Crown Princess - Onboard Quick Review 11-20-2018

[CruisingWalter]

12 hours ago, jagsfan said:

It’s not the curtain on the balcony glass wall, it’s the tv flickering because DH watches it for a couple of hours after I go to sleep. The curtain that divides the cabin makes it marvelously dark so I don’t care if he watches till 3am. 

I was surprised to see one on Serenade because we were not in a junior suite. 

It is more of a plus on Royal and Regal to me than anything else!

As regards the regular curtain, I clip a couple of clothespins and it is pretty much a blackout curtain. As you can see, I love sleeping in pitch dark!

I hope the internet somehow improves so you don’t run out of minutes!

 

Ah, now I understand.  No, there is no curtain that divides the sitting area and the bed in D423.  There are two TVs but I can see how the flickering of that TV could keep you awake.   Tell him to read instead.  :)

 

The internet is just terrible unless you use the Princess computers in the Internet Cafe like I'm doing right now.  :)

[jasbo49]

9 minutes ago, creativegenius said:

 

Hey Jim, I tried it tonight and it was fantastic!   I also talked to the server and he said tomorrow night they'll make the Old Fashioned the way I like it.  

Good deal. Glad you liked it. I always hesitate to say someone WILL like something, because we all have different tastes.

 

Jim

[jagsfan]

1 hour ago, creativegenius said:

 

Ah, now I understand.  No, there is no curtain that divides the sitting area and the bed in D423.  There are two TVs but I can see how the flickering of that TV could keep you awake.   Tell him to read instead.  🙂

 

The internet is just terrible unless you use the Princess computers in the Internet Cafe like I'm doing right now. 🙂

That would work if he’d use his Kindle and use a dark background. Alas, it’s going to be tv. 

Talk about a first world problem!!😃

 

[tanyaewa]

“The Horizon Court buffet is absolutely tiny compared to really any other ship we’ve been on.  The selection in the buffet is very weak compared to any other line we’ve been on,”

Completely agree.  The first 3 days I kept going In circles looking for the “real buffet” lol

Fortunately we were a Mediterranean itinerary with seven of the 10 days in Port. We didn’t actually have lunch on board very often and when we did, the Trident Grill and the pizza place were more than adequate. Along with additional salad from the horizon court.  

I must admit though, I really did enjoy the quiet luxury of the giant yacht type atmosphere while we were in the Mediterranean.  

[4cats4me]

Love your review. We were onboard in October in the Mediterranean and enjoyed the Crown way more than we expected, preferring the Royal and Regal, but we loved it.  

Nice and basic, great service. We loved the soft serve cones at Coffee and Comes and also the street tacos at the grill by the pool. The Salty Dog had decent fare for dinner, and we both enjoyed the poutine and the short ribs. The internet worked great for both my husband and myself. We both have iPhones X so maybe that made a difference? 

A couple times it was a bit slow, but I had no trouble uploading multiple pictures to social media sites. I ageee, it is slower than, say, on Celebrity, which the internet was good. 

Our bed was way too awkward, nice and plush, but I rolled into “my spot” due to the metal supports in the middle where the two twin beds meet to create one large bed, formed an incline. 

I did feel the impact of the crowds to be pronounced on this ship compared to the others in the fleet.  Lots of bottlenecks near Explorers in the evenings as well as when they were selling merchandise in the atrium and the shows let out, creating major traffic jams.  

We were impressed with the level of service we received onboard.  

[SquishTheWhale]

Curious on the comments about the buffet. Small as in size of the whole space/seating etc or small as in selection of food?

While I'm used to and love megaships, to be fair the buffet on there is usually a set of 4 or 5 stations repeated 3 times. So smaller than one set of typical buffet stations?

 

How did you find breakfast- did they open up the second section then? Did you struggle to find seating? I'm definitely a buffet breakfast kinda gal but don't mind going elsewhere for lunch if the buffet is poor.

[MJSailors]

To the poster asking about the curtain separating the bed from the sitting area in the mini suites-We have been in mini suites on the Caribbean Princess,Crown and the Regal.

The furniture configuration in the Regal mini suite was different than that on the Grand Class ships.

There was no bump-out cabinet that housed the two TVs and the storage area in the center of the cabin. Rather, there was a longer cabinet with counter top. The tvs on  the Regal are wall mounted flat screen tvs.. 

The curtain near the bed on the Regal was a good improvement in the cabin design.

It did block out the light from the sitting area.

I have a suggestion for the poster, use an sleeping mask to blot out the light coming from the tv. 

I have used one lately on trips as my DH is a very early riser and I find the sleep mask blocks the lights he puts on to get dressed for going out for his morning coffee.

[jagsfan]

I hadn’t been on a Grand class for a while and I guess I didn’t remember any difference. That means they’ll never add the curtain. 😟

A sleep mask used to work when I flew a lot. 

Don’t know if it would work with my CPAP. 

On the other hand, thanks to the CPAP, I can just sleep with the covers over my head!

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for a great report that has me looking forward to your day by day review.

The Crown was the last ship I sailed on almost a year ago (see signature). I had no complaints. I have stopped ordering mixed drinks on Princess as they are too liquor-light for my taste and not a good value. And yes, after sailing on the Regal and Celebrity S Class the Grand Class buffet is definitely found wanting.

Norris

[CruisingWalter]

22 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

Curious on the comments about the buffet. Small as in size of the whole space/seating etc or small as in selection of food?

While I'm used to and love megaships, to be fair the buffet on there is usually a set of 4 or 5 stations repeated 3 times. So smaller than one set of typical buffet stations?

 

How did you find breakfast- did they open up the second section then? Did you struggle to find seating? I'm definitely a buffet breakfast kinda gal but don't mind going elsewhere for lunch if the buffet is poor.

 

Small as in both size and selection.  It's a very small space compared to many ships we've sailed.  My wife remembers it being this same size on the Caribbean Princess back in the day, but I've become so accustomed to what we've gotten on Celebrity, NCL and the others that this is a really small space.  They do open up the Caribe Cafe from time to time but it seems random.

 

As for breakfast, it's a decent selection, but the omelettes are weird.  Strange texture from whatever egg product they use, so I just ordered one and never again.  I tend to have a small breakfast of yogurt, fruit and nuts because I know I"ll eat terribly the rest of the day.  The roasted potatoes are generally good each morning though.  

 

They still serve that horrendous coffee from syrup in the buffet.  That's one thing I remember hating way back in 2006.  :)

[CruisingWalter]

12 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Thanks for a great report that has me looking forward to your day by day review.

The Crown was the last ship I sailed on almost a year ago (see signature). I had no complaints. I have stopped ordering mixed drinks on Princess as they are too liquor-light for my taste and not a good value. And yes, after sailing on the Regal and Celebrity S Class the Grand Class buffet is definitely found wanting.

Norris

 

Drinks are just not that great on here. It's disappointing.  The Crooners Bar seems to be the most consistent, but even there, just not good.  The new World Class Bar on Celebrity is the best at sea and both Royal and NCL have fantastic craft bars now.  This ship just has the generic bar with the same poorly prepared drinks in every single bar.  Just that Chairman of the Board suggested earlier in this thread has been a decent drink.  

[SquishTheWhale]

19 minutes ago, creativegenius said:

 

Small as in both size and selection.  It's a very small space compared to many ships we've sailed.  My wife remembers it being this same size on the Caribbean Princess back in the day, but I've become so accustomed to what we've gotten on Celebrity, NCL and the others that this is a really small space.  They do open up the Caribe Cafe from time to time but it seems random.

 

As for breakfast, it's a decent selection, but the omelettes are weird.  Strange texture from whatever egg product they use, so I just ordered one and never again.  I tend to have a small breakfast of yogurt, fruit and nuts because I know I"ll eat terribly the rest of the day.  The roasted potatoes are generally good each morning though.  

 

They still serve that horrendous coffee from syrup in the buffet.  That's one thing I remember hating way back in 2006.  🙂

 

Hah what's a cruise ship buffet without terrible coffee! Thanks for clarifying. I'm not a huge eater at breakfast so as long as there's a standard selection that's good enough for me. Maybe for lunch on sea days we will hit the MDR and use the buffet for snacks

[CruisingWalter]

For those following this thread, the very slow internet issue on my laptop has been solved.  I was finally down in the Internet Cafe when the manager was there and he indirectly pointed me to the culprit.  I have an automatic cloud backup service.  Whenever this laptop connects to the internet, the service automatically starts backing up new files from my computer to the cloud backup.   As soon as this system connected to the ship's WiFi the backup service started trying to upload.  That killed the internet connectivity on this laptop.   I'll make sure that's in the full review to come, but if you have automated cloud backup services on your devices, turn them off during the cruise.  I'm typing this from the Sanctuary as I enjoy my cucumber water.  :)

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/21/2018 at 4:15 AM, SquishTheWhale said:

Thank you for your review! We are on her in 2 weeks. I suspect we'll feel the same about her to start off with- we are used to new megaships with water slides and 20 dining venues etc etc. So the Crown is a change for us. However, I'm hoping we aren't bored and instead come to appreciate the more relaxed atmosphere.

 

If you have any time later in your cruise can you let me know if Stargazing at sea was offered? That's one thing I was looking forward to.

 

Stargazing is on the schedule for this evening at 8pm.  We're sailing out of St. Thomas on the way to Grand Turk tonight.  This will be the 8th night on the cruise and this is the first and probably only time they will offer it.   The only instructions are to meet at 16 Forward.  I'll report back on how it went tomorrow.

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, creativegenius said:

 

Stargazing is on the schedule for this evening at 8pm.  We're sailing out of St. Thomas on the way to Grand Turk tonight.  This will be the 8th night on the cruise and this is the first and probably only time they will offer it.   The only instructions are to meet at 16 Forward.  I'll report back on how it went tomorrow.

thank you! Let me know how it went. If its only offered once I'll know not to miss it. Glad you got your internet issues sorted

[Pandora407]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 5:52 PM, goldie099 said:

Thanks for this great start to a review! We board the Crown mid-December so this is very helpful info 🙂 I'll try and temper my expectations, the last two ships I've cruised on have definitely been more modern, but I cruised on Golden to Alaska back in 2014 so I'll rely on those good memories as to what to look forward to on the Crown!

We are sailing on the Crown on Dec 17th, hope to run into you there. This will be our third time on the Crown

[Luvs2trvl]

Thanks for the live report. I board in 1 1/2 weeks and I cannot wait!  Please warm up the Terrace pool as that is where I'll be spending a lot of my time.  Is the Spa pool busy when you are in the Sanctuary? 

If you are a Tequila drinker I'm interested in your thoughts on their new drink - Mayan Heat. If not no worries - I'll find out soon enough. I'm trying to figure out if I should purchase an internet package or not. I'd like to send a few pictures home and maybe a post or two to social media, but I don't plan on spending a lot of time on the computer. Is it possible to do this port side with my phone?

Looking forward to more reports - 

 

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/24/2018 at 10:02 AM, SquishTheWhale said:

thank you! Let me know how it went. If its only offered once I'll know not to miss it. Glad you got your internet issues sorted

 

So the Stargazing was pretty good.  the way it works is they play pre-recorded segments from a Discovery at Sea affiliated astrophysicist who sets up the constellations and what they are.  Then a crew member, in our case Emily the Assistant Cruise Director, follows up what they say and uses a laser pointer to point you to the constellations.   On our night there was a full moon and some cloud cover so we could not see the first half of the constellations.  But what we could see was very interesting.  I wish they would have offered this twice in the cruise just to give us two chances to see everything.  But it's definitely a nice 30 minutes up on Deck 17 with the main ship lights turned off.  

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/24/2018 at 6:32 PM, Luvs2trvl said:

Thanks for the live report. I board in 1 1/2 weeks and I cannot wait!  Please warm up the Terrace pool as that is where I'll be spending a lot of my time.  Is the Spa pool busy when you are in the Sanctuary? 

If you are a Tequila drinker I'm interested in your thoughts on their new drink - Mayan Heat. If not no worries - I'll find out soon enough. I'm trying to figure out if I should purchase an internet package or not. I'd like to send a few pictures home and maybe a post or two to social media, but I don't plan on spending a lot of time on the computer. Is it possible to do this port side with my phone?

Looking forward to more reports - 

 

 

The spa pool has not been all that busy.  There's a misperception among many passengers that the spa pool is only for spa and Sanctuary guests.  It's actually a public pool open to any adults.  

 

If you just want to post a few pictures from time to time, you could get a smaller internet package and I've found Deck 5 sitting in Vines is the best place for WiFi outside sitting in the actual Internet Cafe.   WiFi is very spotty all over the ship but since Vines is right next to the Internet Cafe, good spot to grab some coffee and make social posts.  I'm finding 1 to 2 bars of WiFi in most areas of the ship.  5 bars of WiFi down on Deck 5.  

 

I do drink Tequila but have not tried that Mayan Heat drink.  Most of the bars have been disappointing but last night I tried The Mix for the first time behind the Movies Under the Stars pool and it might be the best bar on the ship.   It's not a typical pool bar catering to frozen mixed drinks and beers.  They cater to cocktails and I have found Washington's Apple to be a good one along with the Chairman of the Board if it's made correctly.  Two Chairman's were great, but another one I had was terrible.   Not much in the way of consistency on the ship, if you find a bartender you like, stick with them.  

 

For coffee in the morning, I highly recommend Carmen in the Coffee and Cones up on Deck 15.  She's usually in there from open till about 8 or 8:30am.  

[SquishTheWhale]

24 minutes ago, creativegenius said:

 

So the Stargazing was pretty good.  the way it works is they play pre-recorded segments from a Discovery at Sea affiliated astrophysicist who sets up the constellations and what they are.  Then a crew member, in our case Emily the Assistant Cruise Director, follows up what they say and uses a laser pointer to point you to the constellations.   On our night there was a full moon and some cloud cover so we could not see the first half of the constellations.  But what we could see was very interesting.  I wish they would have offered this twice in the cruise just to give us two chances to see everything.  But it's definitely a nice 30 minutes up on Deck 17 with the main ship lights turned off.  

 

Thank you I will definitely go!

 

Have you seen any other entertainment since your first post that you enjoyed?

[ponstad]

On 11/20/2018 at 11:22 AM, creativegenius said:

 

My wife booked the Sanctuary for the entire week as we don’t have a lot of excursions planned.  It has been worth the money as the cushioned chairs are the most comfortable on deck and we have direct access to the Spa Pool below.  The staff here is extremely friendly and makes sure we have plenty of water.  They also serve afternoon tea at 3.  It’s extremely windy up here when the ship is moving so be aware of that.  The only thing I question is placing the ‘quiet sanctuary’ directly below the ship’s horn. 😊

Am very much enjoying your review and your comments.  We are planning a trip to the Southern Caribbean on the Crown Princess next December, and are wondering whether we have to race up to the Sanctuary immediately upon embarkation to reserve our spots. 

 

 

On 11/20/2018 at 11:22 AM, creativegenius said:

 

 

[CruisingWalter]

2 hours ago, ponstad said:

Am very much enjoying your review and your comments.  We are planning a trip to the Southern Caribbean on the Crown Princess next December, and are wondering whether we have to race up to the Sanctuary immediately upon embarkation to reserve our spots. 

 

 

 

Thank you for the kind comments!   Yes, you DO have to race directly up to the Sanctuary as soon as you are onboard.  Do not pass Go, do not go to your room, do not go to make dining reservations, go directly to the Sanctuary.  The Sea Days especially fill up fast.   You can book by the 1/2 day, by the day or by the cruise.  Most people seemed to book the 3 Sea Days.  We booked the entire week and it was $30/pp per day.  They really do a nice job taking care of you and they are absolutely the most comfortable lounge chairs on the ship.   The fastest way to the Sanctuary is to go all the way forward to the Princess Theater, then take those elevators or stairs all the way up to the Spa.  The Sanctuary is one deck above that.  If you can take the elevator to Deck 16, do that.  

[CruisingWalter]

3 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

 

Thank you I will definitely go!

 

Have you seen any other entertainment since your first post that you enjoyed?

Absolutely!  Production Show "Magic To Do" was a fun show, that's the one with the partnership with the composer of "Wicked."  Fun moments in that show.  "DISCO: Blame It On The Boogie" was a great dance show as was "Sweet Soul Music."   The house band is really awesome on this ship and they were great in all three of those shows.  One day I happened to pass them rehearsing in the Explorers Lounge and stopped to listen for a bit.   The Love Boat Disco Party on deck was really a lot of fun as the Princess Dancers joined in with very retro outfits.   Mentalist and Illusionist Wayne Hoffman was surprisingly good, wasn't really expecting much but he really blew our minds a bit.   What was cool is that he did shows both in the Theater and Explorer's Lounge.  The Lounge was nice because you can sit up close and personal.   I ended up being a part of both of those shows.  "Let Me Be Frank" is a bit of a dud, if you have nothing else to do and like the music of the Rat Pack, he's a good singer, but stands in one place a lot.   One of the best games was a Guess the Music Lyric contest in the Explorer's Lounge.  Play part of a song, then stop it and give you a multiple choice on what the next lyric is.  That was fun.   Any dance class with Alex from the Cruise Director staff is worth taking, he's quietly hilarious.  I loved the Disco dancing class especially.   We went to one of the auditions for The Voice of the Ocean in Explorer's Lounge and were surprised by the caliber of singers onboard.  Tonight is the finale in the theater and we're hoping to get seats to see the show.   The theater has been PACKED for both the 7:15 and 9:15 showtimes, though the 9:15 fills up much more slowly.   If you want to a good seat to the 7:15 you really want to be in the theater no later than 6:50.  For the late show, you can roll in at 9 and still get a good seat, but it will fill up before showtime begins.  

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, creativegenius said:

Absolutely!  Production Show "Magic To Do" was a fun show, that's the one with the partnership with the composer of "Wicked."  Fun moments in that show.  "DISCO: Blame It On The Boogie" was a great dance show as was "Sweet Soul Music."   The house band is really awesome on this ship and they were great in all three of those shows.  One day I happened to pass them rehearsing in the Explorers Lounge and stopped to listen for a bit.   The Love Boat Disco Party on deck was really a lot of fun as the Princess Dancers joined in with very retro outfits.   Mentalist and Illusionist Wayne Hoffman was surprisingly good, wasn't really expecting much but he really blew our minds a bit.   What was cool is that he did shows both in the Theater and Explorer's Lounge.  The Lounge was nice because you can sit up close and personal.   I ended up being a part of both of those shows.  "Let Me Be Frank" is a bit of a dud, if you have nothing else to do and like the music of the Rat Pack, he's a good singer, but stands in one place a lot.   One of the best games was a Guess the Music Lyric contest in the Explorer's Lounge.  Play part of a song, then stop it and give you a multiple choice on what the next lyric is.  That was fun.   Any dance class with Alex from the Cruise Director staff is worth taking, he's quietly hilarious.  I loved the Disco dancing class especially.   We went to one of the auditions for The Voice of the Ocean in Explorer's Lounge and were surprised by the caliber of singers onboard.  Tonight is the finale in the theater and we're hoping to get seats to see the show.   The theater has been PACKED for both the 7:15 and 9:15 showtimes, though the 9:15 fills up much more slowly.   If you want to a good seat to the 7:15 you really want to be in the theater no later than 6:50.  For the late show, you can roll in at 9 and still get a good seat, but it will fill up before showtime begins.  

Thank you so much for all the info! I'm really excited now as a lot of this sounds right up our street. My DH loves his Disco so he will be very happy if all that is offered on our cruise. The magic and illusion shows sound great too.

 

We tend to eat around 6.30 so will be going to the later shows, thanks for the tips!

[mellon1]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 8:12 PM, hpeabody said:

 

 

I just got off Saturday.  It was Oscar Perego.

Thanks so much.