Crown Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

A big time bucket-lister - rounding Cape Horn and exploring routes and watering holes of the HMS Beagle. Weather (an essential element of this cruise) was more than doable and often downright spectacular. Rough swells chased us out of the open seas into sheltered passages (got to see more of Darwin's channel than might have been planned - but that was a good thing).  Port strikes in Chile made embarkation in Valparaiso a nightmare, and ruined scheduled port tours in Puerto Arenas, Chile - the Crown Princess may have been innocent but it had happened before and they failed to properly inform passengers of what was going on in a timely and credible manner.  Three formal nights - but limited access to Captain and staff during these events (a bit truncated and curt).

This was our second time on the Crown Princess and we were as happy this time as we were the first. Some outstanding staff and service and a very good itinerary that was possibly helped by mostly having fabulous weather for the entire trip.

This was my first cruise on the Crown Princess , a beautiful ship  , the weather was nice and sunny in every port . Good food on board and I like the way Princess has breakfest early in the morning , I am a early riser .

Loved the ports we got to see. Loved the comfort or the ship needs to be upgraded put more lighting into the ship. Didn’t like the engine failure but the Captain and crew did there best to keep our minds off it. Food yum. Entertainment needs improvement and everything else was a life time of a dream come true.

Ports were wonderful. Ship was great. My favorite ports were Guernsey, Liverpool for North Wales, and Invergordon. I chose excursions that were not through Princess by researching prior to trip and they were half the price. Busy Bus, Tour Skye, Paddywaggon Tours, and Thistle Tours were wonderful. Check them out.

We enjoyed this cruise and are looking forward to cruising again in just 4 months on this same ship for 11 nights in the Mediterranean.

The Crown Princess is a grand ship - way over due for renovation (we took her again - to South America, when she REALLY needed renovation. Won't take her again in her current condition. The trip itself, from Seattle to Alaska, to Victoria BC, Canada and back to Seattle was great. Rough winds aborted our planned stop in Skagway and ruined scheduled excursions, but the silver lining was an unplanned stop at Haines - as interesting as Skagway - and less visited by cruise ships (and less spoiled). A special plus was a tasting tour of the Port Chilkoot Distillery  - a craft distillery promoting in house Vodka, Gin, and even Absinthe (they also sold a "bourbon" and a "rye." The glaciers were incredible.

We love Victoria, but our arrival was a bit late (dusk) - our stay was short (just a few hours) and the port facility was several miles from the action in town.

10 days to Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, St Thomas, St Kitts

Love Crown Princess! Would go with this ship anytime again!

With the free drink package, we had some days that we had tequila parties and enjoyed the sea days. We have never had a drink package on any previous cruise that we have been on, so it was hard to do 15 drinks a day. I think the most was 7 on a few days, I don’t know how people do the 15 drinks. With everything being free on this cruise and the great balcony upgrade for $80 total this cruise was by far the best one we had been on so far. Hopefully the March 2023 Caribbean cruise will be as great as this cruise was, with it all being free too.

We had a wonderful time on our Alaskan cruise. The Crown Princess is a nice ship. The food and drinks were very good. Our cabin was your average balcony cabin. The AC could have been better. All of the ports were interesting. The scenery was fabulous and Glacier Bay was unforgettable! We are looking forward to cruising Alaska again!

We loved everything and looking forward to many many more with cruises with Princess

Princess is a more laid-back ship than our previous cruise, although there is still plenty to do. It's a great ship for families, as long as you don't expect Disney-like excitement for kids. The teens loved it, and the adults did, too.

For a first cruise I really enjoyed myself. The food was fabulous. The ship was immaculate & the staff always had a good morning, good afternoon, good evening when you passed by them.

We booked this 28 day cruise in May/June because we did not see it being offered again after 2015.  Even though we had to eat a few bucks cancelling another trip, it was the best money we ever lost because this cruise was fabulous.

Embarkation: The biggest issue with this LA departure was the embarkation process. This needs to be reworked because it was insanely complex and unfair to passengers with physical disabilities. It is not just a Princess-specific problem but they can certainly influence some efficiencies and sensitivity training for the port staff.  Princess should be more accommodating for those with disability and not simply board by elite status level... and that is something they can change. Nuff said.

Cabin: We booked a mini suite because balcony staterooms do not offer a sofa or love seat on which to sit.  The MS was well worth the extra money because of the length of our trip.  It may not be worthwhile to book for shorter cruises but we wanted somewhere to sit other than the bed or on a stiff-backed chair for a month.  Aside from the cabin size, the Princess minis have a larger bathroom with a tub/shower combo. I abhor showering in a missile tube set up so this option was very valuable to us.  Princess does not accord mini suites the same level of benefits that Celebrity does (separate dining room, priority disembarkation, etc.) so if a sofa and larger BR are not important to you, the mini may not be a good choice.

MDR: Our biggest "complaint" about MDR was service efficiency. Let me be clear - the food itself was fabulous but the servers were glacially slow at times. We actually left after waiting for dessert for about 20 minutes on one night. Four of our dinner mates completely changed their dining option because the slow service caused delays in getting to shows.  

Horizon Cafe/Club Caribe: The buffet food options were also great. It was more convenient and relaxed to eat in these venues for dinner.  Breakfast and lunch were another issue entirely.  People seemed to put in roots when eating these meals. It was always challenging to find a table, no matter how quickly the tables were cleared and reset. Basically when someone got up, we grabbed the table and had to find someone to clear it.  This caused a few meals to cool off a bit but it was manageable.

International Cafe: This was my favorite early morning hangout. I got up around 4am every day and headed down for a latte and quiche. Vilmer and Mateo got to know me to the point I didn't even have to state the order.  A couple days I ran late due to having a cold (the virus ran through much of the ship). Even though the buffet changed from overnight to morning offerings, Mateo put a quiche aside for me, heated it up and brought it over to me. This is the kind of personal service that makes travel special. 

Excursions:

We took a couple Princess-offered excursions. At Hilo we went on a home tour/moving brunch. The group was small and the personal nature of going to people's homes was great. The food served was local produce and specialties.  Definitely recommend this one.  At Kauai, we took the Movies and Waterfalls excursion.  This was a lot of fun because the group size was limited. We watched movie and TV show clips, then visited the island location at which it was shot.  Lots of Jurassic Park stories were shared.

We also booked a couple things with non-Princess vendors.  On Western Samoa we did a private tour where just hubby and I were escorted around the island attractions, then enjoyed a lovely BBQ at a private beach club.  On Bora Bora we booked a boat and driver who brought us all around the island and to a private spot where we could enjoy a refreshing dip. We also found rays and black-tip sharks. We would do both of these excursions again.

Ship activities:  There was plenty to do but we didn't really join in a lot of the activities. There was both a passenger choir/chorus and a passenger ukulele band that gave concerts during the trip. Lots of special-interest group meetings, arts/crafts, enrichment lectures (former LA asst district attorney, naturalist, history buff).

Spa: If you like a nice thermal suite, you may be disappointed. I know I was. The suite was located in the bowels of the spa, there was no view, just a single room with five heated benches (always occupied), steam room, sauna, and showers.  I just wasn't enthralled with the arrangements and did not feel it was worth the money.

Specialty dining: We visited the Crown Grill three times, it was ab fab every time.  We tried Sabatini's once.  The vibration and shaking ruined the dining experience for me to the point that I left before the entree was served.  This restaurant is located on the top deck at the very back of the ship.  This had a lot to do with the movement and shaking.  Would not recommend going to this venue unless it's a port night and the departure is later in the evening.

Vow renewal: We decided to renew our marriage vows. Princess did a fabulous package and made the event very special.

Casino: We enjoy a little gambling (mostly slots, blackjack) but the machines seemed extremely tight and I gave up after a few nights of losing money in mere minutes.  I could have just stood in the Piazza and handed out a few 20's - it was just that bad.  The auto-shuffler takes the fun out of Blackjack entirely. Staff was nice but the experience was not enjoyable.

Disembarkation:  We booked a transfer to LAX. It was a bit stressful because there was no assistance with bags aside from unloading them from the bus.  Otherwise the process was efficient - much more so than the embarkation.

Princess is on par with Celebrity (IMHO). As previously mentioned, the mini suite was nice for the seating room but not for much else. On the other hand, Princess had better food quality, hands down.  I can't compare this to RCL, NCL, or Carnival experiences because none of those measure up to this cruise or crew. Highly recommend this if you have the time.

(Will post photos another time)

We enjoyed ourselves. Made friends and love the staff. No complaints except the smoking area....brrrrr

Relaxing, decadent, spoiled, well cared for, fantastic conversations with new friends, magical evenings, delicious meals all the time. We love cruising and appreciate all the service on Princess!

Overall, had a great time and will travel with Princess cruise line again, just do a little more homework on cabin selection.

This was a very special cruise for us. My wife and I often travelled with our cousin Jerry. Jerry passed away at the beginning of 2016 and wanted to be buried at sea. I checked with Princess and to my surprise, they offer this service and it is complimentary. I emailed AshesRequest@princess.com our booking number and they ran with it.

When we boarded, we contacted the Customer Service Manager, Scott. We arranged for our first sea day, halfway down Baja California.

We met Scott at noon. Staff had already block off the stern on Deck 7. We proceeded outside. When we turned the corner, we noticed a cloth-draped table with a box of tissue. After the ceremony, Scott radioed the Bridge. The event was added to the Official Ships log with the time and coordinates. We even got a certificate with all the pertinent information. It was something we will never forget.

This was our first Princess cruise. Their slogan "Come back New" is a great way to describe them. I felt very relaxed on board it was a laid back relaxing cruise. Enjoyed the Movies under the Stars very much and loved the added perks like nice cushions on chairs for the movies and bringing around popcorn for everyone.❤ Will definitely cruise Princess again. Our only complaint is a lot of activities are for much older people (but understand that Princess has older guests generally) We really enjoyed it,looking at cruising to Hawaii on Princess❤⚓🛳😊