My husband and I were on the 8/1/07 sailing on the Crown to the Eastern Caribbean and had a wonderful time. This is my fourth and his third cruise, and our second with Princess. In my haste to post a review on the Princess message boards I realized that I had left out a lot of information that could be useful to future cruisers of the Crown, so I am posting a more detailed account on this board.

BROOKLYN TERMINAL: I have to agree with most cruisers that this is one of the easiest terminals to sail from. The staff here seems to be well organized and efficient. After a short drive to the pier we parked our car in the terminal parking lot. The fee is $164 for 10 days and is paid at the end of the cruise. Upon arrival at 10.40 am there were still some people leaving the ship. We found some traffic congestion at the entrance to the pier due to vehicles still picking up passengers but after about 10 minutes we were able to move along. Boarding began at 11.30 and by 11.45 we were on the ship. SAILAWAY: it turned out our 'secret place' on Lido deck was locked, so we went on the Sun deck to get a better view as we passed under the V-N bridge. I'd like to add a note here to say how exciting it was to meet everyone at the CruiseCritic.com meeting on day 2 and finally linking names to faces. I also think it was nice of Princess to organize another meeting for us on the last day with Assistant CD Cameron. Unfortunately not too many people must have read the announcement on the Princess Patter as very few showed up. CABIN: Our inside cabin looked small at first glance but it turned out to be quite comfortable as we settled in. Ideal location, mid-ship on Baja Deck 11. We were glad we had turned down the obstructed ocean view upgrade we had been offered by Princess which was located all the way forward and close to the elevators where there was sure to be more movement and people traffic. The bathroom was small but the storage room was ample with lots of hangers. It turned out I didn't need the extra ones I had brought from home. I hung up a hold-everything on the bathroom door and had all my stuff handy (see picture in my Webshot link). We had some minor issues the first day because of a malfunctioning light in the storage area and a bedside lamp that was falling apart but we called the passenger services and they took care of them very quickly and even followed up with a courtesy phone call. Our cabin steward was Raynaldo from the Philippines who did a great job of keeping the cabin neat and clean and was quick to respond to our needs. We tipped him a little extra at the end of the cruise as we felt he had earned it. Having booked an inside cabin this time I missed having at least a window to look out of, if only just to check on the weather. This, however, worked in my favor because it was an incentive to get up early every morning, run down to Promenade Deck to check the weather outside and walk around the deck a few times ( half a mile all around) while DH slept on huddled under the duvet. I did not feel as guilty going to the International Cafe after that workout! SHIP LAYOUT: we found the ship layout a little confusing and with not too many large open spaces as I've seen on other ships. The Piazza is beautiful though often very busy, especially on sea days (but that's what piazzas are, busy hubs). I couldn't get enough pictures of the atrium I was so mesmerized by it. The dEcor is distinctly European with the polished woods and gleaming marbles and brass. I have sailed only with one other cruise line (Carnival) in recent years and even though the Pride is a beautiful ship its interior design is not as elegant and refined as that of the Princess ships. DINING: we had booked early seating in Botticelli but when we confirmed it at the Purser's Desk we were told that we had been switched to 'anytime dining' but that we could request to talk to the Maitre d if we wanted to have it switched back to traditional. My feeling, here, was that everyone who was booked for fixed dining was automatically switched to anytime because there was a very long line to talk to the Maitre d' that first day and all were complaining of the same thing. For some reason Princess tries to push 'anytime' dining. My advice to future Crown passengers is to go to the Purser's Desk immediately upon boarding to confirm their reservation as space for 'traditional' dining is limited. Our waiters were from Romania, both very efficient and attentive, although they did not go out of their way to serve us little 'extras'—contrary to what I keep hearing from a lot of other posters' experiences. In fact, at a table near ours, we noticed their waiter was constantly placing different appetizers and desserts in front of them. Not that we needed to eat more, of course! But when you get that type of attention you are really made to feel like royalty. Both on the Grand and on Carnival Pride we were rather spoiled by our servers. But these are minor details; as I said, our waiters were both attentive and professional and did their job adequately, so I really have no complaints there. The Maitre d', Nicola often stopped to chat and remembered our names throughout the trip. He told us he is from Padova, in northern Italy, and that there are only two Italians left in his line of work on the Crown. He explained that Italian waiters have dwindled in numbers in the last decade as they slowly abandoned the industry and their positions were taken over by Romanians, Polish and workers from a few other nationalities. Now, I may be biased, being myself Italian, but I missed the charisma and Latin charm of the Italian wait staff from the Grand a few years back. Maybe some seasoned cruisers will agree with me. I felt this especially in Sabatini's, where a few years ago on the Grand the wait staff was 80 per cent Italian and there was soft Italian music playing in the background, as one would expect of an Italian restaurant. At least the cuisine in Sabatini's is still authentic Italian, LOL. I had the most delicious lobster tail I have ever tasted and my husband thoroughly enjoyed his leg of lamb. The service was rather mechanical and a rushed, though. We found the food in the dining room to be very good and the desserts were to die for! I had mentioned in the paperwork that we were celebrating our anniversary on board and on the first formal night they surprised us with a small cake and a song. I thought it was a very nice touch and it made us feel special. Of course, I would have preferred that they brought the cake BEFORE I'd devoured the super-caloric Princess Loveboat Dream and DH his nightly gelato! We found the food in Horizon Court to be also very good and of ample variety. Service was not the greatest as a couple of times we had to ask for the tables to be wiped clean again before we could be seated. Contrary to what some people say, I did not find the wait for a table long and the buffet layout was very organized, rather than scattered all over the place as I'd seen on the Carnival Pride. I particularly enjoyed sampling the various types of omelets for breakfast and did not find the food cold, as some people have said. The International Cafe was my favorite morning spot. We went there for espresso and a pastry, before going up to Horizon Court for a more substantial meal (we overindulged, I admit it..). We purchased both the soda and coffee cards and they worked perfectly for us. We had no problem getting refills for soda and DH likes his espressos and cappuccinos. The soda card was $35.53 and the coffee card was $27.60 including a 15% gratuity. ENTERTAINMENT: Our favorite hangout was Club Fusion where they always had music, fun and games. I won $500 at Bingo the first day, which made for a great start. We loved Synergy's music. We did not see many of the shows in Princess Theatre but preferred the comedy shows in Explorer Lounge. It's a bit of a problem finding chairs in Explorer as it's not very big. Princess Theatre fills up very quickly too. The shows we particularly enjoyed were the comedians Uber Rossi and Lorenzo Clark. We thought they were outrageously funny. We enjoyed the singing and dancing competition and Pub Night. The Cruise Director Staff were all very funny, especially Cameron and Brett, and went out of their way to create a party atmosphere at every occasion. We played Bingo every day, we took part in the Horse races once and saw the Cooking show and Galley tour which I found very interesting. We tried MUTS once and watched Casino Royale. I thought the blankets and popcorn were a nice touch but the damp chairs after a thunderstorm can be uncomfortably...well, damp. PORTS OF CALL: BERMUDA: We loved all the ports of call but I was looking forward to Bermuda and particularly Horseshoe Bay, which we had been to once before. In Bermuda we went to Horseshoe Bay by local bus. We almost did not make it as it rained until about noon, but as soon as it stopped we were on the first bus out. From Dockyard we took the #7 bus and it is $4 each way. You can purchase the bus tokens at the booth outside the pier and it's a 25 min. ride to the beach. Horseshoe Bay is my favorite beach. I love walking along the rock formations to the side and you can take wonderful pictures from the dunes. SAN JUAN: In San Juan disembarkation took forever because local immigration officials took their time in getting to the pier. Princess had everyone organized in groups in order of tour departure time, but because of the delay everyone ended up disembarking at the same time, which slowed down the process. We did the El Yunque Rainforest excursion and like most everyone I've heard we weren't overly impressed. I had expected a longer hike in the forest rather than a five minute walk on a paved trail, and having seen waterfalls on other nature reserves I found this one to be unremarkable. Still, I would have enjoyed the trip more if it hadn't taken over an hour to get there and another hour to come back. All that time on the road seemed like such a waste of precious time. It wasn't all wasted, though. Our guide on the rainforest tour, Dan Valasquez, did an excellent job of telling us all about the customs and history of Puerto Rico and he did his best to keep us entertained. This is an excursion better suited for people who have already been to San Juan and have no interest in visiting the city again. My advice here, if you take this tour, is to have a late breakfast as you will not have a chance to eat before 4 pm. Since the tour began a little late due to the confusion on the pier and ended later than expected, it left us with very little time in which to visit old San Juan. Still, we managed to grab a quick bite to eat at the only un-crowded place we saw which happened to be a Starbucks (by that time we were starving and anything would do), then we roamed through some streets of the historical section of town and got some awesome pictures from the San Cristobal Fortress and Puerta San Juan. On our way back to the ship, along the "Paseo de la Princesa", which is a nice walkway along the old wall of the city, we found a huge crowd of locals gathered for some kind of arts and craft fair and we stopped to listen to the live band playing on a make-shift stage and browsed the street vendors stands. Most of the wares were hand-made and quite unique, but I found nothing that I wanted to bring back home. Before boarding we purchased some liquor at the duty-free store on the pier and found the prices to be better than on the ship. ST. THOMAS: The tour of St. Thomas by open-air bus was fun but we realized too late that we could have easily done it through a private company and it would have cost much less. Still, we got to stay in Magen's Bay Beach for 2 hours and we loved it. After Horseshoe Bay, it is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The view of the coast from the top of the mountain is amazing. Blackbeard's Castle is not really a castle but a tower but there are some interesting museum homes in the area and the bronze pirate statues were fun. The free rum punch on the 99 Steps was a welcome respite because by that time we were so hot and tired we needed the refreshing drink. After a stroll through the stores of Main Street we stopped at Cuzzin's, a local fare restaurant on Back street which our tour guide had recommended. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. We did not do a lot of shopping in St. Thomas, only bought a couple of silver rings for myself and some souvenirs for the family and DH bought binoculars. GRAND TURK: Grand Turk: This was by far my favorite stop, if only for the fact that the island is so peaceful and unspoiled. We hung out in Margaritaville a couple of hours then we took the main road on foot with the intention of going to Governor's Beach. We passed a series of government buildings and not a soul was in sight. We wondered if it wasn't a national holiday since there was no one around that we could see. We walked for about 45 minutes (almost into Cockburn Town) before we realized we had to have missed the turnoff to the beach. We passed the entrance to the International Airport of Grand Turk and did not see an airplane landing or taking off in the entire time we were on the road. At that point we were getting a little nervous as the place was too isolated for our peace of mind. Besides the occasional taxi and local car passing by, we had seen not a living soul—except for two horses and a cow grazing lazily in a field. Eventually a group of cyclists came by and we asked them for directions to the beach, which they promptly provided, pointing out that we had long passed the turnoff to the beach (big surprise there). When we finally reached Governor's Beach we loved it. The water was crystal clear, much nicer than the beach off the ship, and so peaceful. A shell-seeker's paradise. It was really worth the long walk. A word of caution to future visitors to Grand Turk: if you decide to walk to Governor's Beach, there are no signs at the turnoff from the main road. Walk for about 10-15 minutes from the main gate of Margaritaville and look out for a low white wall on the left at an intersection. Make a left here; this road will take you to the beach. You can also take a taxi there from Margaritaville for $3 per person, which we should have done in the first place. Live and learn. DISEMBARKATION: We had express walk-off and it was very quick. We were the first group to leave the ship at 8.30 with NAVY 1 tags and in 15 minutes we were in our car. Just as well as it was pouring buckets in Brooklyn. Luckily we had kept our disposable rain ponchos out of the suitcases that morning and we were not drenched. We saw all the luggage stacked up inside the terminal and were glad we had opted for express disembarkation. We wondered how on Earth people were going to find their bags in that mess. For those opting for Express Walk-Off, the quicker you hand in your request form at the Purser's desk, the better the chances of being in the first group to leave the ship. The first color to be called was NAVY 1 & NAVY 2 (request forms are left in your mail box approx. half way through the cruise).

Overall it was a wonderful cruise and a great itinerary. The Crown is a beautiful ship and I would gladly cruise on it again. Happy sailing to all of you and please feel free to view my pictures. http://community.webshots.com/user/sailorJo53?vhost=community Read more