We’ve cruised with Princess 25 times and this was our second time on the Crown. We took this cruise I because it was close to home and was an easy, short break with no flying involved.  We generally have had nothing but great experiences with Princess but this trip will not go down as one of our favorite cruises.

Unfortunately, we boarded a ship that was still infected with Norovirus from the previous voyage and that affected everyone on board, both crew and passengers, in one way or another.

Embarkation was delayed because of deep cleaning after the ship had arrived from a 49 day voyage around South America.  There had been a couple of outbreaks of Norovirus on board and it wasn’t contained. Boarding was delayed until 3PM and led to over 3000 people piled up in a hall that was inadequate for the task.  We were admonished for daring to use countertops to fill out health forms, even though that seemed to be a reasonable use for them.  Passengers were ordered to get up from sitting on the floors and to leave the port and return at a later time.  Where were people supposed to go???  It was a poor way to treat passengers, some of whom had been traveling for hours and many of whom were elderly and disabled. Read more