Crown Princess, what do I need to know?

[beachbum6264]

We booked the 1/26/19 cruise on Crown Princess. This will be our first Princess cruise, but #24 in all.  What do I need to know for sailing on Princess? What not to miss, what to avoid? What do I need to book before sailing, like shows? What's your favorite thing?

Thanks so much. I have found the roll call, and will join tomorrow. Thanks for any info.

[Shmoo here]

4 minutes ago, beachbum6264 said:

We booked the 1/26/19 cruise on Crown Princess. This will be our first Princess cruise, but #24 in all.  What do I need to know for sailing on Princess? What not to miss, what to avoid? What do I need to book before sailing, like shows? What's your favorite thing?

Thanks so much. I have found the roll call, and will join tomorrow. Thanks for any info.

We were on the Crown last November.  I liked the Encore show.  Not so much the Magic to Do show.  You don't book shows, you just show up.  On our cruise the shows were at 7:15 and 9:15.

 

I found the food in the main dining rooms to be quite good.  Actually much better than I've had before.  

 

Be aware, if you're on Traditional early dining, and are in the Botticelli dining room, you must go all the way to the aft elevators on any deck BUT deck 6, then go down to deck 6 from there (can't get there directly on deck 6).

 

 

[BoopTennis]

I enjoyed the Crown a lot last year. My absolute favorite part was the aft pool.  Hung there a lot, so relaxing watching the wake.  And a bar nearby

[skynight]

9 hours ago, beachbum6264 said:

We booked the 1/26/19 cruise on Crown Princess. This will be our first Princess cruise, but #24 in all.  What do I need to know for sailing on Princess? What not to miss, what to avoid? What do I need to book before sailing, like shows? What's your favorite thing?

Thanks so much. I have found the roll call, and will join tomorrow. Thanks for any info.

Some information:

Shows and activities, all walk in. Arrive 30 to 45 minutes early for production shows. Late evening shows are not as full.

Princess Patter: Read through it each day. It's also available on your smart device using Princess@Sea.

Live music around the ship every evening in the lounges. Crooner's is a popular place starting at 9pm.

No Charge food:

All DR's, open each day for breakfast and dinner and lunch on sea days. If you selected Anytime Dining on most voyages you can call the dining line in the morning for reservations, or you can just show up.

International Cafe open 24/7

Horizon Ct. Cafe Caribe buffet area all or some sections open 5am until late evening, 11pm or midnight. Never closes during that time.

Pub Lunch available some sea days usually in the Wheelhouse Bar.

Trident Grill and Pizza by the main pool open 11am until mid evening every day.

Room Service available 24 hours, no charge except for a full pizza which cost $3. Limited menu.

Afternoon Tea check Princess Patter for time and DR.

Surcharge Dining:

Crown Grill $29/pp. Sabatini's either $29/pp or $25/pp depending on which menu is served on the Crown. Can be pre reserved in the cruise personlizer or book on board. Same price.

Crab Shack, $29/pp held some evenings in a section of the buffet. Reserve on board.

Salty Dog Pub in the Wheelhouse Bar: $12/pp

Chef's Table, sign up on boarding day. Limited seating. I think it's $95/pp

Balcony Dining, breakfast or dinner. Call room service to make arrangements.

 

Like wine? Try Vines. Each person 21 and over can carry on 1 x 750ml bottle of wine at no charge for use in your cabin. Additional bottles can be carried on and are subject to a $15/bottle corkage fee. These bottles are marked and can be used anywhere on the ship. No beer or spirits allowed to be brought on for use on board. You can bring on as much water, soda or other non-alcoholic beverages as you want. Water is pretty inexpensive if pre-purchased in the cruise personlizer.

No signing out of towels. Need them for a beach excursion, get them from the Lido Deck or ask your cabin steward the day before.

Pools:

The Terrace Pool deck 14 aft and the Lotus Spa Pool deck 16 forward are adults only. But I think on your voyage there will not be very many youth.

Quite place to read? Check out Skywalker's, deck 18 all the way aft and Adagio Lounge deck 16 all the way aft.

 

[ponstad]

Thanks for posting info about the Crown Princess.  We were on the Regal Princess in 2016 and absolutely loved it. Our next Princess cruise will be on the Crown P - so we have the same questions as the OP! I understand that the buffet on the Crown Princess is not as spectacular as on the Regal - although I am sure we will not go hungry.

How is the coffee on the Crown?  

[saltydog77]

5 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

I enjoyed the Crown a lot last year. My absolute favorite part was the aft pool.  Hung there a lot, so relaxing watching the wake.  And a bar nearby

Is it still easy  getting into the aft pool, on the grand princess it was large steps and handrails brillant

 Jenny brown

[BoopTennis]

here was the aft pool on the Crown last feb...

 

[Diver2014]

We were on the Crown for 10 days in Nov and will be again next May for 12 days. We loved the ship. We’ll be in a port side Aft cabin near the Terrace pool next time because it’s quiet, adults only and the Horizon Terrace and a bar are right there, along with a hot tub above and Sabatini’s also close by. Be sure to try the sticky pudding dessert with warm caramel sauce in Horizon Court! The warm desserts are in the first steam table, not with the ‘cold’ desserts. There is a carving station in the Horizon Court for meats every day. Both port and starboard sides of Horizon court are the same.  We ate dinner in the Botticelli dining room every night except ‘specialty’ restaurant nights. We had early traditional dining that suited us just fine. Try the burgers and chicken tacos at the Salty Dog cafe.  I posted a complete review called Food for Thought Nov 2018 with most of my comments. You can’t go wrong with the Crown Princess. Some of the reviews I’ve read here on CC make me wonder if some people just like to complain because I can’t think of any reason not to give this ship a try.

[saltydog77]

2 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

here was the aft pool on the Crown last feb...

 

Thanks  for the photo, looks brillant.

[fishin' musician]

Just off her Sunday.   Compared to Regal/Royal the Crown it is looking a bit long in the tooth, in spite of a drydock last spring. Coffee in buffet is syrup variety... We found it OK with the exception of one spout, one time and that was horrible!    We found the food average... but all in all we had a great 10 days!  This was our 3rd time on the Crown.

 

Here is another pic of the aft pool as viewed from a few decks above.

[mellon1]

2 hours ago, fishin' musician said:

Just off her Sunday.   Compared to Regal/Royal the Crown it is looking a bit long in the tooth, in spite of a drydock last spring. Coffee in buffet is syrup variety... We found it OK with the exception of one spout, one time and that was horrible!    We found the food average... but all in all we had a great 10 days!  This was our 3rd time on the Crown.

 

Here is another pic of the aft pool as viewed from a few decks above.

Is Oscar still the Maitre 'd?

[fishin' musician]

Yes

[gotta cruise again]

15 hours ago, mellon1 said:

Is Oscar still the Maitre 'd?

 

11 hours ago, fishin' musician said:

Yes

 

fishin’ musician: did you have any interaction with Oscar and if so, what did you think?

Thanks!

[fishin' musician]

4 minutes ago, gotta cruise again said:

 

 

fishin’ musician: did you have any interaction with Oscar and if so, what did you think?

Thanks!

 

No interaction, but went to the always well attended cooking demo featuring the Maître 'd  and the Exec Chef in the Princess Theater on the last sea day.  He was a stitch.  I may have encountered him on other cruises.

[gotta cruise again]

41 minutes ago, fishin' musician said:

 

No interaction, but went to the always well attended cooking demo featuring the Maître 'd  and the Exec Chef in the Princess Theater on the last sea day.  He was a stitch.  I may have encountered him on other cruises.

 

Thanks! Previously, Oscar was a fixture on Pacific Princess so maybe you encountered him there. I’m just curious if his personality translates as well on a big ship as it did on the smaller, more intimate ship. Seems that maybe it does!

[mellon1]

3 hours ago, gotta cruise again said:

 

 

fishin’ musician: did you have any interaction with Oscar and if so, what did you think?

Thanks!

From what I hear he is an excellent Maitre'd.  

[capriccio]

OP - if you are doing traditional dining times they are 5:00 and 7:15 in the Botticelli DR and 5:15 in the DaVinci DR.  We found (on our December Crown Princess cruise) that those times were well synched with the main theater times of 7:15 and 9:15.

[$hip$hape]

Why, why do I constantly get a note from Cruise Critic that I'm not allowed to access this,

or other threads until I re-enter my password ?

[jagsfan]

1 hour ago, $hip$hape said:

Why, why do I constantly get a note from Cruise Critic that I'm not allowed to access this,

or other threads until I re-enter my password ?

The same reason I can come back in three days in a row without signing in again, but the next day I have to sign in each time I leave and come back on the same day. 

Every time programmers are let loose, tiny bugs creep in! 🐛🦟🕷🐞

[halfapair]

3 hours ago, $hip$hape said:

Why, why do I constantly get a note from Cruise Critic that I'm not allowed to access this,

or other threads until I re-enter my password ?

I cannot seem to get to the message boards on my cell phone or iPad. It keeps asking for my password and tells me it's wrong. It's not. I can only read the message boards on my laptop.

[ED49404]

On 1/6/2019 at 11:00 PM, beachbum6264 said:

We booked the 1/26/19 cruise on Crown Princess. This will be our first Princess cruise, but #24 in all.  What do I need to know for sailing on Princess? What not to miss, what to avoid? What do I need to book before sailing, like shows? What's your favorite thing?

Thanks so much. I have found the roll call, and will join tomorrow. Thanks for any info.

We are also on this cruise.  There is a Meet & Greet on Sunday.  I would suggest to go to the Roll Call section, look up the Crown and date, and you can sign up for the Meet & Greet.  You will meet fellow passengers that could answer many of your questions, also there should be a couple of ship board members hosting the event.  We have been to a few of these in the past and found them to be very informative and entertaining.