Review: Crown Princess 8/19-8/28: Part I

[CraigRDR1]

Before I give my review let me first give you a few details about my travel history. First, this would be our family's 6th cruise (5 with Princess and 1 with NCL). Second, I tried to stay as objective as possible when making a few mental notes about the cruise and trip. Since we have sailed mainly with Princess I can only give you a review based on what I know about my experience with Princess (So, RCCL or Celebrity or Carnival maybe better but I dont have that experience to compare). Finally, my family and I were on this ship last summer around the same time (different ports none the less same ship) so nothing really was a surprise and we knew ahead of time what issues could arise.

 

Embarkation:

 

We live in Astoria, Queens...which is about 20 minutes from Red Hook without traffic. It was myself, my wife and our 12 year old daugther for this cruise. We left Astoria at 11AM and arrived at the port in Red Hook about 11:25 only to find a masive traffic jam heading into the port. The police had stopped all oncoming traffic to allow all the self park cars and buses to leave before letting us proceed. This took about 20-30 minutes of sitting in traffic (which became backed up for blocks) before we could actually get into the port. We dropped our bags off with the dock baggage handlers and proceeded to check-in.

 

Check-in was smooth... no issues... no visit from the upgrade fairy but that wasnt a real issue for us. We had a mini-suite on dolphin deck (D229 which is a forward cabin). We had a few minutes to wait in the lounge until they called our number to board... I'd we hit our cabin at about 12:30 PM.

 

Cabin D229: Generally, we book 2 cabins (one for myself and my wife, and one for her mother and our daughter) but this year my mother in law didnt come along so we upgraded to a mini-suite for the 3 of us. The cabin was quite spacious compared to the cabin last year, plus it had a full bath which made my wife very happy...she loves baths. the balcony was nice and had 2 nice loungers, a small table and 2 smaller chairs. It was uncovered...I know this a huge issue for some folks...I didnt find it to be a problem. I did notice that they changed the TVs to flat panels TV from the big bulky TVs... nice touch and actually gave a big more storage space. Overall, a nice cabin..no issues there...

 

For those of you complaining about the AC....let me tell you this our room was very comfortable (and I like it cool-chilly when sleeping)..As a matter of fact the whole ship was very comfortable and my wife and daughter complained a number of times that they were COLD!!! So, for those complaining about AC...either they fixed the problem or you are just way too picky. Many people leave the balcony door and the blinds open during the heat of the day..hence a hot cabin. I only noticed a bit of warmth when many people crowded into one area (busy dining room..theater..etc) but nothing unbearable.

 

After getting settled we went upstairs to the buffet for some lunch. We find that the Cafe Caribe is nice and quiet. No pushing and shoving back there and the food is basically the same as the Horizon Court (less choice but the basics are there). If you like more choices you can always walk the 20 feet the Horizon court and pick up a few goodies.

 

Let me say this now...WE DO NOT EAT at the BUFFET except for the first day. We generally eat all our meals at the dining rooms whenever possible. The buffet and pizza bars are a last choice. Our school of thought is that we are on vacation want to sit down to a nice meal with nice service.

 

While we are are on food let me say that my family and I dont eat Beef and eat very little red meat yet we were able to have something different to eat everyday and at every meal. I dont think I ate the same thing twice. The food overall was very good..and the service was also very good. The waiters and assistants work very hard and are alwys very pleasant yet I found people often to be rude and demanding. I heard one lady complain in one of the lounges that she wasnt going back to the dining rooms because the toast was hot enough during breakfast. Huh??

 

Anyway...the food was fine and even though we had anytime dining we seemed to wind up at the same row of tables with the same waiter daily. Ronald and his helper (I forget his name) were very nice, friendly and pleasure to be around. After only one dinner Ronald remembered our drink order from the night before, our likes and dislikes on the menu. We were impressed and tipped him and his helper extra at the end of the cruise as they served us for the bulk of the trip.

 

I will continue the review a bit later..and discuss the ports and entertainment....need to unpack as we just got back...

 

To be Continued....

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Before I give my review let me first give you a few details about my travel history. First, this would be our family's 6th cruise (5 with Princess and 1 with NCL). Second, I tried to stay as objective as possible when making a few mental notes about the cruise and trip. Since we have sailed mainly with Princess I can only give you a review based on what I know about my experience with Princess (So, RCCL or Celebrity or Carnival maybe better but I dont have that experience to compare). Finally, my family and I were on this ship last summer around the same time (different ports none the less same ship) so nothing really was a surprise and we knew ahead of time what issues could arise.

 

Embarkation:

 

We live in Astoria, Queens...which is about 20 minutes from Red Hook without traffic. It was myself, my wife and our 12 year old daugther for this cruise. We left Astoria at 11AM and arrived at the port in Red Hook about 11:25 only to find a masive traffic jam heading into the port. The police had stopped all oncoming traffic to allow all the self park cars and buses to leave before letting us proceed. This took about 20-30 minutes of sitting in traffic (which became backed up for blocks) before we could actually get into the port. We dropped our bags off with the dock baggage handlers and proceeded to check-in.

 

Check-in was smooth... no issues... no visit from the upgrade fairy but that wasnt a real issue for us. We had a mini-suite on dolphin deck (D229 which is a forward cabin). We had a few minutes to wait in the lounge until they called our number to board... I'd we hit our cabin at about 12:30 PM.

 

Cabin D229: Generally, we book 2 cabins (one for myself and my wife, and one for her mother and our daughter) but this year my mother in law didnt come along so we upgraded to a mini-suite for the 3 of us. The cabin was quite spacious compared to the cabin last year, plus it had a full bath which made my wife very happy...she loves baths. the balcony was nice and had 2 nice loungers, a small table and 2 smaller chairs. It was uncovered...I know this a huge issue for some folks...I didnt find it to be a problem. I did notice that they changed the TVs to flat panels TV from the big bulky TVs... nice touch and actually gave a big more storage space. Overall, a nice cabin..no issues there...

 

For those of you complaining about the AC....let me tell you this our room was very comfortable (and I like it cool-chilly when sleeping)..As a matter of fact the whole ship was very comfortable and my wife and daughter complained a number of times that they were COLD!!! So, for those complaining about AC...either they fixed the problem or you are just way too picky. Many people leave the balcony door and the blinds open during the heat of the day..hence a hot cabin. I only noticed a bit of warmth when many people crowded into one area (busy dining room..theater..etc) but nothing unbearable.

 

After getting settled we went upstairs to the buffet for some lunch. We find that the Cafe Caribe is nice and quiet. No pushing and shoving back there and the food is basically the same as the Horizon Court (less choice but the basics are there). If you like more choices you can always walk the 20 feet the Horizon court and pick up a few goodies.

 

Let me say this now...WE DO NOT EAT at the BUFFET except for the first day. We generally eat all our meals at the dining rooms whenever possible. The buffet and pizza bars are a last choice. Our school of thought is that we are on vacation want to sit down to a nice meal with nice service.

 

While we are are on food let me say that my family and I dont eat Beef and eat very little red meat yet we were able to have something different to eat everyday and at every meal. I dont think I ate the same thing twice. The food overall was very good..and the service was also very good. The waiters and assistants work very hard and are alwys very pleasant yet I found people often to be rude and demanding. I heard one lady complain in one of the lounges that she wasnt going back to the dining rooms because the toast was hot enough during breakfast. Huh??

 

Anyway...the food was fine and even though we had anytime dining we seemed to wind up at the same row of tables with the same waiter daily. Ronald and his helper (I forget his name) were very nice, friendly and pleasure to be around. After only one dinner Ronald remembered our drink order from the night before, our likes and dislikes on the menu. We were impressed and tipped him and his helper extra at the end of the cruise as they served us for the bulk of the trip.

 

I will continue the review a bit later..and discuss the ports and entertainment....need to unpack as we just got back...

 

To be Continued....

Hi Just got off the crown princess and I found my room quite comfortable cold at night just like i like it. It was a little warm in daytime but i was hardly in there so it didn't matter. I slept like a baby, the bed was very comfortable I wish i could have snuck it away in my suitcase. I had no problem in any of the dining. I work in the food service industry and I know what the poor staff goes thru. In my opionion they did a great job, { I am the husband,} don't ask my wife's opionion, I am taking a waitress/waiter home for 9 days and replacing her/him with my wife, LOL. I did enjoy the shows but I wish they were a little bit longer. I would have liked to spend more time in Grand Turk and St Thomas but I enjoyed it all. Nice to meet some of the CC group, Donna And Geroge it was great meeting you. Wish there was more "Relax" time I kept my wife going all day. Overall for me I had a great time somethings i would have like to do differnetly but nothing to do about it now. Keep in touch my e mail is roes622@aol.com

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Hi Just got off the crown princess and I found my room quite comfortable cold at night just like i like it. It was a little warm in daytime but i was hardly in there so it didn't matter. I slept like a baby, the bed was very comfortable I wish i could have snuck it away in my suitcase. I had no problem in any of the dining. I work in the food service industry and I know what the poor staff goes thru. In my opionion they did a great job, { I am the husband,} don't ask my wife's opionion, I am taking a waitress/waiter home for 9 days and replacing her/him with my wife, LOL. I did enjoy the shows but I wish they were a little bit longer. I would have liked to spend more time in Grand Turk and St Thomas but I enjoyed it all. Nice to meet some of the CC group, Donna And Geroge it was great meeting you. Wish there was more "Relax" time I kept my wife going all day. Overall for me I had a great time somethings i would have like to do differnetly but nothing to do about it now. Keep in touch my e mail is roes622@aol.com

 

this is a short review for now ....will write more later

Ok now, I'm the wife [Diane] of xxtherivernj...My opinions are very different than my husbands. First of all, It was great meeting Debbie-in the laundry room, and Donna and George. I'm leaving you my e-mail address so we can keep in touch. xxbklynangel2003@yahoo.com

The bed was comfortable, room just right ,but most of the time I had problems with dining. Couldn't find a seat in buffet and when I did, The food got cold. Had two days in the dining rooms when it took me 25 mins to get a glass of water.If you take anytime dinning, one of the rooms is off limits to you. Sabitinis was great, no problem there. I guess money talks and BS walks, gave 40 dollars tip to get good service. Was missing information mail thats delivered at night to room. Pool too overcrowded, too many people , not enough staff. It's really not the workers , they work hard, just not enough of them. Embarkment was horrible and so was disembarkment. Ports were great but not enough time there.I bought 10 photos and had to fight for 1 free photo that was owed to me.I ordered fruits to my room for after lunch and received them a day later and then I didn't want them....too late! Visited the dr. 2x's on ship and he was great, no problem there, even saw me at 2 am Thanks to him, he made me feel better.They broke my brand new suitcase during disembarkment and I feel I was not treated fairly altho my husband and I enjoyed ourselves and made the best of it, I didn't miss a trick, Teen program was great, son enjoyed it and the security was great. The rainy day all the deck attendants were standing in a huddle on top deck and I thought they were having a meeting ,but it wasn't the case, they didn't want to get wet even tho they were near the pool anyway. And last but not least, it's not a trip for a group of people. If you decide to take this trip....do it alone. Talk to you all soon...gotta finish unpacking...Diane

[freeholdfriends]

Diane, I absolutely agree with you. We were on this cruise and it will probably be out first and last on Princess. Debarkation today was the last straw--we have been on 5 other cruises and on some big ships--The Triumph and the Glory and it never took more than 2 hrs to clear the ship--today we were at almost 4 hrs to get off the ship--when we finally got down to the luggage area it was almost deserted. This was extremely bad management by Princess. We were in a large group and this ship is not for groups. I will give a more detailed review later but our experience was right on with yours--lousy service in the Michelangelo dining room and almost inedible food in the buffet. However, the ship is pretty and the shows were terrific. Our group had a good time but we are going to look at RCL or Carnival again for the next trip.

[CraigRDR1]

Part II....

 

After a bouncy first night at sea...and a nice sunny second day.... we finally hit our first port...

 

Grand Turk:

 

This port is my personal favorite. Relaxing, not much to do but sit on the beach or hang out at the pool and do nothing. My only beef is that its a short day. My family and I got got out early and found a nice spot on the beach under a shady tree... My daughter and I snorkeled and saw a ton of fish on the small reef below. My wife relaxed on lounger and read a book...can't beat that. We wandered around the stores for a few minutes before heading on the Crown for lunch. Our departure was delayed by 3 hours due to a medical emergency on board. Seems the day before someone got injured. For those who had a gripe about the medical services...well...all I can say is that they didnt leave until the person and his family were flown out to Florida for medical Tx. I heard a number of calls over the loud speakers calling for the med team/ stretcher people. Seems like they had their hands full...a bit too much partying I think.

 

I can't remember which night it was..but seems that a teenager/youngster went missing and the Captain/Crew..basically woke up the boat at 4-5 AM to find this person. That did ruin a good nights sleep but the person was found.

 

San Juan: We finally made it to Puerto Rico although a bit late... the Disembark here was horrible...Princess really dropped the ball here...Tons of people packed the halls to go through the dumbest inspection I've ever seen...then tons packed the stairs waiting to get off the boat...Could have been a big mess if someone fell and got hurt. Why US customs couldnt glance at your passport in the terminal is beyond me? Once finally off the ship..Old San Juan was great...we walked around town..had a nice lunch at a great restaurant..Barrachina...Thanks to Allan the shopping guy for suggesting it. My wife likes to shop so we didnt do a tour here as she loved the shopping and little shops all over Old San Juan. We did walk to both forts (El Morro and San Cristobal) and took some lovely pictures. Two thumbs up for Old San Juan.

 

St Thomas: A beautiful Island...but a bit too pushy for me...Although much nicer and milder than Jamaica..Im still not a big fan of people chasing me around to sell me stuff and offer a taxi ride. At least they took "NO" for an answer...The Jamaicans just wouldnt go away last year. Thanks again to Allan the shopping who gave us a VIP card for Venetian Jewelers...My Wife got a big discount on a Blue Diamond ring she wanted. I got a T-shirt...and a kiss... Again I think the time could have been a bit longer here and I think that Princess could run a shuttle into town. If Princess wants to have its own dock away from town we shouldnt have to cough up 12 bucks (for 3 people) each way for a 10 minute ride. Those open air cabs make out like bandits. We had a nice day and returned to the boat for some lunch and Bingo.

 

Bermuda: A lovely Island...and a really nice dock ...really enjoyed the Bonefish grill..good food and drink. We took the ferry into Hamilton walked around for 2 hours. We popped into a few stores that were open..most were closed...Why Princess hits this island on a Sunday is beyond me..but I dont make the rules. We didnt go to the beach just because earlier in the summer we spent 10 days in Kauai doing just that and really wanted to see some of the town. I have been to Bermuda before..but my wife hadnt and enjoyed herself.

 

Shows: For the most part the shows were very good...but SHORT...loved Kimiko ( The English Baby Boomer Version of Sonny and Cher.... You Big Sausage!!!)... Lorenzo Clark was fun...and so was Randy Cabral...Wasnt crazy about Al Katz or Carl Strong..although the "Brotherhood" thing was cute...fortunately..I dont qualify yet...I enjoyed the assistant cruise director Cameron...looked and acted just like Hugh Grant...Overall...they did nice job keeping us busy... We went to all the art auctions and spent way too much money on art...at least we got a few glasses of free champagne. The Marriage Game was hilarious we really enjoyed that...Tim Donovan did a nice job there.

 

We enjoyed the Captain's Circle Cocktail party. Capt Andy was very pleasant and funny. In past years the Capt was always grumpy and seemed like he didnt want to be wasting his time there. I dont know if the capt has anything to do with it but this year there was a variety of cocktails and finger food. In the past it was a glass of champagne and out the door you went. So, hats off to Capt Andy!!

 

Youth Center: After a slow start....my 12 year old really enjoyed her new friends. She came back the first day really disappointed because most of kids were younger than her...but seems things got alot better the next day and we didnt see much of her apart for bedtime, port days and few meals. So, my wife and I had lots of nice alone time. So, if the service got a bit slow at dinner it was fine we were in no rush. We had time to sit back talk, reflect and just enjoy some conversation. We had no problem with that we were on vacation.

 

Disembark: This went better than last year... Possibly because we had Navy 1 tickets and were the first one to be called to disembark. We had breakfast in the dining room at 6:30...Headed back to our cabin to collect our bags at about 7-7:15. My only beef here was that getting an elevator that wasnt full was impossible. In the end I walked the bags down the 2 flights of stairs to deck 7. By 7:35 we were in a cab bound for home, so I can't really complain.

 

Overall, I had no real issues with this cruise...nice weather..good food...nice ports...lots of fun...was it perfect ...NO...but what in life is...a vacation is what you make of it...and I was happy to enjoy my time away from home.

 

My family and I will continue to cruise with Princess until they disappoint then maybe it will be time to try another....

 

Two thumbs up for this cruise...I'd do it again in a heartbeat...

 

Next year we are looking at the British Isles Cruise...cant wait!!!

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Diane, I absolutely agree with you. We were on this cruise and it will probably be out first and last on Princess. Debarkation today was the last straw--we have been on 5 other cruises and on some big ships--The Triumph and the Glory and it never took more than 2 hrs to clear the ship--today we were at almost 4 hrs to get off the ship--when we finally got down to the luggage area it was almost deserted. This was extremely bad management by Princess. We were in a large group and this ship is not for groups. I will give a more detailed review later but our experience was right on with yours--lousy service in the Michelangelo dining room and almost inedible food in the buffet. However, the ship is pretty and the shows were terrific. Our group had a good time but we are going to look at RCL or Carnival again for the next trip.

Hi Freehold, Did you sing karaoke? If you did u sang good. Went to Karaoke every night (husband}

[freeholdfriends]

Yes, we were at the finals--my friend's son was the singer--he is a great kid!!

We were not crazy about how they handled the end of the show. I don't think that a professional should be entering a karaoke contest and the MC did a horrible job with the mix up of who the winner was. We all had a good time but you are very correct about the Crown not being good for groups. We had a real problem with the dining arrrangements--we ended up with a standing reservation for 8:30 but often didn't receive our entree's until almost 10pm--the waiter we had was terrible but because we were a large group eating together we were stuck with the tables they gave us. I think next year it will be the Carnival Miracle for our group. Our group of kids--20 to 24 thoiught this ship was too "mellow". They made friends but the consensus among this age group was that the ship wasn't really geared for their age group. Did you try the Crown Grille? It was great--much better than Sabatini's.

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Yes, we were at the finals--my friend's son was the singer--he is a great kid!!

We were not crazy about how they handled the end of the show. I don't think that a professional should be entering a karaoke contest and the MC did a horrible job with the mix up of who the winner was. We all had a good time but you are very correct about the Crown not being good for groups. We had a real problem with the dining arrrangements--we ended up with a standing reservation for 8:30 but often didn't receive our entree's until almost 10pm--the waiter we had was terrible but because we were a large group eating together we were stuck with the tables they gave us. I think next year it will be the Carnival Miracle for our group. Our group of kids--20 to 24 thoiught this ship was too "mellow". They made friends but the consensus among this age group was that the ship wasn't really geared for their age group. Did you try the Crown Grille? It was great--much better than Sabatini's.

 

 

Hi,

We didn't go to the Crown Grill, what did they have there? I still had some trouble finding places on the ship...just too big for me. I didn't know there was a professional singer, thats not really fair. My dad sang at one of the shows, his name was Frank. What was your friends name? You know, if you are in Freehold, we only live about 20 minutes away from you. Today we are going to the travel agent to find out about a cruise for next year but not on Crown Princess. My husband and I are both writting on here, so you will know who's talking to you...I'll sign my name at the end. I wonder if your age group kids made friends with any of my kids? My kids were Donna and Joseph. Talk with you later...........Diane

[CMM]

I appreciate the reviews!

Hearing much about the delays at San Juan. We will be docked there on Sept 10 at 8:00AM. Do you think if we head for customs 9:00 am we will be at El Morro for our tour by 10:00. I don't want to be late , but don't want to deal with the crowds either.

Thanks

[Clutterlady]

Thanks Craig for the great review:)

[lysolqn]

We also disembarked Crown yesterday and in a nutshell, I'd rate the cruise B-/C+. We're loyal Celebrity cruisers and admittedly have high standards but after this cruise on Crown (our 40th cruise; third on Princess), we're not likely to go Princess again. Did we enjoy ourselves? Of course! It's hard not to enjoy a cruise, but we weren't terribly impressed by Crown and found service and food to be adequate at best.

 

With respect to the service issue, I think the combination of anytime dining and automatic tipping definitely eliminates any motivation for staff and crew to provide friendly and excellent service. There were exceptions but many of the staff and crew with whom we came in contact seemed not to like their jobs at all! In fact, some seemed to go out of their way to be particularly unfriendly and unaccommodating. With respect to food, we found the breakfast and lunch buffets to be "institutional-like" in both taste and presentation. Dining room food was good but not great, and I'll go on record as saying the "new" dinner menus were sorely disappointing. Dinner in Sabatini's was excellent - the best of our nine days onboard Crown. Dinner in the Crown Grill was disappointing - the food was plentiful but not much better than that served in the dining room and service was sorely lacking.

 

As far as the often referenced air-conditioning issue is concerned, there are definite cool and warm spots throughout the ship and unfortunately, our cabin was located in one of the warm spots - the digital thermometer on my travel clock never registered below 74 degrees. We're seasoned cruisers and know all about keeping the drapes closed during the day to lessen the effect of the heat and the sun on cabin temperature. Even so, our cabin hit 78 degrees just about every evening and dressing for dinner was uncomfortable at best. We were traveling with others who found their cabins (on differenct decks and in different areas of the ship) equally as uncomfortable. Engineering sent someone to check the a/c on the second day of the cruise and we were told there was nothing he could do to make it cooler. Anyone building a cruise ship should be aware that approximately half the cabins on any ship plying the waters of the Caribbean are in full sun about half the cruise and the a/c should be designed accordingly; clearly it wasn't on Crown.

 

Passenger demographics on Crown was a bit of a surprise. I'm not sure it was the result of the port of embarkation since we've left from New York and New Jersey multiple times and never found it an issue, but we sensed much more of a Carnival Cruise Line passenger load than we ever expected. While many passengers did respect the dress code, we found the vast majority ignored it completely and the staff did nothing to enforce it. One evening we asked the maitre d' in the DaVinci dining room why passengers in shorts and various other unacceptable manner of dress weren't turned away. He told us that if he says something passengers get angry and become abusive so as far as he's concerned, anything goes and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Shorts, jeans and worse were commonplace in the anytime dining rooms, even on the two formal nights. In fact, I'd have to say the passengers on this cruise were the slobbiest we've ever encountered on any cruise or on any cruise line. Backyard slop seemed to be the evening norm and many didn't even register that.

 

As others noted in posts I read prior to our cruise, the pools were very crowded on sea days and there's a bare minimum of shady spots available - around the pool or elsewhere. Despite the published policy of not saving lounges, everyone did it. Only once did we note crew removing items used to save chairs.

 

The were multiple venues providing various forms of nightly entertainment at any given time (a good thing!) but Crown carries 3400+ passengers and its theater seats only 800 - very poor planning on someone's behalf! Unless you were seated a good half hour ahead of time, it was impossible to attend any show in the theater.

 

Where Princess did excell was in the area of keeping the hundreds of kids on Crown in check. Youth Security personnel did an incredible job of keeping the kids in line and they're to be commended for that.

 

Finally, please bear in mind that this post is a reflection of our own personal experience on Crown and is subjective in nature. In no way do I intend to give the impression that we had a bad cruise; we didn't. But for us and the folks who were traveling with us, the Princess product (at least that which we experienced on Crown) was sorely disappointing. It wasn't a bad cruise - as far as we're concerned, there's no such thing. On the other hand, it surely wasn't what we're used or what we expected and we're likely not to cruise Princess again.

[azdmelani]

We also disembarked Crown yesterday and in a nutshell, I'd rate the cruise B-/C+. We're loyal Celebrity cruisers and admittedly have high standards but after this cruise on Crown (our 40th cruise; third on Princess), we're not likely to go Princess again. Did we enjoy ourselves? Of course! It's hard not to enjoy a cruise, but we weren't terribly impressed by Crown and found service and food to be adequate at best.

 

With respect to the service issue, I think the combination of anytime dining and automatic tipping definitely eliminates any motivation for staff and crew to provide friendly and excellent service. There were exceptions but many of the staff and crew with whom we came in contact seemed not to like their jobs at all! In fact, some seemed to go out of their way to be particularly unfriendly and unaccommodating. With respect to food, we found the breakfast and lunch buffets to be "institutional-like" in both taste and presentation. Dining room food was good but not great, and I'll go on record as saying the "new" dinner menus were sorely disappointing. Dinner in Sabatini's was excellent - the best of our nine days onboard Crown. Dinner in the Crown Grill was disappointing - the food was plentiful but not much better than that served in the dining room and service was sorely lacking.

 

As far as the often referenced air-conditioning issue is concerned, there are definite cool and warm spots throughout the ship and unfortunately, our cabin was located in one of the warm spots - the digital thermometer on my travel clock never registered below 74 degrees. We're seasoned cruisers and know all about keeping the drapes closed during the day to lessen the effect of the heat and the sun on cabin temperature. Even so, our cabin hit 78 degrees just about every evening and dressing for dinner was uncomfortable at best. We were traveling with others who found their cabins (on differenct decks and in different areas of the ship) equally as uncomfortable. Engineering sent someone to check the a/c on the second day of the cruise and we were told there was nothing he could do to make it cooler. Anyone building a cruise ship should be aware that approximately half the cabins on any ship plying the waters of the Caribbean are in full sun about half the cruise and the a/c should be designed accordingly; clearly it wasn't on Crown.

 

Passenger demographics on Crown was a bit of a surprise. I'm not sure it was the result of the port of embarkation since we've left from New York and New Jersey multiple times and never found it an issue, but we sensed much more of a Carnival Cruise Line passenger load than we ever expected. While many passengers did respect the dress code, we found the vast majority ignored it completely and the staff did nothing to enforce it. One evening we asked the maitre d' in the DaVinci dining room why passengers in shorts and various other unacceptable manner of dress weren't turned away. He told us that if he says something passengers get angry and become abusive so as far as he's concerned, anything goes and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Shorts, jeans and worse were commonplace in the anytime dining rooms, even on the two formal nights. In fact, I'd have to say the passengers on this cruise were the slobbiest we've ever encountered on any cruise or on any cruise line. Backyard slop seemed to be the evening norm and many didn't even register that.

 

As others noted in posts I read prior to our cruise, the pools were very crowded on sea days and there's a bare minimum of shady spots available - around the pool or elsewhere. Despite the published policy of not saving lounges, everyone did it. Only once did we note crew removing items used to save chairs.

 

The were multiple venues providing various forms of nightly entertainment at any given time (a good thing!) but Crown carries 3400+ passengers and its theater seats only 800 - very poor planning on someone's behalf! Unless you were seated a good half hour ahead of time, it was impossible to attend any show in the theater.

 

Where Princess did excell was in the area of keeping the hundreds of kids on Crown in check. Youth Security personnel did an incredible job of keeping the kids in line and they're to be commended for that.

 

Finally, please bear in mind that this post is a reflection of our own personal experience on Crown and is subjective in nature. In no way do I intend to give the impression that we had a bad cruise; we didn't. But for us and the folks who were traveling with us, the Princess product (at least that which we experienced on Crown) was sorely disappointing. It wasn't a bad cruise - as far as we're concerned, there's no such thing. On the other hand, it surely wasn't what we're used or what we expected and we're likely not to cruise Princess again.

 

I was also on the cruise and have to agree about the "carnival crowd." My friend and I noticed a LOT of people on our floor were first time princess cruisers from the nametags on their doors.

 

Will write a long review later but our crown cruise this year was different from last year. Still had fun, but would not go back in August... too many kids on board and a different passenger base.

 

Diane- sorry i never got to meet you but had so much fun with Donna! :)

[toddy23]

This is our 3rd princess cruise and there were a few things that were definitely a let down. However, we are the type of people who have a great time regardless.

Pros

We had great experiences in the dining room. We were traveling with a friend who has an extreme peanut allergy and Michael the Head Waiter was very helpful. He even brought out a special items for us most nights. Jon from the Philippines is a great waiter, very entertaining. We hardly ever had to wait for a seat in anytime dining, and when we did it was less than 5 minutes. The hostess was great also.

The ports-Bermuda is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. The rainforest in San Juan was great. St. Thomas is very pretty; we really enjoyed Meghan's Bay.

Entertainment-Love the juggling comedian (can't remember his name), he is a must see. I thought Tim Donavan was a great cruise director; he is very involved and very entertaining. Cameron, Fernando, and Brett from the cruise director staff were all wonderful.

We always went to the adult pools and never had a problem with crowds, of course there were many people there, but it didn't seem over crowded to us.

Trivia & Games-We had a lot of fun doing many of the trivia and game competitions. It is a great way to get to know the cruise staff.

New York-I love that this ship left out of NYC, we love the city and shopping. We had 3 days in Manhattan before the cruise and we ran ourselves to death!

Cons

Crowd-This crowd was not like either of the other princess cruises I've been on. They were primarily from NY and there wasn't a hip vibe at all. On our other two cruises there seemed to be a lot more people we could relate to, definitely not the case on this ship. I liked it much better on the other princess cruises where the passengers were made up of a much more diverse crowd.

Rough Seas-The water were really rough a couple of days.

Entertainment-This was the biggest let down. The singers and dancers in the theatre were not good at all. Most of the shows were way below what we had seen on our 2 previous cruises with princess. Princess pop star was horrible, but I suppose this has more to do with the crowd participating.

Immigration in San Juan-This took way too long, I'm sure it was because of the late arrival, but they should know how to get it to move better than it did.

Ports-We didn't have enough time in port. We were not able to see as much as we would have liked to.

Overall it was still a great trip and I am very sad it is over. I would definitely do the crown again, but not out of NYC. What am I going to do now? I have no one to turn down my bed, put chocolates on my pillow, serve me dinner, clean up after me, etc... It's a hard life, but I guess the show must go on.

[lysolqn]

-The water were really rough a couple of days.

 

You're kidding, right? Did you really think the sea was "rough" a couple of days? Frankly, we found it incredibly smooth with very little motion of the ocean!

[lysolqn]

Phew!!!! I thought I was going to be blasted for referencing the "crowd" on Crown and tried to be as gentle and as non-combative as possible. I'm glad to see we weren't the only ones who were surprised by our fellow passengers.

[Clutterlady]

I love cruising out of NYC because it's only an hour and a half drive for us, so we save on plane fare! But yes, in the summer cruising out of NY does have a different mix of people. Not that it bothered us on our last 3 cruises....we always met some very nice people and just ignored the rude ones:p

 

PS: Not saying that people who live in the tri-state area are rude.....born and raised in NJ myself:)

[freeholdfriends]

Reading these opinions is very interesting. Our group found the seas to be pretty calm--we wre warned that it would be much worse. We also were very surprised at the attire in the dining rooms. Our entire group always dressed but there were people all over in tee shirts and ratty looking shorts. They looked like they rolled off the beach or pool right into the dining rooms. Please don't refer to this crowd as Carnival Cruise people. Our group had always cruised Carnival before and we found the crowds on this ship to be less appealing and not as much fun as those we've cruised with before. I will never make assumptions about what kind of "people" cruise which lines again. One of the Dept. Managers told me that Princess's demographics has always been "active adults" ??? They are now trying to change it to a younger crowd and more lively crowd.(don't think they are succeeding) I think everybody has different views of a ship. We all thought the Princess theatre was great and that the entertainment was the one of the highlights of our trip. I have seen Broadway shows that were not as good as the shows on this boat, but this is always a personal opinion,. Many nights we were there and the theatre was not even full so I don't know why other people had problems with this. Again, we had a lot of fun with the Princess Pop Star contest. Personally, I think it might be not quite on the up and up, one night it appeared that they just picked the Cruise staff's favorite. They are a little "off" in how they count the votes. But, in perspective, it is only karoke on a cruise ship.

[booklady26]

I just came off this cruise as well. I am a loyal Princess fan and I have to ask those of you who are new to Princess to please not judge the line or the ship by this cruise.

 

I also hope I will not offend anyone by what I'm saying. I have just never experienced anything quite like this before.

 

This was our 18th Princess cruise and 40th overall. I have never sailed on any cruise, even Carnival and NCL, where the passengers were so, well, rude, is about the best way I can put it. The vast majority were first time cruisers and I think they thought they were vacationing at some theme park and not on a beautiful cruise ship.

 

I hate to sound snobbish, but the whole cruise experience seemed beyond them. The adults were loud and boorish and their children were running wild.

 

I think because the passengers were difficult, the service as whole suffered. We encountered only slight problems but could see the difference from other cruises we've taken. This has nothing to do with automatic service charges vs traditional gratuities or anytime dining. I think the staff was probably just tired of putting up with a lot of these people all summer.

 

I'm not the fashion police and don't usually care about how people are dressed, but would it be asking too much to put on a pair of long pants and nice shirt when going to dinner. The Michaelangelo and Da Vinci dining rooms are not the Olive Garden. If the staff had tried to enforce the dress code, there wouldn't be very many people eating in the dining rooms.

 

And can someone please tell me why children have to play hand held games during dinner. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I think the only activity at the table besides eating should be conversation and interaction between parents and children. And that should apply at home as well.

 

My niece and nephew, now 32 and 28 respectively have been cruising since they were 8 or 9 years old. They always knew how to behave, both in the dining room and around the ship. There was no "Youth Security" needed to keep them and all the other kids in line.

 

We attended the Elite CC Captain's luncheon and one of the officers told us that the summer cruises this year have been especially difficult. He said that they just had one more cruise to go (yesterday's departure) and then things could return to normal. His words, not mine.

 

We used to sail during the summer months very often, especially in the 1980's and 90's when the Bermuda run was the only option out of NYC. We never encountered anything like we did on this cruise. I guess it's a reflection on current parenting skills. As someone mentioned, one young girl was paged at about 4:00AM over the emergency PA system which is very audible in the cabins because she hadn't returned to her cabin. After the second announcement I said to my husband that if she wasn't already dead, there were about 3,000 people who wanted to kill her.

 

We sailed on the Crown last year on the same itinerary but 1 month later and the passengers were mostly wonderful. I will never sail during school vacation time again. I can't really fault the kids because they take cues from their parents. The children and their parents can have the ship to themselves and then return it to more civilized travelers in the fall.

[freeholdfriends]

Wow, thanks for the info. I thought I was crazy with my opoinion about this cruise. We still had a great time but the crowd on this cruie was strange. I will post a full review later today.

[patross]

I agree with you. I just completed my 5th Princess cruise. We were on the Crown August 10-19. We also were on last year's Crown 8/25 sailing. Both NY sailings had alot of first time cruisers who acted like they were on a land vacation. There is definitely a difference in cruising from NY in the summer. I am a teacher so all of my 9 cruises were during school vacation time. By the way, the other three Princess cruises were from Ft. Lauderdale. Totally different demographics. I wish the cruise line would enforce their dress codes though.

[kates70]

I am glad that others have posted similar reviews to mine. I hated to be negative but something is up with the Crown Princess.

 

I have a slightly different opinion about the "crowd". And I posted my review a week ago. Having been on the Crown three times... twice in the "off season" and once during the first of August, I get the feeling that the staff use the "crowd" as an excuse to be cranky or unfriendly. Yes there are more kids, but I didn't see anyone acting out of line. We treated the staff very friendly, yet we did not always get friendliness in return. Why was this cruise different from the last two Crown cruises. Maybe it's the four sea days, maybe all the extra children. I certainly don't think it's the "crowd".

 

I hope the situation changes for our next cruise on the Crown in December. I am kind of depressed about going back to the Dining Room only to get lousy service.

[lysolqn]

I just came off this cruise as well. I am a loyal Princess fan and I have to ask those of you who are new to Princess to please not judge the line or the ship by this cruise...

 

I think because the passengers were difficult, the service as whole suffered...I think the staff was probably just tired of putting up with a lot of these people all summer...

 

If the staff had tried to enforce the dress code, there wouldn't be very many people eating in the dining rooms...

 

We attended the Elite CC Captain's luncheon and one of the officers told us that the summer cruises this year have been especially difficult. He said that they just had one more cruise to go (yesterday's departure) and then things could return to normal...

 

We used to sail during the summer months very often, especially in the 1980's and 90's when the Bermuda run was the only option out of NYC. We never encountered anything like we did on this cruise. I guess it's a reflection on current parenting skills...

 

As someone mentioned, one young girl was paged at about 4:00AM over the emergency PA system which is very audible in the cabins because she hadn't returned to her cabin. After the second announcement I said to my husband that if she wasn't already dead, there were about 3,000 people who wanted to kill her...

 

1 - It's hard not to make judgments based on one's own disappointing experience.

 

2 - A staff tired of putting up with difficult passengers is no excuse for poor service. That's the cruise line's problem, not mine. When Princess is willing to share its profits with me, I'll be willing to share its problems. As a paying passenger, I don't want to hear about it.

 

3 - They should have tried.

 

4 - Is it unreasonable to book a cruise and expect that things will be "normal"?

 

5 - A reflection of parenting skills? No...it's a reflection of "human" skills - which were seriously lacking in too many passengers who, IMHO, behaved like farm animals.

 

6 - My thoughts exactly.

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Thank you all for your reviews! I was on the Crown's 6/17 sailing and didn't find kids to be a problem at all, however, I do know that that is a bit early still for schools to be out.

 

My only question is this, a few of you have written that there were a lot of first time cruisers . . . how do you know? I'm not starting anything, but I just think that that comment is one of those generalization that are made. Just because the passengers didn't behave like seasoned cruisers, doesn't always mean that they are first timers. I know that there were some people on my sailing who I would stop, look at and go "huh?" (to myself of course). But I never assumed they were first timers or Carnival passengers, etc. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think the comments are fair in the whole scheme of things.

 

I'm glad most of you had a good time and I'm sorry some of you didn't. I'm sure there is a cruiseline for everyone, we just need to find it.

 

Happy Cruzin'!

[lysolqn]

A few of you have written that there were a lot of first time cruisers . . . how do you know? I'm not starting anything, but I just think that that comment is one of those generalization that are made. Just because the passengers didn't behave like seasoned cruisers, doesn't always mean that they are first timers.[/quote

 

You're absolutely right. Just because many of the passengers didn't behave like seasoned cruisers, doesn't mean they were first timers. Perhaps it's more accurate to say they behaved like it was their first time out in public!

[patross]

pendi1- as far as I know about first time cruisers, speaking to people in the elevator and asking them how is their cruise, etc (small talk). More often than not I got the answer that this was their first cruise. Also, Princess puts the names on the door mailbox and most doors had a blue card color which tell you that it is their first Princess cruise. Very few Platinum and Elite passengers for a 3,000+ ship.