Advice if sailing on Crown Princess

[tuccritic]

Recently returned from 10 day Canada/New England cruise on Crown Princess and the ship was a disappointment. This was our 7th Princess cruise.

FOOD: The food was not at Princess standards of previous years. Unimaginative and bland. I enjoy fish and the white fish which was featured frequently had no seasoning. The vegetables were tasteless and the potatoes and rice got to be boring. The lobster night dinner consisted of one small lobster tail and large prawns. The prawn were tastier than the dry lobster. Even the awaited deserts were ordinary.

ENTERTAINMENT: The Princess Theater on the Crown holds 800 people; the ship was sold out with 3000 passengers. Do the math!! If you didn't arrive at the theater an hour in advance, it was standing room only. Two of the production numbers with the singers and dancers have been done on other cruises. The comedians and juggler were, however, very good. I would suggest if the comedian does two shows on different nights, he should have different routines. The Princess had no afternoon movies - only movies at MUTS and the weather was not good enough to be outside.

IMMIGRATION: This was the worst logistical nightmare ever. You were given a time to be in line - which turned out to be irrelevant. The line extended from one end of the ship to the other and the wait to be cleared was over an hour. The immigration officers, of which there were 2 for over 2000 US citizens, were 45 minutes late; unacceptable. On immigration day, don't book a tour in the am - you most likely will miss it!

TENDERING: Again, do the math - 4 tenders for a sold out ship. We waited the whole morning for a tender to port, which cut our sightseeing time. Fortunately, we did the port on our own. You are given a number when entering the dining room waiting area and wait and wait for your number to be called. We waited 45 minutes for 30 minute tender ride to port. Even those with Princess tours waited resulting in the tours being cut short.

TOURS: The Princess walking tour and carriage ride in Quebec City was very nice. Charlottetown and Halifax can be done on your own. Sydney was aborted due to high winds. St. John is very pretty. We took the Princess Hop On Hop Off bus with 3 loops and well worth it. Do get off and enjoy reversing falls. In Bar Harbor we took an independent tour - Oli's Trolley. Excellent and reasonable; however if it is immigration check day, book in pm. Did the Princess Freedom Trail in Boston and again very good.

OVERALL: The Crown has too many passengers to be handled in an efficient manner. I will look toward smaller ships (if they are even building them anymore!) or river cruises, which are more relaxing.

[Colo Cruiser]

Didn't you just post the same in a full review here on the Princess board a couple of days ago?

[lovevacadays]

So sorry to hear about your bad experience on the Crown. I've heard others who have traveled the itinerary you did mention the crowding problem. We did the Crown last November to the Caribbean and didn't feel crowded at all. I think the warm weather cruises handle the passenger flow much better. I actually loved my Crown experience and had great food as well. Perhaps your sailing had a different chef. I think I will stick to warm weather cruises on the Grand class of ships. I actually love these ships.

[Passin Thru]

I heard there was a shortage of salt and pepper BWAHAHA! Is there anything good you can say about the ship, the people or any meal? Whitefish is bland as far as I know. Try branching out and the lobster I cant explain. Did you send it back or just tell us?

[cruise pup]

As you mention the theatre holds only 800 people. So how could the acts possibly change their routine if they do 2 shows? It's time for you to do the math and figure since you are fond of that expression. It's obvious that the 2nd show is to give more people a chance to see those shows. The title of your post is advice but I see very little advice here, mainly complaints.

[robgvic]

I think this poster has a problem with Princess and wants to get back at them. They did this review here a couple of days ago and also posted a full review.

I don't think I would like to be on a cruise with them

[krowek]

I will be on the Crown next month and I am sure that I will enjoy almost every minute of it.

Not everything has been perfect on past cruises but I sure do not let that get me down. The good always outweighs the bad. Sometimes it is just about having a positive attitude.:)

This is the second place that I have seen this post.

[robgvic]

I know I will enjoy it on my December 4 cruise. Just wish it was sooner so I can enjoy everything about the ship.

[NSWP]

We were on Crown for a month last year, Western Med and British Isles, it had 3100 pax on board, I could not fault the cruise, food, entertainment nor tendering. Sure there are tendering delays, happens on every ship. As for theatre capacity, no ship ever built can handle everybody in the theatre. On our trip, they ran the same show over two nights that is four performances = 2400 pax, that is OK because not everybody wants to see the shows.

[Stevesan]

I know I will enjoy it on my December 4 cruise. Just wish it was sooner so I can enjoy everything about the ship.

 

Take good care of her. I board after you disembark. :D

[sunviking82]

I am going on my 3rd year in a row cruising on the Crown because of the itineary it just seems to be the ship sailing and we are very happy with her. Food, service, etc. . .have always been very good.

 

I would recommend you write Princess with your concerns. After 11 on Princess and 17 cruises overall, I can say I have had a few that were "not up there" too, but never a terrible trip.

 

Crown is a fine ship, sometimes it just isn't the trip everyone is hoping for.

[sondi 14]

My husband and I were on this cruise and had a great time. We didn't find the ship to be particularly crowded, although we didn't attend many of the shows. I have cruised with Princess many, many times and I have to say that I was very happy with the food. It was very good to excellent - especially in the Crown Grill. We met people we knew from another city that had cruised on Crystal and Oceania and they thought the food was very good and had no complaints. I do agree that the tendering was a problem as it's very difficult to get that many passengers ashore all at about the same time, but when cruising on one of the larger ships, it's to be expected. Perhaps Princess could have executed this a bit more efficiently, but all in all it was a good cruise and we were very happy with our experience on the Crown. We do prefer the smaller ships, but would cruise again on the Crown if the itinerary suited us.

[GOODIES]

going on CROWNnext month last time on pricess ships was CROWN out of san juan, my next cruise i have is crown nov, 2011 again on CROWN, i look at the cruise lines are my means of transportation and lodging, the rest of the trip is up to you, the trip is as good as you make it, last year i was on RCCL and the food was the worst i have ever had on any of my cruises ever, i was going to go on EPIC but cancelled to go back with princess guess thats where i belong

 

rick g

[thinfool]

Two of the production numbers with the singers and dancers have been done on other cruises.

 

Factoid: On a behind the scenes tour of another CCL vessel last winter we were told, while touring the stage/theatre/ that when CCL contracts for a particular production, it may well play around the fleet for up to TEN years.

 

I cannot remember how many times I have seen the 'Piano man' on our trips. Tis ok, though, as I enjoy it. :) :D

[zukecruiser]

Have been on the Crown a number times including the same New England/Canada cruise in 2008 and have not had any of the bad experiences mentioned, except for one.

 

The immigration process has not improved at all. There were only two immigration officers then and they were also late, though a crew member mentioned that they are fed first by Princess before starting the immigration process. Do not know if this is true but made for a lot of unhappy cruisers.

 

Princess could help improve the process by having staff to keep lines orderly and moving in an organized manner rather then letting people coming off the elevator jump in whereever they wanted. Made for a lot of unhappy and, sometimes unruly cruisers, depending upon how long they were waiting in line.

 

Other then that, have enjoyed every cruise on the Crown, will be on her again on Oct 30.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I try to avoid itineraries with tender ports on the larger ships, as can be a frustrating experience. However I did take the Crown in March and the tendering for Grand Cayman was absolutely no problem and minimal waiting on either end. And our voyage had to skip Princess Cays, so can't comment on that!

[Grumpy100]

We will be on the Crown in May, 2011 for our trip to the British Isles. Can't wait, already booking excursions (private) and will book a couple with the ship also. On the tendered ports (2) we will definitely do our own thing or take the ships tour for those so if you encounter delays you don't miss your excursions. Sleep late and eat later then take the tenders off the ship. Plan accordingly. Happy sailing....

[2pbears]

We were on the Crown in September and our experience was quite different than that of the OP. We found the food to be very good (in fact, good enough to gain 3 pounds). We did not encounter any tendering problems, although we always planned to leave the ship after the intial rush was over. Can't comment on the shows as we did not choose to see any. The staff was remarkable--very friendly and eager to please. The only issues we would note were the long waits for the Anytime Dining Room (which we eventually solved by making reservations each night) and the overcrowding of the elevators (which we solved by using the stairs more frequently). I do not recall the "Immigration Day" that the OP mentioned. That may be because we were on the northbound rather than the southbound trip. All in all, it was a wonderful cruise and the Crown is a beautiful ship.

[dantesab]

Wife and I were on the crown for our 20th anniversery and we had a great time everything was the best and we plan another trip soon on the crown.love this ship

[Woobstr112G]

Recently returned from 10 day Canada/New England cruise on Crown Princess and the ship was a disappointment. This was our 7th Princess cruise.

FOOD: The food was not at Princess standards of previous years. Unimaginative and bland. I enjoy fish and the white fish which was featured frequently had no seasoning. The vegetables were tasteless and the potatoes and rice got to be boring. The lobster night dinner consisted of one small lobster tail and large prawns. The prawn were tastier than the dry lobster. Even the awaited deserts were ordinary.

ENTERTAINMENT: The Princess Theater on the Crown holds 800 people; the ship was sold out with 3000 passengers. Do the math!! If you didn't arrive at the theater an hour in advance, it was standing room only. Two of the production numbers with the singers and dancers have been done on other cruises. The comedians and juggler were, however, very good. I would suggest if the comedian does two shows on different nights, he should have different routines. The Princess had no afternoon movies - only movies at MUTS and the weather was not good enough to be outside.

IMMIGRATION: This was the worst logistical nightmare ever. You were given a time to be in line - which turned out to be irrelevant. The line extended from one end of the ship to the other and the wait to be cleared was over an hour. The immigration officers, of which there were 2 for over 2000 US citizens, were 45 minutes late; unacceptable. On immigration day, don't book a tour in the am - you most likely will miss it!

TENDERING: Again, do the math - 4 tenders for a sold out ship. We waited the whole morning for a tender to port, which cut our sightseeing time. Fortunately, we did the port on our own. You are given a number when entering the dining room waiting area and wait and wait for your number to be called. We waited 45 minutes for 30 minute tender ride to port. Even those with Princess tours waited resulting in the tours being cut short.

TOURS: The Princess walking tour and carriage ride in Quebec City was very nice. Charlottetown and Halifax can be done on your own. Sydney was aborted due to high winds. St. John is very pretty. We took the Princess Hop On Hop Off bus with 3 loops and well worth it. Do get off and enjoy reversing falls. In Bar Harbor we took an independent tour - Oli's Trolley. Excellent and reasonable; however if it is immigration check day, book in pm. Did the Princess Freedom Trail in Boston and again very good.

OVERALL: The Crown has too many passengers to be handled in an efficient manner. I will look toward smaller ships (if they are even building them anymore!) or river cruises, which are more relaxing.

 

Sorry your cruise on the Crown did not live up to your expectations. Hopefully your next cruise, on whichever ship/line you choose, will be better.

 

Bob

[Coolmama_1]

We were on the Crown in April and it was our favorite cruise to date! We are booked on the Crown again in Feb and a b2b in 2012!

To each his own!:rolleyes:

[caribill]

I try to avoid itineraries with tender ports on the larger ships, as can be a frustrating experience.

 

Can be a problem on smaller ships also. On the 1590 passenger Regal Princess (no longer in the fleet), it once took so long for everyone to tender ashore that the last people arrived ashore at the time all passengers were supposed to have left the island.

 

The ship ended up leaving two hours late as it took that long to get everyone back to the ship.

 

Picture below shows some of the line of passengers waiting to tender back to the ship.