Crown Review March 22, Repo

[cruzholic]

Just returned two days ago . Here are some of my thoughts.
Arrival at Miami airport went well. We were met by NCL reps and transfered to the ship via buses. Arrived at the terminal about 12:30 pm and as our bus pulled in there were still passengers who had just disembarked waiting to be bused to their desired locations. Once inside we quickly went through embarkation only to be shown a seat to wait an hour and a half for boarding onto the ship. Apparently there were crew drills and clearances occuring from the previous cruise. Water and orange juice were served but quickly ran out.We were given a copy of the Freestly Daily to read while we waited and which gave us some orientation to the ship.
Finally boarded at 2:30pm and were greeted and escorted to our room. Enjoyed lunch at the Yacht Club Buffet. Awaiting us in our cabin was more Latitude, Shore Excursion and specialty dining options information.
5:30 Mandatory Emergency Boat Drill occured and all passengers were checked in according to their cabin #. This is the first time I have ever seen Muster Stations inside.
Dinner, Great Adventure Showtime, sailaway and the Casino completed the evening.
Tuesday we were in Nassau with sun and humidity. Going from the Ship to the city commercial areas required a 8-10 walk along a long pier where three other ship were also docked with the Crown. This proved a challange to those in wheel chairs or who had trouble walking. Our tour was a informative one and once into our bus a more pleasant one.
Wed. was at sea with onboard activies and the Sports Afloat program.Thursday we were in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Friday at sea, Sat. at Aruba. Both days were warm and I think sunny. Sat. we were at sea going to St Thomas on Sunday. St. Thomas is nice with both intown and a large mall at the pier for shopping. Mon. and Tues. we were again at sea on the way to Kings Wharf, Bermuda . It drizzled as we arrived and docked but by the time tours started the sun was out . It was very easy to purchase the $12. one day bus and ferry pass. This let us come and go over the entire island at our own pace. Enjoyed a lunch at Flannigan's in Hamilton where we met many other Crown friends enjoying a rest and lunch.The Freestyle Restaurant passes were not offered this cruise as the regular season had not yet started for Bermuda. We didn't have to be back on board the Crown until 11:30 am the next day, so people could come and go and enjoy nightlife as well as the daytime tours . About 15 minutes after leaving Bermuda on Friday the rains and winds started providing a rolling incounter for some. Coming up the Delaware River the sun came out for a brief time making the sunrise through the fog quite picturesque but the temperature was in the 40s and wind chill burr. It really was wonderful being able to idenify places and things from a different viewpoint. (We are from the Phila. are).
Shows included the Jean Ann Ryan Co presenting "Hoorey for Hollywood", "Swing,Swing,
Swing", "American In Paris" and in parts of other
variety shows. THEY ARE SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD'
Other acts were Mike Harris,Super Tonic Boom and the Best of Friends,comedy juggler Steve Patient,Magic and Illusion of Ricochet,piano and vocals of Christopher Contillo,Sean O'Shea, Van Harris, Christopher Riggins and the Crown's band was the Mikeal Orchestra. On Friday night the entire staff and crew of the ship were on stage for the final closing act of 'We are the World". Always impressive'
The two main restaurants always had lines waiting to be seated, The Pasta Cafe offered a marina sauce that included schrimp and scallops. We did not eat at the LeBistro or Chopsticks. The food was good and some of the desserts great.
Over all we had a good time. The cabins are spacious and offer more than enough storage space. Hair dryers alittle weak but do the job. I do feel the ship being the smallest of the NCL fleet is too small for Freestyle type cruising. For regular early/late sitting cruising OK. It has its own charm but the community areas lack the ability for a large variety of activies that you have on the bigger ships.
We were in the third group to leave the ship
and it went very smoothly. We went throught the new termainal and were home about an hour later.
We love NCL cruising and look forward to our next cruise with them. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by cruzholic on 04-06-04 at 12:49 PM.]

[jp2001]

Thank you for the review!

NCL Dawn, December 2003

[tug]

Thank you cruzholic .. i've been waiting for your review!

i have a couple of questions:

What room number did you stay in?

Did you happen to see the Kids Crew area? Where there many/any children on board?

Did you have the chance to use the spa?

.. i have many more, but i dont want to overwhelm everyone and monopolize your time [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Ted]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The two main restaurants always had lines waiting to be seated <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Was this true even quite early and late? Any general idea how long the waits were? Do you know if it was significantly longer for tables for two?

Thanks for the info!!

[cruzholic]

We ate at 5:30pm at Seven Seas most evenings. The lines are caused by having to enter via the hostess who asks you what kind of table you wanted and then assigns you to a table. Then there were wait staff to take you to that table. We usually were seated within a 10-15 minutes time. There wasn't a wait for a table unless you arrived after the first rush had been seated. We never ate late,and did eat dinner at the Yacht Club a couple of nights.Also we found we really liked table 39 or 40 in the Seven Seas, so requested holding that table for us which they did for a fifteen minute period. It was a table for two and yes there are other tables for two available.
I did not go I go into the pool on deck 7 because to me the water was cooler than I liked. BUT there were lots of people who did go in and felt you adjusted to the water after you got in. What I did do was go up on deck 10 to the hot tubs and enjoy them for long periods of time and then would seat out in the sun in my bathing suit. There are lots of areas for sun bathing on four different decks.

[luv cruising]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]Thank you cruzholic for the info.we are leaving in june on the Crown I do have a question about daily planners as Celb.& RC has the night before slipped under the door a booklet of sch.of events and list of time activities,we are first timers to Norw.wondering about that.thanks again

[cruzholic]

Good Morning Luv Cruising, Each evening when your beds are turned down, a copy of the Freestyle Daily flyer and pieces of chocolate are left either on your dresser or on your pillows. What we do is review that daily and plan what we will do by circleing the items. Then the next day stop up at the reception desk and pick up more copies. This way all members in your group can have their own copy of the freestyle daily and you can also have one good copy to take home as a reminder of what you did for you cruise album. The folded used ones we leave on the ship.

Because the Crown is smaller than some other ships , it is very easy to get around. Also whereever you go there will be people you have met during activies. It really makes it special to be walking down a stairs or hallway and hear someone saying hi , smiling or joking with you. It becomes a very friendly environment.

[dennis46]

Cruzholic,

What cabin were you in?? How was it? Inside or out?

How was the food? How was the buffet?

Thanks for helping us with your timely information!!

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Norwegian Crowne to Bermuda November 7, 2004

[de13]

Hi all,
here is a quick review from my experience. I will try to post more Thurs, it's been a busy week at work. We traveled with 2 other families, I have two children and we totaled 7 children (of the 14 onboard) and a total 13 in our group.

Dining room: Mostly ate all meals in the 7 seas, except for the specialty rest. dinners. Food was very good, above average I would say, though service was pretty bad not having the same waiter, etc. We were usually seated at 2 tables totaling 13 and we always took 2 - 2 1/2 hours to get out of the dining room. We watched other tables come and go... Lunch there was better service and also good food. Again we saw lines about 6:30 p.m., but they moved quickly.

The Bistro - very good and worth to try it. Great personal fondue!

The pasta cafe - not very Italian, esp. for us Italian living outside NYC! It was Ok, with anipasto (not on menu, but offered daily!)

Chopsticks - OK also, worth a try. A little different, more authentic

Buffet- terrible, hardly anything on it. One-sided buffet with very little choices. Mixed service, nice that they helped serve everything because of the virus and what CDC required, but then ask for something from them and it is difficult. Actually hard to get drinks, other cruise lines always have water and ice tea readily available. You have to go to the beverage station and wait in line for them to serve you. I bought the soda card and it was hard getting it because of bad service. At dinner, I only got one glass because it took so long and they never refilled!
First time on a cruise where I didn't fell like there was food everywhere, we actually had to wait to eat in between meals. They do have an afternoon tea for 1 hour and each time it was limited. We loved the cookies on it, but they always ran out when we asked where they were!

Room Service- the worst I have ever had! Stale food, small sandwiches with no meat, and messed up orders, or didn't ever come for another in our group. After ordering some P.B & J sandwiches for my 4 year old, I asked if they could find any that the bread was not stale (a rock!) and they responded that they were pre-made and could not promise to find any others!!
I guess they made them before we left!

Cabin - great and roomy! We had oceanview. Had a good cabin steward, clean efficent. We lacked though the special towel shapes other cruise lines have done, maybe because they are use to children and only do it for them?

Pools - only one small and very choppy water, though my children still went in!

Lots of other people were seasick, with rough seas and an older ship not having the stabilizers.

Fitness center- good, new, ok size for the small number of people using it. I tried to use the tredmills a few times. It was very hard to run with the swaying of the boat.

Spa- ok, not special. Had a coulple tratments, the hot stone massage was very good. Wait for the 40% off special they run!

Bad part is that we were late coming into ports early in the cruise, then found out they had to repair a part and we left Aruba 6 hours late!

No chocoholic buffet [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

They also didn't offer the Bermuda dining ashore program, though I confirmed this a couple of times with NCL prior.

The kids club- good, though only about 9 children ( including our 7) All new facilities since they have not had any other cruises with children that they could open it! It was surprising there were not other children, glad we traveled with other families or our children would have been so bored. They did not do some of the activities NCL bragged about like pizza making, etc. Prob. beacuse it's a small ship. They two girls, kit kat and Amber were very nice!

Activities- Not much compared to big ships. I will try and not to offend anyone, but it was a very old crowd, many in their 70-80s+. I could count on my hands how many others were in 20s, 30, 30s, or 40s. The actitivies were geared toward them, bridge, etc. There was even an art & crafts which our girls went to and they were so serious and telling the little girls and the dad, that they were not applying the painted flowers in the correct way. Dab they said! Pretty funny!!! Hence, they did not return to the arts and crafts.


Overall, a good value for what we paid. We got a great fare deal, if not may have been more upset. I found the service and attitude of the staff very poor. Whenever anyone in our group asked questions or brought a problem to their attention they really didn't care! Saw a few older people actually get injured and they were not very considerate.
The food was very good, better than the cruise we went on last summer.
For children I would not choose NCL again, I think we did better with RCCL.

Well, I did get the major things out, I will post on some of the excursions we did later -the best was Jolly Pirates in Aruba! If I think of more I will post it also. Thanks!!!

ountdown to Vacation
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[luv cruising]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]Hi everyone Cruzholic thank you for your ans.I was happy to see this,De13 thank you for your info i was happy to hear about cabin we booked suite w/balcony only reason we did not go with celb.as far as room service i have had the same with other cruise lines food noooot good.I guess some of us get spoiled from other lines.We will be doing sept 05 cruise to Alaska but i can say for sure it will be with celeb.they have the best spa and food. thanks again ...

[cruzholic]

Hi De13, Glad to see someone else from our group is posting. First off you and the other two families can be so proud of your children. They were polite, well behaved and a real joy to be around. I worked in daycare for 14+ years and feel I know young children . Last year when we were on the NCL Dawn I was impressed with their children's program and the specially made dining area and swimming pools. I even took pictures of the huge inflated dinosaurs at the pool.
AS to the Yacht Club buffet I thought it strange they didn't have pizza . I got it through room service. We had better dining service when we sat as two than in larger groups. Maybe they wait to serve everyone at once.
I was impressed with the response we received as a Cc group.I received a letter from the ship's rep and she was there at out group meeting along with the CD Simon. The next evening at the Top of the Crown, service was much improved. More wait staff were there as a result of Simon loging our complaint on his palm pilot.
Our room was 5004 an outside with two portholes. On the third to last night because of the high winds, all portholes were ordered closed,Because they were behind the curtains, this surprised us when we awoke the next morning and weren't able to see out. But do understand safety when you are in the front of a ship.

[tug]

cruzholic, thank you for your replies.

did you have the same impression that de13 did about the kids crew? my daughter will be 10 when we sail in august. i trust there will be many more kids.

this will be our first cruise and i'm concerned about any luke warm review.

have you been on other cruises/cruiselines? how does this line and ship compare?

[cruzholic]

Hi Tug, do you have an email address I can use to email you a more indepth answer.

[dennis46]

Cruzholic,

I would like a cc of your more indepth response to TUG. [email]dennis.e.frederick@ssa.gov[/email][/EMAIL]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]Thanks

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Norwegian Crowne to Bermuda November 7, 2004

[tug]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cruzholic:
Hi Tug, do you have an email address I can use to email you a more indepth answer.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[email="tug@thesimsresource.com"]tug@thesimsresource.com[/email]

thanks! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Dan p]

Hi all,
Thanks ce you couldnt have said it any better.We were on the same line when you say the service was bad.Another thing was when you asked about serving yourself at the buffet,they said it was company wide.Well when we were in port with the Sky we asked the people from there about it,they said they served themselves.
We firmly believe the ship was undermanned.And maybe[but not sure]that is wh



y the servi
ces were very bad.But still no excuse.
I also was in the pool when your children were there,and i also think that they were very good considering they had no activities for them.We were also at the pool when Matt[the other little boy]gave his mother a real problem.
Yes the Crown is an OLD ship,but we think that NCL should send it back to the Orient lines.You are correct about being late for EVERY port call.We started to call the Captain,Captain Lately, because of this.
Another problem we had was when we had the problem in Aruba,we would have rather stayed there rather then to be in Bermuda the extra time.

[goldie888]

We were on the Crown with Cruzholic, de13 and Dan P.

I agree with most of the reviews. The preception of poor service most likely are due to not having the same wait staff. I did find most staff were a little unhappy.

We will choose a bigger ship next time as we found very limited activities for this 13 day cruise.

They had very few fun slot machines (little green man, Mr. Lucky etc)and the eight that were in the casino were all in one very small area.

[luv cruising]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]HI EVEYONE THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR INPUT I AM STARTING TO FEEL NOT GOOD ABOUT THIS CROWN BUT WE CAN MAKE THE BEST OF IT.I AM HOPING BY JUNE THEY WILL HAVE WORKED OUT THE KINKS.AS THIS IS MY DH'S FIRST CRUISE I WANTED IT TO BE NICE THAKS AGAIN

[cruzholic]

Hi Goldie 888, How was your trip home? So enjoyed my meal with you. One thing I did forget to say was our cruise was dealing with a virus that was left from the cruise before us and there were crew and passengers that were in their cabins for three days. That NCL has no control over.This helped to short staff the ship. Our cc get together pictures turned out great. I thought the ship's reception of us was very good. I had multiple good conversations with the cruise director. Have a good holiday. My other half say hi too. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[Dan p]

Cruz,are you going to put the picture up.

[cruzholic]

Good Morning Dan, I had not thought about it. We have a scanner, but I don't use it and I have NO idea how to put a regular 33mm picture into it,and scan over to an existing web page. MY pictures is not a digital. I will ask around to find out if any friends know how to do it. Happy Easter.

[philly50's]

Well Crown repo. cruisers, I find it fascinating that everyone has differnet views on the Crown and the cruise in general. Seems we all agree that the activities are defintely lacking unless you are in the "golden years". This is the first cruise we've been on that didn't have a Caribbean band on board. They actually brought the orchestra from the nightly dance show out to play by the pool one day. That was pretty bad. I'll stand by our praise of the staff though and say we had nothing but positive interaction with them. De you are absoultely right about room service, don't bother ordering anything more than coffee and juice and one day I think the coffee was actually the remains of the previous nights dish water. A phone call to complain brought much stronger and hotter coffee and an apology to our room in a hurry. The sandwiches, salads etc were awful. NCL should be ashamed to serve them. I differ with De on the buffet, we enjoyed it most times and ate there frequently. At breakfast they even make fresh waffles, top those with a little fresh fruit and it is healthy and delicious.We only booked one excursion through NCL, in Mo Bay which was great(how 'bout that 150 rum DanP), every where else we hooked up with an independent tour operator when we got in port and had some great tours for much less than the ship cost. Goldie is right about the casino it was cramped but our guys found plenty to do there it seemed. Anyone going on the Crown in the future, don't worry. Despite any and all complaints you may hear from our gang it was a nice trip, that repo cruise which they do every year has a good itinerary and is a wonderful value for the price.

[Dan p]

OKOK Philly,so you out drank me there.But tell me did Jim pay the tour guide to keep us up river.

[cruzholic]

I have to be like Philly 50 and agree on somethings. We really liked the Yacht Club buffet. Ate there every morning, all lunches except one and at least half the dinners. I loved being able to get freshly made waffles and eggs I even designed my own egg mcmuffin and that was good. They always had a nice variety of fresh fruit including dates, figs, apricots dried and cooked, watermellon, cantalope, pineapple, honeydew, walnuts etc. Their omlets were good and you could make any kind you wanted. What I did miss was pizza on the lunch buffet and the one time we ordered it from room service, I got pepperoni on my PLAIN cheese order.
I found out the next day that we had left Aruba five hours late but because we were sleeping I didn't know the difference. So what 3am virus 11pm? I heard two different reasons floating around why . Still don't know the true one.
We enjoyed all the shore excursions that we booked through the ship . I do feel we should have been informed though that for the one in Nassau you had to walk 10 minutes from the ship to the buses. This was a severe handicap for those having trouble walking or in wheelchairs. This was a result of 9/11 and had nothing to do with NCL or the tour.
If you go to Bermuda make sure to get the $12. dialy transportation pass. It give you such freedom and with the maps of attractions you can pick up, enables you to have a wonderful time on your own. Also the Dophin Quest at the Maritime Museum is interesting for adults and children alike. They do not put on a show, but enable you to sit and watch their training sections with the dophins. Well worth the admission to the museum. Happy Easter/Passover

[goldie888]

Hi Cruzholic and all,

Art and I had a wonderful 3 days in Washington DC. The Greyhound bus from Philly to DC was very old and dirty. Next time we will use Amtrak.

I did enjoy the Yacht Club buffet, especailly for breakfast. The omelettes made to order were much better and bigger than those served in the Seven Sea. I never did try the waffel. And you can get as much or as little as you like but most morning I ended up eating way too much. One meal after another for 13 days, it is a miracle we did gain much weight. I slow way down toward the last few days. We only went to the afternoon tea once and missed going to the high tea in Le Bistro.

We did manage to work out a few times in the gym and did enjoy the equipment provided. We never once took the elevator and also did a lot of walking in ports.

Our cabin was 5121, an inside. Since we had no window nor porthole, we usually slept in late each day.