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Crown Princess Review - Feb. 18 - 25. 2012-Long Review-Will Add Photos

trideltjenn

By trideltjenn,
in Princess Cruises

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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We just got back from the Crown half Noro/half non-Noro sailing :D (Feb 18-25). Our group consisted of myself (25), my BF (23) and my parents. This was our 12th cruise on Princess and my boyfriend’s 2nd on Princess. It was a Christmas surprise for my Dad and a celebration of my finishing grad school and getting an MBA. We had a great time despite the Noro precautions at the beginning of the week. I will try to add some more photos with this review as well. If you have any questions feel free to ask! I wasn’t planning on writing such a long review but I realized I had a lot of information to talk about….

 

Rooms:

We were in 2 AA Mini-Suite- D412 & D412

 

Friday Feb 17th -Arrival in Ft. Lauderdale

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale after a long flight from Las Vegas around 4:30pm. We took a limo from the airport to the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Beach Resort so that we could make a stop at Total Wine and have a nice drive to the hotel. We bought 10 bottles of champagne, 1 750ml bottle of Bacardi Limon (perfect for Crystal light and pink lemonade to minimize calories consumed in pool drinks), a smaller bottle of Bacardi, a case of Aqua Panna water, and BF special ordered a case of Land Shark (16oz) cans the week before. After the limo driver dropped all of Chris’s beers on the ground I thought he was going to have a heart attack but he gracefully recovered and we moved on and went to the hotel.

 

The hotel was very nice; right across the street from the ocean and walking distance from many restaurants, CVS, Sonic Beach, etc. We got a 2-bedroom suite for less than the price of getting 2 rooms so it was worth it for the suite, plus made it easier to do some luggage shifting around to fit all of the booze and water that we bought. (I checked a carry on suitcase that was practically empty with a smaller carry-on packed inside of it to make it easier to lug around to carry the booze on-board the next day). We settled in and went to Shula’s on the Beach after having a few drinks at the hotel bar by the pool during happy hour. It was short walk to Shula’s and dinner was very good. We then headed back to the hotel.

 

Saturday Feb 18th- Embarkation Day

We got a late check-out from the hotel (HHonors perk) and walked to CVS for a last minute decision that we needed more water (we just don’t like the ships water and needed water for taking ashore and for the mixing of the crystal light). After we walked the beach and headed back to the hotel to finish packing. I brought blue bubble wrap and wine skins to protect the wine.

 

(side note: we still managed to spend about a grand on booze on board and only drank and champagne on our balcony, mixed our crystal light drinks by the pool and sometimes added some Mai Tia’s from the bar to the mix (yummy), we also brought Tervis Cups to keep the drinks cold and prevent them from melting in the sun, yet another great idea I highly recommend)

 

The same limo driver picked us up again around 1pm to take us to the port. When we arrived the line was already wrapped around the building. When we were standing on the lower level by the doors to go in, we asked the woman if we were platinum could we go through and she told us we could so we went under the rope and avoided the entire line. We were on the ship in less than 30mins

We then checked out our rooms, unpacked the booze and went upstairs to get pizza/hamburgers. The line for the burgers was extremely long and it took Chris about 30mins to get through it since we were on red alert and people could not get their own condiments. The pizza line was also very long but took only about 15mins to get through.

 

We then got some drinks and hung out around the pool for a while before the muster drill. Our bags arrived just after the drill and we unpacked and hung around until dinner time.

 

Before dinner we stopped at Crooner’s and had some Martinis before dinner (a tradition in our family) The bar tenders at Crooner’s were some of the best we have ever had, they all knew us by name and asked us how our day was every day, and even said hello when we saw a few of them in Aruba. If you’re sailing on the Crown, look for Flo and Christopher (they were our favorites). We had traditional dinning at 8:15 and it was crowded as usual the first night trying to get into the dining room but the line moved quickly. At dinner we were not allowed to serve ourselves rolls, no butter or S&P on the table as others noted the first few days but it wasn’t that big of a deal. We could tell the waiters were a little overwhelmed though and found them (ours at least) to be a little less friendly than usual. An older couple sitting by us was completely annoyed that she didn’t get more butter and “how hard is it to get butter!” she said in disgust to the couple seated at the table next to them. Get a grip lady, it’s the first night of your vacation and you’re already annoyed! Dinner overall was good, usual Princess food.

 

After disappointing service from our waiters we headed to the Crown Grill and made reservations for the rest of the week, best decision (more about that later).

 

Day 2 February 19th: Princess Cays-Sanctuary Bungalow

We ordered room service breakfast to come before we arrived in Princess Cays and then proceeded to wait in the dining room for the first tender ticket to be called. We were delayed a few minutes due to winds. We had priority tender tickets since we got a Sanctuary Bungalow for the day. In the past we tried to get a bungalow before the Sanctuary ones were built but never got one since there were only 6 (I think) at the time and they were all sold out.

 

We were on the 2nd tender to arrive on the island and took the little tram to our bungalows. We were in the first purple bungalow (#19). There is air-conditioning, a fan, light, shower, shelves for your stuff, hooks for clothing/bags, and even a mirror that’s great for putting on sunscreen! We also had an umbrella for shade and 4 lounge chairs. Roberto (the F&B service manager was the supervisor that took us to the bungalow), he was great, he checked on us throughout the day and brought some tiny hermit crabs by for us to see. Later on we realized he was also the maître de at the Crown, and we enjoyed seeing him every night, he took great care of us.

 

The night before there was a letter in our mailbox asking if we wanted to upgrade to the premium lunch for $25/person (same as the Crown Grill price) and we opted for that, it was WELL worth it!!! We had nuts/popcorn/gazpacho drinks delivered first, then a massive plate of lobster, jumbo prawns, and mussels, and then the BBQ fare (jerk chicken, salad, rolls, pork spare ribs). After lunch we got ice-cream sundaes and a fruit plate with yogurt dipping sauce. We were stuffed.

 

After returning to the boat, we hung out for a little while and then got ready for drink at Crooners again and dinner. It was our first night in the Crown and Roberto recognized us from the beach and gave us a nice booth by a window. When Arnold our server arrived Chris recognized him from Princess Cays and we realized he had brought us the first round of lunch snacks. He even remembered what bungalow we were in! Dinner was great as usual in the Crown, it was very quiet that night, not many people. We used our first punch on our wine card and enjoyed a nice relaxing meal.

 

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Day 3: Sea Day – First Formal Night

Chris and I got up at 7am to stake out our chairs for the day, we had agreed to be the first ones up that morning to look for the best spot. We parked ourselves on the first level about the pool deck along the glass in front of the movies under the stars screen. My parents quickly followed about 20-30mins later. There weren’t many people out that early and many chairs were still empty. After they arrived, Chris and my mom and I went and grabbed breakfast. It was a lovely day at sea with great weather. At around 2:30 we packed it up and went to the wine club, wine tasting. This is the more expensive of the 2 wine tasting that was offered. It used to be on the last sea day but now it is the first sea day. The majority of the wines were good, but the Sommelier (sp?) took way too long talking about the champagne (he told us he knew he did that later in the week when we ordered that Champagne at dinner). I was just about asleep listening to him, my Dad couldn’t help but laugh when I also face planted into the glasses at one point in time.

 

After the wine club, we went back to the room for a nap; it was a long day in the sun. Chris and I booked a couple’s massage outside at the Sanctuary and went to that around 5:45. The spa girls took us to the inside room and didn’t tell us until we got to the room that they were sorry that they couldn’t do it outside due to strong winds. They truly felt bad about it, but I wish they would have warned us ahead of time. They offered to give us a 25-min massage while we were in Aruba, 10% off, or we could change to another day. We opted for the extra 25-min in Aruba at 8am. The massage was great and I even went back to Heather on the last day, she is amazing and very nice!

 

Dinner was the usual, Crooners and then off to the Crown. Another great dinner and we requested to have Arnold the rest of the week because he was so attentive, friendly, and welcoming.

 

 

Day 4: Curacao-Renaissance Marriott

In the past, we have gotten day-passes to resorts in various places and since there were no places to get those in Curacao we decided to just get a room at the Marriott and earn some points. We like to have a place to put our stuff, be able to shower, and potentially nap if we are in port for a long day. Since we were in town 1pm-10pm we thought it was worth it. Turns out that you had to walk through the Renaissance Mall to get to the rest of the port area so the location worked out great considering the Carnival was in town and we were advised taking a cab back late at night might be a challenge. The hotel was very nice, we got a basic room with a balcony, put our stuff down, put on sunscreen and headed out to check out the town.

 

We walked around and shopped a while, then had some drinks at a bar by the water. There we got to watch the floating pontoon bridge move several times, that was very cool. It was really interesting when it moved with people still on it, that we couldn’t believe. After we went back to the hotel and sat by their infinity pool which is salt water and sandy bottomed to make you feel like you are truly at the beach. We were right by the ship and watched the people coming and going. After about an hour, Holland America was backing out of the other side of the port and the photos were amazing, it looked like we were 50ft from the boat with the way the pool is elevated (will add photos of that).

 

When it got dark we got cleaned up and went to Steak and Ribs (I think that’s the name) it’s on the 3rd floor I believe of the fort area. It had a great view of the ship and the ocean with all outside dinning. Dinner was amazing, we weren’t expecting it to be that good and the food descriptions sounded strange but was actually really good. After we went back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and headed to the ship.

 

When we got back we sat in Crooners for “ugly Hawaiian shirt night” with Korey Simon, he was a blast, he would make fun of every man that walked in the room with a Hawaiian shirt on and had us vote on if it was handsome or ugly.

 

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Day 4: Aruba-Shopping and Palm Beach

Chris and I finally got our out-side massage at 8am and it was very relaxing. I appreciated them doing a little extra for us so I tipped both girls for their time. In Aruba we walked around the town close to the port for a while and did some shopping and then took a cab to Palm Beach ($15 for the 4 of us), my Dad picked the smallest little cab he could find, but the driver was very friendly an knowledgeable about the island. He took us to the Holiday Inn and told us that we should act like Kings and Queens because we are tourists and we should be treated like that (just thought that was funny). Chris and I walked to Burger King for lunch but there is also a Hooters, Pizza Place, T.G.I. Friday’s, Texas de Brazil, Dunkin Donuts, and a couple other cafes within walking distance, along with a floating restaurant which my parents ate at which they said was very good as well. We rented chairs from Lenny’s or something like that for $5 each and relaxed for a few hours before our same cab driver came to pick us up and take us back.

 

We got back to the ship around 3:30 and sat around the pool before drinks at Crooners and dinner at the Crown again. This night was very crowded in the Crown and people seemed to be annoyed that they weren’t moving faster to seat people but we really didn’t care, we were on vacation!

 

Day 5: Sea Day-Second Formal Night

This was our second full day at Sea and once again we got up early and claimed the same chairs again. It was a little chilly (we come from Vegas and the dessert and not the snow!) that morning so we sat in our clothes until the sun came out. We had a bottle of champagne and had mimosas while enjoying watching the sun rise. We spent the majority of the day by the pool and then went back to the room and had some nacho snacks from the buffet.

 

Day 6: Sea Day

This was our last day at Sea and we once again got the same chairs as we had all week, my mom was up before 6:30 and due to the clocks changing again, it was still not very light outside when we got out there so she got some amazing photos that morning of the empty ship. We got pretty toasted that day and drank a lot of champagne. My Dad threw in the towel early and went to the room while the rest of us stayed out in the sun till our massages (mom and I) and Chris got a facial, he was hesitant about it at first like he was when I first made him get a massage with me, but he ended up loving it.

 

At the Crown our last night I kept asking Arnold throughout dinner about the baked Alaska (I had been asking for the last 3 days) and he kept telling me they couldn’t do it. To our surprise at the end of dinner Roberto brought us our baked Alaska (Chris and I were the only dinner survivors, the parental were a little toasted from the day). That was a really nice touch and we greatly appreciated that. They also brought me a dessert for my graduation from my MBA celebration which was also very nice.

 

Day 7: Disembarkation

Disembarkation went very smoothly, we relaxed in the Platinum lounge and left the ship around 9:15, the car was coming for us at 9:30. We had used the easy check ($20/person) and didn’t have bag fees on Southwest so we just checked all 4 bags under my parent’s names and I checked the carry-ons when we got to the airport. We were off the ship and through customs in 15mins, the fastest ever! We went to Las Olas for breakfast and went to Indigo at the Railway/River something Inn I think it’s called, best breakfast I’ve had in a long time, and we have great places here in Vegas! I would highly recommend it. We then went to the Hard Rock to get a casino chip for our collection and I won $16 in a slot off $2, not too bad! We arrived at FLL at around 1pm for our 2:55 flight and got through security pretty quick. The terminal was a disaster though so if you are flying Southwest of Allegiant out of that terminal (I believe it was b gates) I would not suggest getting there too early if at all possible, trash bins were overflowing, no place to sit, and people sitting on the floor it was so crowded.

 

Hope this review was helpful, sorry it was so long, if you have any questions please feel free to ask me! I will answer them as best as I can!

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ginnynj

ginnynj

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Thanks for sharing. Made me feel like we could've cruised with you for the week instead of the Feb 4th cruise to nowhere. We enjoy Crooners as well, especially a coacktail server by the name of Peggy. She's lots of fun and very personable. As for the Curacao Marriott, I had thought they did Day Passes, but like the idea of a room for the day. Will keep that in mind for the next outing.

Appreciate the time and effort for the text and the photos. Hopefully you booked for next year before you ever got off the ship.

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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Barcoviajero- The sanctuary bungalows were amazing. I had been searching for information on them forever and usually didn't find much information but more or less people saying they wouldn't spend the money one them, that's why I wanted to add so much detail about them. These cabanas are cheap compared to Vegas standards and I think it was well worth it. I loved the fact that someone was always standing there making sure that random people didn't try to walk through there, it made for a nice, relaxing, quiet day. I forgot to add that they now come with beach mats (2) in the cabana and I personally took the mat and put it on the lounge chair and put my towel over that to make it even more comfortable for a nice nap in the sun. I was out cold... Also, I don't know if it came with just the bungalow or the VIP lunch package, but our first round of drinks was also free.

 

As far as the walk goes, we got off the tenders and went to the right maybe 500ft or less and waited for the tram lady to pick us up. She drove us to close to where the regular bungalows start, from there we went to the bar and waited for Roberto to come back and check us in and he walked us to our cabana and got us towels. It was about a 2-3min walk to the bar at most if your walking slow, and maybe another 5-6 min walk max to the sanctuary bungalows. In the picture below (taken from our bungalow, the first one) you will see a yellow bungalow, that is where you turn left to go to the bathroom, the bungalows from that yellow one to the sanctuary weren't booked so there wasn't much traffic down that way. Hope this info helps, if you have any other questions, ask away!

 

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Karen-The food in the Crown was good every night. The black and blue soup is my favorite french onion soup ever and I hate blue cheese, you cant really taste the blue cheese to be honest. The steaks are all great, my boyfriend said that he liked the pork chops better then the meat, but the meat was still very good. The menu on the Princess site is no long correct, there is not a $9 up-charge for that lobster anymore, but you can still get the 4oz. lobster tail with any meal and they de-shell it for you table-side. The lemon meringue pudding tart is not lemon meringue pie more or less and it is to die for. The berry cobbler is not on the "trough" (Crown Dependence) as we call it and it is amazing too.The artisan salts are really good on the meat and everything else so we asked for them at the beginning instead of waiting til the meat came. My mom doesn't eat meat and ate the majority of the fish dishes and I think it was the stripped bass that was her favorite but I will confirm that and get back to you on that. Since we were in the Crown ever night, I sometimes asked for a Cesar Salad and fettuccine (my favorite) and they were willing to go to the dinning room to get it for me (maybe because we were there every night???) Either way, I find that above and beyond my expectations and greatly appreciated it. I will add some food photos this afternoon... sometimes my mom gets crazy and takes lots of food photos but they come in handy too so I can't complain.

If you have any other questions about the food, feel free to ask.

 

GinnyNJ- Thank you so much for the complements! I really tried to incorporate as much info as I could as I think our family tends to do things that a lot people don't do (such as the hotel room) and it might help give some people new ideas... We have done hotel rooms at the Half Moon in Jamaica, somewhere in Aruba, The Marriott in St. Kitts, Sandals in St. Lucia we did an all-inclusive day pass without a room, and a few other places. I think it also helps us to determine if we would want to go back to stay at that resort should we choose to do a land vacation to that spot.

Funny thing about your cruise to no where actually, if you want to pick a vacation week, pick the ones we go on! I swear we avoid disaster every single time we go on a cruise... quick story on that... 1st cruise ever-a tug boat made a huge gash in the boat the week before we went and then the boat was repo-ed 2 months later while in Mexico, when we were on the Star, the big fire happened the very next week, our cabins were charred, the Crowns 1st year, it listed 2 weeks before we went. The Noro outbreak and your cruise to no-where, 2 weeks before us, and the red alert week the week before with no ship tours, etc. Not to mention the Costa disasters happened around our cruising too, didn't really affect us, but just an interesting coincidence. Other little minor things have happened around the other cruises I just cant think of them off the top of my head!

I don't remember seeing a Peggy in Crooner's but she might have been the only person to not wait on us, we were there everyday...

 

I will add more photos this afternoon, glad everyone is enjoying them so far! Any more questions, feel free to ask!!! :D

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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That Southwest terminal at FTL is a NIGHTMARE!

 

Yes it is! Made me want to re-think things, and Southwest is the only one with a non-stop to FLL from Vegas... I don't know if I would rather a layover in Houston or dealing with that nightmare mess again!

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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Here are pictures of the interesting food from steak and ribs...

 

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(some kind of chicken thing Chris got)

 

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(Cheese cornbread appetizers, they also have tuna ones, both very good)

 

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Ribs at Steak and Ribs

 

Food at the crown:

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Baked Alaska Last night

 

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Crown Dependence

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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Sorry I accidentally hit enter and couldn't edit

 

Super review.....do you know what movies were playing? I'll be on in a few weeks..... Thanks look forward to the pics....

 

I went and dug out the patters....

 

Movies Under the Stars During the day:

Dolphin Tale

Puss in Boots

I Don't Know How She Does It

Captain America: The First Avenger

Silent Movie: Metropolis (what a weird movie that was, it was playing early in the morning)

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Mr. Poppers Penguins

Phantom of the Opera

Thor

Warrior

The Help

Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger tides

Midnight in Paris

Cowboys and Aliens

 

 

Movies Under the Stars at Night:

Cowboys & Aliens

Youth Movie Night: Cars 2

Toast

An Invisible Sign

Money Ball

Warrior

Mr. Poppers Penguins

 

 

Concerts:

Beyonce: Live from Wembley

U2: Vertigo

Bon Jovi: Live in Chicago

Lionel Richie: Live in Paris

Pavarotti: The Event Live

Take That: Live at Wembley Stadium

Genesis Invisible Touch

George Micheal: Live in London

Barry Manilow: Music & Passion

 

Movies in the Princess Theater:

J. Edgar

The Help

I Don't Know How She Does It

Invisible Sign

Money Ball

50/50

Warrior

Mr. Poppers Penguins

The Ides of March

 

 

*These are all in backward order, I realized I started with the last patter first...*

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kkshelton

kkshelton

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Thanks for adding more pictures! I wish we could eat in the Crown Grill every night but I don't think my kids would appreciate it. They enjoy eating in the dining room with us and I don't believe they are allowed in the specialty restaurants. We are hoping to do the Chefs Table one night if we can get on that list. The special martini looks awesome. I better build up my tolerance as I will have to have mojitos and martinis and wine!

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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Vanna- Thanks! We didn't get any underwater pictures because the water was a bit too cold for those of us from the south, I only got in the ocean in Aruba for a few mins. That and I wasn't quite ready to test the theory that my new camera really does work underwater!

 

edtober-The cruise director was Lisa Ball, she was ok, the only show we went to was Rolling Jay Moore, he had fun making fun of my Dad and his being retired and playing golf all the time as his "occupation". He was pretty fun, have seen him several times before on Princess along with Phil Tag too. Phil was not on this ship and there was no adult comedy shows like I have been to in the past, those were usually really good.

 

Karen-I've never heard them say kids aren't allowed in the Crown, in fact I believe I saw hi-chairs in there in the corner... just a thought there, I think it is definitely worth going for at least one night, especially one of those odd chef nights where I can't understand half the things on the menu (haha)

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trideltjenn

trideltjenn

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TonjaK- The sanctuary bungalows have nicer (IMO) chairs both outside the bungalow and inside are nicer. The regular bungalows have plastic chairs inside and the same blue chairs that are on the rest of the beach outside.

 

The sanctuary bungalows also have a patio cover which gives some extra shade besides just an umbrella. The sanctuary ones are secluded with someone who stands in front of them and stops people from going inside except those who have a bungalow, and therefore you have an unobstructed view of the ocean unless someone is walking by your bungalow. With the regular ones, there are beach chairs and people on the beach in front of them. Also with the sanctuary bungalows you have the option of purchasing the lunch upgrade (highly recommend that if you don't want to stand in line at the buffet and like seafood) which is $25/person and the form must be turned in by 8pm the night before.

 

Terry- I loved your comments! Thanks so much! After the mimosas the first day, I thought it was a great idea and continued that trend everyday after that. By the end of the week they ran out of Korbel and had a hard time finding that last bottle for us... ooops... I guess its good we brought some of our own! :p

 

I think that if your going to claim chairs early, you should be there, it is ok to go get breakfast though for a few minutes if someone stays there, considering its not full yet up there anyways. One day I went down to the room mid-day to go to the bathroom (noro precaution) and not even 2 mins after we left my Dad told me that some lady came by and rudely asked him how long our chairs had been "unoccupied" give me a break, my Dad told her not even five-minutes! Apparently she was quite annoyed and stormed off. haha. I noticed a lot of people would come claim their chairs and then take off for over an hour or more. We only left for the bathroom and breakfast...

 

Waterbabyfish- -The Beatles Medley is still going on, it was in the Piaza on Friday (last sea day) at 8 & 10pm

 

Also in the Piaza they had some acrobatics (kind of cirque similar), morning/ afternoon/evening melodies, Duo Alia Entertainers, Piazza Melodies, Rock this Town, Musical Melodies, Dixieland Showcase, Champagne Hoopla, Hey Mambo, Crown Balloon Drop & Dance Party

 

The main shows were: Welcome Aboard Show, Comedians Alfred & Seymour, Rollin' Jay Moore, Motor City, Classical Concert with The Souvenir Quartet, "What a Swell Party", Special Presentation: The International Crew Show, Mentalist Guy Bavli, "Destination Anywhere", Farewell Show with Pianist Korey Simon, & Farewell Show with Mentalist Guy Bavli

 

Hope this helps!

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HaliMakai

HaliMakai

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Jenn, thanks for the detailed post. I booked the Sanctuary Bunglow right after reading your review. Just one more question, you mention that they came with mats. Were they the floating mats, my sister loves to just float around on the water and I was going to book one for her, if they come with the bungalow that would be great.

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