CLOWN Grill on Crown Princess

[yags]

I am glad to have helped you. Well said. We were offered the bottle of wine too, price wise, doesn't even come close to the price we paid, but, if everyone here calls...lots of bottles of wine to go around.

After I talked to the Head Maitre D' of the Crown Princess he immediately offered a bottle of wine and even sent one to our room even though I told him not too. Just fix the problems at the Crown Grill. Our obligation to other guests, on an otherwise great ship, is to help make their experience at the Crown Grill a memory of a lifetime.

[XBGuy]

Normally we have a great dinner at the Crown Grill. But last summer on an Alaska cruise we took our 8 year old grandson with us, He doesn't eat much so we thought he could share with us what he liked and then get him a pizza or hamburger somewhere else. The waiter was really nice and said he could get him a hamburger from the MD which he did. I was stunned we were charged something like $15 for that exact same hamburger which is free in the MD. I know there is a child's price but I thought that applied to food that came from the Crown Grill kitchen, not "free" food from the MD. I was told by the man in charge that we are not paying for the food but the space at a table. Really?? So my grandson could have sat there and ate absolutely nothing and still be charged $15 or so. That is stupid and a rip off. But to be fair I complained and I did get them to remove the charge. So everything turned out fine. Next time I am ordering a steak at the Crown Grill to go. Since we are not using space in the Crown Grill the steak should be free. Yeah Right!!

 

I'm inclined to disagree.

 

As a patron in a restaurant I am sharing service and kitchen personnel with other diners. Children have to be served. That takes up the servers' time--waiting for the child to make a decision and, then, from what I'm hearing, running over to the dining room galley to fetch a hamburger. That time spent reduces servers' time for other diners.

 

I think that charging "for the seat" and charging half price for children are both quite fair.

[DanaPointBob]

We just got back from the 3-25-17 sailing of the Crown Princess to the Eastern Caribbean. We had a marvelous time. The MDR was amazing, ports of call were beautiful and almost all staff were really nice. We loved the ship and feel Princess did a good job. EXCEPT FOR the Clown (Crown) Grill. What a disappointment! After all the positive input on the Crown grill on this site, You Tube, and other sites we were most excited about going. We went early in the cruise and early in the evening (6:30 PM) so they were only about 1/3 full. It was a terrible experience. The waiter almost demanded that we order certain dishes. We ordered what we wanted. The food was overcooked, the service was non existent, and when we did encounter our waiter he was rude. We feel it began when (since we do not drink wine, only Ice tea) we did not order wine or designer water for the table. The waiter was pushy and since he was not going to make anything from additional purchases rude and non responsive. We had to wait 30 minutes for our table to be cleared of dinner dishes. Once we ordered coffee we had to wait for it. Our Waiter demanded we ordered desserts and had a verbal altercation with a member of our group because he wanted something different. We sat and watched our desserts on a table by the kitchen for 15 minutes while we waited for a coffee refill. I asked to see the Maitre D' of the dining room and the minute I told the waiter I wanted to see the Maitre D' our desserts were practically thrown on our table. The Maitre D' was very apologetic. I told him we were not looking for a refund. You don't go on a cruise and worry about $29. I told him I wanted changes so the next guest would not be treated like crap. I did not tell him but I expected maybe a hand written note later in the cruise no notes came. We all felt we were just handled and nothing would happen so at the end of the cruise I sought out Neville Saldanha, Head Maitre D' for the Ship and told him what had happened. He sent a bottle of wine to our cabin. I don't think he was listening because I told him that we don't drink wine and we felt that was the basis for the whole problem.

 

This was my first time on Princess and I will go on Princess again. I will NEVER eat at their upscale dining venues and I will always tell this story. If I failed to answer any questions let me know I will be glad to fill in the blanks. In the questionnaire received from Princess on my return I told them I was going to post this on Cruise Critic. I mentioned Cruise critic in all my discussions. Believe me they have all heard of this great site.

 

Just returned from Star Princess 4/7/17 sailing. It was our 21st Princess cruise. The voyage was short but spectacular, as always. There was one area however that fell short of spectacular and that was the service or lack thereof at The Crown Grill. The waiter we had was named Jose and he behaved much like the waiter in the original posters story. Not only did he treat everyone around our table far better than us, all of whom were ordering alcoholic beverages, but he also informed us of the recent up charges for everything. Order an extra appetizer, up charge. Order soup and salad, up charge. Want lobster instead of beef, huge up charge. Moreover, we were the first seated in our section, which had two other tables in it and we were served each course after the others. One table had three Princess employees seated at it and they were catered too. Not us, the paying passengers. A final note on this is the Crown Grill environment, which can best be described that night as chaos. Short staffed very stressed waiters, chefs, etc... We will not return to that venue on Star Princess again!

[Kingofcool1947]

........There was one area however that fell short of spectacular and that was the service or lack thereof at The Crown Grill.

The waiter we had was named Jose and he behaved much like the waiter in the original posters story....... he also informed us of the recent up charges for everything. Order an extra appetizer, up charge. Order soup and salad, up charge. Want lobster instead of beef, huge up charge. ..... We will not return to that venue on Star Princess again!

 

Just wondering, what's the problem with the waiter informing you of the new upcharge policy? Would you rather have been surprised later, and complain, after seeing your uncharged dinner bill?

What am I missing here?

 

Enjoy your cruise, and if God wills, grant you continued good health, to live and not die before your next cruise.

 

 

 

"I cruise to eat healthy, and to enjoy a slice of apple pie every day before I die"

[myfuzzy]

Yags, we sailed on the Seabreeze in the early 90's. If you go to the "about me" find my email address and we can discuss old times, I just loved that ship.

[DanaPointBob]

Just wondering, what's the problem with the waiter informing you of the new upcharge policy? Would you rather have been surprised later, and complain, after seeing your uncharged dinner bill?

What am I missing here?

 

OK. I will dumb it down a bit. The Crown Grill service was B A D!

[DanaPointBob]

OK. I will dumb it down a bit. The Crown Grill service was B A D!

 

Oh and to clarify more, bad does not mean good!

[yags]

Yags, we sailed on the Seabreeze in the early 90's. If you go to the "about me" find my email address and we can discuss old times, I just loved that ship.

 

OMG! That was an awesome ship. Not like todays floating cities. I will look you up.

[decamp303]

Last cruise on Regal ate in Crown Grill on embarkation day. Great food, even better service. So good we returned for a second time on the final night as well.