Transatlantic cruise on Crown Princess, May 2010

On May 1 Sharon and I embarked on the Crown Princess cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome. The voyage began with 8 days at sea followed by port stops at Gibralter, Alicante and Barcelona in Spain, Marseille France and Livorno Italy. The Crown is the sister ship to Princess’ newest and largest ship, the Ruby. It accommodates 3,120 passengers (double occupancy) but our voyage only carried about 2,600. During this voyage I discovered lots of interesting features of the ship that I had missed on my brief voyage on the Ruby two years ago.
What I particularly enjoyed about this trip:
--Days at sea during the crossing: the voyage began with eight days at sea prior to the port stops and there were plenty of activities to keep people busy. I particularly enjoyed the daily ‘enrichment’ lectures. One series was presented by Jim Kennedy, former director of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Jim covered many aspects of the space program from the early days of Sputnik, the manned missions to the moon, the joint ventures with Russia, the space shuttle, the international space station, and possible future space exploration endeavors. His lectures always emphasized the contributions of people to the success of the missions. The second lecturer was Marlane Renner, author of “The Elephant in my Living Room”. Her lectures covered various “self help” topics.

--The food in the main dining room was quite good, particularly considering the low price that passengers paid for this cruise. I did notice that the portion size was reduced (actually to a quite reasonable size) and there were fewer of the more special entrees compared to previous cruises. The waiter and his assistant seemed to be spread a bit thin but they did a really good job. We heard good comments about the two specialty restaurants, particularly the Italian one, but we didn’t try either. Overall the meals were very enjoyable.

--Chef’s Table is an extraordinary dinner experience offered to ten participants only a few times during each cruise. This dinner costs $75/person but everyone agrees that it is money well spent. Think of it as a shore excursion on the ship. The evening began with a brief tour of the galley where the chef and maitre d’ provided an introduction to our night ahead. French Champagne was served along with four beautifully presented hor dourves. We then proceeded to a large table in one of the main dining rooms for our continuing feast. Beef carpaccio was followed by mushroom risotto. After a strawberry sorbet intermezzo, the main course appeared. A filet, a lamb chop and scallops accompanied a huge lobster tail along with a variety of vegetables. Then three desserts and a dessert wine finished the meal. I’ll post a bit more about this evening in a separate topic.

--The atrium, called the Piazza, is a center for lots of ship activity and it provided a very pleasant environment for relaxing. Several times per day there is live music and there are occasional skits by ‘street performers’. Surrounding this area is an upscale coffee bar (small fee), a wonderful pastry counter (free, and much better than the pastries offered in the buffet), a gelato stand ($1.50 for 3 scoops) and a wine bar. The wine bar serves free sushi and free tapas with no wine purchase necessary. It offers wine by the glass or bottle and featured six different flights of 3 wines each (2 oz pours) for about the price of a glass of wine.

--The evening entertainment was well done and entertaining. There were four ‘song and dance’ production shows, an excellent comic (Troy Thirdgill) and an excellent vocalist (Jamilia) and some other acts.

--The port lecturer did a very good job at preparing us for the various port stops. Unlike the typical Caribbean port talk that only mentions places to shop, this lecturer provided a very good overview of the ports, their history and places that could be visited independently. He also briefly summarized the ship shore excursions available.

--The TV in the stateroom offered a wide variety of options including repeats of the lectures and port talks, modern films, films related to our destinations, shows on history, art and nature topics, and CNN International.

--There is a jogging track on deck 19 aft that can be used for power walking. The track is 1/16th of a mile in circumference so a one-minute circuit yields a four mile per hour pace. This track is easier than trying to walk the promenade deck where you must dodge past older folks and working crew members. It was a good way to burn off some calories from our Chef’s Table experience and my frequent visits to the pastry bar.

--Pre-cruise stay in Ft. Lauderdale: it is essential to arrive at the embarkation port at least a day early on a transatlantic voyage because, if you miss the ship, you really miss the ship. I booked a red-eye flight on Jet Blue, nonstop SFO to FLL and one night at the Sleep Inn in Dania. This hotel belongs to the Choice Hotels group and is very popular with cruisers. This property would be considered to be in the ‘budget’ category. The room is perfectly adequate and the $77 rate included tax, pickup at the airport, drop-off at the cruise pier and a pretty good breakfast. The hotel was walking distance to a grocery store with a decent wine selection, several restaurants, a kayak rental shop and was a one mile walk to the beach. We enjoyed a 2-hour kayak paddle through the mangroves at the nearby West Lake Park. We really enjoyed our early dinner visit to Tarks, a very casual Florida fish house.
Things that I didn’t particularly like:

----Inside and Ocean View cabins are very small (but have good storage space). Be aware of cabins configured for 4 passengers as the fold-down upper berths further cramp the room. Balcony cabins are much more spacious.

--Shows in the main show room and the Explorers Lounge tend to fill up early requiring you to come about ½ hour prior to the show to obtain a seat.

--Captain’s Welcome is basically useless. It is held on the three floors of the atrium. Warm flat sparkling wine and sweet drinks are complimentary but not worth the calories.

Tips for others cruising on the Crown (or Caribbean, Emerald or Ruby):

--there is a coffee bar in the atrium that offers brewed coffee and various specialty coffee drinks. If you purchase a 15-drink beverage card, you can obtain brewed coffee, tea or hot chocolate at no charge and these items don’t count against the 15 drinks. The card doesn’t expire and can be used on multiple cruises. If you plan to use it for the free drinks, make sure that you don’t use all 15 punches on specialty drinks as it will be retired with the 15th punch.

--the International Café, in the atrium area offers a wide variety of pastries throughout the day. Many of these are small so you can try several without a great amount of guilt. At lunchtime they also offer quiche, panini, and various salads. This is a very nice alternative to the buffet for a quick light lunch.

--Sushi and tapas are provided in the wine bar at no charge and no wine purchase is necessary

--Shows in main showroom and Explorers Lounge can be very crowded; get there quite early as they fill up. They will offer you drinks in the Explorers Lounge, but there is no problem if you decline.

--for the Past Passenger cocktail party go early and snag a seat near the bar, otherwise you will have difficulty getting drinks. Just before the conclusion, order a glass of wine and take it to dinner.

--the Adult pool and hot tubs are an area that is much more civilized than the main pool areas. It is most easily accessed via the spa on deck 16 using the forward elevator or stairs.

--travel agents can use the computers to surf Princesscruises.com and to perform any Polar Online activity without burning your internet minutes. You access Polar via the ‘Travel Agent’ link at the bottom of the free Princess homepage.