Crown Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,240 reviews

Crown Princess - Southern Caribbean

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Crown Princess
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CFD130
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2007
Cabin: Balcony

Just returned from the Southern Caribbean aboard the Crown. This was our second cruise, both on Princess. Our first was to Alaska on the Coral. We booked this cruise online, which was just OK. We booked a guaranteed cabin and it wasn't until a couple of days before we left did we find out our cabin and I had to call to get it. We booked a BD and were upgraded to BC, so I can't complain too much. We also booked our air through Princess because it's the safe thing to do. But not so sure anymore. We left from Portland Maine on Delta. The Delta agent could only give us tickets to New York because we were switching to American and told us we would need to go to the American terminal to get out tickets to San Juan via Tampa. At 5 am I really didn't think too much of it until we landed at LaGuardia. The American Terminal is in one end of the airport and Delta is on the other-completely different terminals. We had to go outside our terminal-catch a bus and go to the American Terminal-Wait in line at the ticket counter (an American rep took pity on us and went to the counter and go our tickets) -wait to go through a long security line again-we had 1 hour to do all this. We were trying to catch an 8:40 flight and it was after 9 by the time we went through security. On a perfect day I don't think it could be done in an hour, let alone the day after a major snowstorm in the Northeast. Anyway we got to the gate and to our amazement it was delayed by 2 1/2 hours because the crew got in late the night before and had a minimum crew rest, so we made our flight and we were scheduled for a 3 hour layover in Tampa that turned into 20 minutes. We arrived in San Juan on time Friday evening. The travel gods were with us as many fellow cruisers had much more difficulty and delays ( and lost luggage)than we did. We went to San Juan the day before thanks to information I had read on Cruise Critic about people going a day or two ahead of the cruise. We stayed at the San Juan Marriott. Although a little expensive It was a beautiful hotel, and waking up Saturday and walking on the beach instead of all of the airport hassles was definitely worth it.

The embarkation process was so smooth. The bus picked us up at exactly 1pm just as promised. There were three or four buses that went to the pier at the same time but within minutes we had our keys and were on our way to the ship. (We did all of the required paperwork ahead online) Once on board there were alot of Princess folks showing you the way to your room. Again within minutes we were in our room, unpacking and getting ready to relax. We put our shorts on and spent a couple of hours just walking around this huge beautiful ship getting our bearings. Again another tip I received from Cruise Critic. Our room B418 was great. Midship and just a few doors from the elevators. Never heard any noises during the night(except me snoring). Our steward was great and kept the room spotless. It was very comfortable. I ordered a dozen roses for my wife when we got onboard that showed up early Sunday morning. They were absolutely beautiful and lasted all week. She was impressed with them.

We did shore excursions everyday and enjoyed them all-I booked them through Princess because I am chicken about not getting back. We took a tour of St Thomas that was great. Snorkeled in Grenada and Bonaire. Both were awesome. Went to the beach in Aruba which was nice but crowded but we took a boat from our pier to the beach so we had a nice boat ride too. I know a lot of people say it is less expensive to do shore excursions on your own but I feel we received good value and a good time for the money. We found the food onboard very good although we only went to the Dining room twice. We enjoyed the buffet and found it very good and convenient. We could always sit by a window and it was usually quiet at night. On a couple of nights we had Maine Lobster and tons of shrimp, Prime Rib and other goodies. The pizza bar was great for a snack as well. Got the coke card but thought $30 for fountain soda is a lot and the bar drinks fairly expensive. The shows were great and varied, really like Sarge the comedian, but the Princess stage shows were great too. Disembarkation was almost as smooth as getting on. We went to the breakfast buffet for some coffee and then waited on the port side of the promenade deck were we got a little side treat of seeing the workers unload tons of food from trucks for the next voyage(Kind of like watching a behind the scenes show on the travel channel. ) Buses were waiting and took us to the airport. We had a great vacation and find Princess very relaxing and accommodating.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BC
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