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Vikings are Back



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:41 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Tom K
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,578
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 03:01 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Jeff[_8_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 785
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 03:21 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Ermalee[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 659
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 04:29 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
sheree
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 549
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 04:32 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 100
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 04:36 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Cathy Kearns
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 110
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 04:52 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 04:59 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sue and Kevin Mullen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,664
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:01 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sue and Kevin Mullen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,664
Default 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  
Old December 3rd, 2006, 05:06 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sue and Kevin Mullen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,664
Default 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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