E-Documents have arrived!!!

[JessieC]

Our travel agent is wonderful...she sent us a nice travel pouch...and she printed out our documents and placed them in this travel pouch she provided us. She also sent us additional info on the islands and what we can do while in port. Only 13-days before our trip!!!

Jessie

[Trip]

1-2- cha cha cha..start dancin!

[JessieC]

I've been dancin ever since they arrived and I'll be dancin until the end of my cruise..it's all to exciting waiting for that day to arrive.

Jessie

[watchurdiet]

I know the feeling!!! Happy Cruising.



Watchurdiet

[mehawk]

Yay!!!

[Dixie Lee]

Have a great cruise, JessieC! We just got off the Crown Princess on Saturday and it is WONDERFUL! No way you could not have a great cruise!

[JessieC]

Hi Dixi Lee....I am so happy to hear you had a wonderful time on your cruise. I'm so looking forward to seeing this ship, I've heard such great things about it. I would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences you had on the Crown. If you can would you post it here on this thread or email me scarroll1@nycap.rr.com, thanks!

Jessie

[Dixie Lee]

Hi, Jessie,
When you set sail, make sure that you are on one of the top decks, as high as you can get and centered on the ship, if you can, this way you are positioned properly for your departure from NYC. You want to be in position and ready for when the Crown goes under the Verrazano Bridge which will be approx. 30 minutes after you set sail. I will say no more about that. Once you go under the bridge, you will see what I mean
Take your time and really enjoy the ship. Check it all out, sit down and enjoy the atmosphere. The Crown is a huge ship, 19 decks, with 3000 + passengers and there are very few times when the ship feels crowded. The design of the ship is such that there are so many places where you can sit and you have your own space and you are not crowded. Again, once you see the ship, you will see what I mean. We often sat in the Piazza area on deck 5 by the International Cafe and it felt like we were sitting outside an open-air cafe along a street somewhere. A variety of entertainment there. You will be on the Caribbean cruise, we went through Canada and New England, so your ports will be different, but I would suspect that the decks used for departure at the various ports will probably be the same and we often came back on the ship on deck 5 and we made it a habit to stop at the International Cafe for a cup of coffee and, if we were lucky, we were back on the ship while the cafe was still serving sandwiches and quiches; I think they stop at 5:00 pm. They are all excellent and they are free. The gelato is $1.50 for 3 scoops but the scoops are big and the gelato is wonderful. There are so many entertainment options I don't think that you can do them all. Pay close attention to your Patters as they are all listed. We have never been much into the trivia games, but the ones on this ship are hilarious and a lot of fun. The cruise director is great. We did not go to the shows in the Princess theater as it was standing room only unless you got there early and we found that there was so much other entertainment going on that we did not miss the shows. The Explorer's Lounge became our hangout as all the games and shows were great, especially the comedians and the same goes for Club Fusion. We did not make it to all the lounges, did not need to. If a show is planned, seating does get tight, so do plan for that, but the theater was the worst, but that did not detract from our enjoyment with the other activities and shows that were going on. Do MUTS, at least once! We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and on our sailing it was very cold and windy, but you would not believe all the people who showed up for the movie! Hey, under enough wool blankets, we were all toasty and, for us, that was a blast. And when you look up into the sky and you see all the stars, well, you will see what I mean. Should be a lot warmer on your sailing, too. We had a balcony cabin on the Baja deck, as spacious as we needed, lots of storage, plenty of hangers, A/C was fine, safe worked, bathroom a little tight, but how much time do you spend in the bath, right? Laundromats were clean and well-used. We did not wash any clothes while on the ship, but did use the dryer one evening to dry the clothes we wore while kayaking. Lots of people doing clothes, so we might do that next cruise to reduce the amount we have to pack. Lots of shops, nothing new there but all were well-stocked and "well shopped". We only went to the dining room one evening, so can't say a whole lot about that other than we were totally satisfied with the buffets and found the service in the dining room a little rushed but we did anytime dining and the traditional assigned seating may not have had to deal with that. In the evenings, the buffets are set up so nice with linen and china, dim lights, soft music, they really provide a nice dining atmosphere and, again, the design of the buffet restaurants are such that you can sit among many people or you can get a quiet table off to the side if you want. Window seats at breakfast and lunch can be hard to come by, and during peak eating times, this is one area where you will notice the crowds, but be patient and the lines will move. The Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe and huge and we often got our food from the one that was open and then went and sat in the one that was closed. May not have been the proper thing to do, but no one ever said anything and, that way, we were able to find a better table Pizza is good from the pizza and ice cream bar and the burgers are good from the Trident Grill, at least we liked them. Late night buffets were from 11:00 pm to 4:00 am but we only went once, but selection was good. We actually found the food to be a little "exotic" for our tastes and we ended up ordering room service one evening (burgers and fries, but they were good) because one evening the selection was a lot of game such as goat and lamb and we were simply not interested in that. Believe me, you won't have trouble finding something to eat. Champagne waterfall at 11:00-11:30 pm was cool so look for that in your Patters. The entire ship is simply beautiful, the crew was great, always smiling, always polite, always asking if there was anything that they could do for us. Our cabin steward, Bethoven, was the best. The crew at the International Cafe was wonderful. The "chiefs" were always visible, always welcoming and personable and you will see that they do run a tight ship. The ship was spotless all over and at all times. Never saw anyone doing a whole lot of cleaning, so not sure how they manage that, but it is immaculate. Embarkation was smooth, smooth, smooth. We were on the ship in 15 minutes. Debarkation was smooth, took a little longer, but follow your written instructions word for word and you won't have a bit of problem. We did not do the the self-disembark as we did not want to have to deal with our luggage until we were off the ship. So we had a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed the upper decks of the ship for one last time while we waited our turn to leave the ship. Well, can't think of more to say at this time. Well, probably could come up with something, but do not want to drag this on any longer than it already is. Let me know if you have any other questions and stay excited because you are in for a really nice cruise.

[JessieC]

Thank you Dixie Lee for the great review...you were very informative! The departure from NYC sounds wonderful...however we are sailing out of San Juan because we are doing the southern caribbean. This will be the third time we've done the southern caribbean it seems to be our favorite because the islands we visit are so gorgeous! I really don't have any specific questions to ask, but if you have any other information you would like to share, feel free, I would love to read what you experienced. Do you plan on posting any pictures? I am so ready for this cruise....we've been planning this cruise for 8-months so I've investigated everything I could about this ship and the new ports we will be visiting. Thanks again!

Jessie

[Dixie Lee]

Hi, Jessie,
Won't be posting any pictures even though we took over 150 - just not computer savvy enough If I can think of anything else, though, I will post. I did not realize that you would not leave out of NYC. The view from the ship as it goes under the Verrazano Bridge from our particular standpoint made it appear that the communication towers or satellite towers (or whatever they were) were going to actually hit the bridge as we went under it. Optical illusion if you were standing in the right spot and everyone we were with from that vantage point all held their breath until we cleared the bridge and then we all cheered. Needless to say it was very exciting. We, too, booked our cruise back in January so the waiting time until October seemed endless, but it was well worth the wait. We are now in the planning stages for our next cruise. We will do another Caribbean cruise in March or April on RCCL. I see that your first cruise was also on the MOS. I don't know if it is because our first cruise was on RCCL, but after sailing on CCL, HAL and now Princess, we still prefer RCCL and will make sure that our next cruise is back with RCCL. Part of the reason we want to go back to the Caribbean is because we are more "educated" in the ways of cruising now and I don't think we really appreciated or took advantage of everything offered on our first cruise as well as we will now after having a few under our belt. I am excited for you so you have a great time!

[JessieC]

Hi Dixi Lee...I bet you took awesome photos on your cruise. Last year I bought a new digital camera and had a great time taking photos. I love RCCL also, the ship we sailed on last year was awesome.....Adventure of the Seas it's a big as the Crown Princess. You may want to look into this particular ship because it has so much to offer. The ice shows were amazing....it's unbelievable what they can do on the ice while we are sailing. It was difficult to experience everything on that ship because we only had one day at sea....but we did every thing we could in very little time. I will post my review when we return in November, and I will post some photos of our trip. Thanks again!

Jessie

[Dixie Lee]

Thanks, Jessie,
I will take your advice and check it out. Plan on doing some online research this evening as a matter of fact.

Dixie Lee