LIVE from the CROWN - Western Carib with SUNGIRL 3/13

[onebzyldy]

Rain ponchos ? And I thought that I brought one of everything on each cruise :p What a great idea, have never packed them b4 but will definintely check to see if our local Dollarama has any. Thanx for the tip ! ! ! :)

Happy Cruising.......

DonnaF :D

[seacrystal]

As usual KCSungirl you are really making me laugh. You have the best sense of humor. Your luck is holding with your little GS buddies.

 

I hope we meet up on a cruise someday.

 

Keep the laughs coming!!!!!!!!

[Whoo]

Those frozen drinks are great and they do have a fair amount of alcohol in them. Nothing like fat, middle-aged, women pretending to be hot and sexy spring breakers. That is my motto - Drink til I am HOT! By the time we stumbled on the ship the sun was shining.

 

Party On! Sungirl

 

Great Live thread - I laughed a lot reading the above. We could be dangerous if we are ever on the same ship........;)

[Colo Cruiser]

Its great following along. :D

[KCSungirl]

Thursday At Sea

 

As I mentioned before it was a beautiful sea day on board the Crown Princess. Warm in the sun, but cooler in the shade. I was really busy today. We are losing an hour of sleep two nights in a row. We got off the normal schedule due to Daylight Savings time. We started our day around 9am with our usual HC breakfast. After breakfast we went down the IC for real coffee. My barrista has not been available the past two mornings, so no free coffee. The International Café is loaded with pastries and muffins in the mornings. I have resisted the raised sugar donuts I love. I joined our CC friends, Sam and Neil (geoherb), for Trivia in Club Fusion at 10:15am. I am smitten with Sam and Neil. They are smart, funny, and kind. Add rich to the mix and that is my perfect man. Trivia is serious business. We would have won, but Neil didn’t trust me when I gave him the answer to “What were the first false teeth made from”? The correct answer is wood, but Neil insisted it was ivory. He is a Jeopardy geek and doesn’t need much help to win the trivia, but he should have trusted me.

 

What would the last sea day be without a stop at the outlet sale in the dining room? Why do I continue to make time for the outlet sale? I have seen the same stuff for the past five years. Bought another beach bag. I only have a hundred beach bags, why am I buying more? I need to go to the onboard hypnotist to see if he can fix my shopping issues.

 

I talked to the Captain’s Circle hostess. I was number 40 for the most traveled passenger lunch, and the cut off was 39. Maybe next time. I also learned that in order to get the Princess Passport book with the cute stickers, you have to go to the new cruisers talk on the first sea day. They used to include the Passports with the gold card information sent to your cabin.

 

I finally made it outside to our deck campground around 11am. All of the deck areas were completely full. I was disappointed that I never found a chair at the Terrace Pool, but maybe I can try again tomorrow. We lounged in the sun enjoying our Ipods. Jan went to the weight loss hypnosis seminar and enjoyed it. I didn’t want to go with her because it might have caused me to miss a meal. I went to the grill at 2pm to get Jan a hamburger. I had a hot dog. I also went to the buffet to get some fried shrimp. Today’s featured lunch buffet was Mexican. We came back to the cabin early as we had full sun on the balcony and we could watch the NCAA tourney. Jan and I love March Madness.

 

Tonight was a formal night, so no Elite lounge in Skywalkers due to the Captain Circle party. Our happy hour group met at the Adagio Bar instead. We grabbed a quick dinner in the Caribe Café before attending the Captain Circle Party. Tonight’s feature was the Island Seafood Buffet - fish, fish, and more fish. Excellent. We attended the second seating Captain’s Cocktail party. FYI - there are two Captain Circle parties - 5:30pm and 7:30pm. If you are an anytime diner, you can pick which party suits your schedule. The 7:30pm circle party was well attended. 52 Elite members out of 3300 passengers. I felt special. The most traveled passengers were a mother and daughter from Naples, FL Somewhere around 500 days at sea. All the Floridians have such an advantage. I think they should offer “bonus” days for anyone residing outside the state of Florida to make it a little more interesting. After the cocktail party we met Carole and Pat at the Princess Theater for the “Motor City” production show. It is excellent IMHO. I was honored to have been chosen by Jamie, one of the male leads, to go on stage and be serenaded by him. All I could do was worry that I had food in my teeth or that I would wipe out on stage with the high heels that were killing my feet. After the show we went to the sports bar/cigar bar to watch basketball. It’s a shame they don’t have a sports bar separate from the cigar bar. The cigar smoke is pretty strong. I can tolerate cigs, more than cigars. The casino was non-smoking for formal night. I haven’t seen anyone smoking other than at the cigar bar and casino. I decided to give the comedian, Troy, another try. Carole and Pat were going so I went also. He’s got a nice way about him, but his style of humor doesn’t really make me laugh. After the comedy show I went to the atrium to watch the balloon drop. It’s a pseudo New Year’s Eve type party. The band plays and lots of people were dancing. All of the kids were out. It was a deja vu experience from our New Year’s Eve party on the Grand, but the band did not play “If You’re Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands”.

 

Entertainment:

Princess Theater afternoon: Twilight New Moon

MUTS afternoon- Up, MJ This Is It, Confessions of a Shopaholic

MUTS evening - The Invention of Lying

Princess Theater - Motor City 8:30pm/10:30pm

Cabin Feature Movie - Blindside

Explorer’s Comedy -Troy Thirgill (encore) 7pm/8:30pm/10:30pm

Club Fusion - Trivia, Gameshow, Princess Idol, Teen karaoke

Wheelhouse - Nova

Crooners - Bert Stratton

Atrium- The Crown Ball, dancing with house band Temperature and Balloon drop 11:30pm

 

 

See you tomorrow in Princess Cay. Not sure we will get in, winds are from the west. I hope we do, cuz I want some sand between my toes before going home to the farm. The weather forecast looks great.

Cheers, Sungirl

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time comment. I appreciate it.

[MrBill64]

Jan went to the weight loss hypnosis seminar and enjoyed it. I didn’t want to go with her because it might have caused me to miss a meal.

This could be the funniest comment yet :D. I almost spit out my coffee while reading this!

[maxxedout2]

Jan went to the weight loss hypnosis seminar and enjoyed it. I didn’t want to go with her because it might have caused me to miss a meal.

This could be the funniest comment yet :D. I almost spit out my coffee while reading this!

 

ROFLMAO...ddaamm that's twice this morning I had to clean my computer

screen...

 

Have a great day.

:):)

[KCSungirl]

The winds are not cooperating and Capt. Andy has cancelled Princess Cay. We anchored and he tried. I was looking forward to getting off the ship, but we will have another fun-filled sea day instead. Be back later with another report. Sungirl ;-)

[mycruz]

Sorry to hear you're missing a sun day, the same happened to us in December. Here's to a great sea day for you two, have a safe trip home.

 

Mary

[kywildcatfanone]

We'll be on the Crown on Mar 27th. I understand the CD will be Ron Goodman. Is there any way you can find out? I also heard we will get a different Captain.

 

I'm really interested in Roatan when you get there. I haven't been there before. Are you doing any tours there?

 

With GB problems, just stay away from greasy fried foods and anything really rich and you should be okay. I remember those days before I had mine out. I was so sick all the time I lost 45 lbs before surgery. Don't eat nuts either.

 

Hope you are doing better.

 

I looked through the thread rather quickly and didn't see that your question got answered, but yes, Ron Goodman will be returning to the Crown on March 27th. An e-mail I received said Andrew Proctor will be the Captain, but I guess that is subject to change.

 

Mike

[kywildcatfanone]

This is a really great thread. Sorry about your weather problems. We were on the Crown at Christmas and had awful weather all but one day. We will be on again in 8 days, so hoping for better weather.

 

Mike

[Colo Cruiser]

I looked through the thread rather quickly and didn't see that your question got answered, but yes, Ron Goodman will be returning to the Crown on March 27th. An e-mail I received said Andrew Proctor will be the Captain, but I guess that is subject to change.

 

Mike

 

 

Capt Andy gets off March 27th and Capt Nash takes over.

Capt Andy will be back June 19th.

[SF]

KCSungirl:

 

Love reading your posts....informative and humorous, you have a way with words. Definitely going to miss your posts next week.

 

Glad to hear you are feeling well and what's you're eating is agreeing with you.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and I look forward to hearing about todays adventures.

[maxxedout2]

@MAXXEDOUT2- I am, too, a Certified BBQ Judge! SC BBQ Assoc... What date will you be on the Crown?

 

@KCSUNgirl-Thank you for the postes and keep feeling well!

 

Hi,

 

27th on Crown, and you?

Love SC BBQ.

 

Just thinking of BBQ and Kansas City.

 

Thanks KCSUNgirl. Your posts makes it

seem like we are there on the ship and vicariously

in the Elite Lounge...:) doubt I'll get there anytime soon. :(

 

Hard to find real Q on the cruise...came close in St Martin.

Never any real Q on ship. Bummer.

We haven't hit Jamaica yet..what they call 'jerk style'

BBQ there...I think ginger, garlic and spicy. Nice.

Next year maybe.

 

BUT, hey, the Princess Iron Chefs are awesome. :D

 

FLL weather for 20th, Saturday, Sunny and 76 degrees..nice

beach day.

 

...sailing soon.

 

Maxx

:cool:

[Riskytou]

Loved reading your posts. Actually looked forward to them everyday. One question if you could. How formal is formal night. My hubby has a jacket and pants, and will not wear a tie! Will he stand out with his brown jacket and beige pants? Sorry you didn't make all the ports, and love to read your overall assessment of the cruise. Must say, it is much cooler in Fla than ever! Thanks,

[lovevacadays]

I love reading your live from threads. I read your Grand one as well. So funny. When is your next cruise?

[cfodonna]

night. My hubby has a jacket and pants, and will not wear a tie!

 

 

We are on tomorrow. Sit near us my husband is wearing the same! No tie for him!

[jorstad]

i am assuming you are posting via your lap top

i called to find out what kind of cost it is

and they said 55.00 got 100 minutes we may need more than that for my dh to keep in touch with work

[Psychedout]

The winds are not cooperating and Capt. Andy has cancelled Princess Cay. We anchored and he tried. I was looking forward to getting off the ship, but we will have another fun-filled sea day instead. Be back later with another report. Sungirl ;-)

 

 

Sorry you missed it we got there in February, but we are not sun worshipers so ther was not alot of us to do. The sun was out and it did warm up arond midday.;)

[Charisse4]

Loved reading your posts. Actually looked forward to them everyday. One question if you could. How formal is formal night. My hubby has a jacket and pants, and will not wear a tie! Will he stand out with his brown jacket and beige pants? Sorry you didn't make all the ports, and love to read your overall assessment of the cruise. Must say, it is much cooler in Fla than ever! Thanks,

 

Year after year, my hubby insists on wearing his black tux with a black T shirt. It always looks nice and no one has ever said a word. I think as long as he is wearing a jacket, he will be fine. I've seen people in shorts. To me, that's pushing it.

Sorry, didn't mean to butt into your conversation with KCSungirl.:o

[janc107]

This could be the funniest comment yet :D. I almost spit out my coffee while reading this!

My husband didn't laugh when I read your comment, Sungirl, but the last 2 comments tell me that he (dh) must not have a sense of humor. I thought that was funny too.

[geoherb]

We're home! Sam and I enjoyed meeting everyone. Thanks, Paige, for posting the live thread.

[geoherb]

We are Platinum and received the $75 credit toward our Internet minutes. I just used the $75 package, which is 150 minutes. Sam purchased extra minutes--it's $100 for 250 minutes, but he still got the $75 credit. The net cost was $25 for his 250 minutes. He used all but 5 minutes. I think I had 16 minutes left.

 

Later during the week, they offer smaller increments for folks who need them to check in with their airlines. I did not notice these options until the next to the last day.

[KCSungirl]

I will be back for a recap of the last sea day and disembarkation. I need to get some sleep. I always wear myself out having a great time. Came home to a snow storm. Over 6 inches of wet, thick snow.

 

geoherb, it was great meeting you and sam as well. i guess you are probably glad we don't live in the same state, cuz it would be a lot easier to stalk you. ;-)

 

be back soon and I still have LOTS to say! Sungirl

[sunsetbeachgal]

Hey All!

 

I was on this sailing, and have to tell everyone what a difference it makes having such a fun group of Cruise Critic folks to meet every night over cocktails and laugh at what we did during the day. Making new friends is what it is all about! Hi KCSungirl, Geoherb and XBarbX and all-we hope all made it home safely and will miss you for cocktails and sunset!

 

I set a new record on this wonderful, and I do mean wonderful, cruise...NO visits to the Horizon Court during the entire cruise. My traveling friend, a first time cruiser, and I do not like buffets, so we ate exclusively in the dining room, the International Cafe', Vines (for sushi) and a slice of pizza here and there. For those wondering, this may have been the best dining room experience I have had in 11 Princess cruises. There was rarely a wait, and then no more than ten minutes, to get into the Anytime Dining room at dinner, and we usually arrived in the range of 7PM. Service was friendly, prompt and efficient-I had warned my friend about the uneven service we would most likely encouter in Anytime, but it did not materialize. Food was very good-I had all of my Princess favorites-pastas, salads, escargot, lobster, prime rib, rack of lamb, even the strip steak on the last night, and it all was cooked pefectly, served the temperature it should be, and presented well. The sushi in Vines was great, and the International Cafe seems to always be adding wonderful things to it's standard quiches, Greek Salad, Chicken salad, etc. The desserts were just great---too great, I'm afraid.

 

I read so much about food on these threads, and while it is all subjective, and while my friend and I may not be "foodies" we are both very good cooks and both agreed that the quality of the dining experience was very, very good on this cruise.

 

Any questions about the Crown, let me know!