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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
We just got back from the Crown Princess, from June 8 - 17. My mom is a travel agent so we used her (I would be happy to pass along her info if anyone is looking for a TA  )
The ship leaves out of Brooklyn, NY and goes to Turks & Caicos, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. It is a 9 night cruise with 2 formal nights.
The ship is HUGE! Over 3200 passengers with 1200 in crew and staff. The ship is only a year old and it is gorgeous.
We went with my in-laws and my brother-in-law.
Peg Perego Stroller
I loved having the big stroller! It was so smooth and since the ship was so big, the baby loved having all the space. The only challenge was getting in and out of the room. There was literally ½ inch on each side of the wheels. We went to dinner each night at 8:15 PM (Anytime Dining) and he would fall asleep generally around appetizers. Except for the formal nights and the Island night, we dressed him in PJs for dinner. (We saw most parents did that). We would just recline him all the way down and we would continue on with our evening. Since Jeremy is an early riser, we would typically go back to the room after dinner. One night I went to the casino and one night DH went to a club.
Pack n Play
The ship supplied this. I wish I knew it was a PnP and not a crib so I could have taken sheets. That is probably the ONLY thing I wish I had! I just made up the PnP with standard sheets making sure to tuck everything in very tightly. He didn’t sleep very well in the PnP the first few nights so we really made good use of the big stroller. He would sleep in there then we would move him to the PnP. Once he fell asleep though, he would sleep until around 6 or so.
Diapers:
We took a big package (I think 70?). We had plenty! We also took about 30 swim diapers and used maybe 10? Since he can only go in the baby pool on the ship we didn’t use too many.
Formula:
I took a large can which turned out to not be enough  . I had to run to the MarketPlace in Bermuda to get more. I ended up not needing the can I bought in Bermuda but I used the last scoop as we got off the ship. Too close for comfort in my eyes. We through away a lot of formula from bottles that he didn’t finish. If we had “budgeted” better, we really only should have been making him 4 oz bottles then giving him more as needed. Oh well, something to remember for the future!
Car Seat:
We did not take our car seat on the cruise. This was a personal decision that DH and I made. Please do not flame me for this. We did take a few excursions and just held onto DS very tightly. The other families that were on the trips with us did not have a car seat either. Besides, what would we have done with the car seat once we got off the bus (or out of the taxi?)
The room:
We were in a mini-suite with a balcony. The extra space was definitely needed. Also, the mini-suites have a bathtub. Oh, I brought a blow up bathtub to go in the tub. Jeremy LOVED it! I don’t want to post a nekkid kid pick but trust me, he loved it
What else? Ask away !
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Posted 6/20/07 4:54 PM  |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Almost forgot the most important part! For the formal nights, we got Jeremy a tuxedo from e-bay. He looked sooo cute! (see my post on Parenting for pics). He was the only baby boy in a tux. The little girls looked so adorable in their party dresses. I am so glad we did it 
Message edited 6/20/2007 4:58:36 PM.
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| Posted 6/20/07 4:58 PM |
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Lisa
I'm a PANK!!!
Member since 5/05 22334 total posts
Name:
Professional Aunts No Kids
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
WOW!! sounds like a GREAT trip!!
My DH and I are going on a Princess cruise in October and we chose the anytime dining. I am confused on how it works. You can go anytime to the dining room and eat?? 
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| Posted 6/20/07 5:02 PM |
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ckdk
My girls
Member since 5/05 7027 total posts
Name:
Cheryl
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
glad you had fun! We are going on a princess cruise and they assured us that it is not a pack n play but a smaller "real crib"... DD will not sleep in a pnp and I will be furious if that's what we get!!
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| Posted 6/20/07 5:25 PM |
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preciouslove
I love my DS!!!
Member since 5/05 9340 total posts
Name:
Blank
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
I am going on a cruise in July. So how old is your DS. How did his napping situation go. That is my biggest concern. I fear that after 1 week of being off his nap schedule that once we get back he won't be able to get back on it...I'm really worried about that...
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| Posted 6/20/07 5:30 PM |
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preciouslove
I love my DS!!!
Member since 5/05 9340 total posts
Name:
Blank
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
eta: my son is not one of those "I can sleep anywhere type of kid"...
At home it's fine but anywhere else it becomes a catnap...
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| Posted 6/20/07 5:31 PM |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by Lisa
WOW!! sounds like a GREAT trip!!
My DH and I are going on a Princess cruise in October and we chose the anytime dining. I am confused on how it works. You can go anytime to the dining room and eat??
Yes, you go up to the restaurant at any time like a land restaurant. We didn't go to any of the specialty restaurants since the food was so good in the regular dining room.
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| Posted 6/20/07 7:54 PM |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by ckdk
glad you had fun! We are going on a princess cruise and they assured us that it is not a pack n play but a smaller "real crib"... DD will not sleep in a pnp and I will be furious if that's what we get!!
I will answer a few questions here:
Yes, it was a pnp. I set it up myself! I had been told also it was a regualr crib but I got a pnp. To be honest, I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference with Jeremy's sleep habits. He hated it so we had to put him down after he was in a heavy sleep. Once he was asleep, he stayed asleep through the night. Maybe the rocking of the ship also helped?
He is 9 months old and slept (and napped) great in his stroller. He will nap pretty much anywhere (in my arms, in the stroller, etc). We were never inthe room when he napped unless it was us rolling him in while he was inthe stroller. That was also the only way DH and I got any "couple" time
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| Posted 6/20/07 8:00 PM |
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Alli06
Baby #3 coming this June
Member since 8/05 6721 total posts
Name:
A
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
I didn't realize they started the cruises out of Brooklyn already. Sounds like a great cruise, I love Princess. How old is your son? DH and I love to travel and especially love cruises. We plan on TTC in the next year, and I always wondered how hard it would be to take a baby on a cruise with us. I always see small kids on cruises I have been on, and they all look to being having a great time.
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| Posted 6/20/07 8:01 PM |
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PrincessP
Big sister!!!!!!!!!!
Member since 12/05 17450 total posts
Name:
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Thank you so much for all of your help!
Additional questions..
is there any foods they can eat on the ships? My dd is 6 months and I dont want to carry a million jars. Is it stupid to think they might have applesauce, mashed potatoes , bananas etc.. (digestable baby stuff).
How is it on the islands with the baby?
In the dining rooms are there children or if dd cries will everyone run? LOL
I am not bringing a car seat either. Its okay on the islands, right?
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| Posted 6/20/07 9:01 PM |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by Alli06
I didn't realize they started the cruises out of Brooklyn already. Sounds like a great cruise, I love Princess. How old is your son? DH and I love to travel and especially love cruises. We plan on TTC in the next year, and I always wondered how hard it would be to take a baby on a cruise with us. I always see small kids on cruises I have been on, and they all look to being having a great time.
Yes, Princess started running the Crown out of Brooklyn last year. I think May or June?
It was great. Jeremy is only 9 months old but it seemed like he had a great time!
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| Posted 6/21/07 7:14 AM |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by PrincessP
Thank you so much for all of your help!
Additional questions..
is there any foods they can eat on the ships? My dd is 6 months and I dont want to carry a million jars. Is it stupid to think they might have applesauce, mashed potatoes , bananas etc.. (digestable baby stuff).
How is it on the islands with the baby?
In the dining rooms are there children or if dd cries will everyone run? LOL
I am not bringing a car seat either. Its okay on the islands, right?
My pleasure!
With Princess, you can call them (1-800-Princess I think?) and request the baby food form. Or maybe it was a fax? I don't remember right now. Whe you fill out the cruise personalizer it tells you what to do regarding requesting baby food. Jeremy isn't really on table food yet, still the jars and boxed cereals. I requested all that I wanted then called room service every few days for a refill on what I needed. It wan't a problem. They have the basics, bananas, applesauce, squash, peas. If there is something that your DD will only eat, bring it! My ship only had rice cereal, no barley or oatmeal (even though I requested it). Also, they only carry Kellogg cereals so no Cheerios. I had known this previously so I brought a large disposable container filled with Cheerios. Thankfully I did! It kept him occupied quite as few times
Also, I have heard you can request for the chef to mash up whatever you want. I didn't do it but I heard you can.
There were lots of kids around and so much background noise all over the ship that it shouldn't be a problem if the baby is noisy. Like on land though, use your judgement. If the baby is uncontrollable, take her out of the dining room. We are blessed with a happy little boy so we never encountered any challenges with that but other families did
As far as on the islands, again, I have a happy little boy. We go everywhere with him! If you FM me your e-mail address I would be happy to share all (about 160!  ) pictures with you.
It was totally fine without the car seat. If he was still in the baby one though, we would have brought that with the snap and go. Much more portable.
As I mentioned in a previos post though, I LOVE having my big stroller! Jeremy was able to sleep everywhere without disruption by just putting the back down.
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| Posted 6/21/07 7:25 AM |
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ckdk
My girls
Member since 5/05 7027 total posts
Name:
Cheryl
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by FelAndJon
Posted by ckdk
glad you had fun! We are going on a princess cruise and they assured us that it is not a pack n play but a smaller "real crib"... DD will not sleep in a pnp and I will be furious if that's what we get!!
I will answer a few questions here:
Yes, it was a pnp. I set it up myself! I had been told also it was a regualr crib but I got a pnp. To be honest, I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference with Jeremy's sleep habits. He hated it so we had to put him down after he was in a heavy sleep. Once he was asleep, he stayed asleep through the night. Maybe the rocking of the ship also helped?
He is 9 months old and slept (and napped) great in his stroller. He will nap pretty much anywhere (in my arms, in the stroller, etc). We were never inthe room when he napped unless it was us rolling him in while he was inthe stroller. That was also the only way DH and I got any "couple" time
Thanks for the info... I would have been FURIOUS if we got a PNP after they told us it was a crib, this is my worst nightmare! I called 3x and they all said it's a wooden crib... I am starting to freak a bit b/c DD will not sleep in a PNP and will barely fit!
But sounds like your son is a great baby and those pics were adorable, love the tux!
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| Posted 6/21/07 7:37 AM |
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FelAndJon
needs to update her avatar pic
Member since 6/05 10212 total posts
Name:
Felice (aka LuckyBride2004)
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Posted by ckdk
Thanks for the info... I would have been FURIOUS if we got a PNP after they told us it was a crib, this is my worst nightmare! I called 3x and they all said it's a wooden crib... I am starting to freak a bit b/c DD will not sleep in a PNP and will barely fit!
But sounds like your son is a great baby and those pics were adorable, love the tux!
If you end up with a PnP after all that, definitely insist on changing it right away. It is amazing what the porters can "find" with a little persuasion. I don't even mean the $$ kind, just a little niceness works
We had DS registered to another room. The porter turned our crib away when it was delivered since there was no baby registered to our room. After a few minutes, all of a sudden he was able to "find an extra crib". Yet, my in-laws requested an extra PnP for their room a few hours later and got it with no problems 
Yes, DS is only 9 months old so it was fine for us. It wasn't worth it to us to make a stink about it
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| Posted 6/21/07 7:42 AM |
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LIMOMx2
...
Member since 5/05 24989 total posts
Name:
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
I am so excited about your review!!!!
We are going next May and Andrew will be older but still all good info to know.
I have no idea even what he will sleep in. He will be almost 2. I guess I will just have to play it by ear.
And thinking about it I guess I have to bring my own milk on board. I will only give him Organic
We got the Presidential Suite because we knew we wanted a ton of room esp with the crib/bed in the room. I am glad we did that too.
The bathtub idea was a great one.
I am glad you had a nice trip.
Thanks for the tuxedo tip too   
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| Posted 6/21/07 8:08 AM |
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ckdk
My girls
Member since 5/05 7027 total posts
Name:
Cheryl
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Yeah, those porters are pretty good, we went on a cruise for our honeymoon and they were amazing...
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| Posted 6/21/07 9:10 AM |
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Chrisnamy
Summer is coming soon
Member since 1/07 3991 total posts
Name:
Amy
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Re: Crown Princess Review (6/8 - 6/17)
Sounds like you thought of everything!
Glad to hear you had a wonderful trip!
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| Posted 6/21/07 9:39 AM |
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