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Princess Cruise Line

MS Crown Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Joan Fleser
# previous cruises: 6
Date of Trip: April 9, 2001
Itinerary: Transcanal

Overall I have to say this was one of the best, if not the best cruise I've ever been on. Almost everything went perfectly and what did go wrong was either insignificant or was quickly remedied. We didn't take the Air/Transfer package from Princess. We were able to book our own airfare at about $100/ticket cheaper than what Princess was charging and as the airport was only about 7 minutes from the port we just took a taxi and got there cheaper and faster than those waiting for the Princess busses. If we had been in another country where we didn't speak the language that would be another matter but finding our way around Fort Lauderdale was not a problem. Traveling with me was my husband, our 7 year old daughter and my mother who needs a walker in order to get around. From the moment the cab pulled up to the terminal we didn't have to lift a finger. While one crew member unloaded our luggage another was coming with a wheelchair for my mother. The crew member that brought the wheelchair stayed with us through the whole embarkation procedure. He pushed my mother and escorted us into the terminal right up to the check-in desk. Absolutely no waiting. Not just for us, but for everyone. There were no lines and this was around 2 PM. As we had done all the pre-registration on line before hand all we had to do was present our documentation and sign our cruise cards and we were off. Our fellow then preceded to take us onto the ship.

On Princess, when you first board your picture is taken, not just for that awful welcome aboard shot but one for security purposes as well. This picture shows up on a CRT every time you either leave or come back on board. Disembarkation was just as easy as embarkation. We waited in the main atrium for about a ½ hour before our group was called. As I've found before, if you get off the ship at the end of your group most of the luggage in your section is already gone and so it's easy to find yours. As my mother moves very slowly getting of the ship at the end of our group was not a problem. We headed down the gangway, handed someone our immigration forms and went straight to our luggage. I flagged down a porter, he loaded up our luggage and he took us over to the taxi stand where we found a taxi that could accommodate the handicapped. As we were leaving the port all the people who had taken the Princess transfers were still sitting on the busses. It took us a ½ hour from the moment we stood up to leave the atrium till we arrived at the airport.

Our cabin was nicely situated midships. We were on deck 6. Right down the hall from us were some boutiques and the Princess theater, where first run movies were shown all throughout the cruise. On deck 5 was the Purser's desk, tour desk and La Patisserie. On deck 7 was the Crown Court Dining Room, International Show Lounge and two smaller lounge/bars. We were right in between two sets of stairs and two sets of elevator banks so getting wherever we wanted was very easy. Only the forward elevator bank went down to deck 2. That's where Steiner's Health Spa and the gym were located. We went down there a couple of times. Once for a massage and then for a couples massage class. I peeked in at the gym and thought, hummmm that's nice but that's as far as I got.

A lot of ships these days put their gym way up top looking our over the ocean. Not the Crown. That is where she had her casino and lounge. The casino had an enormous domed ceiling and a dance floor as well. It was very impressive. I guess though it depends on what you're into as to what facility you would prefer having the ocean lookout. But as I never used the gym and only spent about 45 minutes one day in the casino it would be a toss up as far as I'm concerned. Although if I had to vote I think the casino would win out. We made the rounds to every bar or lounge at least once. One thing I found was that the temperature varied greatly on the ship. No area was ever hot but you could turn into an ice cube up in the casino in no time flat. The decor was very sedate. especially when compared to a Carnival ship. There was lots of wood and all variations of beige. In fact it was a little too beige sometimes. Now I like the color combination of peach and teal but for a large show room, such International Show Lounge, the color washes out and therefore looked rather drab. The viewing in the ISL was very though.

The Crown Court on the other hand was lovely. Again, lots of woods and warm tones which is very appropriate for gracious dining. The acoustics were superb. There was always an anniversary or birthday being celebrated as well as a strolling string trio and unless they were right in your section you could barely hear them. The trio, which I will comment more fully under the entertainment section, I feel was the best entertainment they had on the whole ship. The ship did have a promenade deck but it didn't go all the way around the ship. Maybe this is why it was never very crowded, although we never had a problem finding a chair by the pool either. We had 5 days at sea and, all except for the last day were hot. There was never a problem getting a deck chair even at prime time. I have a theory about this. A large portion of the passenger makeup was older and their priorities were the indoor activities such as bingo and not the pool. This was fine by us, as the pools were almost always empty as were the hot tubs. No way this would have ever happened on Carnival.

One pool was heated and that was nice on the first day out but as we got further south it just became too warm. Our favorite spot was the swim up bar in the other pool. It was situated in a shallow pool which was actually the holding basin for the waterfall into the other big pool. Since the kids didn't have their own pool and the other 2 were six feet deep this shallow area became very popular with them. This had both pros and cons. With all of the kids playing, those of us sitting at the swim-up bar were constantly being splashed. As long as you kept you drink covered up it felt pretty good though as it was very hot out. Plus, we were able to sit in the water, create our own concoctions with the expertise of Mark the Bartender from Australia and keep an eye on the child at the same time. The shops were located on decks 6 & 7 and carried the standard fare. There were actually some very good sales on souvenirs from that itinerary. The ship only had one more run to the Panama Canal and then it was heading to Europe so they were trying to clear out the stock.

I can't say enough about the service. For me, it made this cruise probably the best I've ever taken. The dining room staff went above and beyond the call of duty. They catered to my daughter and even more importantly than that they catered to my mother. Mom has to use a walker and it was quite a scene to see our assistant waiter, waiter and head waiter trying to figure out how to close the walker. Our daughter gave a brief demonstration the first night and then they were off. The difficult part with Mom is that she's hard of hearing and she usually didn't have her hearing aides in. You have to give a lot of credit to people who's first language is not English trying to figure our what someone is saying when the answer they're giving has nothing to do with the question asked.

This is the first cruise where we had any real notion as to who our head waiter or Matre'D was. On the first night spring rolls were offered as an appetizer. Our daughter ordered them and loved them. The following day we had lunch in the dining room and she wanted spring rolls again. We asked the waiter if they had any left overs. His reply was, with a smile, "Oh No Madame! We never have any left overs, but if you ask the Matre'D he can arrange for you to have them for dinner...... and that's what we did. From that point on we had spring rolls every night. Not just one plate either but two plates and as time went on they grew in size as well. I guess they figured if we wanted spring rolls we were going to get spring rolls. By the end of the cruise we couldn't face another spring roll.

On the second night we met our head waiter in all of his glory... hug-hug, kiss-kiss. We had received a bottle of champagne from the ship for our anniversary and decided to have it at dinner. We dropped the bottle off at the dinning room early in the afternoon with all the pertinent information. The bottle was at our table chilling when we got to dinner and all was fine. At the end of dinner our assit. waiter brought a bill to the table and my mother signed for it. I asked her what it was for and she said it was for the champagne. I called over the waiter and explained we had dropped off the wine earlier and shouldn't be charged for it. The waiter called over the head waiter and we explained it to him. When he realized we were charged for wine we brought he was absolutely apoplectic. Somewhere between the afternoon staff and the evening staff the fact that we brought our own wine got lost. He got us a credit slip and was insistent that we get a printout of our account the next day to make sure it was taken care of, and if it wasn't, I was to let him know immediately.

He was just as insistent on another issue. My husband and I went to a wine tasting and it cost $5 per person. If you bought any wine the $5 would be credited towards the purchase of the wine. We bought one bottle and had it delivered to dinner that night. When he realized that we had bought the wine at the wine tasting he again insisted that we check our account the next day to make sure they credited the $5 wine tasting fee and apologized profusely that he wouldn't be able to get rid of the second $5 charge. FYI, there was never a problem with the bill.

While on the cruise we celebrated my mother's birthday, my husband's birthday and our anniversary. So we were constantly getting the little special cakes with all the waiter's singing. My daughter, who's birthday is not until July was feeling a little left out so one night our head waiter ordered her a cake, and not a little one either. While we got 4" diameter cakes, Alana's cake was huge and so was her smile. He didn't have to do that and neither did he have to worry wether the $5 was taken off our account but he did and it helped make the experience that much more pleasurable. At first I was a little disappointed with our room steward. The first night we still hadn't completely unpacked before we went to dinner. When we got back from the show the beds weren't pushed together nor were they turned down. We were all so tired we didn't really care. We just pushed the beds together and collapsed. The next day Alberto found us an apologized about the room not being made up but told us that it's a Princess policy that the stewards are not allowed to touch any personal items. This really put a crimp in getting our cabin cleaned up but we did make sure from that point to at least have the bed cleaned off before we went to dinner so Alberto could turn it down.

He did make up for it in other ways though. One day we had an early tour but my mother was staying on board. She had a massage scheduled for 9:30 AM. I knew she would never find her way down to the Spa on her own. I also knew wouldn't find her way to breakfast on her own. So I ordered her room service and left a note for Alberto asking him to direct her to the right elevator at 9:15 AM. He didn't just direct her but took her all the way down to the Spa. I was very impressed with that.

Even the deck staff was great. We left Mom by the pool one afternoon while we went on shore. After a couple of ice teas she needed to visit the rest room. Well those heavy wooden doors are heavy enough to handle when you have both hands but trying to manipulate it with a walker is very difficult indeed. One staff member helped her out of the deck chair, held the ladies room door open for her and waited to open the door for her when she was ready to come out.

Overall the food was very good to excellent. The grill by the pool not only served hot dogs and hamburgers but grilled chicken, veggy burgers, knockwurst and bratwurst. On the other side was a salad bar. Inside was the Lido buffet. Every day was something different. It was either seafood day, sushi day, Italian day, Mexican day etc. The one critical thing I could say about the staff was you very rarely saw anyone helping a passenger with their tray. There were plenty of people to sell ice cream or sodas but not very many on the help side. That said, there were never any dirty tables and the food was always well stocked.

According to the brochure, part of our Anniversary Package included either petite fours or horsd'ourves, We just needed to let our steward know what we wanted. It didn't work like that. What ever the galley was making that day for the "package" people is what you got. Not that it was bad but some choice would have been nice. Plus the fact it was usually delivered around 4 PM and as we usually didn't return to the cabin till around 6 PM the hot appetizers were no longer hot. It seems they were delivered so the early dinner people would get them in time to enjoy before their dinner. It would have been nice if the delivery times could have been staggered. We did not have a bad dinner in 10 days. In fact we sometimes had more than one per day.

Once when I ordered steak it arrived more towards medium than rare and I sent it back. The next time I ordered steak my waiter stood over my shoulder to make sure it was rare enough for me. In fact, he thought it leaned towards medium rare and he snatched right out from underneath my waiting fork. I imagine the cook at the grill had the riot act read to him. The souffles were superb and the lobster was excellent. In situations like this I normally hesitate to order lobster because they are usually Caribbean lobsters and they are broiled. Which in my mind screams DRY. The menu said the lobster was from Maine and I figured if it's dry I'll just get something else. There was no need. It was wonderfully moist and tender.

The only item I was truly disappointed in was the cold cucumber soup. It was pretty tasteless. But you have to figure, if that was the worst thing I ate in the 10 days it's not so bad. Late afternoon-early evening if you went up to the Lido buffet you could get salads, cold cuts fruit and pastries. We had room service for breakfast twice. It was delivered very promptly and was fine for what it was - juice, fruits, pastries etc, nothing hot. We never ordered room service any other time so I don't know if there was anything else to order.

We recently sailed on NCL and took advantage of the Freestyle cruising. I have to say, I really liked being able to go to dinner whenever I wanted. That said, if you could combine the freedom of time with having the same table and waiter as far as I'm concerned would be perfect combination. Unfortunately, Princess had not implemented the Personal Choice dining on the Crown when we sailed. I would have been eager to try it. I do want to make note of everyone's attire. I believe I only saw one couple in shorts on a formal night, but they were not in the dining room. It seemed adults as well as children enjoyed dressing up. Even on casual nights everyone dressed well. There were no midnight buffets - at all. Yet somehow we managed to muddle through. The chefs did periodically make special presentations of pastries or chocolate that were on display outside the Crown Court dining room before dinner. They would then serve them up for dessert. We never did eat in the alternative dining room. Everything always looked so good on the menu in the main dining room we always preferred to go there.

As we entered the ship there were white gloved people everywhere. When asked my cabin number I gave it and then was given directions to the cabin. I was very disappointed that no one escorted us to our cabin forgetting that we actually had a crew member with us. So I'm not sure if we weren't escorted because we had someone pushing my mother in the wheelchair or they just didn't provide that service. My disappointed quickly disappeared when we got to our cabin. First of all there were balloons outside the door in recognition of our anniversary and on the table was a bottle of champagne chilling along with 2 red roses.

The cabin was large, huge in fact compared to the inside closet we had on the Norwegian Sea back in January. It had a big window and coupled with the beige tones of the decor it seemed quite spacious. As hard as I try, I've never been know as one who under packs, yet with clothes and incidentals for 3 people for 10 days we still had draw space left over. The room had only one closet but it was a good 5 to 6 feet long and had lots of wooden hangers. The cabin also had a safe and a refrigerator. The frig was cleverly hidden into a shelf space area so it wasn't visible but very accessible. It helped keep all that champagne and wine we had with us chilled. There was also a huge floor to ceiling mirror in the front part of the cabin.

The bathroom itself wasn't large but the shower was. It comfortably fit 2 people. Our room steward also kept us well stocked with shampoo, conditioner and soaps. We changed into shorts and figured we go up and get something to eat and them wander around the ship until our luggage came but no good. Our luggage was there before we could get out the door as was our cabin steward introducing himself. We told him we would like the beds put together and he apologized for not having it done already but he had not gotten any notification that we had wanted it that way. Hint front office, we had ordered the deluxe anniversary package! Then again RCCL had upgraded us to an non-convertible single on our honeymoon, so go figure.

As the cruise progressed we came to realize how sound proof the cabin was. Princess doesn't keep blasting annoying announcements all the time but still when they did you needed to open the door if you wanted to hear what was being said or you could turn on your tv to the channel with the bridge cam and hear them. We never heard the people on either side but what we did hear was the toilet flushing. In fact it seemed louder to us then our own toilet. A note: if you want the terry cloth bathrobes that Princess advertises as being available in every cabin you have to ask for them. It took my mother a full day to get hers.

We went to most of the shows. Alana loved the dancers and for the most part they were very good. The big stage productions were well done. The only thing that hurt to watch (at least for my husband and myself) was the rock and roll revival. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was done by people in bad wigs and who should have stuck to show tunes. Obviously though we were in the minority as the Beetles and Doors presentation received a huge ovation.

The rest of the entertainment was the usual group of comedians, comedian/juggler, comedian/musician. It was OK. For those who like ballroom dancing there was about a ½ hour each night in the main show lounge before the entertainment began. I personally felt the best entertainment of the whole cruise was in the dining room, a sting trio from the Philippines. These fellows could sing anything and I mean anything, from Blue Suede Shoes to Carmen. Not only did they have the repertoire they had the voices. If you closed your eyes you could have sworn Elvis was standing right next to you or with the next song, Pavarotti. When they came to our table I asked them to sing something from the Philippines. For a moment they had to think, as they probably weren't asked that very often. Then they played a lovely song where all 3, instead of just the lead singer, joined in. They had a big smile and I think they really appreciated my request.

Even with 5 days at sea we still weren't able to do everything that they had going on around the ship. A couple of times we took a break from the pool and played Trivial Pursuit, Family Feud, went to the cooking demo/galley tour and the wine tasting which was hosted by the Matre'D. I also went to an art auction. All in all it was time well spent. Our Trivial Pursuit team won and we came away with some Princess mugs and medallions. Our Family Feud team won and we now have 3 new umbrellas. At the cooking demonstration I was chosen to sample the Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp and white wine, yummm and went to one of the art auctions ( I only went when they were serving champagne). I did find a piece I really loved by an artist I know and bought it. On top of that they were giving away a couple of pieces and I won one. It's not something I would have bought but it's not Dogs Playing Poker either. The auctioneer said we could expect delivery in 6-8 weeks, although in a lot of cases pieces were shipping out earlier.

We've been home 3 ½ weeks and I had a note on my door yesterday from UPS saying they were trying to deliver some art work but needed a signature. So I'll get it tomorrow. I know some people think these art auctions are schlockly but they were offering up for sale Leroy Niemann, Rockwell and a Picasso. Even if you don't prefer his work, Picasso is not schlockly. We chose this cruise especially for it's itinerary. We left out of Ft. Lauderdale, had 2 days at sea then Cartagena followed by the Panama Canal and Costa Rica. Another day at sea then Grand Cayman, Cozumel, a day at sea and then back to Lauderdale.

My husband was nervous about going ashore in Columbia. I guess he was afraid we'd be kidnaped by terrorists and leave our daughter an orphan, so we compromised on the harbor tour. The tour was no great shakes but they did have some local dancers on board that were very good and helped pass the time. Right at the entrance to the docks there were several stores and more dancers so we were able to get a drink and do some shopping. Next was the Panama Canal. Awesome is truly the word. It was very hot but luckily there was a breeze and it was overcast, so it wasn't oppressive. The ship offered some new tours that weren't listed in the brochure. One included touring a native village on one of the islands.

We stayed on the ship throughout the whole canal transit and went ashore at Colon 2000. They've built a brand new cruise terminal, so new in fact most of the stores weren't open yet. There were more dancers to meet us as we came off the ship. We did a little shopping. The busiest store there was the grocery store. Lots of the crew were there, as well as passengers buying soda, juices, wines, beer and liquor. Brian bought some Cuban rum, just because it was Cuban. Of course he HAD to finish it before we got home..... can't bring anything Cuban in you know. While in the shopping area an older gentleman was overcome with the heat. His wife said someone already went back to the ship for help. Within 5 minutes medical staff and security with walkie-talkies were there with oxygen, a medical kit and a wheelchair. It's nice to know Princess takes their passenger welfare very seriously.

Everything went as planned, except for Costa Rica. When coming into port the swells were so big and long the ship broke 2 mooring lines while trying to tie up at the dock. The captain tried a different dock but they were all full so we headed back out to sea and slowly made our way to Grand Cayman. That was too bad as I was really looking forward to seeing Costa Rica.. As an "I'm sorry", the Captain authorized bridge tours while we were underway. The Second Officer who gave us our tour had quite a sense of humor and our tour lasted longer than any of the others. He told us that this was the first time in 4 years that a bridge tour had been authorized while the ship was under way. He was quite impressed.

We took the Sting Ray City tour in Grand Cayman and it was great! Before we left I had priced the tour with a local dive group and by the time I got done adding on transportation, Princess' price was only $4 more per person. I figured that small of a difference wasn't worth the hassle. There were only 3 or 4 groups out there all together. This was very uncrowded as our tour guide told us. The rays were very tame and ate from your hand. It was all pretty exciting, although a bit intimidating when a couple of big rays would bump you looking for food. We were pretty hungry after this as there wasn't even a snack on the boat.

So after the tour we had lunch in a British pub in town. It was frequented by a lot of the Brits from the ship but I'm afraid to say I was not impressed. It was expensive to begin with but after the exchange rate it cost us about $50 US for a couple of sandwiches, 2 juices and a beer. That was not one of our better deals and food wise it was nothing to write home about. I'm always reading in Bon Appetite magazine how British food has come a long way and now you have no problem finding a gourmet restaurant in London. I'm sorry to say it hasn't reached the Cayman Islands yet. A few weeks before the cruise I lost a small diamond that was in the jacket surrounding my engagement ring. As loose stones are duty free I thought I'd try to find a replacement in Grand Cayman. Wrong! Each place I went to looked at the empty space and said, "Oh, we don't carry anything that small" Now granted, my ring is not something you'd find Liz Taylor wearing, but you don't need a magnifying glass to see either. Although no one was rude the attitudes just put me off a bit.

Cozumel on the other hand, what can I say.... it's Mexico.... it's a blast. We went to Chakunab in the morning. How it has changed since we were last there 10 years ago. It's now $10 to get in and everything there is extra but the day was beautiful, as was the water and we spent a fun morning swimming, snorkeling, sunning and playing miniature golf. This time we went back to the ship for lunch. After we were revived, we left Mom to take a nap and the 3 of us headed back out for shopping and marguerites (juice for Alana). I found the bracelet I was looking for, replaced the diamond in my ring, got 2 pair of earrings, an onyx chess set for my nephew's birthday all in under an hour and then we headed for Carlos and Charlie's. Even that place has cleaned up, but they still have the volleyball court in the middle of bar, the best marguerites anywhere and no attitude other than PARTY! There was a kids club on board. The game room had recently been renovated and it was large, bright and looked to have many things to do. Alana wasn't interested in it this trip though. She just wanted to spend her time at the pool. She did attend one or two parties with a couple of nice kids she met at the pool. From what the counselors said there were over 100 kids on board but you would never have known it. There was splashing in the pools, yes, but that was the only noise we ever heard from them.

We met some very nice people on board. One couple we got to know at the pool bar were a lot of fun. It turned out that she trained the cruise directors for Princess. It was very interesting to get some of the inside stories on the cruise line - none bad, just interesting. As I said earlier a great majority of the passengers on the ship were older but their activities and ours didn't mix so the groups of people we kept seeing and running into were younger, with or without kids. Besides, how many people do you need in order to have a good time. I would recommend this trip to anyone. My 7 year daughter had a great time, my 77 year old mother had superb time and my husband and I had a wonderful time. The ship was lovely, the food was delicious, and the people fun - crew and passengers alike.