Crown Princess Review
Generally A Nice Ship For Sailing With The Masses
Rating by category
Additional details
My family and I are seasoned cruisers. Over the past 15 years we've sailed a total of 25 times on Celebrity, Holland America, Cunard, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, and MSC. This was our second sailing on Princess Cruise Lines. We picked this cruise largely because of cost, sailing dates, and the departure port of Galveston, TX.
Overview
The Crown Princess is a lovely ship with a pleasant crew, average to above average dining and good maintenance. Basically, it had everything what you would expect from a more upscale cruise line with a few significant weaknesses: their wait staff, specialty dining, long lines, more long lines, and hit or miss lounge entertainment. We are not sure why, but we've rarely been on any other large ship and felt "crowded" except on the Crown Princess. Every venue was packed and there were often long lines to get into anything. We are not sure if the ship just lacks enough public areas or if we were on a cruise where every passenger wanted to attend every offering of interest to us.
Cabin Review
Interior
Our experience with the Diamond Princess was much different than the Crown Princess. The Diamond had some of the quietest staterooms we've ever had. The Crown Princess was fairly average in that hall noise was easily heard in our cabin and one night we had to endure a party thrown by our neighbors.
We do like the cabin layout of Princess, which is different from other lines. Their cabin layout results in a little more space and privacy with a little less storage room for clothes. Our room steward, Richardo, was very attentive and helpful and went out of his way to help us with several requests for packing material.