Crown Princess 27th May to 3rd June 2017

Anything about Princess cruises
User avatar

Topic author
OCEANIAFAN
Cadet
Cadet
Posts: 61
Joined: January 2013
Location: York

Crown Princess 27th May to 3rd June 2017

#1

Post by OCEANIAFAN »

Cruise on Crown Princess 27th May, 2017 to 3rd June, 2017


We have sailed with Princess some years ago and decided to give them another go.
We arrived at Southampton terminal around 1130am and because we were Elite we were checked in
straight away. We were then shown to a separate area and tea coffee and nibbles were offered. We then boarded around 12 noon and our staterooms were already, we went up to the Horizon Court for lunch and when we returned our luggage was already by our stateroom door.

The itinerary was Southampton, Zeebrugge, Copenhagen, Helsingborg, Oslo, Southampton.

Total distance sailed of 1815 nautical miles.

We did not manage to get into Helsingborg due to very high winds.

Due to IT problems we could not sail at 4pm but managed to get everything sorted by 1030pm only to sail from Southampton and then return for a medical emergency.
We made it to Zeebrugge very late the following day.

The good points of this cruise were the crew, they were all very professional and they could not do enough for you. Our cabin steward Klaydon was excellent and kept our cabin up to the standard we had enjoyed on other cruises. The condition of the ship, in our opinion was good, we did not see, like others have said, frayed carpets or stained chairs. There seems to be a lot of new carpets in stairwells and corridors. Our stateroom, we were told by our Seward, was due to be refurbished on the next batch, others had already been done. For a ship 11 years old we felt that it was in very good condition.
The production shows we enjoyed, the only one we were disappointed in was the new show Magic To Do, which we thought went on a bit and got rather boring towards the end.
Children’s facilities were very good and kept them entertained on sea days and at other times, considering there was about 600 children on board they were mostly very well behaved.
Sabatini’s was excellent, food was hot, for the first time this cruise, and the wait staff were very efficient and could not do enough for you, well worth the extra 29 dollars per head.
Crown Grill was a different matter, the food was good, but the waiter we had needed more training, and customer service, he managed to get our order wrong and could not even get the wine right.
He took forever to serve us and in the end we left before desert as we had been in there more 2 and a half hours.


My main adverse comments must be about the food, in all venues, apart from Sabatini’s.
Food was never hot and served either warm or sometimes cold, even after asking for it to hot. I do realise that they have to serve a lot of people but something should be done to serve food at a correct temperature.
The Horizon Buffet was very basic, and on sea days, when all passengers were on board, they only had either one side open or closed the Cafe Caribe, this meant long queues to get food and long walks to take it to your tables, something management should look at.
At no point during the cruise was the dining room open for lunch, a great mistake.

We felt that Princess had cut too many corners, especially the food budget, who ever thought that at the Captains Gala Dinner, that a Beef Burger would be on the menu!!

Drinks were a little pricey and when you added the 15% gratuity were a lot dearer than other lines.
Crooners bar was our bar of choice and the staff, Grace and Stanley, certainly know their jobs and were excellent bar staff.


Overall we enjoyed the cruise, but feel that Princess need to up their game regards food and the temperature of the food.

Would we sail again on Crown Princess, the answers to this is Yes we would, but would like to see standards improved somewhat.

User avatar

barney
Deputy Captain
Deputy Captain
Posts: 5607
Joined: March 2013
Location: Instow Devon

Re: Crown Princess 27th May to 3rd June 2017

#2

Post by barney »

Thanks for your review.
Very interesting observations.
A common theme from all cruise lines excluding the very upmarket (dearer) ones is a slight detrition in food standards.
My friends are just back from the Independence of the Seas and they said the same.
Empty vessels .. and all that

User avatar

oldbluefox
Ex Team Member
Posts: 11305
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cumbria

Re: Crown Princess 27th May to 3rd June 2017

#3

Post by oldbluefox »

Many thanks for a balanced review. It is sad to read that cruise companies seem to be cutting back on some of those elements we have come to enjoy about cruising. I think they need to be careful, unless of course they are moving towards cheap cruises without any of the frills.

User avatar

Jack Staff
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1656
Joined: September 2016

Re: Crown Princess 27th May to 3rd June 2017

#4

Post by Jack Staff »

I have to agree with most if not all of OCEANIAFAN's observations. I will admit that I'm a little upset to have missed the coffee and nibbles, as we were a little later arriving and were ushered straight onboard (as we are also Elite members).

This was the second time we have done this cruise, because the first time we were unable to get into Helsingborg due to high winds! This port was important to us because as Scandi Noir fans we were booked on a tour to take us to Malmo and the Øresund bridge. Within minutes of the Captains' announcement of another day in Copenhagen, the wife had planned taxi and train from Copenhagen to Malmo via the Øresund bridge. Turned what could have been a very dissapointing situation into a wonderful day out. Didn't expect to actually travel across 'The Bridge'.
Talking to other passengers, it seems the chances of getting into Helsingborg are about 50/50, but you can't have a Scandinavian cruise without going to Sweden (at least in the brochure) can you?

Being Princess regulars we now know the main restaurants menus by heart. This trip, without our usual cruising friends, we mainly used the Horizon Court. By going a little later we had no problems with queues and the food was actually very good. Being a buffet style, the food would certainly have been better hotter, but at least it was never dried up.

Actually avoided Crooners, as I did not feel welcome without a daffodil and a leak. However this curious situation was explained on the final night with a fantastic performance in the theatre from Port Talbot Cymric male voice choir - https://www.facebook.com/groups/170629009618174/

The staff on Princess are always impeccable (except one, but that was another cruise). We were very happy to have the same cabin steward as on one of our previous cruises to look after us. He was happy too, but that may be because this was his last trip and was going home after a nine month contract.
Testiculi ad Brexitum. Venceremos.

Return to “Princess”