Crown versus Emerald - your thoughts please

[fluffyclouds]

If you have cruised on the Crown and/or Emerald, what do you think are the pros and cons of each? Which would you prefer to take on a Hawaiian cruise? The reviews we have seen are not particularly favorable, especially for the Crown, but perhaps we just came upon a bad batch. I see that the Discovery also goes to Hawaii, but we don’t particularly like that itinerary and have already booked the Discovery for another cruise (yeah!). Thanks for your insights!

[jaycruising]

We travelled on Crown in November and she did have a bad reputation as she had issues last year, but went into dry dock in October. We didn’t have any issues on our sailing, she was in good shape, no speed issues, but she is older so has some bumps and bruises. But I really like the layout of it. 
 

Cant comment on Emerald yet, we head out on her on Sunday. 

[fluffyclouds]

Thanks @jaycruising. Have a great time on your Emerald sailing! 

[startedwithamouse]

Same layout.  We have sailed on both.  Either one you'll be happy with.

[skynight]

They are sister ships. Basically the same deck plans. The Crown had max speed issues pre-covid. These issues probably repaired by now. 

[mtnesterz]

The Crown and Emerald are sister ships as @skynight pointed out. It comes down to where you want to embark and debark.  The Emerald will be out of Los Angeles, horrible airport and traffic, but great port, the Crown out of San Francisco, long transit to airport, and long wait to board, from what I've heard.

The immersion team is important to us. We like Elua.

But if what you care about is the ship, they are sisters. One is a year older, I forget which. You can look that up if it matters to you.

Edited April 14, 2023 by mtnesterz

[Coral]

The ships are identical. I think most pick the ship with Eula.

 

The Crown is a year older.

[snoozecrooze]

I have somewhat of a niche contribution.

 

Are you a frequent buffet eater or even just buffet visitor? If so, the Emerald is by far the better vessel. It has the new buffet design only seen on this class of ship on Emerald and Caribbean. A much more modern layout and a considerably larger variety of seating options. Personally, I do prefer the newer World Fresh Marketplace buffet concept compared to the existing Horizon Court concept so I would just go for the Emerald.

 

Otherwise, there aren't many other distinguishing features between the two.

[fluffyclouds]

Thanks for the comments everyone. We have not seen or heard of Eula; she seems to have a fan base. On our cruise to Hawaii in 2020 Tiki Dave and his wife were on board and we enjoyed their music and presentations.

We are familiar with LAX and the Port of LA. As @mtnesterz mentioned, the traffic is terrible, but at least we know the airport and what to expect.  We have never flown into San Francisco. 
 

@snoozecrooze We are not frequent visitors to the buffet, but typically stop by at least once.  It would be nice to check out the new concept.

 

 

[mtnesterz]

6 minutes ago, fluffyclouds said:

On our cruise to Hawaii in 2020 Tiki Dave and his wife were on board and we enjoyed their music and presentations.

That's them. Here's their schedule for '23 until August.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2866269-eluas-updated-hawaiian-schedule/#comment-63564266

[fluffyclouds]

@mtnesterz Ohhhhhhh, did not realize they are one and the same. They are very good and personable as well.

[tawlaw1526]

I just got off a 28 day cruise on Crown.  Yes it’s an older ship but they are taking great care of her.   We had a fabulous time.   I have been on 30 Princess cruises and I have to say the staff on the Crown Princess this cruise were by far the best crew EVER!   They went above and beyond all the time.  
 

[nini]

Because these are sister ships, the next thing to consider is the atmosphere and the crew. We loved our time on the Crown Princess with a real Skywalker's. That was in 2013. The Emerald in May 2022, was lacking in an upbeat classic friendly crew. Maybe that has improved.  

[travelin.sisters]

I just finished a live from our Hawai'i on the Crown in March & put a lot of details about the ship & the Hawai'i itinerary (link in signature if you are interested), but briefly, although there were some problems (there will be on any ship that age), we would sail on her again (haven't been on the Emerald so can't compare) we do much prefer sailing out of LA over SF, partly because we live here but also because it is much easier in our experience. 

[Coral]

6 hours ago, nini said:

Because these are sister ships, the next thing to consider is the atmosphere and the crew. We loved our time on the Crown Princess with a real Skywalker's. That was in 2013. The Emerald in May 2022, was lacking in an upbeat classic friendly crew. Maybe that has improved.  

And 6 months from now - more than half of the crew will be gone and most likely on other ships. One can't go off of this.

 

I was on the Emerald Princess in November 22 for 16 or 17 nights and we had amazing crew. No complaints and honestly - the crew I dealt with were amazing.

 

Both have a real Skywalkers. Is there something different?

Edited April 15, 2023 by Coral

[rcprncss]

12 hours ago, fluffyclouds said:

Thanks for the comments everyone. We have not seen or heard of Eula; she seems to have a fan base. On our cruise to Hawaii in 2020 Tiki Dave and his wife were on board and we enjoyed their music and presentations.

We are familiar with LAX and the Port of LA. As @mtnesterz mentioned, the traffic is terrible, but at least we know the airport and what to expect.  We have never flown into San Francisco. 
 

@snoozecrooze We are not frequent visitors to the buffet, but typically stop by at least once.  It would be nice to check out the new concept.

 

 

Consider Long Beach airport.  I know there aren't as many flights but this airport is so much easier to deal with and not nearly as much traffic.  If this is an option for you, I would look into it.  🙂

[nini]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

And 6 months from now - more than half of the crew will be gone and most likely on other ships. One can't go off of this.

 

I was on the Emerald Princess in November 22 for 16 or 17 nights and we had amazing crew. No complaints and honestly - the crew I dealt with were amazing.

 

Both have a real Skywalkers. Is there something different?

I understand that crew members transfer about. I am glad that you did not have a grumpy crew on the Emerald. We were "yelled" at by a crew member on the Emerald; this was the very first time. Crew was cranky. The bartender on the Grand (4 months later), told us that there are morale issues on the Emerald and he had recently transferred to the Grand. 

When on the Grand, the morale and atmosphere was much more upbeat.

That was our experience.

[wcflats]

I think 🤔 the crew experience is as subjective as the food….some great others not so much.  

[KreinKrunker]

It's a toss-up for us, they both have Adagio on deck 16.  Nice quiet, underused bar.  Great for before dinner drinks.

[suzyed]

37 minutes ago, KreinKrunker said:

It's a toss-up for us, they both have Adagio on deck 16.  Nice quiet, underused bar.  Great for before dinner drinks.

We love Adagio....one of our favorite spots on the ship!
 

We have been on the Crown 5-6 times and loved it almost every time.  The Emerald only once.
At this point in time, we might choose the Emerald only because the Crown has had the propulsion problems and many bouts of Noro. 

[suzyed]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:21 PM, skynight said:

They are sister ships. Basically the same deck plans. The Crown had max speed issues pre-covid. These issues probably repaired by now. 

Still had issues last summer when we sailed on her to Alaska.  So much so, they eliminated a port because we couldn't get there in time with the propulsion issues.... and the vibration...eeek!

[snoozecrooze]

Every ship can have propulsion issues; they're something passengers like us certainly can't anticipate. I don't think Crown has been demonstrating those issues recently after the dry dock last year, based on some recent reports, so I wouldn't make that the "make it or break it" factor in your consideration at this moment.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, snoozecrooze said:

Every ship can have propulsion issues; they're something passengers like us certainly can't anticipate. I don't think Crown has been demonstrating those issues recently after the dry dock last year, based on some recent reports, so I wouldn't make that the "make it or break it" factor in your consideration at this moment.

They actually slowed way down on their recent sailing returning from Tahiti....don't know what the issue was though.

[fluffyclouds]

Thank you everyone for your input. We are still a bit undecided, but need to move forward soon as options are becoming more limited. The deciding factor may well be the port as we are very familiar with Los Angeles, both the port and airport. 

[Yehootu]

On 4/15/2023 at 10:02 PM, suzyed said:

They actually slowed way down on their recent sailing returning from Tahiti....don't know what the issue was though.

We actually drifted for 30-45 minutes. There was a leak in a prop shaft cooling line that needed to be fixed. We arrived 14hrs early into Papeete to disembark a few sick passengers. After leaving Papeete, we did a 180 to head back toa position closed for a air pick up. It was then decided that it was to rough to do one so we did a left turn and headed to Nuku Hiva to drop off the passenger. With all this, we still arrived on time back into LA. I'd say the ship has no lingering propulsion matters.

 

See this was posted a month ago, looking at booking the Emerald for the first time and wanted to see if any big difference. Like that the buffet zoo is a better set up, and hope the beds have been replaced in the last 5yrs as i'm sure the one we had on the Crown was at least that old.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Yehootu