review: crown 6/26-7/5

[brovol]

returned yesterday from the crown 6/26 through 7/5 sailing. this was the 14th cruise overall for my wife and me, and the 7th with our two children (ages 10 and 8). we are platinum with princess, and obviously like what princess has to offer. having said that, i must admit to being more and more critical lately with several aspects of our princess cruises. i am delighted to report, however, that this was an outstanding cruise, and one that i can confidently recommend to others.

 

embarkation/disembarkation: brooklyn is the best port we have experienced in our 14 years of cruising. great (outdoor) parking, nice terminal, friendly porters, incredible convenience all around. we drove from michigan, and after spending the night in new jersey, we got to the pier by 9:30 am. we planned on taking the brooklyn battery tunnel, but took the wrong turn, so ended up, by accident, taking the brooklyn bridge, which was real cool, since we had never been to ny city before. funny thing is, we made the same mistake on the way back. once we were at the pier, we took lots of photos of the statue of liberty. once again, princess distinguished itself as being the best at getting folks on and off its ships. we used express disembarkation, and were in the car, and on the road, before 8:30 am.

 

cabin: e-731, mini-suite on the starboard side, extreme aft. very nice cabin, with covered balcony. the balcony is extended because it is the last cabin on starboard side. it also provides a view of the ships wake. we have stayed in mini-suites before, and knew we would like this cabin. our cabin steward, roger, was, by far, the best we have ever had on a cruise, with any line (previously sailed with holand, rcl, carnival, ncl). only complaint was that the starboard side has a lousy view at all ports, except new york city. we like being on the same side that the ship ties to the pier.

 

ship: beautiful, clean, comfortable. we have been on the grand, star, and caribbean, all of which have relatively poor stabilizer systems in my opinion. while i assume the crown has the same stabilizers, it sailed very smoothly the entire cruise. the service was markably improved from that of recent princess cruises we have been on. pools were crowded on sea days, as expected. my kids love to swim, so nothing detoured them. one complaint is that the teenage kids, all who seem to be entirely unsupervised at all times, thought they owned the ship, and seemed to go out of the way to be in the way and disrespectful to other passengers. we keep a close eye on our children, and make sure there is no chance they will do anything to effect the experience of other passengers. unfortunately, it seems like some parents think a cruise is the perfect place to unleash there rotten child on the world. we climb stairs, rather than using elevators. frequently, several teens were sitting on the stairs to the extent that prevented passage. we had to ask them to please allow us by; and received attitude from them when we did.

 

atrium: the best , and most distinguishing characteristic of the crown is the atrium. although the other ships have an atrium, it is not used in the same respect. on the crown, the atrium is an entertainment and dining forum. the international cafe is the best concept princess has come up with in years. the pastries and cookies were fantastic. a waiter walked around with fresh baked cookies and glasses of milk. there was always great entertainment, so it was the perfect place to sit and relax.

 

 

food: we are not fans of the new menus. i cant eat seafood, and it seems like seafood dominates the menus. there doesn't seem to be as many choices. i ended up ordering the fillet mignon tournedos (always available) several times, because i couldn't find anything else. it was good, but previously that never happened. overall, the food quality was good. when we first started cruising with princess we recommended the line to others, based, in no small part, on the food. we still recommend princess, but not for the food. the buffet was typical. only real complaint here is that they did not open both sides for lunch on the day we arived in grand turk. people were allowed off the ship at 1pm, so everyone herded to the horizon court at 12 noon. only one side was open, and cafe caribe was not open, so it was anarchy in the one open buffet. every man for himself.

 

 

 

ports: we are not excursion people. when in port we just walk around town. i don't like schedules when i am on vacation. we had been to all of the ports while on other cruises, with the exception of grand turk, which we found to be very nice, and convenient. one comment on the ports of call. this was a 9 day cruise, which departed mid week. consequently, we never met up with any other ships. it made for less crowds in port, but we like to see the other ships, and i rely missed that.

 

entertainment: the princess singers/dancers were bad. we are usually quite impressed with the main shows. not this time. lousy voices. we saw people in the audience actually laughing. the atrium entertainment was great though. the string quartet was superb. other than the atrium, unfortunately, the entertainment was below average at best.

 

overall: the crown is a great ship. it rejuvenated my enthusiasm for princess. new york is a super port. if you are considering this cruise, i think you should go for it.

[danusia]

My family and I returned from the same cruise. I agree with you wholeheartedly about the teenagers aboard the ship. They were unruly and disrespectful.

 

My sister-in-law (18), her friend (19) and I (36), were at the club on the last night of the cruise and couldn't believe how the atmosphere changed as soon as the unruly teens (above 18, apparantly) behaved. Their behavior was so bad, that we left. As we were leaving, there were a few people asking for some help in controlling the dance floor. Some things should be left behind closed doors, and off the dance floor. It turned alot of people off.

 

We ate in the Michelangelo Dining Room almost every night. We enjoyed the food on this cruise, for the most part. We sailed on the Star Princess in July of 05, and were extremely disappointed with the food. The food was better on this ship.

 

I'll write a more detailed review in a few days. Thanks for posting yours!!!

[stevewiz]

We stayed on the front of the ship this cruise and didn't notice the teens. We were on the Riveria deck Aft our last cruise and the teens roamed the halls all night. My children are 20 and 22 and didn't want to go to Skywalkers, they were happy in Crooners and Explorer's.

[High C's]

brovol: where did you stay in NJ? We'll be making the same trip in September, and will be driving down the night before also. I had planned on staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island, unless you can recommend something else?

[brovol]

brovol: where did you stay in NJ? We'll be making the same trip in September' date=' and will be driving down the night before also. I had planned on staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island, unless you can recommend something else?[/quote']

 

we stayed at the sierra suites, in parsippany. it was quite nice, and less than 1/2 the price of a decent hotel in ny city. parsippany is about 30 miles from manhattan. we left for brooklyn at around 7:30, and arived at the pier before 9:30 (perhaps as early as 9:10). the only bad traffic we had was getting into the holland tunnel. obviously it isn't as sexy as staying in ny city, but it worked well for us.

[frofro]

brovol: where did you stay in NJ? We'll be making the same trip in September' date=' and will be driving down the night before also. I had planned on staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island, unless you can recommend something else?[/quote']

 

try the sheraton in weehawken, nj, it's on the hudson river waterfront across from midtown manhattan....jersey city has some nice waterfront hotels too....

[High C's]

try the sheraton in weehawken, nj, it's on the hudson river waterfront across from midtown manhattan....jersey city has some nice waterfront hotels too....

 

Thanks for the suggestion. What we really want is somewhere that has easy access off the highway, and then an easy trip the following morning into Brooklyn. Would the NJ waterfront area be easy to get to? And more importantly, can we get to Brooklyn WITHOUT driving through Manhatten the following morning (I am definitely not up to that challenge!:o )

[High C's]

we stayed at the sierra suites, in parsippany. it was quite nice, and less than 1/2 the price of a decent hotel in ny city. parsippany is about 30 miles from manhattan. we left for brooklyn at around 7:30, and arived at the pier before 9:30 (perhaps as early as 9:10). the only bad traffic we had was getting into the holland tunnel. obviously it isn't as sexy as staying in ny city, but it worked well for us.

 

I will check that out. Thanks for the recommendation, brovol.

[jckvpa0]

Thanks for the review !

 

Has anyone tried the Sanctuary lately?

 

Also, I have an uncovered mini on the crown I am going to keep on checking Princess website to see if a partially covered on comes available. What decks are these partially balconies on?

[sunnyv]

Thanks for the review !

 

Has anyone tried the Sanctuary lately?

 

Also, I have an uncovered mini on the crown I am going to keep on checking Princess website to see if a partially covered on comes available. What decks are these partially balconies on?

All minis on the Dolphin Deck are uncovered. There are 12 minisuites on the Emerald Deck in the aft of the ship; they have totally covered balconies. We have been in a mini-suite on the Emerald deck twice, but this last cruise they were all taken so we had no choice but to have an open balcony mini-suite on the Dolphin deck. We had our DD and her friend with us, so we wanted the extra room of a mini-suite, but we all agreed we prefer the covering on the balcony. The covered balconies are quieter, protects from the sun and rain and gives you more privacy.

 

The balconies that are half covered are not minis. They are balcony cabins on the Caribe deck.

[jckvpa0]

The covered balconies are quieter, protects from the sun and rain

 

Rain ??? It's not going to rain on my cruise, bite your tounge :D !!!

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review thanks. :)

[frofro]

Thanks for the suggestion. What we really want is somewhere that has easy access off the highway' date=' and then an easy trip the following morning into Brooklyn. Would the NJ waterfront area be easy to get to? And more importantly, can we get to Brooklyn WITHOUT driving through Manhatten the following morning (I am definitely not up to that challenge!:o )[/quote']

 

Weehawken is right of the highways.... the lincoln tunnel is in weehawken....the terminal w/out traffic is 20-25 minutes from here, it is so easy to get to, (thru the tunnel, westside, bklyn tunnel)....use mapquest you will see...btw the sheraton is 1 minute from the tunnel...

[azdmelani]

Weehawken is right of the highways.... the lincoln tunnel is in weehawken....the terminal w/out traffic is 20-25 minutes from here, it is so easy to get to, (thru the tunnel, westside, bklyn tunnel)....use mapquest you will see...btw the sheraton is 1 minute from the tunnel...

 

It would probably be easiest to stay in the waterfront area of jersey city. From there you can take the holland tunnel (leaves you off downtown vs midtown in manhattan) right to the brooklyn battery tunnel without much city driving. Check out the NY port board for directions.