Crown Princess Review
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We began our cruise by staying at the Courtyard Marriott on Seabreeze. This is our third time staying at this hotel. We got a package, where we get breakfast on the day of disembarkation. This is basically a buffet, continental breakfast, something quick. But good price for the 2 of us. The hotel seemed to be going through some changes, being adopted by new mgmt. Elevator still sucked. It's slow, and there's no indicator when it arrives at the floor to let you know if it's going up/down. They were being serviced when we arrived. We took Southwest down from BWI. Our flight was delayed both ways. First, almost an hour because they had to de-ice the plane. We also had to wait for it to arrive from Columbus, which was in the path of the storm. On way back, 20 minutes because of snow, again. But our pilot made up great time coming in to FL, and it was a smooth ride. We arrived ahead of schedule. We did Early Bird check-in with the airline, so we could board earlier. Southwest doesn't assign seating, so apparently this was the way to do it? I thought it was a waste of money really.
Boarding the ship on Saturday was pretty smooth. We had our muster drill, and they didn't rush through it which I liked. We got a coffee card and soda package. The next morning we arrived at our first port. We knew where to go to leave, but for other people I didn't hear an announcement telling you what deck to go to for disembarkation, which I thought was weird. And no note of it in the Patter either.
Our first stop was in Princess Cays, which is in Eleuthera, apparently where the British Royal Family used to vacation. It was very nice. We made sure to leave early to get a good spot on the beach. The weather was warm and calm, not too windy and very pleasant. They had a BBQ lunch, but I am a vegetarian so I opted for the fruit bar they had. I didn't bother to see if there was anything at the buffet. But for those who do eat meat, it seemed pretty good from smell and well set up. The fruits were so ripe and juicy and sweet, I will really miss it. It was that way on the ship too. Even for the drinks they were fresh, and not the small or somewhat dried up stuff you might find sometimes. The pineapples were dripping and soft to the bite. The island staff are locals, but because Princess owns the island, they weren't pushy about you buying stuff and all spoke English.
Cabin Review
Because you can no longer smoke, the balcony was a wasted expense. I hardly went out there and enjoyed it for that reason. But room is nice. Our steward was attentive and did a good job. One thing that I wished was that lamp extended out more, because if you want to read it's closer to the desk than the bed. Closet is large and was more than adequate for 2 people with all the formal wear and other things you'd need to bring. There's no bath gel in this stateroom, but they give you shampoo/cond and lotion. It's still the eucalpytus spa, which I really liked last time.