BritinSoCal

1 hour ago, mpdog42 said:

True... but that law has some very valid points....In regards to the Government of Canada.....Their trying to screw with Alaskan Tourism...as they did somewhat last year...I am on the side of my fellow American's...Are you??.......

and i quote..the Great Senator form Alaska...“Alaska’s economy and our communities should not be at the mercy of decisions made by the Canadian government and I will do whatever is needed to ensure Alaskans can prosper,” said Senator Murkowski........

Well the Wife does have Canadian Relatives and Liz is on the CAD 20 note... Besides Canada is its own sovereign nation and will implement rules based on the welfare of its citizens...

I've thoroughly enjoyed your travelogue as well having followed via the Princess forum.

Mrs SoCal and my last cruise (harks back to a simpler, pre-Pandemic time) was aboard Pacific Princess and a more than pleasant jaunt around the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland (makes mental note to return to both). We'd never sailed on a R-Class ship before and while we consider ourselves reasonably independent travellers - as independent as cruisers are - we were worried we wouldn't have enough to do on the numerous sea days... Absolutely loved it, a good book, several GBs of music and loads of peace and quiet. So that even though we're very much Princess loyalist (nights mean Free Interweb minut... whoops) we were and are seriously considering a change.

I looked at Oceania but tbh I'm not sure we fit with the Oceania demographic. Viking does appeal and their forum does seem to be inhabited by vaguely normal people. Tbh I'd never considered Azamara until the Pacific was sold to the line. But the itineraries look intriguing (we're the sort of people who'll take a Sydney- Auckland cruise as a - well yes an excuse to see parts of NZ - means to cross the Tasman to then spend 2 weeks travelling around the North Island. Plus Sydney - got to be one of our favourite cities) and again the forum seems filled with well-rounded folks - like yourself and better-half 🙂 - and your description and pics onboard Quest suggest we'd more than find a home...

4 hours ago, babs135 said:

8pm tonight on Channel 5.....Amazing Cakes and Bakes.  Features the Sky Princess 

Thanks OP, VPN locked and loaded - we've gotten through this year watching repeats ("re-runs") of "Cruising with Jane McDonald" 😀

Not a huge fan of Cabo San Luis - it is as auténtico México as "Emily in Paris" is to the City of Light. That being said, we've had an overnight there and took public transport to its little brother up the road, San José del Cabo - an artist community, less overtly touristy and less hectic all round - it's a bit of a hidden gem (as is Manzanillo - not so much the port itself, but the chance to visit the historic colonial city of Colima).

The Grauniad (sic) is a serious left of centre newspaper with a daily print edition available in the UK and (when I lived in Switzerland) Europe, with on-line editions for the US and Aus. It used to be a "broadsheet" before print costs forced into to reduce to "tabloid" size. I'm slightly biased, but it's my news source of choice...

Too many eateries to choice from - all depends on what you fancy. I'm a great brunch fan and thus would recommend the Boathouse on Shelly Beach in Manly (also the Ferry from CQ has to be one of the most iconic trips you can take - good cure for jet-lag if it's a bit choppy 😀). Also, the Social Brew Cafe in Pyrmont (near Darling Harbour) - which would be - if I lived in the area - my go to...

Hi OP, we cruised the Norwegian Fjords and circumnavigated Iceland on the Pacific Princess last September. We tend not to take ship excursions (unless a million cruise ships are in Flåm and they have block-booked the railway!) and similar to dronnygirl we took a tour with FAB from Akureyri (their Lake Mÿvatn" tour - we'd highly recommend).

Regardless of whether you take a ship's tour or an independent, I'd check the independent companies' websites for all your PoC to check the expected sightings. Also keep your eyes peeled - we had a fantastic whale watching experience, just from our ship...

Hmmm link didn't work... try this instead: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g255060-d629301-r309544933-Meriton_Suites_Kent_Street_Sydney-Sydney_New_South_Wales.html

We stayed at the Meriton Kent St. for 9 days as part of a 3 week vacation to FNQ and Sydney back in '15. They're serviced apartments, complete with a decently equipped kitchen and laundry (although the combined washer / dryer has a habit of steaming clothes!) You won't get towels or bedding changed everyday - but then again we don't at home 😎 Wrote a review on TA:

Both Kent St. and Pitt St. are good locations - close to Town Hall St and public transport, George St, Darling Harbour, Chinatown, and Coles and Woolsworth for groceries (even if like us you only have breakfast), etc...

In fact we're back off to Oz again next year - FNQ and Port Douglas again - and probably Adelaide and SA - and where we'll once again book a serviced apartment

Official metered taxis or Uber are usually the way to go if you're schlepping a shed-load of bags. Shuttles get a particularly bad rap from from the Sydney-siders on the Trip Advisor forum and there's a thread or two on what to do if you think you've been ripped-off by a cab...

...Or depending how long you're in port, you could always DIY-it. Put together a short-list of the things you want to see,  a little bit of internet research, et voilà.  Even if this were just a box-ticking exercise, there aren't enough hours in the day to see "everything."

Take the Monorail from the port to Sannomiya JR station and a regular train service from there to Kyoto (every few minutes) - use Hyperdia to look up trains / fares - use an IC card (ICOCA, Suica, Pasmo, etc...) for fares for all public transport (cash only).

Public transport in Kyoto is a breeze, although traffic can be heavy, so try and circumnavigate by train or metro and foot.

8 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

My most sincere thanks.    I’m a solo traveler with 1 25 inch bag and backpack.     So from the airport there is a train?    Is the train station near the port?  

 

A basic single room is just fine.   Location is most important.    If I can avoid cabs-   All the better 😀

 

I’m heading over to TripAdvisor.   😀

Train stations within both international and domestic terminals. We carry 21" carry-ons and a back-pack on the train to / from the CBD without any problems and assuming yours has wheels you should be fine.

Everything you need to know about public transport can be found on the Transport NSW website. You can now use contactless debit / credit card to pay fares, but since we have Opal cards from previous visits we "tap-on and tap-off" with these. Note, there's an access fee of AUD 14.87 at the airport on top of the fare and a minimum top-up of a AUD 35 at an airport reseller - WH Smith is as good as any (cards themselves are free btw).

Trip Advisor? Good call 😀

On 9/28/2019 at 6:51 AM, spbstan said:

There are many 1 day visa free tours for cruise passengers to choose from on CC's sister company Viator.
https://viator.com and just type in the destination city of St Petersburg and then select Shore Excursion. 

OP, whatever you decide to do, DON'T book through Viator. Viator does't offer any tours, they're just a 3rd party re-seller of existing tours from existing companies. I would recommend heading over to Trip Advisor, taking a look at the reviews of the top-rated tour companies and contacting them if any of their itineraries takes your fancy.

Personally, having had an overnight in SP, I'm glad I took full advantage of the two days there - its an absolutely amazing city and even with 2 weeks (never mind 2 days) you'll only scratch the surface...

Per Port Authority of NSW, the Jewel sails from the OPT, so in terms of hotels, anywhere around The Rocks, Circular Quay or CBD will probably fit the bill - where exactly will depend on budget and for how long. We've stayed in a one of the Meriton serviced apartment blocks (Kent St.) when we spent 10 days there and also the Hilton on George St. in the CBD, next to Town Hall Station and opposite the Queen Victoria building for a weekend get-over-jet-lag, pre-cruise, this time last year... We arrived around 8 am at the hotel and obv the room wasn't available, but there was a gym and showers available so we could freshen up and change...

Transport options from the airport depend on how many in your party and / or how much luggage your schelpping... We travel light (carry-on or bust 😎) and have Opal Cards for mass transit anyway, so take the train, but for two with loads of bags AND depending when you arrive, a cab or Uber would probably work as well.

I'd head over to TripAdvisor to check out hotels and forum.

6 hours ago, CrazyJess said:

 

Yes, agree. But public transport in Copenhagen is not cheap.

The small city pass lite costs DKK 80 (~$12) for 24 hours, with additional discounts for multiple days and includes travel to / from the airport and most of the sites within the city that tourists generally want to visit. The large pass costs DKK 160 (~$24), and would enable you (for example) to travel to visit the likes of Frederiksborg Castle, Helsingor and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, should you so choose...

Not sure I'd call that expensive...

OP, There's a fantastic integrated public transport system available in Copenhagen; buses, metro, trains and waterbuses.  Take a look here: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/public-transport

It's also very compact and walkable (watch out for the cyclists though - they take no prisoners!) Last time we visited, we stayed out near the airport as I comped the stay and it was only 10 mins by frequent metro into the heart of the city. I'd recommend taking a look over on Trip Advisor and ask this question on their Copenhagen forum.

For public transport in HK - get yourself an Octopus card (for which you'll need HKD to purchase / top-up) - this can be used for buses, subway, ferries, trams (inc. the Peak Tram) and the Airport Express. It can also be used in local convenience stores, etc... Apparently some Taxis have installed Octopus card readers, but last time I was there it was cash only.

Everywhere else a mix of HKD and credit cards will see you OK

Just back from the 15-day Iceland - Norway cruise on the Pacific. Was our first time on Princess' baby ship and to be honest I've sailed on larger car ferries that ply their trade across the channel. But we had a great time - in-terms of itinerary I'd say this was my favourite cruise.

My purely subjective thoughts and comments below:

The ship does roll a bit - fortunately the weather was pretty decent and we were hunkered down midships on Deck 4 (alongside other savvy Platinums and Elites). It's a relatively old ship and the stabilisers reflect that. Barf bags were placed in the stairways on a couple of occasions as we traversed between Iceland and Norway, but mal de mer wasn't a general topic of conversation amongst our fellow passengers.

Entertainment - I'd probably say that if you can manage to entertain yourself, then you should be fine. We'd loaded-up phones, iPads with music, books and magazines, and I downloaded a daily paper over the internet to eat up my free minutes. That being said we saw a few shows and they were pretty good. The first week's comedian was actually very funny and the principle singers with the ship's company were excellent - fantastic pair of lungs on both of them. While the cabaret lounge is significantly smaller than the Princess Theatre, there was no noticeable difference in show quality. However, given the demographic of the passengers, the shows were a little "bland" for our tastes - though this is our criticism of Princess in general. That being said, for me the best entertainment was to be found whale watching, viewing the Northern Lights as we sailed out of Reykjavik (I never tire of either) and sailing in and out of the fjords.

Food - Subjective 🙂 I've eaten better in the MDR on previous cruises (Majestic, Diamond) and worse (Crown), but nothing was inedible and there were no reports of food-poisoning 🙂 Quite liked the Panorama buffet, small but more than adequate. Poached eggs cooked to order at breakfast, great pizza for a snack and two flavours of ice-cream always available at lunch or dinner - MDR and buffet choices were very similar. Quite like the fact there's a full bar / cafe attached to both the MDR and buffet tbh. From fellow passengers, the steak house got glowing reviews, Sabatini's less so - caveat emptor and all that - we'd eaten at Sabatini's on a previous cruise and tbh have learnt our lesson. That being said, if you've never been to Italy and enjoy the chain eateries here in the States you'll feel right at home (remember folks - food is subjective...)  Note that the specialty restaurants take it in turn to open. My only gripes are the lack of regional produce being offered and the unadventurous choice of beer available - suspect this isn't going to change. Luckily ports-of-calls allowed us to at least eat and drink locally for lunch (yes, Iceland is a little pricey - but not compared to the cruise!) 

Priority Lines - There were a lot of Elites on our cruise and two tender ports. That being said, there's only 600-odd passengers and so it didn't take that long to get off, even when not taking a Princess $hore excursion. Similarly. embarkation / disembarkation were a breeze. 

However, my number one take home was what a happy ship the Pacific is. If you want to, you can really get to know your fellow passengers and crew. We bumped into a number of the latter ashore and they were always happy to chat. I liked the fact that I only had to walk one floor to get to the nearest cafe for my caffeine fix and could get to anywhere I needed to be in only a couple of minutes. I suspect that like others who've sailed her, I'll miss her when she's gone.

55 minutes ago, pris993 said:

I could ask the opposite question, what is so great about Royal Class?  

We've sailed on both Regal and Majestic and are looking forward to the Royal when head South of the Border from San Pedro. What's to like? Space (seriously - so much space); the buffet; the fact that the promenade (or supposed lack of) is always deserted that we've never had a problem grabbing a spot... The only thing we don't like is the loss of The Explorers for the antiseptic Princess Live. That said at least the Royal Class are proper ships and not floating amusement parks... we're adults and can make our own entertainment, thanks very much.

We've also sailed on Grand Class, Coral Class and will be popping "home" before picking up the Pacific later this month. Bottom line is we haven't sailed on a Princess ship we didn't like - sure they all have their quirks - but that's what makes them all individual. 

We don't care about balconies or suites - a restricted view suits us fine. We treat our cruise as a fully-inclusive floating hotel, and just like our land-based hotels, providing our cabin is clean, has a comfortable bed, we're good to go... looking at the number of Elites in the same type of cabin as us, seems others have the same idea.

And while bigger isn't necessarily better, this is the future of the mainstream cruise industry. Those who want the smaller more intimate experience will migrate to those lines that will cater to them. Us? We've a finite vacation budget and plan on stretching it as far as we can...

9 hours ago, Coral said:

...Is this what you booked (I know it is not a US site): https://www.princesscruises.se/en/cruise-tours/europe/classic-italy  

 

 

So effectively a day in Venice and Florence, day and a half in Rome - reads like a box-ticking exercise. Personally I'd pick one or two cities (me? Florence and Rome although we spent a week in Rome and still only really scratched the surface). Head over to TripAdvisor, work out what you want to do and see, take advantage of public transport, the fact that all three are pretty walkable and DIY-it...

OP - I always search for and use the official website of the port / harbour master our cruise ship is berthed.

For Copenhagen: http://www.cmport.com/ships-in-port/cruise-ships - just click on the date you depart

Sailed on the Diamond from Kobe in May - Great ship, fantastic itinerary. Passengers were a truly international mix. About 60% Japanese, with Americans, Canadians - a lot of whom were from Québec - Aussies, Kiwis, Chinese (PRC and Taiwan), Korean and a few Brits (guilty as charged) making up the rest. Announcements were in English and Japanese. Can't speak for others but it gave me the opportunity to increase my limited Japanese vocabulary and keep up my French...

Recently returned from a 7-day cruise out of Kobe on the Diamond as part of a 2 and a bit week holiday in Japan (first week we spent in Kyoto - a city I'll definitely recommend if you've never been).

The Diamond's a beautiful ship, which has the new Princess bedding - dead comfy. Add a gently motioning ship and Mrs SoCal and I had no problem stacking Zeds. Food in the MDR was OK - nothing really wowed us (compared to both the Star and Majestic last year) - but it was all edible and no one on our table complained. HC does indeed serve ramen and cold noodles - they're not bad tbh (not as good as the real thing, but make for a pretty decent lunch) - and a pretty decent number of curry dishes (I digress). As befits a ship where the the passenger demographic is overwhelmingly Japanese (~ 65% on our cruise), there's a sushi restaurant (underwhelming by all accounts - I'd already had my fill by then, so can't comment), a decent selection of Japanese dishes for lunch, dinner and breakfast, including natto with your miso soup and grilled salmon, should you desire. While there's no tub chair in your stateroom, there is a kettle - just the thing to make a nice cup of matcha.   

15 hours ago, Skai said:

Princess used to have 'something' that set it apart(as a premium line) from the other mainstream lines.  Lately, Princess has lost its unique identity, and has become a lower-class line suited for plebeians.

Plebeians? Have we been formally introduced? I do miss the days of Steerage...

On 6/10/2019 at 2:10 PM, neverbeenhere said:

Here is a list of some passenger's "cutback complaints" More could be added, We see changes in all cruise lines, some for the good and some for the bad.  

 

A list of Princess changes in the last couple years…

1)      Change in the MDR menu, less options, different options on the everyday menu

2)      Change in the Elite lounge drinks and cost

3)      Apparent increased workload per room steward

4)      Generally Slow elite laundry turn around

5)      They got rid of the red/blue carpet and I can’t find my way to my stateroom

6)      Where are those butter pats?

7)      Barrel Barrel, who’s got the barrel chair?

😎     BOGO $1--- no more

9)      Less Buffet variety on older ships

10)   MDR – can you find an assistant waiter?

11)   Dress code loosening

12)   Coffee package replaces coffee cards

13)    

 

Just like food, every cruiser's opinion is purely subjective and from my subjective viewpoint (10 Princes cruises over the past 5 years) and so my subjective thoughts in response to your comments...

1). MDR menu / quality seems more to do with Ship / Chef than any deliberate ploy. Just off of the Diamond and MDR food was OK, but then again for the price of the cruise ("obstructed" - in reality, not - view, shed load of OBC, etc...) I'm not complaining. And proving how subjective comments on food are, our dining room companions were from Oz and one was complaining about food on the Majestic... Which we were on in November and thought was the best MDR food we'd eaten

2). Haven't got that far yet...

3). Our Diamond room steward was the happiest, cheeriest, all round top bloke we've had...

4). $3 a load self-service. Brink your own pods and fabric sheets..

5). Were on the Majestic and Star last year - admittedly not on the Diamond

6). On the dining room tables. Just ask for more if you run out

7). Mrs SoCal misses those - me less so

8). 2 fer 1 on the Diamond - we're not huge boozers anyway

9). See (1). Definitely think lunch choices are better than Dinner. However, we luv a good curry and you can generally get a good curry or 3 in the buffet

10). Never really needed one

11). Lets riff-raff like us in. Clean jeans and shock - wore a shirt (albeit a casual one) this time

12). I've always maxed them out on a cruise anyway. Definitely good vfm for us caffeine addicts

13). Looking forward to the Pacific Princess in August

Truth is, I suspect the cost of cruising, just like flying has never really been cheaper. Certainly even 10 years ago I'd never imagine us taking a cruise or 20-odd years ago regularly flying around the world.