Chaos On The Crown

[flamomo]

I've done the line-from-hell type of passport hand-over, and while not quite as chaotic as what OP describes, it was still a mess with seemingly endless lines of restless frustrated pax snaking all the way thru deck 7.

Since that one time, at least for my cruises, Princess has done the kind where the cabin stewards collect and return the pps right at each cabin door, and it's 1000% better than the other.

The line-up kind should be forever banned!!!

[boca7]

I have been on NCL and I can honestly say that I will NEVER book with NCL in the future.

Totally agree, sailed on NCL numerous times until several years ago & what a disaster with our family cruise of 40. Everything was downhill except for the comp cocktail party.

[Griller]

I'm seeing a pattern with these Crown complaints. Have a bad experience on the Crown, come here and post your complaints and then decide to risk continuing to deal with a bad cruise experience by booking an NCL cruise. :)

 

Ok, hopefully NCL makes you happy. No I haven't taken an NCL cruise but have read enough and have good friends who have experienced NCL and will never cruise on them again to form my opinion that I wouldn't even consider booking a cruise on NCL, even if I had a horrible experience on the Crown!

 

I have sailed Crown Princess recently and would not do so again. I have sailed almost all other Princess ships on 67 various cruises and would cruise on them all again, but never Crown.

I have sailed NCL recently on Epic and it was great. Different but very good, its one of their newer ships. I gave up NCL a few years ago as it went downhill but now its improved no end. Glad I tried it again.

[CruisingIsBest]

I have sailed Crown Princess recently and would not do so again. I have sailed almost all other Princess ships on 67 various cruises and would cruise on them all again, but never Crown.

I have sailed NCL recently on Epic and it was great. Different but very good, its one of their newer ships. I gave up NCL a few years ago as it went downhill but now its improved no end. Glad I tried it again.

Very well put. People try something years ago, have a bid experience, and say never again. I've been an avid Princess cruiser, and a big fan, but I sadly have to admit, the charges lately are really bringing them down... to the point I too am trying something new. The final straw was the ridiculous Club Class, which took the mini's I so love and always book, turned them into Club Class, charged $1000 more, for absolutely nothing in return. As someone mentioned in another thread, it's a joke on the customer. It's moves like that, and lack of new innovations and new things to experience onboard that made me finally give in and try something different, so NCL is next. Yes,I'm nervous about it, but the reviews I've been seeing, many from 1st timers on NCL have me quite excited. It looks much more lively than boring Princess too. Regardless, if I hate it, then I know... but it seems like I'm seeing more and more negative posts on the Princess forums, and it must mean something's amiss with my favorite cruise line! Very sad as I'm Elite, and Stockholder. Going to NCL is like starting all over again. :loudcry:

[Griller]

Very well put. People try something years ago, have a bid experience, and say never again. I've been an avid Princess cruiser, and a big fan, but I sadly have to admit, the charges lately are really bringing them down... to the point I too am trying something new. The final straw was the ridiculous Club Class, which took the mini's I so love and always book, turned them into Club Class, charged $1000 more, for absolutely nothing in return. As someone mentioned in another thread, it's a joke on the customer. It's moves like that, and lack of new innovations and new things to experience onboard that made me finally give in and try something different, so NCL is next. Yes,I'm nervous about it, but the reviews I've been seeing, many from 1st timers on NCL have me quite excited. It looks much more lively than boring Princess too. Regardless, if I hate it, then I know... but it seems like I'm seeing more and more negative posts on the Princess forums, and it must mean something's amiss with my favorite cruise line! Very sad as I'm Elite, and Stockholder. Going to NCL is like starting all over again. :loudcry:

My tip on NCL is only go on the much newer ships, better entertainment better dining choices and way more fun.

We just booked Epic again transatlantic next spring. Port Canaveral to Barcelona. Buy a $250 future cruise deposit on Ebay for somewhat less than $250. They sell them for $125 on board. One per cabin on that sailing, sometimes they take two per cabin.

Book that transatlantic now, even an inside, and get the "free" drinks package. You do have to pay $180 or so gratuities extra on it. Well worth it. Closer to sailing there will be no included drinks package on an inside.

[Cruise Raider]

I think the OP did an honest, thorough (and readable) review of what appears to be a cruise that had many anomalies and hiccups that pretty drastically affected their cruise. Some of the snarky comments about their intentions for posting and choice to sail with NCL seem (to me) uncalled for, and not in keeping with the spirit of Cruise Critic.

 

 

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+ 1

The OP was merely expressing the awful experience when sailing on the Crown.

My first post on CC, for which I was flamed, was a description of my first sailing on the Crown. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. But you know, the bad occurrences kind of build and build on that sailing until I just said, geez ... enough already!! Well, I did write Princess and they tried to lure me back. And you know what? They were successful with their compensation to bring me back and I choose to sail again on the Crown. I had an amazing cruise the second time around ... and the third time on her as well. It still doesn't discount all that went wrong on that first cruise on her but just that craziness can hit any particular cruise and the OP was simply stating what happened on their sailing.

Also, we've sailed on NCL, Carnival, Princess, HAL, RCCL and Celebrity ... out of over 50 cruises, that one Crown sailing stands out as the worst. And, we sail on Princess all the time since that one awful sailing ... but we've also sailed on many other lines, too. None were even what I would remotely classify as a step down from Princess.

[elliair]

So, how can we alleviate your problem? What can we do about it? Nothing but read another thread on how poorly Princess did on collecting passports and long lines. Bad experience on Crown? Yes, I had one that puts yours to shame, but we're still cruising on the Crown and won't be experiencing the same thing we experienced before. It had to do with embarkation and noro virus. I find that cruising is a hit and miss type of experience lately, you get in line and take your chances.

[Mr. Muster]

I have sailed Crown Princess recently and would not do so again. I have sailed almost all other Princess ships on 67 various cruises and would cruise on them all again, but never Crown.

I have sailed NCL recently on Epic and it was great. Different but very good, its one of their newer ships. I gave up NCL a few years ago as it went downhill but now its improved no end. Glad I tried it again.

 

 

Griller, Dearie!!!

 

Would you be willing to provide a few more details why you feel the Crown is a dud and why you will not grace her with your smiling face ever again? I am taking the DS (Dear Sister) on the Crown in January and would be interested to hear what I may possibly need to brace myself to face! I felt like I was in heaven on the Grand and was hoping for much the same on the Crown.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Toot-Toot!

 

Cheerio, Dearies!!! :*

[Micahs Grandad]

We were on the Crown July 8 doing same itinerary as OP and was probably our best cruise out of about 40 with this one being our fifth on Princess all within the past three years.

 

We were told before the cruise to make a digital copy or paper copy of our passport and keep it with us when off the ship. A few ports had us also carry passport.

 

Our passports were collected at embarkation before we even got on the ship. No idea when they started doing it this way but it was painless.

 

Do not remember the captains name but we felt the ship was well run and in good shape and service was great.

 

Doing the Crown again next May going to the Med and happy to do so.

[Aquahound]

Off topic but have any of the NCL bashers in this thread been on the Escape? I thought it was great.

 

My worst cruises were on NCL and I swore them off forever. Then a family member talked me into Escape and boy, was I glad they did. I loved Escape and would cruise that ship...and her sisters...again in a heartbeat.

[GlamorousGirl]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but I had, literally, the time of my life aboard the Crown in March. I did not have the same Captain. Customer service was impeccable, and after the incredible experience I had I would not hesitate for a second to reserve future cruises both on Princess and on the Crown. My experience at the Crown Grill was the only negative thing I have to say about the ship because service was slow and the food overcooked. But the rest of my experience on the cruise made up for that about 100 times over. There were long lines at port - but it was because of customs - U.S. Government employees - NOT Princess or their employees' fault. I wanted to post this for anyone reading so that they know this review is not applicable to every Crown voyage or every Crown customer's experience.

[laktex]

The final straw was the ridiculous Club Class, which took the mini's I so love and always book, turned them into Club Class, charged $1000 more, for absolutely nothing in return. :loudcry:

 

I'm not sure I understand this - I thought you could book mini suites without Club Class dining.

[Sacto Rick]

I feel for the OP here. He had a bad experience to the point he doesn't want to ever cruise on the Crown again. Other than never using a cruise line again, the only thing we have as paying customers is to give honest reviews on how we were treated and maybe it will influence the cruise line to address the issues. At the very least it makes potential customers aware of what might happen and they can use their own judgement.

 

I also want to book a certain cruise and it's on the Crown. It does give me caution. I've seen a lot of bad press on the Crown.

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm not sure I understand this - I thought you could book mini suites without Club Class dining.

 

 

I agree, there are mini's with and without Club Class. ;)

[Griller]

I'm seeing a pattern with these Crown complaints. Have a bad experience on the Crown, come here and post your complaints and then decide to risk continuing to deal with a bad cruise experience by booking an NCL cruise. :)

 

Ok, hopefully NCL makes you happy. No I haven't taken an NCL cruise but have read enough and have good friends who have experienced NCL and will never cruise on them again to form my opinion that I wouldn't even consider booking a cruise on NCL, even if I had a horrible experience on the Crown!

 

I have sailed NCL quite a few times and it was OK, then it went downhill but now the newer NCL ships are very good.

I was on Crown Princess for a different cruise to the OP this year, worst Princess cruise I have ever been on, and will not sail that ship again so we have booked NCL Epic again for the transatlantic.

[cruisencrazy]

We really enjoy NCL...especially the Haven. It has been a while since we were on Princess, but will be on the Crown for Christmas. I personally feel that each cruise line has a different "flavor" and within each cruiseline, every ship also has a different vibe. Sometimes you want a burger and sometimes you want caviar. We will take 6 cruises this year alone, and will not sail on the same cruise line twice. We were on the Escape last year and had fun, but for me, as a nonsmoker, the layout of the ship (casino location) made it much too smoky inside for my liking. For this year, the Anthem of the Seas is the one to beat. In my opinion, a bad day at sea is still pretty good ;p

[geoherb]

deleted

[san diego sue]

Returned from B2B2B cruises on the Crown August 12=Sept 17th.

Service, food, etc great. No problems with immigration, all very organized. When we left Norway, there was immigration on board and it was very organized. We were given times to report and also announcements to come earlier when there was no wait (which we did).At one point our passports were collected by room steward and returned a few days later. No problem when we docked in Belgium with immigration. We were told to have colored copies of our passports but no one looked at them.

Only problem on the ship was illness. Upper respiratory spread like wildfire.Ship's Dr. said it was Australian bug

and our flu shots gave us no protection.

Both boarding and disembarking the ship very organized. I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Crown again. In fact

we have cruised previously on the ship several times when it did the Mexican Riviera and will miss having her on the West coast.

P.S when we left Norway (our first leg), they had people on board to give us back Vat tax on our purchases. We could receive money in U.S. dollars, Pounds or Euro. Never had this before and it was nice. Not all purchases were eligible for the vat being returned. had to be over a certain dollar amount on each purchase and the store had to give you a special receipt . I had a large purchase and got my refund.

[baconlover1]

I think the OP did an honest, thorough (and readable) review of what appears to be a cruise that had many anomalies and hiccups that pretty drastically affected their cruise. Some of the snarky comments about their intentions for posting and choice to sail with NCL seem (to me) uncalled for, and not in keeping with the spirit of Cruise Critic.

 

 

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Agreed. We are not fans of the Princess line and we enjoy NCL. Different strokes for different folks.