GrammySpo

Also on this cruise so looking forward to seeing it through your eyes too.

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Alesund– I did the Hjorundfjord cruise through Princess – I can’t find the link to the tour. Weather was 59 degrees and sunny. All I can say is that this boat was much nicer than the previous boat. It wasn’t crowded at all! It was a gorgeous day to be outside and go through the Hjorundfjord which is a lesser known fjord. After the cruise, I had a few hours to walk around Alesund. Such a delightful small city (population 48,000). There were water canals that ran through the city and you would often walk to the end of the street and there would be water. Many of the streets were cobblestone. I did not go up to the top of the city to take a picture but if you google Alesund, you will see some scenic pictures of Alesund. It was the first time in many days where I had free time to walk around as I had booked so many all day tours. Picture perfect weather day.

 

Bergen– I booked Fjords and Waterfalls through Princess: https://www.princess.com/excursion/exDetails.page?t=E&exType=S&tourCode=BGO-125

It was 55 degrees here and sort of rainy/misty here. My tour took up the entire time in Bergen (wish we had longer time). Tour cost $90. We went to Steinsdalsfossen waterfall which was a huge waterfall that one can walk up behind it. It rained on our way there but was fine when we were there. It was amazing but I missed Bergen by seeing it. I really would love to go back to Bergen. I hear Bergen is very scenic and I definitely want to return to spend time in Bergen.

 

Some notes about the cruise:

 

I had air conditioning problems in my room. I would not get back until late (for me) and when I tried to go to sleep, it was hot in my room. There were a few nights where I ended up calling Passenger Services desk at 11 or 12 pm with my room being approx. 77 degrees. After it was fixed, it took a few hours to cool the room down. I realized the fist night when it was hot that my alarm clock had a thermostat it it. They had to come 3 different times before it was fixed. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well the first half of the cruise (and missed the wonderful sun not setting pictures that my friends got!) Except for reporting the issue, I never asked for anything nor did I ask to change rooms. It did make me regret booking an inside cabin though! I did receive a call from a Manager the last day offering OBC to make up for my inconvenience. I thought the amount was generous.

 

The Princess bed that was in my room was very comfortable! The linens were of high quality but were quite heavy considering I had this warm cabin. I ended up grabbing one of the blankets that was outside to use on deck and used that in my cabin.

 

Food – I thought the food in the dining room was mediocre at best. I am not a fan of buffets and usually stay away from them but felt myself drawn to it as some of the menus were uninspiring. Even worse, some of the food was tasteless in the buffet and dining room. The beef was the worst. One night, everyone at our table ordered Filet Mignon and it was this gray piece of meat with barely any grill marks on it and was tasteless. None of us ate the piece of meat. We all sort of played with it and our waiter kept asking us if it was prepared properly. We didn’t want to say anything negative to our waiter (as our wait staff was really good on this trip) – we just all explained that we were not that hungry. I later switched to chicken and it wasn’t any better. The salads started out excellent and after a week, they were poor also. I ordered a simple garden salad which is iceberg, tomatoes and cucumbers and all of my lettuce was white hard pieces. It should never have been served. The pastas seemed to be the one thing that I could order safely. The buffet was uninspiring as well. One night at the buffet they served roast beef and it was tasteless. I did eat one night at Sterling Steakhouse and it was good. I probably should have gone there more often. By no means did I starve but overall, was not impressed with the food.

 

I did go to Alfredos a few times and did enjoy that. A few times I went, there were lines. It was a popular place. Alfredos downstairs was serving pizza with the good (round cheese). Upstairs started with the bad cheese but ran out and is now serving the good cheese.

 

The grill upstairs was good. At night, it became a BBQ joint with 2 different menus – one night serving brisket, bbq wings, ribs and along with hamburger and hot dogs. Another night had orange molasses grilled chicken, beef chili, North Carolina pulled pork along with hamburger and hot dogs and they rotated. The guy who worked there was from India and was very friendly.

 

I did order a hamburger with room service on one of the nights I was waiting for someone to come to fix my air conditioning. It resembled a hockey puck. French fries were good though.

 

There was not enough people on the ship to do a Chef’s table. They did do a Crab Shack one night – I only know this as I went to see if there was an opening at Sterling Steakhouse that night and it was Crab Shack. I spoke with others who wanted to try Crab Shack but missed the one night they offered it.

 

Entertainment– I thought it was top notch on this cruise. There were several events at night I wanted to go to and it conflicted with each other. Most people seemed pleased with the various entertainment options. I liked a guitarist/singer named Chris Ricketts. ELUA was on our sailing but not doing Hawaiian music. Pete Best (fifth Beatle) did a talk one morning that I only caught the last part of. Chris Watkins did “Fireworks on Four Strings” which I thought was excellent. Peter Howarth from “the Hollies” also performed – I missed this. There was also a Chris Watkins and Peter Howarth combination one night. Danny Hunt and Stephanie Clarke were Escape Artists - people enjoyed this as well.

 

Production shows: Piano Man, Bravo, Do you Wanna dance, Let me entertain you, Born to be Wild.

 

To wrap up the review – I had planned to do Alaska again this summer (B2B). I usually book those trips last minute but had booked it far in advance and when you do that, Alaska is expensive. I looked at Norway and for 2 weeks, Norway turned out to be cheaper. Of course after I added Business Class air, hotel in London and very expensive excursions, this turned out to be one of my most expensive trips to date. Was it worth it – definitely. The best way to describe it was “Alaska on steroids with different types of glaciers”. Since I love Alaska, I knew I would love Norway (cooler climate, beautiful scenery, wild life, etc…). Norway did not disappoint and I would love to return. Most people on this cruise were extremely well traveled. The most sailed couple had almost 1900 days on Princess.

 

When most go to Europe for the first time, they do the Baltic or the Med. I strongly recommend Norway if you have traveled to the usual European ports. I can also add that I would have been disappointed with a 7 night Norway cruise or a combination of Norway and another country. I loved that we went as far North that we did and thoroughly enjoyed most of the ports. I wish I had gone to more Norwegian ports as I look at other itineraries, they go to many places we missed. I struggled on excursions as there were so many things that interested me. I also enjoyed this trip as I am less interested in “large cities” lately and more into nature and scenery. If you have never considered Norway and enjoy Alaska, I strongly recommend it. I have never seen so many waterfalls in my life!

Internet was very slow on the ship. I used all of my 250 free minutes just logging in and downloading email and then responding and then logging in again to send the emails. I barely looked at any website.

I am also very thankful to having a wonderful roll call! I appreciated all the research they did before I joined and how helpful everyone was.

 

I had hoped to include pictures but it will just have to wait. I had a conference immediately after this trip and am now in “back to school” world where I work. I hope everything I posted was accurate and will try to answer any questions. Apologies for any spelling and grammatical errors! I am not going to read this one more time as it won’t get posted. I keep wanted to add more and it is already a novel. Hopefully it helps future cruisers plan trips as I had a difficult time finding some info on some excursions.

Thank you for the review. Food is subjective. I enjoyed my meals in the dining room and have to say there was confusion on the Chefs table. Initially we were told there were not enough people. We asked the mature de the second day and he said he would check on it. We were confirmed the next day. It was fabulous. Always enjoy but lots of food!!!! I really disliked the setup for Vines—don’t feel its conducive to good customer service. That was my only complaint for the whole trip. Thought it was fabulous.

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I may be a Matt O’Brien groupie. I have done 6 cruises with him. The first 5 were just lucky, but the last one was planned. I am going on two more this fall. He makes the journey so much fun. I have mostly had good CDs with only a couple that I don’t care to cruise with again. Granted the main purpose dips the itinerary so it wouldn’t stop me if one of “those” was my CD but it would impact my ship experience. Always keep in mind you are in a cruise so it’s all good!

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I'm looking forward to trying all these places for food but also looking for others experiences with the alcohol drinks packages...new to cruising and while I have a husband who can drink several drinks plus, I don't have his stamina :( so two packages wouldn't be smart. Will he be able to get me a drink here and there or is that type of behaviour policed!

You both don’t need to buy the drink package so he can have the drink package and you can buy the few drinks that you like.

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May be on that one with you if it departs NY on September 25. Looking forward to another cruise with Matt O. It’s not about the food for me although that is part of the experience. For me its the sites, the people, the laughs, the music, etc.

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Embarrassing to tell my story but it’s kind of funny. Went to dinner last night of cruise, came back later (champagne may have been involved) and determined I didn’t need the clothes I was wearing or the ones that were sitting out. Wore my jammies to bed and realized when I woke the next day that was all I had left to wear off the ship. Clothes were gone. Wore my jammies to LAX and changed there. Needless to say I am ultra paranoid that I have my clothes out and a backup option so I don’t experience that again!

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Host Bonjour,

 

Thank you for your comments. Yes, can't wait to go back to Liverpool as there is so much to see.

 

That's a terrific idea about Dublin.

 

Keith

I was a fan of the Beatles and thought since we were in Liverpool should do a walking tour of the the Beatles. I loved it soooo much. The Beatles channel is always on my Sirius XM channel. Some might say I’m obsessed. Loved visiting there so much!

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Nope! I many times make my mind up on the ship after I get a feel for what I want to do. I used to reserve and cancel as soon as I made my mind up prior to the cruise. Doesn’t work that way now so not really using much anymore.

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We have several people on our June (Sapphire Princess) cruise that booked with them last year. I am booked with Princess as a backup (and there are alternatives privately also) but it is easier to cancel a tour with Princess. I am also waiting. I have messaged them on FB, sent them an email, etc.. Frustrating.

 

I started looking probably 6 weeks ago and have not had luck getting a hold of them.

Also on the Sapphire June trip this year. Interested in any info you gather.

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That I cannot answer as we weren't transferring to Southampton when we stayed there.

Last July we paid $180 for 4 people to travel directly from hotel to cruise port.

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If anyone one has done this from a recent Princess Cruise (we will be on Royla in June) if you could give me an idea on how long tendering actually took, it would really help in trying to figure out how to get DH to St. Andrews.

We hired a private tour that included 4other people. It was advertised as an 8 hour tour as I recall. Our guide was waiting for us at the port in a minivan after tendering. We took a tour of a distillery (Kingsport as I recall), then on to St. Andrews where we ate lunch (in the town) first and then did the one-hour tour of St. Andrews walking part of the new course and the 16-18th holes of the Old Course. We were given time to do some shopping before we headed back to the ship. It was a great day. I purchased the tour through aviator. Cost last July was $238for 2.

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I always decorate my door using magnets from the dollar store or party store, so not very expensive. Surprisingly I had owls taken off my door during a fall cruise, and happy new year signs this year, but not til after December 31. Crazy that someone would want these cheap magnets. Oh well, I will continue to decorate. I think it’s fun!

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Nhawley33 at gmail dot com. Would love to see your notes.

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We did the 14 night cruise in June '17, summer solstice, and had a wonderful and very relaxing time. Favorite ports included Tromso, North Cape and Bergen. Our ship only had an abbreviate time in Bergen and that's one port in which I wish we had a full day.

 

 

 

Trying to get to sleep when there was no sunset, was a bit of a challenge when we were over the Arctic Circle. Returning to the ship after a day exploring the various ports, it was great to sit on our balcony [appropriate beverage in hand] watching the scenic vistas and waterfalls as we sailed out of the long fjords. We could have taken a shorter cruise, but the 14 night is the way to go.

 

 

 

Darcy

Would love to hear more information as I am doing this one this year. Did anyone use private tours? If so, which ones. Public transportation options?

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I just had this excursion cancelled for my 4/1/2018 RCL Allure cruise; not sure why I was able to purchase this during black friday sale if it was destroyed. Now I need to choose another and hope they let me apply the discount I lost. Hope it gets back up and running soon, sounds like a great experience.

 

 

 

Dan

I contacted the zip lining company and they were closed and not sure they were going to reopen.

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Doing this cruise January 9. Have done a lot of Princess Cruises and am so happy with the staff and entertainment you listed. Hope they are still there next month. Looking forward to more info.

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How did the zip lining course fare after the hurricane?

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Just catching up with this. Looks like a fabulous cruise, one that I want to do someday.

Hi LoveZags—are you from Spokane?

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Following as well. Who is the host of Stammtisch?

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I understand your fear of posting too many photos. I too took so many photos from my sail away (first time to New York). Couldn’t get enough of the skyline, Lady Liberty, the water action, loved it all.

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Found you.

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Link doesn’t seem to work.

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Did a British Isles cruise this summer and Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days) and Kathy Kinney (Mimi on the Drew Carey show) were on board and just as nice as they could be.

 

 

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That was a Princess cruise though not a Carnival cruise.

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Did a British Isles cruise this summer and Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days) and Kathy Kinney (Mimi on the Drew Carey show) were on board and just as nice as they could be.

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Perhaps someone could give some advice as we are also doing a British Isles cruise next summer and are flexible with sailing dates. Could do any sailing in June or July.

 

One itinerary goes to Kirkwall, another goes to Liverpool and a third does Dublin with two full days and overnight. Kirkwall sounds wonderful but it is a tender port and I've read often missed.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

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I know nothing about Kirkwall as our cruise stopped in Liverpool. We did a fabulous walking tour of the Beatles and former hangout, the Cavern, the museum, and a bus tour to Penny Lane and Strawberry Field. So much Beatle history—loved it!!

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