Roll Call: Prince Albert II - Tromso-Reykjavik 22 Aug 2010

[luxury-lizard]

G'day - did a search and did not find a thread on this cruise so I'd thought I'd start one.

 

Pat and Dieter, active retirees from Sydney Australia are booked on this cruise - first ever on SS and full-filling a long time wish to see polar bears in the wild.

 

We are arriving in Tromso on 18 Aug (from Copenhagen) staying at the Radisson then 5 additional nights in Reykjavik on arrival there.

 

Love to hear from others on the same cruise.

[Aussieflyer]

Hi Pat & Dieter

We are booked on this cruise too - another Aussie couple and just down the road from you! We are not arriving into Tromso until 21 Aug as we have a few days in Copenhagen first! This is listed as part of a Captain's Choice tour in Aust so it will be interesting to see if there is a large contingent from here on the cruise.

Like you we are hoping to see polar bears in the wild. SS cruisers do not seem to set up roll calls so it is hard to see who else will be on the trip.

 

Jenny & Phil

[luxury-lizard]

Hi Jenny & Phil - good to hear there will other Aussies on board. We are also spending 4 days in CPH prior to flying to Tromso on the 18th. Anyway - perhaps we (and any others who respond to this roll call) could meet for a drink or whatever on the 21st. Cheers, Pat

[rojaan19]

Hi Pat, Dieter, Jenny and Phil,

 

We will be getting off the PA II the day you board.

We are on the 12th August cruise. We are really looking foreward to the cruise too.

I certainly hope we all see some polar bears :)

 

Ann

[Aussieflyer]

Hi Pat & Dieter

From memory (must check the confirmation emails!) we are at the Radisson in Tromso on 21 Aug so hopefully we will be able to catch up for a drink. I saw your post re the clothing -being from Canberra we have the thermals but as we are not skiers we do not have the waterproof stuff. What brand are your over pants? Phillip has a pair of ski pants luckily but I don't. We want 2 of the outers as we are flying Finnair and they have a tendency to lose luggage from what I read so will split the outer wear between our cases and hope that at least one arrives. We have a much shorter trip than you - only a few days in Copenhagen, overnight in Reykjavik and a couple in Oslo on the way back - only away 4 weeks this time.

Will be interesting to see if others join the board.

J

[luxury-lizard]

Hi Jenny - we bought our waterproof over-pants at Katmandu in Sydney - not sure if they have a shop in Canberra - they are Katmandu's own brand. Katmandu often have 50% off sales, we got ours on sale a year ago for less than $100. In fact they have a sale on right now - we're going there today or tomorrow to get some gear for our up coming Gibb River Road trip - I'll check out the water-proof hiking pants and report back.

 

While we both have ski-pants we don't plan to bring these and they are over-the-boot style and don't seem suitable. We plan to wear thermal underwear (if required), jeans or other warn regular pants, then the over-pants. Hopefully one can tuck the jeans into the wellies with the waterproof pants over the wellies. I think some sort of gloves - as waterproof as possible would be a good investment - we have Gortex ski gloves so these should do.

 

Anyway - see you on the 21st.

[luxury-lizard]

Yes Katmandu does have the same water-proof over-pants right now on sale at 50% (reg price $199). The Sydney shop had limited supply.

[Aussieflyer]

Thanks for the info - our local Kathmandu had the trousers but again limited sizes and they were not on special. We did pick up a couple of pairs of similar ones at Paddy Pallin this morning so that is good. I see you created a bit of a stir on the HAL board with the smoking question. We are looking at a HAL Mediterranean cruise in 2011 (a friend and I rather than Phillip) and am a little hesitant about booking for just that reason. We have cruised Azamara and enjoyed it and in January we have a Celebrity South America booked with friends.

[luxury-lizard]

Hum, yes, the responses to my question on the HAL forum re smoking took me by surprise - as you can see I completely dropped out of this very emotive issue. Dieter and I are still in the long term planning phase for a 2011 trip to South America. We're now thinking that if we're happy with the PAII High Arctic trip - we'll consider the PAII to Antarctica as part of a SA trip and maybe the one down the Chilean coast (but there are other options for this section).

 

We've never done a large ship cruise so have a number of concerns over ships with 1000+ passengers much less 3000 (not just smoking). We have done: North Shore Cruises (True North) twice (the Kimberly's and west coast of Oz), the Seadream Yacht Club in the Mediterranean, and Bora Bora Cruises in Tahiti - Seadream was the largest boat with about 120 passengers.

 

Anyway - since we now are thinking of Antarctica next year we think we might order the higher-end wellies from the PAII online expedition shop and take them home with us - it seems from reading that these would be warmer than the regular rubber ones.

 

Cheers, Pat

[luxury-lizard]

Bump - hey we're getting closer - any other fellow cruisers out there??

 

Cheers, Pat & Dieter

[retiredbrit]

Hi All, Got back yesterday from PAll Spitzbergan to Tromso - great experiance, once I get my act together I will be posting on this site "Things I wish I knew" - but just quickly dont pay too much for your overtrousers - cheap ones are ok - in the UK any walking shop will have them between £20 to £50

We needed them in the zodiacs, sometimes for a small amount of spray and because the sides of the zodiacs are damp. If I can answer questions - fire away

regards Alan

[Aussieflyer]

Hi all,

Getting close now - have organised the clothing etc for the cruise but will need to think about packing carefully for our time in Stockholm etc (not to take too much as we have an economy flight from Reykjavic to Oslo so less luggage allowance). We will be arriving in Tromso on Friday, staying at the Radisson so we may be able to catch up for a drink before we embark. I just remembered that there is a Captain's Choice tour (from Australia) which has the cruise as part of the tour so that may explain in part why there are so few postings on CC. I remember we looked at the tour and then decided to do the cruise only as we did not want to be locked into the land portion as well (and we tend to be a bit wary of group touring as a rule). Am keeping an eye on the weather forecasts and have been reading the Silversea trip journals on their site - hope we get the same number of wildlife sightings!

Jenny & Phillip

[luxury-lizard]

Hi Jenny & Phillip et al, we will also be staying at the Radisson in Tromso (from Wednesday) so perhaps we should meet in the bar for a drink on the Friday or Saturday (say at 6PM) - you can always leave us a message with the hotel (last name Schafer).

 

We'll also be challenged with our packing as our flights from Copenhagen to Tromso then Reykjavik to Frankfurt are also in Y so I guess the limit is 20kg + carry on. In the end we decided to buy our own Wellies (sea boots from a sailing shop) as we wanted to be sure they fit. We're also bringing hiking boots. My idea is to put the Wellies in a "$2 bag" (you know those heavy duty square plastic bags with zip tops) and have a second carry-on and hope we get away with this. Then we'll wear our hiking boots and Silversea jacket on the plane... as well as fleece, etc to reduce suitcase weight.

 

I certainly won't win any prizes for best dressed on the PAII - dress pants and nice top will be my attire on special evenings - well all evenings probably. For security reasons I never travel with other than very basic jewellery.

[retiredbrit]

From our last PA2 cruise

 

Now I know I would never take rubber boots unless you have a difficult size foot, they had lots of pairs on board. You are called to reception a deck at a time and the crew bring boots for you to try. I take a UK 9 1/2 shoe and size 11 hiking boots and I had lots of choice and ended with a insulated pair from the ships stock.

Walking boots can be usefull if you have dry landings but as most are wet landings there really isnt really time to change.

Take a walking pole.

regards Alan

[Aussieflyer]

Thanks Alan for the info on the boots - we are not taking our own and were a little worried about the stocks on board but figured (hoped) it would be OK based on other postings. About the trekking pole - is one enough or did you feel that a pair was better?

Thanks in anticipation

Jenny & Phillip

[Aussieflyer]

Hi Pat & Dieter,

Good luck packing! We too will be wearing several layers on the Y flights! Originally we were spending time in Copenhagen and then flying up to Tromso but changed that and are now going into Stockholm for a few days then on the train up through Sweden to Narvik and then by bus to Tromso. Will look out for you at the hotel (our surname is Jones). I changed my booking there as Radisson had a summer special which was cheaper than the rate I had originally booked which was handy based on the cost of Scandinavian hotels!

Jenny & Phillip