Past RCCL sails Crown on 05/21 and loves it!

[jenjes3]

I know there has been a lot of reviews of people just returning from the 05/21/07 sailing on the Crown, speciafically NYJean. She has done a great job. I just thought I would share some of my thoughts sailing with Princess after sailing on Royal Caribbean 7xs. We had a fantastic vacation and loved the ship.

 

We live in NJ and it was very nice skipping the airport and just driving to Brooklyn. Parking and embarkation went very smoothly. We had a balcony room 434C on the Caribe deck. It was in a great location. The balcony was a nice size. Our cabin steward, Rizzi, was very good.

 

My husband and I have cruised 7xs with Royal Caribbean and 1x with NCL. We will definietly sail on Princess again. They were very similar with RCL. We did love the idea of personal choice dining. This was the first time we were able to enjoy all the sail away parties/dress at our leisure. The food was definietly better on Princess then RCL. It was nice to be able to have shrimp cocktail any night. The filet mignon offerred was also a plus. We like to dine at a table for two. There was usually a wait every night. We just stopped by our favorite martini bar, "Crooners" and had a cocktail before dinner.

 

We loved all the entertainment. We didn't get to any shows in the theatre. We enjoyed the musicians in the Piazza. We loved the comedians at the Explorer. The pool band was great.

 

We loved all the pools offerred on the ship. We sat at the Aft pool once but it was alittle too quiet for us so from then on went to the pool in the middle.. not the MUTS though they had there followers. It was nice to be able to choose. RCL only has two small pools together.

 

We enjoyed the burgers/dogs/and pizza by the pool. Much better then RCL.

The ports were great. We had a ball at Margarittaville. Had a couple to many margarittas.

 

The couple of negative things I found were the shower stall was very small and no where to put anything, Horizon court/buffet very good but unorganized. Personal choice dining is nice but we both felt we didn't get the service we were used to at traditional. I guess you can't have both! Some people choose personal choice but book the same table and the same time with the same waiter. They seem to get better service. We would still opt for personal choice though as we loved not rushing to dinner every night. The only place they offered coffee was Horizon buffet. You had to pay for it at other places. We were always used to having on RCL at the Promanade cafe for free. It should of been offerred at International Cafe. Not a big deal. One other negative.. theatre too small. We tried to see the Motown show and it was filled.

 

The ship was very clean and beautiful The people on board were always dressed very nice for dinners. We enjoyed this. Formal night was elegant.

 

If anyone has any questions, please ask. We loved our cruise.. Oh, almost forgot, it was unbelivable sailing out of NYC. What a beautiful sight. The sail-away was unforgettable.

 

We opted for express checkout. We were the first ones called. We were off the ship at 7:45 and home by 10:00 am. !!!

 

We will look forward to sailing again with Princess. We would also sail again with Royal Caribbean but really enjoyed this cruise. Wish I was back on the ship!

[High C's]

Thanks for sharing your insight. I enjoyed reading your comments, particularly as a first timer to Princess!

 

One question - which side (port or starboard) offers the best views of Manhatten at sailaway? I'm not interested in which side faces that way when the ship is in port, but rather as it sails off (particularly past the Statue of Liberty)

 

Thanks!

[jenjes3]

We were on the port side of the ship. The better views for NYC/Statute of Liberty were on the starboard side. We were on the top for the sail away. When we returned though.. right outside our balcony.. we saw the Statute of Liberty. We loved being in the center of the ship close to the elevators.

[AAAAmerican]

Welcome Home!

 

Now you have our primary coming this Tuesday too.

 

We are going to be Amidships and Starboard.

 

 

You write such a nice comparison and so true.

 

Thank you.:cool:

 

Please write more as it is not a bore but everyone adores.

 

 

We were on the port side of the ship. The better views for NYC/Statute of Liberty were on the starboard side. We were on the top for the sail away. When we returned though.. right outside our balcony.. we saw the Statute of Liberty. We loved being in the center of the ship close to the elevators.

[jenjes3]

I see a lot of people talking about the the hyptonist and enjoying it. When and where was this located? We enjoyed so much of the entertainment going on.. sorry we missed this... We loved the Piazza where there was always nice music/etc. going on... Wish I was back on the Crown! Miss the Explorer comedians. .... miss the Crooner's martinis the most!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review. :)