Review: Crown Princess, 02/24/07. Grade: A

[SC_Sam]

Just returned from a week on the Crown Princess (02/24/07-03/03/07). We had a wonderful trip. The weather was super – the only rain was a brief shower on the day we were on St. Maarten.

 

The crowd aboard consisted of a significant number of Brits, many of whom were doing back-to-back weeks. Overall, everyone was quite personable and got along well. Even with a full ship (3200 passengers), there were usually seats available for shows, and no problems with chair hogs by the pools. It is a very friendly ship, even more elegant than the Caribbean Princess, which we love.

 

Embarkation: A

We flew into San Juan a day early and stayed at the San Juan Embassy Suites. We left the hotel at 11:00 a.m., were at the port by 11:30, and were on board by 12:15 p.m. The ship was docked at Pier 4. The cruise terminal was very clean and well-lit.

 

When we arrived by taxi, porters were readily available to assist with checking in baggage. We, of course, tipped $10 to make sure the luggage made it onto the ship. Luggage arrived in the room about 4:00 p.m.

 

Note to the drinking crowd, once you check in, but before you have your carry-on bags screened, there is a liquor store. They even give out samples. They widely announce you can take on alcohol, because the screening is done by a private security company, not Princess personnel. My taking on three bottles of Bailey’s greatly reduced my bar tab for the week.

 

Ship: B+

As one would expect of a year old ship, it is in excellent condition. Even with being only a year old, the regular maintenance of repainting the hull, varnishing railings, repairing worn carpeting, etc., was occurring on almost a daily basis. My only complaint regarding the ship echoes others’ I have read online: The air conditioning in some areas does not appear to be very effective. Particularly in our cabin at times, it was very stuffy. At times, the elevators were stifling, as well.

 

Cabin/Cabin Steward: D-

The cabin steward was a major disappointment. His name was “Dodo”, which was an apt description. When we first checked in, the beds were in twin configuration, as opposed to queen as specified in the reservation. There was no contact information for the steward in the room, and he was nowhere to be seen in the hallways, so I called passenger services to ask that the beds be changed. Several hours later, the beds were still in the same shape.

 

Finally, I found the steward in the hallway and explained the problem. He apologized profusely and gave the excuse that he had just started his new contract on the Crown. He said he had previously worked on the Dawn, so I expected him to quickly get up to speed. He did not.

 

When we returned to the cabin for the first evening, the beds were in queen configuration, to our relief. When we climbed in, we thought it a little odd that there two twin-size duvet covers. I figured, what do I know, it’s different from home, don’t want to be a complainer, etc. DW and I finally figured out that it worked better if we turned them ninety degrees to how Dodo left them on the bed. Two nights later, we were delighted to find that we didn’t have to re-arrange the bed covers, in that we had been provided a queen-size duvet cover! (Sometimes we’re a little slow…)

 

Two days into the cruise, Dodo brought our robes we had requested when making the reservation. (Sometimes we’re a little slow…)

 

Five days into the cruise, a lightbulb in the nightstand lamp blew. I found Dodo in the hallway and told him about so that he could change the bulb when making up the room for the evening. When we came in that night, no lightbulb change. DW actually took out the bulb and left it on the nightstand as a reminder. After servicing the bed the next morning, still no lightbulb change. I called passenger services, and the bulb was changed a few hours later. Still, no one ever replaced another bulb, this one in the ceiling over the desk.

 

We had to point some trash under the desk that had been left by the previous occupants. When we tracked in sand from our beach visits, he never vacuumed it up.

 

We were in a Junior Suite on Lido Deck, # L218. This is on the port (left) side, somewhat near the front of the ship. While it was much quieter than our last Lido Deck cabin (L306), it was still noisy, mainly in the middle of the night with items scraping above us. The only source I could surmise was cleaning the spa or something like that. Anyway, DW has now decided we need to move up to a mini-suite, so I guess this won’t be an issue in the future.

 

Captain: A+

The Captain was Andy Proctor. We had read online that he was a wonderful, personable captain, and we were not disappointed.

 

Cruise Director Staff/Entertainment: A+

The Cruise Director was Tim Donovan. We had sailed with Tim on the Caribbean Princess last year. He is one of our favorite cruise directors in the business. We were thrilled when we boarded and read in the Princess Patter that he was the CD. His staff of Patrick, James, Jay and others did a good job of keeping everyone entertained.

 

Regarding entertainers, we loved comedians Steve Moris, Uber Rossi, Lorenzo Clark, and Adam Ace. We danced to the music of Voltz, whose members hail from various islands in the Caribbean, but whose name and music repertoire were so similar to Vibz on Caribbean Princess that it is obvious that Princess dictates the playlists, etc. Still, they were good.

 

We saw several of the production shows. They were some of the best we’ve ever seen, either on land or at sea.

 

Spa/Gym: A+

DW and I were actually quite diligent in our use of the gym. I worked out all 7 days, and DW ran a total of 19 miles on the treadmill during the week. Michael and Stephen do a great job as the fitness instructors.

 

We also made good use of the massage therapists. I got the traveler’s massage (i.e., shoulders, back, etc.) offered on the first day, and met JJ, a great masseur from South Africa. I enjoyed my massage with him so much, DW and I skipped the normal couples massages in favor of back-to-back massages later in the week, both with JJ. Even better, he didn’t try to sell us any products!

 

I also made frequent use of the steam room and sauna in the gym changing room. On the last day, the steam room was out of order, but other than that, it was great.

 

Food/Dining: A+

We like Anytime Dining because we don’t like sitting with other people, and we vary our dining times according to the evening shows, etc. The first night, we went to the Da Vinci Dining Room on Deck 6. We were seated at a table for two along the wall, very private and quiet, next to a wait station. Our waiter was Arnulfo from Mexico, assistant waiter was Buek from Thailand. They were incredibly friendly and charming, and gave us the best service we’ve ever had. We enjoyed them so much that as we left the dining room after dinner, I told the Head Waiter Claudio that we would like to have the same servers and table the next night.

 

Claudio said no problem. Apparently, you can call for reservations in the anytime dining rooms, but not at the peak times. Claudio told me to come back when the dining room opened at 5:30 the next afternoon, tell him what time we wanted to come in, and he would take care of us. It worked perfectly. Some nights, we would eat at 7:00, some nights as late as 8:30. Every night, we would walk in the door, Claudio would be seating other people (who had used the beepers), and he would say as he breezed by, “Your table is ready, go right ahead”. We never had to wait, and has superb service. It really was the best of both worlds, with the familiarity of the same servers every night, but with flexibility to accommodate our schedules.

 

For breakfast, we always went to Horizon Court. For lunch, I usually got something from Trident Grill by the pool. DW would usually get a salad from Horizon Court. Most nights, we made a late night visit to Caribe Café for fries or chips.

 

Overall, the food was very good. Some dishes are better than others, and nothing would be considered gourmet. DW is a vegetarian, and always found menu items which were pleasing to her.

 

Ports: A+

Note: We didn’t do any excursions, so I can’t give any guidance that way.

 

Barbados: We wandered around town for a while, then responded to one of the many taxi driver solicitations. We scored a great driver, who took agreed to take us on an hour and half long tour for $70. The island is beautiful, and the guide/driver was very personable and informative. He delivered us to the beach about a half-mile from the ship. The beach was nice, commercial (with jet-ski rentals, bars, etc., but it was still enjoyable. We did, however, get offered some “good smoke” to buy. First time that’s ever happened to us on 6 cruises. (We politely declined.)

 

St. Lucia: Again, we wandered a while and then took a taxi tour. This driver was not as good a guide, but did take us to a historic site that was on top of a mountain. There was a guide there to give a tour that was wonderful. The view was spectacular, with the Pitons in the distance, rainforests in one direction, oceans in another, the city in another. He showed us a “Mimosa” flower, which closes up when touched.

 

Antigua: We did a little shopping, visited Hemingway’s Restaurant, and then went back to the ship. We were tired of touring, and ready just to crash by the pool for the day.

 

St. Maarten: Our third trip to St. Maarten, so no sightseeing. Our favorite island in the Caribbean. We took a taxi to Orient Beach, stayed all day. Drank a fair share of beer purchased from Willie at the Perch Bar. Heaven on earth…

 

St. Thomas: Again, our third trip to St. Thomas, so no sightseeing. DW loves the knock-off purchases. Went back and crashed at the pool.

 

Tipping:

We did “regular” tipping. Because of the poor job of the steward, we did not tip him anything additional. We tipped our waiter an additional $30, the assistant an additional $20, and the head waiter an additional $20. There was also a beverage server at the pool named Robert, who we knew from a previous tip on the Caribbean Princess. We gave him a little for being so attentive to us as we basked by the pool.

 

Conclusion: Grade A

Crown is a great ship, with a good “vibe”. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering a cruise vacation

[we2cruze]

Great review. We did the Crown B2B in January with some friends who are Brits.:) We too had a great experience. Sorry about your room steward. We've had great room stewards, good room stewards and one who was a DoDo. A DoDo can be an inconvenience, but as you've proven, he/she doesn't have to wreck your whole cruise.

[karena1]

Leaving April 7th on Crown. Thanks for the review and the tip about the booze. I did not want to pack rum for hubby (since my luggage will be full of beer packed all the way from Orlando), so was going to buy it at Sam's once we get to San Juan. Since you said I can buy it right there, that is what I will do. I remember them doing that in 2004 when we cruised on RCCL but had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

Can't wait to go!!

[makeup face]

Thank you for the review:)

 

I hope I don't get Dodo for my cabin steward:eek: :eek:

[bickee]

I'm on the Crown in October and hearing you say that it was more elegant than the CB made me excited because that was my all time favorite ship! Did you visit Vines or the International Cafe at all?

[SC_Sam]

DW likes a wine that is not available at the bar, so I had a few trips to Vines to get her a glass of wine at non-dinner times. The bartender at Vines was so good - I ordered one glass one night, went back in two nights later, he remembered the

 

We did not visit the International Cafe. We saw it from a distance, and the food looked wonderful.

[Canuck Cruzer]

Thanks for the review! 5 more sleeps until I'm on!

[Mack42306]

thanks for the review... do you remember what night was Caribbean night?

 

Also, what were your thoughts on san Juan? (even though you were only there for 1 night.) Did you eat at anyplace interesting for dinner?

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review. :)

 

DoDo!!! :D That is so funny!!

 

The only thing I would have hated is Lorenzo Clark, can't stand him. I think he could do his routine with his eyes closed, I could do his routine with my eyes closed!! :eek:

 

Does he still show his self gratifying movie clip of himself befoe he starts??

[SC_Sam]

thanks for the review... do you remember what night was Caribbean night?

 

Also, what were your thoughts on san Juan? (even though you were only there for 1 night.) Did you eat at anyplace interesting for dinner?

 

According to the Princess Patter, Caribbean night was Wednesday, when Antigua was the port of call.

 

San Juan was interesting, but expensive. We just wandered around for a while, walking along the coast outside the city wall. We were both pretty tired and since our hotel was out near the airport (and had an Outback Steakhouse in it), we just ate there. (Glamourous and exotic, huh?)

 

FWIW, my sister and niece went to San Juan for 4 days last fall on vacation and loved it. Said there were lots of great restaurants, visited the rain forest. We were just too tired to do much.

[SC_Sam]

Great review. :)

 

DoDo!!! :D That is so funny!!

 

The only thing I would have hated is Lorenzo Clark, can't stand him. I think he could do his routine with his eyes closed, I could do his routine with my eyes closed!! :eek:

 

Does he still show his self gratifying movie clip of himself befoe he starts??

 

I don't remember a movie clip. He was doing a joint show with Uber Rossi, so maybe he had to cut some of the act.

 

I think repeat acts of comedians are generally repetitive (which is not to say that they might not have different shows for different nights of the cruise). I suspect it takes years to develop 45 minutes worth of material, when you don't have a team of writers like Leno and Letterman, etc. to feed you fresh material.

 

Even though I think Steve Moris is hilarious, his show was virtually the same as it was last year on Caribbean Princess. Still, I LMAO, and at a party after we got back, copied his dancing like the gopher off Caddy Shack to get a few laughs.

[Crown08]

When we returned to the cabin for the first evening, the beds were in queen configuration, to our relief. When we climbed in, we thought it a little odd that there two twin-size duvet covers. I figured, what do I know, it’s different from home, don’t want to be a complainer, etc. DW and I finally figured out that it worked better if we turned them ninety degrees to how Dodo left them on the bed. Two nights later, we were delighted to find that we didn’t have to re-arrange the bed covers, in that we had been provided a queen-size duvet cover! (Sometimes we’re a little slow…)

Thank you for that! I needed a laugh this afternoon. I'll pray that we don't get Dodo next year!

[sunandfunatsea]

We sail on March 24th..

 

I keep looking at the weather and it has said scattered showers almost daily for weeks now.

 

Thanks for the review..you shold post it in the review section !!!

 

Thanks for the info !!

 

Jim

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us. I love reading others experiences. I look forward to sailing the Crown someday. Too bad about Dodo (an easy name for all of us to remember) - You're right it fits him! Glad everything else seemed to be great!

 

Kaye

[jdaa]

So how was the Embassy Suites? We're staying there next month post-cruise.

[willysgrandma]

I hope you left appropriate feedback on the feedback questionaire about Dodo.

 

Did Lorenzo CLark play the ridiculous 10 minute video of himself with celebrities before he came on?

[Sandytoes]

Excellent review.... Enjoyed reading it.

 

I thought the A/C was comfortable...Did not need a cover-up....As on other ships.

I would go back on the Crown in a heartbeat....

We liked our waiter very much, that we reserved him for the week....Never did I have a problem waiting.... Our table #417 was always available to us.... Felt like a real Princess.... Extremely nice service....

 

Glad you enjoyed your Crown Cruise....

[SC_Sam]

So how was the Embassy Suites? We're staying there next month post-cruise.

 

It was fine, just expensive like everything else in San Juan. It is a few minutes from the airport, and about 25 minutes from Old San Juan and the cruiseport. Taxis are regulated, but not metered. For example, from the airport to the hotel was about $12, then an additional $0.50 per bag for each bag over 2 (or something like that). To get to Old San Juan is about a $20 cab ride. You get the picture.

 

Check-in at the Embassy Suites was a breeze. A wonderful bellman named Jaime met us at the cab, unloaded our luggage onto a luggage cart, escorted us in, assisted us with check-in at a self-service check-in kiosk, and then took us to our room.

 

Our room had one bedroom, plus bathroom and sitting area with desk/table and another TV. Everything was clean and well-kept. My only complaint about the room was that in order for the bedroom to be kept cool, you had to set the thermostat as low as it would go, so that the unit would run all the time. As a result, the bathroom and sitting room got rather too cold. Oh well, we were only there one night...

 

They serve complimentary drinks (cheap house brands, of course), in the atrium/lobby area at night. With all the pre-cruise folks present, it was a pretty lively crowd. They also serve complimentary breakfast in the same area in the morning. I had an omelet, bacon, etc., and it was not too bad.

 

There is an Outback Steakhouse in the lobby, which is where we had dinner the night we were there. It was on par with most Outbacks, so a fairly safe choice. It is rather small, so we had to wait about an hour. They give you a beeper so you can go into the lobby or casino. It won't reach to your room, so they told me when I asked.

 

The casino is not as nice as on the cruise ships, but the slot machine was more generous. I should have stopped there...

 

There is also a bar in the atrium (separate from "manager's reception" area). They had a latin music group playing for the crowd.

 

The pool behind the hotel is large and beautifully landscaped. (In fact, my sister and niece vacationed there for 4 days last fall. After visiting the beach the first day, they spent the rest of their sunbathing time at the hotel pool area). The beach is a couple of blocks away, as is a Walgreen's drugstore, Burger King, etc. I walked to the drugstore in the morning and felt very safe. There were lots of joggers and walkers out and about.

 

We checked out a little before 11:00. I called the switchboard for a bellman, but after about 10 minutes, just went downstairs. The same bellman Jaime was working. He passed by as he was taking a cart of luggage out for someone, asked if I was ready to check out, and said he would be right up, which he did. He took us downstairs, hailed a cab (there were always a few waiting), loaded us up, and we were on our way. It took about 25 minutes to get to the port.

 

I'd stay there again. Although expensive, it was significantly less than the Sheraton, which is just across the street from the pier. You may want to periodically check the web for price drops. I checked about two weeks before our cruise and there had been a $30 price drop. Not much when you consider that with taxes, one night cost over $300, but I guess every little bit helps.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sam

[SC_Sam]

I hope you left appropriate feedback on the feedback questionaire about Dodo.

 

Did Lorenzo CLark play the ridiculous 10 minute video of himself with celebrities before he came on?

 

Feedback: Oh yes, I wrote an "earful."

 

Clark: No, I don't remember a video. Another poster also asked about it, so it must be pretty bad. He did his show with another comedian, I think Uber Rossi, but it may have been Adam Ace (how quickly we forget, and my Patters are at the office). Regardless, no video that I remember.

[willysgrandma]

Lorenzo Clark was the second worst comic we saw on the Crown. He had this awful video he played for the first 10 minutes of his show with him and about 6 B celebrities that played the same few clips over and over and over...

 

I thought I was the only one who thought it was ridiculous until we went to one of the lounges later on and heard other people complaining, too. We actually wrote something on the comment cards at the end of the cruise about it. Maybe we saved you for having to endure the same thing, LOL!

 

Glad he was better on your ship.

[drakes2]

We sail on the Crown on March 31st doing the Southern Caribbean Explorer Itinerary out of San Juan. Is there anywhere to purchase wine before embarkation. I really don't feel like packing wine in my suitcase all the way from Canada. Also, anywhere to purchase water to bring onboard?

Lorenzo Clark was the second worst comic we saw on the Crown. He had this awful video he played for the first 10 minutes of his show with him and about 6 B celebrities that played the same few clips over and over and over...

 

I thought I was the only one who thought it was ridiculous until we went to one of the lounges later on and heard other people complaining, too. We actually wrote something on the comment cards at the end of the cruise about it. Maybe we saved you for having to endure the same thing, LOL!

 

Glad he was better on your ship.

[willysgrandma]

There is a liquor store right at the pier when you embark.

[SC_Sam]

We sail on the Crown on March 31st doing the Southern Caribbean Explorer Itinerary out of San Juan. Is there anywhere to purchase wine before embarkation. I really don't feel like packing wine in my suitcase all the way from Canada. Also, anywhere to purchase water to bring onboard?

 

From the review: "Note to the drinking crowd, once you check in, but before you have your carry-on bags screened, there is a liquor store. They even give out samples. They widely announce you can take on alcohol, because the screening is done by a private security company, not Princess personnel. My taking on three bottles of Bailey’s greatly reduced my bar tab for the week."

 

They had some wine there also, although (of course), not the wine DW likes.

[ebonybee]

We were sailing from RCCL pier in PR. We bought so much alcohol and wine at the pier store it was ridiculous! I'm a Asti Spumante fan and purchased the MR brand for $5.00 a bottle. Purchased a bottle of Baileys and they gave you the next smaller size free. We took it on in full view of security. At the top of the ramp after taking pictures-there was a table where "security" asked if you had alcohol "to check"--we said "no-not to check." we had already been x-ray'd prior to this entering the ramp.

 

It was so much fun standing there to see how many people volunteered their alcohol for checking-not many.

[JoAnneNYI]

Hey Karen--you may want to check the Crown roll call for apr.7th. It is pretty active.

JoAnne