Crown Princess May 12, 2007 Review

[speakertosuits]

Crown Princess Caribbean Cruise

May 12 – 21, 2007

Summary: We had a very enjoyable cruise and we would consider Princess again, however, at 3,100 pax, we found the Crown Princess to be more crowded than other ships we have sailed. On the plus side, a larger ship has more activities and space to spread out the pax. On this sailing, the Crown sailed at full capacity.

 

 

Background: We are a late 50s couple; white collar professional types with no kids. This is our 24th cruise; mostly Holland America (“HAL”), Celebrity, Norwegian and Princess. We have cruised in the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, transatlantic and Hawaii.

 

 

Pre-Cruise: Being 10 minutes from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal (“BCT”) with no traffic, we finished packing Saturday morning and took a car service to the BCT about 11:30. The BCT has a much better setup to receive pax than the New York Passenger Ship Terminal on 12th Ave. Like a modern airport, there are multiple lanes for dropping off pax in front of the terminal. While very few and far between, there is a yellow taxi line across the roadway. There are also waiting areas for limos and vans to pickup returning pax, a passenger pick up area just east of the BCT and a separate bus depot. Luggage handling is quick and efficient (a few bucks never hurt either). Inside the BCT, you first clear security, fill out a form declaring that you do not have health issues and then go to the check in line. There are multiple lines serving multiple check-in kiosks. Port personnel will direct you to the shorter line and then to the next available kiosk (usually). Within 15 minutes, we were boarding the Crown. Here, the boarding process slowed down due to Princess’ own check-in system. Still, we dropped our carry-on luggage at our cabin and went to lunch by 12:30.

 

 

Itinerary and Ports: The Crown Princess (“CP”) sails a 9 day cycle with Kings Wharf, Bermuda; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Crown Bay for St. Thomas, USVI and Grand Turk. There are normally four sea days. We had rain and near gale force winds leaving NYC all the way down to Bermuda. Transiting a narrow channel to Kings Wharf with those winds leaves no room for error in an over-panamax ship. Our captain wisely chose to skip Bermuda and instead headed for San Juan at a leisurely pace. We met pax from Canada, San Francisco, Australia and South Africa who did want to go to Bermuda. These folks were understandably disappointed. For us, the three days at sea were like a quick transatlantic crossing.

 

 

At San Juan, Puerto Rico, the CP docked downtown at pier 4. There is a duty free shop on the pier. We took the El Yunque rainforest tour which is about an hour drive east of San Juan. Our guide, Manny, a compact ex-army type, was very knowledgeable about the rainforest ecology and he gave an interesting commentary about Puerto Rican life. El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the US Forest Service system and it is about 3,000 feet up which made the air a little cooler. There were dust storms over Puerto Rico that came from Africa and obscured visibility significantly. Manny told us that normally from road up to El Yunque, one could see the island of Vieques off the east coast. With the dust in the air, visibility was about a mile. This walk is somewhat tiring and we did not go back off the ship for dinner ashore even thought we were docked till 11 PM. Price of getting old I guess.

St. Thomas, we docked at Crown Bay which is still very much a work in progress shopping wise. There is little to see or do there but if you want to go to Water Island, (the timing did not work for us), there is a ferry at the marina next door. Just turn right after leaving the pier and go straight to a gate where the marina is. The marina store, Gourmet Grocery, has duty free wine, liquor and cigarettes at reasonable prices (better than the onboard shops were quoting) and a reasonably stocked grocery as well. We just went back to the ship and enjoyed a virtually empty pool and hot tubs. While I did bring liquor aboard twice at Crown Bay, the CP security people did not take the purchases from me either time.

 

 

Grand Turk cruise ship pier has a shopping area with duty free items and other tourist stuff. The Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville bar and restaurant is nice but crowded. I was told the margaritas were $12 each; do not know the size or quality. The pool there is only 3 feet deep but it has freshwater and there are plenty of loungers with umbrella shades. The beach itself was not that crowded and beach chairs can be had if you walk to the far end (turn left off the pier after clearing the shopping area). Be careful in the water as the beach is built up over rocks and the ocean has washed out holes. Water shoes would definitely be useful. Given the short time there, we did not venture out of the port area, maybe next time.

 

 

 

Rescue at Sea: Several hours after our abortive attempt to dock at Bermuda, the captain announced that we would be altering course to rescue a solo sailor in trouble. He was sailing what appeared to be a sponsored racing yacht that suffered a catastrophic boom failure that left him adrift and unable to maneuver. From what I was able to find out, he apparently was in that situation for several days with no working radio. We maneuvered next to him to create a lee and he got off on to one of the ships tenders. However, the yacht was rolling violently as it drifted up against the ship and began to smash the mast against the side of the ship. At that point, the crew evacuated that side of the promenade deck (deck 7) since the mast reached up to Emerald deck (deck 8) and began to shed parts until it snapped off. The sailor was apparently uninjured and was let off at San Juan. Later we found out that the rescued sailor and the captain live near each other in England, small world!

 

 

Ship: After a one week wet dock refit in San Juan, the CP looks freshly cleaned and repainted. Some of the cabin and public area soft goods were replaced or refreshed. For a nice forward vantage point sailing out of NYC, there is a forward observation deck atop the bridge. You get to it by going forward on Lido deck (deck 15) and going through an unmarked door at the forward end of the hall. This leads to an outside door and a short set of stairs. If you have cabins Lido 105 or 106, people on the observation area can see into your veranda. You can also go to the Lotus spa on Sun deck and go to the viewing area above the spa. There you can get pictures of the CP going under the Verazzano (I read somewhere that the tip of the ship mast clears the underside of the bridge by about 20 feet at high tide). All the main elevators either face forward or towards each other. Only the two panorama elevators face aft. The hallway carpet is coded with a red border for port (even numbered cabins) and a blue border for starboard (odd numbered cabins). There are many other reviews that describe the ship facilities in excruciating detail so I will spare you that.

 

 

Stateroom: We had a mini-suite on deck 9 (Dolphin 201). These cabins are about 323 sq. ft. with balcony and the extra room was greatly appreciated during the rain and wind of the first 2 days. The mini-suites are divided into a sleeping and sitting areas each with their own LCD TV. There is a small desk and fridge in the sleeping area and a couch with foldout bed, coffee table and a chair in the sitting area. There is plenty of open shelf space and adequate clothes storage with a walk in closet. The bathroom is full size with a tub and a good amount of open counter and shelf space. Our steward, Jose Troy, kept the cabin neat and clean in an efficient and unobtrusive manner. We tipped him extra at the end of the cruise.

 

 

There are only two 110 AC sockets in the cabin by the desk. Bring an extension cord or power strip if your electronics use a wall wart charger, otherwise you can use only 1 socket. There is an extra 110 AC socket behind each LCD TV. You need to feel around behind the TV base for it. The bathroom has Ground Fault Interrupter 110 AC sockets as well. Note that the mini-suite veranda area on Dolphin deck is completely open to view from the cabins above. There are two loungers with a cocktail table on one side and two chairs and a larger table on the other side of the veranda. Unlike some other ships, the CP had plastic grids for floor covering and these can become rather hot in the sun. The Caribe deck (deck 10) cabins are standard veranda cabins (270 sq. ft.) with an extended balcony area that is partly covered. We had dinner one night with our upstairs neighbor and we would greet each other regularly when we were on the balcony. Otherwise, we did not see many people on their verandas. There are about 12 mini-suites aft on Emerald deck that have fully covered verandas.

 

 

Dining: Princess has a decidedly Italian tilt to their cuisine and those dishes are often the best choices. Princess has both traditional dining (6 PM and 8:15 PM in the Botticelli Dining room (Fiesta deck 6) and Personal Choice in the Da Vinci on Plaza deck (deck 5) and Michelangelo (Fiesta deck) Dining rooms. With Personal Choice, you pick the time you want to eat and then deal with the line that may exist. We usually had to wait only a few minutes at 7 to 7:30 PM. If you are willing to share a table (the best way to meet new people, then again . . .), there is rarely a wait. Tables for two are much harder to get and you can expect to wait a while. Note that the Botticelli Dining room can only be accessed by stairs or elevators since it is at the aft end of Fiesta deck. The Da Vinci and Michelangelo are accessible directly from the Piazza atrium.

 

 

For the nine day cruise, there were two formal nights, the first sea day and the next to last sea day. The second formal night also had the Captains Circle repeaters party before dinner. Most men wore suits or tuxedos with a few just wearing sports jackets and no tie. The other seven nights were smart casual; the Matre’d will turn away people in shorts, T-shirts or other inappropriate attire at dinner. Such attire is OK for breakfast and lunch.

Each dinner has a collection of small plates that include a salad, several hot and cold appetizers and two soups. There are four choices for main courses that change nightly; usually two seafood, one poultry and one red meat selection. In addition, there are two pasta dishes, one of which is always fettuccini Alfredo (very good but very rich). Princess has four always available entrees that are the same each night, broiled salmon, broiled chicken breast, New York sirloin and a filet minion. A plain tossed salad and Caesar salad round out the always available selections. I did not pay much attention to the desserts since I usually have a sherbet or low-fat yogurt ice cream (I have to cut calories somewhere). Lunch is structured with small plates and daily entrees, one of which is often an interesting salad. I do not recall whether there were always available entrees for lunch. For myself, I chose a salad and pasta for lunch and I was never disappointed, their pasta dishes are really good. Breakfast is a standard eggs, breakfast meats and fruits with two specials each day. In general, we found the meals to be more flavorful than on HAL. Many of the dishes did have more salt than we are used to, YMMV. We did have some issues with shellfish as I describe below, fin fish on the other hand were fresh and tasty.

 

 

The Horizon Court is Princess’ buffet area on Lido (deck 15) which is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast and lunch choices are often more expansive than in the dining room, however, by the time you find a table and get your beverages, the food has often gotten cold. For that and other reasons, we usually preferred the dining room. Instead of trays and plates, Princess uses a large oval plate that can double as a tray; a good idea since they take up less space on the tables than trays and there is one less item for the pickup staff to clear and clean. Casual dinner can be had here and at the Café Caribe which is behind the Horizon court. There are two dining areas, one forward serving the Horizon Court and one aft for the Café Caribe. If you cannot find space to sit in the Horizon Court, go aft to the Cafe Caribe area, there is usually space. The Café Caribe has nightly themed dinners, the first two nights were the cold seafood extravaganza with chilled crab, shrimp and lobster tails. We sampled it the first night out as sort of a pre dinner appetizer. They were good enough but lacked favor. Still, if you like shellfish, here is where you should load up. We did not try the other themed dinners which included Caribbean and German cuisines. Other than you have to wear some clothing, there is no dress code here.

The pizzeria on Lido deck has very good thin crispy crust pies. There were the regular pizza Margahrita and pepperoni and a special that changes daily. Easily the match of most NYC pizzas though the sauce needed more punch. The International Café on Plaza deck offers in addition to coffee beverages for a fee, pastries, sandwiches and other snacks throughout the day. We took some sandwiches back to our cabin for late afternoon snacks in lieu of afternoon tea. The afternoon teas (3:30 to 4:30 PM) were nice affairs, but the tea sandwiches and pastries were unremarkable and the timing did not always work for us, still you should give it a try. Princess seems to have issues with coffee strength, some pax would up buying the coffee card (15 specialty coffees for $24), but the coffee in the dining room was OK. Again HAL does better coffee more consistently even though they also use liquid concentrate. Also on Plaza deck is Vines which serves wine by the glass and sushi ($3 for 3 pieces). Vines offers a number of wine flights (three 2 oz servings) of white or red wines. Nice idea that got us to buy lots of wine.

 

 

Alternative Dining: The CP has two extra tariff restaurants, Sabatini which is Italian and the Crown Steakhouse which is self evident. We tried Sabatini (tariff $20) and while we did enjoy it, I think once is enough. There are four cold appetizers; shrimp, marinated artichokes and air dried beef and Italian ham. The hot appetizers were crab cakes, fried zucchini, fried calamari and a cheese tart. Next is a choice of minestrone soup or seafood cioppini followed by pappadelle in sage and mushroom sauce and ravioli in truffle oil. For the main course, we had veal marsala and broiled sea scallops. Desserts included a nice gelato with bits of chocolate and the usual neutrino stopping Italian pastries. First off, there is a lot of food before you get to your main course so skipping a few appetizers is worth considering. The cioppini had a pronounced fishy flavor as did the appetizer shrimp. The broiled sea scallops were definitely “off” which is odd since the fried scallops I had the first night were fresh and tasty. By that point, it did not matter so much since we were pretty full; still those scallops should not have left the kitchen. Sabatini was crowded and dinner took about two and a half hours, way too long for our tastes. We did not try the steakhouse (tariff $30) and it did not seem to be as busy as Sabatini when we walked by it.

 

 

Activities and Entertainment: There are a many activities during the day that will keep you busy from trivial pursuit to Friends of Bill (and Dorothy if you like) to water polo and hair body parts contests. The gym (Lotus Spa on deck 16) has an extensive array of exercise machines and workout routines. In addition, the thermal spa ($130 per couple) has steam baths of different temperature, a warm room and heated recliners. If you want to save some money, the mens and womens locker rooms have a sauna and steam bath for free. There is an adult only pool and hot tubs accessible from the Lotus Spa that is sheltered from the wind. It is just below the Sanctuary area but you do not have to buy into the sanctuary service to use the pool. We did not use the Movies Under The Stars (MUTS) much, but it can be nice if the timing (7:30 and 10:30 for movies) works for you.

 

 

We are not big on evening entertainment, but Princess does a good job of providing a variety of entertainment from comedians to acrobatics to production shows. The entertainment venues were mostly on Promenade deck. Beside the Princess Theater for the production shows and some musical acts (8:30 and 10:30), there is the Explorers Lounge which has small stage acts such as doo wop quartets, magic shows and stage bands in an intimate night club setting. Aft on deck 7 is Club Fusion which hosts various musically themed activities such as Karaoke, 70s/80s/90s nights, country & western (what, no blues!) and Princess’s version of America Idol. It is also live music disco. Skywalker’s on deck 16 is the late night party spot with a DJ (never stayed up late enough to check this out). Though not exactly entertainment for some people, we found that the CP had a reasonably stocked library. Between contracts, financial reports and tech manual, I rarely read more than a book a month, on this cruise I blew through two books plus some ‘zines.

 

 

Pax: Being a NYC based cruise, most of the pax are from about a 2-3 hours drive of NYC though we met people from the west coast, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. As with other NYC based cruises, the pax are ethnically diverse with many pax of Asian and Eastern European backgrounds. Like Norwegian, Princess pax tend to come from a wider socio-economic background than do those on Celebrity or HAL which is odd since the price spreads are not that great between the various lines for Caribbean cruises due to intense competition.

 

 

Post cruise: Not much to say since we live 10 minutes from the port (with no traffic, like that ever happens in NYC). If possible do take advantage of express checkout where you can disembark early if you can carry off your luggage. Princess used both decks 6 (Fiesta) and 7 (Promenade) to disembark. It might be easer to use Fiesta deck to exit as the lobby and hall areas got rather crowded.

 

 

 

We arrived at the Verazzano Bridge about 6:30 AM and docked about 7 AM. There are very few cabs at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, so either use the cruise line transfers to the airports or arrange for a car service to pick you up. The passenger pick up area is just to the left as you exit the port. It is covered for some protection from sun and rain. We got off the ship by about 8:20 AM, had to wait for the car service. Traffic was very slow so a 10 minute ride turned into 30 minutes. Still we got home by about 9:15 AM.

[play21cw]

Great review! Thanks for all the information.. I cant wait for my cruise on the CP out of BCT in AUG

 

Any Pictures?

[Colo Cruiser]

Excellent review, thanks. :)

[Packman1000]

Thanks for the nice review. We will be on the Emerald in December and I found the information very helpful - thanks again!

[BrooklynGirl2]

Thank you for your well-balanced and informative review. There were lots of things that you mentioned that I will find helpful on our June cruise. I appreciate the time you took in writing it.

 

One question...how was the service in the dining rooms? And in general throughout the ship?

 

Thanks again.:)

[AAAAmerican]

Thank you again for a great opinion and synopsis of your ship trip.

 

 

Welcome HOME

 

:cool:

^~^~^~

[kafitty]

nice review, i can't wait for my cruise!! i love reading these things, i get so excited when everyone comes home from their vacations....i suppose i shouldn't celebrate their misery ;)

 

 

 

 

however, i am gonna be that @$$ who points out that the Crown Princess is the KP, not the CP - i believe that is the Coral Princess. just an fyi :D

[crusdiva]

Hello speaker, it was nice meeting you and Mary. Great review thanks!

 

Also, another hint - in the public areas, the aft carpeting is green, the midship is coral and the forward is blue.

 

however, i am gonna be that @$$ who points out that the Crown Princess is the KP, not the CP - i believe that is the Coral Princess. just an fyi :D

 

Actually, the official Princess designations are as follows ;) :

 

* CB - Caribbean Princess

* CO - Coral Princess

* KP - Crown Princess

* DP - Dawn Princess

* DI - Diamond Princess

* EP- Emerald Princess

* NP - Golden Princess

* AP - Grand Princess

* IP - Island Princess

* PA - Pacific Princess

* GP - Regal Princess

* RP- Royal Princess

* SA - Sapphire Princess

* CP - Sea Princess

* TP - Star Princess

* SP - Sun Princess

* TA - Tahitian Princess

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a wonderful and thorough review.

[crissyp]

what a great review, I really gathered alot of information for my 7/4 Crown cruise. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report.

 

Crissy

[nycglitter]

Thank you for such a wonderfully written review. Tons of useful info! I would love to see photos if you care to share!

[spongerob]

Great review. I hope you've added it to the Member Reviews section on this site.

[ski and cruise]

This is,without a doubt, the best ship review I've ever read,and I've been

reading them for years.I found myself taking notes for my CP cruise next

week,even though I was on CP,same itinerary,last Oct.Your very detailed

notes reminded me of some things I had forgotten and also gave me some

new interesting tidbits.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us.

 

Linda

[Nige]

Thanks for such a great review. Interesting and well organized.

 

We are departing on the Crown on 6/17 and are in a starboard Mini-Suite (D202) immediately across the ship from where yours was in D201. We can't change it - the ship is sold out - but I wondered what it is like being so far forward and what the impact is of the door I see in the corridor right by the cabin. Does it make noise at night being opened by other passengers etc?

 

A minor cabin question is the size of the fridge. Will it fit the "couple" of wine bottles we plan to bring with us to enjoy on the balcony?

 

We expect to be dining in Sabatini's on the first night (travel agent gift) but wondered which night to miss in the main dining rooms if we wanted to do the Crown Grill or Ultimate Balcony Dining? I know that is always a personal decision but do you remember when/if they had Caribbean night in the restaurants?

 

We too will be enjoying Anytime Dining. Since we booked exactly one month ago we have moved up from 400+ on the waitlist for First Seating to #355 - so we won't be holding our breath on that.... Did you join others for dinner (as we plan to do in order to meet people) or get a table for 2 each night?

 

Thanks again for the review - we can't wait to experience it all in person.

[Cruise'nKris]

Hello OP!

What a well written and informative review!! Thank YOu!!

I was on the Crown last July and I am awaiting my upcoming cruise on her this July.

 

I do have one question for you. My family and I are excited about going to San Juan, as this stop was missed last year due to weather. I was interested in possibly doing the tour of the rainforest that you took. Did you take just the drive of the Rainforst or was yours the drive / hike of the forest. I am interested in the tour on the bus only and am wondering how much walking there will be since my mom may want to go who walks with cane.

 

Any info you have will be appricated!!! :)

[Procruizer]

Excellent review. You just made me more excited for my 6/26 voyage. Any pictures?

[speakertosuits]

First off, I am glad you all found the review useful. We have gotten a lot of useful info from Cruise critic reviews by others so I felt this is payback for their help. The review helps me remember as well for future reference.

 

Brooklymgirl2, you should have good service, we certainly did though we are not the type to fuss over minor lapses. I have heard on this board some issues with the traditional dining room service but we have had no problem with personal choice service. Keep in mind that pressures to keep fares low mean that the dining staff will have more tables to serve so there could be some delays, just go with the flow. On Italian night, they offer you a shot of lemoncello and shot glass to keep for $3+tip.

 

kafitty. I used the acronym for Crown Princess (CP), not the official Princess codes that Cruisdiva listed. Hmmm, KP, if you complain too much about the food, do they put you in the kitchen??? Thanks for the code list Sharon.

 

nycglitter, I have not yet figured out how to add pictures to this site, someday . . And spongebob, yes, I sent in the review to be added to the listings.

 

Nige. There is not much motion that far forward, at least on our cruise, but then we are not sensitive to seasickness even in a hurricane (add in a bottle of champagne and that will change:o). If the seas are rough, you might feel some minor shuddering as the ship slides through the waves. You will hear some flowing sounds since the bow is just forward of our cabins. I believe the door you are referring next to our cabins is a fire door which is normally open. We did not hear any slamming sounds. The fridge is about 2-3 cubic feet and will hold three 750 ml bottles in a shelf on the door. I do not recall when Caribbean night was, the Cafe Caribe also has theme nights (dieters night is clothes optional, given the size of some pax, that should kill your appetite:eek:). Sabatini's the first night should obviate the shellfish problem we had. We found that it is more fun to meet other at dinner and there is usually no waiting once you tell the Matre'd that you are willing to share. Table sharing can be a crapshoot, we have beaten the odds most of the time, but the odds did beat us once or twice. Tables for two will require a wait, if necessary, you will be given a beeper to signal when a table is ready.

 

Cruisenkris, we did the rainforest hike. I believe the bus stops at the lookout and the falls where you can get out for pictures. Your Mom can join you outside or wait on the bus (where it is cooler). The shore excursion people were not too well informed so be careful with their answers.

[fraubritta]

Enjoyed your review. Would you happen to know what the names of the bands were in the Wheelhouse? If you do, we would love to know as we will be taking that cruise later this month. We have cruised with Princess many times and know several of the bands. Thanks,

[crusdiva]

Enjoyed your review. Would you happen to know what the names of the bands were in the Wheelhouse? If you do, we would love to know as we will be taking that cruise later this month. We have cruised with Princess many times and know several of the bands. Thanks,

Hi,

DH and I sailed with speaker and went to The Wheelhouse every night. The bands were The Jackie Harrison Trio and the Music Box Duo.

The barstaff there is the best! Say hello to Wayne and Bonnie for us!

There is a picture of them in my photos.;)