Crown Princess Experience

[Jldevlin]

We were on the Crown in early December and had a great time. But this was the first cruise ever that I had to ask a lady on her balcony to turn her music down ..she did but turned it up later. And a couple thought the balcony was a great place to have a fight .. he hates her family by the way...and the smell of pot was in the air quite often. I dont have a problem with it at all but it surprised me that they would bring it on board. I love Princess but it felt like a cheap Carnival cruise. But I love Carnival also .. I just dont want to pay Princess pricing to get a Carnival feel.

[badger1829]

Sorry you had a disappointing cruise ... quite the opposite of ours just the previous week. There were more younger passengers on our cruise as well and it was obvious that they sold a LOT of alcohol onboard just by going into the casino where this younger crowd was quite boisterous. When it got to be a bit too loud for us, we simply found something else to do but I do empathize with you that the drunks were running through the hallways using foul language and even smoking pot ruining what should have been a fabulous vacation. I think my experience wouldn't have been so positive with that going on. I understand there was a passenger on our cruise that was asked to debark in Mazatlan to be arrested for smoking marijuana....I don't know the whole story on that, though. Other than that and the man trying to jump over the railing from deck to deck in the atrium, the demographics were actually to our liking. Our room was nice and quiet and except for those occasional passengers that chose to hold their conversations in the stateroom hallways.

The rule of thumb that I usually go by is the cheaper priced cruises and those during the holidays that are under 2 weeks and when school is out really brings out a completely different demographic. If your next cruise is planned during spring break, I would imagine you could encounter exactly the same type of experience...especially if it is a 7 night cruise.

I have a dear friend that is a priest and he says never again on Princess. He was also irritated that Princess would not give him a venue to say mass -- even though he was a paying customer and he volunteered to perform the Catholic services for no compensation whatsoever. I was so pleasantly surprised when they actually played a fair amount of Christian Christmas music while we were onboard.

Although there is no unringing the bell now, I can tell you that we find September to be a month where you probably won't experience all that undesirable behavior. Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a relaxing and pleasant cruise experience. I have never had that kind of wild and drunken behavior on Celebrity but funny you mention HAL ...we did a back to back on them once and it was party central!!

Thanks for your thoughts. Agreed about the 7 day cruises over the holidays. We usually do Hawaii which is 15 days and have never had any issues. Our overall impression is that Princess has gone down markedly in the last few years and is just another Carnival cruise that costs more. Just seriously disappointed...

[badger1829]

We were on the Crown in early December and had a great time. But this was the first cruise ever that I had to ask a lady on her balcony to turn her music down ..she did but turned it up later. And a couple thought the balcony was a great place to have a fight .. he hates her family by the way...and the smell of pot was in the air quite often. I dont have a problem with it at all but it surprised me that they would bring it on board. I love Princess but it felt like a cheap Carnival cruise. But I love Carnival also .. I just dont want to pay Princess pricing to get a Carnival feel.

Agreed that Princess now feels like a cheap Carnival cruise...so disappointed and it really is a shame

[swedish weave]

I see the complaints about the passengers activities on the ship, but none of the posts make references to these activities being reported to security.

 

Were they ???

[Jldevlin]

I see the complaints about the passengers activities on the ship, but none of the posts make references to these activities being reported to security.

 

Were they ???

 

The only one I would have reported was the music on the balcony. After she turned it back up later we were headed for dinner and I was not going to bother then . Had it been back up at night I really would have. The pot smoke is hard to pin down on who is doing the smoking .. I have called security only once when small kids were left in the cabin alone at night and it sounded like they were doing major renovations in the room. Security handled it well and I would not hesitate to call if I thought it was an issue they could fix.

[mnjcruiser]

Thanks for your great review! I will be sailing the Crown to Alaska in August and booked an obstructed view on Emerald deck. The cruise consultant told me it had little to no obstruction. What room assignment did you get? Just wondering if it's the same room.

[Cruise Raider]

I think that selfish inconsiderate passengers in some numbers end up on every cruise line....but you are right, a lot of times on Carnival. The cruise we were on also could have gone that direction but thought security did a good job in keeping it at bay on this sailing. It is rather ironic that the only horrible cruise I had happened to be on the Crown when she first joined the Princess fleet. I saw huge improvements in her since that time....that was a time when I was ready to say bye bye to Princess. I think their food went far downhill for sometime but is now back up to their excellent standards. I do think their check in wait times are ridiculous, though....but have experienced that on other lines as well. I actually think both of the fabulous lunch when we boarded as well as the long wait times were due to the Princess employee appreciation luncheon that was held onboard the first day. We were a little concerned when we were instructed by the drill master to go sit down over there and wait....and wait we did. But, that lunch just started the cruise on the right foot for us and all our woes were forgotten. I had to laugh a bit at the fire drill when we hadn't even set sail yet and was next to a woman that stated it was her first and last Princess cruise. Why?? I asked....she said because they didn't bring her any lemon to go with her crab cake during lunch. This seemed so petty to me and an attitude that would assuredly ruin her cruise before she even set sail ... much unlike the valid complaints and concerns that you had. Again, so sorry you were disappointed. I would truly have felt the much same if I experienced what you did.

[Terre]

We were on the Crown in early December and had a great time. But this was the first cruise ever that I had to ask a lady on her balcony to turn her music down ..she did but turned it up later. And a couple thought the balcony was a great place to have a fight .. he hates her family by the way...and the smell of pot was in the air quite often. I dont have a problem with it at all but it surprised me that they would bring it on board. I love Princess but it felt like a cheap Carnival cruise. But I love Carnival also .. I just dont want to pay Princess pricing to get a Carnival feel.

 

We've never experienced any of this on any of our Carnival cruises, or any other cruise for that matter. We have seen Carnival security escort some passengers off the ship in the past who had been smoking a little weed.

[badger1829]

I see the complaints about the passengers activities on the ship, but none of the posts make references to these activities being reported to security.

 

Were they ???

If you read my original post, I state that that the activities were reported. I have reposted it below

 

Sadly, our experience on Crown 12/20/14 was not one we care to repeat. Captain Laws was fabulous and our dining room servers, Arnold T and Jeffrey in the Botticelli dining room were spectacular but that is where it ends. We are platinum on Princess, nearing Elite but doubt that will happen. If we didn't know we were on Princess, we would have sworn it was a cheap Carnival booze cruise. Dining room attire was torn t-shirts, short shorts and flip flops, carrying cans of beer. We were mid ship Caribe deck and parties in the halls, balconies and blaring music most nights was ridiculous. Yes, we were reported it, but nothing done. Just love getting up in the morning to a hallway of beer cans.

We also just loved the group of young men who reeked of marijuana and continually yelled "****faced is the way to heaven, love Princess!" And then bragged to anyone that they smuggled over 100 tequila jello shots on board in Mazatlan.

Room steward was non-existent. Service in the bars and lounges was poor if you could ever find anyone to help you.

However, the most offensive experience was learning there was no Priest or Rabbi on board and no religious Christmas offerings at all. Our friends asked the future cruise director what the problem was, and the FCD replied that it was a waste of money to give a free cabin to clergy when they could get money from paying passengers. He also stated that if Christians were upset they could probably find something on one of the tv channels in their staterooms and that should make them happy. He also shared that there would no longer be any clergy onboard at Christmas or Easter and if the Princess website still stated that (it does), he would get it fixed.

We spoke to the Customer Service Director who shared he was quite shocked to learn that there was no clergy onboard for Christmas but he would find out why.....we never heard back.

We are set to sail on Royal this spring but will probably cancel. We will stay with HAL and Celebrity, where they seem to still value passengers.

[Zuki]

We were on the Dec 13th Crown 'adventure'. This was our first Princess cruise and we absolutely loved it. The vibe was high energy, the atrium was always active and people watching was fabulous! We met so many wonderful people. Watching the Broncos on MUTS was so much fun.

 

Yes there were a number of "episodes" on board. We watched the late comers in PV and Mazatlan and the drama that created. The cheering on Port side as we left Cabo and the Dolphins and Whales putting on a show. The ship horn going off for no apparent reason during this "show". When we went on the Behind the Scenes Tour, they told us the horn was broken and they couldn't get it to turn off. We thought they were trying to alert people to the Whale show!

 

I was one of the O Negative blood donors. Met some great people while we waited to donate. Amazing how many people came down and had to be turned away. But the medical staff were so professional and even this was an event to remember. And note to self: carry your Blood Donor Card.

 

3400+ people in any situation are going to have drama. The ship is a moving hotel and we loved every minute of it.

 

Even the chaotic (IMO) disembarkment turned into an adventure.

 

Then at the airport waiting to check in, a woman turns around and starts talking to us about how there were few smoking areas. She says to my (I quit smoking) husband, "didn't you find it annoying?" Me: "Smoking??? you were smoking?"

 

See... another "episode" begins on the way home.

[JF - retired RRT]

Thanks for your great review! I will be sailing the Crown to Alaska in August and booked an obstructed view on Emerald deck. The cruise consultant told me it had little to no obstruction. What room assignment did you get? Just wondering if it's the same room.

If you want to see the view from your cabin, look here: https://sites.google.com/site/cabinviewbyrenmar/crown-princess

just click on the section where your cabin is located and scroll down:)

[RickEk]

Again, it always amazes me that folks can be on the same cruise and have very different experiences. I was on the 12/13 cruise. It was fabulous in most every way possible. We had a great steward, great junior waiter (waiter was okay)... bar staff was unbelievably friendly. Crew was always smiling. No hint of noro.

 

As for clergy, from what I understand, they no longer bring clergy aboard. If someone, who has credentials, asked to perform religious ceremonies, I believe they would accommodate them. As an agnostic bordering on secular humanism, I could care less, but it was nice that they had a broad range of Christmas carols playing. It brought back fond memories of childhood...

[Cruise Raider]

If you want to see the view from your cabin, look here: https://sites.google.com/site/cabinviewbyrenmar/crown-princess

just click on the section where your cabin is located and scroll down:)

 

I second this....I use it all the time. I help a lot of friends book cruises and so am constantly checking this reference. Booking 2 different cruises today as a matter of fact. I am not a TA or anything like that but do ask if I can put my friends that haven't sailed with princess before in for referral credits.

While we never snub a balcony, we try to save money by using this guide. The TA on the phone yesterday for a B2B on the Crown that I was booking tried to tell me that E407 was available on both sailings. May as well get an inside for that much obstruction.....invaluable tool!!

Celebrity has a similar one for the S-class ships but with comments rather than pictures.

[RC Dancers]

We are currently waiting to disembark after a nice time on the Crown. We had very good weather and calm seas. Terrific crew. New CD seemed to phone in this Cruise. He had a good staff.

 

This is our second Princess trip. We liked the Sapphire better, but the Crown was acceptable.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

We are currently waiting to disembark after a nice time on the Crown. We had very good weather and calm seas. Terrific crew. New CD seemed to phone in this Cruise. He had a good staff.

 

This is our second Princess trip. We liked the Sapphire better, but the Crown was acceptable.

 

How was the Noro situation on your cruise? As you may know, the pax boarding today have been given a 9PM or so sailing time due to extra sanitation (or so they have been told). I am booked later in the month, so am following this.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Ryndam2002

[laughing husky]

I love the Crown.....and Captain Lawes runs a tight ship, but the crew seems to really like him...The food was some of the best I have seen on Princess. Going again in a couple of weeks.....wonder if they will give me a suite upgrade.....I doubt it, but I don;t care....I picked the cabin that I love...

[Cruise Raider]

How was the Noro situation on your cruise? As you may know, the pax boarding today have been given a 9PM or so sailing time due to extra sanitation (or so they have been told). I am booked later in the month, so am following this.

 

I just read that they are still battling this issue by those on this current sailing. Wow.....ours was noro free from what I could see. Hope you encounter the same great time we did.