LIVE from the Grand Princess - 49 days from FLL thru South America to SFO

[Lynda90]

Pia...really enjoying your live from! Glad you are enjoying and feeling better. Hope they resolve your balcony water problem. When we were on the Grand in December, I think someone had that problem also.

Marcia, that was me. I had to have my cabin steward clean it out every day or the balcony would have been unusable. I never did find out what it was from but I do know it wasn't from rain! Neither cabins next to me had it.

[Phyljim]

Marcia, that was me. I had to have my cabin steward clean it out every day or the balcony would have been unusable. I never did find out what it was from but I do know it wasn't from rain! Neither cabins next to me had it.

 

Unbelievable they never found the source of the water. ;) We never had any balcony water problems when we were on the Grand with you and Marcia. We were Caribe.....aftish. 700's. Hope Pia finds out what the source of the problem is.

[MilliesMom]

Marcia, that was me. I had to have my cabin steward clean it out every day or the balcony would have been unusable. I never did find out what it was from but I do know it wasn't from rain! Neither cabins next to me had it.

 

Lynda ... what cabin were you in? What a hassle to have to deal with it daily. Was this on a recent cruise?

[bronxgirl25]

Unbelievable they never found the source of the water. ;) We never had any balcony water problems when we were on the Grand with you and Marcia. We were Caribe.....aftish. 700's. Hope Pia finds out what the source of the problem is.

 

We didn't have any water problems either on our balcony. I thought it was Lynda who did, but wasn't sure. We were on Baja in the 700's.

 

Lynda ... what cabin were you in? What a hassle to have to deal with it daily. Was this on a recent cruise?

 

I can't remember Lynda's cabin #, but it was a mini suite in the 600's. Yes it was recent, it was just this past December 1st sailing out of FLL.

[RCJM]

Hi Again Pia

 

On the Grand in April Baja Deck ! What Cabin are you in ? I have read other water problems on that deck ! TY

 

Rich

[shawilson]

Hi Pia, loving your trip report! Tina and Ken are on our roll call for Hawaii. Our friends Andi and Wil are sailing with you now. Please say hi.

 

Looking forward to your next installments.

 

Sharon

[Lynda90]

Lynda ... what cabin were you in? What a hassle to have to deal with it daily. Was this on a recent cruise?

Yes, very recent cruise. We were in D717, Dec. 1-8.

[PRINCESS OZ]

It probably just depends who they have on the staff available... we had spanish lessons on our cruise from Barbara when she was on the Cruise Directors Staff.... most of the other staff where English!!

 

Hello Joanne, - good to see you here on this site. Sir Ken and I have just booked the South America Grand Voyage trip departing 15/02/2014 for 49 nights..... on the Crown..... are you looking at this as well?

[Gaznjo]

Hello Joanne, - good to see you here on this site. Sir Ken and I have just booked the South America Grand Voyage trip departing 15/02/2014 for 49 nights..... on the Crown..... are you looking at this as well?

 

 

we are doing the ocean princess next year then coming home on the second half of the dawn princess world cruise... so this one will have to wait a few more years now LOL...

[Pia1913]

Good Sunday morning with sunny skies and warm weather. So far so good. Not hot; not humid. Sunrise has gotten earlier, but it’s also getting dark earlier. Clocks will be going forward tonight, so there goes an hour of sleep.

　

Occasionally I get suckered into attending a show, and last night it was the magician. I went, but I never expected to be part of the show. He threw a beach ball, I caught it (I was at least 10 rows back) and we began a bit of repartee. Hey, I can hold my own. Anyhow, at least I never had to go on stage. I shuffled an imaginary deck of cards, I picked an imaginary card, shuffled again and placed it face down in an imaginary box. He then showed the audience a large deck of cards face up with one card turned backwards. He asked me to name my

imaginary card. I named the Queen of Diamonds and he then proceeded to turn over the one backward card. Yep. Queen of Diamonds.

　

Occurring this morning is a phantom port talk on Salvador (explained to you yesterday) a fruit and veggie carving, the movie Casablanca on MUTS and John Maxtone-Graham and the bridge people. I have no clue how either Graham or bridge will come about. This is certainly different.

　

In the afternoon we have a paper airplane competition in the Piazza (??????), The Dark Knight Rises in the theater, Runway at Sea in the Piazza and The Blind Side on MUTS.

　

Tonight, I imagine the Super Bowl will be the main attraction for the masses. It will be shown in the casino, in Vista, in Snooker’s Cigar Bar and on MUTS. For the non-football folks, Al Katz will be doing another show in the theater. That would be us. Also accompanying Al will be the singers and dancers, so I guess they’re putting on a mini production show.

　

RE water: Balcony dry past two days. Shhhhhh.

Rich: Suffice to say it's Baja forward. I never give out my cabin number at any time. Sorry.

Later.

[RCJM]

That's OK I understand. Thank You, Pia !

[san diego sue]

Good Morning Pia,

We returned home from our cruise last night. With my morning coffee

read through all your pages. You're such a popular girl.

Enjoyed our little mini (one week cruise) and now will cruise with you through your posts.

Wendy G. if you are reading along, wish I had contact information for you. Would have loved seeing you in Ft. Lauderdale at Bimini Dock yard.

Pia and Mike, I miss you. Reading along, I am now so envious.

Love

Your pals :D:D

[oma16]

:):) Pia , how do i love your post's ,,,,can U C me smiling :) ,,,ja ,ja, yes, yes.

Wonderful 2 read all your info about your S.A. cruise ,,looks like your having

nice warm weather while we're freezing our buns , only teens here in Ma. We R

cruising along with U through your stories and adventures .U R a great sport 2

interact with the magician ,,my worst nightmare 2 B pulled on the stage ,U

averted that :D,,,continue on with your script's ,,,,and we'll say good job ..

~~~as always Dankeschoen~~~Oma16 here(RENATE)

looking at the Golden Princess for next year to S.A.:cool:

[Pia1913]

Update on the lecture debacle

Our South America lecturer appeared in person this morning, telling us he was no longer invisible. Same with John Maxtone-Graham. However, both will again become invisible when the Brazilian authorities board in Fortaleza. In fact, Graham specifically told us that if anyone asked about him not to acknowledge we have ever seen him.

Otherwise, a totally uneventful day, except that we had lunch in the DR. That was different. We almost went to the Elite lounge a few minutes ago, but decided to just go back to our cabin for wine time.

So now that I have nothing to offer I'll see you tomorrow. Weather remains nice and clear and seas remain calm.

[Shadavi]

Hi Pia,

I am loving your live posts.:) We have just booked the 49 day Crown for next year :D so I will be avidly following your days on board. Your live posts from Bangkok last year were wonderful and so helpful when we did the same cruise the other way in September. Thank you so much for spending your precious time (and internet costs) so we can all vicariously share your cruising experience.

 

Sharon & David.

 

P.S. Hi Mike

[MilliesMom]

Pia ... new beds or old on the Grand? Are the egg crates a necessity?

 

Thanks.

[WendyG]

Good Morning Pia,

We returned home from our cruise last night. With my morning coffee

read through all your pages. You're such a popular girl.

Enjoyed our little mini (one week cruise) and now will cruise with you through your posts.

Wendy G. if you are reading along, wish I had contact information for you. Would have loved seeing you in Ft. Lauderdale at Bimini Dock yard.

Pia and Mike, I miss you. Reading along, I am now so envious.

Love

Your pals :D:D

 

Hi Gloria! :)

 

I always read Pia's "lives" :D

I haven't sailed with her since 08 so it's the next best thing to being there(her cruises are too long for my working world) but one day...

 

Next time you're coming here - let me know! I'm ten minutes from Port Everglades! misspebbs at bellsouth dot net

 

Pia - glad you're enjoying your cruise and can you do us a favor? Buy one bottle of wine in your next port to see if they let it on! :) I'm NOT happy reading all the new rules on wine since my next cruise in April is the California Coastal!

[Cruisin' Chick]

we are doing the ocean princess next year then coming home on the second half of the dawn princess world cruise... so this one will have to wait a few more years now LOL...

 

I was scrolling down reading the posts when I noticed you had a trip to Columbia, MO. I lived there in the mid 70s when going to the J-school there.

[Gaznjo]

I was scrolling down reading the posts when I noticed you had a trip to Columbia' date=' MO. I lived there in the mid 70s when going to the J-school there.[/quote']

we had a conference there as that is where my Quilting machine was made.

[Mrs Moho]

Hi Both

 

Maureen & Dave from Caribbean Princess, Norwegian Fjords cruise in June last year here. Just found your 'live from' as we join the Grand 16 March - the day you get off!!! Love reading your 'lives' even more when we were travelling with you in Norway.

 

Look forward to reading the rest of your trip - that's def on Dave's wish list

 

Enjoy!!!

[Pia1913]

Good Monday morning to all you happy people whose team won last night. We went to bed, so didn’t get the results until this morning. Since we are not football fans, some of you are happy and others are not. But, according to the score you had an exciting game. Wait until next year. We attended the Al Katz show (very enjoyable) and then retired earlyish in order to make up the lost hour of sleep. Anyhow, another nice sunny morning is in store for us with temps supposed to be 84. Same weather is predicted for tomorrow.

　

So, What are doing today? Well, we will start with a Rio lecture then learn some Portuguese, attend a “Shall we Talk” event where Sammi will interview the Captain and then attend Spanish class #2. Of course we need a sale, and today is also the first of many “up to 75% off” in Michelangelo.

　

Afternoon offers another Maxtone-Graham lecture, the movie Dirty Dancing on MUTS, another movie Moonrise Kingdom in the theater and the start of a book club. Two different books will be offered; The Conspiracy Club (Jonathan Kellerman) and The Brightest Star in the Sky (Marian Keyes). I’’m going to try to grab one of them, but not going to get in line an hour ahead.

　

Tonight’s schedule brings us Snow White and the Huntsman on MUTS, pianist Amy Abler again in the theater and in Vista what is listed as Cabaret Showtime “Influences” . I believe this may be the two lead singers from the production shows. Not having attended any, this is just a guess.

Mary: beds are fine. I have an egg crate but that's because of being post op and needing extra padding on one side.

Later.

[MilliesMom]

Thank you Pia for the info on the beds.

[Rudy888]

We are joining the cruise in Buenos Aires. Has there been any discussion or problems with bringing wine on board the Grand in light of Princess's change in policy? Are the enforcing the wine policy? We like to buy a bottle at different ports and taste the local wine, it appears that is no longer possible.

[luvtahiti]

Princess's New Alcohol Policy:

 

As provided in the Passage Contract, passengers agree not to bring alcoholic beverages of any kind onboard for consumption, except one bottle of wine or champagne per adult of drinking age (no larger than 750 ml) per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in the stateroom. Additional wine or champagne bottles are welcome, but will incur a $15 corkage fee each, irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed. Liquor, spirits or beers are not permitted. Please remember that luggage will be scanned and alcohol outside of our policy will be removed and discarded.*

Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty free from the ship's gift shop, or at ports of call, will be collected for safekeeping and delivered to the passenger's stateroom on the last day of the cruise. A member of the ship's staff will be at the gangway to assist passengers with the storage of their shoreside alcoholic purchases while our Boutiques staff will assist passengers with shipboard alcoholic purchases.

[shepp]

So how's the trivia been going? :)