed but now we have another reason to go back.