BEonGhipo.com September2fl)7

CROWNPRINCESS, ONE YEAR TATER by RichordH. Wogner

ROWN PRINCESS went into service in June 2006. Since then, the 113,0(X)gross ton mega cruiseship hasbeen sailing out ofNew York dur- ing the summer and fall, primarily doing 9-day cruises but with the occasional Canadian cruise as well, and sailing from San Juan,Puerto Rico during the winter months. Shortly after the ship first went into service,I had the opportunity to go onboard and was impressedby the eleganceof the ship both in terms of the quality of its d6oor and amenities. Of course, all ships look good when they are new. Consequently,I was pleasedto seesome 14 monthslater that the ship still looked much the same. JamesDeering, PassengerServices Director (a 'Hotol position often called Manager" on other lines) FirstPurser Seve Ross(ef) andPassenger Senices had recentlyjoined CROWN PRINCESSafter serving DircctorJenes Deer@ (right)of CROWNPNNCESS. on several Holland America ships including NOOR- DAM, OSTERDAM and ZUIDERDAIV{,as well as on ing for their fifth and sixth voyagesin November. ships belonging to Norwegian Cruise Line and Star Deering added: "We have a cruise group coming on Cruises.As PassengerServices Director, he is responsi- today of65 peopleand I know most of them already." ble for the accommodationgthe dining, the entertain- Not surprisingly,with the ship operatingout of ment the shoreexcursions - - just abouteverything that during tte summermonths, a high proportion dir€ctly impacts the passengen. Siting in his large of the passengershave been from the New York area. wood paneledoffice on Deck Five just offdre Piazrq Deeringreported that "I wasreading the commentsfrom Deering comrnented on his new ship. 'I am very the cruisethat endedthis moming and many oftfiem say impressed. In fact this is the twenty- seventhship that 'I wish you would have rnore and more cruises out of I have managedin my careerand she is easily the best. New York' becausethey rcally don't want to fly. They I was very, very pleasantlysurprised.' want to cruiseout of New York." We were joined by StevenRoss, First Puner Still, convenientaccess is not the only explana- Administration. Ross has served on CROWN tion for the ship'sfollowing. As notedabove, during the PRINCESSsince she was in the shipyardin winter months,CROWN PRINCESShas sailed out of Italy being built. Prior to that he servedon most of the SanJuan" Puerto Rico. "When we wont to PuertoRican other Grand-classships in the Princessfleet. In his cruising, there was a high numberof PuertoRicans but vieu CROWN PRINCESS'first seasonin servicewent only at the start of the season. However,as the season "very successfully. The run isnt difficult. It is a nine pnogressed,we did not s€eany. Very,very low nunbers day run with lots of sea days. In goneral,it has gone of Puerto Ricans, There were usual number very smoothly.' of Americans and Canadians." In addition, there were During her first season,CROWN PRJNCESS approximately450 peoplefrom the on has built-up a loyal following. nThe guests love the eachwinter cruise. ship.' Ross pointed out that one couple had already What is it that most attacts peopleto this ship? been on CROWN PRINCESS four times in the 14 '"The ability to do what they want when they want. monthsthat the ship hasbeen in serviceand are retum- There are so matry things on ofer. You can sit in dle Beyondships.com September2007

Sanctuary,rest in the spaor go to the gym or really any- Deeringexplained that CROWN PRINCESStakes this thing. We have two of the pools that are adult only concerninto consideration. "Weask guests when they 'would which the passengersreally like. Especiallyin the sum- anive you like to sit aloneor would you like to mer,we havea lot of childrenonboard, a lot ofjunior sit with someone." cruisers. It just helps to balance.There are a lot of Rossadded: "A lot of peoplelike to dine with activitiesgoing on." Rossanswered. other peopleand we will seatpeople together." 'It is a busy ship but there are just as many While Anytirne Dining seeksto give passengers placeswhere you can disappear,it is quiet and you are the choice of when and where to have dinner, passen- lostto the restofthe ship." Deeringadded. gersdo haveto wait for a table sometimes. "Everyone It should also be bome in mind that CROWN wantsto eattheir dinner at 7:30and there is not enough PRINCESSushered in "a lot of new conceptsfor the room for everybodyso that is why there is a 20 minute company [such] as the International Cafe, the wait. Twentyminutes maximum in mostcases, which is Sanctuarv.the new Crown Grill and all about as much as you would expectto have gone very very well." Ross wait in a restaurantat home," noted. "Within the vear. we explainedDeering. were the first ship to go The question of throueh the whole new whetherto choosetradi- menu changeso even tional dinins or the menus in the Anytime Dining main dining ';:;' only relatesto din- have "i;' I ner in the main improved a I dining rooms. The whole new Breakfast and china programhas lunch in the been introduced main dining hto all of our main rooms are open diningrooms. It has seating. In addi- beenvery successful tion, there are sev- for us thus far." eral alternativedin- One conceptthat ins venues such as the did not premiere on informal Horizon Court CROWNPRINCESS but which and the specialty restaurants has been implementedsuccessfully Sabatini'sand the Crown Grill. is "PersonalChoice Dinine." Under this "There is such a wide array of food on system,passengers have the choice of having a tradi- this vesselthat you really neverget throughit all." tional reservedtable and time for dinner or of "Anlime Deeringobserved. Dining," in which the passengercan dine when and "I ate in the Crown Grill for the first time two weeksago wherehe or shelikes. Oneof themain dining rooms on right after I cameonboard. In 32 years on ships, in 27 CROWN PRINCESSis reservedfor traditional dining different ships,it was the bestmeal that I haveever had. while the other two are Anytime Dining. Rosss I was blown away,I was quite shocked. The serviceis observedthat: "What we furd is that more and more possiblybetter than the food. It is a geat match,nicely peoplewho are in the traditional dining will move out to balanced." the Anytime Dining becausesometimes they may want Before retuming to New York last spring, to go earlier or one night they may want to go later. It CROWN PRINCESSunderwent a wet-dockrefit in San is fi.rnnybecause the people who are supposedlytheir Juan. "All the carpetswere re-bordered,general clean- table mates,end up going too becausethey are left alone ing, a lot ofthings were doneto the opendecks - - some at the table." decking was replaced,we had the secondarywooden One concemabout Anytime Dining, particular- railings put on the open decks,- - more technical stuff ly for passengerstraveling alone, is that they may end ratherthan hotel. The only things we haddone werejust up eatingalone ifthey do not haveassigned tablemates. carpet borders and a general spruce up really." Ross 2 Beyondships.com September2fi)7 said. CROWN PRINCESS'voyages from New York have all begun at the new Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. "As far asUS ports go, this terminal is probablythe best one in America just for being finctional." Deering noted. "Logisticalln we love the Brooklyn terminal becauseit works very well for us for ernbarkationand disembarkation.The only thing that we would wish for the terminal was that the actual docking space was maybea liftle longer and a little wider. But the termi- nal, the parking, the logistics,we just wish we had more spacepier-side for loading and things like thal but we get by," Rossadded. "One would think with dealing with the US immigration and customspeople being New Yorlq this would be one of the more difficult placesin the US but it is actually one of the best places. They are far more co-operativeand helpful and supportivethan anyplace. Absolutely marvelous." Deering said. This doesnot meanthat therehave not beenany teethingproblems wilh the new terminal. "The terminal wasbuilt for us and QUEEN MARY 2 so whenwe start- ed sailing from hereit was very new and a lot ofpeople did not know where it was The problem seemsto be communicatingwith taxi drivers. They know where Brooklyn is but they don't know where Red Hook is or Terminal12. It will get better." Rosscontinued, "Brooklyn is also doing a fan- tasticjob ofrenovating the whole areaoutside ofthe ter- minal becausethe traffic has beenterrible. There has been gridlock there. But they have police there all the time directing traffic and it has got a lot better. There have beenbig improvements." Despite her successin New Yor*, CROWN PRINCESS will not be retuming for another season. "On this run will be the newly-refurbished ,' Rossexplained. With the explosion of the Europeancruise market and with the successof in carrying large numbers of passengerson European Mediterranean cruises, "we will be headingacross tle Atlantic to the Baltic. We will be doing 12 day cruising out of Copenhagen.It will be the fint time we take this num- berofpassengers to the Baltic."

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