Cruise Planner
03-29-2007, 09:52 AM
We just got back from our sailing aboard the Crown Princess to the
Southern Caribbean and thought I'd pass along a few thoughts.
The ship is very nice and clean. It's the sister ship to the
Caribbean Princess, except the nightclub has been pushed forward of
the aft pool. We like the nightclub being above the aft pool on the
Caribbean Princess as it provided shade to the pool and therefore
was not overly crowded for those of us who aren't sun worshipers.
With the nightclub forward, the pool on the Crown Princess is always
in the sun and always crowded. Other than that, the two ships are
almost identical.
The food was very good, but we thought the food on the Caribbean
Princess was better. The staff was wonderful. They had hand
sanitizer everywhere and would squirt your hands before coming on
the ship at every port and before going into any eating area. Did
not hear of anyone getting sick.
We had a balcony cabin on the Baja Deck - as far forward as you can
get. This made for a very long walk to the dining room as ours was
in the very back of the ship. More than a 1/4 mile walk roundtrip.
But we noticed only very little motion being in the front - mainly
just side-to-side motion.
Being Elite members is great - they upgrade the linens on our bed,
which was very nice. We also got other perks, like unlimited
internet usage that really helped us.
Being travel agents, we were invited to a private tour of the galley.
We also received a huge honor - we were personally invited by the
captain to be on the bridge during our departure from Grenada. That
was awesome! Only 3 couples out of 3200 people were invited during
the entire cruise. Most of the times, passengers are not allowed on
the bridge at any time, but to be invited during operations was
amazing.
You can purchase alcohol at the pier in San Juan and carry it
onboard as long as you have it in a carry-on bag. We also did this
in another port and they look the other way as long as they don't
see it.
We went to St. Thomas, which after doing some homework, is still the
best place to buy jewelry, watches, cameras, etc. I found a great
deal on a camera and went back on the ship to search on the internet
and see if I could do better. Figured I saved about $75 on a
$499 package deal by purchasing in St. Thomas instead of on the
internet. I bought a dive watch last time there and I saved about
$50 on what would normally be a $275 purchase.
St. Kitts has expanded their shopping area at the pier making it
much nicer than in the past. But still not much to do there, so we
just shopped a little and spent the day on the ship.
We purchased a tour of Grenada through a local company so that we
could see the whole island. All of the cruise line shore excursions
only include half the island - either the north or south - due to
time constraints. There are a very large number of taxis available
to take you anywhere on the island, so you really don't need to pre-
book any tours, unless you want to do what we did - tour the whole
island.
Bonaire was wonderful! I wanted to scuba dive there as it is one of
the best in the Caribbean. When we got there, we went to Divi Dive
right by the cruise ship pier. I purchased a boat dive for me and
Nancy could go and snorkel with us. With this, I got unlimited free
shore diving. After doing the shore dive and a boat dive, I realized
I didn't really need to purchase the boat dive since snorkeling and
scuba diving was just as good from the shore. So if you're into
diving or snorkeling, you can do it right there very cheaply. The
reef is only about 100 yards off shore and drops down to about 140',
so diving was great.
I found a shore excursion through Princess that offered a 3-1/2 hour
tour on Harley Davidson motorcycles for $365. I emailed the local
Harley dealer and found a 4-hour tour for $155! Plus, we got to
keep the bike for the rest of the day for only $20 more. So we
joined another couple and spent the day touring around Aruba on our
Harleys. It was wonderful! And we stopped at a local hole-in-the-
wall for lunch that was awesome - Charlies. Great seafood.
I always like to try the local beer and usually in the Caribbean the
best beer is Carib. In Grenada and Bonaire, the popular beer was
Bright by Heineken. It is 5.2% alcohol instead of our 3%. Very
good beer, but not quite as good as the beer in Aruba. Their local
beer is called Balashi and I highly recommend it!
Anyway, just a very short review of this cruise. I recommend this
itinerary for St. Thomas, Bonaire, and Aruba. St. Kitts is just so-
so and not much to see or do in Grenada. I would have preferred
going to Curacao than Grenada.
For the Southern Caribbean, this ship is much better than the
Carnival Destiny and a nice alternative to the Adventure of the Seas
and the Serenade of the Seas.
You may email me if you have any questions.
Southern Caribbean and thought I'd pass along a few thoughts.
The ship is very nice and clean. It's the sister ship to the
Caribbean Princess, except the nightclub has been pushed forward of
the aft pool. We like the nightclub being above the aft pool on the
Caribbean Princess as it provided shade to the pool and therefore
was not overly crowded for those of us who aren't sun worshipers.
With the nightclub forward, the pool on the Crown Princess is always
in the sun and always crowded. Other than that, the two ships are
almost identical.
The food was very good, but we thought the food on the Caribbean
Princess was better. The staff was wonderful. They had hand
sanitizer everywhere and would squirt your hands before coming on
the ship at every port and before going into any eating area. Did
not hear of anyone getting sick.
We had a balcony cabin on the Baja Deck - as far forward as you can
get. This made for a very long walk to the dining room as ours was
in the very back of the ship. More than a 1/4 mile walk roundtrip.
But we noticed only very little motion being in the front - mainly
just side-to-side motion.
Being Elite members is great - they upgrade the linens on our bed,
which was very nice. We also got other perks, like unlimited
internet usage that really helped us.
Being travel agents, we were invited to a private tour of the galley.
We also received a huge honor - we were personally invited by the
captain to be on the bridge during our departure from Grenada. That
was awesome! Only 3 couples out of 3200 people were invited during
the entire cruise. Most of the times, passengers are not allowed on
the bridge at any time, but to be invited during operations was
amazing.
You can purchase alcohol at the pier in San Juan and carry it
onboard as long as you have it in a carry-on bag. We also did this
in another port and they look the other way as long as they don't
see it.
We went to St. Thomas, which after doing some homework, is still the
best place to buy jewelry, watches, cameras, etc. I found a great
deal on a camera and went back on the ship to search on the internet
and see if I could do better. Figured I saved about $75 on a
$499 package deal by purchasing in St. Thomas instead of on the
internet. I bought a dive watch last time there and I saved about
$50 on what would normally be a $275 purchase.
St. Kitts has expanded their shopping area at the pier making it
much nicer than in the past. But still not much to do there, so we
just shopped a little and spent the day on the ship.
We purchased a tour of Grenada through a local company so that we
could see the whole island. All of the cruise line shore excursions
only include half the island - either the north or south - due to
time constraints. There are a very large number of taxis available
to take you anywhere on the island, so you really don't need to pre-
book any tours, unless you want to do what we did - tour the whole
island.
Bonaire was wonderful! I wanted to scuba dive there as it is one of
the best in the Caribbean. When we got there, we went to Divi Dive
right by the cruise ship pier. I purchased a boat dive for me and
Nancy could go and snorkel with us. With this, I got unlimited free
shore diving. After doing the shore dive and a boat dive, I realized
I didn't really need to purchase the boat dive since snorkeling and
scuba diving was just as good from the shore. So if you're into
diving or snorkeling, you can do it right there very cheaply. The
reef is only about 100 yards off shore and drops down to about 140',
so diving was great.
I found a shore excursion through Princess that offered a 3-1/2 hour
tour on Harley Davidson motorcycles for $365. I emailed the local
Harley dealer and found a 4-hour tour for $155! Plus, we got to
keep the bike for the rest of the day for only $20 more. So we
joined another couple and spent the day touring around Aruba on our
Harleys. It was wonderful! And we stopped at a local hole-in-the-
wall for lunch that was awesome - Charlies. Great seafood.
I always like to try the local beer and usually in the Caribbean the
best beer is Carib. In Grenada and Bonaire, the popular beer was
Bright by Heineken. It is 5.2% alcohol instead of our 3%. Very
good beer, but not quite as good as the beer in Aruba. Their local
beer is called Balashi and I highly recommend it!
Anyway, just a very short review of this cruise. I recommend this
itinerary for St. Thomas, Bonaire, and Aruba. St. Kitts is just so-
so and not much to see or do in Grenada. I would have preferred
going to Curacao than Grenada.
For the Southern Caribbean, this ship is much better than the
Carnival Destiny and a nice alternative to the Adventure of the Seas
and the Serenade of the Seas.
You may email me if you have any questions.