Crown Princess Thoughts

[hpeabody]

Yes we are! :) Looking forward to the cruise.

I had not noticed you on the roll call. We will have lots of nice folks on board. It should be a great cruise

[jackalope12]

We have sailed on The Crown three times and it's a fine ship, my favorite Princess ship as a matter of fact and we have been on most of them. Most recently about a year ago.

[Mom33]

I had not noticed you on the roll call. We will have lots of nice folks on board. It should be a great cruise :)

 

We are traveling with 6 friends and have made excursion decisions as a group. We would have considered the roll call if we were on our own.:)

[caribbean2000]

We will be on the Crown in March, our 17th cruise with Princess. 2nd or 3rd time on the Crown, three times on the Emerald. Also most of the other ships, including the Regal and Royal. Positives about the Crown are many but include the full outside promenade deck (missed that on the Regal and Royal), and especially the Adagio, which is a wonderful place to chill away from the hubbub. Yes, we know the Crown is older but we trust Princess to put out the best product out there in this price range. We have three rules on our cruises: don't discuss politics, don't talk about how much you paid for your cruise, and most importantly, get away from whiners as quickly as possible! Enjoy your cruise. We've always felt there is no such thing as a bad cruise, only varying degrees of good cruises!

[Astro Flyer]

In response to the thread title:

 

Crown Princess Thoughts...

 

Those who have a complaint, whether major or minor, will generally find the time to complain. Thus you see complaints posted here. The vast majority of cruisers who have no complaints at all don't tend to come here to "not complain". Take the complaints with a very large amount of scepticism. Yes, things go wrong. No, they aren't the norm and almost everybody has a great cruise. Even the other people on the "cruise from hell" that might be posted here likely had a great time.

 

While it's understandable to want to learn about cruise experiences, for the reasons you posted it's the unhappy cruisers who are more likely to post. And for some reason such negative reviews are too often given more credibility by some passengers who overlook the positive reviews.

 

Even when any ship seems to have a disproportionate number of bad reviews that's still a minuscule number of the total number of passengers who are on any cruise. That results in threads from passengers who worry that they've made a mistake which for me has never been true. A few things may go wrong but that doesn't make my experience a cruise from hell & having a great time on the same poorly reviewed cruise.

 

If I allowed negative passenger CC reviews to affect my decision we would have missed out on many great cruises. And after a cumulative total of several months on the Crown, I wouldn't hesitate at all to sail on the ship again.

 

We have three rules on our cruises: don't discuss politics, don't talk about how much you paid for your cruise, and most importantly, get away from whiners as quickly as possible! Enjoy your cruise. We've always felt there is no such thing as a bad cruise, only varying degrees of good cruises!

Well said & we've only had good cruises and some that were slightly better.

[Mopsymillar]

We are just off the Crown this morning. There were a couple of things that went wrong, didn't leave Souhampton til 22.30 due to a computer problem and therefor had less time in Bruges. We were given $100 compensation. Then the weather put paid to the visit to Helsingborg.

These problems did not detract from a very enjoyable time. Ship looked good, everywhere clean, staff excellent,food very good and some of the best entertainment I've seen in a while.

Some of my fellow Brits did nothing but complain, I think it's a national sport for some!

 

So all in all, the Crown is a lovely ship and I'm sure you will enjoy it

[hpeabody]

Mopsymillar ...................

 

Just curious If you don't mind, What was the name of your cruise director, and his/her staff if you remember them. It seems there has been a very recent changeover. Princess is not providing near term passengers with that information.

 

TIA

[Mopsymillar]

Hi Tia, the cruise directors name was Duke ,sorry can't remember his surname. He's Welsh. He seemed to pull everything together well.

[mellon1]

We will be on the Crown in 2 weeks and I'll write a review when we get back. We sailed her before and enjoyed our cruise, but that was 8 years ago.

:).

 

Thank you so much for that. Really appreciate it.

[mellon1]

I guess we are considered "boring". We get a suite, hubby stays on balcony most of the day and me in Sanctuary. I never get the tea/plate of etc. Just there to unwind. Staff there are exceptional. We don't ever eat at the buffet...saw way too much happen there. Only time I go there is 1st in line to get chips and salsa when we had friends cruise with us to have happy hour on the balcony. Usually always....Room service, burger, hot dog, pizza, sometimes in dining room and always fish & chips when they have it best lunch ever. So, as long as our room/bed and balcony are OK we are grinning. Our room stewards have always been top notch. We cruise Princess because the staff are friendly and kind. . We only do some shows we haven't seen. Don't do the other stuff. We are on board to spend time TOGETHER. May sound silly, but only time we get to do this. Means so much to us. We get a table for 2 in dining room second seating. Our waiter/assistant have always been excellent on Princess.

 

It is these negative reviews that get us going. Yes, we have had the hole in the bed and it was terrible and no mattress to replace.. Hopefully with the new beds...all will be good.

 

We've cruised HAL, RCCL, Carnival too and Priincess to us is the best.

[mellon1]

We were on the Crown last Mar 25 -Apr 8. We had no problem on its facilities. Food was ok for us. Crews' service was superb except for 1 waiter at the Crown Grill.

 

 

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OK, so who was that waiter? Just so we can avoid that! Usually we get the same people we get in Sabatini's in the am. Usually everyone is terrific.

[mellon1]

We did the Eastbound transatlantic on Crown this year and thought it the worst out of 65 Princess cruises. It was a struggle from beginning to end to get things fixed right, the same food was served in the buffet time day after day until it was eaten,, the food in the dining room was less than usual standard, the entertainments crew were lazy and unhelpful except the Zumba guy Theo who was excellent, the shows were lack luster generally, it just wasn't fun at all, we were pleased to debark.

Then we had two delightful weeks on Majestic almost straight after, what a difference.

 

Thanks for your honesty. We usually don't do shows, as we don't want to rush through dinner and have to wait...only if it is a new show, many are repeats. Don't do buffets, as I am highly allergic to shellfish and have interactions at the buffet quite often.

[Just Want to Cruise]

Just wondering if Caribe deck beds have been replaced with new mattresses. Our cruise isn't until April 2018 ( I believe that will be right after the March drydock). Have read many reviews for the Crown, both good and bad. Still looking forward to our transatlantic.

[jkadventures]

We are traveling with 6 friends and have made excursion decisions as a group. We would have considered the roll call if we were on our own.:)

 

 

You should all join it has been a great group! The more the merrier [emoji1]. Everyone has varying degrees of private and Princess excursions. Hope to meet you on the Crown!

 

 

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[matadams4u]

I will be in the Crown in September. I was on the Emerald in May and read all of the reviews on everything and this is what I found

 

*. The mattresses were the best I have ever slept on.

*. I went to the Crown to make a reservation and found now problem making a reservation.

^. Despite all of the stories about the Crown the service was great and the food was on par with Flemings my usual haunt. My only very minor complaint was the sea bass portion was one or two ounces larger than my preference. I survived.

* Vines is well worth a visit. It is not mentioned enough on here.

^. The Salty Dog is also a great value and the service was great.

^. I am a seafoodholic and tend to graze through the iC, buffet and MDR. One kid on the boat mused he had a hard time deciding between the buffet and MDR. I explained that he could do both. I am pretty certain I changed his life.

^. One buffet supervisor guarded my coffee while I went for something knowing how horrible it would be if I came back and my coffee was missing - to go through the pain of having to get more coffee is definitely something I don't even want to think about.

^. I have no clue what people are saying about wear and tear - it must be some sign of OCD.

*. I Agee with the above post on dos and donts about discussing things.

 

I am looking forward to being on the Crown and will look to debunk more myths. The Emerald was great and it was all sea days. For New England and Canada it is port intensive with daily search and destroy missions for l

 

 

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[matadams4u]

Lobster rolls

 

 

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[upwarduk]

Disembarked last Saturday 27.05.17

We had an obstructed cabin, as this cruise was an 'extra.'

We missed our balcony but that apart we had few complaints.

Some carpets had defiantly been renewed recently. This image was taken in the lift ( elevator) area on deck 8 midships.

 

 

 

 

Here is the link to my review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2503410

[St@rG@zer]

We got off the Crown yesterday. We were underwhelmed. We're not the type to pick holes in everything, our mini suite was comfortable, cabin steward efficient & friendly, ship in generally good repair (apart from there seeming to always be at least one lift out of order!).

However, we thought the food was just "ok" (on one occasion when a dish was definitely not to our daughter's taste - & we each tried it & agreed - we were completely ignored), most of the wait staff were cheerful but inattentive (on our last night this was not the case: silent, grumpy & oblivious would be closer to the mark)

Horizon Court etc felt cramped & disorganised but the food was ok.

We have cruised Celebrity before & found Crown Princess dark & just less impressive. Struggled to find places to sit on sea days. Struggled to find information about drinks etc (or to understand the info when given it). We weren't tempted by the entertainment on this occasion.

We were disappointed about the delays/missed ports etc but understand they are an unfortunate by-product of cruising sometimes but we were underwhelmed before the first delay.

We might as well have missed Zebrugge as there just wasn't enough time there for anything worthwhile after all the delays. We weren't happy about missing Helsingborg but understood however the confusion with the captain's announcement made us & many others cross.

Our holiday wasn't ruined, we didn't spend the whole time complaining, we were comfortable, safe & fed but it wasn't the holiday we were expecting (both in terms of where we went/didn't go & our experience on board) & we would probably not cruise with Princess again.

 

 

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[BigJH]

Just off Crown and whilst there were some issues, these were very much out of the control of the Captain and crew. I would much rather be safe than take a chance that the weather will be ok to tender or that the computer glitch won't impact on safety, so all in all the Captain and crew did as much as they possibly could to make up for technical issues. The ship is great, there are a few areas that could do with some care and attention, but even the newest ships have those. Some reviews have commented on such things as "poor service"; "rude staff"; "quality of food not up to standard"; "pressured selling" - I have to say, our experience was completely the opposite, especially on the pressure selling - which was nothing of the sort. A great ship, and a great holiday...

 

 

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[BigJH]

Just off Crown and whilst there were some issues, these were very much out of the control of the Captain and crew. I would much rather be safe than take a chance that the weather will be ok to tender or that the computer glitch won't impact on safety, so all in all the Captain and crew did as much as they possibly could to make up for technical issues. The ship is great, there are a few areas that could do with some care and attention, but even the newest ships have those. Some reviews have commented on such things as "poor service"; "rude staff"; "quality of food not up to standard"; "pressured selling" - I have to say, our experience was completely the opposite, especially on the pressure selling - which was nothing of the sort. A great ship, and a great holiday...

 

 

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I forgot to add, in relation to rude staff - I am amazed sometimes how the crew keep calm and professional. We witnessed some passengers being extremely rude to staff who were there to help them - one time in the buffet I could not ignore this and politely told the passenger that they were probably the most ignorant and annoying person I had ever had the misfortune to come across on a ship, and that it was people like her that give cruising a bad name...the crew are there to help and not to be treated like servants, which is exactly what she was doing...

 

 

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[Griller]

. Some reviews have commented on such things as "poor service"; "rude staff"; "quality of food not up to standard"; "pressured selling" - I have to say, our experience was completely the opposite, especially on the pressure selling - which was nothing of the sort. A great ship, and a great holiday...

 

 

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We were on the recent Crown transatlantic and the Art Auctions were a nightmare, many flyers, announcements, taking over Explorers Lounge on many days, it was relentless.

And Effy jewelry was being heavily promoted as well, its nice stuff but just way too much promotion, at least they don't take over venues which could otherwise be used for passenger entertainment like the ridiculous art auctions do.

As far as the food was concerned we wondered whether Princess reduced the spend on food for the transatlantic? It certainly seemed like it.

[Griller]

We got off the Crown yesterday. We were underwhelmed. We're not the type to pick holes in everything, our mini suite was comfortable, cabin steward efficient & friendly, ship in generally good repair (apart from there seeming to always be at least one lift out of order!).

However, we thought the food was just "ok" (on one occasion when a dish was definitely not to our daughter's taste - & we each tried it & agreed - we were completely ignored), most of the wait staff were cheerful but inattentive (on our last night this was not the case: silent, grumpy & oblivious would be closer to the mark)

Horizon Court etc felt cramped & disorganised but the food was ok.

We have cruised Celebrity before & found Crown Princess dark & just less impressive. Struggled to find places to sit on sea days. Struggled to find information about drinks etc (or to understand the info when given it). We weren't tempted by the entertainment on this occasion.

We were disappointed about the delays/missed ports etc but understand they are an unfortunate by-product of cruising sometimes but we were underwhelmed before the first delay.

We might as well have missed Zebrugge as there just wasn't enough time there for anything worthwhile after all the delays. We weren't happy about missing Helsingborg but understood however the confusion with the captain's announcement made us & many others cross.

Our holiday wasn't ruined, we didn't spend the whole time complaining, we were comfortable, safe & fed but it wasn't the holiday we were expecting (both in terms of where we went/didn't go & our experience on board) & we would probably not cruise with Princess again.

 

 

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I have to agree with you, Crown is a bad advert for Princess, all other ships in the fleet are better, we were on Majestic after we were on Crown, what a difference!

[upwarduk]

We were on the recent Crown transatlantic and the Art Auctions were a nightmare, many flyers, announcements, taking over Explorers Lounge on many days, it was relentless.

 

 

 

As far as the food was concerned we wondered whether Princess reduced the spend on food for the transatlantic? It certainly seemed like it.

 

 

Art Auctions.

 

I just wondered how they fared on our mainly British cruise (13.05.17)

I think it's something that the Americans expect, but going by the lack of diners in the Crown Grill (+$29) and lack of interest in the Casino I wonder how many pictures were purchased.

I know that Azamara have listened to their passengers and have stopped them.

 

 

We found that if we had the time, it was better to eat breakfast and lunch in the MDR as it was always difficult to find seating in the Horizon.

Comments from table companions who were all Platinum status made us think that there certainly were certain reductions e.g.:

No fruit basket to welcome them to their cabin.

No Princess bag-on the bed on arrival. Apparently they hadn't been delivered.

 

 

 

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[Mom33]

We were on the recent Crown transatlantic and the Art Auctions were a nightmare, many flyers, announcements, taking over Explorers Lounge on many days, it was relentless.

And Effy jewelry was being heavily promoted as well, its nice stuff but just way too much promotion, at least they don't take over venues which could otherwise be used for passenger entertainment like the ridiculous art auctions do.

As far as the food was concerned we wondered whether Princess reduced the spend on food for the transatlantic? It certainly seemed like it.

 

Here is how we deal with Art Auctions......We don't attend them......we dump the flyers in the waste basket, we ignore the announcements for the auctions and we only go to the Explorer's lounge when entertainment that we are interested in is advertised.

No one has ever pressured us to do anything on the ships we have sailed.

[Mopsymillar]

Just wondering if Caribe deck beds have been replaced with new mattresses. Our cruise isn't until April 2018 ( I believe that will be right after the March drydock). Have read many reviews for the Crown, both good and bad. Still looking forward to our transatlantic.

We were on the Caribe deck, no new beds but comfortable enough