Let me preface this review by saying that we spent four days at Disney World before driving down to board the Crown. We are in our early 50's, and have cruised only twice prior to this cruise, once on Royal Caribbean and once with Celebrity. We love to travel and approach the whole experience with the attitude that we will never let a small thing ruin our trip and refuse to allow someone's bad manners or cranky-pants nature take the shine off our day. Overall, Princess did a really nice job, and while a different experience from Celebrity, it was a good cruise.
The boarding process looked a bit overwhelming as we approached a long line after we exited the shuttle bus. We arrived a little after 1:00 for boarding. We did not have tags for our luggage (not sure why - have to check into that with our TA), but one of the porters was able to help us out and we got the bags labeled. Once we got into line, it moved very quickly and the gentlemen who checked us in was very friendly. We had the requisite photos taken and headed on board. We were a little disappointed in the welcome, no cool drink or anything like that, just directions to our stateroom.
The Crown is beautiful and we were very happy with our balcony cabin, and that we were able to immediately go to our cabin and drop our carry-ons. LOTS of storage room, the bed was very comfortable and the bathroom, while tiny (no surprise there) was very efficient. I will say that from the very first day we had issues with the water temperature in the bathroom. The shower was never more than lukewarm, and would arbitrarily turn very cool throughout the shower. And, the water from the sink was always warm! ??? It was a bit unpleasant taking medication with warm water in the morning. It wasn't until later in the cruise that I mentioned this to other passengers who were not having the same experience and we realized this may have been cabin-specific and we should have mentioned it to our cabin steward. The temperature control in the shower was stuck right where it was and could not be adjusted one way or the other.
Great view. Great location, close to elevators, but not close enough to hear them. Little or no noise from the hall. Nice privacy.