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

[Cruzin2paradise09]

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.

 

That's interesting, not arguing, but my card was white and it was my first Princess cruise . . . not my first cruise, but first time on Princess.

[jbrambach]

Thank you for your reviews of your Crown cruise. Just one question, did any of you have traditional dining? I was just wondering if anyone who did have traditional dining had a better experience then those who had Anytime dining?

[patross]

pendi1- yes, the card on the mailbox is white, but the first 1/2 inch had a color with the Princess Logo on it. The color is blue for the first time Princess cruisers, so is the room key. I just like to talk to people, and when I am in an elevator, I feel like I should smile to say something, thus the "small talk"'

[patross]

jbrambach- I had Anytime Dining on the 8/10 sailing and had a great waiter. My daughter had Traditional Dining on the 8/19 sailing. She was not very impressed with her dining experience.

[jbrambach]

jbrambach- I had Anytime Dining on the 8/10 sailing and had a great waiter. My daughter had Traditional Dining on the 8/19 sailing. She was not very impressed with her dining experience.

 

I guess it's luck of the draw then:) We cruise in Oct and three in my group have cleared the dining waitlist but one other couple has not. I usually do anytime dining when it is just my husband and I but we wanted to try tradtional again since we are traveling in a group if 5. Hopefully if they don't clear the list we can get that taken care of onboard.

 

Just one more question, did anyone try Sabatini's on the first night? If so how was it. TIA

[booklady26]

Like Patross, I also noted that the majority of name tags on the doors on our deck (Dolphin) was blue, indicating first timers.

 

The Captains Circle hostess also told me that there were only 22 Elite members on board all of whom were invited to the Captains Luncheon.

 

When I sailed on the Crown last year, there were close to 200 and only a handful were invited to the luncheon based on their number of days sailed with Princess. We were not among them as we had only about 155 days.

 

Also, at the main CC party for all repeat passengers, the Club Fusion was only about 1/3 full. Last year it was SRO.

 

By the way, I was less bothered by the kids than I was with those adults, who, as lysolqn pointed out, acted like this was their first time out in public. With few exceptions, bratty and badly behaved children are a reflection of their parents and upbringing and can't help it if they haven't been taught manners and decorum.

[lysolqn]

We tried Sabatini's the first night (it was virtually empty) and both the food and service were excellent. In fact, it was the best meal we had during the entire nine days, including the one we had at the Crown Grill where we found the food was decent (not great, but decent) but the service was horrible.

[gopher's girl]

Oh my gosh... Kimika was on my two cruises on the Caribbean Princess. Wonder if they'll still be on the Crown when I get there in November!!

[jbrambach]

We tried Sabatini's the first night (it was virtually empty) and both the food and service were excellent. In fact, it was the best meal we had during the entire nine days, including the one we had at the Crown Grill where we found the food was decent (not great, but decent) but the service was horrible.

Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted to know...I guess we'll be at Sabatini's on the first night:)

[booklady26]

We ate in both Sabatini's and Crown Grill during our cruise. We had great service in both. Ask for Guiseppe in the Grill. He was terrific.

[ml64]

Hi all~

Just some random thoughts. This was our 6th Princess cruise. We normally cruise in Oct/Nov so this was our first “summer” experience. I have to admit that it did seem like a different cruise this time around. I think we’ll try to stick to the fall where possible.

 

Kids program was good. My DS who is seven (his 3rd cruise) loved the kids program. With that said, I didn’t find the kids program staff to be overly friendly. But who knows… with over 600+ kids on board to take care of, I’d be a little cranky too.

 

We ate at the Crown Grill one night and we were not overly impressed (and we are not hard to please). It wasn’t bad…just didn’t feel like any different than the “free” dining experience. We wouldn’t go there again.

 

Dining room menus/food we thought was excellent. We were very please with our meals. Staff was very nice and went out of their way to make sure DS was happy with his meals. Kudos!

 

Loved the International Café!!! Definitely a great addition. Gelato was to die for…would cough up the $1.50 again in a heartbeat…really delicious. DH loved the coffee offered there and didn’t mind the extra cost ($1.15). Service staff were wonderful.

 

Pool areas were a mob scene. In my opinion, the Sanctuary takes up a lot of space which could be better used by everyone to alleviate the crowds a little bit. Again, just my opinion. Seat saving at the pool areas seemed to be a big problem.

 

I thought the staff was incredibly friendly. There were countless amounts of times where we witnessed staff being lambasted by a passenger for no reason (one time a young teenager berated a bartender because in “her opinion” he wasn’t making her drink correctly. I wanted to give her a big “time out” myself.). All I can say is that I give them a lot of credit for smiling and not telling them where to go.

 

Getting off at San Juan was horrible. The worst experience we’ve had. While I know it was difficult because we were late leaving Grand Turk, it was really painful to get off the ship.

 

Didn’t see a lot of shows since we wanted to pick up DS by 10pm. It so funny how different peoples opinions can be. We saw Kimika (?) a couple of cruises ago and didn’t really care for them. But I figured we’d try them again. No change for us—we really didn’t care for their humor. But that’s why they offer different thing. No big deal for us.

 

Anyway, these were just some of my random thoughts. While there were some small bumps, cruising is always better than working.

[ml64]

Oh I forgot to add the dining room attire. The worst I've seen on any cruise.

 

Yes, every now and then on other cruises you could find someone breaking the rules in the dining room but this was way over the top. Shorts, hats, t-shirts during dinner hours ... unbelievable. My DH asked me if one of our girls (early twenties) could wear jeans one night in the dining room. I said NOT WITH ME she can't. Rules are rules in my book.

 

I'm not a huge fan of dressing up (and if the truth be known love my shorts more than anything). But if I choose to wear shorts then I should be in the buffet.

 

Sorry if offend anyone. Again, just my opinion.

[Dixe Lee]

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! :)

 

Not trying to be difficult, but we will be first-time cruisers on Princess when we sail on the Crown in October but we are not first-time cruisers and we do not consider ourselves the "carnival crowd". In fact, that is why we chose a Princess cruise. We have sailed on CCL and don't really want to again. Do you think that the problems with the crowd on your sailing is due more to school being out and lots of families and lots of kids? I would surely hope that we don't end up being lumped into the "carnival crowd" category simply because our nametag on our door will show us as being first-time Princess cruisers. BTW, I'm not sure what to make of the nametag thing on the door? Not sure if I want that info broadcast.

[kates70]

Did any of the recent people who had dinner at the Crown Grill happen to sit by the kitchen? We did, and felt that their system was a bit confused and chaotic. I saw 9 servers around the kitchen area and they seemed to be strugging to get their orders ... when i looked behind me i expected a full restaurant but was suprised to see only 4 other tables. The poor service was not a result of lack of servers, but it seemed to be a process thing. Just a thought ...

[xxTheRiverNJ]

This is Diane...xxtherivernj's wife again...

 

I just have to say, I had no problem with the people on the cruise actually I kinda found them to be friendly. Most of the people were just pissed off at the service and I don't blame them. As far as the kids are concerned, they were all great, there was no problem as far as I could see and I found them to be respectful....actually, I hardly ever saw them and I had over 25- 24 year olds and 17 -16 year olds or more on my floor. The security was great! I am never sailing Princess again even if they offered me a free cruise, I would turn it down. I'm sorry to hear that the Captain said just one more cruise and we are done, that's very upsetting to me. I am booking my next cruise back with NCL for next July were they love there passengers and treat them like people and not just meat. Oh yeah, one more thing, the drill was bad,If the ship had an emergency...say your prayers cause your not getting off unless you jump!

[jbrambach]

This is Diane...xxtherivernj's wife again...

 

I just have to say, I had no problem with the people on the cruise actually I kinda found them to be friendly. Most of the people were just pissed off at the service and I don't blame them. As far as the kids are concerned, they were all great, there was no problem as far as I could see and I found them to be respectful....actually, I hardly ever saw them and I had over 25- 24 year olds and 17 -16 year olds or more on my floor. The security was great! I am never sailing Princess again even if they offered me a free cruise, I would turn it down. I'm sorry to hear that the Captain said just one more cruise and we are done, that's very upsetting to me. I am booking my next cruise back with NCL for next July were they love there passengers and treat them like people and not just meat.

I think the poster said an officer said "just one more cruise" not the Captain, don't know if that makes a difference if you would cruise with Princess again, just an observation No Flame Meant. Also, sorry you did not have a good experience on the Crown, maybe a smaller ship would be more to your liking as with less passengers the crew to passenger relationship is more intimate and personal. Just a thought.

[jbrambach]

Not trying to be difficult, but we will be first-time cruisers on Princess when we sail on the Crown in October but we are not first-time cruisers and we do not consider ourselves the "carnival crowd". In fact, that is why we chose a Princess cruise. We have sailed on CCL and don't really want to again. Do you think that the problems with the crowd on your sailing is due more to school being out and lots of families and lots of kids? I would surely hope that we don't end up being lumped into the "carnival crowd" category simply because our nametag on our door will show us as being first-time Princess cruisers. BTW, I'm not sure what to make of the nametag thing on the door? Not sure if I want that info broadcast.

The nametag is removeable, just a slip of paper on the outside mailbox, we always remove ours. Have a great first Princess Cruise:)

[booklady26]

Dixie Lee - You will not be berated by anyone for simply being a first timer. We were all first timers once. I traveled on this cruise with my sister and her husband who have cruised many times, but never before on Princess. By the way, they loved it and thought it was among the best they had ever taken.

 

The point that I and I think think others were trying to make was that there was a large number of people who were rude, crude and clearly had no idea that cruising is a bit more of a refined vacation than packing the kids in the car and heading to the shore.

 

I retreated to my balcony for peace and quiet only to sometimes hear people yelling to people in other cabins or even to their family members in their own cabins. It kind of reminded me of the Honeymooners with Alice yelling out the window to Trixie.

 

I am a native New Yorker who now lives in New Jersey and am aware that New Yorkers have a reputation for being loud, brassy and crass. Many passengers on this cruise did nothing to dispel that notion.

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Since this didn't come out on my last post...I found the drill to be bad also so if there is an emergency on the ship, just say your prayers cause your not getting off unless you jump.

[lysolqn]

Unfortunately, the drill was the second of many times during the cruise when lack of organization on Crown was all too obvious. The first was putting a stop to all vehicles trying to enter the port in order to facilitate the exit of passengers disembarking the prior cruise. You can no sooner attribute those issues to the reputation of New Yorkers than you can mediocre food and service or unfriendly, unaccommodating staff and crew.

[jbrambach]

Unfortunately, the drill was the second of many times during the cruise when lack of organization on Crown was all too obvious. The first was putting a stop to all vehicles trying to enter the port in order to facilitate the exit of passengers disembarking the prior cruise. You can no sooner attribute those issues to the reputation of New Yorkers than you can mediocre food and service or unfriendly, unaccommodating staff and crew.

Dare I ask, what happened during the muster drill?

[cruisinbuddy]

Glad to hear you had a good time on the ship we're sailing on in Feb.

[patross]

booklady26- you explained it better than I could to Dixe Lee - my sentiments exactly. I too am a native New Yorker, now living in New Jersey.

 

Dixe Lee you will have a great time. This was our second Crown sailing, so that says it all! :)

[lysolqn]

Dare I ask, what happened during the muster drill?

 

Nothing happened, per se (at least where we were situated) but a serious lack of organization was quite obvious. We mustered in the foyer outside the Crown Grill where one phrase that comes to mind is "mob scene." Staff haphazzardly (and very haphazzardly at that) checked attendance by swiping passenger key cards in a handheld computer but people had no clue they needed to have their cards swiped. The noise was deafening, even during announcements and we saw a lot of people leave before the drill was over.

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Dare I ask, what happened during the muster drill?

 

Nothing that is important to know....you better know where the door is and how to put a life preserver on with a ten foot hanging strap. Practice jumping from high places. No other comments, sorry if this is too bothersome to some but its only my opinion.