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#1
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Vikings are Back
The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice
week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom |
#2
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Vikings are Back
Very interesting Tom! Well glad you had a good time anyhow.... I am
with you on the anytime dining thing, although, it did work for me a bit in August since I skipped out a few nights and did my own thing, and our wait staff was among the best I've ever had! So you got the short end of the stick on that score it sounds like. Def sounds like they are having some food issues there!!! What did you find confusing about the layout? I kind of liked it and it seemed fairly comparable to the Golden in most ways. Did you do Movies Under the Stars at all? Jeff Tom K wrote: The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom |
#3
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Vikings are Back
Tom K wrote:
The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom Sounds like a complete turn-around from reports received from SGCers on this same ship. Sounds like it wasn't "broke", but they "fixed it" anyhow, and for the worse. BTW, why aren't we hearing from Charles and Susette, I wonder. Ermalee |
#4
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Vikings are Back
hardly sounds like the same ship that we were on in august!! the food was
excellent as was the service. i really think tradition vs anytime is the issue. as for food quality with traditional it's done at a certain time and served, with anytime it's just sitting around. service too seems to change wtih the type of dining. as for the layout i didn't find it confusing as much as huge!! always found my way (which is a shock unto itself as my sense of direction is lousy!!) very few crowds, friendly staff etc. i wonder what has changed sheree "Tom K" wrote in message ... The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom |
#5
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Vikings are Back
Wow, it's hard to believe that so much has changed in three short
months since the SGC. We had wonderful food and great service and didn't find any surly crew. I'm curious as to why a large group would have chosed Personal Choice dining, I think you might have been better to chose a traditional seating. It's too bad you didn't have Sergio in the DaVinci dining room, he would have taken better care of you than your Head Waiter. Lola in Hamilton Tom K wrote: The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom |
#6
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Vikings are Back
"sheree" wrote in message ... hardly sounds like the same ship that we were on in august!! the food was excellent as was the service. i really think tradition vs anytime is the issue. as for food quality with traditional it's done at a certain time and served, with anytime it's just sitting around. That's an interesting piece of information. I just assumed on anytime dining the food would be cooked (or at least completed) when ordered, so the food would be better. They did seem to do this on Regent, which is another level, so I guess I understand economically why this wouldn't work on a mass market cruise line. But now that you mention it, of course the food is probably going to be sitting in the warmer. |
#7
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Vikings are Back
In article , Tom K
wrote: Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. Pretty much in agreement here. What is interesting about Grenada is that unlike many other ports this island has an actual working economy with agriculture and support industry. -- Charles |
#8
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Vikings are Back
Welcome home Tom and other Vikings!! I agree that there were a couple of areas on the Crown where the layout was confusing, but by the end of our week it wasn't a problem. It was a very pretty ship and we also had no smoke issues which was very refreshing. I think there is a big difference between the food served when you have traditional dining or anytime dining. All of us SGCers thought the food and service were excellant, but we did traditional dining. People on our sailing who had anytime dining complained about the food and service and I read the same issue on cruise critic before and after our sailing. I am surprised that with a group you choose anytime dining, traditional would of worked better for you. We ate in both specialty restaurants on the Crown and found the food and service to be very good. Kevin just said he had the veal chop in Sabitinis and it was very good. I don't know why there was such a change since we sailed in august. We also found the crew/staff all over the ship to be very friendly, always a smile or hello as we passed them. The staff that we dealt with were all very friendly, pleasant and helpful. Again I don't know why there was such a change. What did you think of the International Cafe and did you get a coffee card?? sue Tom K wrote: The Vikings are back home after a week on the Crown Princess. Had a nice week with the group, and a new itinerary for me that included Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts. Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. The ship? Not my cup of tea by any means. Most confusing layout I've ever seen. Pretty ship. I like the very restrictive smoking policy. Ship in perfect condition since it's brand new. Service? We had a table full of people one night with dinners that went un-eaten because they were so bad, and the head waiter Antonio came proudly and asked how our dinner was. When we said "Not Good"... he got into a fight with us. When Susette said the food wasn't very good... he jumped all over her and told her that it was "only her opinion". That sure made the comment card. I've never had a crew member get into a fight with someone before. Overall much of the crew seemed.... maybe I'll use the term "surly". Not happy. Interaction of crew with passengers wasn't good. Dining room waitress was excellent. As was my cabin steward. Anytime dining? I hate it. Because of it, our group couldn't all be seated in one dining room. It definitely didn't work for us. Food? IMO... now pretty much worse than both RCI and NCL food, which I don't care for. Lots of really weird items on the buffets and dinner menus. Lots of scallops, muscles, etc. Not my cup of tea. Steaks sent back. Fish that smelled "fishy". Beef tenderloin that didn't even taste like beef (I just ate the veggies that night). Excellent pizza. Excellent cold seafood buffet the first evening. Lobster seemed OK. Not crisp, but not mushy either. Veal chop in Sabbitinis that was fatty. Fillet in Crown Grill that came out overcooked (ordered medium, came out well done) but still tender. Neither specialty restaurant seemed worth the money. Overall, fun week, but many in the group said they won't go on Princess again. I most likely only would if it was an unusual itinerary, that did something like Iceland or Norway's North Cape. --Tom |
#9
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Vikings are Back
Ermalee wrote: BTW, why aren't we hearing from Charles and Susette, I wonder. Maybe they loved the ship so much that they stayed on for another cruise.LOL sue |
#10
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Vikings are Back
Charles wrote: In article , Tom K wrote: Loved Bonaire. Liked Aruba. Grenada was rather different from the typical Caribbean port. I liked it. Didn't care for St. Kitts. Went to Trunk Bay in St. John, which I love. Pretty much in agreement here. What is interesting about Grenada is that unlike many other ports this island has an actual working economy with agriculture and support industry. Welcome home Charles! Now that I read what Tom has to say about the food and service, I am waiting to hear what you have to say. Do you think that Tom's food/service issues are things going down or just anytime dining vs. traditional dining issues. sue |
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