Observations on my recent Crown cruise 4/25 - 5/2

[LabGuy64]

My wife and I are just off the Crown before it went into dry dock and I had some observations on the experiance. I had not been on a princess cruise in many years and looked forward to comparing my cruising memories with the way princess is operating today.

 

I want to start off by saying we had a very good time overall. the wife and I both needed a bit of decompression time from work and it was money well spent.

 

As to the Ship....on our last Princess cruise we were on the Dawn Princess on her 2nd cruise so this tells you how long it has been (1997).

We were booked then in the Sorento suite so, even though Dawn is much smaller that Crown, the suites are fairly comparable in size (port of spain aft owners suite on Crown). I actually remember the Dawns suite as being the much nicer of the two with the exception being that the bathroom had a bigger bathtub on the Crown. the room was more attractive on the Dawn to my tastes...the Crown seemd dull....fairly comfortable except for the couch which was like a rock to sit on. bed was comfortable though which was a welcome surprize as many have commented on the hard mattress situation on Princess ships. Common areas were in good condition.

 

The things we did take issue with were first crew training. At the begining as we were still a bit unfamiliar with the layout we asked the crew for information on the location of specific places on the ship and almost every question resulted in the crew member having to ask one or more other people for the answers. Also, specifically our room steward was in need of training in my opinion. when we boarded we were told the muster drill was to be at 4:00pm but, our steward insisted it would be at 3:15pm....so we headed down at 3:15 only to be told (along with I guess 20-30 or so others that the drill was actually at 4:00) there were several other things such as we requested menus for the MDR each day be brought to the room....he only brought it the day after we asked him to. An orange in our fruit bowl completly covered with mold on the underside.

 

On the day before disembarkation we were trying to pack so as to have our luggage outside before dinner but he had not brought the laundry from the previous day, we had to make a few calls to finally get it at like 6:45pm so, we had to order room service rather than going to the MDR as was our plan. Overall, he just did not put himself out at all to let us know what he was available to do...and I expect a bit of extra effort when I am booked into an Owners suite. I will say he was friendly...and that on the few occasions when we asked for something he did what we requested in a timely manner.

 

We did not eat often in the MDR but the food was pretty good.....the specialty restaurants were good except the porterhouse in the Crown grill on the first night was very tough. Sabatini's was good for breakfast and the food was good at dinner ( slow service at dinner with a nearly empty dining room )

 

The brightest spot on the cruise was the Chefs table dinner the Maiter d was very nice and funny as well...he and the head chef had a very funny banter and the dinner was very good......an excellent experiance.

 

Sanctuary was good....worth the 40.00 per day. and my wife liked her spa treatments very much and loved the thermal spa.

 

We only saw one show....a slight of hand magician they we both thought was just fair at best. but others we spoke to said the musical shows were good.

 

Now, there was only one Real disappointment and that was one tour. Astoria.....OH MY GOD....what a bunch of amatures....DO NOT DO THE ASTORIA TOURS!!! they were an our late getting us on the school buss to start.....(yes elementary school bus) the bus was like 30yrs old. No AC, no suspension. jolts from EVERY slight bump or pothole and a very rough ride over all....they do mention it is a school bus however, I had assumed it would be a newer type with at least a smooth ride. The tour guide (Mary Jo) specifically said not to ask her questions.....and the few times she did point out things, what she said did not sound right....so I started googling the things she commented on .....everything was incorrect. We were supposed to go the two towns to shop, the first Cannon beach was nice....some art galleries tourist shops. The second was Seaside. we were taken to the convention center parking lot and told we had 15 minutes to look around......the tour description said we would be met by someone from the Chamber of Commerce....told about shopping and things to see and do....walk the board walk etc....lol....nothing like that happened. People complained about the short stop so......they added another 18 minutes of sitting in the buss as there were no shops near by other than at the carousel mall which were mostly closed and nothing of any interest.

 

It was interesting that the tour guide said that the carousel was of interest because it was very old and that there were few like it left in the united states....actually it was very small...and built new in 1990 per the carousel mall website.

 

From my post you might think we had a bad time but we did not. Other than the Astoria tour anything else was a minor disappointment in an otherwise very nice cruise

[elliair]

I found your review amusing. We took a road trip to Oregon to see the sights. This is the only way to sight see and take your time. The school bus description made me laugh!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review....unacceptable service and follow-up by Stewart!

 

Who was your CD?

 

I would hope that you gave your comments on service and other issues where it would have been handled right away. And or at least on your survey.

 

The excursions sounded like a joke and once again should be related to the excursion mgr and on the survey. There is a certain standard/requirements expected when these companies sign a contract with Princess.

[caribill]

Your issues with the Astoria tour should have been reported to the tour desk after the tour as you should have been given at least a partial refund.

 

If you did not do this, a letter to Princess is in order describing what you said here about the tour.

[bcnvcanada]

We too were in a suite aft on the Crown on this cruise. A couple of things to note. First the drill first day, was scheduled for 3:15, but do to late arrivals a flight from Canada, about 70 pax would miss it so captain, made a change to 4:00pm. Ship wide anouncement made at 3:00pm. As to where things are located, when you check in you are given a map of the ship. The crown grill was a disapointment as several items listed on the menu were not avalible. Service was good. Sabatini's for breakfast was

a waste, as their coffee machine expresso was not working. Service was slow. We went once. The layout of the suite was okay, our cabin steward was outstanding. Our landry came back daily before 4:00pm.

We recieved daily menu from the MDR night before. Things we found that were off, the room could have used a deeper cleaning. As for Astoria, we did this on our own, did for pubs, tasting a fleet in each. Easy walk from the ship. We also felt that they night life was dull and the acts old.

But the cruise had an overnight in SanFrancisco and late night in Victoria, which was wonderful. Overall a good cruise. Most travel was in the 800.

Cut off for the most traveled party was 260. Understand that it was a cruise with a lot of first time cruisers.

[Coral]

 

As to the Ship....on our last Princess cruise we were on the Dawn Princess on her 2nd cruise so this tells you how long it has been (1997).

 

I miss the Dawn Princess...... Love that class of ship!

[vickie_bernie]

we too were on that ship for this voyage.

 

Ironically our issues were the opposite of yours.

 

our bed was horrible, no pillow top but steward was able to get us a foamy to add to it which did help a bit.

 

our steward was amazing and ironically this was only her second voyage servicing public cabins (before she cleaned officer cabins) and had been promoted.

 

Out sheets/duvet/pillow cases were changed mid way thru the sailing.

 

We found the food to be a little less than other sailings, and even from our sailing with the Crown just last Sept.

 

Crew were amazing this voyage and you could see they were ver excited about getting two weeks in dry dock.

 

Kelvin Joy was the Cruise Director.

 

Overall it was a good cruise and loved the itinerary especially the two days in San Francisco and all day in Victoria. Wrote on my survey that I would love to see Princess do this itinerary more often. Maybe 7 days up to Vancouver 7 days back to LA. Meets all the regulations and give people on the West Coast another option.

 

Astoria, we didn't do a tour but did go for a long walk and a great meal. Friends did a wine tasting tour and they thought it was long and drawn out and the guy talked way too much. Very little wine too.....

 

Thanks for posting your comments.

[LabGuy64]

The CD was Kelvin Joy....my wife is filling out the after cruise surveys, we lodged a complaint with at the excursion desk right after the tour, they ended up refunding 25% of the Astoria tour price....but considering what they did...which was basically just bus us out to a shopping area the price of 180.00 was pretty excessive....but live and learn....we had a great time over all....and are going to plan a little 4 day at the end of the year...but for anyone doing a costal with a stop in Astoria.....save your money..if you want to go out rent a car.....it seemed all the tours were on a school bus so I assume the same group is running it.....I did think it was funny that the driver was feeling pressed for time as she literally had to go pick up kids from school

 

 

Thanks for the review....unacceptable service and follow-up by Stewart!

 

Who was your CD?

 

I would hope that you gave your comments on service and other issues where it would have been handled right away. And or at least on your survey.

 

The excursions sounded like a joke and once again should be related to the excursion mgr and on the survey. There is a certain standard/requirements expected when these companies sign a contract with Princess.

[LabGuy64]

The announcement was actually at about 3:20.....we were in the fusion lounge when it was broadcast. Obviously if the people at embarkation knew that the muster drill was pushed back they could have made the announcment earlier...plus I expect a good steward to be up on what is happening on the hip...especially the ones handling the suites. yes, we were given a map and i suppose we should have carfully studied it as soon as we walked on board......on the other hand....the crew should know where things are located on their ship. Our second meal at Crown grill was better...anf there was another person out second night that got the porterhouse that was VERY happy with it..."it was funny watching him" I thought with the exception of the broken expresso machine (they should have mentioned it was broken) and the 20 minute wait for the expresso that it was good food wise.

You were a bit luckier with your steward....I agree with the nightlife for what I saw...I spent a lot of time in the casino and that was good. And the other stops were great...no complaints. As I said ...overall an enjoyable time

 

 

We too were in a suite aft on the Crown on this cruise. A couple of things to note. First the drill first day, was scheduled for 3:15, but do to late arrivals a flight from Canada, about 70 pax would miss it so captain, made a change to 4:00pm. Ship wide anouncement made at 3:00pm. As to where things are located, when you check in you are given a map of the ship. The crown grill was a disapointment as several items listed on the menu were not avalible. Service was good. Sabatini's for breakfast was

a waste, as their coffee machine expresso was not working. Service was slow. We went once. The layout of the suite was okay, our cabin steward was outstanding. Our landry came back daily before 4:00pm.

We recieved daily menu from the MDR night before. Things we found that were off, the room could have used a deeper cleaning. As for Astoria, we did this on our own, did for pubs, tasting a fleet in each. Easy walk from the ship. We also felt that they night life was dull and the acts old.

But the cruise had an overnight in SanFrancisco and late night in Victoria, which was wonderful. Overall a good cruise. Most travel was in the 800.

Cut off for the most traveled party was 260. Understand that it was a cruise with a lot of first time cruisers.

[LabGuy64]

I guess this is for those that book Suites.....but, do you feel (as I do) that Princess should give priority on disembarkation at the ports...and prefered seating for shows to suite passengers? I just feel that since We paid almost 1000.00 per day we should have had a few more perks. And, this kind of thing doesn't even cost Princess anything.

[OCruisers]

I miss the Dawn Princess...... Love that class of ship!

 

Hear you! We also miss Dawn! :(

What a perfect sized ship ... not too big and not too small!

 

LuLu

[MJSailors]

I guess this is for those that book Suites.....but, do you feel (as I do) that Princess should give priority on disembarkation at the ports...and prefered seating for shows to suite passengers? I just feel that since We paid almost 1000.00 per day we should have had a few more perks. And, this kind of thing doesn't even cost Princess anything.

 

It is my understanding that a perk for suite passengers is priority disembarkation when tendering into a port.

Otherwise,passengers leave the ship while docked at a pier on their own schedule.

As to seating for shows, it seems fair to keep all seating open to all passengers on a first come ,first serve basis.

Granted, suite passengers pay a premium fare.

However, if I choose to book a suite, I do so to enjoy more space in the cabin and on the balcony for DH and myself.Spending the extra money is our own choice.

We do not feel that our own comfort should come to us because other passengers are inconvenienced.

Whatever perks Princess offers is secondary to us.

What you are suggesting in this post is reminiscent of the classification system employed by Cunard.

I am not certain of what the present policy is, but for years on Cunard ships, passengers were assigned MDR venues according to level of the booked cabin.

I also recall that on the QM2, certain areas of the ship were restricted to passengers booked in upper cabin categories. It is/was a bit of an elite system that goes back to the days of the class system on ocean liners that included steerage, second class and first class levels.

Also...Astoria is really a small coastal town in Oregon.

Pleasant for walking around, not for extensive ship excursions-IMHO.

[caribill]

I guess this is for those that book Suites.....but, do you feel (as I do) that Princess should give priority on disembarkation at the ports...and prefered seating for shows to suite passengers? I just feel that since We paid almost 1000.00 per day we should have had a few more perks. And, this kind of thing doesn't even cost Princess anything.

 

And exactly where would this preferred seating area be?

 

I bet if you asked 5 suite passengers where they would prefer to sit in the Princess Theater you would get 5 different answers.

 

RCCL does have a reserved area in their main theater for suite passengers, but in my opinion it is not an area I would want to sit in.

[LabGuy64]

Seriously?

 

You pick out some good seats ( and it's not that subjective, seats are in theaters are sold based on location all the time ) and make them available to the Suite passengers.....if they would rather sit somewhere else they can stand in line. the point is to make them available without having to wait in line. Let me ask you.....would you take the reserved seats or wait in line hoping to get something better.....and maybe not getting a seat at all?

 

 

And exactly where would this preferred seating area be?

 

I bet if you asked 5 suite passengers where they would prefer to sit in the Princess Theater you would get 5 different answers.

 

RCCL does have a reserved area in their main theater for suite passengers, but in my opinion it is not an area I would want to sit in.

[caribill]

Seriously?

 

You pick out some good seats ( and it's not that subjective, seats are in theaters are sold based on location all the time ) and make them available to the Suite passengers.....

 

Actually it is that subjective. If you enter the Princess theater 30 minutes before a performance, you will see people scattered all over the place, each person is in a seat they consider to be a good one.

 

They all paid the same price for the show ($0) and did not all pick the same great seating area to be in.

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

My wife and I are just off the Crown before it went into dry dock and I had some observations on the experiance. I had not been on a princess cruise in many years and looked forward to comparing my cruising memories with the way princess is operating today.

 

I want to start off by saying we had a very good time overall. the wife and I both needed a bit of decompression time from work and it was money well spent.

 

As to the Ship....on our last Princess cruise we were on the Dawn Princess on her 2nd cruise so this tells you how long it has been (1997).

We were booked then in the Sorento suite so, even though Dawn is much smaller that Crown, the suites are fairly comparable in size (port of spain aft owners suite on Crown). I actually remember the Dawns suite as being the much nicer of the two with the exception being that the bathroom had a bigger bathtub on the Crown. the room was more attractive on the Dawn to my tastes...the Crown seemd dull....fairly comfortable except for the couch which was like a rock to sit on. bed was comfortable though which was a welcome surprize as many have commented on the hard mattress situation on Princess ships. Common areas were in good condition.

 

The things we did take issue with were first crew training. At the begining as we were still a bit unfamiliar with the layout we asked the crew for information on the location of specific places on the ship and almost every question resulted in the crew member having to ask one or more other people for the answers. Also, specifically our room steward was in need of training in my opinion. when we boarded we were told the muster drill was to be at 4:00pm but, our steward insisted it would be at 3:15pm....so we headed down at 3:15 only to be told (along with I guess 20-30 or so others that the drill was actually at 4:00) there were several other things such as we requested menus for the MDR each day be brought to the room....he only brought it the day after we asked him to. An orange in our fruit bowl completly covered with mold on the underside.

 

On the day before disembarkation we were trying to pack so as to have our luggage outside before dinner but he had not brought the laundry from the previous day, we had to make a few calls to finally get it at like 6:45pm so, we had to order room service rather than going to the MDR as was our plan. Overall, he just did not put himself out at all to let us know what he was available to do...and I expect a bit of extra effort when I am booked into an Owners suite. I will say he was friendly...and that on the few occasions when we asked for something he did what we requested in a timely manner.

 

We did not eat often in the MDR but the food was pretty good.....the specialty restaurants were good except the porterhouse in the Crown grill on the first night was very tough. Sabatini's was good for breakfast and the food was good at dinner ( slow service at dinner with a nearly empty dining room )

 

The brightest spot on the cruise was the Chefs table dinner the Maiter d was very nice and funny as well...he and the head chef had a very funny banter and the dinner was very good......an excellent experiance.

 

Sanctuary was good....worth the 40.00 per day. and my wife liked her spa treatments very much and loved the thermal spa.

 

We only saw one show....a slight of hand magician they we both thought was just fair at best. but others we spoke to said the musical shows were good.

 

Now, there was only one Real disappointment and that was one tour. Astoria.....OH MY GOD....what a bunch of amatures....DO NOT DO THE ASTORIA TOURS!!! they were an our late getting us on the school buss to start.....(yes elementary school bus) the bus was like 30yrs old. No AC, no suspension. jolts from EVERY slight bump or pothole and a very rough ride over all....they do mention it is a school bus however, I had assumed it would be a newer type with at least a smooth ride. The tour guide (Mary Jo) specifically said not to ask her questions.....and the few times she did point out things, what she said did not sound right....so I started googling the things she commented on .....everything was incorrect. We were supposed to go the two towns to shop, the first Cannon beach was nice....some art galleries tourist shops. The second was Seaside. we were taken to the convention center parking lot and told we had 15 minutes to look around......the tour description said we would be met by someone from the Chamber of Commerce....told about shopping and things to see and do....walk the board walk etc....lol....nothing like that happened. People complained about the short stop so......they added another 18 minutes of sitting in the buss as there were no shops near by other than at the carousel mall which were mostly closed and nothing of any interest.

 

It was interesting that the tour guide said that the carousel was of interest because it was very old and that there were few like it left in the united states....actually it was very small...and built new in 1990 per the carousel mall website.

 

From my post you might think we had a bad time but we did not. Other than the Astoria tour anything else was a minor disappointment in an otherwise very nice cruise

 

 

Were were on the same sailing. I have to agree with everyone we also heard the time change for the muster drill somewhere around 315 pm. Our stewart stopped us in the hallway to also make sure we were aware which we were.

 

Our short review we found the ship to be in good shape for it's year staff to be very friendly. We had our little man with us and the kids club was 5 stars all the way. MDR there was a few of us traveling together and we all have sailed many times on Princess and we were not at all impressed with the MDR meals. The service was good but found the food lacked taste but it had a good presentation no issues there. We only used the MDR 3 nights.

 

Horizon court was hit and miss the roast beef and turkey night was very good other wise we found it just okay not on par with other cruises we have taken with princess.

 

Kevin Joy cruise director we found him to be very funny and we enjoyed the Majority rules game plus we won that big $$$ bottle that night.

 

Entertainment can't comment to much on it as we only went to majorty rules and the married game but enjoyed them both very well.

 

We spent most of our time and crooners bar and if you were there I am sure you would have seen us or our friend serving LOL.

 

Astoria I have to agree it is a very nice small town but I think once is enough. We took the shuttle into town and walked around and did some shopping. The town has some great pubs restaurants and good deals on collectibles.

 

Overall it was a good trip but the only thing I really can complain about was the food which I know is each there own.

[LabGuy64]

only for tender service...if there is a dock you wait in line. as for your other comments they don't really make that much sense. anything one passenger has that another does not is the same thing...be it cabin space, priority embarkation, a free specialty dinner special lounge that other passengers may not use, you would have to term as a form of "elitism" you can even say the same for services one passenger can't afford. but it is not...you are simply getting more because you pay for more. not a status thing....it's value for the dollar spent. and while you might think that it is the room you are paying for others view it differently.

 

 

It is my understanding that a perk for suite passengers is priority disembarkation when tendering into a port.

Otherwise,passengers leave the ship while docked at a pier on their own schedule.

As to seating for shows, it seems fair to keep all seating open to all passengers on a first come ,first serve basis.

Granted, suite passengers pay a premium fare.

However, if I choose to book a suite, I do so to enjoy more space in the cabin and on the balcony for DH and myself.Spending the extra money is our own choice.

We do not feel that our own comfort should come to us because other passengers are inconvenienced.

Whatever perks Princess offers is secondary to us.

What you are suggesting in this post is reminiscent of the classification system employed by Cunard.

I am not certain of what the present policy is, but for years on Cunard ships, passengers were assigned MDR venues according to level of the booked cabin.

I also recall that on the QM2, certain areas of the ship were restricted to passengers booked in upper cabin categories. It is/was a bit of an elite system that goes back to the days of the class system on ocean liners that included steerage, second class and first class levels.

Also...Astoria is really a small coastal town in Oregon.

Pleasant for walking around, not for extensive ship excursions-IMHO.

[LabGuy64]

You can't understand that if you go to a theater show seat prices are different by where they are?...and also, as i said before it is the availability without the wait that is most important.....if you can't see this ...ok...

 

Actually it is that subjective. If you enter the Princess theater 30 minutes before a performance, you will see people scattered all over the place, each person is in a seat they consider to be a good one.

 

They all paid the same price for the show ($0) and did not all pick the same great seating area to be in.

[sseuorosal]

This is the only way to sight see and take your time. The school bus description made me laugh!

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

The tours in Astoria were they expensive.

 

 

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[LabGuy64]

we paid about 80.00 per person

 

The tours in Astoria were they expensive.

 

 

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[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

we paid about 80.00 per person

 

 

For the 80 bucks where did they all take you.

 

 

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[MJSailors]

only for tender service...if there is a dock you wait in line. as for your other comments they don't really make that much sense. anything one passenger has that another does not is the same thing...be it cabin space, priority embarkation, a free specialty dinner special lounge that other passengers may not use, you would have to term as a form of "elitism" you can even say the same for services one passenger can't afford. but it is not...you are simply getting more because you pay for more. not a status thing....it's value for the dollar spent. and while you might think that it is the room you are paying for others view it differently.

 

Apparently,we have differing views concerning what should be included in the pricing of cabin levels on a cruise ship.

We are all entitled to our opinions and perspectives.

However, I do think my comments did make sense-at least to me!

BTW- I don' t mind waiting in line to disembark a ship in port,get a seat in the theater or a table in the MDR just as my fellow passengers need to do.

My thought is-I am on vacation,why be in a rush?

That idea makes sense to me!

[LabGuy64]

the town of Cannon Beach for 1.5 hours of shopping and Seaside 30 minutes sitting in a parking lot

 

 

 

For the 80 bucks where did they all take you.

 

 

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[LabGuy64]

you are entitled to your view....I just don't agree with it. and if you don't think you deserve special treatment when you book a full suite that's fine...for you. I don't enjoy standing in lines especially when I am on vacation...I can do that when I am home.....i am there to enjoy my time....each minute is precious

 

 

Apparently,we have differing views concerning what should be included in the pricing of cabin levels on a cruise ship.

We are all entitled to our opinions and perspectives.

However, I do think my comments did make sense-at least to me!

BTW- I don' t mind waiting in line to disembark a ship in port,get a seat in the theater or a table in the MDR just as my fellow passengers need to do.

My thought is-I am on vacation,why be in a rush?

That idea makes sense to me!