Crown Princess 2/24/07-3/3/07 Classic Southern Caribbean

[sjbj]

It is a long way from San Jose, California to San Juan so we flew in a day early and arrived at SJU at about 10:45pm. We made our own air arrangements with AA at pretty good rates. Taxis in SJU are easy. There’s a small orange booth outside baggage claim. Tell them where you are headed and they will write down a fixed price that you can give the driver. Then you wait in line for the actual taxi. We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan so the taxi was $28 for 2, 4 bags including tip. By the way, everyone in San Juan speaks excellent English. Language is a non-issue. We are Starwood Preferred Guests and booked the hotel using starpoints. We were upgraded to a suite. I have no idea why. My only regret is that we stayed less than a day so didn’t get to really enjoy it. The room was clean and looked recently renovated, new furniture etc. In the morning our French balcony opened to a beautiful view of the harbor and the cruise ships. The Sheraton is a 5 minute walk to Pier 4 where the Crown is docked. I would definitely recommend this hotel to others for convenience and location.

 

We spent Saturday morning walking around Old San Juan. I really like this area. We walked to the big fort on the point and spent an hour and a half there. Then we walked around the little narrow streets looking into shops and checking restaurant menus. I could easily spend a couple of days in this area just eating and shopping. Lots of nice things here, but because it was our first day we didn’t actually buy anything. We had checked out of the Sheraton and had our bags stored with the bell captain before our walk. One observation I’ll make about the hotel is that there are not enough elevators. It took 20 minutes to get one and we had to take it up to the top floor and then ride it down to the lobby. The lobby was kind of a zoo also between cruise people checking out and new cruise people just off the ships checking in. Only 2 ships were in port so I can’t imagine what it’s like with a full dock. Bottom line, give yourself plenty of time to get downstairs and check out. We did and while we were surprised at the activity we were not stressed about it.

 

We walked to the Crown about 2pm. Like I said it’s about 5 minutes if you’re ambulatory otherwise take a cab. It’s probably about as far to the dock from the Sheraton as from the dock entrance to the embarkation building, but at least you can check your luggage before that. Lines were pretty long but moved quickly. We stopped in the duty free store for some refreshments. San Juan calls itself a “hassle free” port and Princess has about the loosest alcohol policy of any cruise line I’ve heard of. Most cruise lines at least make you check your alcohol. All you have to do with Princess is put it out of sight in your carry on bag. No questions asked. We bought some soda and a very nice bottle of aged Bacardi. We were on board about 2:45.

 

Our cabin was C217 inside forward on the Caribe deck 10. I’m not crazy about inside cabins, but we got a really good price for this cruise so we made do. Princess cabins are small compared to Carnival which seems strange considering their positioning in the cruise line tier. I would not want to put more than 2 people in this cabin whereas Carnival cabins can comfortable accommodate 3 or 4. That said, since it was only DH and I it really wasn’t a problem. The little dressing area that separates the bedroom and the bath is a godsend. Everything is very functional, even the bath which seems tiny but works extremely well. Our cabin steward was Pan and he did a great job. The cabin was cleaned twice a day with chocolates on the pillows at night and ice in the bucket continuously. We gave him a little extra at the end of the cruise for all his attention.

 

The Crown Princess is huge. Our cruise was full so about 3100 pax were onboard. But we never waited for anything! There were no lines in port, no lines at dinner, no problem getting seats in the theater. What a pleasant surprise! The ship is beautiful and immaculate. My favorite places were Skywalker’s during the day when it’s empty, Explorer’s Lounge, Club Fusion and the International Café. The Crown’s Caribbean itineraries are very port intensive so I didn’t get to spend as much time on the ship as I’d like to so I’m sure I missed a lot of great places. The Crown would be a great ship to sail on itineraries with lots of sea days because it’s very roomy with lots of places to see and things to do. I wish I had spent time in the Sanctuary. I saw it on the first day but never got to go back. We liked going up to Skywalker’s with a book, reading and watching all the sea and dock activity, very relaxing. Explorer’s and Club Fusion have a really nice small club feel that I like a lot. The first night in Explorer’s we saw a very good Latin show with Juan Carlos Munoz, fabulous guitar. We didn’t discover the International Café until the last day. Brewed coffee is only $1 and the pastries, salads and Panini sandwiches were excellent, some of the best food on the ship. We spent 3 hours in the late morning and afternoon sitting, reading, drinking coffee and eating. This is the best kept secret on the ship. We spent almost no time on deck by the pools. Too many bad bodies and smokers out there and that’s just not my thing. By the way, there were almost no children on this cruise. I’m sure the timing was not good for school holidays.

 

We used the internet café every couple of days just to check email. The rates are $.50/minute with no packages of any kind offered. It takes up to 5 minutes to connect to yahoo email. It’s very expensive. Just checking email, not cleaning it up, no net surfing, cost us $40 for the week.

We saw several shows in the main theater. The production shows, Motor City and Destination Anywhere, were very very good. I was extremely impressed with the staging and talent of the performers. These very probably the best production shows I’ve seen at sea even compared to some of the Vegas shows. The comedian and the headline singer were okay nothing to rave about. The Caribbean band Voltz was very good. I thought the singer in the Wheelhouse was awful but the place was packed. Go figure. We attended the sailaway party out of San Juan but other than that we didn’t participate in the deck parties.

 

The food on the Crown ranged from good to excellent. Again, because our itinerary was very port intensive we did not eat a lot of breakfasts or lunches on board. Given the time I would have eaten more of those meals in the dining room. The buffets were basic. You won’t starve but there was nothing really extraordinary either. The seafood buffet on the first night was the best. The Café Caribe when it was open was usually better than the Horizon Court. My husband liked the pizza but I didn’t like it so much. There’s some spice that they use that I don’t care for, but I don’t know what it was. Dinner in the dining room was always good to excellent. We had anytime dining which I love. We ate between 7:00 and 8:00pm and never waited. We were always asked if we wanted to share or have a table by ourselves. We did about half share and half alone. When we shared we were always placed with other couples, not groups. I enjoyed talking to others about hometowns and activities. I agree with those who said Princess food is seafood heavy, but we love seafood so that worked great for us. The lobster was very good. I did have prime rib one night and rack of lamb another and both were also very good. One night we went to Sabatini’s and that was easily the highlight of our dining experience. Absolutely fabulous! The restaurant itself is as beautiful as any I’ve been to on land. As I mentioned above we really loved the International Café. Next time I would do breakfast and lunch here on sea days rather than the buffet. The only food complaint I have is the coffee. It’s horrible! It verges on being a deal breaker for sailing Princess again. I don’t care about lattes and mochas, but I need my brewed coffee in the morning and this stuff does not do it. The International Café coffee is good and for $1 I might settle for it the next time.

 

Our first port was Barbados after our only sea day. We arranged an independent tour with Glory Tours, Best of Barbados. It was supposed to include snorkeling but our guide, Ricky, said it was too windy to snorkel. Disappointing, but you can’t control the weather. There were only 8 of us on the tour that went to the Orchid garden, the wildlife reserve and all over the island. We had lunch at a local place with very good fried flying fish. I liked this tour a lot. We had never been to Barbados and this gave us a good overview of the island. Next time I’d like to try that turtle snorkeling that we missed.

 

The next day was St. Lucia. Again we booked an independent all day tour with Cosol. Cosol actually had 3 vans that day. Our driver/guide was Yellowbird, Cosol’s brother. There were only 8 in his van. The cool thing about this tour is that while there is a lot of driving, it’s broken up by stops for food tasting and sight seeing. So even though lunch is not formally included, we got to sample so many goodies that we didn’t need lunch. We got to try local bananas and raw coconut, Johnny cakes and fish cakes with banana ketchup and fresh baked bread. We saw the waterfall and orchids, the volcano, the towns and villages and the pitons. Probably the highlight for me was a stop at Jalousie resort to swim at the beach between the pitons. Very refreshing.

 

On to Antigua and Eli’s Eco Tour. Our tours just kept getting better and better. There were about 30 pax on this catamaran. The head guide was a young man named Francis who grew up in Antigua. The tour basically goes to all his boyhood haunts that he’s quite proud to show off. He also provides a lot of history about the sites we pass along the way. What’s nice about this tour in addition to the personal touch is that it’s more than just snorkel and booze. The first stop is Bird Island where you get to climb to the top for a 360 degree view of the islands. Next stop is Hell’s gate separating the Caribbean from the Atlantic. The climb to the top is a little tricky, wear good shoes, the rocks are sharp (Francis did it barefoot). Then we stopped for lunch and snorkeling near a reef with lots of fish.

 

On St. Martin we booked a ship excursion to experience a simulated American’s Cup 12 meter yacht race. This excursion can only be booked through the ship and is very popular. We had 4 yachts-worth of pax. This is quite a unique opportunity and an active tour. Everyone is assigned a job, but you can choose how active you want to be. Some people are grinders, some handle the winches, and some are cheerleaders or bartenders. I was a timekeeper. DH was a rear-stay grinder. There are scary moments particularly when the ship is on an extreme tack and you realize that the crew is clueless. Overall it’s very exhilarating especially when a small squall came through in the middle of our race (we won BTW). This was only a half day excursion so we took an afternoon island tour. Pretty low key after the morning’s excitement but since we’d never been to St. Martin we wanted to see more of the island. I loved Marigot where we got to stop and shop for about an hour. I could easily spend a week just on St. Martin sometime.

 

We had scheduled a tour of St. Thomas with Sonny Liston on our last cruise day. We overslept and missed the whole thing. You cannot tell day from night in those inside cabins. Sonny emailed me after we got back wondering what happened. I offered to pay him for the noshow but he wouldn’t take it. That gets points in my book and we’ll certainly book with him again the next time we’re in St. Thomas. It did give us a chance to see more of the ship. It was fun sitting up in Skywalker’s at 4:30 when everyone was supposed to be on board watching all the late cruisers with their loads of shopping bags running for the dock. People were still boarding at 4:45pm.

 

We had an 11:40am flight on disembarkation day so we had checked in with customer service to get early luggage tags. We were in group Orange 1, the first to be called at 8:15am. By the way, this itinerary goes through immigration in St. Thomas so you only have to go through customs in San Juan. It was a piece of cake. We got off, found our luggage, caught a cab and were at the airport at 9:00am. Our return flight was uneventful except we were missing a piece of luggage in San Jose. It came the next day and AA delivered it to us at home.

 

All in all a great cruise and I will definitely sail with Princess again even if I have to take my own coffee maker :).

[AliceJ]

Thanks for posting your review - very helpful.

 

Less than 3 weeks until we board the Crown ourselves!!:)

[scooter123]

sjbj:

 

Hi I think you guys are the family of four with the sunburned daughters. We were on Herod's tour in St. Lucia and on the Eco-Tour with you. Also husband and one daughter did Michael's spinning class.

 

I did the Sunday and Wednesday spinning classes always on the middle bike -- on the Eco-tour we were two couples -- sat on port side right across from Francis.

 

We had a wonderful cruise experience too. Glad to hear you had a nice time. Hope the girls survived their sunburn.

 

Christina

[sjbj]

No, that wasn't us, but I know exactly who're talking about. We were on at least 3 outings with the sunburned girls. We're a couple, mid-50s, DH is tall, I'm short.

[Jacqueline]

This is one of the most interesting trip reports that I have read in a long time !

Thank you so much for sharing it with us- you have a very nice style of writing which while informative, is also personal.

A question- what do they have for breakfast at the international cafe ? I am not a big breakfast eater but agree 100% on the coffee problem. This may be an excellent solution for me. After all it is just $7 a cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, Sunny is the best, sorry that you missed him.

 

We have sailed the Crown twice and loved it too. :)

[sjbj]

Jacqueline...thank you, the International Cafe has fresh breakfast pastries like croissants, danish, rolls, donuts, even cookies, in the morning. I had one of the best croissants ever there, no comparison to what's at the buffet or room service.

[makeup face]

Thank you for the wonderful review:D

[joyride]

Hi SjBj! We live out in Brentwood and I work in San Ramon, so we are close by. We are leaving for our Crown cruise in 5 weeks. Your review was very imformative and well written, thank you so much!

 

I have a question for you. You mentioned that you were able to buy some aged Bacardi at the duty free store at the dock. Last time we were in San Juan we visited the Bacardi plant and purchased some rum that was 8 years old (I think). How aged was the Rum you bought? I really liked the aged rum, it was smooth and you could pretty much drink it straight. I want to defintely buy some again to take onboard with us.

 

We went on Eli's Ecotour in Antigua a couple of years ago. It really was an awesome day - Antigua is so beautiful!

 

I could relate to you sleeping in and missing your tour in St. Thomas. That's what I do not like about those inside cabins, you really don't know whether it is day or night!

 

Anyway, it sounds like you had a great time - I am so looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Crown. Thank you for sharing your review with us, and let me know about the rum!

[play21cw]

GREAT REVIEW! Every review i read about the Crown makes me wish i had booked an earlier cruise. I am sailing the Crown in August out of NY, One of the stops is in San Juan, will i be able to purchase liquor and bring it aboard with out any issues?

 

 

Thanks,

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the great review. We too stayed at the Sheraton (only it was the Wyndham at the time) and were upgraded to a suite. It was awesome and the balcony faced the street and we could watch street performers. We stayed post cruise so really got to enjoy the suite and OSJ.

You are so right about the lobby. There were lots of cruisers checking out and in and luggage everywhere!:(

[Dixe Lee]

Wonderful review! Our itinerary will be different, but I loved hearing all about the ship - you were so detailed and even if you express some negatives, you did it in a nice way. Obviously, you enjoyed yourselves :)

 

Can you go into more detail about the International Cafe? You said that you really enjoyed it and that you would have done more breakfasts and lunches there if you had discovered it sooner. How much does it cost to eat there? Is seating a problem? Do you need reservations? What hours is it open? Appreciate, in advance, any info.

[sjbj]

Joy...The aged Bacardi in duty free was the 8 year old, very smooth. It was $12 for 750ml and $14 or $16 for full liter.

 

Dixie...The International Cafe is on deck 5 in the Piazza area. There's maybe 10 small tables in the immediate area but there are several other tables and lounges in the piazza area. Plus this is where the internal cafe and future cruise center is. Some of the items in the cafe have a price, most in the round display case. The items in the bakery-style cases are free. "Breakfast" items were there till about noon, then more lunch items like salads and panini sandwiches appear. The bad news is that by 4:30 or so, all the free items are gone except the cookies which is probably why we didn't stumble upon this place before, no time spent on the ship during the day. No reservations, it's counter service only. like Starbucks. The coffee line always had someone ordering something, but food requests could be made separately. It wasn't really crowded when we were there but it was a port day which might make a difference.

[Dixe Lee]

Joy...The aged Bacardi in duty free was the 8 year old, very smooth. It was $12 for 750ml and $14 or $16 for full liter.

 

Dixie...The International Cafe is on deck 5 in the Piazza area. There's maybe 10 small tables in the immediate area but there are several other tables and lounges in the piazza area. Plus this is where the internal cafe and future cruise center is. Some of the items in the cafe have a price, most in the round display case. The items in the bakery-style cases are free. "Breakfast" items were there till about noon, then more lunch items like salads and panini sandwiches appear. The bad news is that by 4:30 or so, all the free items are gone except the cookies which is probably why we didn't stumble upon this place before, no time spent on the ship during the day. No reservations, it's counter service only. like Starbucks. The coffee line always had someone ordering something, but food requests could be made separately. It wasn't really crowded when we were there but it was a port day which might make a difference.

 

Thanks so much for the info. We will have to try this. Have had a couple of others hint that this is a "must try" but not too many; maybe because it is not well known ? We don't mind counter service. Maybe a good change of pace. Usually after a week's cruise, we look forward to nothing better than a simple sandwich :)

[play21cw]

whoops

[sunandfunatsea]

Can you post in the member review section ? It was an awesome and well written review that deserves to be posted there. Thanks ;)

[willysgrandma]

Nice review. I am not a person who enjoys sea days, but when I was on the Crown, I agee with what you said - I would have enjoyed at least another day at sea because there was so much to do on the ship.

[Nana G]

Thanks so much for the great review! We will be aboard the Crown in 26 days---but who's counting! Reviews like yours make the wait seem even better.

[Sandytoes]

What a Wonderful Review....

Thanks for taking the time to post.

[MortgageChick]

So is the International Cafe COffee Princess answer to say Celebritys Seattles Best cofee? I cannot drink cruiseline coffee it makes me gag!

[Books]

Thanks for the wonderful review of the Crown & Classic Southern Carib. We will be doing the same cruise in a couple of weeks and it is our very first cruise. I do have some questions.

1. I believe the formal nights are Sunday and Thursday. Is one more formal than the other? I have a long dress and also a cocktail dress. Trying to plan which to wear when.

2. I know there has been a lot of talk about the AC in the cabins. How is it in the public rooms? I like to be warm and will bring a light wrap and also a thin cotton sweater but I'd be happier not to need them.

3. On embarkation day, are the dining rooms open for dinner or is everything at the Horizon Court?

4. How did you carry your important documents when in port? Did you take your passport with you in port?

Thanks for your help and anyone else who can reply.

[smcruzer]

Not sure if I'm doing this correctly. This is my first time on the website and I'm trying to navigate my way around. The review was very helpful. My Crown Princess cruise isn't until 11/10 and 11/17 but I'm anxious to read what others have experienced. I too am going down the day before and staying at the Sheraton Old San Juan. Long trip from San Francisco to San Juan. This isn't my first cruise but I'm always open to feedback from others. Keep the info coming. BTW....anyone out there on either of the above cruises?

[AbbyGirl]

1. Yes formal nights were Sunday and Thursday and in my opinion Thursday was more formal.

2. I thought that the AC was fine in the common areas but I wore a couple open back blouses/shirts and I was a little chilly. The AC in our room was ok until about 2-4 am when it seemed to get very stuffy and humid

3. Embarkation day - the dining rooms are open and the dress code is relaxed due to not everyone receiving their luggage

4. We only carried our passports to Barbados but we were never asked for them. We always had our license with us though... His wallet and my purse.

 

 

Thanks for the wonderful review of the Crown & Classic Southern Carib. We will be doing the same cruise in a couple of weeks and it is our very first cruise. I do have some questions.

1. I believe the formal nights are Sunday and Thursday. Is one more formal than the other? I have a long dress and also a cocktail dress. Trying to plan which to wear when.

2. I know there has been a lot of talk about the AC in the cabins. How is it in the public rooms? I like to be warm and will bring a light wrap and also a thin cotton sweater but I'd be happier not to need them.

3. On embarkation day, are the dining rooms open for dinner or is everything at the Horizon Court?

4. How did you carry your important documents when in port? Did you take your passport with you in port?

Thanks for your help and anyone else who can reply.

[lyntony]

We were on the Crown from Feb 17th to March 3rd. We loved everything about it.

 

We dance a lot (a whole lot), so we spent a fair amount of time in the Wheelhouse Bar. The music was not great, but it was much better than the "Cholcolat" duo who performed on the Caribbean Princess when we spent 3 weeks there a month earlier.

 

The Crown is a great ship and we had a wonderful time, but, for some reason, I still prefer the Carbibbean Princess. Maybe it was because we spent 3 consecutive weeks, but I think it is more than that. It seemed "friendlier" and the staff certainly appeared to be happier.

 

Lyndee and Tony

[rdytogo]

Not sure if I'm doing this correctly. This is my first time on the website and I'm trying to navigate my way around. The review was very helpful. My Crown Princess cruise isn't until 11/10 and 11/17 but I'm anxious to read what others have experienced. I too am going down the day before and staying at the Sheraton Old San Juan. Long trip from San Francisco to San Juan. This isn't my first cruise but I'm always open to feedback from others. Keep the info coming. BTW....anyone out there on either of the above cruises?

Hi,

Yes there will be 6 or 8 (2 still deciding) of us on the 11/17 cruise on Crown. We are a group of married couples and single ladies. (in our 50's and early 60's; very much young at heart.)

Have you visited the roll call area of this site?

Isn't this great; people sharing ideas, etc???

Liz