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)