RiverCityCruiser

44 minutes ago, R30KK66 said:

We are scheduled to cruise on the Bliss out of Seattle to Alaska on July 19th. I am thinking this will get canceled but wondering how long Norwegian will wait until they do cancel.

 

NCL will wait until the very last minute most likely.

This is a great thread.  I agree with all that was said. 

We quickly achieved 4 star status (or as my wife calls it "unlimited free laundry"), with HALs long trips.

Voyage of the Vikings, Circling the South Pacific, repositioning to South America, Two & Three week Alaska cruises, Collector cruises (special priced B2B), etc.

The Prinsendam cruises were great. Even though this ship is no longer part of the fleet. HAL seems to carry on its tradition on the older smaller ships.

There was a mattress pad and it was replaced, also since the ship had just finished dry dock in December, it had all the new mattresses and linens. The mattresses did not look dirty.

Two years ago on the Ruby went to the theatre for a behind the scenes tour. A long lecture had just ended.

Sat down and I told my husband "this seat feels really cold". Sat a few minutes then realized it felt wet.

Someone had peed on the seat. It was soaked. My white pants were now yellow on the bottom.

Ran back to cabin, stripped down, showered, threw my pants in the shower too. It was the last sea day before we got off the ship.

Now I always feel the seat in theatre or anywhere else on a ship before I sit down.

 

As far as our mattresses in the cabin, I try not to think of what may have been there before we arrived.

On a recent Ruby cruise (last month), they have the newer mattresses and linens. The bedding is not an improvement over previous. Instead of a Duvet cover on the comforter there is two sheets wrapped around it.

They come undone easily during the night and the comforter is exposed. I asked the room steward for the old Duvets but they no longer have them on the ship. I hope those comforters get changed between cruisers.

I also checked out the mattress. Except for a sheet over it, no mattress pad. I noticed the mattress (has been there for a little over a year) was pretty dirty . So no wonder there are germs spread on ships.

I took my mother on the California coastal cruise on the Grand Princess out of San Francisco. Everything was fine until I went to bed after 10pm. I pulled back the blanket and I noticed that the bottom sheet looked wet. I asked my mother if her bed had the same rather large spot and it did not. When I touched the spot it was wet and when I smelled my hand, it smelled of urine! To say I was not happy, is an understatement. Someone from the front office came and inspected the bed. They sent a steward, to what he thought was simply a mission tohange the sheets. But I insisted that he take all the bedding out, including the mattress and bring all fresh bedding. (I did not get another of their new, fancy mattresses.I got one of the older, hard mattress.) Then during the week, we had to call the front desk at least 4 times to tell them that the toilet was not flushing. Their apology consisted of sending us a short note, saying they were sorry along with 4 chocolate dipped strawberries. I think part of the problem is because they have cut back on services. Instead of 2 cabin stewards per room, they now only have 1 and they are expected to turn the rooms around in a short amount of time. The sheets had not been slept in, so I know that the sheets had been changed, but the bed had not been checked to see if it was ready to be made up.

According to the current hotel site the 30 days needs to be in Germany, not just the EU. Too bad! It was a very nice place to visit.

Sorry to hear this, but thanks for the heads up.

We do tend to stay for 30 days or more when we travel overseas, so we will have to make sure that we follow the new rules.

Sorry to hear about the low water problems. We sailed the Viking Eistla (Amsterdam to Budapest), the last week of May and the first week of June, this year. At Passau Germany, they showed us the high water flood marks that had occurred at the same times in 2013 & 2014.

Apparently the rivers can have a very wide range of conditions.

Our trip was great. Hope everything works out for the best for all of you.

USO locations in USA. Great volunteers. Stop by for a rest and snack. Make a donation to their contribution box.

http://www.uso.org/Centers/USO-Centers---United-States.aspx

Just completed a 32 day San Diego to Buenos Aires cruise (Oct-Nov) on the Zandam.

We had two "service dogs" on the San Diego to Santiago segment. No big problems, except my wife's allergies. We avoided as much as possible. The animals were clearly treated as pets.

Let me get this straight.

The new modern advanced cruise ship terminal accomodates ONE cruise ship!

According to their self publicity:

"When completed, the 1,358-foot berth will be able to accommodate the largest visiting cruise ships. It is designed to handle 2,600 passengers routinely, and up to 4,000 in a pinch. Pier 35 will become the back-up berth when two ships are in the city at the same time"

What kind of advanced forward thinking planning is this? The very old Pier 35 can at least currently accomodate TWO cruise ships. Plans to accomodate the largest ships and targeting for 2600 passengers!?!? Another disconnect.

This is typical of the decision making of the elected rulers of San Francisco.

Very sad.

bon voyage experience

 

you get on board, have a little tour and a little lunchie, then you get off--no actual cruising takes place.

Thanks Suzann & Smokeyham.

I went to a travel show last night and the Princess rep confirmed that they still have the BVE. She didn't have a list of availibility, but said to contact TA or Princess.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread. This unique benefit from Princess probably needs a sticky. Then again it may be better as a best kept secret.

Glad to hear that boarding for the current cruises is happening earlier, that people are not having to stand in a line outside of the cruise terminal, and that it is still possible to get a served lunch in the MDR.

 

It sounds like they are really trying to do away with a served lunch in the MDR on boarding day. I wonder what they will do on cruises where there is no BVE experience? Will they just close the dining room? Our upcoming cruise is like that (No BVE), so I will report back on how that goes. It does seem like a bit of bait and switch, i.e. show people a served lunch for their BVE and let them think this is what is available when they board for their cruise, then not allow that on embarkation day.

What is BVE?

If I end up with a long layover in an airport with a USO, they can be nice to relax, grab a snack, and pass the time, whether I'm on military travel or not. I'm very appreciative of those that volunteer with the USO for us.

Thanks for this thread. Great information.

When at LAX (Los Angeles), the Bob Hope USO is centrally located next to the old restaurant observation tower. Great staff and services!

This is also a good reminder to get my USO donation in.

The beautiful new SF Cruise Terminal had a soft opening on Thursday, 9/18 and the Crown Princess was the first to berth there. The Grand Opening with speeches and hoopla will be next Thursday 9/25, and the Grand Princess will be in port. For all of us San Francisco cruisers, this is a long awaited and much anticipated facility - the old terminal at Pier 35 was just not reflective as a first impression of the beauty of San Francisco. We're going on Thursday to see the ceremony and check out this new terminal!

 

Here's the full news story:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-s-new-cruise-ship-terminal-opens-without-5765244.php

"Himself Thanks for the Daily fleet report. it is not often that a HAL ship stops in San Francisco. Today we will have two Vista ships there at the same time."

Way over due, but glad to have it open.

The time has come!

The whole process was actually even easier. The night before new ship cards were delivered to us. At 10:30 we were directed to the lounge next to the gang way, swiped old cards out and new cards in. We could have gotten off the ship or stayed on. Simply a port stop for us B2B passengers.

All we had to do was fill out the standard customs form and turn it in earliar. There was no face to face customs or imigration.

Interstingly, on the final return to San Francisco we filled out the standard customs form on board and simply walked off the ship in San Francisco. No individual face to face customs or imigration for US pasport holders.

Sounds like a good plan! You can always make the best on any cruise.

These are drinking, gambling and party cruises. Especially the ones that are over the weekend out of LA.

We prefer the seven day cruises.

The TA was able to confirm with Princess and called my wife. Everyone agrees with your assesment. Sounds good. We appreciate your posts.

We will be doing Grand Princess back to back Oct 19 California Coastal followed by Oct 26 Hawaii round trip. We have done three back to backs in recent years. However, all have been Celebrity, with the changeovers all in Europe. Even though we had to change cabins each time, the transitions were painless. We were able to leave our luggage on board and received our new key cards on board by the arrival morning. We could have stayed on board, if we desired. Essentially they were just port calls for us.

Question: Will US customs/San Francisco allow us to leave our luggage on board and/or stay on the ship? Neither Princess nor TA seems to have the answer. Thoughts?