Review of Grand Princess Transatlantic 9/25/2010

[speakertosuits]

Summary. This is our seventh transatlantic crossing but the first time we took the Arctic Circle route. Given the unpredictable nature of North Atlantic weather, we were very fortunate to visit all our scheduled ports. The ports are unique and well worth seeing.

 

Background: We are an early 60s couple, recently retired and living in Brooklyn, NY. This is our 32nd cruise, mostly Holland America with a number of cruises with Celebrity, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean. We have cruised in the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, transatlantic and Hawaii.

Pre-cruise. We flew out from JFK to London Heathrow on Wednesday September 22nd on American Airlines 142 which is a daytime flight that arrives about 8:30 PM at Terminal 3. Due to reconstruction work in the immigration hall and a large number of passengers trying to get in ahead of a possible strike by immigration agents (later called off), we had to wait about 40-50 minutes to clear immigration. From there we went to the baggage hall to reclaim our bags. In Terminal 3, there is a large sign board to the right as you come off the escalator/stairs that will tell on which luggage belt bags from a given flight will be. After exiting the baggage hall, we went directly to the Heathrow Express (follow the signage in the main arrival hall). American also offered Heathrow Express tickets for sale at the boarding counter for about $28 pp for coach service. The Heathrow Express trains leave from a lower platform reachable by ramp and elevator where you can buy tickets using credit cards or cash, ₤18. The trains leave every 15 minutes and take 15 minutes to arrive at Paddington Station in Westminster, just north of Hyde Park. Go to the far end of Platform 1 for first class service and to be closer to the exit from the Paddington station.

We reserved a one bedroom suite at the Darlington Hyde Park hotel on Sussex Garden, about 1/3 mile from Paddington for two nights. While it was expensive, the room was very comfortable and the hotel offered a full English breakfast and free Wifi (lobby only). On Thursday which was rainy most of the day, we did see little Venice which is the interchange point between the Grand Union Canal from the north and the Regent Canal which connects to the Thames. We picked a few books at Foyle's Bookstore on Charing Cross road. Although the rain put a damper on it, we did go to the Camden Locks market which had interesting stuff especially if you are into goth clothing and tattoos. Dinner Thursday, we ate at Kolissi which is a comfortable Greek restaurant near the hotel. We later found that along Edgware Road two blocks east of the hotel, there is an extensive Lebanese district which had a number of places to eat along with drugstores and supermarkets.

Friday the 24th, we took a train from Victoria to Southampton Central. The cab from the Darlington to Victoria cost about ₤17 with tip. Note that taxis can be hailed on the street while cabs are arranged ahead of time for a fixed price. The usual train to Southampton leaves from Waterloo via Southwest Railway taking about 75 minutes for about ₤32 pp. We found that Southern Railway was offering an advance book fare to Southampton for ₤3.75 pp. This ride took about 150 minutes over a longer route. Once at Southampton, we walked our bags to the Novotel Southampton less than a quarter-mile away. The hotel is a modern 7 floor building which shares a parking area with two other hotels. We prebooked a room with queen bed and full English breakfast for about $110. Nearby are a TGI-Friday (blech) and Mickey D (McDonalds). There is an extensive shopping area nearby for anything you might need. That night, we met up with a group of people from cruise-critic on the Grand roll call for dinner. Saturday dawned reasonably clear and we walked around town until 11:30 AM when we checked out and took a car service to the port. The car cost about ₤7 with tip.

The Grand docked at pier 106, Mayflower Terminal, the farthest west passenger port. There was a very long line and no indication of whether there was a separate line for Platinum and Elite pax. We finally found that line after a 30 minute wait and we checked in shortly thereafter. Princess needs to add more service people on embarkation days. Unfortunately, the wait for others was much longer. We got our suitcases before muster drill and unpacked by sail-away.

Itinerary and Weather. The Grand Princess crossing was 16 days from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale along the Arctic Circle. We left Southampton on September 25th at 4 PM; Sunday transiting the Channel and North Sea; Monday, September 27th, Bergen, Norway (noon to 7 PM); Tuesday, Lerwick, Shetland Islands (7 AM to 5 PM); Wednesday, Torshavn, Faroe Islands (7 AM to 5 PM); Thursday, enroute to Iceland; Friday, October 1st, Akureyri, Iceland (7 AM to 4 PM); Saturday, at sea; Sunday, Reykjavik, Iceland (7 AM to 4 PM); three days at sea; Thursday October 7th, Sydney, Nova Scotia (7 AM to 2 PM); three more days at sea arriving Fort Lauderdale on Monday, October 11th at 6 AM.

The weather was rainy in London while Friday night and Saturday morning in Southampton were clear and cool. The transit of the English Channel and North Sea was accompanied by gale force winds and rough seas (2.5 to 4 M or 8 to 13 foot waves) to very rough seas (4 to 6 M or 13 to 20 foot waves). Bergen was sunny and cool while Lerwick was partly sunny and windy. Torshavn was cloudy and rainy. For all three, the sea conditions were moderate (4 to 8 foot waves) which allowed for tender ops at Lerwick and Torshavn. The transit to Akureyri, Iceland had near gale force winds and rough to very rough sea conditions. For both Akureyri and Reykjavik, it was partly cloudy, windy with highs near 50 F. Seas were moderate. After Reykjavik, the weather was cloudy and windy with violent gale conditions and very rough seas to high seas (6 to 9 M or 20 to 30 foot waves) due to a strong low pressure system coming up to the Maritimes. As a result, the captain rerouted us through the Belle Isles passage into the Gulf of St. Lawrence using Newfoundland as a windbreak for our approach to Sydney, Nova Scotia. After Sydney, we sailed into a near gale wind from the south which made for rough seas. The last two sea days were calmer and warmer as we approached Fort Lauderdale. Monday when we disembarked was warm and sunny and our flight home was smooth with some cloudiness at JFK. However, Monday night in Brooklyn, we had severe winds, heavy rains and ½ inch hail that loudly rattled the windows, a rather dramatic ending to our vacation.

The Ship. The Grand Princess was the first of the Grand class of ships and went into service in 1997. While the ship does show some wear and rust spots: that is not uncommon for ships of her age and does not show the kind of wear and tear that some have described. She does not have the International Cafe nor Vines though these service areas are supposed to be added in the April; 2011 dry docking. To distinguish starboard (right) from port (left) on cabin decks, the hallway rugs on the port side have red background in the side trim (even numbered cabins) and the hallway rugs on starboard have light blue trim background (odd numbered cabins). The forward elevator lobby had red and dark blue trim while the aft lobby has light blue with light green trim. The mid-ship elevator lobby is U shaped with the bottom of the U facing forward. There are also two panorama elevators with glass walls mid-ship. This elevator layout appears to apply for all Grand and Crown class ships.

Cabin. We booked a category AD mini-suite on Emerald deck. Since our cabin was at the stern, we did get some ship motion though not as much as cabins near the bow. While we were above the Vista Lounge, there was minimal noise from the shows below and they ended by 11 PM. The stern side thrusters made much more noise and vibration and served as a useful alarm clock when we entered port. The mini-suite is 9 by 30 feet with a shaded veranda measuring 9 by 6.5 feet. The mini-suites are divided into a sleeping and sitting areas each with their own 26 inch LCD TVs. There is a small desk and fridge in the sleeping area and a couch with foldout bed, coffee table and a chair in the sitting area. There is plenty of open shelf space and adequate clothes storage with a walk in closet. The bathroom is full size with a tub and a good amount of open counter and shelf space. There are only two 110 AC sockets in the cabin by the desk. Bring an extension cord or power strip if your electronics use a wall wart charger, otherwise you can use only one socket. There is an extra 110 AC socket behind each LCD TV. The bathroom has Ground Fault Interrupter 110 AC sockets as well. The veranda had two loungers with a cocktail table on one side and two chairs on the other side of the veranda. Only the mini-suites on Emerald deck are covered, all the other mini-suites on Dolphin deck are fully exposed to the weather and the prying eyes of fellow passengers.

Ports of Call. As noted above, Southampton embarkation was not handled well. Additional check-in staff is needed to reduce waiting times that exceeded two hours for some pax. Also in port that day were RCI’s Independence of the Seas and P&O’s Ventura.

Due to the size of the Grand, we did not use the regular cruise ship port in Bergen but rather a cargo port in the south part of the city. We took part in a privately arranged tour of Bergen which was arranged by a cruise critic member. The tour included Fort Fjell, built by the Germans during World War II, a stave church, downtown Bergen and the Mount Floyen funicular. Fort Fjell located in a mountainous area south of the city was built to protect the sea approaches to German occupied Bergen and mounted three 11 inch naval rifles. The fortifications supporting the rifle installation was very extensive and was dug into the mountain. Our tour was pre-arranged and this facility is not yet open to the general public. The stave church was typical of early wood structures in Norway where they are much more familiar with boat building styles. Mount Floyen is about 1,000 feet high just north of the city and is easily accessible by funicular from downtown. It is also accessible by road if you are so inclined. While our timing was constrained by our noon arrival, if you can, it is best to go up Mount Floyen in the morning so the sun is not in your eyes/lens as you look at the city.

We took a ship tour in Lerwick to a Shetland pony farm and to Scalloway Castle. The pony farm was interesting as the ponies (they are true horses though smaller) were bred for harsh climates and grow a very thick coat as protection. They are capable of carrying a full grown person though their feet may drag on the ground. Scalloway Castle was built by then island governor Patrick Stewart who mistreated the islanders to the extent that they eventually rebelled against him. There are also several wind generators that serves one fifth of the island’s electric load. At Torshavn in the Faroe Islands, we just walked around the town; there is a nice park near the top of a hill that gives a view of the harbor. We headed back to the ship when it began to rain. In both Lerwick and Torshavn, tender service was used since we were unable to dock. This necessitated a lengthy wait for going ashore and returning. Not fun waiting in the rain.

In both Akureyri and Reykjavik, Iceland, we took tours arranged by two other cruise critic members. Iceland is very geologically active since it is located on the midlantic rift and it has lots of volcanic activity. In Akureyri, we went first to Godafoss which is a large waterfall near the town where the Icelandic leader, Thorgeir Thorkelsson, decreed the island would convert to Christianity and hurled his pagan idols into the falls. Next was Namaskard which are hot sulfur pits and boiling mud pools. This area provides geothermal steam for electricity generation and hot water for heating. We then went to Lake Myvatn which is a popular warm water spa. The water is light blue in color due to the presence of cyno-bacteria. Afterwards, we visited Skutustadir which has large craters that were formed when lava overflowed the lakeshore's sodden ground. Finally, we went to Dimmuborgir or "Twilight Castles" with weirdly shaped lava formations formed by a lava lake that flowed over marshy ground and then cooled and receded.

At Reykjavik, we did a version of the Golden Circle tour which included Thingvellir National Park located in a rift valley covered by lava and later covered by typical Icelandic vegetation of low birch, willow trees and blueberry bushes. The western wall of the fault is an approximately 120-foot-high cliff, under which the Althing, Iceland’s lawmaking assemblies met from 930 A.D. onward. We then went to Gullfoss Waterfall or "Golden Waterfall" which flows down a series of cascades into a deep gorge.

 

Nearby is the Strokkur Geyser in the Geyser area which has many hot springs. The geyser shoots a 60-foot-high column of hot water at frequent intervals. Iceland uses the volcanic heat source to heat their homes and to generate electricity. Our last stop was at the Hellisheidi Power Plant which produces about 280 MW of electricity from thermal hat water and steam.

 

After three days at sea, we stopped at Sydney, Nova Scotia. Since heavy rain was forecasted for the day we were to arrive, we just walked around a bit visiting a craft fair in one of the churches and retreated back to the ship. Sydney has a dedicated cruise port but can only handle one ship at a time. The Costa Atlantica was also in port and they had to tender in until we left at 2 PM and the Atlantica could take our place at the port.

The Pax and Roll Call. With cruise of this duration and routing, most of the pax are retired or close to it. I saw one or two children though they may have been more. Predicated on our experiences, about a third of the pax were from the British Commonwealth with the remainder being American with a few from other countries. The front desk staff told us that about 1,200 of the 2,500 on board pax were Platinum or Elite. While the weather did keep many pax inside, the Grand did not feel crowded the way the Caribbean or Crown Princess felt on bad weather days. Not having the Riviera deck and its extra 250 cabins does help.

There was a CruiseCritic rollcall for this cruise which proved to be quite helpful and informative. Known as the Nordic Explorers, there were a number of members who chipped in to plan various activities ranging from pre-cruise dinner in Southampton; coordinating the meet and mingle meeting with Princes; tours of Bergen, Norway; Akureyri and Reykjavik, Iceland and other activities including trivia and various games. A hearty thanks to all those who helped to make these activities the success they were.

Entertainment. We normally do not care for ship entertainment so we did not see some of the evening shows. We did catch Princess’ newest show, the British Invasion which we did like though some of the music played was is from a later time period. Still, it is worth seeing. The Zach Bartholomew jazz quartet in the Wheelhouse bar was good and there was piano music played in the Atrium or at the Promenade Lounge during the afternoon and evening.

There were two lecturers for the days we were at sea. One was a financial adviser who spoke on various aspects of financial planning for retirement. She was mildly interesting. The second lecturer was the eminent maritime historian and author John Maxstone-Graham. He has written a number of books on the history of passenger ships including the Titanic. His lectures were well attended and seating was at a premium or non-existent if you came late. Mr. Graham spoke on the events on the Titanic, on the history of transatlantic crossings and polar exploration. His talks are informative and entertaining.

Food Service. Princess has a decidedly Italian tilt to their cuisine and those dishes are often the best choices. There is both traditional dining (5:45 PM and 8 PM in the Botticelli Dining room (Fiesta deck 6) and Personal Choice in the Da Vinci Dining Room on Plaza deck (deck 5) and Michelangelo Dining Room (Fiesta deck). With Personal Choice, you pick the time you want to eat and then deal with the line that may exist. A willingness to share a table generally gets you seated sooner. Breakfast and lunch is served in the Michelangelo Dining Room with open seating. While we have done Personal Choice on other Princess cruises, this time we opted for early traditional seating. We were joined by a retired couple from Ohio and an American-British couple from Las Vegas. We had lively conversations and a good time was had by all. We had a table of eight but one couple showed up only once. Note that the Botticelli Dining room can only be accessed by stairs or elevators since it is at the aft end of Fiesta deck. The nearest restrooms are on Promenade deck (deck 7).

For the our cruise, there were three formal nights, the first sea day, the second day after Reykjavik (possibly due to rough sea conditions) and the next to last sea day. The second formal night also had the Captains Circle repeaters party before dinner. Most men wore suits or tuxedos with a few just wearing sports jackets and no tie. The other nights were smart casual.

Each dinner has a collection of small plates that include a salad, several hot and cold appetizers and two soups. There are five choices for main courses that change nightly; usually one or two selections of seafood, poultry, red meat and vegetarian. In addition, there are two pasta dishes, one of which is always fettuccini Alfredo (very good but very rich). Princess has four always available entrees that are the same each night, broiled salmon, broiled chicken breast, New York sirloin and a filet minion. A plain tossed salad, Caesar salad and a shrimp cocktail round out the always available selections.

Lunch is structured with small plates and daily entrees, one of which is often an interesting salad. Breakfast is a standard eggs, breakfast meats and fruits with two specials each day. In general, we found the meals to be more flavorful but often more salty than we are used to, YMMV. The red meat dishes were usually tender though Princess tends towards the well done side. Seafood was good and fresh for the most part, since the Grand had been provisioning in European ports, some of the seafood was unfamiliar to us.

The Horizon Court is Princess’ buffet area on Lido (deck 14) which is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast and lunch choices are often more expansive than in the dining room, however, by the time you find a table and get your beverages, the food has often gotten cold. For that and other reasons, we usually preferred the dining room. Instead of trays and plates, Princess uses a large oval plate that can double as a tray; a good idea since they take up less space on the tables than trays and there is one less item for the pickup staff to clear and clean. We did not try the themed dinners which included Caribbean and German cuisines. Other than you have to wear some clothing, there is no dress code here.

The pizzeria on Lido deck has very good thin crispy crust pies which are easily the match of most NYC pizzas. There are pizza Margarita and pepperoni and a special that changes daily. The afternoon teas (3:30 to 4:30 PM) were nice affairs, but the tea sandwiches and pastries were unremarkable and the timing did not always work for us, still you should give it a try. For Platinum and Elite pax, Princess offered a semi-private cocktail party in Skywalker’s from 5 to 8 PM with appetizers and a special drink of the day. With over 1,200 pax at the Platinum or Elite level (and a number of freeloaders Princess’ staff was not checking key cards), it was impossible to find a seat at 5 PM. We found out from others that after the first seating pax (us) left, seating was easier to find. While nice in concept, the execution needs some more work. We gave up on this after two days and went elsewhere for. After 8 PM, all well drinks and some specialty drinks are available for $2.99 each.

Miscellaneous. The Grand was not full and there were a number of empty cabins. We found out from a fellow passenger that unoccupied cabins are coded with a blue label (for first–time pax to Princess) tagged Mr. Smith/Mrs. Smith with no first name or initial. This made it entertaining to figure out which cabins near us were empty. For this crossing, passports for non-EU residents were held by ship until after we left Sydney. This is the first time we experienced this in six crossings since 2000. This may now be an EU requirement so keep a photocopy of your passport or a passport card on your person when you go ashore.

The UK has recently changed its currency to add anti-counterfeiting security features. Older currency without these features will no longer be accepted at most retail outlets and will have to be exchanged for newer currency at a bank. The Shetland Islands are part of the UK and use the same currency. Norway is not part of the EU so you will need either Norwegian currency (Norwegian Kroner) or a credit card for purchases. The same goes for Torshavn and Iceland. Icelanders will accept Euros or dollars at the current exchange rate.

The UK is five hours ahead of US east coast (NYC) time, except for the transition to/from summer time which occurs at different dates for US versus UK. Norway is one hour ahead of the UK while the Shetland Islands and the Faroe Islands are on UK time. Iceland is four hours ahead of US east coast time and Sydney is one hour ahead. Keep you watches synchronized to ship time whether or not it differs from local time. I heard that several pax had missed the ship in various ports and had to catch us to us at the next port at their own cost.

Gripes. What is a cruise review without a few of these! Southampton check-in is probably our biggest gripe as there were insufficient staff and/or service positions to handle the crowd of people at the terminal. I have heard from some UK pax that is a recurring issue at Southampton. Such overcrowding has not been an issue at their US terminals and Princess needs to resolve this quickly.

There are 14 elevators on some Grand class ships (Grand, Golden, Star and Caribbean), however, they are dispatched in a quirky manner. The four aft elevators do not serve the same decks. The two outer units serve decks 6 (Botticelli Dining Room) to deck 17 (Skywalker’s Lounge). The two inner units serve decks 7 to 14 only. This means a long wait to go to/from the Botticelli Dining Room or Skywalker’s to other decks since there are only two elevators available for those decks. This is a design flaw that was rectified in Diamond and Sapphire Princess pair built in Japan. The mid-ship elevator bank has six elevators but only the four non-panorama units are linked together so only one unit answers a call for service at a given floor. The others pass through without stopping. The two panorama elevators are individually controlled so you may have to hit three call buttons to ensure that a unit will stop at your floor. This means that other elevators will also stop at a floor with no one boarding. Princess should be able to reprogram the mid-ship units so that all six units operate as a group and not separately as they do now. The four forward units operate as a group.

[Alessandrina]

Thanks so much for your informative review!

Cheers.

[Putterdude]

What a great review, thanks for taking the time to post it. By the way, I quite agree about the elevators in the Grand class ships...it very much is a design flaw.

[CruzinNoony]

Bob, that was an excellent review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. I hope we travel together again!! Meredith:)

[caribill]

 

There are 14 elevators on some Grand class ships (Grand, Golden, Star and Caribbean), however, they are dispatched in a quirky manner. The four aft elevators do not serve the same decks. The two outer units serve decks 6 (Botticelli Dining Room) to deck 17 (Skywalker’s Lounge). The two inner units serve decks 7 to 14 only. This means a long wait to go to/from the Botticelli Dining Room or Skywalker’s to other decks since there are only two elevators available for those decks. This is a design flaw that was rectified in Diamond and Sapphire Princess pair built in Japan. Also corrected on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

The mid-ship elevator bank has six elevators but only the four non-panorama units are linked together so only one unit answers a call for service at a given floor. The others pass through without stopping. The two panorama elevators are individually controlled so you may have to hit three call buttons to ensure that a unit will stop at your floor. This means that other elevators will also stop at a floor with no one boarding. Princess should be able to reprogram the mid-ship units so that all six units operate as a group and not separately as they do now. The panorama elevators do not go to deck 4 as the non-panorama elevators do. This makes programming them to all work together more difficult.

The four forward units operate as a group.

 

See above in red.

[hansi]

Good review. Just two minor points. Paddington station is nowhere near Westminster! and it is not Filet Mignon which is always available, it's beef tournedos, totally different.

[johnmik1]

Another minor point is that you referred to Anytime Dining as Personal Choice which encompasses all the various dining options.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, thanks.

[speakertosuits]

Thanks for your praise and corrections.

 

Caribill, I modified the text to address the items you noted in red.

Hansi. I made you meal correction. Paddington Station is located in the Borough of Westminster, however, to avoid confusion, I deleted that reference.

johnmik1. correction made.

 

This is why I post these reviews for comment before sending them for posting to Cruise Critics members review. Thanks again.

[Druke I]

Thanks for an informative and balanced review.

[Wormy53]

Thanks for a very informative review! We are on the Grand in January and it's great to hear about her!:)

[Wormy53]

Thanks for a very informative review! We are on the Grand in January and it's great to hear about her!:)

[jonikal]

Thanks so much for doing this! We enjoyed the cruise also and would only add that we are looking forward to the Grand's west-bound TA in May 2011 and are so pleased that the atrium (which we found poorly designed compared to newer ships in the fleet) will be modernized to include the International Cafe, and that, for heaven's sake, they do something about those annoying elevators and their squishy floors! As far as the insufficient seating available for the 5PM Platinum and Elite cocktails at Skywalkers, one had to be seated NLT 4PM in order to have a place to sit. I even saw a couple of ladies who sprawled on the sofas and had their bare feet up on the arm-rests, presumably to prevent anyone else from sitting down. Hard to imagine anyone would want to. Other than a few exceptions, decent manners seemed to prevail on this cruise.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Thanks for your review. It brought back fond memories of our Grand Transatlantic voyage in Sept 2007. Embarkation at Southampton was a nightmare then as well. You didn't mention Greenland, did you not go there? After Greenland we entered a huge Atlantic storm which caused us to miss New Foundland and barely make it back to NYC on required day. A memorable voyage.

[rdsqrl]

Thanks very much; really enjoyed your detailed, thorough review!

[caribill]

As far as the insufficient seating available for the 5PM Platinum and Elite cocktails at Skywalkers, one had to be seated NLT 4PM in order to have a place to sit.

 

This must be getting more popular on some ships. My experience has been it has been rare to find more than five other people there when I have attended.

[ArthurIhde]

lol that's a very thread,but thanks for your review

[speakertosuits]

This must be getting more popular on some ships. My experience has been it has been rare to find more than five other people there when I have attended.

 

I think it depends on the type of cruise. Our transatlantic is likely to attract an older, more traveled and more moneyed crowd than say a 7 day Caribbean cruise. Also this is relatively new, so more eligible people would try it for the first time. I do not think it had be implemented when we were on the Caribbean Princess in August 2009.

[BosoxI]

This must be getting more popular on some ships. My experience has been it has been rare to find more than five other people there when I have attended.

 

 

You're right that usually there are few people , but on this trip it was packed. We typically would arrive around 6:30 and have to search for seats. Maybe the colder climate made us all need a bit of booze to be comfortable.

[The Cruise Duo]

Very thorough and informative!

 

As we were on this cruise, it was again an absolute pleasure meeting everyone and hope we get to cruise with many of you again!

 

I (Storm'n Norman) am currently off to Melbourne, Australia to undergo valve replacement heart surgery (I wonder if they'll let me wear my hat into surgery?????;)) after my 'incident' in Iceland!!

 

Again, thanks to everyone for their best wishes!:)

[weberman]

This must be getting more popular on some ships. My experience has been it has been rare to find more than five other people there when I have attended.

 

The pursers office told me that were a record number of Elite and Platinum members on this cruise. I think he said there were 285 Elite's on this cruise. :eek:

[weberman]

Very thorough and informative!

 

As we were on this cruise, it was again an absolute pleasure meeting everyone and hope we get to cruise with many of you again!

 

I (Storm'n Norman) am currently off to Melbourne, Australia to undergo valve replacement heart surgery (I wonder if they'll let me wear my hat into surgery?????;)) after my 'incident' in Iceland!!

 

Again, thanks to everyone for their best wishes!:)

 

 

Stormin:

 

Best of wishes in your upcoming surgery. We were on the same bus as you when you had your problems and passed out.

 

Our hearts and prayers go out to you and your courageous wife.

 

Bill :):)

[BosoxI]

The pursers office told me that were a record number of Elite and Platinum members on this cruise. I think he said there were 285 Elite's on this cruise. :eek:

 

Actually, at a Captain's party it was announced that 382 Elites were on board.

[BosoxI]

Very thorough and informative!

 

As we were on this cruise, it was again an absolute pleasure meeting everyone and hope we get to cruise with many of you again!

 

I (Storm'n Norman) am currently off to Melbourne, Australia to undergo valve replacement heart surgery (I wonder if they'll let me wear my hat into surgery?????;)) after my 'incident' in Iceland!!

 

Again, thanks to everyone for their best wishes!:)

 

I was on your Bergen tour which my wife had to miss due to a migraine. We wish you the best, though I hope you leave your headgear in surgery:p Wish I had the opportunity to introduce Abingdon to Moseley. They would have hit it off famously.

[AlaskaGolden]

We were on the Crown for her TA in early September. We agree about the boarding in Southampton. We arrived "late" around 2 PM, and expected to get on the ship within a few minutes. It was obvious that things were backed-up as they were giving out numbers and asked people to sit and wait for their number to be called before getting on a line. I think the process took a little over an hour. I would have expected this at 11 AM, but not at 2 PM. At least after we did get on line and check in, we immediately boarded the ship.

 

We also agree about John Maxtone Graham. What a great speaker and entertainer. Very knowledgeable in an interesting and lively manner. He made the many days at sea a bit more enjoyable for us.