Our Mini Suite on the Crown Princess

Here are pictures of our Mini Suite on deck 9, port side.

Desk area with storage and two outlets

Mini fridge holds 1 liter bottle of water, bottle of wine, and a few cans of sodas

Balcony with the new furniture

The TVs are no longer bolted to the wall.  They are now mounted on a stand which allows them to move a bit more freely (up/down and left/right).

I got the wine glasses from one of the bars on deck 7.

There is a fruit card that you can fill out and have oranges, kiwis, apples, pears, and bananas delivered to the cabin.  We did this once and then decided it was easier for us to get our own fruits from the Horizon Court buffet area.  No waiting.  The oranges were sweet!

There are only two outlets located over the desk area.  I brought my Belkin mini surge protector which allowed us to recharge our iPads, Kindle device, camera batteries and electric tooth brush.

We stored our electronic gadgets in the drawers without any worries.

A Few More Pictures

While in Belize....

Our Cruise Summary

The dock at Geoff's Caye (Belize)

Background Information:  Hubby is 50 and I will be turning 50 this year.  We are Princess Platinum members and we do get to enjoy some of the Princess benefits.  We spend our annual vacation time cruising around the Caribbean.  We enjoy snorkeling so much that we pack our own snorkeling gear in our luggage.  That leaves no room for formal wear.  I've been able to pack and arrange our luggage so that each of them are under 50 lbs.  I rely on my packing list that I have refined over the years.  If we are cruising over 7 days, I do make a trip to the onboard laundry room.

The last time we were on the Crown Princess was four years ago and we were leaving out of San Juan for a B2B cruise (14 days).  We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise then and thoroughly enjoyed it this year.

Crown Princess:

During the first week of our cruise, we noticed the average age on the ship was around 65-70.  There were plenty of folks with walkers and mobility aids.  During the second week of our cruise, the average age went down considerably.  We saw more younger couples and families.

Compared to our last cruise, we noticed many more iPads and Kindle devices on this cruise.

During our first week, we both purchased 250 minutes of Internet time for free.  Hubby didn't use any of his minutes that week.  I had 15 minutes left on my account and I ended up using some of his Internet minutes.  After the turnaround for the second week, I went ahead and added additional time to each of our accounts.  I was able to add another 250 minutes to each account for free.  The previous week's minutes rolled over into the second week as well.  Sweet!  At the end of our cruise, my Hubby and I could not use up all the remaining Internet time.  That was a first for us.

We had cabin D302.  It was located one cabin away from the forward elevators/stairs on the port side.  When I first booked this cruise (1-1/2 years ago), this was the only cabin available for the whole 14 days.  I wasn't too sure about the noise level from the elevators and possible crowd noise.  Our travel agent told us we could change the cabin if additional ones became available.  Hubby and I both agreed to leave the booking as is.

This cabin location turned out to be wonderful for us.  This was our first time being in a forward location on the ship.  We hardly noticed any noise from the elevators and may have heard a handful of folks late at night as they walked by our cabin.  The only noise I consistently heard was in the morning when the room service cart(s) would be pushed down the hallway.

Our cabin was located on the port side of the ship.  Most of the time, the ship docked on this side while in port (e.g. Curacao, Aruba, Cozumel).

Aruba

Cozumel

Curacao

During the first day or two of our cruise, we received a box in our balcony.  The label read "table".  Must be new furniture!  Our balcony chairs were looking quite old and shabby.  I've never seen furniture that looked that used on a cruise before.  A few days later, we received two new chairs and two foot rests.  The new chair color reminded me of indigo sea color.  The chairs had three back settings.  The box still remained on our balcony.  It wasn't until Thursday that our table was put together and the box disappeared.

New furniture

Old round table (new table in box)

At the beginning of the 2nd week of our cruise, Princess instituted a new no smoking policy in the cabins or on the balconies.  Later in the week, we found cigarette ashes on our new balcony table.  It must have come from an upper deck.  Careless!

WiFi access was pretty good in our cabin.  Most of the time I sat at the desk and could see all the bars while accessing the Internet.  During the first week, I did notice some spotty connections while we were at sea.  While in port, I did not have any problems with the ship's WiFi.  I did notice that early in the morning was the best time to access FB and check my emails.

I did use the Internet Cafe a few times and I ended up with consistent ongoing connectivity.  I also noticed it was a bit faster than using Wifi in our cabin.  Not really fast, just a bit.  ;-)

The first week we noticed a lot more rocking and rolling on the ship as we headed down to the southern Caribbean.  It was fabulous!  Hubby and I prefer to feel some motion than none at all.

Our one dining experience with Anytime Dining in Michelangelo dining room was mediocre.  Hubby and I went so I could get a plate of fettuccine alfredo.  The food server gave Hubby the wrong entree and we ended up waiting 5 minutes for the server to come back and to realize that he made a mistake.  By that time, Hubby's meal was not hot.

We spent most of our dining options at the Horizon buffet or the Caribe Cafe when they were open.  We did make a few trips to the Trident Grill for their excellent grilled chicken sandwiches and french fries.  Okay, we made several trips there.  We did get a few slices of cheese pizza from the pizza place, but it was just average.  We thought the pizza on the Emerald Princess was much better.  The best pizza we've had on a cruise ship was on the Sea Princess which was awesome.

Breakfast at Horizon

Breakfast at Horizon

Lunch at Horizon

During the afternoon, I did make my daily run down to the IC for warm peanut butter cookies.  In the evenings, there was popcorn available which we would enjoy during MUTS or take down to our room to watch a movie.

Quiche from IC

Our room steward, Henry, was just okay.  This was our 8th cruise with Princess and we've never had a problem with our room stewards.  Henry and I never seemed to make a connection.  I asked for a bottle of water to keep in our fridge and he said he didn't have any.  Really?  I ended up going to one of the bars on the ship to pick up a one liter bottle.  Henry didn't leave me a refreshment form (water & sodas) to fill out.  It wasn't until the 2nd week that he left a form for me to fill out and sign.

Henry also failed to replenish our Lotus Spa shampoo and gel.  At the end of the cruise, I noticed we had four bottles of conditioner in the bathroom.  ???

Despite some minor issues we've encountered and endured, Hubby and I had a wonderful cruise.  We definitely enjoyed the second week because of the itinerary.  Our favorite port ended up being Cozumel.  We had a blast there.

We are looking at going on another Western Caribbean cruise in the future.

Geoff's Caye (Belize)

Saturday in Ft Lauderdale/Disembarkation

We were somewhat sad to be leaving the Crown Princess after cruising around the Caribbean for the last two weeks. 

Arrived into Port Everglades in the early morning hours

We woke up early to have our last breakfast on the ship.  We did a final last pack of our backpacks and double checked all the drawers, cubby holes, and safe to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind.  We left our cabin before 8am and headed to the designated Platinum and Elite lounge in Club Fusion.  Our cruise card was checked at the entry way in Club Fusion and we promptly found some seats near a window.  Our group was Pink 1 and we were to disembark around 10am.  We pulled out our iPads to pass the time away.  There were some delays in calling the groups.  Apparently, there was a backlog going through customs as there were not enough agents.  Our group was called around 10:30am and we left the ship for the last time.  It was easy to find our luggage in the terminal as we were the last group called.  We waited in the customs line for about 10 minutes and went through customs quickly. 

We had a post-cruise day/night in Ft Lauderdale and found the Princess reps to direct us to our transfer to the Embassy Suites (ES).  We waited and waited.  We waited over an hour for our Cabana bus to arrive.  While we were waiting, we saw a lot of folks arriving at the terminal for the start of their cruise on the Crown Princess. 

Sometime before 12 noon we boarded a Cabana bus.  We had three groups going in different directions:  Ft Lauderdale airport, Embassy Suites, and the Sheraton.  We arrived at our destination and dropped off our bags at the ES.  We walked behind the hotel towards the Harbor Shops shopping center to find a place to eat lunch.  We ended up at Lauderdale restaurant.  Thirty minutes later, I received a call on my cell phone that our room was ready. 

View from our balcony:  cruise port and the shopping center behind the ES

After lunch, we checked into the ES and headed back out in the pleasant, partly sunny weather in Ft Lauderdale.  We walked along the 17^th Street Causeway and ended up at the bridge.  We saw eight ships in port. 

Crown Princess docked in Port Everglades

We had toyed with the idea of taking the trolley down to the beach, but quickly nixed that idea as we were getting sleepy and needed to take a nap.  Plus, I did not want Hubby to strain himself from too much activity in one day.  This was probably the most he had walked since visiting the ER two weeks ago.  

Friday @Sea

We were at sea today.  It was cloudy and by midday it rained a bit.  The interior of the ship seemed to be buzzing with fellow cruisers.  Hubby and I went to pick out our pictures for the week.  Our travel agent had given us a coupon for a free picture.  We ended up with a portrait taken while we were having dinner in the Michelangelo dining room.  We also selected two pictures taken while in Cozumel. 

I found time to go on a Galley Tour and took lots of pictures. 

Preparing sandwiches

Carvings

Where are the pastries and desserts?

I started packing in the early afternoon and took several breaks to check my emails and reviewed more pictures.  I was trying to burn up the Internet minutes we had accumulated over the last two weeks.  For some reason, the packing seemed to take a long time. 

By 7pm, we placed our two pieces of luggage out in the hallway near our door. 

We ate our last dinner in Caribe and enjoyed our last evening on the ship.  

    

Thursday in Cozumel!

Today we were in the Island of Cozumel.  I was up before the alarm went off.  We ate breakfast in Horizon (deck 15) and sat on the port side and watched as we docked in the Puerta Maya pier.  Another ship joined us…the huge RCL Oasis of the Seas.  I’ve nick-named this ship:  Monstrocity of the Seas.  It’s a huge ship! 

We gathered our snorkeling gear and headed down to the dock to see what this area had to offer.  We had about 40 minutes to kill before we met our snorkeling group and walked around the huge and colorful shopping area. 

There were plenty of colorful shops in Puerta Maya.  Lots of Mexican made items:  mugs, margarita glassware, plates, sombreros, dresses, t-shirts, vases, and various gift items.  There were a lot of shops that carried sterling silver jewelry.  Silver is mined in Mexico and there are several artisans who produce beautiful pieces of jewelry. 

There was plenty of liquor available, especially in Dufry which is a duty free shop.  Hubby went to check on the prices and he said they were really good…probably the cheapest he’s seen in all the islands we’ve been to.  Also, he mentioned there was a lot of variety and some brands he never heard of. 

We checked in early with the snorkel guide.  We signed our names on a log and I’m sure somewhere we signed a waiver.  We were given “bracelets” which will later be used to get access to the beach at Playa Mia.  We were given some more time to wander around which we did. 

With our snorkeling group finally assembled and organized into rows of two, the guide led us through the shopping area and onto a small dock area.  Our catamaran, Aqua Dream 1, was waiting for us.  From the time we met our guide to boarding the catamaran, I knew this was going to be a well organized and professional tour.  It definitely was.


Lupe was our snorkel master and guide.  He briefed us on our gear and explained where we were going to snorkel and for how long.  He also mentioned that we were going to a beach. 

We sailed for an hour to get to the reef.  They allowed us to snorkel for 1-1/2 hours (non-stop).  On this snorkel adventure, there were two stops.  One was over a shallow reef (Columbia) and the next one was snorkeling at a great depth (Palancar).  We snorkeled off the catamaran and snorkeled around Columbia reef.  Lupe then led us towards Palancar.  I have never seen so many different varieties of fish and coral.  The water was a bit rough, but I managed to keep up with Hubby. 

After an hour, I headed back to the catamaran.  Yes, I was a bit tired.  Hubby was still snorkeling strong.  I had to wait about 5 minutes for the catamaran to catch up with us.  Back onboard, I grabbed my camera and took a lot of pictures of the area and fellow snorkelers. 

With all of us back onboard, we headed over to Playa Mia and docked at the beach.  We were guided to a dining area and were served a light snack.  The dining area is huge!  A handful of us requested a vegetarian lunch which consisted of veggie sandwich, salad, and French fries.  We were told that free drinks were provided with our meal which many of us took advantage of.  We dined with a lovely couple from Toronto and shared our cruise experiences. 

Left side of Playa Mia

Dock at Playa Mia

A pelican keeping watch

After lunch, Hubby and I wandered around the beach.  Playa Mia has a small pool located between the beach and the dining area tents.  There was an area where hammocks were available to lounge in.  There were also several bars/refreshment stands to keep your thirst quenched.  Behind the dining area, there were a few small shops. 

Life Guard stand

One of the shops selling colorful sombreros

After 1-1/2 hours at this beautiful beach, we all headed back towards the dock to sail back to Puerta Maya.  Going back took about 45 minutes.  When we arrived back at the pier, we noticed there were two more ships in port.  One was a Carnival ship and the other was a Celebrity ship.    

Back at the main pier, Hubby and I headed over to Pancho’s Backyard Restaurant.  I have read they have some awesome Mexican food.  We ended up sharing a light meal of guacamole with chips and salsa and chicken quesadilla.  It was delicious! 

We really enjoyed this port and the excursion.  This was the highlight of our cruise.

In the early evening, I was exhausted from the day's activities.  I soaked and cleaned our snorkel gear and that was the extent of my attempt to get started on packing.  

It was formal night and we decided to take advantage quiet time up on Lido deck to get some dinner.  We headed over to the Trident Grill for grilled chicken sandwiches and french fries and brought it back to our room.  

I did get a chance to roam around the ship and noticed that a lot more folks were dressed up for this evening.