Crown Princess 31- Day South America (December 4th, 2016 – January 4, 2017)

Total disclosure mandates that I reveal the following about my husband and myself: We do not like big ships, and he (especially) loathes crowds. The Crown Princess is a big ship and it was full to capacity on both legs of the cruise (Los Angeles to Valparaiso and Valparaiso to Rio de Janeiro). The relatively low fares attracted a wide range of passengers, and many of them, resulting in very crowded main dining rooms ( although the alternative restaurants were often almost empty), wall to wall bodies around the pools on sunny sea days, and some rude passengers. The elevators compounded the problem: there were four across the width of the ship on each floor, and one never knew until the last second which car would stop (though more often than not, it was the one furthest from you ). The doors also closed quickly and seemed ready to remove your hand, should you try to block them. This resulted in crowds of people shoving to get into an elevator before other passengers could exit the car.

SMOKING – My husband is a smoker and found the arrangements for smoking not the best he’s experienced on board, but not the worst. I was annoyed that they closed the bar beside the main outdoor smoking lounge very early in the evening. The cigar lounge in the casino was also a convenient place for meeting one another, and there was a bar nearby. Read more