sprinkles

I have been staying off this thread myself for awhile. DH and I (smokers) are considering booking the Pacific Princess for 28 days and are wondering where you "can" smoke on that ship. Looking at the deck plans I am guesing that there would just be one smoking area up on the pool deck somewhere? Can anyone tell me where that would be and if it is a covered area?

Also if anyone knows which side of the promenade deck is smoking (since as discussed before, it is no longer always the port side).

Thanks,

Tammy

Honestly not trying to "start" anything again. Just simply bringing up an honest question I had in keeping with the spirit of this thread - a discussion of the implementation of Princess' new policy and how it affects us on both sides of the fence. An issue - as evidenced by the number of views in the past couple of months - that is important to many of us.

So if anyone get's or already knows the answer to my question, I'll be interested.

Mahalo,

Tammy

Your Welcome Wright, I really did just want to reach out to the apprehensive smokers out there. Have a great time, we loved it so much that we booked the Sapphire again for 28 days in October, Hawaii/Tahitti. Really not a big adjustment.

I did have one thought though that came to me on the cruise and I'm sure will come up at some point. It's never happened to us, but we have had friends who have been quarantined for three days while on a cruise. What happens if a "die hard" smoker gets quarantined? DH and I talked about it and really wondered, the ecigs "helped", but to be quarantined - then what? We both decided we would totally freak out!!!

I wonder if Princess has any decissions on that one. But then again, I don't really know anything about being quarantined (I don't even know if I'm spelling it correctly). Anyone have any thoughts on that one? Does your room steward basically act like a security guard and would you be "in trouble" for going out to have a smoke? Would you have to have an escort to ensure that you did not touch anything on your way to a smoking area - or would it be a new Princess At Sea Program - "Quit Smoking NOW" - LOL.

Happy Sailing Everyone!

Tammy

No the area was completely non-smoking after 6:00pm. That's when you could hardly get into the door of churchill's which is very nearby.

One thing I will say about the casino that may be a positive for some. If you like to play video poker. The entire bar area was non-smoking - ALWAYS - it is all a progressive bank of quarter machines, so if you like to play video poker and are "fairly accepting", that may be a place to play for some anytime. As honestly even when the casino went non-smoking, I will admit that it still reeked of cigarettes.

Tammy

Sorry to cause problems over the promenade deck issue, I just thought it was important as it had been discussed on here before.

Just to be clear, I was on the Sapphire Princess and they made the Starboard Promenade the smoking side, with no explanation offered and it had just been switched the week prior to our cruise. I have no clue as to what is going on with any other ships.

Happy Trails,

Tammy

I forgot to mention Skywalkers. DH went up to investigate it as an indoor place to smoke. He was told that during the day it was non-smoking and at night there was a smoking section - we never went up there at all (too late for us - lol).

Thanks for the kind responses.

Tammy

I promised - so here it is. A "smokers report". Just got off the Sapphire today - 14 day to Hawaii. This was an experiment for us and my "smoker" parents who joined us. We all brought ecigarettes to help for urges in the cabin. We spent most of our time at the aft adult pool. There were 7 covered smoking tables, fixed bar chairs with a view and lounge chairs, all of which smoking was allowed. The area was always quite full and we made many friends (port side), we spent most of our time on-board hanging out back there (and booked and aft cabin for that purpose.

At the very start of the cruise a few people would wander out with food and sit down and start to comment on the smoking, someone would always politely let them know that the other side was non-smoking and they would go over there (those tables were mostly empty during the cruise). After that, we never had a single rude comment from anyone at the aft pool.

The Casino was another matter. There were two non-smoking nights (first and last formal), there was a section of about 7 tables, that yes did become the indoor smoking lounge. there were MANY MANY MANY people who would walk through doing the windmill thing or holding their nose, etc. For the first time it did not bother me at all. One lady was so ridiculous (these tables were on the side of the casino) she was wandering around SLOWLY holding her nose with her face scrunched up. Mind you, she was not walking through the center area of the casino, just wandering the edge right by all the smoking tables. All of us actually found her funny, and I made my own comment to her, I mean really she didn't even leave the casino, just kept wandering around holding her nose making a face.

Another time this group came through - well into the cruise- waving their hands around like maniacs. There was a large group of us smokers there and we started waiving our own arms around as well - we found it quite funny. Most, if not all of my family and "smoker friends" dealt with condescending behaviors in the casino. But like I said, none of it bothered me at all, I saw the same people over and over again running through the casino to get to the other side, I just couldn't figure out why they couldn't figure out that they could go up or down one level and they would not have to go through it.

Neptune's Reef Pool, the entire port side tables had ashtrays on them, although we did not spend alot of time there - MUTS was just too loud and anoying.

Promenade deck - now this I don't ubnderstand at all - so heads up be prepared. Dad and I walked out from the explorers lounge to smoke on the port side through the door we have ALWAYS used. Both of us lit a cigarette and all of a sudden realized there were no ashtrays out there, plus there were signs everywhere saying no smoking. We had NOWHERE to put them out - Dad ran into the door right by a bathroom and extinguished them in the sink. We walked out to the STARBOARD side and there were the ashtrays. I then saw an officer and asked him what the deal was. He told me that they had just changed the smoking side the week before - he would not explain why. I told him that was going to cause nothing but problems for the experienced Princess cruisers. His response was - "we say we have designated smoking areas, we don't specify WHERE they will be".

Lo and behold one of my friends later went out to the Starboard side and was smoking right by the ashtray. A woman came by, got mad and RAN inside the ship and brought an officer outside with her to point at my friend. The officer then explained to the irate woman that my friend was smoking in a designated smoking area. So I don't know what to say to all of you booking your balcony on the Starboard Emerald deck to be away from the smokers?????

So there it is - my "report". We had a lovely cruise and are already looking at the next to book, as well as my parents. We were fine and will book with Princess again. Inside cabins though, no reason at all to spend the extra money when we spent most of our time outside.

Happy Sailing Everybody!

Tammy

Coops, thanks for the support, that's all I'm saying - that the smokers need to speek up on here and share their experiences as well - and not be silent because we are the "bad guys".

I hope that someone getting off the Sapphire will get on here and share any secret smoking places like bbum just did for you.

DiTom, I'm also like Coop, when I talk about nasty behavior toward smokers, I'm not talking about all non-smokers. If there had been more tolerant people like you, we woudln't be in this situation.

I am talking about the people who are on here, who are STILL not happy and want us completely banned. They keep saying go to another line, they are more tolerant, etc etc. All I'm saying is, if you take out their allowance of balcony smoking. How are they more tolerant? I just read my booking confirmation (which made me laugh as I had just posted) and it had a statement about no more smoking in rooms/balcony - but it also had this statement that no one seems to mention.

"A limited number of designated smoking areas will be reserved for this purpose"

So from my standpoint, does this mean that I can now go harrass the non-smokers in "my" section to leave and give me the table? I'm just kidding of course, but I would like to be able to go to those sections and be left in peace, just like the non-smokers expect to be on their side, If I go over there and light a cigarette - let's just say that I would expect an immediate response.

Last year at the Emerald aft pool, there were only three tables and a row of fixed stools where you were allowed to smoke. This area was often filled with non-smokers bringing out their food from the HC and yes we had negative experiences smoking out there. Even funnier, was that often there were tables open on the NON-SMOKING side.

Now we have new rules, so there will be more smokers out in public. Princess will hopefully respond as they need to because like Coop, I'm net ready to leave Princess "yet" and we are not alone. My parents are considering joining us on this cruise, they are also smokers. DH and I are small potatoe's in Princess eyes compared to my parents (world cruise 2009 - total days with Princess alone 400? or so). Princess does not want to loose them and as usual Princess is trying to walk a line and make everyone happy. My guess is that on any given cruise the number of smoking tables will expand or shrink depending on necessity.

Happy Sailing Everybody!

Tammy

27 days to go

My "two cents" Thanks to CC for this thread and the actual smokers like bbum and cruisin 42 who had the guts to post their recent experiences. Your posts helped DH and I (both smokers) hesitantly decide to go ahead and book the Sapphire for 14 days to Hawaii. Not to mention that Princess reads these boards and needs to hear our side as well. I actually had a longer post written and somehow was not able to post it. Probably better anyway, so I will try and remember the highlights and be done with this post.

For those of you who say - time to go to another line. Sorry not ready to yet. I am one away from being Elite on Princess and we LOVE Princess. Although I like HAL their balconies are more expensive and beyond that, we mostly cruise in inside cabins. (couldn't have afforded 24 cruises in 12 years otherwise). I know GASP - someone who actually smoked in their cabin. Well, after all the changes through all the years, yes we actually felt more comfortable in our own cabin where we were not subjected to rude comments and behaviors in public. We have had a balcony on many of our cruises, but honestly most everytime we ended up with neighboors who would slam doors and make rude comments.

So this cruise will be an experiment for us. We booked a cabin that gets us as close to a smoking section as possible (I can't promise that we won't be seen in our robes in the early morning or late night hours). I'll definately post our experiences when we get back (hopefully this thread will still be open).

So the non-smokers got what they wanted. But now are realizing that there will be more smokers in the smoking section. If this experiment is going to work, it will take compromise on both sides. I will be politely smoking where I am allowed to do so. I know to most of you there is no such thing.

DH and I will be spending a good amount of time playing cards at a covered smoking table, Lido port side. We're hoping to be able to enjoy that without being subjected to nasty, rude behavior. To those who suggest "go to another line", I have my own suggestion: please try to avoid the smoking areas, it's not that hard, there are not that many of them left. We have never been able to figure out why even at the end of a cruise people can't seem to learn to stay away from the port side of the Lido. Maybe some of them just get their fun harrassing the smokers. I am no longer able to smoke in my cabin, so please leave me alone when I am smoking where I am allowed to.

I know, maybe I can pettition Princess to fine THOSE people. Can't you see it now? All the smoking sections surrounded with big red velvet ropes. Large signs everywhere saying "You are entering a smoking area - Enter at your own risk - Anyone caught holding their noses, waving their hands or making rude comments - WILL BE FINED".

Happy Sailing Everybody

Mahalo,

Tammy

28 days to go!!!!

I can't thank you enough for this review. We will be doing this exact trip ourselves in Sept 2009. I had just started looking for reviews on Gate 1 when I stumbled on yours. My husband was a little hesitant about Egypt until I started showing him all your pictures. Thanks again for all the effort and time you put into this, just "magnificent".

Tammy

I'm glad to hear that someone else was able to take advantage of the city transportation in Boston (we actually had fun riding the subways every chance we got). I'm sorry you were dissapointed in this cruise. We really enjoyed it and are talking about doing it again (just earlier in the season when it might be a little warmer). Our only dissapointment was in the lack of "fall colors", but we did get to see enough of it out in the countrysides to appease our So. California perspective. I will say, that I was very happy that we packed hats, gloves, scarves, thermal's, fleece lined hooded rain jackets and umbrella's. Having those items made it possible for us to go out even when the weather was rotten.

Yes, the FRED bus was packed, and if money is not an object, I would guess that person would not want to ride on it. However, if someone is budget minded (which is what my reviewed is geared for) a couple can save $88.00 from what Princess wanted for a hop on hop off bus pass and get to all the same places in Halifax.

Happy cruising everyone!

Tammy

Hi All,

Just home from 10 days on the Grand Princess (OCT 8 through 18), I promised myself that I would post here when I got home, as it seems that people just don't bother, as it's such a short season. But maybe this will be of help to people next year. This is geared for the budget minded, so if you are all about ship tours, don't bother reading, LOL. It's not that we're (dh 48, me 39) cheap, it just really became fun to save money on this cruise instead of what the ship was gouging us for (if you're doing New England, I also posted a review there). I will say that we had some bad weather in Canadian posts and that changed alot of plans. I had reserved rental cars in Saint John and Halifax and right before the trip had bad feelings about it and decided to cancel (which worked out well). OK, for the ports.

Saint John: The decision to cancel a rental car ended up being a good one. The weather was terrible. Very cold, gale force winds at times and torrential downpours. We ended up spending most of our time shopping in the mall and walking through the enclosed walkways to the old City Market. We spent some time fighting the weather outside in a pretty park and old cemetary, but the weather drove us back inside. The ship was supposed to leave at 3:00pm and we were stuck in port until 9:00pm, due to weather. I will say, we had fun sitting up in Skywalker's lounge watching the huge snow flakes fly by the windows and watching all the ship staff run out to watch, as many had never seen snow, LOL.

Halifax: Due to leaving port late the day before, we did not get there until 1:00pm (Capt. extended our stay 1 hour till 6:00pm). So again, my premonition was right and it was a good thing that we canceled the rental car. It was cold and rainy here, but we still managed to have a good time. OK, big tip for the budget minded. There is a free shuttle called FRED (free rides every day), go to the info booth in terminal and ask about it. It takes you to all the same places as the ships hop on hop off bus for $44.00pp. There is only one and it takes about 40 minutes to make a loop. It will take you to the Museum of the Atlantic (admission $7.50pp). The Citadel, admission $7.00pp (40 minutes was plenty of time to walk around), with nice views of the city. It will take you to the city gardens (free admission), the Casino and a few other places, including right back to the ship. We walked the wharf, took FRED to the Citadel, did a little shopping and had to be back on the ship.

Sydney: We shared a cab with another couple for $65.00 for a two hour city tour, which was interesting and worth it. Did a little shopping, then took our only ship tour out to the Fortress of Luisberg (sp?). We LOVED the fortress and enjoyed it very much. Only about a 3rd of the houses were open with only a few people in costume running around, the next day after we were there none of the buildings were going to be open. So I would make sure you check on their website before booking this tour.

Cornerbrook: Freezing cold weather here. If the weather is good, I'm sure the thing to do is to go to Gros Morne National Park. We shared a taxi for $65.00 for a city tour which was OK (not as nice as Sydney), but did get to see some nice foliage around town. Some shopping and that was it.

Quebec - Probably my favorite place besides New York. Went to info booth in terminal wanting information on how to get to the Falls of Montmercy. They were really pushing a taxi for $30 one way, until we specifically asked about city buses. Then they were very helpful and gave us a map, good directions on where to buy bus tickets (you can buy them on the bus for about 40 cents more) $2.40pp one way, and exact bus numbers to take. So we walked of to the right away from the ship, bought our bus tickets in a grocery store. Then walked up a lovely street filled with antique stores for about a 10 - 15 minute walk to the bus. Took the 800 bus which turned into the 50 bus for about a 45 minute ride to the falls (the bus took you through interesting city streets and neighborhoods instead of the highway that the bus tours used). A short walk and we were at the top of the falls, free entrance, then walked across a footbridge over the top of the falls. We could see all the bus tours (Princess wanted $49pp to go there and a couple of stops in the countryside) at the bottom of the falls, then you would have to take a scary looking cable car to get to the top. We then waited a few minutes for the bus (which only comes once an hour) and headed back to the city. We got transfers from the bus driver who told us where to transfer to the number 3 bus to get to the top of the old city and we got off near the Chetaeu de Frontenac. Up on the top of the old city is where all the horse drawn carriage rides are, restaurants, etc. We then took the small fenicular down the hill for $1.70pp. Short walk back to the ship through picturesque shopping streets and back to the ship for a little while. Went back out exploring again at night and the town is literally right there by the ship. Loved Quebec City, it felt like being back in Paris. By the way, we only saw four other people from the ship on the bus and they seemed as happy as we were to be going the bus route instead of a $60 taxi ride.

OK, hope this may be of help to someone in the future! Bon voyage everyone.

Tammy

Last May we stayed at the Hampton Inn downtown. We took a limo from the airport (sorry don't remember the price, just that it was close to taxi rates) and they had a free shuttle to the port. We had a VERY nice room (the bed was amazing and just what we needed after our flight), incredibly friendly/helpfull staff and a decent free breakfast. Slightly on the edge of a bad neighborhood, but we felt safe walking to Chinatown. I just checked rates for May 18 (not sure if that's the night you're looking for) and they had 179 Canadian around $150 US. There were quite a few cruisers staying at the same hotel. I just looked at Trip-Advisor and they rate it number 2 most popular Vancouver hotel. I would stay there again for one night pre-cruise in a heartbeat. Good luck.

Have a great time!

Tammy

I'm with Catsix, go for it, if that's what you want. How would people know that you just didn't ACTUALLY get married anyway? People are certainly not going to giggle and laugh at you. If anything, people will be saying congratualtions (thinking you just got married of course). My Mom and Step-Dad were married by the Justice of the peace and she didn't even have any flowers to hold (she has always complained about that). I desperately tried to get them to renew their vows for their 25th wedding anniversary so she could have those flowers (but they wouldn't go for it). I'm sure whatever you decide will look lovely. Have a great time.

Tammy