Crown Princess Review December 12th-19th

[coachj5452]

Here is my review for the Crown Princess December 12th to the Western Caribbean. First let me start out by saying that every crew member that I had contact with on this cruise treated us with the utmost courtesy. They all went out of their way to make our cruise a pleasant experience. They helped me arrange my renewal of vowels. When I lost the coffee card I purchased after only two cups they replaced it without question. When my wife decided that it was too rough to tender to Princess Cay, they refunded the money I'd spent on a clamshell and snorkel equipment. They were just all around good people.

 

Friday December 11th: After my son and his wife flew in from Madison, Wisconsin we drove from the Tampa area (where I live) to Fort Lauderdale. We stayed overnight at the Comfort Inn. It was a nice hotel, and we enjoyed our evening there.

 

Saturday December 12th: We took the hotel shuttle to the dock arriving there at about 12:30. Embarkation was the smoothest I've ever experienced. We were on the ship within fifteen minutes of our arrival. We had lunch in the Horizon Court, toured the ship, tried out the gym and then went to muster drill. Our luggage arrived in the room promptly. We had dinner in one of the main dining rooms and went to the production show.

 

Sunday December 13th: This was our first day at sea and our first formal night. During the day we went to the gym, played basketball and just took it easy. My wife played Bingo and won $80. In the evening my wife and I renewed our vows. The ceremony was conducted by he Captain, and was very nice. We ate in the main dining room again.

 

Monday December 14th: Today we were at Georgetown, Grand Cayman. My son and his wife went on a snorkel tour, I just looked around the dock area, and my wife stayed on the ship. That night we ate the buffet in the Cafe Caribe, We went in saw the comedy magician in the Explorer's lounge and really enjoyed his show.

 

Tuesday December 15th: We were in Roatan, Honduras on this day. We all took a cab to the West End beach and had an enjoyable day. It was fun. We ate back in the main dining room again this evening and then went to the production show.

 

Wednesday December 16th: We were in Cozumel, Mexico. My son and his wife went on a tour to learn Mexican cooking, while I went fishing. It was a nice day, but all I caught were two barracuda. We took it easy this evening and skipped the shows.

 

Thursday December 17th: This was our second day at sea and our second formal night. Other than playing in the two on two basketball tournament, this was a quiet relaxing day. In the evening we had lobster in the dining room. Our waiter brought my son and I a second lobster without our even asking. We went to see the comedian that evening, and I have to admit that he was the one disappointing act that we saw on the trip.

 

Friday December 18th: This was supposed to be our beach day at Princess Cay, but the wind was blowing at 50 knots, so while they did tender people ashore, my wife decided that it was too rough for her. This turned out to be another lazy day aboard ship. That evening we ate in the Crown Grill and it was terrific. My son and I had lobsters and fillets and we were stuffed. They come with the potato of your choice, and all the vegetables were served family style. The deserts were also extraordinary. Our waiter went out of his way to make it an enjoyable experience.

 

Saturday December 19th: We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale, and once again disembarkation ran very smoothly. We were off the ship by 9:00, and out of the terminal by 9:30.

 

Ship: The Crown Princess is a beautiful ship. It is well maintained and kept spotless. While the ship was fully booked with over 3000 passengers, we seldom had to wait in line, or felt crowded.

 

Service: As stated earlier, the service was excellent. Every crew member was polite and helpful.

 

Cabin: Our interior cabin on Baja deck was as small, but that is to be expected on a cruise ship. It was however kept very neat, and our cabin steward was on the ball and did a good job for us.

 

Food: We selected anytime dining, and were glad we did. While it prevented us from forming a relationship with our wait staff, it allowed us to meet new people each evening. We were willing to share a table, so we never had to wait to be seated. I was very pleased with the food in the main dining room, the buffet, the International Cafe and the Crown Grill. Maybe it wasn't gourmet quality, but it was very good and there was plenty of it.

 

Entertainment: The shows were good, but not spectacular. The singers and dancers were very energetic, the magician was very good, as was the couple who did the miming and juggling. The comedian was the only disappointment.

 

Shore Excursions: We did very few of these, but the people we talked to seemed to enjoy them.

 

As stated above I would highly recommend Princess and in particular the Crown Princess to anyone who wants to cruise. I have sailed previously on Costa and Carnival, and while I have always enjoyed my cruising experiences, I would say that Princess is my new favorite.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for your review. Sounds like you had a great time.

[Shifra]

I'm glad you had a great cruise and thank you for sharing. The Crown class ships are beautiful and it sounds like there will be more Princess cruises in your future......

[rktricky]

We too sailed the Crown from Fll on 12/12. I am surprised we didn't meet you in line. We were on Aloha and we too arrived from Madison, WI around 12:30.

 

We have sailed with Princess several times in the past and have always loved the service. This trip was totally different. We had problems with our A/C in our cabin from the day we boarded. It took 6 calls and a trip to the Pursers Desk to get someone to even look at it. We were already 4 days into our cruise! We never knew if anyone checked the A/C or not because we were never notified. We also had a problem with the water being too hot in the shower and after they "fixed" that, we could not get it warm enough. No one called to see if our problem was resolved or not.

 

I also thought the Anytime Dining was not like the reserved dining because of the different waiters and the relationship of them getting to know you. The waiters we had did not seem interested and would not deviate from the menu what so ever. Our last night, we had to get a padger and wait about 20 minutes for a table. When they seated us, there were empty tables everywhere and it was around 9:00 PM!

 

 

Also, the last night on the ship, our cabin steward did not clean or freshen our cabin. We were shocked when we walked in at 11:30 PM with full trash cans and no clean towels. We even left the "Service" card on our door.

 

We were also dissappointed with the food quality. We did eat at the Crown one night, but other than the service being outstanding, I don't see that the food was any better than in the dining room. For $50, plus a huge tip, I would not do it again.

 

Very disappointed in this cruise. Not the Princess that I use to know!:(

[lovevacadays]

always interesting how two different people on the same cruise can have two totally opposite experiences. Sorry for the poster who had a bad experience.

 

For the OP - I was on in November and thought the service was really good and had a really good cruise