Ruthmcp

Yes, that was our thinking exactly. We need an easy, restful and relaxing time and are looking forward to it immensely.

To be fair to FOCL, we were under no illusion about the terrace cabins from the description on their website. I have checked again just now and can't find anywhere that describes them as balcony cabins, but perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. Whatever, we were happy to pay the extra for private outdoor space on what may well prove to be our last foreign holiday of any kind. Just hope the Norwegian/Scottish weather is kind enough for us to take advantage of our balcony!

We decided against the terrace cabin and booked a balcony, just knew from our only previous cruise, also to Norway, that we would want to be able to enjoy the scenery!

21 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Ireland and the Isle of Mann

Thank you. We are on Borealis in Sep, Norwegian fjords. Considered a terrace cabin but had a few concerns, particularly about privacy. Seems we were right!

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

@ann141 we have just been in a terrace cabin on Borealis. Lovely cruise with great food, service etc.

 

Couple of things you might like to know:

 

Our cabin was not visible from outside but many were very see through, no rhyme nor reason to which were and were not (we checked in daylight and dark).

 

There are lights on the promenade all night and the curtains don’t pull and stay together. Take clothes pegs or clips to keep them closed if you want it dark.

 

There  is much less storage space in the terrace cabins than the standard inside /outsides for some reasons (King sized bed perhaps). We always take hook magnets with us and on this occasion we really needed them as there was no room in the wardrobes for jackets and fleeces. There were 4 fixed wall hooks which we used for heavy jackets and we used the magnets for lighter items.

 

There are two 2 drawer cabinets next to the bed, a wardrobe for gents clothes (too short for dresses), a single wardrobe for hanging dresses (if you put up the shelf which you can) and a shelved wardrobe. There is also a bit of shelf space above the tea tray and safe.

 

Expect to be an early riser for tender ports as dropping the tender is noisy. Great early morning alarm call to get tender tickets.

 

The pads on the steamers get very wet so if they are dry, take them indoors overnight as the staff don’t. The coach at the window is great for watching the scenery if the weather is poor.

 

Please just ask if you have any other questions.

 

Which cruise have you just returned from please?

Thank you edinburgher, that is indeed the main reason we are doing this cruise. We have never forgotten the magic of sailing through the fjords on our one and only previous cruise (on P & O Arcadia), for us the scenery was the highlight of the whole trip. Just hope the weather in Sep is kind to us!

Thank you both for the very helpful and informative replies. For a number of reasons it would not be feasible for us to change to another cruise, even if it were offered as an option. We are determined to just stay positive and enjoy what we can about the cruise, rather than dwelling on what we can't do. My husband's long-term health issues have taught us to always "seize the day"!

Interestingly Flam is also an anchor port on our itinerary, but the port authority website shows "Kai" rather than "Anker" for Borealis on the relevant date. So we shall see ....

We are nearly novice cruisers, having enjoyed one previous Norwegian fjords cruise with P & O in 2017. We are booked with Fred Olsen for a similar itinerary on Borealis in Sep, but three out of the four ports are now tenders. It was two when we booked the cruise, and we knew then that we would not be able to do shore excursions from those two ports due to my husband's disability. We are now resigned to only going ashore in Bergen, but my question is, has anyone ever experienced a Fred Olsen anchor port being changed so that the ship actually docks? We are particularly disappointed that Kirkwall has now been changed to an anchor port.

15 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Try doing a mock booking on your cruise. It will show Deposit and 'Remainder due ##/##/#' that is Final Payment date

 

I did a mock booking it shows June 23rd for Final Payment. 14 Day Midnight Sun ????

Yes that's the one! Thank you Tedferg.

On 4/16/2020 at 3:30 PM, Micahs Grandad said:

Final payment date for our August cruise is now June. Gives us more time to decide if we want to go even if cruise does go off as scheduled.

 

How in the world could they handle social distancing on a cruise ship?

Can I ask which August cruise you are booked on? I have emailed our PCA at Princess to ask about the final payment date for ours (Crown, 22nd Aug from Southampton), but not had a reply.

2 hours ago, pris993 said:

 

Charlie while some may consider your suggestion offensive, I don't.  I worked in a doctor's office for past 20 years.  As a result I know that many people do have underlying, chronic conditions that are not that severe and are managed well, therefore would have no problem traveling.   Deep down we all know whether our condition makes it very difficult  to travel or not and whether we can do anything to improve our situation.  I thought your comment was if there is something we can do to better manage our health go for it, we will feel better, we may be better able to travel or cruise.  I like your attitude. 

My husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 51, he will be 71 this year. He has fought to continue with a "normal" life and done everything possible to keep as well as he can. But this is a horrible, chronic, degenerative, neurological condition that has nothing to do with attitude or lifestyle, and I find Charlie's remarks not only offensive, but deeply hurtful. Think our cruising days are over, in fact I seriously doubt we will ever undertake any form of foreign travel again. By the time it is safe my husband will probably be beyond wanting to make the effort. As another post has commented, holidays are not that important in the current dreadful global situation, but still we feel very sad and can do without being made to feel we could have done something to improve our health!

Thanks for the updates.

Am looking at the Princess website from here in the UK and can't see any update. Can someone enlighten me please?!

I have just discovered that Princess changed their cancellation policy again on 20th March. The final payment date for August cruises has now gone back to the original 90 days prior to sailing. So what they are essentially doing is hoping that people will pay the balance on a cruise which they know will definitely not happen. That way Princess can hang onto the money and offer FCCs which some of us may not want or ever be able to use. I think we may as well just cancel now and wave goodbye to our £1200. This was to have been our first cruise with Princess, would never consider booking with them again, even if deteriorating health did not mean this year was probably our last opportunity.

This is appalling! We are booked on the "Land of the Midnight Sun" sailing on Crown from Southampton on 22nd August. Are fully expecting it to be cancelled, and expecting a refund of our deposit. Nearly £1200, this was to be the trip of a lifetime in a Penthouse Suite. So I now feel very anxious, has anyone else had a similar experience? 

That's great thank you!

Can you let me know whereabouts on Cruise Personalizer the special dietary request is recorded? My husband has coeliac disease and I put in the request for gluten free via Cruise Personalizer, it was confirmed by email but does not show up anywhere when I go into our booking. We are not travelling until August (Baltic Heritage from Southampton on Sapphire Princess) but I want to be sure that there are no issues once we are on board!

We are considering a Sapphire Princess cruise from Southampton to Canada and New England in Sep 2019. However my husband has doubts about the wisdom of (two) transatlantic crossings in terms of weather and sea conditions. This would be only our second cruise, the first being Norway for 12 nights with P & O last year. So it would be a much bigger adventure, and truly the trip of a lifetime, and we don't want to get it wrong! Can anyone offer advice from personal experience? Thanks.