Crown Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,240 reviews

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Crown Princess
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oubobcat23
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Nov 2009
Traveled with children

Let me start with some background info: I'm 37 and have been on three other cruises...Celebrity Century, NCL Pearl, and Carnival Splendor. I read good things about Crown Princess and thought it would be a small step above NCL and Carnival. I was wrong. The food was relatively good, but the service was not. I was in a mini-suite room...the coveted "double balcony" in the aft of the ship, Emerald level room E730. While this mini-suite room was nice inside and the balcony was larger than normal, the room shook like an earthquake. Apparently the propellor/engine is directly beneath this room. I did not notice it until night time as I lay in bed and felt the bed vibrating, not in a good way! The lamps were visibly shaking and the flat screen tv's were making creaking noises and rattling. Keep in mind, that we did NOT have rough seas. I believe this is just the nature of this ship. This is not the typical rocking of a cruise ship. I have been on three other ships prior to this cruise and have never experienced anything this annoying or dramatic. So, be warned, if you book a room in the aft, you might be experiencing mini-earthquakes your entire trip. I complained to the manager and was moved to another room the next day (they said that lucky for me, this room was available because someone canceled at the last minute.) This next room was also a mini-suite, but on Dolphin level, midship. However, the balcony was not private since everyone above me could look down on my balcony. However, what ruined my experience with Princess is that either the room steward or the manager on the Emerald deck stole my Ipod in the transition from room to room. While moving out of earthquake room E730, I hurriedly opened the safe and grabbed my purse, forgetting that my small ipod was still in the safe. When I got to my new room on Dolphin level and realized I had forgotten the ipod, I called guest services and was told the floor manager would go back and check the room safe. They called a few minutes later and told me they could not find it. I told them I needed to get back in that room and see for myself, because I knew for certain I had left it there. I frantically went back to the room in search of my $200 ipod. It was not in the open safe or anywhere in the room, which the steward had already been in and cleaned after I had moved out. Princess reps (the purser and the floor manager) proceeded to search my new room on Dolphin level going through ALL of my stuff in search of the ipod (bags, drawers, EVERYTHING. I'm surprised I wasn't strip searched.) I suppose they do this to make sure I was not lying or senile. They said it was "protocal." But I knew I had left the ipod in the other room in the now OPEN SAFE. After they thoroughly search my new room and don't find the ipod (shocking), they tell me they will "write an incident report." I asked what good is this going to do, since I don't have my ipod, which one of their employees obviously now had. Will they reimburse me $200 so I can buy a new one? The purser, Andrew, says no, but I can file it with whoever I have trip insurance through. Are you kidding me? Hello, trip/travel insurance does not cover things that Princess employees STEAL OUT OF YOUR ROOM! I told them they needed to do better than that and demanded that someone find my ipod. They didn't care. So, I now go with the purser to his computer while he began to fill out the worthless "incident report." Lo and behold his phone rings. He hangs up and tells me they "found" my ipod in my old room and that the room manager will be waiting for me outside my new room. I see her standing in the hall outside my room. She says to me "Oh, we must have missed it, it was in the back right corner of the safe." I am not stupid. Both she and I had previously checked the SMALL safe and it had NOT been there. So now it mysteriously shows up??! Amazing. I grabbed the ipod and didn't bother saying anything to her. I had already wasted 2 hours of my day on this BS. We both knew she was lying. Either she or the room steward on the Emerald level had taken it and then either got in trouble for it, or got a conscience and decided to return it to me. I was very glad to get it back, but the way Princess handled things was absolutely ridiculous. You would think because of my inconvenience and the violation of having them go through all of my belongings, tjhat Princess would apologize or send a bottle of wine, etc. Something. But no, I got absolutely nothing. And now, because of this incident, I will not recommend this cruise line to anyone. Honestly, the ship was not anything spectacular. The NCL Pearl is a gorgeous ship and had fantastic shows. And the service and food I had on the Carnival Splendor was very good. To spend more money on Crown Princess only to be treated like this, is a joke.The shows were OK, and like I said, the food was good. The hypnotist was pretty funny and the juggler was OK. Some of the other shows were not of interest to me. "A Night of Cole Porter?" Sorry, just not my thing. The average demographic on this ship was 55-70 years old. I would not recommend this ship for kids. Not much going on for them. Same with night life. I am not a big partier, but there was hardly anyone in the lounges at night. I worked out in the fitness area which was not anything great. The water fountain had warm/hot water. I mentioned it to the attendant at the spa desk and she just said "Yeah, we've asked them to fix it at least seven times now." Uh, how about putting a water cooler in there instead? They had one in the adults only "Sanctuary" so it's not like this is a novel idea. Oh, wait, people who use the Sanctuary pay a fee, so I guess that's why they get to have cold water and the people using the gym get the warm water fountain water. The spa area left little to be desired. Both the Carnival Splendor and the NCL spa were a lot better. The NCL Pearl spa are is hands down the BEST I have ever seen. Panoramic views, men's and women's lounges, etc. The spa on Crown Princess has no outside view, no thelassotherapy pool,and no cold water to drink. Basically not much of anything. If you like a nice walking track, this ship is not for you. The outdoor track is teeny tiny...16 laps = 1 mile. I honestly don't know why this ship had such high ratings. Maybe it has gone downhill over the past few months? Either way, I will not be cruising Princess again.

Cabin Review

Mini-suite room E730 is like living in an earthquake. Directly above the propellors/engine. Great double balcony, but awful vibrations.

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