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