{"id":16415,"date":"2013-02-22T01:43:56","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T09:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=16415"},"modified":"2013-02-22T01:43:56","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T09:43:56","slug":"friday-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=16415","title":{"rendered":"Jewels of cruising on a Crown Princess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten things we liked about the Crown Princess<\/a>, the ship that in seven days carried us to three Western Caribbean ports from Galveston, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

The Ultimate Ship Tour<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Usually, tours of the innards of a ship are a one-time experience because a galley is a galley, a print shop is a print shop and a laundry is a laundry. This one was almost three hours and the time flew, even during the longest stop, the Princess Theater. If there was <\/span>\"\"<\/a>something we didn't see in the theater (okay, we missed seeing performers changing costumes), we'd be hard-pressed to find it, and we left with a genuine sense of what it's like on the other side of the stage lights. And, of course, it never gets tiring to visit the bridge of a cruise ship.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cruise Director<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lisa Ball has been honing her skills for almost six years on Princess ships. Unlike some cruise directors, her style is not "over the top" and she is the epitome of professionalism. And if you'd like to know more about her, check on our blog regularly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Muster Drill<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you kidding? How can anybody like a muster drill, the "fasten your seat belts" instruction, to use a flight analogy? This one lasted nine minutes, was taped by the captain, played regularly on state-room televisions and covered everything ("If you do go <\/span>\"\"<\/a>in the water…"). And guess what? At our muster station, everybody was listening for a <\/span>change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Man from Vines<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Vines is the wine tasting bar that's part of the piazza, the Princess<\/a> moniker for an atrium. The wines were fine, as they say, but the real star was the ship's lone sommelier. Eduardo Angulo Solis seems a little un-traditional as sommeliers go, encouraging customers to pair food and wine and decide for themselves what works, with a little coaching from an expert. This young man from Chile takes a leave from Princess to spend a year studying to become only the second master sommelier in his homeland, Chile.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Elevators<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At first it was a game: Which side of the door will the illuminated buttons for each deck be on, because they always seemed to be on the side where you didn't look. Then we realized we weren't the only ones playing the game…most passengers were asking the same question, and most were getting it wrong. Talking about it beat elevator <\/span>\"\"<\/a>music.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gatsby's<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the trade name for Princess casinos, and we didn't like it for the reasons you might think, but for the one night on the cruise when smoking was banned. Not everybody agreed…we did see one woman, playing a slot machine and chewing on an unlit cigarette<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Space in Balcony Rooms<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On most cruise ships, it's hard to find room for all your clothes, some of which get tucked into drawers and cabinets made for other things. On the Crown Princess, the closet was about eight feet long and, with shelves on top and an adjacent cabinet, why….we clearly didn't bring enough clothes!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Piazza<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is going to be a staple on Princess ships, and we can see why. It's a gathering spot, as atriums always are, but the Princess Piazzas are busy and entertaining, and adorned with <\/span>\"\"<\/a>many things Italian (the pizzas are coming!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Captain Andrew Proctor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Scotsman of the sea (how many of those are there), he didn't agree to an interview, but he did tell us the secret to making haggis edible: "Mashed tatties [potatoes], mashed turnip…and 12-year-old gravy!"<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crown Grill<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As spectacular as the filet mignon was at this specialty restaurant ($25), the side plates of potatoes and spinach and cream corn and French fries (and more) were perhaps more impressive. It prompted this comment: "I could make a meal of the sides." Yes, even without the 12-year-old gravy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tHolland America Zuiderdam<\/a>
\n\t7 nights
\n\tMay 18, 2013
\n\tVancouver<\/a> (return): Tracy Arm, Juneau<\/a>, Skagway<\/a>, Glacier Bay<\/a>, Ketchikan<\/a>, Inside Passage
\n\tInside: $599
\n\tCost per day: $85<\/strong><\/span>
\n\twww.hollandamerica.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten things we liked about the Crown Princess, the ship that in seven days carried us to three Western Caribbean ports from Galveston, in no particular order: The Ultimate Ship Tour Usually, tours of the innards of a ship are a one-time experience because a galley is a galley, a print shop is a print… Continue reading Jewels of cruising on a Crown Princess<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,25,36,19,15],"tags":[45,137,270,648,912,72,617,1183,35,23,835,1184,957,1174,115,302,407,85],"class_list":["post-16415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deals","category-people","category-reviews","category-ships","category-stories","tag-alaska","tag-caribbean-cruises","tag-casinos","tag-crown-princess","tag-cruise-bargains","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-directors","tag-cruise-ship-captains","tag-cruises","tag-holland-america","tag-holland-america-zuiderdam","tag-muster-drills","tag-princess-cruises","tag-ship-tours","tag-sommeliers","tag-specialty-dining","tag-staterooms","tag-wine-tasting","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}