Tour of the Crown Princess

Since our first two days (really a day and a half) were spent on our cruise ship to Alaska, let’s take some time to look around.

I’ve never felt that cruising is the best way to travel. As in, you don’t usually get a realistic taste of the destinations you are traveling to. Cruising is a great way to relax and have everything taken care of for you, and the bulk of your time will be spent onboard your ship. And unless you purchase excursions or get a cab or bus out of town, most ports are insulated shopping areas. So I don’t consider cruising “real” traveling. But it is a lot of fun in its own right.

Embarkation

After breakfasting at our Park & Cruise hotel, Hotel Nexus, we loaded our luggage onto the complimentary shuttle and were driven about 20 minutes to Pier 91 where our Princess cruise ship, the Crown Princess was docked. A porter took our luggage away and we proceeded to stand in a very long line in the terminal.

We finally boarded the ship at 1:00 p.m. and headed immediately to the buffet lunch on the top deck. I spent most of that day exploring the ship and unpacking my luggage. You also have a mandatory muster drill to attend.

Remember the obstructed view savings I was talking about? This was the view out of our window. It wasn’t terrible and it saved us about $300. We weren’t in the room that much anyway.

Sailing Away from Seattle

Here are a few shots of us leaving the port of Seattle on that first day.

Upper/Lido Decks

The upper pool deck of a cruise ship is always called the “Lido” deck, Italian for “beach.” Here you’ll find the pools, plenty of deck chairs, a few bars plus the major buffet restaurant of the ship. On the Crown, there are two buffets back-to-back, Cafe Caribe and Horizon Court. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two, but the large area does help with it not feeling too crazy crowded all the time.

One cool thing to do on the pool deck is the option for “Movies Under the Stars.” A huge movie screen shows movies most nights that you can watch from a bank of deck chairs or in the pool itself. it’s not as practical on a chilly Alaskan cruise, but I did it once and it was fun! (They provide blankets.)

The Sanctuary

Our one chance to tour the elite adults-only area of the ship called The Sanctuary is on embarkation day. Otherwise, it costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-40 to spend time here. So we didn’t.

It is a very nice area, very zen, with Asian accents and a Buddha that oversees the pool. If you stay here, they will keep you refilled on fruit-infused water and spa cuisine.

Sabatini’s Fine Dining

Up on the Sun Deck with The Sanctuary is Princess’s finest dining establishment, Sabatini’s. This rear-perched restaurant features stunning views and from all reports, quite good food. Dining here isn’t included in a regular cruise cost; it’s $29 extra per person.

Lotus Spa

You can also tour the on-board spa during embarkation day. I got a pedicure here at one point, and that was pretty fun.

The Wheelhouse Bar

The Wheelhouse Bar is a centrally-located lounge in the ship and one that has a pub inside. When we went it was some Irish-style pub. Now it’s been a bit upgraded to the Salty Dog Gastropub.

The Library

Always the least-visited part of any cruise ship is the library! Usually, you can find some popular books and games in a ship’s library and sometimes a nice place to sit and read. The Crown Princess’s library is pretty small and only has a table in the middle. It would have worked decently well for working on the computer but not so much for reading.

The Piazza

The central staircases and banks of elevators for the ship are located in the Piazza, a three-floor atrium in the middle of the ship. At the bottom are cafes and bars including a coffee shop, ice cream, and a snug wine bar. Halfway up are tons of shops and the way to the casino, the massive Princess Theater and one of the main dining rooms. At the top are several of the larger bars, more shops, and a few more extra-fee restaurants, like that pub and the one my parents would dine at later in the cruise.

Many of the special events. like the famous Champagne Waterfall, would be held here plus frequent live entertainment.

The Crown Grill

The restaurant that my parents ate at during our cruise was the Crown Grill. The main feature of this space, at least at the time, are paintings of various medieval couples and one sneaky Merlin figure. I felt sure there was a story here…

The Casino

Every cruise ship has a casino, and on some ships you pretty much had to walk through one to get to other parts of the ship. That’s a little bit of the case here, since the main dining room and shops are on one side of the casino and the Princess Theater is on the other. All the same, I don’t remember walking through it except for on the first day. I must have used the lifts on the far side of the casino instead.

In the corner of the casino is the Speakeasy Cigar Lounge, one of the few places to smoke on the ship.

Da Vinci Dining Room

The main dining room (or at least the one we ate in) is the Da Vinci. It’s a very large space and accommodates traditional dining at one of two times during the night as well as Anytime Dining, where you can eat when you like. Elsewhere on the ship is the Botticelli Dining Room with only traditional dining and Michelangelo Dining Room dedicated to only Anytime Dining.

The best part about traditional dining is having the same wait staff the entire voyage and getting to know your table mates. It’s usually at dinner that you make friends with people you might hang out with outside the dining room and even after the trip is over with.

Up to this point, the cruise ships I have been on have seating at large 8-10 seat tables. On the Crown Princess, most of the tables were smaller with lots of 2- and 4-top tables around. We sat at a larger table with only one other couple that we had a great time with (and are still Facebook friends with!)

Other “Free” Dining Options

Aside from the three large dining rooms, you can always eat anytime at the top-deck buffets. There are several specialty dining counters around, like at poolside or for burgers, pizza, or sandwiches. And you can always get room service! All these options are included in your cruise price. You’ll definitely never go hungry on a cruise!

Fee Dining

And as I’ve mentioned, you can pay $29 extra to eat in one of the restaurants, like the Crown Grill or Sabatini’s. Princess also offers a Chef’s Table experience for $95 that includes a custom menu, a tour of the galley, and a cookbook. The pub costs $12 to dine in and the coffee and ice cream bars have a $2-5 upcharge as well.

First Dinner On Board

Speaking of dining, let’s take a look at our first dinner on board the Crown Princess.

After this, I watched a movie I had wanted to see outside on the pool deck, then I joined my parents at the evening Welcome show in the big Princess Theater and stayed up to see one of the comedians.

Vegetable Carving Showcase

The next morning, we found the chefs on board were exhibiting their talent with a fruit and vegetable (mostly fruit) carving display in the Piazza. These were really fun!

Lunch in the Pub

We stood in a very long line to eat some 50th Anniversary special meal in the pub, or maybe it was the only day it didn’t cost a fee. I don’t remember now, but I do remember that the food wasn’t really quite worth it!

Afternoon and Evening

That afternoon, as the ship spent a day at sea traveling up the inside passage to Juneau, we watched a dramatic presentation on Alaska given by the ship’s naturalist. We followed that with a National Geographic documentary on Alaska, which I confess I mostly slept through.

Dinner that night was our first formal dinner of the cruise with some special 50th anniversary food options.

Champagne Waterfall

I guess this is something that all Princess cruises do at some point on each voyage, usually on a formal night. Down in the Piazza, they stack up champagne glasses in a big pyramid, pour sparkling wine in the apex glass and we all get to watch it overflow down to all the rest of the glasses.

It’s the most “Love Boat” thing that Princess does and it’s pretty cheesy. I imagine it started back in the day when cruise ships wanted a spectacular way to demonstrate how smooth their sailing is, and stacking up glasses proved their point. Now, it just seems like a messy party trick.

During this cruise, the Champagne Waterfall was accompanied by a 50th Anniversary cake. I’m sure cake and champagne were served to those who wanted some, but I don’t recall sticking around for any.

After this, we watched a good show in the theater themed to Gatsby-age jazz and dancing. All of which culminated in their own champagne tower!

Sailing on the Crown Princess Now

Just a note, the Crown Princess got refurbished in 2018, so it might look a little different than it did in 2015, when these pics were taken. I can’t find anything substantially different online, so perhaps it just got refreshed.

If you want to sail on the Crown Princess, it’s currently sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In April, it will cross the Atlantic (which you can buy passage on) and end up in Southampton, England for trips out of London, Ireland, and France. It heads back to Florida in September.

Stay Tuned

Keep a watch on the blog for the next few days as I detail each of our ports and the fun excursions we took!