Well, we’re back to reality (12 inches of snow on the ground, heaps of laundry and we have to do our own cooking!) Ugh!
Since we had such a busy itinerary and were traveling with two other couples, I didn’t have a chance to post more from the ship. Sorry, but you have to take advantage of your vacation time! Not to fret, I will share my thoughts on the Crown Princess and itinerary now. I will also be posting my photos online and will let you know when that’s done.
As previously mentioned, the Crown Princess (or CP) is a gorgeous ship. The staterooms are spacious and well appointed, with one exception…the bathroom shower! We all agreed that for such a nice new ship, Princess could have improved the shower space. Very small and only one small little nook to hold soap, shampoo, etc. Toiletries were constantly dropping on the floor and let’s just say that it was difficult to shave your legs!
One other thing that I found surprising (and disappointing) for a new ship is that you were not able to check your onboard account on the t.v. screen.
The past few cruises I have been on (with various cruise lines) I was able to check my account. Why Princess does not offer this is odd to me, as I would think it would make things easier for their customer service staff on the last day.
The Crew: Unfortunately, another disappointment was the overall service onboard. We never experience horrible service, but it definitely was lacking.
It almost seemed as though the crew was new and inexperienced. There were quite a few times that we asked questions and got blank looks or were given answers that didn’t seem too certain. Our cabin steward was nice enough and did an okay job cleaning the room. However, there were a few times that we didn’t even have clean glasses left in our room. For dining, we decided to try Anytime Dining. In the main dining room, we had one decent waiter, Leonardo. The rest of the nights that we ate in the dining room, the waitstaff was not good at all. Looking back, we should have requested Leonardo, but I kept looking for the dining experience that we have had on other cruises. We did experience the two specialty restaurants onboard, Sabatini’s and the Crown Grill. In both of those restaurants, the service was very good and what I expected to find in the main dining rooms, but not exemplary. Overall, it seemed as those the waitstaff had too many tables to deal with and therefore were not able to attend to the service that we have come to expect on cruises. There just wasn’t that “wow” factor!
Food: Princess does a nice job offering a variety of food in the buffet. They do have a very nice selection of fresh fruit (Golden Pineapple, fresh strawberries, figs, melons, etc.) There’s also the pizzeria and hamburger grill for those that want their “junk food.” The food in the dining room ranged from so-so to very good. Sabatini’s and Crown Grill both offered very nice menus and the food was very good to excellent. I would highly suggest dining in at least one of the specialty restaurants, especially if you’re celebrating a special occassion.
Entertainment: Hmmm…I know I’m going to sound like I’m complaining here, but again, we found this to be lacking as well. There are many beautiful lounges and bars onboard the CP, but they were not utilized very well.
In fact, some nights, we were searching for something to do. We couldn’t believe how many of the bars, lounges, etc. were empty! CP has both a Nightclub (Skywalkers) and Club Fusion (another dance venue.) We danced a couple nights in Skywalkers with a moderately full dance floor. Some nights, it was totally dead. Club Fusion was full when the Princess Pop Star contest was going on, otherwise, it was also empty at night. We truly wondered where all the passengers were some nights! I must add that the crowd on this sailing did tend to be older than most of the other sailings I have been on.
So, we do realize that this had some effect on our experience. However, the Cruise Director just did not do a very good job at keeping things lively and fun. Even MUTS was under utilized at night. While searching for something to do, we checked it out…rather than a movie, they were showing a Elton John concert. I think there was a grand total of 10 passengers watching that!
Luckily, my husband I had the two other couples sailing with us, and we made our own fun. Otherwise, I think we would have retired to our cabin early in the evening as quite a few of the other passengers seemed to do.
The Itinerary: Princess does offer really good itineraries for most of their destinations. We did have 5 ports to visit during a 7 day cruise and perhaps that was another reason for the lack of nightlife? However, we did this exact itinerary on RCCL’s Serenade of the Seas two years before and that ship was always hopping at night. Anyway, back to the ports of call…
Barbados was our first stop and we made a last minute decision to book the Malibu Beach excursion through Princess. We probably could have done this on our own (just take a taxi from the pier.) However, for $26 per person, we got thought the transportation, beach chair, umbrella, Malibu Rum drink and tour was a pretty good deal. It’s a short ride from the pier and the beach and facilities were nice and clean.
The second port is one of my favorite islands, St. Lucia. Having been there before for both a cruise and an all-inclusive resort stay, I’ve seen all the popular sites. So, this time, we just took a taxi from the pier to Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay. Very nice stretch of beach with many beach chairs, a couple little restaurants, some resorts and waterports. The taxi ride cost us $5 per person each way and the chairs were $5 per person. A very economical way to spend a nice relaxing day on a nice beach. From this beach, you could also take a boat ride across the bay where one of the three Sandals properties on the island is located. If you have not been to St. Lucia before, I would highly recommend doing an island tour there though as you will miss out on the beauty of the island if you simply go to the beach.
Antigua is another beautiful island and should be toured. Nelson’s Dockyard, Shirley Heights, Devil’s Bridge are just a few of the sites worth seeing. Antigua also offers a variety of beautiful beaches.
St. Maarten is also an island that we have visited a few times, so we dedicated this port day to jewelry shopping and a visit to Orient Beach.
St. Maarten offers a great selection of shops on Front street. We took the water taxi from the pier to the first stop on Front Street. Did a little shopping for bling and then took a taxi from Front Street to Orient Beach on the French side of the island. Orient Beach is a beautiful beach offering many fun little beach bars and restaurants. For about $8 per person, you can get a nice lounge chair, umbrella and drink. Just a note, Orient Beach does have a “clothing optional” resort at one of the beach. So, if you are traveling with children and feel uncomfortable about this, you may want to search out another option in St. Maarten.
Our last stop was St. Thomas. We decided to do a tour of St. John’s and spend some time at Trunk Bay Beach. We booked the excursion through Shoretrips and it was well worth it. We had a great tour with Levi of beautiful St. John’s. The best part was spending a little over two glorious hours on Trunk Bay Beach which is part of a National Park. This has to be one of the most (if not the most) pristine beaches I have ever visited. The sand is fine and white like sugar. The water was idyllic…the most beautiful shades of blue and turquoise and very clear and calm. As part of our tour, we were given snorkel gear and instructions. There’s a small area off the beach to snorkel, complete with under water signs giving information about the coral, fish, etc. Trunk Bay Beach had to be the most relaxing beach as there were no vendors trying to sell their wares. You can’t even buy a lounge chair. It’s a great beach for families with small children, since there were 2 lifeguards on duty and the water is so calm and clear. In the park area, there is food available, showers and changing facilities.
This was a great way to end our cruise and we all agreed that we would love to visit St. John’s again!
Disembarkation was very relaxing for us since we had a flight later in the afternoon. We simply ate breakfast in the buffet and lounged on the aft deck while waiting for our tag to be called. When we finally dragged ourselves off the ship, we did not have a line to wait in at all. The day before, we had to get in line early in the morning to go through immigrations, rather than doing this at disembarkation. While we really didn’t appreciate having to get up so early to do this (our time was 7 a.m.) on our last cruise day, it did make disembarkation go more quickly. We took a taxi to Barrachina’s in Old San Juan from the pier. Barrachina’s is a restaurant that claims to be the birthplace of the Pina Colada. It also has a great service to offer passengers with later flights home. For a small “tip” they will hold your luggage in their back room, which they keep attended or locked up. Our group had 10 pieces of luggage and they charged us a total of $13 to store it. We headed off the shop and do our own little walking tour of Old San Juan. When we got tired and hungry, we headed back to Barrachina’s for a leisurely lunch and our free sample of their Pina Colada recipe. This was a very nice way to spend some time before going to the airport.
Overall, we had a wonderful relaxing cruise. While I personally feel that service and entertainment could be improved on the Crown Princess, I have to say that it really is one of the most attractive ships I have been on. For some, it may be exactly what they are looking for if they want a great itinerary and a low key environment on the ship.
