Crown Princess Review

Beautiful ship but not for young people

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Crown Princess
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martyharly
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2011
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony

Being a relatively new cruiser, I didn't realize that any trip over 7 days meant that most of the passengers would be 70+ years and older. My 20 year old daughter was the only young adult on the ship which was booked full of 3,000+ passengers. At age 56, I may have been the only middle age adult still working. This is a beautiful ship and we were upgraded to a mini-suite with balcony so we had plenty of space for just the two of us. Service was excellent and plenty of help on board so we never had to wait long for service at meals or anything else. Ship was in "RED" mode when we first embarked as they had had an outbreak of the nora virus on the previous trip. This meant that all food in the buffet was served, not a bad thing if it helps to prevent this virus from spreading. I was quarantined the second night after some mild nora virus symptoms which meant I missed the first port of call, but agreed that it was better to remain in my cabin rather than expose myself to other passengers. I suppose that the virus easily spreads when people ignore the symptoms and go about their business on the ship rather than contacting medical personnel. All in all, we had a nice relaxing time, but not the party time we had hoped for. Our biggest complaint was the price of the excursions and generally poor quality tours. The highlight of our trip was supposed to have been Iceland, two ports of call and the most interesting tours. Unfortunately this was not the case. We chose an all day tour at first port, Akureyri. There must have been 7 buses all stopping at the same points of interests at the same time, so we could hardly take our time to enjoy anything. Our 4-wheel drive jeep trip, the most expensive tour offered by the way, out of Reykajavik was hardly an an adventure as we went up one mountain and down, and across a river. Big deal. We spent more time on pavement than off-road, not what the trip description had promised. The only point of interest they took us to were the geo thermal plants that are everywhere in Iceland. Total waste of money and very expensive. My daughter and I both agreed that the best tour of this 12 day cruise was the all day tour of Dublin. Excellent tour guide, funny, and full of information. Too bad it was the last port of call. We were generally very pleased with the quality of service, food was OK, specialty restaurants were excellent, tours were way too pricey and crowded. Entertainment-The shows were inconsistent and generally too short. I don't expect Broadway quality on a ship, but shows should be longer than 45 minutes. One night was very old show tunes which could have only been familiar to the 70+ crowd. Although the costumes changes were impressive, the show was not. The highlight of the two weeks was the magician, though he spent too much time talking about himself, so his performance was short also. The hypnotist was terrible, enough said. One night there was a vocalist, multi instrumental performer from Australia. He billed himself as having performed with James Brown, so we expected some very upbeat, contemporary music. Such was not the case.His choice of songs was very odd. For some reason, he felt it was OK to sing two songs about Australia, several Christian/rock songs, and his personal highlight was singing "Dixie", not exactly a patriotic song shared by a most Americans. Again, a very short show, but in this case, I was glad to leave the theatre. Excursions--Edinburgh--My daughter was on her own as I was quarantined. This was an "on your own" tour meaning the cruise line charges you $70.00 to get a lift into town and gives you an inadequate map to navigate around town. She visited the local castle which cost an additional 15 b.p.s. She came back to the ship bored and felt there was little to do besides shopping. Ivergordon, Scotland. An "On Your own" tour. Again an large expense just to be dropped off in town about 45 minutes from the port. The guide on board the bus was incomprehensible and made no effort to answer questions. He made no effort to tell us the highlights. We managed to find a museum, do some shopping, eat lunch, and go back to the ship. A waste of time and money. Lerwick, Shetland Islands. Again, we were on our own. Apparently this is a new port of call for Princess as there was not enough tours for most of the passengers. We highly recommend if you are going to this port to book a tour way in advance. We disembarked and found the local history museum which actually was very impressive for such a small town. Had lunch, returned to ship. Akureyri, Iceland. This is a very seismic area and full of active volcanoes, geysers, mud pots, etc. We were among many (perhaps 7) buses all going to see the same highlights. Unfortunately, the major highlight was an active mudpot area which we were given about 15 minutes to see. Then they rushed us off to a area with an old volcanic flow. They rushed us down a trail seeing old volcanic flows, along with hundred of other tourists with no explanation as to why this place was so significant. Even my daughter asked why we had stopped there. Rushed us to lunch, then to a "pseudo crater" (another "why the heck are we stopping here"), and then back to the ship. Waste of money. Reykjavic-We had planned way in advance to get on this tour as this was billed as a 4 wheel-drive, off road adventure. For anyone who has every gone off-roading, this was hardly an adventure nor did it take place mostly off-road. If I had a way to be reimbursed for this way over rated tour, I would do so. Dublin--we scheduled an all day tour. This turned out to be our favorite excursion of the whole trip. Wonderful guide, was able to experience both the city and country. A wonderful day. Food-we generally enjoyed our meals. We chose "anytime dining" so we could eat when we felt like it, not when the clock said we had to eat. We met a variety of people this way as we always sat with a different group each night. We would check the menu in the afternoon, and if it didn't appeal to us, we had several other choices, from speciality restaurants to cheeseburgers while watching Movies Under The Stars. The extra fees for the two speciality restaurants was totally worth it: excellent service, huge portions of very good food, and, always quiet as thy never seemed crowded. We ate in the dining room the last night, and the service was definelty "off", but generally service in the main dining room was OK. Activities on board- very limited for a 20 year old, none that really interested me. We used this cruise to relax; she had just completed her second year of college, and I was taking a break from work. We actually enjoyed watching movies, reading books, going to the art auctions to watch people spend money, and sleeping in on sea days.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin ME

We loved our mini-suite which was aft on the 8th deck. Can't get much lower, but we didn't mind at all. It was quiet, very roomy for just the two of us. We loved our large bathroom. There was some problems with the toilet, but maintenance was prompt about repairing it. Our steward, Jun, was friendly and helpful.

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