Just back from 10 night Crown Princess Eastern Caribbean

[SquishTheWhale]

Hi all! We just got back from our lovely 10 night Eastern/Southern Caribbean cruise on the Crown Princess. Got in at 6am on Tuesday... zzz jetlag!

Overall we had a brilliant time, despite me catching a cold towards the end and spending the majority of one sea day sleeping!

A mini review and some highs/lows:

The ports- we booked this cruise totally on the itinerary as the ship is a bit small for our tastes. Absolutley loved St Lucia, Antigua and St Thomas (also stopped at Barbados and St Kitts)! We mainly did our own thing or independent excursions. We did the Western Caribbean last year but we far preferred the Eastern/Southern.

The ship: despite the fact she was a little small and old for us (sorry Crown!) I still loved her, she had a classic cruise charm to her, especially as she was all decked out for xmas. We enjoyed some of the smaller ship benefits such as no lines at the bar and never struggling for a table in the buffet. We were never bored like I feared (we are used to megaships!).

The food: generally good, with a few star hits and a few dire misses. We sent back a few plates in the MDR which I have never done on a cruise before. We were also a little dissapointed in the Crown Grill and felt it below the standard of the NCL speciality restaurants with lax service. I was glad it was a free meal as a perk of booking and we didn't pay for it. However, when Princess gets it right they get it RIGHT. DH spent the entire cruise talking about one specific dessert and later declared it probably the best dessert he'd ever had.

Service: on the whole excellent, although could have been better in the MDR on occasions as verged on grumpy once or twice. We had anytime dining. Some of the staff such as the photography team greeted us happily by name whenever they saw us! Apart from those few dining room waiters overall friendly and great service. The cruise director team in particular were great.

Entertainment: while overall a couple of notches below NCL and RCI (as I expected), I was blown away by the production show Magic To Do and rank it up with my favorite cruise shows. We really enjoyed the Discovery at Sea programme with the Stargazing and guest lecturer who was a shark diver.

My last highlight would be eyeing up a Swarovski jewellery set in the shop for days, until DH eventually persauded me to get it for my birthday which was during the cruise. When it was scanned through the till it turned out to be reduced to $45 rather than the $135 marked on the tag! SCORE. (Although the woman in the shop was really weird and told DH and I we looked like brother and sister... why would you say that to a married couple?! Never mind that we really really don't... he's half Chinese and I'm pale with red hair!)

If I had to have some criticisms, one would be the relentless selling at dinner in the MDR. No, I don't want to buy a flavoured shot or an irish coffee, and I really resent having to spend the last few minutes of my meal politely fending you off every night. From a cruise line that markets themselves at the premium end of the mass market I didn't expect to be harrassed to buy things while having dinner. You don't get that on NCL!

A massive low point for me was missing our first port which was Princess Cays in the Bahamas as it was too windy to tender. I know that it's not their fault and these things happen on cruises, but it doesn't change the fact I was gutted. We might never have the chance to visit the Bahamas again.

So, thats my mini review! I would be happy to do a proper review in the other forum with food pictures and port details etc, if anyone would be interested in reading that? Let me know!

[Omega1]

Thanks for the review, we’ve been on the Crown twice and think she’s big!😂 Never been on a mega ship. We were on the Caribbean Princess in November and for the first time on over 20 Princess cruises we had an issue with our waiters in the MDR - service was really, really slow. A quiet word with the dining room section manager and things were fine.
Ours was one of the first cruises with the new ocean medallion technology- it was nice when bar staff greeted you by name. Overall, we had a fantastic cruise.

[Bats]

Thanks for the report - would love to read more and see photos!

I would defo have spoken to the restaurant manager about the upselling - it grates on me when I go to Card Factory and they ask me if I want stamps, pens, diaries etc - if I wanted it, I'd ask for it!

Grrrrr