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

[pmshirl]

Hello:

I also was on this cruise, and I wasn't going to chime in, since no one wants to hear NEGATIVE on a Princess thread, but here I go!

We have cruised many times in the past ( 17 Rc cruises, 2 celebrity, 1 Carnival, and this was our 2nd on the CROWN) and the ONLY reason we went on the Crown for the second time, was because our 1st cruise (july 06) we paid for a Balcony triple cabin and didn't have a 3rd berth for the person to sleep, and therfore received a cruise credit for the 3rd person's fare. Now let me talk about our experience on the Aug. 19-28th cruise!

We were well aware of the air conditioning problems from the 1st cruise and the reviews prior to this sailing, so we packed a large fan (fit tight in a large suitcase) and that solved at least an air flow in our cabin for sleeping at nite, even though it still was very warm in our cabin , Even with the fan. We had confirmed 2nd seating dining, which when we received our card at check-in, we were listed as anytime dining, and had to waste time when we 1st boarded to straighten that out. We ate at traditional dining in the DiVince dining room, late seating and we found the service to be very poor! We sat many nites for at least 1/2 hr until we were served something to drink (soda), also on lobster nite the server splashed hot butter all over my DH suit and never even attempted to help to get a napkin, water, or even apoligize! There were nights we spent 2 hrs in the dining room ,for just our main course meal(no appetizer's, soups, deserts...just the Main Course. Next the seating at the pool decks, shows etc. are a joke! whoever heard of a Big Ship that hold 3000+ pax have a main show seating area to hold 200 pax!!! Princess did, I can attest to that. I cruised on the RCI, Liberty of the Seas(a Bigger Ship than Crown) and never had a problem finding a seat for a show, on the Crown we went 20-30 minutes prior to the showtime and seats were saved, all over the place, some shows we couldn't even get a seat for 2, they were all taken. Other lounges where shows were going on had the same problem..standing room only! Now for the pursor's desk, They are clueless! I went to get a printout of our room charges on day 3 ( only because I know from last yr, others had charges on their accounts that they didn't make) after checking my statement, I was charged for 2 soda cards(in which I only purchased 1 on the 1st day)I tried to resolve the issue that same day and my DH had to show his card (to prove no sticker for soda was attached to his card, and only I had the soda card) even though his statement showed he purchased an individual soda each nite at dinner and was charged seperately on the statement for each soda, that wasn't enough proof.I also showed my receipt from day 1 for the ONE soda card purchased. Well' the pursor's desk told me to check back in a few days they had to send the dispute to the bar dept. I waited until Sunday (day 7 of the cruise) and the charge was still on the statement ($42.00), had to go through the same scenerio with another incompetent pursor expert, and was told the same thing, had to send it to the bar dept., check back later. After spending approx. 2 hrs with the pursor's desk ( checking back and forth for several days) the charge finally was removed. On the last day we received our statement in our door, and were charged for items used in the cabin ($18.55) and we didn't use anything. I wasn't about to go through the Mc'Donald's line to try to resolve that charge, so we will just pay it and hope the extra money Princess got from them charges can be put to good use (maybe some training for their personnel). The Ship is a Beautiful Ship, but lacks in a lot of areas, we did enjoy our cruise, had great weather, the kids (teens) didn't bother us at all, they are people too, but I would really have to be desperate to try Princess line again! I am not someone who needs a lot of attention to be content, but I do not want to take a vacation, where I have to waste my(vacation) time on issues, that I didn't create.All though my problems were minor issues, and I know no Cruise is perfect, I did not find that many faults on any other of the 21 cruises( on several different cruiselines) I have taken and plan my future cruises with the lines that seem to be more organized!

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Every crew member I came in contact with on this cruise...was polite, pleasant and helpful... always made eye contact..always said "hi how are you"

 

Here's one example for you...My wife and I are eating dinner in the DaVinci dining room... I ordered a can of Coke...The waiter's assistant brought the coke and poured it into my glass and misjudged how fast the foam from the soda was going to rise. Some of the soda overflowed and ran down the glass on to the table. The poor guy nearly had a heart attack..like I was gonna bite his head off... He apologized 20 times..ran, got a napkin and blotted the liquid which really wasn't a huge spill. then proceeded to apologize 20 times again..I smiled and told him to relax..I've done worse by my own hand...

 

The point here is that this poor guy must have had his head chewed off by some rude, demanding passenger in the past and was expecting the same from me.

 

You get what you give...If you are nice...they treat you well...if you act like they are your slave for 9 days... then they will act accordingly..and dont give me the Princess sharing their profits line... Because its human nature..treat people like you want to be treated and things work out. What Ive seen on many of this trips is that people treat the staff like dirt...and wonder why they dont get good service. We had great service and felt like these people were our friends and not our slaves...

 

What do you mean by being nice, the only time I got what I needed is when I showed cash for tip

[xxTheRiverNJ]

Hello:

I also was on this cruise, and I wasn't going to chime in, since no one wants to hear NEGATIVE on a Princess thread, but here I go!

We have cruised many times in the past ( 17 Rc cruises, 2 celebrity, 1 Carnival, and this was our 2nd on the CROWN) and the ONLY reason we went on the Crown for the second time, was because our 1st cruise (july 06) we paid for a Balcony triple cabin and didn't have a 3rd berth for the person to sleep, and therfore received a cruise credit for the 3rd person's fare. Now let me talk about our experience on the Aug. 19-28th cruise!

We were well aware of the air conditioning problems from the 1st cruise and the reviews prior to this sailing, so we packed a large fan (fit tight in a large suitcase) and that solved at least an air flow in our cabin for sleeping at nite, even though it still was very warm in our cabin , Even with the fan. We had confirmed 2nd seating dining, which when we received our card at check-in, we were listed as anytime dining, and had to waste time when we 1st boarded to straighten that out. We ate at traditional dining in the DiVince dining room, late seating and we found the service to be very poor! We sat many nites for at least 1/2 hr until we were served something to drink (soda), also on lobster nite the server splashed hot butter all over my DH suit and never even attempted to help to get a napkin, water, or even apoligize! There were nights we spent 2 hrs in the dining room ,for just our main course meal(no appetizer's, soups, deserts...just the Main Course. Next the seating at the pool decks, shows etc. are a joke! whoever heard of a Big Ship that hold 3000+ pax have a main show seating area to hold 200 pax!!! Princess did, I can attest to that. I cruised on the RCI, Liberty of the Seas(a Bigger Ship than Crown) and never had a problem finding a seat for a show, on the Crown we went 20-30 minutes prior to the showtime and seats were saved, all over the place, some shows we couldn't even get a seat for 2, they were all taken. Other lounges where shows were going on had the same problem..standing room only! Now for the pursor's desk, They are clueless! I went to get a printout of our room charges on day 3 ( only because I know from last yr, others had charges on their accounts that they didn't make) after checking my statement, I was charged for 2 soda cards(in which I only purchased 1 on the 1st day)I tried to resolve the issue that same day and my DH had to show his card (to prove no sticker for soda was attached to his card, and only I had the soda card) even though his statement showed he purchased an individual soda each nite at dinner and was charged seperately on the statement for each soda, that wasn't enough proof.I also showed my receipt from day 1 for the ONE soda card purchased. Well' the pursor's desk told me to check back in a few days they had to send the dispute to the bar dept. I waited until Sunday (day 7 of the cruise) and the charge was still on the statement ($42.00), had to go through the same scenerio with another incompetent pursor expert, and was told the same thing, had to send it to the bar dept., check back later. After spending approx. 2 hrs with the pursor's desk ( checking back and forth for several days) the charge finally was removed. On the last day we received our statement in our door, and were charged for items used in the cabin ($18.55) and we didn't use anything. I wasn't about to go through the Mc'Donald's line to try to resolve that charge, so we will just pay it and hope the extra money Princess got from them charges can be put to good use (maybe some training for their personnel). The Ship is a Beautiful Ship, but lacks in a lot of areas, we did enjoy our cruise, had great weather, the kids (teens) didn't bother us at all, they are people too, but I would really have to desperate to try Princess line again! I am not someone who needs a lot of attention to be content, but I do not want to take a vacation, where I have to waste my(vacation) time on issues, that I didn't create.All though my problems were minor issues, and I know no Cruise is perfect, I did not find that many faults on any other of the 21 cruises( on several different cruiselines) I have taken and plan my future cruises with the lines I that seem to be more organized!

 

 

Shirl, My dad had trouble with the soda card too.

[Dixe Lee]

Wow now I am nervous again. We just returned from the West Caribbean on the Carnival Valor in August. It was our first cruise and although we fell in love with cruising we hated the demographics on the ship. When I submitted my reviews on Carnival it did not go over well...but it was our opinion. So when we returned off we went to our TA and booked a cruise in March on the Crown Princess....now I read this...Did we make another mistake picking a cruise line??

 

Tishie, don't worry. I have read far too many rave reviews of the Crown Princess, including several recent reviews posted in the "Member Review" section. Of course, I don't know your age, etc. that the demographics of the CCL Valor would not be appropriate for you, but I have read several recent reviews of various ships from all of the major cruise lines, and it seems that lots of sailings were "off" during the month of August. So, if there is a problem with the demographics, I would dare say that the crowds trying for one last blast before school starts is more of the problem than the cruiseline itself. BTW, we are both 50 and don't expect any problem at all with the demographics of the Crown Princess when we sail in Oct.

[JerseyGrl]

I, too, was on the August 19th Crown sailing. Overall I had a great time and if I was asked to do the cruise again I would in a heartbeat. But, I do have to agree with the others posters on here who say that the service was lacking. This was my fourth cruise, my first with Princess. I have also cruised Carnival (I was 18 at the time so can't really give an opinion of the cruise line from an adult perspective), Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. My favorite would have to be Royal Caribbean, I felt like I was treated like royalty. Since I was on that cruise last year I compared a lot of this cruise to that one and I feel that Royal Caribbean has far superior service. On RCCL at dinner each night the waiter would remember that I liked an Iced Tea and have it would have it waiting for me. Never did I have to wait or even ask for a refill, my glass was replenished often. This was not the case on Crown, we would have to ask both the waiter and his assistant several times to bring lemons to our table for water or for a drink. You would think that since we asked for lemons every night we would have them waiting for us when we got to the dining room and we did, on the LAST night! Every other night we would ask about 5 times for it. Also, water glasses remained empty until you asked for a refill on most nights. And to make note we had late, traditional dining and sat at a table with two other couples. I do think that the customer service on Princess was HORRIBLE, I was one of the unlucky ones who ended up with a warm cabin. I called nightly for 4 nights for them to come check, no one did. When I got questioned the pursers desk they told me that they have no record of me calling and that I never called. Struck me as very rude. I also noticed that they seemed to pass everything off on someone else. If you needed something they would tell you who to contact, you would contact that person, they would tell you to contact someone else and the pattern would continue. About 3 days before we left on the cruise our travel agent called me and said that Princess was offering us $1429 to move from our mini-suite to a balcony room and of course we took that offer. Well it seemed that this caused the staff a lot of confusion, even though our cruise personalizer had the new room on it. When we got to the cabin, our room steward didn't know our names (not a big deal). The problem came when all of our amenities and onboard credits were not showing up. It took calls to my travel agent and about 5 days to clear everything. And never were we even offered an apology. I agree that we are all very lucky to be able to travel and go on cruises. We are also very lucky that we found this web site and are able to give our opinions of cruises we have been on so that others may make an educated choice when choosing their cruise and we can do the same from others' reviews. From my personal experience I think that Princess seems to be very strict when it comes to serving alcohol to minors. I am 26 years old and at various occasions I was asked for my I. D.! Once at the pool bar, another time when I was holding a beer by the pool youth security came up to me and asked me if I was 21, I said no, I am 26. Another at the champagne waterfall they didn't want to give me champagne. Once place I had to question with this is Skywalkers. They ask for I. D. to get in, it's 18 to enter and 21 to drink. As we were leaving my fiance asked the girl at the door, how they know who is 18 and who is 21 once inside and her response was "we don't really give a S***. " On a better note, I thought the entertainment on this ship was great, there was so much to choose from. If you didn't like the show in the theater that's ok there was a lot of other things to do. I enjoyed the MUTS, but again customer service lacked in this area. Some nights they had the lounge chairs covered and had blankets, others they did not. On the last night there weren't a lot of blankets available so I asked for one and was told that they are cleaning them for the next cruise and I cannot have one. I said well I am still on my cruise and would like one, after being passed of to three different people I finally got my blanket 30 minutes later. I also really liked Tim, the cruise director and his staff. They were wonderful, just remember they have to sleep sometimes, too! I felt that the boat was very rocky, as did my table mates and its seems a lot of other people did, too since the gift shop ran out of Dramanine only a few days into the cruise. I don't know if this was an effect of the hurricane or not. For those of you who have a cruise booked on the Crown, you will enjoy your cruise a lot and have a wonderful time. The ship is beautiful, the ports are great. Also,remember this web site is called cruiseCRITIC for a reason!

[Shamrock359]

Myself and my husband had a fabulous time!! Our luggage didn't arrive until 10:30 pm the night of embarkation. Was this the fault of the Crown? No. I watched my bags sit under the canopy right where we left them with the porter at 12 noon. Yes, I did tip the guy--$20 for 6 bags. Did this RUIN my cruise? NO!!! Did I stress? NO! Just went on with our evening until they arrived. By the way, we were on the ship in our room by 12:10. Embarkation was a breeze.

 

Our room was wonderful. Our safe worked just fine. The air conditioning was in fact a little cold at times. Our Steward, Jose was by far the best I've had yet. He was constantly asking us what he could do for us. Very pleasant, highly efficient.

 

We chose to eat at the buffet for a few nights because we didn't really care for what was being served in the dining rooms. Cafe Caribe was very, very good. If you can't find SOMETHING to eat on that ship, then you have a problem. There was always something to eat that would appeal to most people. We always found a table just by using some common sense. Knowing the times that the different venues operate also helps. They give you all this info in your cabin. Very few people read it.

 

When we ate at the Crown Grill, we had a tremendous experience. The food was very good, the service even better.

 

Anytime dining in DaVinci was a pleasure. Our waiters hustled like you wouldn't believe to give everyone a nice dining experience. If you didn't like something, you could have something else. They don't want you to be dissatisfied. A guy sitting behind us made such a stink about getting tomato and mozzarella one night, I wanted to get up and bash him!! With all the choices, this is what he had to have. And you know what? He got it and then didn't even say thanks. That burns me. Did it ruin my cruise? No. That's HIS problem not mine. He has to live with himself.

 

We never passed a Crown employee without getting a hello, or good morning, or how was your day. Never. They are trained to be that way. I don't think they were stressed, or overworked or anything. You get what you give. A smile goes a long way.

 

There were pool hogs, and theater front row hogs, and just plain hogs at the buffet. Did they ruin my cruise? No. I won't let them.

 

We didn't see the "shows" only because we saw them all last year. So, we experienced other things we missed last year. We watched 2 movies under the stars. How much fun is it, curling up under the soft blanket with your popcorn and mudslide, and enjoying a movie? It was awesome! We saw a few comics, the hypnotist, and spent some time in the lounges dancing with each other. We had fun.

 

We went to the gym quite often. It was great. Took the spinning class and worked my buns off. The instructor, Peter, was so nice and very accomodating. The first day of class, all the bikes were full. From there on, no one would show up. He didn't care, he still gave me a great workout.

 

We did ship sponsored shore excursions and they were great. Definitely not overcrowded, and very enjoyable.

 

One little tip I will give future cruisers: when you hear the bong bong bong before public announcements and you're in your cabin, turn the TV to channel 41 to be able to hear them.

 

At the end of the cruise, Princess asks you to fill out the "you made a difference card" if someone on the cruise went above and beyond. I filled out 5. I felt like I could have filled out 25 if I could remember everyone's names. I took the time. How many others did this?

 

I've sailed the Crown twice, and loved it both times. Your cruise is what you make of it. I think people need to lighten up and relax. I'm very sad that the Crown won't be in NY next year, but I'll find something to do instead. Perhaps it will be another cruise, but maybe it'll be a land vacation. After visiting these islands, I know I would like to spend more time on some.

 

Whatever you do, enjoy. Life is way too short to be nitpicking at ridiculous things.

Happy Cruising to all.

[frofro]

Wow now I am nervous again. We just returned from the West Caribbean on the Carnival Valor in August. It was our first cruise and although we fell in love with cruising we hated the demographics on the ship. When I submitted my reviews on Carnival it did not go over well...but it was our opinion. So when we returned off we went to our TA and booked a cruise in March on the Crown Princess....now I read this...Did we make another mistake picking a cruise line??

 

 

No you didnt...I was on the 7/14 sailing, staff was very friendly and helpful, kids were behaved, and the riff raff was at a minimal. In the dining rooms you did find people who refused to follow dress codes, but for the MOST part people were dressed very nice. I admit I can be a bit of a snob and I wasnt bothered by the "type" of pax on this shp, as some have referred to the crowd being a "carnival ship crowd". BTW I enjoyed it so much I booked another cruise out of NY for next summer :)

[kates70]

I am suprised that with all the less than positive reviews, people are still questioning the people providing the reviews. I posted a review a week ago and received very few comments in return. I think it's because I am new... and because I have sailed on the Crown three times and I had two positive experiences and one less than positive (August 1-10).

 

I don't think people are nitpicking if they want good service in the dining room. My cruise experience is very simple, and I use the ship as a moving hotel ... mainly for the room and dining. I do not see the shows and do not use the pools, etc. For me, the dining experience is 50% of the trip.

 

I don't want to ruin anyone's excitement about their pending cruises, but if several people are experiencing something ... it can't be overlooked. Yes, life is what you make of it ...but if you spend over $5000 on a vacation, you expect to receive appropriate service ...at the very least, be served all three courses at dinner.

[frofro]

What do you mean by being nice, the only time I got what I needed is when I showed cash for tip

 

 

I never showed cash, I was nice to the staff and I was always treated well...

[tishie58]

Dixie,

My husband is 51 and I am 49. We are from NY and work in NYC, he is a FDNY Lt and I am a pediatric Oncology nurse. We sailed the first time in August out of Miami. The demographics I speak of were primarily large groups of young people who were out of control in dress, behavior and class. .Plus there were out of control children everywhere with NO parents around them. I felt like I was babysitting at the pool. It was enough to make us change cruise lines. However, like Craig has said, I truly respect and appreciate all the work those people do on the cruise. My husband and I are so grateful to be able to vacation twice a year and relax. We treat everyone with respect and understand that stuff happens. We don't live in a perfect world everyday, I don't know why we expect perfection once we board a ship. I am hoping the Crown is a beautiful ship and we have a great itinerary. We always make our vacations special and happy because we both realize after 9/11 how very precious each day is. Thanks for the pep talk Dixie:)

[freeholdfriends]

From reading all these posts --I think many of the problems with dinner occurred in the Michelangelo dining room. We gave up after 7nights of getting our entrees at 10pm. the service was horrendous in that room. I don't pay thousands of dollars to eat dinner in a buffet due to the lack of service

[CraigRDR1]

Myself and my husband had a fabulous time!! Our luggage didn't arrive until 10:30 pm the night of embarkation. Was this the fault of the Crown? No. I watched my bags sit under the canopy right where we left them with the porter at 12 noon. Yes, I did tip the guy--$20 for 6 bags. Did this RUIN my cruise? NO!!! Did I stress? NO! Just went on with our evening until they arrived. By the way, we were on the ship in our room by 12:10. Embarkation was a breeze.

 

Our room was wonderful. Our safe worked just fine. The air conditioning was in fact a little cold at times. Our Steward, Jose was by far the best I've had yet. He was constantly asking us what he could do for us. Very pleasant, highly efficient.

 

We chose to eat at the buffet for a few nights because we didn't really care for what was being served in the dining rooms. Cafe Caribe was very, very good. If you can't find SOMETHING to eat on that ship, then you have a problem. There was always something to eat that would appeal to most people. We always found a table just by using some common sense. Knowing the times that the different venues operate also helps. They give you all this info in your cabin. Very few people read it.

 

When we ate at the Crown Grill, we had a tremendous experience. The food was very good, the service even better.

 

Anytime dining in DaVinci was a pleasure. Our waiters hustled like you wouldn't believe to give everyone a nice dining experience. If you didn't like something, you could have something else. They don't want you to be dissatisfied. A guy sitting behind us made such a stink about getting tomato and mozzarella one night, I wanted to get up and bash him!! With all the choices, this is what he had to have. And you know what? He got it and then didn't even say thanks. That burns me. Did it ruin my cruise? No. That's HIS problem not mine. He has to live with himself.

 

We never passed a Crown employee without getting a hello, or good morning, or how was your day. Never. They are trained to be that way. I don't think they were stressed, or overworked or anything. You get what you give. A smile goes a long way.

 

There were pool hogs, and theater front row hogs, and just plain hogs at the buffet. Did they ruin my cruise? No. I won't let them.

 

We didn't see the "shows" only because we saw them all last year. So, we experienced other things we missed last year. We watched 2 movies under the stars. How much fun is it, curling up under the soft blanket with your popcorn and mudslide, and enjoying a movie? It was awesome! We saw a few comics, the hypnotist, and spent some time in the lounges dancing with each other. We had fun.

 

We went to the gym quite often. It was great. Took the spinning class and worked my buns off. The instructor, Peter, was so nice and very accomodating. The first day of class, all the bikes were full. From there on, no one would show up. He didn't care, he still gave me a great workout.

 

We did ship sponsored shore excursions and they were great. Definitely not overcrowded, and very enjoyable.

 

One little tip I will give future cruisers: when you hear the bong bong bong before public announcements and you're in your cabin, turn the TV to channel 41 to be able to hear them.

 

At the end of the cruise, Princess asks you to fill out the "you made a difference card" if someone on the cruise went above and beyond. I filled out 5. I felt like I could have filled out 25 if I could remember everyone's names. I took the time. How many others did this?

 

I've sailed the Crown twice, and loved it both times. Your cruise is what you make of it. I think people need to lighten up and relax. I'm very sad that the Crown won't be in NY next year, but I'll find something to do instead. Perhaps it will be another cruise, but maybe it'll be a land vacation. After visiting these islands, I know I would like to spend more time on some.

 

Whatever you do, enjoy. Life is way too short to be nitpicking at ridiculous things.

Happy Cruising to all.

 

 

Shamrock359...Its finally nice to see someone who was actually on the same cruise!!! Cause thats the way I saw it...

[CraigRDR1]

What do you mean by being nice, the only time I got what I needed is when I showed cash for tip

 

We did not tip until the last day.

[CraigRDR1]

I never showed cash, I was nice to the staff and I was always treated well...

 

 

We didnt tip until the last day... A number of times we left the dining room without eating dessert because we were stuffed from all the courses at dinner and the waiter stopped us and asked if everything was okay. Why arent you having dessert?

[CraigRDR1]

Dixie,

My husband is 51 and I am 49. We are from NY and work in NYC, he is a FDNY Lt and I am a pediatric Oncology nurse. We sailed the first time in August out of Miami. The demographics I speak of were primarily large groups of young people who were out of control in dress, behavior and class. .Plus there were out of control children everywhere with NO parents around them. I felt like I was babysitting at the pool. It was enough to make us change cruise lines. However, like Craig has said, I truly respect and appreciate all the work those people do on the cruise. My husband and I are so grateful to be able to vacation twice a year and relax. We treat everyone with respect and understand that stuff happens. We don't live in a perfect world everyday, I don't know why we expect perfection once we board a ship. I am hoping the Crown is a beautiful ship and we have a great itinerary. We always make our vacations special and happy because we both realize after 9/11 how very precious each day is. Thanks for the pep talk Dixie:)

 

 

Don't stress out... You will have a great time. Great ship and a very enjoyable cruise.

[xxTheRiverNJ]

I never showed cash, I was nice to the staff and I was always treated well...

 

I was very nice to them also besides the money.

[xxTheRiverNJ]

We did not tip until the last day.

 

we tipped toward the end too and then thats when things starting working for us.

[frofro]

we tipped toward the end too and then thats when things starting working for us.

 

 

I tipped only on the very last day, but before doing so, things still "worked for us" ;)

[xxTheRiverNJ]

You're one hundred percent correct - I couldn't agree more! But it doesn't ALWAYS work that way.

Despite our smiles, please and thank you at every opportunity, our attempt to connect, to ask how their day was, where home was or respectfully request something or other, we found staff and crew on Crown to be particularly aloof, sometimes downright unaccommodating and often unwilling to crack a smile, make an attempt to engage or return the niceities. There were exceptions, of course - but in general, this staff and crew were the least friendly and least accommodating of any we've encountered on forty cruises. I've no doubt whatsoever that it was the result of putting up with difficult passengers; that explains it but it doesn't excuse it.

 

Maybe some of us have the wrong idea of what a cruise should be like. I can say thank god for the excusions. The catamaran sail to st. John is the way people should be treated. Those People that took us out and were the highlights of our cruise experience. They did everything they could do to make us feel relaxed , comfortable and have a great time. The Ports of call were all beautiful but I still feel like I was home washing my own dishes when I got back on the ship. Don't get me wrong, These people, the workers do work hard and thats why the rest of us suffer. When people book cruises, everyone has there own likings and if you like to wait for everything, then this is the cruise for you. I rather go on a ship that has 2,000 passengers and 1,000 workers then going on a ship that has 3,600 passengers and 950 workers. It's your own choice , take that into consideration next time you book. (this is just my thoughts, its not everyones feelings about this cruise, I made the best of it anyway]

[jckvpa0]

Just want to say thanks everyone for their input ! I haven't had time to read this whole thread, can't wait to come back when I have a few more minutes to read it !!!

[tonimari99]

I was on the 7/14 sailing and I agree that the summer crowd on the crown was different. People were pushy, and there were just too many of them. Pools were overcrowded to say the least. We went in only one time in 9 days because it was that uncomfortable. I was expecting fabulous service and only received it in Sabatini's and Crown Grill. Our room steward was awful. Never to be found, and our room seemed always a mess. Incidently, I have sailed Carnival, even the 4 day crappy ones, and my service blew this away. I will not be spending my money on Princess again. Beautiful ship though.

[Purple Rose]

From reading all these posts --I think many of the problems with dinner occurred in the Michelangelo dining room. We gave up after 7nights of getting our entrees at 10pm. the service was horrendous in that room. I don't pay thousands of dollars to eat dinner in a buffet due to the lack of service

 

 

We ate at the Michaleangelo dining room 7 nights and no promblems at all. We sat in different areas of the restaurant and everytime had great service and friendly staff. We were in by 7 and out by 8. We took our time, ate, talked and then went on to the shows or whatever was on the agenda. Not once, did we feel as if they were rushing us out. Never met one unfriendly crew member.

[happy cruzer]

I was on the 7/14 sailing and I agree that the summer crowd on the crown was different. People were pushy, and there were just too many of them. Pools were overcrowded to say the least. We went in only one time in 9 days because it was that uncomfortable. I was expecting fabulous service and only received it in Sabatini's and Crown Grill. Our room steward was awful. Never to be found, and our room seemed always a mess. Incidently, I have sailed Carnival, even the 4 day crappy ones, and my service blew this away. I will not be spending my money on Princess again. Beautiful ship though.

 

Who made the mess in your room?;)

 

Anyway, I am sorry that you had bad service. Did you try leaving a note for the room steward? Sometimes that seemed to work best for us, of course we kept the note very simple. Did you talk to the Hotel Manager about your room steward? Leave a note on your comment card? Sure hope so that the problem can be corrected.

 

Better luck on your next cruise.

[frofro]

I rather go on a ship that has 2,000 passengers and 1,000 workers then going on a ship that has 3,600 passengers and 950 workers. quote]

 

well just to be fair it's more like 3100 to 1200...

[JerseyGrl]

In my last post I did a little comparison of my experience on the Crown this summer with that of Royal Caribbean last year. The main thing that disappointed me was the service on Princess. It got me to thinking though how wonderful the service really was in the dining room compared to staying at an all inclusive hotel. Earlier this summer I stayed for 4 nights at a 5 star all inclusive resort in Mexico for a friend's wedding. This hotel charged almost $1000 per night per couple. You would expect great service right? Well I think that the service was fine, but cannot compare to the treatment you receive on a cruise. Especially at dinner we would go to one of the restaurants at our reserved time and be asked to wait for at least a half hour. For what I don't know there were plenty of empty tables. Then dinner took at least 3 hours, courses were sooooo slow and there were only two of us at the table. The waiters were okay, but would almost tell you no if you tried to order more than on entree (and they were tiny!). They didn't bother to get personal with us or ask about the day. They served us food and that was it. As for the show in the theater at night- what show? There wasn't any entertainment at all! It was nice to be on a land vacation and a cruise so close together. I know now how much more I enjoy cruises!