Crown review - Feb. 10th-17th (will be long, be warned)

[nikita]

Hi everyone! We are home now and I will start my probably too long review...(I am notorious for writing them long). I will write this in parts and will probably finish it tomorrow or later so are you in for the long haul?

 

We started our vacation by flying to Puerto Rico one day early. We arrived at the San Juan airport around noon and collected our luggage. Then we looked for our shuttle driver who was supposed to meet us there from the hotel we booked. We booked the Westin Rio Mar with my husbands points and booked the shuttle for $60 apiece roundtrip. I know that sounds expensive but it is about a 45 minute drive and the cabs were $90 one way so we saved. We had to ask about our shuttle and we were directed outside where we found it. We sat there waiting for another plane to arrive but that plane must have been coming in late so they were nice and put us on a different shuttle - I thought that was a decent thing to do as we were looking forward to having almost a full day at the beach. We made it to our hotel around 45 minutes later and were able to check into our room. A beautiful suite but no balcony. If we had to do it over again we would've asked for a balcony - we missed not having one. We hit the beach - it was beautiful!! There were some waves which we enjoy and you could rent boogie boards if you so desired. The chairs were wicker and very comfortable. This is a nice hotel and a great pre-cruise destination if you have Sheraton points. Otherwise I believe it is very expensive but if you want to splurge I would suggest going here - just for the beach itself. Also the rainforest is very close and there were tours you could take. It was just a short drive to the rainforest. We didn't do this as we just wanted to relax.

 

That night we hit the casual restaurant at the hotel called Marabellas (I think?) Our appetizers were not very good - I believe they were called the Islander platter - so don't order them. My husband had steak and I had steak Diane which was very good. We both enjoyed our main course at this restaurant.

 

We asked for late check out at this hotel the next day and hit the beach again. I didn't go in the water past my knees either day due to the fact that I am very sensitive (or a wimp) when it comes to cold water - that is the one thing about this vacation that I didn't like - the water was a bit too cold for my taste - even though it was between 75-80 degrees everywhere we went -well, like I said, I'm a wimp. But my DH had no problem and felt it was on the warm side. We met our shuttle to the pier at 2pm and we were the only ones on it. Our driver drove too fast on the freeway but was very friendly and nice. We arrived in Old San Juan and hit a bad traffic area where our shuttle hit another car - not too bad but there was some damage to the other car so we got stuck there for a while while the police came etc. Since we were barely moving at the time of the accident we weren't jarred by this at all. Just bummed to be held up when we were so excited to get onto the ship. About 45 minutes later we were on our way to the pier. When we arrived - I believe it was about 4pm and there were absolutely no lines at all and a breeze to embark. We went directly to our mini-suite - well not directly because we had to find our way there but once there we were pleasantly surprised - a beautiful room on the dolphin deck, starboard, room #617. We met our room steward Antonio who was so fantastic the whole week!!! We tipped him extra due to his excellent service. He quickly brought us our complimentary glasses of champagne which my husband drank and enjoyed since I'm not a drinker. Then we were off to explore and find the buffet. This is the main complaint of our whole cruise - the Horizon buffet - it has been said before and I'll say it again - it is a crazy set up. No one knows what way to go and people are bumping into one another and you can tell some were irritated. This was the one and only time I visited this area due to this fact. I did not need this irritation on my vacation and there were many other food options. Also I did not think the food was that good - but like I said, I never went back. I think Carnival, and RCCL definately beats out Princess in this area. Oh by the way a bit about us - this was our 8th cruise, second on Princess (back in the 70's Love Boat era), one on RCCL (the Explorer), and the rest taken on Carnival (last June on the Valor being our last one). We are in our early 50's and were traveling alone without our kids. We never tried the Caribe so can't comment on that.

 

Well I hope this isn't too detailed and boring but don't say I didn't warn you. I have to sign off now but will get back to you later. Thanks for reading.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks and looking forward to "the rest of the story". :)

 

This is one of the reasons I prefer the dining room, and only snack in the HC. ;)

[dirubbo]

We are going on the Crown on March 3rd so any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks

[Bustaty]

Nikita, appreciate your time in writing review. Look forward to the rest.

 

Now my question for you seasoned Princess Cruisers and particularly those that have been on the Crown. Nikita, as have many others pointed out the 'setup' as being awkward in horizon court.

 

Can the configuration not be changed? Would it mean a complete overhaul? One would think with such a lovely, new ship, they could get the buffet area of Horizons in good order. Just asking......will not have the pleasure until summer to see for myself.

 

Thank you:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Nikita, appreciate your time in writing review. Look forward to the rest.

 

Now my question for you seasoned Princess Cruisers and particularly those that have been on the Crown. Nikita, as have many others pointed out the 'setup' as being awkward in horizon court.

 

Can the configuration not be changed? Would it mean a complete overhaul? One would think with such a lovely, new ship, they could get the buffet area of Horizons in good order. Just asking......will not have the pleasure until summer to see for myself.

 

Thank you:)

 

It would mean a complete overhaul/design change as the stations are anchored to the floor. I don't see it as that bad, and I am not a big buffet fan. We sailed the Crown twice as well as all the other Grand Class ships and the design is pretty much identical on all the Grand Class ships. :)

[Clutterlady]

The Horizon Court is set up in stations, not a long buffet line. You can bypass stations if there isn't anything there you want and go to another. I personally like the stations instead of having to go through a long buffet line and wait untill someone makes up their mind about what type of dressing they want on their salad:p

 

But, if you are not used to stations, it can get very confusing..........some people understand how to navigate them right away, some not for the whole cruise! Would be nice if Princess put a brochure in every cabin with an explaination on how to properly use the "stations"!

[bdjam]

From my experience with various Horizon Courts, it seems the confusion doesn't last past the first couple of days of the cruise - people get the concept after a couple of tries. When I compare the ease of the Horizon Court set up with having to stand in line on Regal or Pacific Princess because of their buffet set up, the advantage to the Horizon Court arrangement becomes clear.

[plantlady104]

As the food quality is subjective, it seems HC setup has people on both sides of the argument. For our family, HC was never a problem. The setup is always the same for lunch or bfast, so most people should have gotten the layout by the second or third day, you would think. Basically, the hot items are on the inside stations, where the staff are located. The two center stations have salads/breads. The two periphery stations had desserts and fruit. Yes the space could be larger to allow better movement, but during the normal busy times, HC was open on both sides. One side only during later hours. I still preferred it to one line where you always have to wait and follow those who are slow. HC allows you to go to the stations you want to go to. I just checked over the selections and then proceeded. Never had to wait, and never seemed to be an issue in bumping into people. For bfast, you can also go to Cafe Caribe, which never was crowded, and had almost the same amount of items.

[Clutterlady]

Please except my apologies, don't mean to hijack this thread.

 

Thank you plantlady!! If you're not used to stations the Horizon can be a bit confusing. People need to realize that there are "stations". You don't need to stand in line.........and yes, there should be more room in between stations to elivate the congestion!:D

[nikita]

Thanks to all those who commented. Maybe I should have tried the buffet later on in the cruise to see if it improved. Anyhow - the idea of stations is a good one if the flow of traffice was going in one direction - however people on the first day were very confused and I do believe they thought people were cutting in front of them and this led to dirty looks and comments - hopefully it did improve over the week.

 

After the buffet we did some exploring and ended up in a lounge (maybe the Explorer lounge?) and saw a Latin Show. We both enjoyed it - The main guy played the flamenco guitar extremely well and also had some really good dancers and also used humor. This was before the ship set sail - I think the show started around 6pm or so and lasted around an hour.

 

After that we explored some more and went back to hang out in our cabin. At this point we did not have a good view from our balcony but I think port side had a lovely view. We relaxed a bit, did the dreaded lifeboat drill at 8pm, (painless) and then went to dinner - I think around 8:30pm. FYI - every night we went to dinner we did not have to wait. I think around 2 or 3 times we were handed a beeper thingy and they said "15-20 minute wait" but it went off before 5 minutes were up. We ate at different times every night but usually between 8-9pm. We always asked for a table for 2 but were offered to eat with others. We were on a cruise to spend time together so always stuck with the table for 2. We both loved the concept of anytime dining and would sail princess again for this alone. Also, the MichaelAngelo dining room on deck 6 was always more crowded and due to a review I read on CC I knew to walk down one floor to deck 5 to the DaVinci - this worked beautifully - especially on the first formal night where there was a pretty big line on deck 6 and absolutely none on 5. The first night we had good service and our food was good. I had prime rib and it was excellent - my DH had the Tornadoes of beef which are available every night - he was very pleased with them and ordered them again a few times more. We thought that the food was better on the Crown versus the Valor - but not by a whole lot - and it seemed on our last cruise that Carnival had improved their quality - so needless to say we were pleased with the quality and also the variety of food offered in the dining room. We never ate breakfast or lunch in the dining room so can't comment on that. We did try the burgers and also the pizza on our sea day - burgers were good and the lines weren't bad at all. In comparison with the Valor - the lines were rediculously long for burgers and we were trying to figure out the difference - maybe because they didn't offer the burgers all day on the Valor and the Crown had long hours for burgers (I think offered all day and through part of the night) Anyways so the Crown wins in this area hands down. The pizza - well we believe it was better on the Valor - but was ok and once again - no lines to get it on the Crown. I also tried room service one time - had a club sandwich - nothing to write home about but sufficient, with very fast service. I tipped the girl $2 (fyi).

 

After dinner we went to the welcome aboard show in the theater. The show started at 10:15 and we arrived at 10pm because I was afraid of not finding a seat. I shouldn't have been afraid - there were many seats available and throughout the week we never saw a packed theater. The show that night was a little taste of the singers and dancers, the CD Tim introduced himself and also a bit of comedy by Steve Morris. The show was just ok - and we were disappointed that they didn't finish before the ship started sailing - we wanted to be up top or on our balcony for that. We considered that bad planning and hope that isn't always how it goes. After the show we went to the deck party which was really quite fun - with a live band and dancing. They were handing out raffle tickets to the dancers so we joined in (I had to pull my DH out there!) It was very fun and festive atmosphere. The cruise staff were great with the passengers - getting them to join in and have fun. They were all great! The band was the Carribean style band but could also play just about anything. This band I think called "Voltz" were the best band on the ship. There was another band that played on the sea day and throughout that we thought were awful!! The male singer had about the worst voice we've ever heard. I think it must be hard to find and contract bands for cruises so I guess that is the problem. Not the lifestyle that people want to live for months at a time. But we did enjoy Voltz anytime we heard them and the lead singer was a fantastic performer - very talented dancer as well as singer. For the raffle they raffled off gift certificates for alternative dining, artwork, and spa treatments. Of course we did not win any of these but that's ok - I got DH to dance and that's what counts!

 

After the deck party I wanted more dancing so I pulled DH into the disco - Skywalkers. We had a hard time finding the entrance but weren't alone - there were others following us and us following others who also didn't know how to get in. Finally we found the entrance and went in. Sad to say they were playing mostly R&B or rap which we weren't familiar with - I'm sure we were probably about the oldest ones in there though. I do like some R&B but most of the songs as mentioned we hadn't heard before. We danced a few songs and then left. The disco (oh whoops, I was told I'm not supposed to call it a "disco" anymore but "nightclub". Excuse me.) was really nice inside. Later during the week they had 70's and 80's dance parties in there and I'm sure we would have been more in our element but we didn't go to them. One thing I want to mention about the entertainment - there was always something going on and I believe that is why the theater was never crowded - things to do all the time and this was different then Carnival and RCCL which seem to schedule things so you can do it all. I think there are pros and cons to both systems - I like to do it all but also like the fact of keeping the crowds down in all the venues. I guess that's up for debate. I loved the fact that we didn't have to worry about finding a seat in the theater and not having to go 30 minutes before the show started - that is a plus for sure. But I did want to see some other shows that were scheduled at the same time as the theater shows. Oh well. I do believe I favor the Princess way.

 

After we left the disco it was time for bed. We went back to our beautiful cabin which had a very comfortable bed. Speaking of the cabin - we thought the AC worked fine and actually since I am usually cold we had it turned up to almost the warmest setting all the time. DH was comfortable as well and never complained. About the blow dryer - I have shoulder length, fine hair and it worked ok on my hair - if you have longer hair or thick hair - bring your own. I loved the way the closet was set back in a separate area - which made it a little dressing area. We were supplied with two robes which I enjoyed. I asked for an extra beach towel daily and was given an extra 2 which made me happy. Our balcony was uncovered which didn't bother me much but DH didn't like it not being private. So next time we will try for maybe a half covered half uncovered which were right above us (Caribe deck) or just a covered. I kind of liked being able to look up at the sky and also to have some sun during the day but it wouldn't bother me if it was covered either. The safe in the cabin worked fine for us. It does start beeping if you don't keep it closed so we would take our things out and close it, organize them and take out what we wanted, then open it up again and put them in - this was simple and worked well as we had no problems all week. The pillows didn't seem like feather to me and were fluffy. I don't like fluffy pillows so ended up sleeping without them after the first few nights. I wanted to bring my very deflated flat pillow from home but after packing realized there would be no extra room for it. Anyways if you don't like fluffy pillows - you should try and make room for your own. I really didn't mind sleeping without one though, and my neck felt better in the morning.

 

Stay tuned for Sunday - our only seaday.

[Bustaty]

Great job. Really enjoying your review:)

[scooter123]

Please write more, we leave Friday to catch the Crown on Saturday 2/24. Really enjoying your detail. We too are on Dolphin in D709, so I suspect we won't have a covered balcony either. Glad this won't be a surprise. Did you go to the gym or the spa?

 

Christina

[nikita]

Please write more, we leave Friday to catch the Crown on Saturday 2/24. Really enjoying your detail. We too are on Dolphin in D709, so I suspect we won't have a covered balcony either. Glad this won't be a surprise. Did you go to the gym or the spa?

 

Christina

 

Glad you're enjoying my very detailed review. Sorry, we didn't use the gym or the spa - just too busy or lazy or both. But peeked in the gym and it looked real nice. I will write more tomorrow and hopefully finish before you go on Fri. I'm jealous!!

[1 cruise]

Please write more, we leave Friday to catch the Crown on Saturday 2/24. Really enjoying your detail. We too are on Dolphin in D709, so I suspect we won't have a covered balcony either. Glad this won't be a surprise. Did you go to the gym or the spa?

 

Christina

 

I did the Spa and loved every minute of it. Very pleasant and everyone seems to enjoy what they are doing. Also, the Gym was a great place to get off the food that you seemed to crave all the time...any other questions, just off the Crown on Feb 4....:o

[nikita]

We slept in on Sunday and didn't rush to do anything at all. Once we woke up we saw it was a beautiful day outside. We got up and went to the lido deck to relax in one of the chairs and lay in the sun. I believe it was around 11am when we went up there. Mission Impossible was the movie on but we bypassed that area - although even if we wanted to watch - there weren't anymore seats left at that time (where you had a decent view). Speaking of MUTS - there were many places where you would have a good view (if you claimed them early enough) Later on in the week i sat on the side and could still see the screen perfectly. Also to note - later on in the week after we came back from an excursion we went up there to watch "You, Me and Dupree". We really couldn't hear the sound very well - not well enough to understand what they were saying 100% of the time - we just sat there straining to hear - but another couple watching asked a waiter if they could turn up the sound - and it got turned up - so don't be like us - ask to have it turned up if it needs to be turned up.

 

As I was saying - we bypassed MUTS and went to the pool where the music would be playing. No decent seats left there either which didn't surprise us. We went up two levels and took seats up there - the only bad thing about this area was it was super windy. But we stayed up there and just held onto our items so they wouldn't blow away. For lunch we tried the pizza and burgers. That was the day that horrible band played but it didn't bother us all that much - we enjoyed our day out there regardless.

 

After the sun we went back to the room and relaxed some more on our balcony. It was smooth sailing that day and actually the whole cruise was pretty smooth sailing. Yes, we did feel a little motion at times but my DH and I love to feel it - we like to know we are on a cruise - especially at night when we are sleeping - we love to be gently rocked. We are not prone to seasickness but I didn't see a single person that had a problem all week. That of course doesn't mean there wasn't any - but we just didn't witness it.

 

The Captains cocktail party was scheduled for 7:15 and we wanted to go so we got on our formal duds and departed our room. We stopped off at a few photo stations and had our portraits taken. One photographer in particuliar seemed to really be into his job. He would fix everyones jewelry, hair, etc before taking the photo. We did buy 3 photos of different poses throughout the week and I must say I thought it was very expensive - $25 for a 5 by 7 print. On Carnival it was $20 for one 8 by 10 print. I think they should lower their price but of course they probably won't since they sell a ton of photos anyways. There were also photographers throughout the week taking photos in the dining room - we would pass on those. And of course every port (except St. Thomas) as you departed the ship you would have to pose for the photographers. This annoys me as it holds up the line of people behind you but we just pose and get it over with. We didn't buy any of those poses though but I'm sure others enjoy them.

 

After taking photos we joined ithe party in the atrium/piazza area. There were waiters passing out free cocktails and appetizers. I did notice them taking drink orders for anyone not wanting the cocktails they had - I believe they would bring them to you free as well. I had a few appetizers and they were ok. The string quartet was playing nice music during this time and later they introduced the Captain and crew - we weren't there for that but I heard it going on. I believe we had gone onto dinner at that time. I can't remember the menu that night - but it wasn't lobster night. That came on Thurs. for the second formal night. I believe I might have had the swordfish -and it was good. As mentioned before - we thought the food in the dining room was pretty good all the time. The desserts were just ok - but I expected that as I've never had great desserts on a cruise. We didn't miss the fanfare that Carnival provides with their meals - and while I'm at it - we didn't miss all the Bingo games they push as well, ANOTHER BIG PLUS FOR PRINCESS!

 

AFter dinner we went to the show Destination Anywhere - this is one of the 2 production shows they have during the week. It was very well done and we got a good seat only being there 5 minutes early. We were both impressed with the dancers, costumes and sets. Also they had 4 lead singers, 2 male, 2 females instead of the usual 2 and they were all pretty good singers. We go to Broadway quite often and thought this show - although not Broadway quality was very well done and entertaining. Our last cruise on the Valor - well, honestly the shows were pretty bad and the lead female singer was not good at all which really didn't help matters - so we were pleasantly surprised.

 

After the show I went to the internet cafe to email home. It was 50cents per minute and I was not offered any deal for using a certain amount of minutes. I was surprised that there wasn't one offered but maybe you had to sign up somewhere else for it? I'm not sure - I just swiped my car and the internet came on and away I went. I emailed everyday and probably gave them a pretty penney by the end of the cruise (I never did add it all up to get one total). To me it is worth it to be able to communicate with my kids and to know that everything is alright, so I didn't mind paying for it. I know there were people using the internet cafes only on the Islands but for me I didn't want to do that as I would have rather been shopping or laying on a beach somewhere. I never had to wait for a computer as there were plenty and also they have hand sanitizer to use - which I did going in and coming out. I didn't see a lot of people using it though much to my disappointment. Speaking of hand sanitizer - it is everywhere but wasn't being pushed. I guess there wasn't norovirus on our ship which was a great relief.

 

My DH went to the casino to play roulette during the time I was on the internet and enjoyed it. We are not big gamblers at all so the only thing I could tell you about the casino is that smoking isn't allowed until after midnight - but that also wasn't being enforced. We noticed no smoking signs in all the lounges as well with the exception of Skywalkers "Nightclub" (not "disco") where there is a smoking and a non-smoking section.

 

I went back to the cabin and watched a movie on tv. I was very pleased with the selection of movies in the cabin throughout the week and watched about 4 movies at different times. I believe tonight I watched Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed it.

 

Stay tuned for Monday our day in Barbadoes.

[plantlady104]

Enjoying your enjoyment. Try the aft pool, we really enjoyed the quiet and adult only environment. Funny, they showed the same movie on our Sunday sea day as well back in Dec/Jan.

[A Sixth?]

The Horizon Court is set up in stations, not a long buffet line. You can bypass stations if there isn't anything there you want and go to another. I personally like the stations instead of having to go through a long buffet line and wait untill someone makes up their mind about what type of dressing they want on their salad:p

 

But, if you are not used to stations, it can get very confusing..........some people understand how to navigate them right away, some not for the whole cruise! Would be nice if Princess put a brochure in every cabin with an explaination on how to properly use the "stations"!

 

I agree, the set up is a big improvement over the robot assembly buffet line norm.. If someone is lingering over one station, people bypass it and go onto something else until it frees up. We never felt frustrated by slow pokes in the Horizon court.

[doodlesmommy]

I am enjoying your review - and getting more excited about my Crown cruise in May!!

 

This may be a silly question but I really want to know: on the TV in your room, do they have a channel that plays Caribbean music all day?? When we were on the CB, there was a channel that showed boat/cruise info all day with caribbean themed music in the background. I loved it!!! When we were on Carnival last year, they had the same type channel but they played Top 40 music. DH says it is silly but the music keeps me in the "cruise attitude".

[peterv]

The Horizon Court is set up in stations, not a long buffet line. You can bypass stations if there isn't anything there you want and go to another. I personally like the stations instead of having to go through a long buffet line and wait untill someone makes up their mind about what type of dressing they want on their salad:p

 

But, if you are not used to stations, it can get very confusing..........some people understand how to navigate them right away, some not for the whole cruise! Would be nice if Princess put a brochure in every cabin with an explaination on how to properly use the "stations"!

 

I'm never quite sure why people wait behind others as they stand undecided at a buffet line. Have you never heard of going around if the way is clear? :confused:

 

Would you wait endlessly on a road if someone in front of you stopped to read a map, or decide on a turn? :confused:

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Clutterlady]

Have you ever tried butting in line..............oh my gosh!! The ugly looks and verbal abuse is not worth it to me:eek:

 

Tried excusing myself once just to get a pat of butter..........I'll never do that again:D

 

PS: Love your review Nikita............will be on the Crown in 2008!!

[nikita]

I am enjoying your review - and getting more excited about my Crown cruise in May!!

 

This may be a silly question but I really want to know: on the TV in your room, do they have a channel that plays Caribbean music all day?? When we were on the CB, there was a channel that showed boat/cruise info all day with caribbean themed music in the background. I loved it!!! When we were on Carnival last year, they had the same type channel but they played Top 40 music. DH says it is silly but the music keeps me in the "cruise attitude".

 

While channel surfing I never came upon a music channel. Maybe there was one but I just never came upon it. I know what you are talking about on Carnival ships - they have a great music channel which I listened to while getting ready for dinner every night. And I also love Caribbean music and love to hear it while on a cruise. Maybe they had it but I didn't find it. Sorry that I'm not much of a help - maybe someone else knows.

[nikita]

Well now, I really should be cleaning the house, getting the oil changed in the car, picking up some contacts at the eye drs but instead I'm here writing my review. It is hard to get back into the swing of things. At least I did 45 minutes on my eliptacal machine to try and make up for all that eating I did last week.

 

On Monday we woke up to a bit of rain. Not a downpour mind you but just cloudy and raining a bit. This scared us as we had a really cool excursion planned. We had booked the Silvermoon Catamaran cruise and were looking forward to it. I tried not to be too pesimistic about the weather knowing that showers usually blow off soon in a tropical place. We never did eat breakfast - not one day, so don't know how they were. We were always still full in the morning from eating dinner the night before.

 

So we had docked about 7am I believe and people were already getting off the ship. We had to meet our guide at 9am and so we went down to deck 4 and immediately disembarked. No crowds at all . FYI - we were told to carry our cruise cards which you had to punch each time you disembarked and embarked, and also a photo ID. We carried our passports with us. It sure was nice that all our ports were at docks. That was a plus on this cruise!

 

We were told to meet our people at gate #2 so we found gate #2 and asked the man there if he was with the Silvermoon and he pointed over to a lady that wasn't even near gate #2 so we went over and asked her and she was the correct person. Now, this isn't the first independant tour that we've done and everytime we take them we have a bit of a hard time finding our contact. That is my only complaint about independant tours - for some reason they are hard to find. I wish they would hold a big sign with the name of the tour or our names so we can't miss them. Maybe that's just been my experience though. Anyways we found them and after a few minutes were directed to a bus which took us to a harbor area where the Silvermoon was docked. This is when I met "Muscleman" and his wife who I had contact with on the Roll call boards. It was nice to meet them and talk with them on this excursion.

 

The Catamaran was beautiful - in wonderful condition and the crew superb!! I can't say enough about this tour and how much we enjoyed it - I would highly recommend them - and the price was not bad ($100 each) for the whole day and we were catered to the whole time "would you like something to drink?" They would serve you drinks anytime - and like I said - you didn't have to ask - they would ask you. I believe rum punch, sodas, water, and beer were available all through the day.

 

The weather cleared and it was gorgeous. First we went to swim with the turtles. This was very fun although there weren't a lot of turtles - about 4 or 5 but they were being fed so they would come up right to the boat. I might mention that the water was a bit cold - and even though I'm a wimp I wasn't the only one who thought so. But we all braved it and enjoyed ourselves in the water with the turtles. My DH got some great shots with his underwater camera. Also I want to mention that there is a limit of 12 people on this excursion so it is not packed with people and very intimate. We saw the Silvermoon II and it has a limit of I think 28 - they looked like they were having fun as well, just more people and of course a bigger catamaran for them. The Silvermoon II is less expensive so if you can't afford to do the one we went on I believe (from what I witnessed) that this one would be a good choice as well.

 

After the turtles we went to a shipwreck for some snorkeling. I didn't get off the boat this time since I told DH to tell me if it was worth having to get into the cold water. He knew what to compare it to since we have seen some fantastic snorkeling in Nassau and Cancun and I told him if it was like that to let me know. He never came back for me so I knew I wouldn't have thought it worth it. Now this is just me - most people, especially newbies to snorkeling probably would have thought it wonderful. I saw the photos DH took and there were many, many fish - so knowing that I'm a wimp when it comes to cold water and that I've probably been to the most beautiful places of snorkeling that there possibly could be - that is what he judged it on. I just hung out on the cat and sunned myself and enjoyed it tremendously.

 

I think after that we had lunch (or before?). It was delicious. They served us flying fish which DH loved. It was the way it was cooked - flattened and deep fried with a teeny bit of a spicey batter. Reminded me of some abalonie I have eaten many years back. Also barbeque chicken, salad, garlic bread, and delicious mac and cheese. Later on they served some hot banana bread, and pina colodas (I asked for virgin and was gladly accomadated).

 

I think we stopped at another location to swim or snorkel but I just can't remember. The excursion lasted from around 9:30am-2:30am and like I said - it was well worth every penney we spent on it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Especially a good deal when I compare it to the excursion we took in Antigua which cost $170 - but I'll get to that later.

 

After we returned to the dock we went back onboard the ship to clean up and then back off to shop a bit. There was shopping right off the ship and also some of the flea market type shopping which is where we headed. I bought a heart necklace for $10 (didn't try to get them down) and a barbadoes hat for $8. Also I bought a 6 pack of diet coke for $6 (16oz bottles) since I didn't buy a coke card. That was about all we saw that we were interested in so we went back to the ship and watched off our balcony as people returned to the ship. We loved having our balcony as the ship set sail and enjoyed hanging out there everyday just watching the scenery go by. My DH enjoyed watching the pilot boat unload and load and thought that was very interesting.

 

We went to dinner around the same time - sometime between 8-9pm and enjoyed it whatever it was. Afterwards I believe we just came back to the cabin and watched a movie or something. DH fell asleep since he had a diving excursion the next day in St. Lucia and wanted to be well rested. I had booked his diving excursion through the ship, the only tour we booked through Princess.

 

Stay tuned for our day in St. Lucia (have to get some of that mundane stuff done now!!)

[muscleman]

Hi Nikita, what a nice review. It was nice meeting you and your husband on the Silvermoon also. Remember we talked about the disco thing (-: Is it call a night club? You guys did so much on the cruise. This vacation we decided not to do much of anything but the beach. I can't write a review because we didn't do anything but relax.

[nikita]

Hi Nikita, what a nice review. It was nice meeting you and your husband on the Silvermoon also. Remember we talked about the disco thing (-: Is it call a night club? You guys did so much on the cruise. This vacation we decided not to do much of anything but the beach. I can't write a review because we didn't do anything but relax.

 

Yes, the "disco" thing is all about the conversation we had with you. So funny that I feel so old calling it that but I think they will always be "discos" to me. We did the beach thing in St. Martin and St. Thomas. Sometimes that is just the right thing to do - not to be rushed and just enjoy the scenery (especially on Orient Beach - haha!) More of that later. Sorry you had a such a bad experience with your hotel in SJ and also on your flight. Finally we are warming up today but it was hard coming back to all that cold. At least we are tanned for the time being though!

[nikita]

Did what I could with my house and now its back to reliving my fun week!!

 

Tues. we were in St. Lucia and as mentioned DH had a two tank dive planned. He had to meet in some lounge at 8:15am and returned a little after 4pm. I had planned just a relaxing day on the ship and a bit of shopping in the center right on the dock.

 

I woke up and went shopping and there were some nice shops right there. The usual jewelry and clothing shops but also linens and pottery as well. I ended up buying my DD a sterling silver bracelet with 14kt gold turtle in the middle. She is crazy for turtles and I couldn't resist. This bracelet brand was called "Caribbean bracelt co." or something like that. It was $159 and that was the bottom price. I walked out and said "I'll think about it" and walked back in within a few minutes. Like I said - I couldn't resist. I was glad when I compared the price to the same thing in St. Thomas which was listed at $199 (but maybe they would've went down? I didn't ask there). I also bought DH a hawaiin shirt and me a coverup dress - I bought the clothing in one of the more expensive boutiques - expensive being the dress was $42 and the shirt $40. I could have found a different shirt and dress for half or less but I really liked the style and color of these items so decided the price was worth it to get what I wanted.

 

After shopping I went back to the stateroom and ordered room service. After enjoying my lunch I went up to MUTS to watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was the newer version which I hadn't seen yet and I really enjoyed it. It was so cool just sitting out in the beautiful atmosphere watching a movie like that. Since everyone was in port there were great seats to pick from.

 

As mentioned before - DH got back a little after 4pm. We were supposed to be back onboard the ship by 4:30 that day and he really wanted to get a Tshirt that said "dive St Lucia" when he went diving but hadn't brought enough cash with him - so he hurried off and tried to shop for one off the dock there - I didn't think he could do it but he was successful and returned to the ship by 4:30pm. It was ironic because people kept walking onboard for over an hour after that. We didn't leave until 6pm - but I know we were told to be back onboard by 4:30pm. I couldn't believe how many stayed past that and didn't seem to be bothered by it. I would have been so scared to be left behind but maybe they knew something I didn't know. We enjoyed another departure on our balcony and got treated to a beautiful rainbow as we sailed away from the beautiful Island of St. Lucia. The Island looked to be the most lush and mountainous of any of the others we visited and we would like to go back and explore it more someday.

 

My DH loved his diving trip and said it is in the top of his list for the best diving anywhere he's been - if not #1. Others on his dive said they had dove in Barbadoes the day before and that St. lucia was a ton better - so if you are trying to decide which Island to dive - he highly suggests St. Lucia.

 

I can't remember exactly what we did that night - of course we went to dinner and then maybe that is the night we tried to see a comedian (British) in the Explorers lounge but were too late and just had to listen in a seat accross from the lounge. Even though we couldn't see him - he was very funny and we enjoyed just listening to him.

 

We had a surprise letter from Princess customer service when we got back to our cabin. It said that we weren't allowed to use our balcony for the next 3 days as they had to do emergency repair work above us and it would be dangerous, from 8am-5pm, and to compensate us they gave us six 1/2 day passes to the Sanctuary...ok, the more I thought about that the angrier I got. After discussing what we should do, if anything, we decided to see how inconvenienced we were (since we were going to be in port the next 3 days) and take it from there. Well it turned out we weren't inconveinced at all and on Thurs. we received another letter stating that they had credited our account for $375. They had figured the difference of two days between an outside room and mini-suite balcony - which is what we thought they should have done in the first place. So the work only took 2 days and not 3 and we were compensated and not put out at all. We were extremely happy that they made this right and also that we hadn't made a big deal out it - but I think obviously someone else had. We found out through the second letter that they had replaced those big panes of shattered glass on deck 16 which had been in need of repair for forever according to these boards. I am very pleased with Princess for the compensation we received.

 

We also received a notice that they would be doing a mass wedding vow renewal on Wed. at 7:30pm in the Piazza area due to the fact that it would be Valentines day. We changed our reservations at Sabatinis from 7pm to 9:30pm because we wanted to be a part of this. It was our 25th anniversary of my DH proposing to me and thought this would be a wonderful way to celebrate.

 

Off to sleep and onto St. Martin.