Crown Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We are a family of five with three teenage kids ages 19, 15 and 11 and this was our third spring break cruise in a row. Our previous two cruises were on the Norwegian Star and Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas, so we are gaining a pretty well rounded perspective and experience of what each cruise line has to offer. We enjoyed our previous two cruises and enjoyed this cruise on the Crown Princess as well. Each cruise line has strengths and weaknesses, and my review of the Crown Princess will be from that comparative perspective.
Port of Galveston
Getting to the port of Galveston from the Houston airport was unreasonably expensive and inconvenient. If I relied on the cruise line's own transfer, it would cost $37 per person each way, which for a family of 5 would cost me $370! I spent more time trying to find a cheaper transfer option than I did planning the cruise itself. Other cruisers have had success getting one-way car rentals to/from Galveston using Enterprise but that option was no longer available.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Nice but small room, private balcony, small but efficient bathroom, small shower stall, comfortable bed, large mini fridge, flat screen TV with lots of programs.
Port Reviews
Cozumel
Very crowded with 4 large ships in port. Met friendly natives but a waiter at a restaurant tried to overcharge me...twice! A merchant at the Puerta Maya pier sold my wife a silver bracelet that was not sterling as he had claimed. We successfully returned it. Good experience with rental car at local agency.
Belize City
Tenders took way too long to disembark passengers. Waited over an hour for tender and was almost too late for our shore excursion. Booked our own excursion (cave tubing) for less than half the ship's excursion cost for the same. Cave tubing was fun but very crowded sue to amount of ships in port (4).
Roatan
Nice cruise port at Mahogany Bay. Nice to have option to visit a beach right at the port. We rented a car anyways and visited West Bay beach. Beautiful beach but crowded. Good snorkeling there.