piper28

Yeah, the art auctions done by Park West are something of a joke, with prices that don't make sense, and auctioneers that I've definitely seen playing fast and loose with what they were describing. The mix of artwork has changed significantly too, and quite frankly what PW is bringing isn't stuff that tends to appeal to me. Back in the PFA days, I always felt that the auctioneers did a pretty good job of describing exactly what you were buying. And especially in december when they'd tend to run free shipping specials, a couple of pieces I definitely got for significantly less than I'd have been able to on land. But I also did a lot of research about pieces I was looking at before buying anything.

Back in the PFA days, they did run auctions on the small ships. They were held up in the lounge forward on deck 10. I think they stopped even before things went over to PW, and I've never seen them on the small ships since PW.

No upgrade only reduces your chances of being moved, but the reality is the contract that you agree to pretty much means Princess can move you if they have some reason they feel they need to. Personally I've never been moved with no upgrade marked, but people have definitely had it happen.

I think the no shorts in Europe thing is something of an urban myth. Back when I did a Med cruise (which was several years ago now, although the Baltic one was more recent), the temperatures that year were very high, mid to upper 90s and over 100 in Malta. Pretty much everywhere you went, people wore shorts. And it's not just tourists that were wearing shorts. Heck, we brought long pants to slide on for some churches, and in Malta, the guy watching the door at the one church just kinda laughed when he saw that we were going to slide pants on, and just told us to come on in (along with everyone else that was wearing shorts). It may have been true at one point, but these days, it's generally not a problem.

Now, that said, there are a couple of exceptions. If your visiting mosques, you will be expected to cover up, although many seem to provide a coverup you can borrow, but that will depend on where you're at. (And of course, right now you're not likely visiting mosques in istanbul.) St Peters at the Vatican was also the other major exception. They have people actively checking for clothing, although even then I found the policing to be somewhat arbitrary (that said, if they say no to what you're wearing, then you don't get much choice, so plan accordingly).

Quite honestly, some of the larger ships would be real ill-suited for a panama canal cruise even if they do fit. With many ships no longer having any real promenade deck, you lose a lot of good locations for watching the passage from the ship. Some of these ships if you aren't on a balcony cabin, you're going to have problems finding a spot to watch things.

(Quite honestly, the rates for transiting the new locks are borderline insane, so that might cut down on the number of cruise lines that decide it's really worth it too.)

I've got kinda mixed opinions about taking the subway from the airport myself. It's been a few years, but we did it when we stayed at the Athens Hilton. It was doable, but I don't know that I'd do it again. We found the subway started getting more and more crowded the further we got in, to the point where getting off of it was not all that easy. Then after getting to street level, crossing the major road we had to cross to get to the hotel was definitely something of an experience - anyone that's seen Athen's drivers would probably recognize how crossing a major street, even at a light, while dragging a couple suitcases would be "exciting".

Then you can pay the cruise line price for the tour... If the fine print says it, then you know what your getting into. If you didn't read the fine print, then that's on you.

You misunderstand my statement. I don't have a problem with the company charging a 50% fee if they disclose that. People can choose to book with them or not depending on how they feel about that. But keeping 50% and then sending that letter to the people that didn't make the port? Even if they didn't charge a fee, the tone of that letter is completely, totally unprofessional, and *never* should be sent to a customer. If they want to complain to the cruise line, well, they're welcome to that, but I think I know what file that complaint will go in. But the customer should never be dragged into that.

Wow, if I got a letter like that from a company that keeps 50% if the cruise ship doesn't make port, I don't think they'd really like my response to them.

Also, note that since a blackjack with a $6 bet cannot be paid off at exact odds, the player will be paid $7 for their $6 winning bet, which increases the house advantage even further.

 

 

Grey

That's what I was trying to say, although not real well. I figure they're trying to drive the side-bet, because it just doesn't make sense to bet the $6 all on the main bet.

Three trips to Alaska so far for me - 1 northbound with interior afterwards, one RT out of seattle, and one b2b out of vancouver, all Princess. On the RT, made the most traveled party as a platinum (which I don't believe they do anymore), made the most traveled on both legs of the b2b, including being #3 on the sb (Pacific) last year, with something around 175 days. I was a little stunned at that one.

I've seen enough different things on the trips that I'd have no problems going back when I can catch a fare that's reasonable. I'm not going to pay top dollar to go back, but if I get a good fare? I'd go again in a heartbeat. This particular year prices seem to be on the high side so far. Every trip into Glacier Bay has been different, even when they were as close together as the b2b.

Alaska is one destination that has a large section of it that's best viewed by cruise ship, so if people are doing that one trip to Alaska, they're likely to take a cruise, even if they don't normally want to do cruises. Some of them get hooked, and start taking more cruises, some don't and never get on a ship again.

I also think some people really just under estimate how infrequently a lot of people travel for a vacation. I know some people that haven't been on a plane in over 10 years, and just rarely seem to do much other than go north for a week or two in the summer here in Michigan.

Oh, and making $6 as the minimum really makes no sense. Sounds like someone on that ship just really wants people to bet that extra bet, because $6 as the basic bet doesn't make sense on a 6:5 table. I have to admit, that'd annoy me enough not to play at that table.

Unfortunately, the 6:5 is getting pretty common on $5 tables pretty much everywhere. I looked up the odds difference, and decided it wasn't enough to stop me. Sure, it's not as good as it was, but it's still one of the better odds in a casino. Something like 2% for the house instead of .5%. (And trust me, on the cruise ship, there's not much that's got that low, even at the 2%).

For me, I tend to feel the $10 game is a little high for what I budget for the casino, so if I want to play, I have to suck it up and play the 6:5. At this point, it's tough to find anything but that anywhere for a $5 game. (The casino's arguments are that there costs have gone up enough that the .5% they're bringing in on a $5 bet just isn't worth it for them anymore because it's not covering their costs. Whether I agree with them or not is kinda meaningless, but I can kinda understand the argument.)

Another really good travel guide book is The Alaska Cruise Companion - A Naturalist's Guide to Alaska's Inside Passage by Rachel Cartwright.

Rachel was the naturalist we had on the Pacific last summer in Alaska. Very approachable, and she'd be out and about talking to people or taking photos.

Thought about getting another copy of the book for her to sign, but I've already got 2 or 3 copies at home, so I *really* didn't need another, plus I'm trying to reduce the number of physical books in my house these days.

I'll either leave the laptop sitting on the desk, or in the bag. While I know the room isn't total secure when the steward is in cleaning, I feel fairly comfortable with that. I've also been known to leave tablets charging on the desk. Heck, I seem to have so many pieces of electronics that I'd never be able to fit everything in the safe anyways, so that's for important things like the wallets and passports.

(Typically, I travel with a roller bag that's designed for cameras/electronics. It's just simply not all going to fit in the safe. I am more careful with the stuff in hotel rooms.)

Ironically, I go on cruises to escape the day to day exposure to electronics :).

In Alaska we did the b2b on the Pacific. The northbound there were some kids, but not really a huge number. There were noticeably more on the southbound, but still not a huge number. Both directions were heavy on first time Princess cruisers (surprised me even though it was Alaska, thought the small ship might cancel that out some). Both directions were around 120-140 returning passengers. (And southbound, at 175 days, we were #3 on the most days.)

Interesting, i was on the Ocean for this past christmas cruise, and the Pacific this year is doing basically the same itinerary as the Ocean did last year. I found it was by far the oldest skewed cruise I've taken on Princess. There were at most a handful of kids, and quite frankly most of those were related to officers. I'm not convinced there were 100 people under the age of 50 on the ship.

We are on the South American voyage on the Ocean Princess. Many supplies that were supposed to meet the ship in Trinidad did not arrive.

I've watched the loading process that goes on in Trinidad, and quite frankly, from what I saw of the local crew there, it wouldn't surprise me at all if something got screwed up there. However it did provide a fair amount of entertainment, especially watching the one fork lift driver get so frustrated that he basically just stormed off leaving the fork lift there. I'm honestly surprised the one roll of carpet they were working on made it onto the ship and not into the water.

The tough part of course is that it's kinda hard for a container to catch up with the ship. I'm sure they have some plans to reprovision in other stops, but it's not going to help if they're behind already, because getting extra supplies to those stops might be tough. You just can't ship extra containers of supplies that fast. My guess would be Rio is the most likely spot where they'd provision next, especially since that's probably also a segment beginning.

Gosh, that sounds good! I think I'll have to look for that in the future. :D Vegetarians can usually find something on the menu, but I think vegans have a harder time of it. Fortunately, no one ever starved on a cruise ship. :D

One cruise we had someone at our table that was something along the line of gluten-free, no dairy, vegetarian (might have been vegan even). I was actually pretty impressed with how well they worked with her to come up with something that would work for her, and as I recall, at least most of the nights she was pretty satisfied with what they came up with. There might have been a night or two that wasn't as good, but heck, that happens to all of us.

The only menu I have seen without a vegetarian option has been the Chef's menu although the pasta was vegetarian, potato gnocchi with roasted portobello tossed with asparagus cream, and a double order would make a nice entree. Even the 50th Anniversary had a vegetarian option but it was on the "always available" side.

It could have been the Chef's menu. As I recall, we actually had 2 Chef's menus on that cruise (slightly different from each other), so that's probably where I'm thinking of a couple nights that didn't have a vegetarian entree. But I want to say one of them the non-alfredo pasta wasn't necessarily all that vegetarian friendly. Like I said though, I wouldn't tend to notice it myself, just I know the one person commented on it, I'd just kinda assumed there really was something on all of them.

There is always at least one vegetarian entree on the menu each night. I hope the Curtis Stone-ization of the menu doesn't change that.

Not necessarily true. Noticed on our Christmas cruise that there were a couple nights where there wasn't actually an entree that was listed as vegetarian. I wouldn't have noticed it myself, but one of our tablemates was a vegetarian. It was a little surprising, as I honestly thought there really was one every night. (I think it was about 2 nights on the 14 days.)

Both Alamo and National offer a shared shuttle to the port (and theoretically back to the airport if you're picking a car up afterwards). Some of the others have closer locations you can drop the car off that also have a shuttle to the port, even if you pick the car up at the airport, but I don't know as much about those (I use national myself, because of company contracts that I can use for personal travel, and having status with them). Of course, even if you end up dropping at the airport and taking a cab over to the port, that doesn't cost much either.

Piper28, that's so helpful; thank you! We do have it booked and don't expect it to drop, though if it does, that would be awesome! We are in our 30s and prefer the big ships for Skywalkers, MUTS, etc, but DH reallllly wants this itinerary. I would prefer the Regal, but we shall see. We almost did your cruise but switched to the Emerald and loved it! Was there a DJ at all? Any modern dance music played on New Year's Eve?

I didn't really hang around the pool area much, for me, I tend to spend far more time on the promenade deck reading. Don't think there was a DJ. I can't remember if it's one singing "group" or two, generally 2 people in the group. I think the vocalist that was one of the evening entertainment shows was singing in the Tahitian lounge NYE, and the main singing act was at the pool stage. I'd call it pretty standard cruise music there. I'm not sure I'd expect modern dance music, and I don't think the age group would probably get into it.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if there were less than 50 people under 60 on the cruise. Like I said, not necessarily an issue, but also not what I'd call a party crowd (which isn't really an issue to me). Even for a small ship it seemed like an old crowd for me. NYE on deck didn't seem to have a huge number of people attending, but I only really have my Amazon cruise to compare to for a small ship - that was far more attended.

There are a number of sea days on the cruise, so if you like a lot of entertainment, you might be in for a shock. Myself, I'd do it again, you get into a number of smaller islands that you wouldn't likely get into on a big ship, and for me it's a fairly relaxing cruise.

And I stand by Spring Bay over the baths. And even more so if there's any ships in Tortola that day. (And talking to people on our cruise that did go to the baths, they felt it was overcrowded, and there were no ships in Tortola that day, although there might have been a windstar ship somewhere else on virgin gorda the same day, but that would be even smaller than we were.)

I'd do this years version of the trip too if it fit our schedule, but I also really like the small ships. I could probably even argue that the itinerary is slightly better than this last one, with St Johns instead of Marigot and Bequia instead of St Vincent (but I'm sure others would probably have differing opinions on whether those changes are better or worse). It does mean 3 tender ports though.

As I recall, it's pretty similar to the itinerary that the one this year was. We just finished that one up last weekend (on the Ocean). Obviously, it's a small ship, so it helps if you happen to like the small ships (we do). I'd say age-wise on our cruise it skewed way higher average age than I've been used to. Not necessarily a problem, but it was still a little surprising for me. Entertainment was probably skewed a little towards the older crowd - a couple of instrumentalists and a vocalist (I'd tend to say the older crowd appreciates these more than the younger crowd). Also had 3 different comedians.

Being a holiday cruise, one thing to watch out for is that several of the islands basically close up town around christmas or new years. We had a couple of ports where basically town was more or less completely empty and closed. So if you really want to do something, expect to look into doing some sort of excursion.

Don't go to the baths on virgin gorda. It's overrated and overcrowded. Do go to spring bay instead. You don't get the crawling through rocks, but you do get a number of sheltered areas created by rocks similar to the baths, there'll be almost nobody there, and the water was a lot clearer.

Don't expect the price to go down. We had a very brief period of time where the price went down some that we caught, but it was only a couple days, and then it went back up, and ultimately ended up higher than what we paid. It is a relatively expensive cruise.

I had no idea Park West Headquarters is located on a highway in a suburb of Detroit :eek:

Thanks for sharing.

I've driven by it a number of times personally. Course, while it's a busy street, I wouldn't really call that stretch a highway regardless of what the name is. And that area is a pretty reasonable area.

Highway in Michigan isn't much different than Road or Street. I've got a number of "highways" near me that are dirt roads.

I would imagine there is a procedure they follow in case of emergency where the carts get moved out of the way.

In a real emergency, the time it takes for the carts to be dealt with could easily be too long. And I'm not overly convinced that in a true emergency that it would ultimately get followed anyways. If something like the crown tilt happened, even though I'm sure the wheels are locked on them, they very easily could fall over, blocking the hallway, or potentially falling on someone walking by. (On that particular day, the timing was such that I don't remember carts in the hallway when it happened.)

The carts don't bother me too much, but I do think they're out there far more often than they used to be. It's something I've noticed far more recently. I do feel there are times when I feel like I have to slide along the wall to be able to get by them.

I don't really have any adequate answers for getting rid of them though.

As soon as my last ink jet cartage runs out I'm finally going to go to a black & white laser. Much cheaper and faster in the long run without having my color cartage dry up for lack of use.

If I need a color photo it's easy to get one from local stores as low cost.

Color laser. Printer cost is more up front, but the cost per page is so much better than an inkjet, and none of that pesky ink drying out. Not as good for printing photos though, although it can be decent if you get the proper paper.