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Vikings are Back



 
 
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  #11  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:10 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
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Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article , Tom K
wrote:

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.


He was pretty strident in defending the food. I expect he did not
expect the blunt negative comments about what was served.

The summer sailing I was on we skipped Caribbean night in the dining
room and ate in the specialty restaurant. We had read that Caribbean
night was not good. And that was confirmed this time. I thought it was
amusing that the head waiter said something to that effect....it is the
worst night in the dining room.

--
Charles
  #12  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:10 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Jean O'Boyle
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Posts: 2,354
Default Vikings are Back


"Charles" wrote in message
d...
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.



Hey, Charles, what about the ship? After reading Tom's views, I was
flabbergasted! Does not even sound like the same Crown Princess that we were
on in August! Since you were on that one with us, what is your opinion?

One thing I have to disagree with Tom on is a confusing layout...we did not
find it that way...especially after being on the Conquest..As for the surly
attitude of the crew...what happened??? Did they change out the entire crew
since August?
Sounds as if Personal Choice dining must have been a good part of the reason
for the dining room problems. did you see Marino anywhere on the ship?
Perhaps he has already left to be on the new Emerald Princess that he
mentioned to us.

--Jean



  #13  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:23 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article , Tom K
wrote:

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.


I think the food was better than RCI food and NCL food. Also I like
scallops and mussels. I liked the Veal Chop at Sabatinis. Everyone who
had the Lobster at Sabatinis which I did not care for last August liked
it. Go figure. Food can be somewhat subjective. This time everyone at
out table at the Crown Grill who had the Porterhouse said it was great.
In August I thought it was a bit tough. This time I had the Filet
Mignon and it was pretty good. I ordered medium rare and it was right.

--
Charles
  #14  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:38 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article . com,
" wrote:

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.


Most of the group did have Traditional dining including Tom and myself.
Some of the group did not. The reason is that some booked later. Since
there is only one traditional dining room and two for Anytime dining
the later bookers ended up on Anytime. Since more passengers request
traditional than anytime the late bookers could not be moved as the
traditional was full from those who had booked it early. The issue with
Anytime as I see it is that they should probably do either all
Traditional or all Anytime but since Traditional is more popular they
keep it, but Anytime requires more dining room space to work.

--
Charles
  #15  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:45 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article , Sue and Kevin Mullen
wrote:

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.


Tom and myself had traditional but some had anytime as I explain in
another post. The late bookers could not get traditional as it was
booked.

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.


I had the Veal Chop this time and thought it was very good.

--
Charles
  #16  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:50 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article , Jean
O'Boyle wrote:

As for the surly attitude of the crew...what happened??? Did they
change out the entire crew since August?


There were a lot of changes and the Captain and Cruise Director were
different. I do agree with this part of Tom's review. There crew was
not as friendly and it was noticeable. I think there must have been
some kind of management changes that were making the staff unhappy and
it was reflected in their attitude.

--
Charles
  #17  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:55 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Vikings are Back

In article , Sue and Kevin Mullen
wrote:

Maybe they loved the ship so much that they stayed on for another
cruise.LOL


Debarking and flying from San Juan is pretty grueling. About the worst
debarkation port for flights and the worst airport in my opinion. I got
in around 8 pm and hit the sack early. I guess Tom wanted to get in his
report first. G.

--
Charles
  #18  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:58 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Tobie Gerbrandt
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Posts: 319
Default Vikings are Back

You know, Tom, we were just talking the other day about how we expected you
would go on Princess trying to find as many things as you could to complain
about.

You didn't disappoint us in that regard. I guess that's OK though, because
your beloved CELEBRITY can do no wrong, but all the others are inferior in
your opinion.

Tobieon an Island in the Pacific

"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



  #19  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 06:02 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sue and Kevin Mullen
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Posts: 1,664
Default Vikings are Back



Charles wrote:

In article , Sue and Kevin Mullen
wrote:


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.



Tom and myself had traditional but some had anytime as I explain in
another post. The late bookers could not get traditional as it was
booked.


Thanks, makes sense that the late bookers couldn't get traditional.
This is one good reason to book early on Princess.

sue
  #20  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 06:05 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sue and Kevin Mullen
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Posts: 1,664
Default Vikings are Back



Charles wrote:

In article , Jean
O'Boyle wrote:


As for the surly attitude of the crew...what happened??? Did they
change out the entire crew since August?



There were a lot of changes and the Captain and Cruise Director were
different. I do agree with this part of Tom's review. There crew was
not as friendly and it was noticeable. I think there must have been
some kind of management changes that were making the staff unhappy and
it was reflected in their attitude.


Very interesting, sorry these changes have changed the attitude of the
crew.

sue
 




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