On August 25 I sailed on the Crown Princess with the SGC 2006 the
summer cruise group organized out of the rec.travel.cruises newsgroup.
It was a nine day sailing.
After we arrived at the Red Hook Pier 12 in Brooklyn embarkation was a
snap. As a Platinum member I had preferred check in and it was fast.
If you are sailing out of Red Hook, Brooklyn make sure you get good
directions even if you take a taxi as some reported they had to give
directions to the taxi driver. If driving to Red Hook they have plenty
of parking available.
The ship is beautiful. They have outdone themselves on the decor and
furnishings of this ship. And they have a quality feel. It is also
the largest Princess ship along with her sister Caribbean Princess and
the upcoming Emerald Princess, having one more deck than the Grand
Class ships. If your cabin is not located mid-ship you are going to
have quite a bit of walking to get places. It is also more confusing to
get around on than the similar Grand Class ships. If you are either
all the way aft or forward you will have a long way to go to get
anywhere. More people too onboard, that shows up in the pool areas.
With the chair hogs it can be difficult to find a lounge chair. The
pool attendants were removing the belongings and towels of some of the
longest chair savers, those who did not appear after a few hours. Both
the forward Lotus Pool and aft Terrace Pool are adults only. There is
also the Sanctuary, a quiet adults only area where they are charging
$15 a half day to get away from the crowds. One of the middle pools has
the Movies under the Stars. If it is a popular movie like Mission
Impossible III you need to get there early to get a chair for the
evening movie showings. Popcorn is served and they have blankets on
the chairs. They also show movies in the Explorers Lounge and many
movies on the cabin TV. Lots of movies on this ship.
Plenty of storage in the cabins. Cabin steward was great. Showers are
small. There is a refrigerator in the room. The keep it stocked with
ice. Bedding was most comfortable I recall on a cruise. They use
duvets and the pillows were not the dinky ones like on other cruise
lines. There were four big pillows on my bed. I was in an inside cabin.
The food and service in the traditional dining room was very good and
our service was excellent. Also order as many entrees or deserts as you
like with no problem. Special requests were made and met too. And when
someone in our group mentioned a desire for apple pie they cooked a
whole pie special surprise and brought it to the table with ice cream.
That pie was good too. I noticed as per my past experience that those
who take traditional dining on Princess have few complaints while those
who do Anytime dining have some issues with service and food. The
buffets are good, typical cruise line buffets, nothing special, not as
good as Carnival, better than Royal Caribbean. I ate at both specialty
restaurants, the Crown Grill, a steakhouse and seafood grill, and
Sabatini's. The Crown Grill was a typical steakhouse you can do
anywhere, somewhat like Ruth Chris with good quality meat but not quite
as good as Ruth Chris. The steak was good, I had the 22 oz porterhouse
and could not finish it because of it's size. The side dishes were
great. Sabatini's was more of a special experience. You order an
entree and they bring you some of everything else on the menu. I still
like the specialty restaurant on Celebrity the best, Normandie on
Summit, but this one was pretty good. The International Cafe has a lot
of baked goodies. Most no charge, a few for charge. You can get a nice
lunch there instead of the buffet. Panini sandwiches, Waldoff salad and
the like are no charge. There is a white gloved afternoon tea every
day. Two formal evening and the rest casual. Formal evenings were
pretty well adhered to in the dining rooms. If you don't want to dress
up there is the Caribe Cafe set up on the Lido deck on formal evenings
and the other evenings too.
Activities, there is scholarship at sea lectures and ceramics and
pottery. Computer and photo courses. Some have a charge, some are
free. There is the usual, casino, bingo, trivia, horse races, cooking
and mixed drink making demo's and wine tastings. Also mini golf, golf
simulator and basketball court.
Entertainment was standard cruise line fair. Mix of production shows
and headline entertainers. The production shows, I saw all three. They
were okay but nothing special. The headliners, one really funny comic,
"Sarge". Worth seeing I saw him twice. The cruise director, James Lay
is somewhat of the annoying type. The musicians playing in the various
lounges were okay but i have seen a lot better. You have a lot of
venues, Wheelhouse Lounge, Explorers Lounge, two piano lounges,
Crooners and Adigo's. Skywalkers and Club Fusion, plus musicians and
street performers in the Atrium. The evening lounges like Skywalkers
and Club Fusion were not that lively as it was mostly families on this
sailing. Skywalkers is moved forward, not in a "shopping cart handle"
like on the Grand Class so there is no moving stairs.
Library is small but a lot of books to check out. Wireless internet
for .35 a minute if you bring your laptop.
The itinerary had for ports and for sea days. I like that kind if mix
of sea and port days. Can't comment on cruise line shore excursions
since I did none of the Princess organized shore excursions. The ports
ones where you can easily do your own port trips.
First port after a sea day was Bermuda on a Sunday at the West End
which is the Royal Navy Dockyard. Not my favorite port on Bermuda but a
bunch of us went to Horseshoe Bay by taxi from there, $8 per person
each way with a filled up taxi. The weather was near perfect except for
a little wind which meant they would not rent beach umbrellas but it
was a great beach day at a beautifull beach. After the beach went to
the Frog and Onion pub at the Dockyard where we met other some others
with our SGC group and I had a nice fish chowder and a pint localy made
Bermuda beer.
The second port after another sea day was San Juan, PR. We had to do
U.S. immigration there and it took too long, about an hour in line.
Not enough U..S. immigration officials for the amount of passengers in
my opinion. After so many times there it gets harder and harder to
decide what to do other than stay on the ship. Had already done the two
forts, walked around Old San Juan etc. There is some shopping and there
is a Coach Factory outlet which was a popular stop for some in our
group. A bunch of us went to the Bacardi Rum Factory, we took the ferry
over and a taxi on our own. It was something to do and they provided a
couple of samples but I thought it took too much time for what it was.
The next port was St. Thomas where we had a shorter port day there than
is usually scheduled. 7 am to 3 p.m., and going to St. John would have
been a rush to get back, so we tried Coki Beach on St. Thomas. Went by
taxi. It is a nice beach with chair rentals, facilities, food and
drink, not as beautifull a beach as Trunk Bay on St. John, or Sapphire
Beach on St. Thomas but the water is clear and the snorkeling is good.
Lot of fish and some coral. I found the best snorkeling there was the
farther out you go on each side, which only a few people were going
that far. It is a bit scary to be out there by yourself though but it
was where the best stuff was. They also have a dive shop there and you
can do scuba with them.
The next stop was Grand Turk, a newly hatched cruise port funded by
Carnival Corp. Right now this is a basic unspoiled island. Right at
the dock there is a beach and a Margaritaville with a huge pool are.
Also some shops and more on the way. We took a taxi for $3 each to
Governors Beach which is about a mile or two away and a less crowded
beach experience than right by the dock. The water is great there and
snorkeling is good from the beach. There is a reef close to the shore
but I found it got really good if you went farther out, as far as some
buoys that they have out. Lot of coral and fishes. However if you go
that far out don't do as I did, go out with another person and wear a
vest. It was no problem swimming out there but I was going against the
current coming back in and it was a little tiring. No one else was
snorkeling that far from shore. One of our group went scuba diving and
said that it was better diving at Grand Turk than the Great Barrier
Reef in Australia.
Coming back from Grand Turk to New York it was a bit rough the last day
because of the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto. Big waves, the Captain
said ten to twelve feet. They had to close the forward and aft pools.
And some people got sea sick.
Debarkation is a bit slow compared to some others. If you are a
Platinum, Elite or Suite passenger they have special lounge you can
wait in with with coffee, danishes and newspapers until your group is
called but you don't get priority disembarkation. They do have the
express debarkation if you are willing to take you own bags off the
ship. One new first happened going through return U.S. immigration on a
cruise. They stamped my passport!
I thought it was a great ship to go with a group. Of course it helped
that it was a great group that got along well. I am looking forward to
sailing on the ship again with another great group, the Vikings at the
end of November on it's southern itinerary. This is a good ship to
sail with friends and family. And also it is a good option out of the
northeast. Otherwise I prefer the smaller Princess ships like the
Grand. LOL.
--
Charles |