Review: Crown Princess 7-night Western Caribbean 1/9/2010

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Introduction

 

Let me preface this review by stating that I am very detail-oriented and love getting my hands on as much information as I possibly can before I go on vacation. Therefore, my review has a lot of details -- for most people, this is way more reading than what you have time for (sorry ;)) I’ve tried to organize it by section with bolded titles so if you are only looking for a little info, you can scroll directly to what interests you. If after all this you still have questions, let me know!

 

Overall Opinion

The cruise was good, but not spectacular. Princess does some things well and usually met my expectations, but unfortunately fell short in a few areas. The Crown is an absolutely beautiful ship, the crew were friendly, and it was a decent value for what we paid. While Princess didn’t win me over as my favorite cruiseline, they were good enough that I would consider them again in the future if the itinerary (my priority) was right.

 

My Background & Perspective

I am a 23-year old female with a huge case of wanderlust. I have been on numerous other land-based trips with family and friends but prior to this, I had taken only two cruises. The first was last December on the Norwegian Spirit, also to the Western Caribbean, with my sister who was also my traveling companion on this cruise. More recently, I cruised solo on the Celebrity Millennium to Alaska in September. I prefer land trips where I can design my own itineraries and be on the go all day long instead of being forced to slow down on sea days. That being said, I have enjoyed all my cruises and will certainly cruise again in the future, though I have no future cruises planned at this point.

 

About My Cruising Companion

I cruised with my sister who is a 20-year-old college senior. This was our second cruise together. She definitely enjoys the cruising “lifestyle” more than I do, and loves the relaxed days at sea and the opportunity for brief glimpses of different islands. We are very close friends and enjoy traveling with each other. Cruising works for us because it allows us to spend time together, but also to split up for different activities when our interests differ.

 

Choice of Destination, Cruiseline, and Ship

We already had a flight booked for 8am on Sunday, January 17 from Miami (it’s a long story why…), so we looked for cruises that ended on the 16th in either Fort Lauderdale or Miami so we'd be able to make our flight. Furthermore, we wanted 4 ports (2 sea days is more than enough for me :rolleyes:), a low price, and on a cruiseline other than Carnival (which unfortunately has stricter age restrictions for young adults traveling alone). That quickly narrowed our cruise options down to 5 choices, which we further narrowed down to 2 based on itineraries that appealed to us:

(1) Norwegian Pearl to Samana, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay

(2) Crown Princess to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel, and Princess Cays

 

The Crown Princess won after a friend who had recently been on the Pearl gave it a less-than-stellar review.

 

Choice of Cabin

I tend to be in the cabin ONLY to shower and sleep, so an interior cabin seemed to be the logical choice. I had inside rooms on my last two cruises and found them more than adequate for my needs both times. We booked a Category JJ room, 4 categories “better” than the cheapest inside room and selected room B344 on the Baja deck. Ironically, we ended up spending a good deal of time in our room, and a window would have been a nice addition, but the inside worked out okay.

 

Booking

I booked this cruise in November, two months prior to sailing, through an online Travel Agent – solely in order to take advantage of a lower price than if booked directly through Princess. I had absolutely no direct contact with my TA; instead, everything was booked online and I received email confirmations. This was fine by me since I didn’t require any special services.

 

We had one night post-cruise out of necessity to use our Miami flight, but we also purposely planned for one night pre-cruise in Fort Lauderdale in order to fly down a day early to avoid potential airline delays. We booked both hotels shortly after we booked the cruise.

 

We booked our airfare to Florida by purchasing two one-way segments instead of a round-trip and found there was no price disadvantage to doing so. The flight from Miami back home was booked in early October and the flight from home to Fort Lauderdale was booked shortly after we booked the cruise in November.

 

Budgeting

I always set a budget for myself when I go on vacation as a tool to keep track of my spending. You could do a cruise for cheaper than we did and still have a fantastic time, but we aren’t big spenders either. Our onboard bill was $421.79 at the end of the week, which included our daily gratuities, dinner & tip for two at Sabatini's, one 3-tank scuba excursion, and the remainder covering the cost of our drinks over the week. We had other excursions planned as well, but they were paid in cash since they were booked outside of the cruiseline.

 

Insurance

We gamble a little bit and do not purchase travel insurance. We are young, healthy, and have medical insurance that covers us internationally, so short of needing to be airlifted off the ship, we were pretty well covered. For reference, I received quotes of $45-100 per person depending on the amount of insurance coverage.

 

Packing

I travel with only a carry-on for ease and convenience. I chose a 21” rolling suitcase that has worked well on previous trips. This means we do not bring a lot of the “extras” recommended on Cruise Critic – over the door shoe hangers, nightlights, power strips, etc. We make do with the cabin provides and find that the other things are unnecessary.

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Flight

Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was on US Airways, with a 1 hour & 40 minute layover in Washington, DC. Upon arrival at Reagan airport (30 minutes late…), we found out the airline was offering vouchers for anyone willing to give up their seat on an oversold flight. Within minutes, we had confirmed seats on a flight later that evening, two vouchers for $150 each, and had checked our suitcases so that we could be “hands-free” for the afternoon. We took the metro into DC for a few hours to explore the Smithsonians and meet up with a friend who lives in the city. It worked out wonderfully for us since neither my sister or I are huge fans of Fort Lauderdale and we had no plans for our evening there anyway. We would have given up our seats for free for the opportunity to go into Washington for the afternoon, but the vouchers were a nice added perk (and have already been redeemed! :))

 

Hotel

We ended up arriving at FLL at 10:00pm, and went to meet the airport shuttle to the hotel, which was a little difficult to find. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites, using points for a free night after seeing the prices of hotels otherwise. The location is fine, really close to both the airport and cruise port (with free shuttles to both). The rooms were clean and huge, and there were a few fast food places across the street for breakfast in the morning, so overall it was a fine place to stay overnight, though a little out of the way of Fort Lauderdale attractions for anyone intending to sightsee.

 

Embarkation

We headed to Port Everglades early since that was when the hotel shuttle ran. When we arrived at 11:15 am, there were no lines for security, but there was a large number of people already seated and waiting to check-in. We had to sit and wait for about an hour before we were able to go onboard, and if we weren’t tied to a hotel shuttle, we would have preferred just to show up later for boarding.

 

Our first stop was to the room to drop off our luggage, which was ready for us as soon as we boarded, a nice touch. We unpacked and began exploring the ship before the mandatory Muster Drill and even had plenty of time for lunch and some reading.

 

Unfortunately, it was a dreary day in Florida – 48 degrees and rainy – so we weren’t able to slip into “vacation” mode by sitting by the pool.

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Decor & Design

Overall, the Crown Princess is a stunning ship. She is elegant with a good mix of rich and light colors. I have never seen a more beautiful ship and was continually in awe of the décor. At all times, the ship was clean. There are signs on all floors near the elevators/stairs to point out where things are, which is a good thing because I really had trouble navigating otherwise. The layouts simply weren’t intuitive for me.

 

The Cabin

We were in Cabin B344, a Category JJ interior stateroom on the 11th deck. The room is centrally located somewhere between forward and mid-ship, on a floor about halfway between the theatre/restaurant and pool/buffet. The bed was comfortable and the room itself was well laid out and inviting. It felt much bigger than it really was. The closet had plenty of hangers for both of us! The TV offered enough channels to keep me happy. The bathroom had soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion provided. We had full control of the temperature and kept it exactly in the middle during the day, and two “clicks” colder for sleeping. There was plenty of room for warmer or colder if necessary.

 

We never did get a chance to check out any of the other staterooms to compare.

 

Our Steward

My steward, Mirabou, was fantastic. Beds were made, garbage was emptied, towels provided when requested, drinking water and ice available, and the bathroom clean. Plus he was a really friendly guy and called my sister and I his “daughters” since we are the same age as his daughters back home. What a wonderful crewmember.

 

Public Areas

 

Bars and Lounges - The bar and lounge areas were lovely, with enough variation between locations to give each one a unique feel. I liked Adagio the best – it was always empty, quiet, had great service, a unique drink menu, and delicious olives to snack on (plus I liked Ludawig’s piano music in the evenings). There was live music in the evenings in most of the areas so we checked out a few of the different performers and venues. I wish they had music all day, but I understand there isn’t enough demand for that. We found that there weren’t enough servers to keep up with demand and there were several occasions when we never ordered drinks simply because no one came to ask if we wanted anything. The cost of hiring a few more servers would pay for itself in extra drink sales.

 

Pools - The outdoor pool areas were really nice, but the weather over the week was not agreeable for taking full advantage of the areas. There were four pools, with the Sanctuary being quiet (too quiet in my opinion) and having the only hot tubs that were actually hot instead of lukewarm. The chairs by the pool with Movies Under the Stars were always most crowded, but we always found seats for movies we were interested in. We preferred the deck chairs on either deck 16 or 17 (instead of directly next to the pool) better for watching movies. Island music and sailaway tunes were at yet a different pool.

 

Spa - I didn’t have any money left in my budget for the spa, but it looked really nice. They had daily specials, with by far the best specials saved for the day at Princess Cays ($95 seaweed wrap instead of $150 and $88 for a 75 minute massage – both very tempting offers!!) We toured the Thermal Suite and it was very nice, but I’m not sure why people pay for the thermal suite pass when there are both steam and dry saunas available for free in the women’s locker room (no spa service required). The gym also looked nice, with lots of great equipment that never got tested by me! As a side note, a few fitness classes (some free and some with fees) and personal training were also available.

 

Casino - I went to the casino once on non-smoking night and was turned off by the lingering smoke smell from previous nights. I tried to play a few slots, but after trying 6 machines that wouldn’t take my quarters, I gave up. You can use your cruise card for payment, but I only think it's fun when you get to drop all those quarters in:)

 

Library - The library was nice but small with a limited selection of books. I borrowed three books over the course of the week, and was disappointed with the minimal hours it was open for borrowing. Board games were also available for borrowing and we took advantage of some of those as well.

 

Boutiques - The shopping area was nicely set up and was great for browsing the displays. I only window shopped. I loved walking through the Art Gallery – like a free trip to the museum. I avoided the art auctions after purchasing a Kincaid on the Millennium a few months ago...that's enough art for me in one year.

 

Food

 

First, I should admit that I am not a “foodie” and rarely eat at anything nicer than an Applebee's at home. That being said, I love the ambiance and quality of meals at the main dining room on cruise ships and much prefer the MDR over buffets.

 

My sister had never experienced traditional dining (having only sailed on NCL with freestyle dining), and wanted to give it a shot, so we decided against Anytime Dining. We selected the late seating (8:15pm) in order to maximize our time on shore and still have time to get ready for dinner.

 

Main Dining Room

 

The MDR used for traditional dining is known as “Botticelli” and was open nightly for dinner, while the other two MDRs (Michaelangelo and DaVinci) were set aside for Anytime Dining. DaVinci was used for breakfasts, lunches, and afternoon tea.

 

We were seated at a table for 6, although there were only 4 of us at the table. We had two tablemates, both also in their early 20s. Our waiter, Emil, was friendly and got two thumbs up from us. Our assistant, Rodrigo, was also great. The downside was that they were stretched a little thin and the service was noticeably lower compared to Celebrity where waiters were assigned fewer tables. We ended up eating at the MDR for dinner on 6 out of 7 nights.

 

My sister and I always order different foods and sample each other’s plates, so I had the opportunity to try a wide assortment of foods. I, unfortunately, cannot list a single food that was better than average. Everything was consistently fair, never quite poorly cooked, but never anything specially prepared. The only exception? The nightly ice cream and sorbet at dessert which was incredible. By the third day, I had realized the other desserts were only so-so, and I started ordering ice cream every night for dessert instead (one small scoop of each flavor for a total of 2 scoops of ice cream and 1 of sorbet). Yum! One thing the Princess excelled at was always having hot food served hot, which was an improvement over NCL.

 

The dress code was loosely enforced, but I never saw someone who looked so out of place that it was distracting to the meal.

 

We also went to the MDR for breakfast twice, and didn’t find the food quality or selection any different from the buffet, so we mostly ate at the buffet for efficiency reasons. We stopped by the MDR for lunch on our second sea day, but weren’t thrilled with the menu, so ended up eating pizza instead ;) We also tried the Afternoon Tea once and absolutely loved the experience, but simply weren’t hungry enough to do it more often!

 

Buffet – I don’t really like buffets, but on port mornings, you can’t beat the speed. There were basic breakfast foods being offered, as expected. We also went to the buffet for lunch twice, but I wasn’t impressed either time and ended up eating salads and fruit.

 

International Café – We went to the international café in the piazza twice. Once for breakfast, where we sampled the different pastries. In my opinion, if you are looking for a light, sweet breakfast, this was a good choice. It is less hectic than the buffet and much quicker than the MDR. For lunch one day, I tried the famous chicken salad (good but not so good that it needs to be hyped IMO) and my sister had a panini that was very bland.

 

Sushi – Also in the piazza, at Vines, is free sushi. I tried it since I love sushi and wanted a little snack, but found the rolls very plain (only rice, seaweed, and fish – no veggies, sauces, or other fillers). The wasabi had great flavor, though. I’m not a huge fan of sashimi, which is why my opinion is based on the rolls.

 

Wheelhouse Café – We ate at the Wheelhouse Café for lunch on the first sea day. The fish & chips (my sister’s choice) were great and so were my bangers & mash. In my opinion, this was the best lunch option and I wish I could have convinced my sister to eat here again on the second sea day (the only other time a pub lunch was offered), but they had a different lunch menu the second time around that she wasn’t interested in.

 

Casual Dining – There was a grill area (burgers, hot dogs, fries) and a pizza area available at the pool. I tried a hot dog and fries one day and was disappointed in the cold, soggy fries but the hot dog was good. The pizza, which I had twice (and my sister had three or four times), was really good and always hot and fresh.

 

Sabatini’s – We ate at Sabatini’s for dinner ($20 cover) on the last night since there was nothing on the MDR menu that looked exciting and we were ready for an above-average meal. I liked the hot appetizers and the ravioli, but found the cold antipasti, both soups, the mushroom pasta, my entrée, and the desserts only average. That being said – the service was very attentive and the atmosphere was lovely, which are also selling points. Another note is that specialty coffees are included with your dessert here, a nice touch. I probably wouldn’t return, but I am glad we tried it since it was a lot of fun trying so many new dishes.

 

Crown Grill – We never tried it, being deterred by the cover charge of $25pp ($34 for lobster). Unlike the Sabatini’s experience which we felt was really unique with so many bite-size samples, we figured we could have a steakhouse experience at home for the $25 charge.

 

Room Service – We never did try room service, but the menu seemed really basic. The first breakfast delivery time, as stated on the card, was 7:30, so too late for some of the port days if you had early tours planned. I did like that you could have fresh fruit waiting for you in your cabin in the afternoon.

 

Drinks – Okay, maybe this shouldn’t go under the “food” heading, but close enough ;). I sampled a few drinks onboard during the week and was always pleased with the quality and strength of pour. I had a few martinis (my personal favorite – the cucumber martini), and was surprised they were cheaper than what I pay at a bar at home! We also sampled a few frozen drinks. My favorite was the Loco Coco, which was creamy and delicious, but found the Triple Berry Daiquiri to be too strong to enjoy. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but my underage sister had NO problems getting alcoholic drinks if I paid for them. She also bought several virgin frozen drinks, including pina coladas, strawberry daiquiris, assorted punches, and smoothies made with real fruit. Prices for virgin drinks were never advertised but ranged from $2.25-$3.25.

 

Entertainment

The shows ranged from excellent to boring. We loved the comedian Troy Thirdgill and laughed nonstop during the show, but found the other comedy shows only mediocre. The Mo-Town production show was good, but the Cole Porter one wasn’t so hot (we missed Destination Anywhere). The mentalist was not very impressive, but the juggler was pretty funny. There were always plenty of seats in the theatre.

 

Onboard activities

I read over some sample Patters before the cruise and knew there wasn’t much going on onboard that appealed to me. I didn’t look at this as a problem, given that I am content sitting by the pool and sunning myself ;) with a book for most of a sea day. However, I was in for a challenge when the weather disagreed with us and I didn’t have an opportunity to lounge in the sun. The ship, though beautiful, doesn’t offer rock-climbing, bowling, surfing, ice-skating or the other activities that several of the newer & bigger ships offer (and which appeal to me). I had two sea days, and two afternoons after port stops, that I needed to entertain myself during. We ended up reading a lot, watching movies (in our rooms and by the pool, cuddled up with blankets – MUTS was one of my favorite parts of the cruise!), napping, doing sudoku and other puzzles, and playing a few borrowed board games. While we entertained ourselves, it was a little frustrating that we had traveled all that distance to sit inside and do the same things we could do in our own homes.

 

In my opinion – Princess dropped the ball by not trying to schedule a few more activities when the weather forecast looked dismal. They cancelled pool games, for example, and never substituted another activity. Another observation: There were tons of things going on in the evening that sounded interesting to me (7pm & onwards) and not enough time to do them. It would have been nice if they were more spread out so I could take advantage of more of them…interestingly, there was almost never anything scheduled between 4pm-7pm so there was definitely room to move things around without interfering with other activities. This would be one thing they could definitely improve on.

 

Cruise Critic Roll Call – Joining the roll call is something I always do. While we weren’t a particularly chatty group, it was still fun to get to know a few people. One of the people I met actually works in the building next door to my office (small world!). It was nice that Princess let us use the Adagio bar for a get-together and also for offering some free drinks.

 

Other Ship Services

 

Laundry & pressing – A big plus for Princess is the self-serve laundry and ironing onboard. We didn’t need to use the washers/dryers, but it’s really nice they were there in case we had a particularly muddy day! If you don’t want to do your own laundry on vacation, no problem; you can still send it out for cleaning and pressing for an additional cost.

 

Internet – Internet service was available onboard, both for use on your own laptop (wireless everywhere onboard) or at one of the computers in the internet center. The cost was 75 cents a minute + $3.95 activation fee, but buying large packages of minutes to be used over the course of the week cut the cost almost in half, depending on how many minutes you needed. I didn’t try it because it was so expensive. I checked my email twice, once in Grand Cayman and once in Cozumel, for much cheaper prices.

 

Photos – We have no need for professional photos, so we never posed for portraits or casual shots (hoping to save the environment a little by not wasting paper).

 

Other General Comments

 

Crowds – This was the largest ship I have sailed on and I expected things to be crowded. Quite to the contrary, I rarely noticed I was on a bigger ship or that there were more passengers. The only time I noticed this was during the Sailaway party that was moved indoors to the Piazza because of weather issues. If it had remained outdoors at the pools, I’m not sure even this would be an issue.

 

Princess Cruise Passengers – We were surprised to find such a large group of 20-somethings onboard, some traveling on their own and others with their parents. This was a pleasant surprise. However, in general, we found the passengers less willing to socialize with other passengers than on Celebrity and NCL and they tended to do things more with the families/groups they were traveling with. We still met some great people, just didn’t have as many random conversations with other passengers as on other ships.

 

Tipping – Princess recommends a daily gratuity (per person) of $10.50 divided between your waiter, assistant waiter, maitre’d, stateroom attendant, and other service personnel. These gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account. I don’t like the concept of “automatic tips” and would rather tip and thank each crew member personally, but I have to say the convenience is wonderful. A 15% service charge is added to all beverage orders. Further tips for fantastic service can be given in cash or can be added to your account.

 

Smoking – For me, Princess’ smoking policy is a turn-off. I am a nonsmoker and almost all public areas in NY are smoke-free so I am not used to having smokers around. I often smelled smoke while walking in stateroom corridors and like I mentioned earlier, the scent was strong in the casino even on nights when smoking was not permitted.

 

Seasickness – The captain apologized a few times for the motion due to weather, but the few bumpy passages were not enough to be bothersome for either my sister or I. One comment is that we regularly felt the vibration while sailing, something I barely noticed on either of my other cruises.

[bqkali]

On our seven day cruise, we had four ports: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel, and Princess Cays. All of our plans for in port were researched using suggestions from Cruise Critic, Trip Advisor, and other websites as resources. I prefer independent excursions over ship tours since they tend to be smaller groups.

 

The Weather

In short, the weather sucked:(. It was never more than 70 until we hit Princess Cays and was often overcast, rainy, or windy. We were really disappointed to not get the warmth and sunshine we had been anticipating. The redeeming day was on Princess Cays, which was 75, blue skies, and sunny and a beautiful day overall.

 

Grand Cayman (in port 7am-4pm; tender port)

 

Our original plan for Grand Cayman was to do the stingray city and two other snorkel stops with Nativeway. Unfortunately, due to the winds and choppy seas, all tours with Stingray City were cancelled. Grand Cayman offered little for us to do, since the beach and other water activities weren’t really options in the bad weather. We ended up taking an island tour that we booked in town, with Hell and the turtle farm. It was a good way to pass the time, but would not be something I would recommend if it was a warmer day as it really wasn’t that exciting. We did a little window shopping afterwards, but prices were high and merchandise was the same you can get anywhere. We also stopped by Margaritaville and Senor Frogs, looking for a good time, but both were pretty deserted so we left without eating or drinking. We were back on the ship around 1:00.

 

As a side note – we had to tender into an alternative area instead of downtown Georgetown due to the weather. Because of this, the first tender was not until 7:55am, getting us to shore about 20 minutes later. Then you had to take a shuttle ($5pp) into town, so by the time we got to Georgetown it was already 8:45am.

 

Roatan (9am-5pm; docked)

 

A disappointing start to Roatan, disembarkation began 25 minutes late so we had to rush to meet our tour with Subway Watersports. We were booked for ziplining and then a snorkel trip by boat. When we met our driver, we were informed that the snorkeling was not advised, again because of the weather, so we ended up only doing the zipline.

 

We went to the Pirates of the Caribbean canopy tour and chose the Extreme version. The ziplines were incredibly fun and all the staff was helpful. We always felt safe and would highly recommend this tour. It is worth the extra to splurge on the extreme if you aren't too scared. In retrospect, I probably would have done both (starting with the regular), if I had known we would have time since we weren't snorkeling afterward.

 

Upon returning to the port area, we took the “Magical Flying Beach Chairs” to Mahogany Beach for $5. You can definitely walk faster than you can “fly” but we wanted to try it out. It wasn’t warm enough for swimming, in my opinion, so we just walked around a little and checked it out before returning to the ship for a late lunch. The sand and chairs were nice, but the water wasn’t the same beautiful clear blue that we saw on the other side of the island and if we return to Roatan, we will spend the money to head to West Bay for the afternoon instead.

 

Cozumel (7am-5pm; docked at Puerta Maya)

 

The day started out sunny, so we were really excited when we left the ship at exactly 7am. We spent about 45 minutes window shopping (again, the prices were very high!) before we split up. My sister would be scuba diving on a Princess tour, but I am not certified so I had made my own plans.

 

My first stop was to Discover Mexico park, a museum of sorts with displays about the Mexican history and culture and models (to scale) of many of the Mayan & Aztec ruins and then more recent historical buildings. I walked here from Puerta Maya pier, a 12-minute easy walk next to the main road. My tour guide, Tania, was fantastic and I learned a ton about Mexico. Highly recommended.

 

Unfortunately, by this time it was raining, so my bar/beach hop tour was a little less exciting. I made my way by taxi to the Punta Langosta/downtown area to meet the group. It was a fun group of people and we made 4 stops on the east side of the island (which is gorgeous) and the sun was out again for our last stop at Paradise Beach. Unfortunately, our time was limited on the water toys before I had to head back to the ship. Overall, a fun tour, but awfully expensive considering what we got. Again, I’m glad I tried it but wouldn’t do it again.

 

Princess Cays (9am-4pm; tendered)

 

After being the first ones off at every port, we were a little slower at getting to Princess Cays as we had decided to sleep in (assuming bad weather and no rush to get to the island). Well, we had predicted the weather wrong and it was a beautiful day so we rushed off to the beach! We had a great day, with some activities offered on the beach, some lounging and reading, some tropical drinks, and a little bit of swimming. We were very content to sit in the sun for a day! Drink service, for the first time on the cruise, was very attentive!! Lines were long for the barbecue at lunch, but there was no line for the fruit so we just ate a ton of fruit to hold us over until we reboarded the ship for some more pizza.

 

Some other comments on Princess Cays - there were plenty of chairs available, unlike what I've read. Many in the sun, but still many shaded as well. Tendering here was much more efficient than at Grand Cayman where it took forever to fill boats.

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Disembarkation

We chose express disembarkation, meaning you have to carry your own bags off. This was not a problem for us, since we only had carry-ons. The process was quick and easy and Princess seemed well-organized. Anyway, it was supposed to start at 7:15 but we didn’t get off until 7:25. Regardless, we were through customs, and at the car rental (via free shuttle) with keys in hand by 8:06am so it was a really quick turnaround. I would imagine that you would have no problems making a 10am flight from FLL if you planned to self-disembark.

 

Touring Miami

 

Miami MetroZoo – My family jokes that it isn’t vacation if you haven’t been to a zoo. My sister loves zoos, and Miami’s collection of ungulates was “not to be missed” despite the fact that we had been there previously in 2007. We had an easy drive to the zoo from Fort Lauderdale and ended up spending about 4 hours there. Don’t miss feeding the giraffes!

 

South Beach – Since we had such poor weather for the cruise, the beach was still on our list of things to do although it wasn’t originally in our Miami plans. Somehow we found South Beach, without directions or a GPS, and had a great time there. Parking on the street was reasonably priced. I had never realized how pretty the beach there was, so we were really glad we stopped there.

 

Hotel

For our last night, we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott near the Miami airport. We were able to get it on Priceline for $55. The hotel was clean, comfortable, and had large rooms. The only downside was no free breakfast. We would stay there again.

 

Flight Home

It was a really quick process to return our rental car and we had time to spare at the Miami airport. Both flights (MIA-ATL and ATL-ROC) were pretty uneventful, although the second leg was delayed because a sticker was missing from one of the controls. I thought I had heard every excuse for delayed flights, but I guess not…

[bqkali]

After taking three cruises in 13 months, all on different cruiselines, I can honestly say they are more similar than different. I had enjoyable experiences on all of them and would cruise with any of them again (or try yet another cruiseline). Assuming itinerary and price were the same, my loyalty would go to Celebrity BUT I would never choose a cruise solely due to the cruiseline.

 

Cruising Style – Celebrity is very traditional, even elegant or refined. I enjoyed the formality that came in the evenings. Norwegian, on the other hand, is “freestyle”, casual, and easy-going. I also really liked the free-spirited nature. Princess is somewhere in the middle, and having the least-defined culture was my least favorite. The win is tied between Celebrity and Norwegian.

 

The Ships - This is far from comparing apples to apples since the Crown Princess is in a different size class and is much newer. In order of when I sailed them,

The NCL Spirit was built in 1999 but refurbished about two months before my cruise. It is 75,000ish tons (879 feet long) with 1950 passengers and 970 crew members.

The Celebrity Millennium was built in 2000 and refurbished about three months before my cruise. It is 91,000 tons and 965 feet long. There are 1950 passengers and 1000 crew members.

The Crown Princess was built in 2006 and I'm not sure if it's had a dry-dock refurbishment since then. It is 116,000 tons and 950 feet long with 3120 passengers and 1140 crew members.

The win, in size and layout (as far as spacing and crowding) is a tie between Celebrity and Princess.

 

Food

Food goes to Celebrity. The quality was much better in the main dining room and the specialty restaurant was out of this world. Great room service menus were offered in all classes of staterooms.

 

Service

Service, hands down, goes to Celebrity. Waitstaff were more attentive, even at breakfast and lunch when you don’t always have your “usual” waiter. Drink servers were everywhere but never annoying. I would say room stewards and cruise directors/activity leaders were comparable.

 

Onboard Activities

Activities goes to Norwegian. There were always more things going on that appealed to me. Average age on both Norwegian and Princess were similar, with the demographic on Celebrity being older and likely contributing to the activities. Honestly I would say ALL lines have room for improvement as far as developing fun things to do onboard.

 

Entertainment

Entertainment also goes to Norwegian, but by a smaller margin. All three lines had a variety of entertainment, ranging from comedians to production shows to music around the vessel and also ranging from excellent to poor.

 

The Cabin

The cabins, all insides, were all comfortable and adequate but the win goes to Princess.

 

The Pool

The pool area goes to Celebrity. Having the indoor pool was a huge plus (sorry Princess - MUTS couldn't beat the indoor pool!)

 

Drinks

Princess is the winner here for having both an elaborate menu and affordable prices.

 

Dress Code

Dress Code goes to Norwegian. I loved getting dressed up on formal nights and seeing everyone at their finest on Celebrity, but the other nights, it was an inconvenience to dress for dinner and pack extra clothing. Frankly, on Princess, formal night was not as elaborate as on Celebrity and was a bit of a let-down.

 

Smoking Policies

Celebrity is the undoubted winner with the most restrictive smoking areas.

 

Towel Animals

A silly thing to rank, but Norwegian was the only one with towel animals, so they win by default!

 

Disembarkation

Disembarkation goes to both Norwegian and Princess. Both had efficient plans for self-disembarkation that allowed for smooth, quick exits.

 

Cruise Prices

Believe it or not, all three tie for this one, with all of them costing within $50 of each other.

[tip]

Thank you for the comprehensive review. Even though we are veteran cruisers, I picked up some valuable tips from you. We are on the Crown on February 20th and hope for better weather!

[Clutterlady]

Great fair and honest review....thank you:)

[tennisobo]

Great, comprehensive review. Thanks very much for taking the time to share this with others.

 

Happy sailings...

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[Jo and Rob]

What games / board games can you borrow?

[NancyIL]

Thanks for your very detailed review. I am looking forward to my first cruise on the Crown Princess in June.

[bqkali]

What games / board games can you borrow?

 

Off the top of my head, I remember:

Monopoly

Trivial Pursuit (Regular & 80s Edition)

Scattergories

Pictionary

Catchphrase

Yahtzee

Uno

Checkers

 

I believe you can also get regular playing cards from the purser.

[PirateGal]

Great review! Very thorough.

 

Have never been on Celebrity or Norweigan but will consider it now after reading your comparisons!

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive review-heard via other threads that the weather that week was not good...anywhere!!:(

[guxu]

We sailed Crown in 2008 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. Sailed Star in 2009 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. I guess they never change the shows?:confused:

[christinelee]

You Win!

The Longest Most Complete Most Interesting

And Most Informative Review Ever!

Thank you very much!

[PrincessNancy]

Thank you for the wonderfully comprehensive review...you really covered it all. Sorry you had terrible weather...still sounds like you had a great time with your sister.

[kywildcatfanone]

Super Review, and quite informative. We were on the Crown over Christmas and experienced poor weather most of the week as well, only had one good weather day and that was Cozumel.

 

Mike

[bqkali]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive review-heard via other threads that the weather that week was not good...anywhere!!:(

 

Thank you for the wonderfully comprehensive review...you really covered it all. Sorry you had terrible weather...still sounds like you had a great time with your sister.

 

Super Review, and quite informative. We were on the Crown over Christmas and experienced poor weather most of the week as well, only had one good weather day and that was Cozumel.

 

The weather certainly was not what we were hoping for, but we did our best to turn lemons into lemonade. We were a little surprised (and disappointed) when Princess didn't try to help that process by adding any extra indoor activities, especially when day after day was cold and dismal...I did comment on it on my survey, so hopefully the cruise staff will be able to work something in for another week of cruisers if they have the same poor weather.

[bqkali]

We sailed Crown in 2008 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. Sailed Star in 2009 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. I guess they never change the shows?:confused:

 

We haven't experienced this first-hand, but after talking to other passengers on all my cruises, I got the impression that Celebrity and Norwegian also only change their shows every 2 or 3 years. By switching cruiselines every time, it certainly keeps shows fresh ;)

[Love Boat Dream]

Thank you for the excellent review!

[Pia1913]

We sailed Crown in 2008 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. Sailed Star in 2009 and saw Motor City and Destination Anywhere. I guess they never change the shows?:confused:

 

Shows have a five year run and rotate. You just happened to catch both shows when they showed up on the Star.

[Cancun01]

Thank you for your wonderful and honest review. We are sailing on the Crown for the first time next week and I have made note all of your comments. Much appreciate the time that you have taken to write your detailed well-written review. I hope that you and your sister have better weather on your next vacation.

[FLGSHEPK9DAD]

Thanks for the review. We were on the sailing prior to yours. We got off at Term 21 instead of 2. The weather was horrible for us as well all the way ironically to Princess Cays. We had a AFT BB on Caribe deck and loved it and the steward Bernardo AKA Bernie. We also had to tender into Spots Bay instead of downtown Georgetown.