Crown Princess Ship Review - California Coastal Oct 4th

[jbobst]

My wife and I are 40 years old and we cruised with our two teenage children, my mother in law, and two other sets of friends. This was our 6th cruise on Princess and our 15th cruise overall (on various other cruise lines). Our last Princess cruise was on the Grand Princess this past May in Alaska. We had a fabulous cruise on the Grand, but we also splurged for a full suite. For this cruise on the Crown, my wife and I had an inside cabin, and our kids and Mother in law shared a mini suite. Even though this was our 6th Princess cruise, we’ve only sailed on the Grand Princess and Sapphire Princess previously. I was really looking forward to trying out a different ship, especially one of the newer ships with the extra passenger deck. Most people know this already, but the last four Grand Class ships had an additional passenger deck and many people have been critical about these four ships being over crowded. After reading so many opinions about the extra passengers on these ships both pro and con, I was curious to see for myself if there was much difference on the larger ships like the Crown.

 

Before I get into my review, I want to mention a few additional things so people can understand my perspective. I am afraid I will be fairly critical of this ship and some of the crew, but I don’t want people to misunderstand why. First, if you are planning or thinking of taking a cruise on the Crown Princess, I definitely think you should do it despite my critique. The Crown has many things going for it, and with the right attitude and expectations, you can have a great cruise. Second, while our 15 cruises is not that many compared to most of the people on cruisecritic, we have tried many of the major cruise lines over the past 10 years, and Princess is definitely my favorite despite our cruise on the Crown last week. Third, Princess is a good value, despite my criticism. I don’t think Princess is a high end cruise line, even though I wish it was and even though it seems like they market themselves as a higher end line. And finally, we still had a great cruise…we’ve never have had a bad one, even though nothing is ever perfect. Now on to the review…

 

 

We arrived at the port a little later than we normally do (approximately 10:15am), and they seemed to have the check in process delayed a little longer than we have had in the past, but we were still on the ship just before noon. Since the Crown doesn’t have Alfredo’s (our usual embarkation lunch destination), we decided to try the dining room embarkation lunch. The menu was extremely limited (my wife had the trout, and the rest of us had a beef dish…I forgot what it was called) but the food was still very good. They had a hazelnut chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce for desert, and while I don’t like Hazelnut very much, it was good. We also had the fettuccini alfredo as an appetizer. As a side note, I had the fettuccini alfredo every night for dinner and this is something I really like about Princess. They cook their pasta perfectly every time and it’s very good. Because of the limited lunch menu, one tip you may want to consider is that after you place your order, have someone run down to the International café and pick up a couple additional appetizers. I grabbed a plate of the watermelon/mozzarella salad and a plate of shrimp and brought them back to the dining room for everyone at our table to share.

 

 

We explored the ship a little after lunch and I thought the Piazza on the Crown was very beautiful. The Crown (and Ruby and Emerald sister ships) had their Piazza (atrium) purposely built for the International café and I thought this was done much better than the other ships we’ve been on. The way the Piazza was decorated and lighted seemed more elegant and “pretty” than the Grand Princess or Sapphire Princess. I really liked this area and it was one of the nicer areas on the ship.

 

 

Another difference with the Crown was the lack of an indoor pool area. I was expecting not to like this and expected to miss the indoor pool area. I have to say that this really didn’t bother me at all. The area itself is pretty much identical to the earlier Grand class ships, minus the glass roof. They also relocated the giant TV screen to this pool compared to the early ships. It didn’t rain on our cruise, so maybe that would have made a difference, but I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t miss the roof. The only criticism I would make about this area is that the second level on the older Grand class ships have the ping pong tables located in the indoor pool area. This was a great location and had plenty of room to play. Because the Crown has the movie screen in this pool area and tiered seating areas on the second level, they moved the ping pong tables to the main pool area right next to the bar and hamburger grill. It was a tight fit for the ping pong tables and just wasn’t very conducive to playing (too many pool chairs and people trying to get food and drinks in that area).

 

 

Another difference on the Crown was the location of Sabatini’s and the addition of the Adagio Bar/lounge area. We only used Adagio one evening to meet for pre-dinner drinks, and it was a lovely area. I wish we would have used it more, but we just didn’t find the time. This was definitely a nice area!

 

 

Some other differences of note that the Crown has was a slight relocation and combination of the pizza and ice cream bar between the two main pools. This seemed to flow well and was fine. I also like the fact that they added the “café caribe” to the buffet area. This provided an additional buffet line to help ease the amount of people trying to use the buffet area. They also had specialty buffet’s here on occasion (like a Mexican themed buffet one day for lunch). The Crown has a small gelato ice cream bar next to the international café, and while there is a small fee ($1.00 for two scoops, $1.50 for three), the gelato was just ok in my opinion and seemed to be rarely used by the passengers. There are a few other differences but generally speaking it’s very similar to the other Grand class ships.

 

 

We had great weather throughout the cruise except for the second sea day which was mostly cloudy. Other than Ensenada, the ports were all very good. We didn’t do too much in the ports, other than walk around the various cities and do a little shopping. Embarkation went very well despite the additional number of passengers. We did self-walk off and we were in the third group which departed around 8:10am and we were at our car by 8:45am.

 

 

Regarding the additional number of passengers on the Crown…I rarely felt any extra crowding compared to my previous cruises except for a few key areas. We had anytime dining and had a group of 12. We had to split up into two tables each night, but anytime dining is just plain busy and not really “anytime” (in my opinion). Dinners seemed more crowded than previous cruises and I felt the additional passengers during dinner time.

 

 

 

The early seating shows in the main theater each night were completely full 30 minutes before the show started. Forget getting a seat if you aren’t there 30 minutes prior to the show, and make sure your whole party is there (no seat saving). The first show we attended, my son arrived before we did and saved our seats. This made a few people unhappy and one person gave him a small lecture about how saving seats is not allowed. I wish I knew who those people were so I could apologize to them. I made sure my son did not do that again and made sure that he didn’t enter the theater until we were all there and were ready to sit down together.

 

 

 

One of my friends attended both the early and late seating of the comedy show and she said the late seating had many seats available. The other time the ship felt more crowded was the sea days…especially the second sea day when it was cloudy and cooler outside. This is to be expected when it’s cooler out by the pool, but I didn’t enjoy the sea days very much with the crowds everywhere (elevators were a little nuts at times!). I was glad we only had two sea days on this cruise, and if I ever go on the Crown or her sisters in the future, I will try and pick an itinerary with as few sea days as possible.

 

 

 

So my opinion on the extra passengers is mixed…it wasn’t quite as bad as I’ve heard people report and it wasn’t quite as good either. In the end, don’t let the extra passengers keep you from these ships…just be prepared for more crowds on sea days, during dinner and first seating of the shows.

 

 

 

One thing that I wasn’t aware of regarding cabins on the Crown, is that the mini suites have smaller balconies than what we experienced on the Sapphire Princess. I’ve never had a mini suite on any other ship, and I know the Sapphire and Diamond are wider than other grand class ships, but I had told my friends and mother in law that their mini suite balconies would be bigger than they actually were. That was a little disappointing, but having a balcony is still nice. Just be aware that the extended balcony cabins on deck 10 have the full size balconies and mini suite balconies are smaller (unless you are on the Sapphire or Diamond…I assume the other Grand class ships all have the smaller mini suite balconies).

 

 

The Crown seemed to be in need maintenance. We saw the crew working on the ship every day, but the ship was just more worn compared to our previous cruises. The balconies were quite rusty and stained (from the walls, to the blue floor mats). The hallways had dings and dents everywhere…the top decks were dirty and rusty in many places…and our friends complained that their mini suite had quite a few minor issues regarding dirt and stains (I didn’t see their room personally).

 

 

Speaking of things needing repair, I think Princess should just remove their miniature golf course since they seem to neglect them so much. On our previous Princess cruises, the mini golf courses were pretty plain and not very nice, but the Crown mini golf course was just awful. I am sure that people who sail on Princess don’t play mini golf much (compared to people who sail on Carnival or RC), but if you are going to have a mini golf course, at least keep it maintained. Not only was the course on the Crown in horrible shape, the golf clubs and balls were pretty bad too. The golf clubs left black marks all over your hands. Since we had kids in our group, we all played golf a couple times. It was not very good but at least it was something to do as a group and it was rarely busy (I assume because it was in such poor shape).

 

 

 

In addition to the awful mini golf, the basketball area was also pretty rough. The equipment was dirty, the volleyball net and basketball nets in disrepair, and the area was just rough looking (I don’t think the sports area problems are exclusive to the Crown as I think the Grand and Sapphire sports areas were also not the best).

 

 

 

Other things that were not working correctly were the cabin air conditioner (at least the first day and a half in our interior room) and the TV’s in the cabins of our group. The TV’s had a constant line of static in the display and every time a light turned on and off, the TV picture would go haywire. In the adult’s only spa pool, the water current machine for swimming laps was broken the entire cruise, and parts of the Thermal suite were broken the entire cruise (more on that later). The outdoor screen for movies under the stars had big squares in it that were shaded and colored differently…like they had replaced some sections and the colors didn’t match the rest of the screen any more. There were plenty of broken or missing tiles around the pool and deck areas (even broken decorative pieces around the spa pool area).

 

 

Let me add that these things didn’t ruin my cruise at all, and I admit that I probably notice these sorts of things more than other people. I know the ship is in operation 24x7 and that it operates in the corrosiveness of salty air and sea water. I just feel like when you see the marketing pictures and commercials for Princess, you never see the rust stained balconies, or awful looking mini golf courses. It’s kind of like seeing an advertisement for a Big Mac at McDonalds and it looks fresh and perfect…but when you actually go order a Big Mac, it’s squished and not put together very well. Princess is my favorite cruise line and I just want them to be better than that.

 

 

I’ve already mentioned that anytime dining was busy and difficult, but in each of our meals in the dining room, there was only one night where we had a good waiter and assistant waiter. The rest of them had no personality and seemed slightly disgruntled. I understand they work very hard, and I don’t expect them to be full of personality, but refilling water glasses, or taking your order in a timely manner should be things they do well. One of the reasons I like Princess so much is that during dinner they don’t make the wait staff stop serving and do a song and dance routine. Dinner on Princess has a more elegant feel than say Carnival. Likewise, there generally isn’t the over the top photo interruptions on Princess like Carnival has (like people dressed up as pirates interrupting your dinner and putting a fake sword to your neck for a photo op like they do on Carnival). However, the delay we had each night at dinner between courses was always way too long. I don’t know if it’s a policy thing or a lack of available servers, but dinner time doesn’t need to be two and a half hours long. We would finally get our appetizers…then wait and wait for the next course, etc. They aren’t any more efficient on Princess it seems than Carnival, and the wait staff on Carnival has to stop and sing every night! Other than the one evening with excellent waiters, dinner was always way too long and drawn out. With the amount of people trying to get into the dining room, you would think they would try and move things along quicker.

 

 

Food was generally good, but as many people on CruiseCritic have pointed out, beef in the main dining room is often hit or miss (usually miss). We generally stay away from the steaks, but a few of us decided to try the NY Strip steak the final evening. Four of us in our group ordered the NY Strip, and they were all very tough and flavorless. I should have avoided it, but thought I would give it a shot. The rest of the food was good though and enjoyable.

 

 

I did see a couple minor things in the buffet that had changed since our last cruise which seem like very slight cutbacks. First, our previous Princess cruises had fresh homemade whipped cream available for the waffles each morning. This was no longer available. The first morning I asked if they had any, and they said no and that was it. On the third day I decided to ask again, and one of the staff members came back 10 minutes later with a bowl of fresh whipped cream! That was very nice and he went above and beyond. I do wish they still had it available like they used to…it is so good! Also, my teenage son loves grapefruits and looks forward to cruise breakfast buffets to get his fill of grapefruits (I think his record is 10 grapefruit halves). The buffet on the Crown did not offer grapefruits like our previous Princess cruises did. We did go to the dining room a couple times for breakfast and they were able to accommodate him there thankfully. Both of these things are very minor, but we definitely noticed the difference.

 

 

I’d like to make one more comment about dinner. When we first boarded the ship and went to the dining room for lunch, the staff member at the front of the dining room told me that if I wanted to make reservations, I had to call the dining room line…he couldn’t do it there for some reason even though he had a computer terminal right there. So I went to the phone by the stairs and called the line. It rang and rang and rang…it never answered. I tried again while waiting for our main course and still no answer. After lunch I went to my cabin and tried multiple times that afternoon…they never answered. Why have a dining reservation line if nobody answers? At one point that afternoon I literally had the phone on speaker for 30 minutes letting it ring and ring while we unpacked our suitcases.

 

 

One of the other reasons I like Princess so much (I know, you probably think I don’t like Princess with all this criticism) is that they have freshwater pools. My family and I love to swim and Princess not only has many swimming pool options, they have clean, clear, fresh water pools! Carnival (for example) often has cloudy, cold, salty pools that always seem over crowded because they usually only have two pool areas. Princess pools are generally great! One of the problems on the Crown was that the pools were all very cold, with the exception of the spa pool. Since the spa pool is adults only, I had to primarily use the other pools with my kids. This was a cooler weather cruise (even though it was unseasonably warm) and I don’t understand why they can’t heat the pools better. On our previous Alaska cruise on the Grand, the pools were generally much warmer than the Crown, although they still could have been warmer. This is a complaint I seem to have after every cruise, regardless of cruise line, but I just wish someone at Princess would get the people on the ships to heat up their pools to a better temperature. Everyone I spoke to who ventured into the cold water complained about this. Princess certainly has the ability to heat them up more than they do, I just wish the Crown would have done this better. But, the pools were always crystal clear and clean.

 

 

One last thing about the pools is that on the Crown, they took away one of the larger aft hot tubs near the Oasis area. Instead of a second hot tub, they put in a small wading pool for very young kids. I have never really seen these small child wading pools used on any cruise and this cruise was no exception. It seems like these two aft hot tubs are very popular on the other ships, and when you add more passengers to a Grand class ship like the Crown, having less hot tub options is probably a step backwards. Maybe the kids pools is used more than I think it is, but it just seems like a poor design.

 

 

And finally, I’d like to come to my biggest frustration we experienced on the Crown. On the first day, we toured the spa area and I wanted to see what the Thermal suite was all about. While the thermal suite didn’t have any sort of hot tub/therapy pool, it still looked pretty nice. My mother in law offered to buy my wife and I the week pass to the thermal suite as a birthday present. We normally wouldn’t have spent the money on the thermal suite ourselves, but we gladly accepted the offer and got the week long pass. I enjoy steam rooms and saunas as much as the next guy, but the thing my wife and I looked forward to the most was the so called “fog shower” and the “tropical shower”. These are two snail like showers with body sprays and overhead misting sprays and regular shower heads. When we used the thermal suite the first day, we noticed that both of these showers were not functioning the way they should. The body spray nozzles worked, but the regular shower heads and “fog”/misters did not work. One of the temperature control knobs was barely attached and kept falling off each time I tried to adjust the temperature (there were other problems with these showers as well). After we were done with the thermal suite the first day, I kindly reported the problem to the spa staff and they said they would get maintenance there to fix it. The second day we went down to the thermal suite, nothing had been fixed, so when we left I again asked if there was any update as to when the showers would be fixed and she said she still had the maintenance request in and would check into it. By the third day, nothing had been fixed, and my wife was not very happy about it (neither was I) and she ended up not going to the thermal suite the rest of the cruise. I went back on the final day of the cruise to use the steam room one last time, hoping the showers had been fixed. Of course nothing had been fixed and I decided I would complain (nicely) to the staff and see if they would be willing to refund either a partial credit or a full credit for the passes. Since I had not paid for the suite myself, the money was really not the issue. I think when you have a fee area like the thermal suite, things should be in working order, especially when I notified them the first two days about the issues. When I explained the situation to the girl at the front desk at the spa entrance, she said that she was sorry, but she couldn’t do anything about it, and that I would have to speak to the manager who had just moments earlier stepped away from the desk, but the girl said she would be back in five minutes. I went ahead and waited for about ten minutes, during which time the girl I spoke to, left the front desk and went down the stairs. She apparently didn’t tell anyone that I was waiting for the manager, and when a few of the ladies from the spa area came around the front desk area, I asked them (nicely) if any of them were the manager who was supposed to be back in five minutes. One lady said she was the manager and responded curtly that she wasn’t aware she was supposed to have been back in five minutes. I explained that the other lady had told me this and that I had been waiting for awhile. (I can't believe the first girl just left without telling anyone I was waiting for the manager). I proceeded to explain the situation about the showers not working. She said I was the first passenger complaint she had heard, even though she had been sitting at the desk earlier in the week when I reported the problem (to another lady) and had followed up with them the second day. She then said something to the effect of this is just something that should be expected when buying a weekly pass to the spa area (really???). I told her that if this had been a “free” area that I wouldn’t have mentioned anything about it, but since my mother in law paid $218 for us to use this area, and that the showers were the thing we looked forward to the most, I felt like I should at least say something to the management. She asked me what I wanted her to do about it, and I told her I really just wanted it fixed, but since this was the last day of the cruise and we wouldn’t be using it any longer, would she be willing to credit us for the cost of the suite. She said that since my wife hadn’t been there the past three days, she would give us a credit only for her for those days (the credit was $46 total). It’s hard to convey the attitude I received from the spa manager, but this lady was very rude to me and not helpful at all. To have reported this the very first day of the cruise and to have it still not working the very last day of the cruise is just not good. I appreciate her making the small effort to credit us $46, but the way she talked to me and treated me was just out of line. I was nice about it and had I been the manager of the spa, I would have been very apologetic to the customer and not rude. She acted very put off that I would complain about this and almost insinuated that I was either making up the problem or that I should just accept it. The bottom line is, this small event really did affect my perception of Princess. I still love many things that Princess does right, but being treated this way soured me quite a bit.

 

 

As to the thermal suite, even if everything was working and functional, I would never again pay for this or recommend anyone buy the pass. It’s just not worth it. Especially when you have free steam rooms and sauna’s in the locker rooms and the great spa pool area with hot tubs available that are free to use. There are better working showers in the lockers rooms and even the little circle showers out by the hot tubs were nice as they had a little seat and you could sit on and have adjustable temperature water rain down on you. I do love the spa pool area on Princess ships.

 

 

I also had a couple of dealings with the same person at the passenger services desk twice on this cruise that was less than satisfactory. Basically, he just wasn’t very helpful and didn’t seem to do anything to go out of his way to help. My issues were minor and not even worth mentioning, but between him, the guy at the dining room the first day, and the spa people, it just seemed like a few of the staff people didn’t really want to be overly helpful. I did get whipped cream that one morning, and that was above and beyond of course :).

 

I still look forward to future Princess cruises, and I hope Princess will fix some of these issues. I know my opinion is just that…an opinion, but I thought I would share some of my experience on the Crown. We still had a good time and I very much enjoy cruising. It was still a great vacation value, despite some of my nit-picky complaints. I do have to say the spa manager thing left a bad vibe with me, but I can’t blame the entire company for one seemingly bad apple. I think we are going to try a Royal Caribbean cruise for our next cruise, but I will be watching Princess cruises and will definitely take many more in the future.

[Cruiserkenn]

Thanks for the thorough review. I would have been disturbed by the spa manager, too. It does seem like the kind of nightmare one has when one has the flu: things didn't work, but the spa manager thought that was perfectly normal. Ugh, so sorry. I hope my flu comments help you smile a bit, rather than making it seem worse. I always call those "flu-ish dreams".

 

Best wishes, and thanks again for the well written review.

 

Oh! Sorry, too, about the grapefruit. This is one of the things I think of when I think of a cruise breakfast. Please tell your son:)

[Craving A Cruise]

Thanks for the detailed review. Very informative! :)

[maggie.1008]

Just came off of the Crown 7 day coastal on the 11th. Had anytime dining. Called the first night for reservation and no one ever answered. I was told they had 4 lines open but still no answer. Wait time was over 45 minutes the first 2 nights. Hardly anyone had a reservation. No beepers so people just stood in line. Buffet was so full there was no where to sit. I had 83 yr old dad with me so this was very frustrating. After handsome tip to the Maitre d we had a nice table for 2 for the rest of the cruise. We loved our ports of call and had a wonderful cruise but beware of anytime dining on the Crown. I have never waited more than 10 minutes for anytime dining on Celebrity.

[molme]

Thanks for your review, very interesting. We sailed on the Crown this past Feb and found some of the same problems you mentioned. The dining room staff was probably the worst we have ever encountered on a ship. We had traditional early and spent about 2 1/2 hrs every evening in the dining room. They were so slow we could take a nap between courses. Usually the dining staff is very friendly and upbeat, but this crew was just the opposite, like they didn't care if you got feed or not. Also the room steward was not the best either. Maybe the Crown needs a good looking at by corporate.

Don't get me wrong these are the few bad things, but there were many good things that made up for them.

We are booked on the Crown for an Alaska sailing in May. Hope things get changed by then.

[suzyed]

I hope Princess reads this review and makes a few changes! I thought about copying the review and sending it to Princess, but didn't know if thats "done"!

 

We are sailing on the Crown on Saturday and I am already feeling a little let down, especially since it will be 28 days!!!! :eek: You can almost put up with anything for 7 days....but 28??? :(

 

In any case, thank you for your very balanced review! :)

[OCruisers]

Thanks so much for your time to do such a detailed report! :)

We also loved the location of Sabatini's and the Adagio Bar on Crown!

LuLu

[Cruiserkenn]

I hope Princess reads this review and makes a few changes! I thought about copying the review and sending it to Princess, but didn't know if thats "done"!

 

We are sailing on the Crown on Saturday and I am already feeling a little let down, especially since it will be 28 days!!!! :eek: You can almost put up with anything for 7 days....but 28??? :(

 

In any case, thank you for your very balanced review! :)

 

Please please please let us know how it goes on the 28 day cruise to the South Pacific.

 

I hope it's great!

 

Bon voyage:)

[gertz]

Wow that took a lot of time and I think you went overboard to be more than fair.

 

We are part of the group who don't like crowded ships and the Crown is one of them. And where do you notice crowds most, dining and shows and anyplace else you might find a line waiting for most anything. Or maybe in Alaska or any place cold. And because of the crowded ships including the two newest ones we have probably cut our cruises by a third maybe a little more. There are lots of ways to spend our money other than cruising.

 

We very well know the importance of Profit. But it would be our wish that Princess would build an old "Crown Princess" and charge more. We would be one of the first in line.:)

[h20vacations]

jbobst did you send this review to Princess as well - the only way to try and get things fixed for the future is to let them know - I am on the Crown in January - I hope things are better, thanks for the review.

[jbobst]

I hope Princess reads this review and makes a few changes! I thought about copying the review and sending it to Princess, but didn't know if thats "done"!

 

We are sailing on the Crown on Saturday and I am already feeling a little let down, especially since it will be 28 days!!!! :eek: You can almost put up with anything for 7 days....but 28??? :(

 

In any case, thank you for your very balanced review! :)

 

Suzyed,

 

Please don't feel let down about your upcoming cruise. You will be on a cruise for 28 days! I am so jealous!!! :)

 

Even though there were things wrong with the Crown in my opinion, you can still have a great time and with such a long cruise, you can hopefully really enjoy the time and relax and not feel rushed. As long as you aren't looking forward to mini golf, your cruise should be just fine :)

 

I really loved the Piazza on the Crown and wish my wife and I had more time to sit and enjoy the music and play cards in there. Even though the Crown is more crowded you can always find quiet places. Even if it's just your cabin, the spa pool, or Adagio's, there are always places to get away from it all.

 

Hopefully for your 28 day cruise, you can find a good arrangement for dinner and mix it up with specialty restaurants and the buffet so you don't have to spend so long at dinner each night.

 

I feel bad my review might have caused you some let down...I would be very happy to be back on the Crown for 28 days and I really hope you will have a great time!

[jbobst]

jbobst did you send this review to Princess as well - the only way to try and get things fixed for the future is to let them know - I am on the Crown in January - I hope things are better, thanks for the review.

 

I didn't send them my whole review, but I did fill out the online surveys for my wife and I. I pretty much told them most of the things I wrote in this review, with less words of course (they limit you on their survey to 1000 words).

 

I will check on their facebook page and see if there is a way to send this to them. Although, I am sure there is a customer service email address somewhere on their main website.

 

Thanks!

[oldmanonthesea]

The Spa staff are not Princess employees. You should have spoken to the Hotel Manager.

Edited October 13, 2014 by oldmanonthesea

[sunshine nana]

Thank-you for the detailed review and the warning about checking the shower area before paying for a week-long pass. As far as having to tip the maitrie 'd to get a good table, I started a thread about that on the Island Panama Canal cruise in Feb. of 13. Most everyone who wrote did not like having to do that because no one would answer the phone.

By comparison, we just returned from Celebrity Silhoutte and the maître 'd very kindly changed our early seating table from the middle of the dining room to a wonderful window table with no tip! Our wait staff was wonderful and most nights had us finished with dessert by 7:15 so we could catch most of the first show.

[jbobst]

The Spa staff are not Princess employees. You should have spoken to the Hotel Manager.

 

I actually had every intention to speak to someone on the Hotel services side (I doubt I could actually speak to the manager though). The problem was, after the encounter with the spa manager, I had to meet my family for dinner right away. I was planning on going to passenger services after dinner, but I have a problem with my inner ear and dizzyness on occasion (Ménière's disease) and it flared up during dinner and I had to go back to my room and lay down for the rest of the evening. Otherwise, I would have tried to contact them.

[JimmyVWine]

I hope Princess reads this review and makes a few changes! I thought about copying the review and sending it to Princess, but didn't know if thats "done"!

 

We are sailing on the Crown on Saturday and I am already feeling a little let down, especially since it will be 28 days!!!! :eek: You can almost put up with anything for 7 days....but 28??? :(

 

In any case, thank you for your very balanced review! :)

Don't worry. Whether or not you notice or experience any of these negatives is really a crap shoot. You might. You might not. The Crown is beautifully designed. Aside from the additional passenger deck, I think it is the best designed ship (even though it isn't my overall favorite.) I love the placement of Adagio, Sabatini's, The Crown Grill and the Wheelhouse. Ships with this footprint have the best layout in the Grand Class. And I love that the International Cafe seamlessly fits into the Piazza. And I enjoy the aft pool and hot tubs. There are a lot of positives. We just have to remember that at 8.5 years old, it is no longer "new". But if you do encounter indifferent service, by all means speak up. 28 days is too long to endure poor service.

[jbobst]

Don't worry. Whether or not you notice or experience any of these negatives is really a crap shoot. You might. You might not. The Crown is beautifully designed. Aside from the additional passenger deck, I think it is the best designed ship (even though it isn't my overall favorite.) I love the placement of Adagio, Sabatini's, The Crown Grill and the Wheelhouse. Ships with this footprint have the best layout in the Grand Class. And I love that the International Cafe seamlessly fits into the Piazza. And I enjoy the aft pool and hot tubs. There are a lot of positives. We just have to remember that at 8.5 years old, it is no longer "new". But if you do encounter indifferent service, by all means speak up. 28 days is too long to endure poor service.

 

JimmyV said it perfectly. I would agree that this ship is the best designed (with the exception of the extra passenger deck and maybe the exclusion of the second hot tub in the Oasis area). The extra passengers is a pretty big point though and if the crew is (generally) not providing the level of service they should, that can be tough. You should have a great 28 days though.

[RetiredNTraveling]

I hope Princess reads this review and makes a few changes! I thought about copying the review and sending it to Princess, but didn't know if thats "done"!

 

We are sailing on the Crown on Saturday and I am already feeling a little let down, especially since it will be 28 days!!!! :eek: You can almost put up with anything for 7 days....but 28??? :(

 

In any case, thank you for your very balanced review! :)

 

Have a great cruise and like "CruisinRabbit" says, Please post a review! After all what happens on one cruise doesn't mean it will on yours. We, too, are jealous because we have a year to wait for our "South Seas Cruise".

Edited October 13, 2014 by RetiredNTraveling

[Cruiserkenn]

I didn't send them my whole review, but I did fill out the online surveys for my wife and I. I pretty much told them most of the things I wrote in this review, with less words of course (they limit you on their survey to 1000 words).

 

I will check on their facebook page and see if there is a way to send this to them. Although, I am sure there is a customer service email address somewhere on their main website.

 

Thanks!

 

Great! Thanks for doing your online surveys. This is an effective thing to do.

 

Excellent.

[TERESAh]

Thanks for your review. We also had problems with a large group at anytime dining; the same as you, waiting at least 30 minutes between courses. On our cruise coming up we have requested the 6 o'clock dining. This is really too early for us and the 8:15 is too late, but we get better service on set dining than the anytime.

[beanersts]

I agree about the miniature golf area needs to be removed and all of the star deck needs some work. Anytime does not seem to work for big groups, but for two people we really enjoyed the anytime.

 

Crown is getting a overhaul next year correct? Hopefully they get rid of those little round table that I kept stubbing my toe on.

[cruis247g]

Thank you so much for your review.

 

Great service doesn't cost a cruise line a lot of extra money, but it can build tremendous passenger loyalty. I wish that your service had been consistently good.

 

Although we like the Crown very much, we have had many problems with Anytime dining on it. My favorite story of less than stellar dining service was when my DH and I, adults who were dining without our children, were seated at a "children's" table :rolleyes:. Yes, the parents were at the adjacent table, while we were seated at a table with their loud and unruly children (yelling, throwing rolls to each other, etc). We were the only guests at the table who were over 12 years old!! We asked to be moved and when that didn't happen, we just left the dining room. In retrospect, I find it quite humorous, but it is definitely not an example of good service.

[wizard-of-roz]

We got off the Crown on September 27th, right before your cruise.

 

Everyone's experience is different to some degree and alike in other degrees. On a scale of 1-10, I think my Crown cruise experience was a 9.

 

I found the staff to be some of the best we've had in over 24 cruises. They were solicitous, helpful and very anxious to please. The elevators onboard the Crown are the slowest I've ever experienced on any cruise. You finally learn to just get on one, whether it's going in your direction or not, eventually it will go where you want to go and it's so less frustrating than waiting in a crowded hallway!

 

Planning is very important onboard a cruise. Any cruise! Try to get to where you're going at least a half hour earlier than you should. You will have to wait but you won't have to wait in a long line. This goes for EVERYTHING, except dinner.......

 

.......When going to dinner [if you have early dining] DO NOT GET TO THE DINING ROOM BEFORE 6:00pm. You will be forced to wait in the most crowded/low ceiling hallway. It's awful. They will NOT open the doors until 6:00pm......even if your dining time says 5:45. At 6:00pm you will be welcomed in and be immediately seated. Our dining staff was wonderful; attentive and pleasant., once we got the hang of the routine!

 

We had a mini-suite [remember, the end mini-suites have HUGE veranda's that practically wrap-around the aft of the ship.] I ALWAYS book the end mini's, if I can. The rest of them are definitely small but adequate.

 

The Hotel Manager is ALWAYS the go-to person if you feel you're being treated unfairly. ;) Just like the Matre d' is the go-to person in the dining room. NEVER let anything that bothers you go unattended to. It makes for a much better cruising experience if you are fair and let them know of your wishes. They really want you to be happy.

 

I liked the Crown but loved the Sapphire better. The Crown's a big girl and requires a patient and gentle attitude to really appreciate her!

Edited October 13, 2014 by wizard-of-roz

[wizard-of-roz]

....And, you MUST go to the Afternoon Tea, more than just once and do try the English Pub lunch, in the Wheelhouse at least once......So much to do and so many things to try. Be brave, be aware and most of all be patient......it's a cruise not a marathon!

 

HAVE FUN! ♥

[JimmyVWine]

We had a mini-suite [remember, the end mini-suites have HUGE veranda's that practically wrap-around the aft of the ship.] I ALWAYS book the end mini's, if I can. The rest of them are definitely small but adequate.

 

??? The Mini-Suite balconies are 49 sq ft, which is larger than any other balconies other than those on Caribe Deck. If you consider 49 sq ft to be "small", don't ever book a cruise on Royal or Regal.