PLProf

I'm reviewing a few things from this cruise and providing some details about the cabin, ship and ports as an FYI. No pics yet. Just got home at 4 AM and I still feel like I'm on the water! Room Review: We (me, my 83 year old mother, and 7 year old daughter) were in R509, which is an upgraded balcony. Shower - adequate size. I'm not a small person by any measurement system and with the shower curtain rather than a door was able to move around easily. The products are terrible though. If you have any skin issues, take your own shower gel/soap. The shampoo-conditioner combo will technically get your hair cleaned of dirt and oil but leave it a tangled crispy mess. I suggest that if you have very short hair or a shaved scalp their products will be okay. My hair is chin length and I'm really glad I brought my home products. There is a shaving step in the shower roughly 15 inches. Storage - lacking in the room overall but there are shelves and plenty of hangers. The "closet" area is big. I bring magnets and a mess shoe holder on my cruises for all the little bits my daughter ends up with, sunglasses, duckies, etc. Side tables have 2 drawers and an open shelf. Princess Patter - received a paper copy daily. Much easier for me to see the whole day rather than trying to scroll through on my phone using the Princess app. Lighting - under the bedside tables is a motion sensor light. We didn't need our little flashlight. Also one in the closet area. Lamps have a USB port but it ONLY works if the lamp is on. Hairdryer is in the drawer next to the desk. Outlets - at the desk. I assume they worked okay since my mom used her US curling iron. Food: We only dined in the "free" areas. If you have not made dining reservations for the restaurants by the time you are on the ship, don't plan on getting a table before 8:00. We snagged one on the last night at 5:30 in the Soleil. Had to wait until 8:00 on the one formal night we attended. World Marketplace - hit or miss. I'm usually just fine with the food since A. I don't have to cook it, B. Don't have to clean up. It was fine. Some stuff was great like the cherry crumble with vanilla sauce and breakfast pizza and some stuff was yucky. Nothing unusual from all the other cruises. Don't like what you picked out? Go get a new plate. The strawberries on the last 2 days were a huge hit with us. I have a feeling those were loaded in one of the ports because they still tasted and felt fresh. International Cafe - Also fine. Usually is. OceanNow - I ordered lunch room service a couple of times when we were just too tired to go to the buffet. Service was quick! The jumbo chocolate chip cookies were AWESOME! And they do mean jumbo. Shops: The expensive shops are at the piazza area. The regular shops are harder to find. They are on the promenade (7th) floor behind the bar area. I didn't see toiletry items though in case you forget something. OceanNow has a few items but not razors. Bergen: The funicular was fun. The line for tickets is long so if you can order ahead, it will save you a bit of waiting time. At the top is a restaurant (good food, reasonably priced), goats to pet, a kid's play area, cafe/ice cream shop, shops to buy stuff, lots of hiking areas, and a pond to explore. Oh, and incredible views! This is all we did because we spent so much time there that we had to forgo the aquarium. Hop on hop off - turns out to be about $87 US for 3 people to ride this. But was about a 15 minute walk for us...more of an amble really. Geiranger: Hop on hop off - Oof...getting expensive! However, a good way to get up to the top of the road for the view and pictures. Unless you want to pay for an Uber or something else but I find the hop on/off option works for us. The Fjord Centre is wonderful. Again, a playground, large outdoor area, the hop on hop off stops in front of it. Inside is a very interesting and thorough Norwegian history and fjord education experience. I think you could get a wheelchair or scooter through this but there are a couple of inclines in a few places. Waterfall Walk - you'll find the path to start this in front of the fjord center. Lots of stairs. If you have significant knee and hip issues, you may want to reconsider going all the way down. There is only one "jumping off" point about 100 feet down which will take you to the road and back to the bus. Just have to keep going down. Not scooter or wheelchair accessible. Olden: We took the cute trolley train and I'm so glad we did! It took us up around the lake above Olden, across some old bridges, near farms, and stopped several times for pictures and viewing. And the driver was funny and informative as he narrated our trip. The shops across from the ship were jammed with shoppers. You can find all the same things at all the ports though. I got some winter gloves because I seem to lose mine every year and Wisconsin is cold. Hope I don't lose these too! Stavanger: Canning and Printing Museum - Really interesting! It is a short uphill walk from the port - you'll see a sign pointing up a steep hill. At the top there's a flower garden. Turn left and walk half a block. The entrance is up some steps and through a tunnel. Flashing neon fish on the side. Has a small cafe. Attached to each other if you only want one or the other however, I strongly recommend both. If you go on a Tuesday or Thursday, the canning museum will be smoking small fish and you are allowed to try them. My daughter loved the smoked fish. And there's a lovely fellow who will demonstrate some canning machines and point out the door to the little house in the back and elevator. And you can try your hand at jamming 10 plastic sardines into a can as fast as possible in their correct positions. Viking House - We were going to do this but it wasn't what I thought. It's a gift shop with sort of Viking stuff and a 30 minute virtual reality video about Harald Fairhair. Not sure it would add more information to my knowledge base and my mom wrinkled up her nose. So we skipped this. Stavanger Maritime Museum - looked interesting but my mom's been to many maritime museums and my daughter wanted ice cream so we skipped it. It's also on the waterfront and easy to find. Just follow the lines of people. Pools: The main pools are heated so swimming was no problem. Getting out? That was a different story. 65 and windy means hustling to the towels. There are plenty of towels and blankets. We never had a problem finding a lounger but that's probably because it was in the 60's and windy on the North Sea. Many hot tubs on this ship and very popular. Some are off away from the main pool area and less crowded. Princess Transfer: Was a breeze! We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at Heathrow. Walked over to Terminal 2 at 9:00 and spotted right away all the Princess people in the middle of the area. The instructions say in front of Cafe Nero but really they are right in the middle and in front of the rental cars. You might have to wait a bit if the bus is picking up at another terminal first but go get a coffee or new book. The trip took 2 hours because the M3 has some construction and just generally a lot of traffic. The bus has a toilet. Comfy seats. My travelers were cold from the A/C and needed their jackets. The transfer back was also easy. After disembarkation, picking up the bags, and winding our way to the exit, the bus was right there. No food or hot drinks on the bus allowed but a bottle of something is fine. Medallions: I love these so much more than cards. We wore ours on wristbands purchased from Amazon. Most people had them around their necks. The Shops on the ship sell fancy holders. And they are waterproof. Shows: 5 Skies - very well done IMO. About 40 minutes and has a story arc and impressive staging and effects. Won't spoil it here. Rock Opera - Eh..it was fine. Not quite what I thought it was going to be. Really a mish-mash of songs old and new. My mom hated it because she doesn't like "screaming" in her music nor did she recognize any of songs except one. Casino: Never seemed to be busy at all. However, I beat the system! Won a tidy sum at Buffalo Gold. Lucky me this time. Usually I end up paying Princess for the opportunity to push a button repetitively. Laundry: A necessary burden on vacation for us. You can take your own products or pay about 1000% mark up on the ship. Tokens to work the machines are in the laundry rooms. I wasted several when one of the machines didn't work. If I recall it was $3 for 2 tokens (wash and dry). The machines work well though. And there's an iron too. No I did not try to get my money back from the malfunctioning machine. Too much trouble. I'm open to questions.

Going to 2 weeks prior and my first time on this ship. Hope it's good! Booked it primarily for the kid's pool area for my 7 year old.