Princess 1st Timer review...The Crown goes to Norway.....(long) 27/06/11-09/07/11

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Here we go....

 

Lots to put in and no doubt many bits I'll forget so may add later....

 

Embarkation.

 

We arrived at 10.30 (Very smooth transition from leaving the Car with the CPS folks and arriving inside the terminal)

Was told there would be a slight delay getting on as the ship wasnt ready quite yet.

We waitied for about an hour and then along with many other passengers were in hysterics at the panic and pushing and shoving from when Elite and Platinum were called to check in- Absolutely hilarious to see some of these "seasoned travellers" behave like utter thugs- barging each other out of the way to be first in line.

We eventually were called at Midday and were in our Stateroom 15 minutes later- piece of cake!!

 

The Stateroom.

 

We stayed on Riviera Deck (R505) and thought it was great- Very clean (No smokey smells etc etc)

Yes the balconies are smaller than some of those below but still ample space for 2 loungers, a table and more room besides and with the added bonus of nobody looking over your head.

Much has been documented on here about deck noise from above.

Bearing in mind, this was a quiet cruise deckwise because of the cooler weather, we heard very little noise apart from the walking of stilletto heels from (I think) one person twice a day clip clopping along.

I did hear tables being dragged across on one morning so would warn people about the noise if staying on this deck in perhaps hotter climates where there may be more deck wise activities etc

 

The Food:

I think we ate just about everywhere in the ship throughout our cruise- We were booked on 6pm Traditional dining and had a table for 2. After the 2nd night we noticed that several tables were empty in the restaurant every night and Nadia (Our waitress) said that a lot of people often change their booking to Anytime after a day or 2 as they start to want the flexibility....

We ate at the Crown Grill once which was good but not excellent in my opinion and at Sabatinis once too which I thought was better IMO

Horizon court was consistantly good although as stocks dwindled at the end, Bacon was only available as the shrivelled crispy sort on the last 2 days and the apple juice was severely watered down on the last day.

Vines and The International Cafe lived up to all my hopes...Yum!!!!

Pub lunch on sea days was very good but lines started at about 12.30- anytime before then though we sat down straight away.

Chicken Curry was good.....Fish and Chips was better...Steak and Kidney pie was awesome!!!

 

The Drinks:

I thought drinks were an acceptable price. We purchased a soda sticker on the first day for $63 i think and a coffee card ($33).

Coffee in The Horizon lived up to all the horror stories and after trying 2 sips- I was done with it- Coffee? Huh!! Coloured water more like!!

Power hour drinks $3.99 4-7pm were five cocktails and a selection of house spirits.....Cant count how many Kentucky Bourbons I drank over the last 2 weeks.....

The only one gripe I had was that on three seperate occasions, upon ordering cocktails in the evening at Skywalkers, they seemed to contain little or no alcohol(certainly compared to the same drinks dispensed elsewhere.....) A mention of this to any menber of staff always resulted in them pouring in more booze- Not sure if anyone else has experience this....3 times was enough and we no longer ordered cocktails there.....

 

Entertainment

 

Didnt do any shows as not our thing, but the theatre was always full on both performances which I guess speaks for itself.

Ron and his team presented some great little game shows throughout the cruise- some of which were truly hilarious- Mr and Mrs in particular I enjoyed!! The Trivia quizzes were great 2 although my wife and I truly sucked at them. Peaking at 11/20 on one and failing with 4/20 on others

Alot of the trivia quizzes though happened during our Trad dining sitting so I guess its another reason the consider Anytime if Quizzes are your thing.

 

Shopping.

 

Lots to buy obviously- seemed like some bargains were there to be had, but we only really purchased a "Princess Cruises" teddy bear and I bought my wife a Swarovski Rabbit necklace cause I'm such a loving and kind person...(he he)

The 75% sale at the end though confirmed to be what I had already suspected- a pile of junk and lots of it(apologies to anyone who bought anything)- never have I seen so much trash.....Is there even a Tahitian Princess ship anymore?

 

Staff and Crew

 

Everyone I came into contact with were utterly utterly superb- very friendly and helpful.

Nothing was any trouble for anyone and I thoroughly commend each and everyone working on the ship and deeply frown upon anyone who removes any part of their auto tip!!!

 

The Passengers.

Hmmmmmm....Gotta be careful here....

98% that I met, or heard or saw or came into contact with were extremely friendly

1% were a bit inconsiderate- blocking entrances to lifts to say bye to a friend or colleague, or hitting fellow passengers with their still attached rucksacks- forgivable though as I dont think there was any malice on their part.

And then...

1% who were downright rude to fellow passengers or staff.

I experienced several scrums for best places on coaches or trains (Flam!!!!)where no consideration was given to others who had clearly been waiting longer or even were disabled (in the case of Flam, where 2 ladies took a seat on the train that a girl was trying to reserve for her father who was being helped out of his wheelchair beside them....)

And one guy who spoke to a breakfast waiter so rudely that I was tempted to deck him when I heard what he said to him when the waiter was only asking if he wanted some tea or coffee.

I guess some people just dont know how to be nice

 

Ports: (In a quick nutshell)

Stavanger- Lovely place- we did the boat tour in the rain and yes....I was the one on top deck in a t shirt and 3/4 length shorts....Doh!!!

Good Trip though- nice waffles and coffee too

Flam- The lovliest place we visited IMO- train journey was superb but the scrum for places ( a real free for all) and a 1 hour + wait for the journey back spoilt it a bit

Hellsylt- Lovely looking- we stayed on for the Geraingerfjord cruise which is amazing too...tender boats take you to shore without any problem

Trondheim- Nice little town. $6 each way on the bus from port to town and although we purchased a return, we decided to walk back and really enjoyed the 2 mile or so stroll...

Honningsvag- Did the Princess tour and loved it. Awesome scenery and a real highlight

Tromso- We did the 3 stop Princess tour: The Arctic cathedral which was stunning. The Cable Car ride which was exhilarating (those views!!!!!) and the museum which was fantastic- Made even better by our superb Italian guide (Diego- i think) whos enthusiasm for all things Northern lights and Sami make you want to move to Tromso now!

Bergen- Great bustling little town and not enough time there in my opinion....I tried moose, reindeer and whale meat too.....cant say I'm crazy about doing it, but my wife said I should while I was there....

 

Disembarkation.

Superb and slick- we got a 09.00 time slot and were off earlier than that and in the car by 09.10

 

Hope this hasnt sent anyone to sleep reading this and feel free to post any comments or questions- Please remember this is my personal opinion though and only based on my own experiences.

 

2 more things- Sorry to the Roll Call folks for missing the meet and greet...got caught in the Flam/Stavanger talk in the Princess theatre which over ran due to technical problems and when I did arrive things were in full swing with a crew member and I didnt want to interrupt so just stood in the doorway and listened but sort of looked a bit like a fifth wheel I guess (and you all had stickers and I didnt so I felt left out....lol)

 

Lastly.....There is indeed some serious problems with Princess Staterooms air conditioning- as the days progressed, I noticed my clothes were shrinking- got tighter and tighter each day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[icat2000]

Thanks for your review. I got a laugh at you describing the season cruisers behaving like utter thugs waiting to board. Its not like the ship is going to go without you.

 

Reminds me of people who insist on lining up for the boarding call of the plane. Again not going to go without you until the last passenger on board or their luggage is removed.

 

I think there is a certain percentage of the population that is just plain rude and you find them in all nationalities.

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for the review. Good observations. Well done.

[boaterette]

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Just kidiing. Loved the review. I want to do a cruise there some day. I think I would have gotten a little verbal with those "ladies". Glad to hear you had a great time.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your great review. Enjoyed your comments about the seasoned travelers.....:):):)

 

Bob

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Taken at 02.00am On Route to Tromso........Land of the Midnight Sun....

[Coolmama_1]

 

Taken at 02.00am On Route to Tromso........Land of the Midnight Sun....

 

Beautiful picture! Thanks for sharing your cruise.

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

>>Lastly.....There is indeed some serious problems with Princess Staterooms air conditioning- as the days progressed, I noticed my clothes were shrinking- got tighter and tighter each day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<<

 

Don't you just HATE that....I think it is all a conspiracy between Princess and the clothing peeps.:)

[quincytoo]

>>Lastly.....There is indeed some serious problems with Princess Staterooms air conditioning- as the days progressed, I noticed my clothes were shrinking- got tighter and tighter each day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<<

 

Don't you just HATE that....I think it is all a conspiracy between Princess and the clothing peeps.:)

 

I am still trying to unshrink my cruise clothes from the last cruise ...which was last JAN:eek:

I blame the Steak and Kidney pie at the pub lunches.....maybe the Princess pizza too that I HAD TO HAVE as a mid-afternoon snack each day, by the end of the cruise Mr.QT was rolling his eyes at me and asking if I would bleed cheese and pizza sauce if I was cut.

 

We cruise again in Oct and the clothes had better be back to their normal, I can eat and breathe, size by then.

 

Great review and I wasn't sleeping once during the reading of it.

[srpilo]

Thanks for your review, well done :)

 

 

 

We too enjoyed Norway on the Crown last summer.. Great Cruise !!

Srpilo

[raz455]

Lastly.....There is indeed some serious problems with Princess Staterooms air conditioning- as the days progressed, I noticed my clothes were shrinking- got tighter and tighter each day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

So that's what causes it. I thought it was those airport x-ray machines. :D

[wickesy]

Great review. We were very impressed with CPS at Southampton as well - very well organised and easy to work out where we were supposed to drop the car off.

 

The table next to us was empty after the first night - presumably the couple there changed to Anytime, or we said something to upset them. ;)

 

My Dad went down to the 75% sale and said there was nothing worth buying there - which reminds me of one of the lows I meant to post. We were very disappointed with the lack of merchandise for this particular cruise. Other than port T shirts there was nothing else and there was a lot of British Isles merchandise out, which I suppose was just about relevant for other nationalities on the ship but a waste of space for us.

 

There's a new pier being built at Hellsylt, which we were told should be in operation by next year so there will be no need to tender there anymore.

 

Great picture of the Midnight sun. I took one from our balcony but as we were on the starboard side it didn't show the actual sun and I never thought to go up on deck to take one. :(

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Took the pic from out Starboard side balcony.....

[wickesy]

Unfortunately I took mine the night before we arrived at Honningsvag so we were still going North.

[OnVacation11]

Thanks for a great review. We were getting off the Crown on June 27th wishing we could stay for the Norwgian Fjords ! Now I know what we missed...

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Good time was had by all........................

[iowasue]

Did you book all of your excursions through Princess? I'm wondering if there are any independent tours available at any of these ports.

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We did all of ours through Princess and be warned, by the time that we were on the cruise, most of the best ones had indeed sold out (so book in advance!!!!)

I understand there were small amounts of private tours available but whilst sometimes cheaper (and in Norway, its not nescessarily always going to be cheaper) you're not guaranteed any of the comforting safety nets you get with the Princess ones(which is worth the premium you pay IMO)

Stavanger Lyesfjord cruise is one I think that you could do on your own and save a few bucks.

Flam- You pay for the guarantee of the ticket more than anything else as the lines for solo passengers buying were huge and trains were full.

Tromso and Honningsvag were well worth the extra $ for the princess excursion because of the quality of the guides we had on both.

[iowasue]

Thanks for the info.! I think we will stick with booking through Princess. I've been on enough cruises that I know it is best to book excursions ahead of time. How many months in advance did you book your cruise?

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14 months.....:confused:

 

It was a long wait

 

Booked the excursions when they became available of the cruise personalizer- I think it was about 6 monthd prior to departure, Certainly not the 90 days that Ive read elsewhere....

[cat-tav]

I just returned from the Grand Princess Norway cruise. We went all the way north to Spitsbergen and it was great. When we were in Stavanger, we booked the Lysefjord cruise on the dock for half the price that Princess charged for the same trip. I think the only difference was that we didn't get a snack and the Princess excursion did. For half the money, I managed to live 3 hours without a snack. :D Norway is indeed beautiful and I highly recommend the Hellesylt/Geirangerfjord overland excursion. It is a bit expensive, but worth every dime. Incredibly beautiful scenery! When you're in Honningsvag, visit the Artico Ice Bar. It's located on the dock near the ship's berth; it's small but interesting and fun. Our itinerary did not include Flam, sadly, but I have read more than one place that it is a nightmare (and a VERY long line) to buy train tickets on your own. Probably best to do that one through Princess.