Crown Princess Sea Day

The ocean has been really rough for this crossing. During these past few days the open decks, including Promenade, have been closed. The pools have been drained (hot tubs were still full) and the gym has been closed. Seasickness bags have been placed around the ship. Thank goodness these new Princess beds absorb some of the movement at night. Even with the soft beds, sleep has alternated between feeling like you’re on a roller coaster, a see saw, and a merry-go-round.

But now it seems like a new ship. After countless days of the rough seas, things have calmed down. We walked onto the Lido deck today and it finally seemed like a cruise. After being cooped up inside for the past week people are sitting outside, eating outside, and even taking a dip in the now-filled pool. While the wind hasn’t settled down, the sun is out and we even sat by the pool for the first time this whole trip.

So no more rough weather talk today and let’s get to business with some things about the Crown Princess.

• One thing we like with the buffet here is where we can find the silverware. It’s now placed in a basket/holder on the tables, wrapped in the napkins, just like on the Caribbean Princess. It’s much better than having to pick it up in the buffet line (where then you had to carry it and serve your food at the same time) or just placed on the table (where people would sometimes grab just a fork or spoon out and leave an incomplete set). We hope all Princess start going with baskets on the table.

• There has been a shortage of seating in the Piazza/International Café/Vines area. They’ve now been placing extra tables from the dining room into the area during the day to accommodate the additional folks sitting inside. 
  
• Live vests are available by the pools for adult and child use. We saw this back in August on the Caribbean Princess, too. I don’t know if this in a new Princess policy, but I’ll be on the Royal and Grand in the next month so I’ll be able to tell you if I see them there, too.
• On the starboard side of the Lido deck there is a wall that looks like a big huge coloring page. The only thing that would make it cooler would be if they had a basket of colored pencils sitting nearby. How awesome would that be to stand and color in a section of it when you had some extra time?

• I always am interested in where my mini bar items come from. This cruise the mini bar diet Coke is from Denmark.

• We receive notice in the Patter every day about the dress code. It seems to be more strongly worded on this ship than other Princess ships. The wording on this one also includes specialty dining. 
  
• We also received notification in the Patter about not pouring extra shampoo and other liquids down the drain. I didn’t even know that was a thing. 
  
• The exchange fee this trip seemed awfully high. 
  
• I’ve been spoiled with the super speedy and super reliable internet on the Caribbean Princess. Here on the Crown it’s back to the old, medium speed internet. Hence, very few pictures right now. The internet is certainly better than it used to be 5 years ago, but the speed is not great. I’ve already run out of my 250 minutes and have had to tap into hubby’s.
• There are so many repeat passengers there are several Captain’s Circle Cocktail Parties to accommodate everyone, the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge has been moved to Club Fusion, laundry isn’t returned next day, and even the Elite wine tasting has been divided into multiple times.
• While the TVs are the larger screen TV, they are just fit into the regular TV corner spot. And don’t have the on-demand system.

I think that's plenty for the day. Off to another sea day tomorrow!