Crown Review Nov 2 - Nov 9

[njtwinmom]

Hi – I’m just back from a great cruise on the Crown Princess 11/2/08 – 11/9/08. It was a family vacation to celebrate my parent’s 50th Anniversary. Our group consisted of me, my husband, two 11-year old boys, my parents, my brother, his wife, 15 and 7 year old boys. My parents have been on many cruises before. My brother and his family were first time cruisers. My husband and I were on a cruise 18 years ago and this was my children’s first cruise.

 

We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale from NJ and it took about 20 hours. We made one stop in Darien, GA and then had a room at the Springhill Suites in Dania Beach. This was a great hotel because they had a free shuttle to the port, free parking to leave our car for the week, and a mall with tons of stores across the street. The mall had many places to eat and shop. We took the kids to Dave & Busters and bought some books at Barnes & Noble.

 

EMBARKATION: We took the 11:30 Shuttle from the hotel and arrived at the port quickly. A porter immediately took our bags and we waited in the long line already forming. A person walked by looking for Platinum/Elite members. Well my parents are Platinum members so we were able to bypass the entire line of people and go right to the check in desk. Check-in was very quick, and the next thing we knew we were on the ship. It was all so quick.

 

ROOM: First thing we all did was check out our cabins. We had room E505. We all had rooms on the Emerald Deck (obstructed view). We booked inside cabins, but we upgraded for free to the obstructed view. The room was bigger than I had anticipated and the view was great. We were able to see clearly out the window. Since we didn’t have our luggage yet, we walked around exploring the ship and decided to have lunch at the buffet.

 

FOOD: The buffet was crowded, but we found many empty tables in the Caribe Café. I don’t think a lot of people knew about the Caribe Café at first, because it wasn’t as crowded as the Horizon Court. There were so many choices of food on the buffets and everything was fresh and good. The first day I just had some pizza (yummo) and some salad. I probably had pizza almost every day because it was really good (thin and crispy). We never had breakfast or lunch in the dining room, so I can’t comment on that. We had early traditional seating at 6:00 in the Botticelli dining room. Everyone was very nice and the food was good. My favorites were the Fettuccine Alfredo (one of the best I ever had), the veal ravioli, lobster tail, shrimp cocktail, the filet mignon and all the desserts. My children said that the salmon was very good as was the other fish dinners that were offered. My young nephew enjoyed his Volcano Sundae every night. He ate from the children’s menu which included (salad, chicken alphabet soup, spaghetti, hamburger, chicken fingers and fish sticks.) We always found our way back to the buffet around 10:00 for a little snack.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: We didn’t see too many shows, but did see the Magic & Illusionist show with Tony Laffan & Kasey-Laura. It was really good and funny. We wanted to the see the comedy show with Jay Moore, but got to the Princess Theater too late and there were no seats left. You need to go at least 30 mins before a show to get a seat. Another show we did see was Destination Anywhere, which was a song and dance show taking you to different parts of the world. It was entertaining. We really enjoyed the music trivia hosted by the cruise director Kelvin. He was so funny. We ended winning the 70’s music trivia and we almost won the 80’s music trivia. Other nights we went to Skywalkers Nightclub to listen to music. My children enjoyed their time with the kid’s club and rushed there every night from 7pm-10pm.

 

KIDS CLUB: My boys were in the Shockwaves group (8-12), one of my nephews was in the Pelicans and the other one was in the Remix group. All the boys had a blast. They do such a good job with the children. On the first day you need to sign up your children in the appropriate kids’ club. They have fun activities planned all day. On sea days the club was open 9:00am – Noon, 2:00pm – 5:00pm, and then 7:00pm – 10:00pm. They always wanted to be there. They would leave dinner a little early and go back to the cabin to change and then back up to their club. The Shockwaves had movies, PS2 games, Foosball, Air Hockey Tournaments, Black Jack, Bingo, Disco parties, Guitar Hero & Rock Band Challenge. There was an arcade, but it was very small and only had a few games. The kids weren’t too interested in playing in the arcade, because there wasn’t much there. I’m actually happy it wasn’t that good, because if it was a big arcade it would have cost me more money.

 

CHAIR HOGS: I saw many chair hogs, but there were really plenty of chairs available. One day I was looking for a chair in the shade. I saw a woman saving about 8 or more chairs (all in the shade). I waited about 30 mins and the chairs were still empty. I asked her if I could sit in one until her group arrived. She said no problem. I stayed in the chair for a little over an hour and still no one showed up and she was still saving the chairs.

 

MUTS: Here is a list of what was playing at MUTS. Leatherheads, Monday Night Football, Mamma Mia, 21, Wall-e, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Hancock, Wanted, Indiana Jones & Crystal Skull, The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda & Sex in the City. Other shows and concerts were played all day.

 

PORTS: The first port was Princess Cays. We got an early tender ticket to get to the beach nice and early. There were plenty of chairs available and many in the shade. I had brought with me snorkel equipment for my boys and cheap inflatable rafts. The water was very nice. The kids enjoyed snorkeling and took pictures with their waterproof cameras. We stayed until about 12:30/1:00. The kids had a little to eat at the BBQ, but I had lunch back at the ship. They also picked up a kid’s drink in a monkey coconut shell. We enjoyed Princess Cays very much. It was a nice relaxing day at the beach.

 

St. MAARTEN - It rained this day, but we grabbed our umbrellas and headed out. We did a little shopping right at the port. The boys picked up Caribbean shirts to wear for the Caribbean party later that night. We were going to go to Little Divi Bay, but cancelled that because of the rain. Part of the group went back to the ship to hang out. Some of us took at taxi $3pp one way into town for more shopping. We stayed a little while and then went back to the ship.

 

ST. THOMAS – We booked the Pirates Harbour Tour and then took a taxi to Coki Beach. I was a little disappointed in the Pirates Tour, because I envisioned a Pirate looking boat. It was just a water taxi with two people dressed liked pirates. It takes you to Havensight, Amalie, and back to the ship. I guess it is good for people who want to shop around St. Thomas. Anyway we got off at Havensight and took at taxi to Coki Beach $14 pp round trip. Coki Beach was very nice. It wasn’t too big, but there was enough room. We rented chairs for $5 each. They also rented umbrellas, but we found shade so we didn’t need them. The sand was very smooth and there was plenty of fish. They had people coming around serving drinks. We just drank water which was $2 a bottle. The bathroom/changing area was a little dirty. We told the taxi to pick us up at a certain time and it was there when we were ready to leave. It was a 20/30 min ride from Havensight. The boys went back to the ship and us girls stayed in town and shopped.

 

GRAND TURK – We stayed at the cruise center all day. I really enjoyed this place. The kids liked the beach, but I found it too crowded and the water had a lot of rocks in it. I enjoyed lounging out by the pool. They had some nice shops here (Piranha Joes – cute t-shirts, costume jewelry, etc.). We had a Cheeseburger in Paradise, but I wasn’t impressed. It was dried out and not really that good. Other food looked good, but we didn’t try anything else.

 

DISEMBARKATION – We were given a disembarkation time of 9:30. Since we had a long drive ahead of us, I asked guest services for an earlier time and they gave us 8:30 with no problem. That morning we went to the lounge at 8:00am and waited to be called so we could disembark. It was all very quick and easy. We had purchased tickets from the Springhill Suites for their shuttle to pick us up and take us back to our cars. I think it was $4 pp. We went back to the hotel, packed the car and we were on the road by 10:00am.

 

SALES – At the end of the cruise they do two big sale days. One day everything is priced at $10 (beaded evening bags, watches, ties, tshirts, visors, pashminas, wallets). I picked up some stuff for Christmas presents. Another day they sell many items 50% off (Princess tote bags, tshirts, jewelry). It gets very crowded, but you can pick up some good bargains.

 

When planning this trip I read through everyone’s comments on Cruise Critic and it really helped me. Here are some things I would never have thought of packing, but found them very useful. (Extension cord – so I could blow dry my hair in the bathroom, Over the door shoe holder to hold all the little things like hair clips, gum, Large mesh bag for laundry.

 

Things I packed that I didn’t need – long pants, jackets, nightlight (leave the bathroom light on).

 

The Crown Princess was a beautiful ship and everyone is saying they want to go on another cruise again. My kids even said they liked cruising better than Disney World.

[cynbar]

Thanks for your review ---- sounds like your whole family had a great time, what a lovely gift for your parents' 50th!!! We have been on the Crown twice and she is still our favorite ship. Did you have anytime or traditional dining, and how was the DR service???

[njtwinmom]

Thanks for your review ---- sounds like your whole family had a great time, what a lovely gift for your parents' 50th!!! We have been on the Crown twice and she is still our favorite ship. Did you have anytime or traditional dining, and how was the DR service???

 

We had traditional dining. The dining room service was good. Since the children liked shrimp cocktail and always asked for seconds, the server would bring extra shrimp cocktail each night without us asking. Also my husband wanted a big salad with grilled chicken some nights and there was no problem in getting him this for dinner.

[Tennessee88]

thanks for the review! We sail in two weeks!! Cant wait! I was glad to see the new shows that you included (we have never seen any of these) and the MUTS (sex in the city and 21!)

Thanks again

[cjh]

Can you scan and post the shockwave activity sheets?

 

Cindy

[rcacace]

Do you know what time the anytime dinning room was opened?

[njtwinmom]

Do you know what time the anytime dinning room was opened?

 

Anythime Dining is 5:30pm - 10:00pm

[njtwinmom]

Can you scan and post the shockwave activity sheets?

 

Cindy

 

I scanned the pages, but don't know how to post them. If I attach them as thumbnails, they are too small to read. If someone will let me know how to post them I will.

[brian72]

I have posted the Crown Patters and the Port Guides for the Eastern Caribbean Itinerary 11/2/08-11/9/08. Use the link below to access my SkyDrive account. Enjoy.

 

http://cid-ad194ff509dc7df5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public/Crown%20Princess%20Patters%20October%202008

[njtwinmom]

Here are the Shockwave Pages.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/568623861PHYPeC

[Sandytoes]

Hi – I’m just back from a great cruise on the Crown Princess 11/2/08 – 11/9/08. It was a family vacation to celebrate my parent’s 50th Anniversary. Our group consisted of me, my husband, two 11-year old boys, my parents, my brother, his wife, 15 and 7 year old boys. My parents have been on many cruises before. My brother and his family were first time cruisers. My husband and I were on a cruise 18 years ago and this was my children’s first cruise.

 

The Crown Princess was a beautiful ship and everyone is saying they want to go on another cruise again. My kids even said they liked cruising better than Disney World.

 

Thanks for sharing your review.

Glad to hear your children enjoyed the cruise.

Now, they're hooked!!!! :D

[BLACKJACKLADY]

Thanks for the info. Leaving on the Crown on Sunday 11/16..........Can't wait.

[cjh]

Thanks for posting shockwave info. Only 88 more days:D

 

Cindy

[mellowrose]

Great review!

[bankerlkd]

Thanks for the Shockwave and Princess Patter links !!

 

We are taking our first cruise Jan 25th on the Crown Princess.

 

Keith

[flycess]

Thanks for the review! I'm sorry you weren't able to see Jay Moore- he is HILARIOUS! We had the pleasure of seeng him on the Emerald and spent some time with him and he is funny both on and off stage. And is a really nice guy to boot! If you ever get a chance to see him again, you must!