Back from the Crown, 7/22 - 7/29/09

[DeltaOne]

Just off the Crown today, the 7/22 - 7/29/07 run to Bermuda.

 

This was our first NCL cruise after Celebrity (4x) and Princess (2x). We very much enjoyed the cruise. We did spot places where it seems NCL either is cutting corners or does things differently. All-in-all, a great cruise. I'm sure we'll consider NCL for future cruises.

 

We drove to the terminal, arriving at 10:30 am. We were among the first to take seats in the waiting area. They began embarkation at noon, they didn't open the firedoors allowing access to the rooms until 2 pm. The lifeboat drill was at 3:30 pm, sail-away at 4 pm sharp.

 

The trip to Bermuda and back was smooth as silk, hardly a ripple on the ocean. Our inside room was fine, the room steward did a great job. The entertainment was enjoyable. Two comedians, Dave Heenan (pretty good) and Adam Ace (fantastic!). The shows by the singers and dancers were okay, but not on a par with shows on Celebrity or Princess ships.

 

We ate in Le Bistro the first night. The cover charge is $15/pp. We opted to pay another $5/pp and get the surf & turf dinner option. Great lobster and steak -- good service. (BTW, Le Bistro is the only specialty restaurant with a cover charge.)

 

We ate in the Pasta Cafe one night and came away unimpressed. The service was herky-jerky. We didn't enjoy the appetizer cart at all. My wife ordered lasagna and I ordered spaghetti carbonara (sp?) and both weren't as good as my wife's version of each dish. The cheesecake my wife ordered for dessert was tasteless.

 

We ate in Chopsticks one night and loved it! Get the sushi platter and sweet & sour pork. We liked Chopsticks so much we booked it again later in the week. Great service and food!

 

The Yacht club was fine. It's a buffet, with buffet food. Very small though.

 

The main restaurant, Seven Seas, was excellent. Great food and service.

 

They only fired up the BBQ grills on one day. Long lines, I had the ribs and chicken. The ribs were okay, overcooked a bit. The BBQ chicken was very good. Great BBQ sauce too.

 

We used the Dine Ashore coupon to have dinner at the Carriage House in St. George's. Nice meal, highly recommended.

 

Julie, the cruise director, is good. I was surprised to learn the entertainment staff consists of Julie and her assistant, Tommie. That's it. It's not unusual to see the singers and dancers filling in, helping Julie and Tommie. One if the female singers did trivia, another was manning the desk in the library one day.

 

I checked our tab a few times during the week, asking for print-outs at the reception desk. No errors at all. We did the self-disembark and it went well, taking about 30 minutes from the time they began until we were off the ship. We were on deck five and had to make our way to the gangway on deck six -- along with hundreds of fellow passengers. The self-disembark is very popular.

 

I'll be glad to answer any questions.

[smeyer418]

Nice review I am glad you enjoyed it...

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Sounds like you had a wonderful time..

[poona1]

Hey paul...nice to hear you had a great time on the crown...we will be sailing on sep. 2..i wonder how you would get these offshore coupons and

is there anything like a 24 hour "blue lagoon" sort of cafe open on the crown

 

thanks

[smeyer418]

Hey paul...nice to hear you had a great time on the crown...we will be sailing on sep. 2..i wonder how you would get these offshore coupons and

is there anything like a 24 hour "blue lagoon" sort of cafe open on the crown

 

thanks

 

no just room service.....

[hazeleyez3]

Hey paul...nice to hear you had a great time on the crown...we will be sailing on sep. 2..i wonder how you would get these offshore coupons and

is there anything like a 24 hour "blue lagoon" sort of cafe open on the crown

 

thanks

 

 

NCL provided us with the offshore coupons when we were on the Crown in '04.

[smeyer418]

NCL provided us with the offshore coupons when we were on the Crown in '04.

The Dining ashore coupons will be in your cabin. They are $5 for lunch per person for $25.00 of food. If you want them upgraded for dinner its $5.00 more(for $50 worth of food) and you do it at the front desk. If you don't use them and turn them back in you will be credited the amount that you had charged. Only one per customer...

 

some of the restaurants have a set menu some allow you to order off their regular menu...

[DeltaOne]

Hey paul...nice to hear you had a great time on the crown...we will be sailing on sep. 2..i wonder how you would get these offshore coupons and

is there anything like a 24 hour "blue lagoon" sort of cafe open on the crown

 

thanks

The Yacht Club (buffet) re-opens at 11 pm for a late night snack. Not sure what time it closes.

 

The Dine Ashore coupons won't be in the room when you board, but they'll be delivered in plenty of time for you to use them. We took ours to the Reception Desk and upgraded them to dinner coupons (for $5 each).

 

The day we were docked in St. George the gal at the Reception Desk let us use their phone to call the Carriage House and make a dinner reservation. Not sure if we needed the reservation, but it sure didn't hurt.

[ch175]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments. I haven't been on NCL for a long time, mainly because I am not sure if I would like the Freestyle dining concept. Since NCL will be coming to Baltimore for a couple of years, I might give them another try based on your experience.

[DeltaOne]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments. I haven't been on NCL for a long time, mainly because I am not sure if I would like the Freestyle dining concept. Since NCL will be coming to Baltimore for a couple of years, I might give them another try based on your experience.

The general consensus seems to be that Freestyle Dining works much better on the newer, larger ships (with more restaurants). The Crown only has four restuarants (Seven Seas, Le Bistro, Chopsticks, Pasta Cafe) and the Yacht Club (buffet). Some of the larger NCL ships have ten restaurants.

 

Keep an open mind and you'll be fine. We felt the food and service in the restaurants was just as good as our Celebrity and Princess cruises. The buffet was fine too, there just aren't nearly as many choices as the buffets on Celebrity and Princess.

 

We'll be tempted by NCL being in Baltimore next summer, it's less than an hour away.

[Got2Cruise]

You need to experience Homeport cruising. . .there is nothing like it. . . To be on the ship an hour after you leave home is a REAL vacation.:)

 

The general consensus seems to be that Freestyle Dining works much better on the newer, larger ships (with more restaurants). The Crown only has four restuarants (Seven Seas, Le Bistro, Chopsticks, Pasta Cafe) and the Yacht Club (buffet). Some of the larger NCL ships have ten restaurants.

 

Keep an open mind and you'll be fine. We felt the food and service in the restaurants was just as good as our Celebrity and Princess cruises. The buffet was fine too, there just aren't nearly as many choices as the buffets on Celebrity and Princess.

 

We'll be tempted by NCL being in Baltimore next summer, it's less than an hour away.

[Jessie123]

I agree with the home port cruising! Roll out of bed, get in the car on the ship in less than 2 hours.

 

Paul- quick question. Were there coffee makes in the rooms? I've read both coffee makers and hot water things -- was wondering about the crown.

[DeltaOne]

Paul- quick question. Were there coffee makes in the rooms? I've read both coffee makers and hot water things -- was wondering about the crown.

Not in our room. We had an inside room on the Laguna deck.

[snickerscat]

I found on NCL.com menus of Free Dining Ashore- restaurant guides

who paricipates and menus of each place. thanks for the reveiw-going

to bermuda in sept.

[ddoll]

We had a mini suite on the Crown and there was no coffee maker in our cabin either. We had room service deliver coffee every morning. Much easier than making our own.

 

We brought two large travel coffee mugs from home and ordered coffee for 4 in the mornings. It came in two carafes with all the fixings.