Crown Princess March 26-April 2 review!

[kahluatoo]

Just finished this and realized it's *extremely* long! You can view my pictures in my public facebook album here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34141&id=1759375089 I'm only going to keep it public very temporarily, so make sure to see those before reading this! I will try to upload them somewhere else (I don't want Professors, outsiders to view them)

 

I flew in from San Diego on Thursday night on a red eye to West Palm Beach. It was much cheaper than FLL or MIA. Had a girl in the middle row talking LOUDLY the entire flight to Atlanta! Needless to say, I was extremely crabby while in Atlanta waiting for my next flight. I don't know how to approach that situation, plus there were people between us so harder to communicate with her. Anyways! Hung out with my friend who lives in FLL for a few hours, got to my hotel and slept for 5 hours before my parents came at 9pm Friday night.

 

Woke up early Saturday, left the hotel at 10am and got to the port. We got right through security and were in group 1. I think boarding began around 11:45 and we were on the ship soon after! WONDERFUL day in FLL! We sat on the balcony (D729) and watched the activity. Laughed a lot of the boat Sheriff yelling at the boats and yachts getting too close to the ship. He was hilarious yelling on his loudspeaker! There were two people whose plan just landed around 5pm so we waited for them. (seriously, who flies in the day of?!? I will never understand that! Unless your flight is only like 30mins, never do it!!!!!) We were the last ship to leave. Had a nice dinner in the MDR that night and watched Black Swan in the Theatre.

 

Sunday morning we slept in a little bit and then just sat around the pool, ate a lot. LOTS of towels on empty chairs, but I expected that. Mom and I walked the entire ship looking for ANY empty seats. Didn't find any so went back to the first spot we decided on with towels (4 chairs) and took two of them. Noone came for an hour. My dad came and took a chair and the lady next to him was all "I think people are sitting there and just went to eat quick". Dad and I both start with the "sorry can't save seats bye" conversation. My parents went and found different seats so they could watch a concert on MUTS. Finally, another hour passed and a girl came to collect her towels and the lady next to us must have said "I tried" cus the girl said "Oh, it's ok, we were getting burnt anyway". Pfff, didn't feel bad one bit. Rule: Take whatever chair you want, seriously. If someone wants that spot, they will sit there. Towels mean nothing. I wouldn't expect my towel to save my seat if my ENTIRE group left at the same time, not even for ten minutes.

It was formal night, so we dressed up and ate at MDR again. For the main entree, mine wasn't done yet when the waiter brought out my parents' meals. One of the managers came and was appalled that I had not received my meal yet (It was only like 3 or 4 minutes! I didn't care!) and went and spoke directly to the waiter... from then on, the manager was talking to us every 5 minutes, brought us a special dessert. I felt bad and told the waiter I wasn't upset because I felt that he felt bad or something.

 

Monday morning we got up at 6am to room service knocking. Yikes! I put in for a 645 breakfast. We had to meet downstairs at 7:15 for our excursion. Got on the tenders and headed for the mainland of the Cayman Islands. We got into a small bus with about 8 others and had a great tour guide. She told us all about the island and everything we were passing. First stop: Hell. Took some pictures. Left for the Rum cake factory. Everyone took shots and ate rum cake, yum! Then off to the Turtle Farm. I've been to many places that I could have seen sea turtles while snorkeling, but NEVER have came across them, so to hold one was amazing! I am unsure how I feel about the farm though (I'm very anti-breeding, vegetarian, etc) Some of the tanks were dirty and they breed a lot of the turtles for their meat. Also, some of the larger turtles were heavy and flapped their fins (?) super hard across your hand, I would be scared to have a little kid holding them and drop them because of this! Once we got back in the bus, we headed to the dock to boat out to Stingray City. WOW! Loved it here! Everyone raved about this all week long, heard many strangers on the ship talking about it all week. The water was gorgeous. Stingrays were very friendly (all barbs were gone? hmm... possibly cut off from the people who do the tours? Not sure) Most people were not snorkeling but my dad and I went out a little further and snorkeled, saw some fish and the rays swimming under us of course. Loved this tour! Headed back to the ship area, shopped a little bit and got back on the Crown. Ate at the buffet then took a nap. Tonight was Caribbean night we had a particularly good time with the waiter. We were sat in the corner right when the 730 room opened, not many people yet so we had his full attention. This was the only night we left a tip. I wanted to tip everyone, of course, but remembered we "were" with the auto-tip. I felt bad in the beginning, but less toward the end. Many people probably feel like this. It's just up to your discretion, I guess.

 

Tuesday morning we got up early again with room service just in time to see the first sights of Roatan! Yay! Was a little foggy and very humid but still looked amazing coming in. We had a ziplining tour with Clip N Zip. They were right outside the docking area. Had a great time, recommend this! It was extremely hot and we had to climb a little bit, but they had water for us. My parents are late 50's and did this with no problems, so don't be worried if you think you can't! The crew was fun and interacted with us the entire time... did tricks for us. We headed to the ship to eat lunch right after ziplining. Great view of the beach from the buffet. Quickly headed back to go to the beach. We wanted to snorkel! There were a good amount on the private beach for cruisers... we had to show our cards to even get past a security guard! There were roped off areas to swim, but no fish there, so we went to the other side of the dock and found fish and reefs. There were less than 10 others over there. Hung out there for a couple hours then got a drink at the bar right across from the beach. Headed back to the ship. I think we ate at the buffet tonight. Watched The Social Network at MUTS. I was so tired I fell asleep during half of it! I believe the water was very choppy this night, my mom woke up a lot she said, but I slept all night!

 

Wednesday morning was Cozumel. My family and I vacationed in Playa del Carmen last year and took the ferry to Cozumel, so we'd been here before. Were really looking forward to eating at this hole in the wall mexican place we found last year, but it was closed!!! The sign was still on there though! Ugh! Walked around a lot. We were hassled a lot of course, it's Mexico! Ate at a small place which was not very good at all. Very disappointed :( We love fish tacos and the ones we got were cold and dry. We didn't want to eat a lot anyway before snorkeling, but was excited for good fish tacos. We took a taxi to Paradise Beach and found out there was a storm the night before and all the water was dirty! We walked along to the "free" area of the beach and just laid out for a little bit. Took a taxi back to the ship and just hung out there.

 

Thursday was at sea. We decided to stay out of the sun for most of the day because we'd be in it all day on Friday. Dad visited an art auction and I read some of my Auditing textbook (oh so fun). It was formal night so we dressed up and went to the MDR. Had lobster & prawns! Yum! My parents had beef wellington that they loved. After dinner, we went to the Captains party. They announced the top 3 traveled people on board. I think #3 was around 275 days, the next was 360 days, and the final was a very old woman who was over 800 days at sea! WOW! We left soon after... That night we watched Ray Coussins in the Crooners Bar for the first time. Absolutely loved him!

 

Friday was Princess Cays. Woke up to room service again and got ready to go. About 10 minutes before we headed out the Captain came on the intercom and announced it was a very windy day and he advised us to stay on the ship, but could go to the island if we really wanted to. We wanted to! As we stepped off the elevator on deck 4, he came on again and advised us that he was calling everyone back and we would be aborting this port. WHAT! We were down alone with all the crew members who were loading everything for the bbq. We all just stared at each other in heartbreak :( Left to go back to the room and watched the tenders all come back with people. I think they had only got about 3 tenders out to the island. We left shortly after. Another day at sea, argh! We didn't do much. I laid on the balcony for awhile and watched a movie. Ate a lot today out of sadness :P Packed our suitcases and went to watch Ray Coussins and the Frank Sinatra tribute show in the Theatre. They got a standing ovation!

 

Saturday, we all know what happens. Left at 730am for early checkout. Got to the airport by 830. Flight at 1030 for me, 11 for parents. Home by 330 Pacific.

 

 

 

 

 

MDR: Great food, amazing staff! My family and I mainly got an appetizer each, a salad of some sort each, a main entree, then a dessert. SO FULL afterwards! I think we all ate everything given to us. I can't understand how anyone could complain an ounce about the food in the MDR! We did not eat with others as it's just not our style to share a table with strangers, and the staff always found us a table right away. I think the most we waited all week in line was 5 minutes, except when we lined up before it opened which took maybe 15 minutes. No big deal!

 

International cafe: Wasn't as great as I was expecting in regards to coffee. We bought a coffee card to use during the week. The lattes/mochas were hit or miss pretty much. I still enjoyed them, but maybe I was expecting too much "Starbucks" type stuff or something. I would get the card again, but wouldn't be excited about it. The food there was excellent. My favorite was the mozzarella/tomato paninis and chocolate donuts in the morning!

 

Buffet: It's a buffet! There will be good and bad things! If you don't like something, go get something else. Never had a problem with NOT being super full leaving there. For breakfast, you can get custom built omelets if you ask. Fruit was great. Bread and pastries always great. Not sure about the meat. Lots of choices!

 

Pools: Never went in one. Sat around them a couple times, but just too many people for my liking! They looked like a fun place to be though.

 

MUTS: Awesome. One thing is that there are so many people who want to watch them, the workers only put out so many blankets, set up chairs, etc to the lower decks, yet there are people all the way at the top watching who need the blankets more that don't get them! We watched True Grit one night and it was cold, but I had brought my own blanket thankfully.

 

Theatre/shows/etc: We didn't catch any of the shows since we saw some on our last cruise, but did go to Crooners Bar on Thursday night to watch Ray Coussins (Frank Sinatra pianist) perform. OMG! He is spectacular! We loved him so much that we went to the Frank Sinatra tribute show the next night in the Theatre which was fantastic as well. I think he's on the Crown for the next few months, so definitely check him out! Super fun and nice guy. Best piano player ever! :P

 

Staff: All were great. Everyone seemed to say hello to us. If we looked even slightly lost or confused, a staff would ask how they could help or where we needed to go. Our housekeeper was sick the first couple days (cold) which my mom caught toward the end of it :O but she was great. Had a bit of trouble in the beginning remembering there were three of us in the room... only got two welcome champagnes even after meeting all three of us, only two bath towels, two beach towels, two robes, etc for the first two days. But it was quickly corrected with no problems. It wasn't a big deal at all.

 

Bars: We hung out at Wheelhouse Bar during the pub lunch, yum! Crooners Bar for the Ray Coussins show. Tried Skywalkers twice but noone there.

 

Couple of other things: My mom looooved the internet cafe manager :P She got giddy everytime we saw him, haha. Most people on formal nights looked very nice, but there were some oddballs. Guy in a flannel shirt next to our table, lots of men without jackets. I didn't mind this (except the flannel guy), but reading this forum, I was on the lookout a little bit just to observe. During the non-formal nights in the MDR, most people dressed nicer than just tshirt and shorts, but did see a few of them who did stand out to me.

 

Sorry if I repeated anything, wrote this in segments. All in all, great, fantastic time, would go back in a second. Vacations are how you make it. There will always be some downers... it happens! If you want to focus on that, go ahead, but you will regret it! Let me know if you have any questions!!

[Nanatravel]

Thanks for your recent sailing review of your cruise on the Crown. Sure hope Ray Cousins is still on the Crown when we board in May. Dh loves Sinatra!

[LARGIN]

Thanks for the review. Looks like you and your family had a great time. Glad you enjoyed Ray Coussins. He is a personal friend and a great piano player.. Did you enjoy his Phantom of the Opera? BTW, great pictures

[coops]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. The pictures were great, we sail in 4 weeks so you just made it all the more exciting for me. Thanks again.

Dawn

[aloha1010]

Great review, loved the pictures!!

[gsmiles4u]

Thanks for the details! We are taking the same cruise on Friday. I'm pretty sure you were swimming with wild stingrays that still had their barbs - it's probably a good thing you didn't know that for sure at the time! I appreciated seeing your pictures.

[jean s]

Thanks for writing such a great review. We were on the same cruise in February and really enjoyed it too.

[srpilo]

It was a pleasure reading your review..

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing it

Srpilo

[mnjcruiser]

Thanks for the great review, loved your pictures. We sail this Friday and can't wait! Did you book your Stringray tour through Princess? Princess minimum age was eight and my youngest is only seven. Did you see many young children on that tour?

[KrAzYGaL]

Thanks for a great review, glad you and the family had a great time! I'm going on the same cruise April 9th. Loved seeing your pictures. what kind of camera did you use for the underwater shots? They looked really good!

[kahluatoo]

@Nanatravel: I think he is on til the Fall! You will really enjoy him.

 

@LARGIN: His Phantom was my favorite and I searched his website for a recording, but can't find one. I'll have to ask him on FB for it!

 

@gsmiles4u Some of the tour guides were saying how they rays didn't have their barbs anymore, maybe it was just a couple of them?! I'm not so sure now, but glad I didn't know this then!

 

@mnjcruiser We did book through Princess for this excursion. I did see a lot of children there so I am sure it would be alright! There is another excursion thru Princess that just does Stingray City and another stop that maybe you'd like to do (since your kids wouldn't be interested in the rum)... we had four stops that day. I think the other one includes lunch too, ours didn't, we brought along cereal boxes we ordered from room service for a snack halfway through since I get hungry often!

 

Thanks everyone else for your comments :D

[Bohemian]

Thanks for taking the time to write this very enjoyable review. It was a great read and I loved your pictures. In regards to your comment about men without jackets in the MDR on formal night, I personally can't wear a jacket because it's TOO HOT on the ship. I can barely make it to our table before I start overheating so it comes off before I sit down.

[CPWhittingham]

Thanks for your great review and pictures. Glad you had a great time and totally agree with your closing comment.

 

Lizabeth and I tried this itinerary last year but had to leave the ship in Grand Cayman for medical reasons. Reading your comments and seeing your pictures has us determined to complete this trip, and with the changes Princess is making to it's sailings, time is running out - we're looking at the end of this month.

 

Paul

[caribill]

How much was the Coffee Card? Some have posted that the price recently increased.

[blueridge20]

Thanks so much for your review! We sail on the Crown this Saturday:D:D Where did you snorkel on Roatan? Was that there at Mahogany Bay? We are planning to zipline and go to the beach at the West End. Sorry you missed the private island, we were able to go there last year, it was a really nice beach day, but too rough and water was too cold for snorkeling. Thanks for posting your pics, they were really good!

[kahluatoo]

AH! I forgot to mention the coffee card price ordeal. For the past few months I've read that it's about $24 + 15%... but heard on Sunday there is a 20% off "coupon" in the patter. We waited til Sunday morning and went down to buy it. I mentioned that it's "20% off today too, right?" The lady said, no that's the normal price with 20% off. I repeated myself and she said, yeah that's the price with the 20% off. So I guess it's now $30 or so regular price? My dad paid for it so I didn't argue any further :P

 

As for snorkeling in Roatan... you get to the little private beach and on the far left you will see a dock... we just went on the left side of the dock. Everyone else was on the right side!

[Princessmich]

We just got off the same cruise...the card was $27.60

we had a great cruise also!

 

Sorry we didn't get to meet you at the CC M&G...

How much was the Coffee Card? Some have posted that the price recently increased.

[travelchic3]

Thanks for the review. The pictures are great. we will be leaving on the Crown April 30. Can't come soon enought!!

[BM64]

Thanks for the great review! Can you tell me a little bit more about Paradise Beach thinking of going there? It looks like my DD who is 12 would love all the inflatables in the water.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review and great pictures. Sounds like you had a great time.

[kahluatoo]

Thanks for the great review! Can you tell me a little bit more about Paradise Beach thinking of going there? It looks like my DD who is 12 would love all the inflatables in the water.

 

It was about 3 miles south of the cruise port... we took a taxi there. To go where all the floaties are, you need to spend at least $10 (drinks, food, anything) and can use all their facilities. We decided not to do that since we were just going to snorkel anyway but ended up not because of the dirty water. It looked like it would be a nice place to be if it were not for the water!

[momtogkc]

Thank you for the pictures and review! We're doing this same trip at the end of the month and it is our first cruise.

[Pythian]

Kahluatoo - Super review - and pretty much spot on from our point of view too. It's fun watching the ship back into the Roatan port/dock (about 1 1/2 miles of backing up!). And, we missed and moped about Princess Cay too. Sorry you and your family didn't make the M&G (one of the few times someone was actually in Skywalkers) and hope to meet you on a future cruise.

 

Dan

[fly-1a]

Hi Kahluatoo - greta review! loved the photos

Our family was on the Crown the week before you !

[loge23]

Nice job, Kahluatoo! Good luck w/ the studies! We were also onboard this cruise and pretty much concur with your review.

Ray Coussins was a KO! Where else could you see a smoking full swing band led by a musician of Mr. Coussins caliber?!! Also liked the first comedian - forget his name (Tracy?), not so much the second one though. I would also like to see better small bands onboard - enough with the electric slide & YMCA already! The ship orch.'s jazz shows were terrific. How about an acoustic/electric rock band in the lounge once in awhile?

I thought Capt. Nash was a bit given to hyperbole in his announcements: "crew, prepare for storm conditions" (???) I didn't even feel the ship move more than usual that night!

In 15 Princess cruises (not all stopped at Princess Cays), we have never seen an aborted disembarkation before. But, err on the side of caution. Personally, we wouldn't have gotten off anyway - the waters are still too cold for these Floridians!

The ship is beautiful and the value remains very high for cruising when you take in the food, entertainment, and passage.

Kudos to Sergio & Olena, and Ruslan & Gloria, in Michelangelo DR for making our time with them so nice! What excellent service and super friendly people!