Food on the Crown Princess

[Treasure]

Hello fellow cruisers. We have been on many cruises but this is the first time on Princess. Was wondering if anyone can tell me what the food is like on the Crown Princess, buffet, MDR and speciality restaurants. We are doing an Alaskan cruise in June. Also has anyone stayed in a balcony cabin mid/aft on Aloha deck and have any comments on it. Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.😀

[marden1970]

Following - as we will be boarding her on 3/17/23.

[paulco]

The food was fine. Found it difficult to get a shared table at dinner, two of us,  long lines for mtd.  A bit of a mess. The maitrre d did apologize 

[jeromep]

A couple of tips about dining on Princess.  MDR dinner on embarkation night is often very crowded.  You may want to consider paying the cover charge for one of the specialty restaurants.  You are likely to get seated when you wish and the food will be excellent.  As the cruise progresses MDR dining gets a bit more organized, but it is important to note that you can make reservations through the app, for both the MDR and for specialty restaurants and avoid some of the confusion.  Also dining early there will be a wait.  If you dine later, say after 6:30, there are usually few lines in the MDR.

 

Now that there is no more traditional scheduled dining on board and Princess has moved to "Dine My Way" through the app, you may want to keep your eyes on the "hidden" dining room at the aft of the ship.  The aft dining room was always used as the traditional scheduled seating dining room.  Now that capacity ends up in the pool of dining room capacity, so if you are looking just to walk in and get seated for dinner, don't rely on the two dining rooms off the Piazza.  Take the aft elevators down to the lowest level and look in on that dining room.  Because it is out of the way, you may have a better chance of getting seated and avoiding a line.

 

Food quality and presentation is highly subjective.  You can scan the board here and find excellent reviews, poor ones, and plenty in between.  There is so much personal subjectivity in rating food on board that it is hard to say if a particular ship will be good, bad, or otherwise.  Generally speaking, I've never had a bad meal on Princess.  Ones that I wouldn't write home about?  Sure.  But nothing that has just been terrible.  And if you don't like something that shows up at the table, let your server know and ask for something different.  Cruises are too short to eat food that doesn't appeal to you.

 

Also, avoid the buffet on embarkation day at lunch or mid-day.  Everybody is there.  If you can get on board around noon, you can find a MDR that is open for lunch, and it is a nice relaxed way to begin your cruise.  If you get on board after the MDR has closed for lunch, then check out the International Cafe for soups and sandwiches.  I just don't like milling around with a bunch of people on embarkation day, at least any more than necessary, so I avoid the buffet.  It will be busy.

Edited February 21, 2023 by jeromep

[Treasure]

4 minutes ago, jeromep said:

A couple of tips about dining on Princess.  MDR dinner on embarkation night is often very crowded.  You may want to consider paying the cover charge for one of the specialty restaurants.  You are likely to get seated when you wish and the food will be excellent.  As the cruise progresses MDR dining gets a bit more organized, but it is important to note that you can make reservations through the app, for both the MDR and for specialty restaurants and avoid some of the confusion.  Also dining early there will be a wait.  If you dine later, say after 6:30, there are usually few lines in the MDR.

 

Now that there is no more traditional scheduled dining on board and Princess has moved to "Dine My Way" through the app, you may want to keep your eyes on the "hidden" dining room at the aft of the ship.  The aft dining room was always used as the traditional scheduled seating dining room.  Now that capacity ends up in the pool of dining room capacity, so if you are looking just to walk in and get seated for dinner, don't rely on the two dining rooms off the Piazza.  Take the aft elevators down to the lowest level and look in on that dining room.  Because it is out of the way, you may have a better chance of getting seated and avoiding a line.

 

Food quality and presentation is highly subjective.  You can scan the board here and find excellent reviews, poor ones, and plenty in between.  There is so much personal subjectivity in rating food on board that it is hard to say if a particular ship will be good, bad, or otherwise.  Generally speaking, I've never had a bad meal on Princess.  Ones that I wouldn't write home about?  Sure.  But nothing that has just been terrible.  And if you don't like something that shows up at the table, let your server know and ask for something different.  Cruises are too short to eat food that doesn't appeal to you.

 

[Treasure]

Thank you for all the information much appreciated.

[3JCruiser]

We're on board the Crown right now doing a 15 day Hawaii and the food and service have been excellent.

As Jeromep mentioned food and presentation is very subjective but I havent heard one complaint onboard. DMW is a bit of a nightmare but the dining room waiters work really hard to get everyone seated at their preferred table size. We've been given the same table for 2 for the whole trip and have had no issues.

Dining room was not open for embarkation lunch, however International Cafe worked well.

Can't comment on the buffet as we avoid going upstairs. Dining Room has been busy at both Breakfast and Lunch. International Cafe is also very busy and the only problem has been trying to get seated in the Piazza to eat or drink.

 

After a not so spectacular post Covid dining/service experience on the Grand last year, after over 35 saiings with Princess we fully expected this to be our last trip with them, but to their credit they have really knocked it out of the park on this ship. We are well pleased !

Enjoy your trip to Alaska.

[Yehootu]

10 hours ago, 3JCruiser said:

DMW is a bit of a nightmare but the dining room waiters work really hard to get everyone seated at their preferred table size. We've been given the same table for 2 for the whole trip and have had no issues.

What dining room are you in, and what time did you set up in the app? Are you in a table for 2 with the park bench crowd seats.

Going to be sailing on her soon.

 Mahalo

[phoebe2m]

We were on the Crown Hawaii cruise that returned February 15th. Very happy with the food! The MDR, buffet, International Cafe, and the pizza/burgers on Lido deck. Only complaint was MDR dinner service was slow usually 2 hours so it was difficult to get to the 7:30 show. One time we had to skip dessert to make the show. We noticed that tables for 4 got faster service than tables for 8. Also they did not have any cakes made from flour. All the "cakes" were pudding or mousse in all locations. No donuts either but the IC had amazing cinnamon rolls and monkey bread as well as muffins. Princess offers no steaks in the MDR (unless you pay extra) just in Crown Grill. We had lobster 2 nights and it was excellent. Also the Pub Lunch was in the MDR two times. The burgers on Lido deck were so good! We rarely eat burgers but they were so good we ate there several times. The made-to-order omelet station did not open until 7 a.m. and the scrambled eggs were cold by the time I got them to the table. 

[3JCruiser]

On 2/21/2023 at 5:56 AM, Yehootu said:

What dining room are you in, and what time did you set up in the app? Are you in a table for 2 with the park bench crowd seats.

Going to be sailing on her soon.

 Mahalo

Da Vinci, set up for 7:40 in the app, then hostess at Da Vinci ammended it to 7.30. Not park bench seating, we dont like those, set up at a regular table

[jaycruising]

We stayed in A638 in November, standard Princess balcony cabins, super comfortable beds, only thing that I didn’t like was the motion lights under the bedside tables and in the closet. Recommend bringing something to cover those. 

[Kineticoh20]

A tale of two ships. We were on the Crown in Jan for 10 days. Food was pretty awful as was the service and wait times. If you wanted a burger on deck 15 it was a 30 to 45 min wait, an omelet at buffet would show up 30 min or more . Lines for dining were long and alas the food quality was poor. Just off the Discovery and in a word Amazing, food and service were top notch. Buffet was best we ever encountered with 4x the selection and imaginative dishes.

[marden1970]

Hi Phoebe2m - We'll be on the Crown in a few weeks, was the pub lunch listed on the daily patter or just on the posted menus?  Thanks.

[phoebe2m]

1 hour ago, marden1970 said:

Hi Phoebe2m - We'll be on the Crown in a few weeks, was the pub lunch listed on the daily patter or just on the posted menus?  Thanks.

It was in the Patter (2 times on 15 day cruise). 

[Yehootu]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:03 AM, 3JCruiser said:

Da Vinci, set up for 7:40 in the app, then hostess at Da Vinci ammended it to 7.30. Not park bench seating, we dont like those, set up at a regular table

Are there alot of 2 top tables that have both push in chairs. Do u remember what your table # was.

[3JCruiser]

4 hours ago, Yehootu said:

Are there alot of 2 top tables that have both push in chairs. Do u remember what your table # was.

 

Only a few that have push in chairs, table 441 is at the back of da Vinci, quiet area with 2 great waitresses..Angeleth and Joyce !

 

[Yehootu]

17 hours ago, 3JCruiser said:

 

Only a few that have push in chairs, table 441 is at the back of da Vinci, quiet area with 2 great waitresses..Angeleth and Joyce !

 

Thank-you!