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LIVE - Royal Princess Transatlantic & Baltic day by day

GweninTX

By GweninTX,
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boca7

boca7

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$440 per voyage. They were charging $199 per week this past season. That's $28 per day. Hard to believe they would increase that by $12 per day, but if you say so, that must be right. Too bad. I would use it to relax after long days and a lot on days at sea.

It became very popular & the waiting long with a lot of passengers waiting & not able to get in. The solution was to raise prices & diminish wait line.

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boca7

boca7

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Glad to hear the experience at the winemakers dinner was excellent. I was the complainer as our time was as detailed here with maître d Davide, our next cruise we had Roberto & he became he absent maître d, hardly any wine served & the entre was overcooked pork loin, Roberto did return later as I realized he was taking care of a table on the other side of the wine wall.

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GweninTX

GweninTX

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Stockholm, Sweden

 

We got up early and made our way to the Horizon court at 6:45. We are meeting our friends, Terry and Joyce for our last Alla tour today. The HC is packed as usual and we eat quickly. It is a tender day today and they are giving out tender tickets starting at 7:00 am. We are given group 7 tickets, we walk off at 7:25 and are ashore at 8:00. Very efficient. We are on deck 8 and have the huge tenders just down from us. They are very efficient and quiet at removing the 3 of them and putting them in the water. We only heard a little bit of hydraulic noise about 6:15. Now putting them away was another story - that was really noisy, but that was late afternoon and did not matter. Those in midship Emerald deck cabins had their afternoon nap cut short if they were sleeping. No one could have slept thru that! I did not hear anyone complain about the tenders. I think this crew got a lot of practice in the Caribbean this spring and have it down to a science.

 

It was another sunny, picture perfect day and when we arrived a 25 piece band was playing on the pier. A nice way to arrive! Alla representatives were waiting to check us in and we boarded a bus and left by 8:30. If you did not have a tour with Princess or a private company there were plenty of shuttles and HoHo buses into Stockholm. Princess also was very clever and staggered their departure times for their tours. Many left as late as 11:00 am and that cut down on the demand for shuttles.

 

It took one hour to get to Stockholm and we had a great guide named Sophia who kept us entertained with information about life in Sweden and what we would be seeing. Once we arrived in Stockholm we had a little bit of rush hour traffic slowdown. It reminded me of mornings in Dallas. But we had a great bus driver and we made our way around. Stockholm is a gorgeous, clean and modern city. I would love to return and spend some time here. We stop at Fjallgatan view point and had some time for pictures. The view is amazing. We then proceeded to a tour inside city hall. This was a very historic site and was a beautiful building. Their main hall with the golden mosaics will take your great away. We stayed here about 45 minutes and had a wonderful tour.

 

We left city hall and next made our way to the Vassa museum. It was amazing to see this huge ship that sunk, was brought up from the bottom, preserved and now all can enjoy it. Sophia said the water was brackish and did not contain the worm that ate wood and that is why that when they decided to bring it up in 1968 it was in such good condition. She said they only had to do minor restoration. We spent about an hour here. It was getting close to lunch and many grabbed a hot dog or ice cream here. It is getting hot at this point. I cannot believe that we planned on cold weather in the Baltics and instead have worn summer clothes.

 

We then head towards the old town and make one more stop for pictures along the water. We then take a walking tour of the old town. Cobblestone streets again, so walking is not easy in places. They do have sidewalks in most areas, but you still must pay attention or you can easily twist an ankle. I have talked to several on the ship in wheelchairs who fell on the cobblestones and hurt themselves while walking on them. I cannot stress enough the need for sensible shoes that you can walk in comfortably and you can feel the pavement with too.

 

We really enjoy our free time after the walking tour and stop at a local pub for a pint of their local beer for the guys and a glass of wine for the girls. We board the bus at 2:30 and head back for the ship and many take a nap. The tenders are working and we are quickly back on the ship. Jerry wants a nap and I spend some time in the HC writing up my travels in Helsinki and posting them and reading email and Facebook. I tried to find free wifi in Stockholm and never found it. I did see a sign on the HoHo bus that they had it onboard. I have found that the 500 free minutes we have gotten as a couple has been enough for a 15 day cruise. I booked these as 2 cruises, so got a total of 1,000 minutes for our 26 days. I have only experienced one time (the afternoon in Helsinki) that the internet was too slow to even bother. I just could not get email as it was just too slow. As you know, unless I stand in my doorway, the cabin does not work well either. I have just resigned myself to these facts and go with it.

 

We are going to do anytime dining tonight with Joyce and Terry and we will have now eaten in all 3 dining rooms this cruise. The Symphony dining room is very light, open and pleasant. They have lots of tables for 2 I notice, but they are set very close together and are not really very private. I like the tables that have the new cushion seating. We had one tonight and it was nice and comfortable. My favorite appetizer is on the menu - Twice baked goat cheese soufflé. I have been looking forward to it all day! It does not fail to deliver on its creamy yumminess!

 

We have a lovely dinner with great company and I talk everyone into attending the "Ye Olde Pub Night" in the Vista lounge. It started with trivia about Great Britain at 8:30 and the actual entertainment was at 9:15. We also stopped and watched the entertainment in the Piazza before it started. Princess really thought through this expanded Piazza idea and utilize it to its fullest. It is so much bigger than the other ships and can accommodate the entertainment and dancing they plan daily for it. Tonight they had Russian type dancers, singers and other entertainment. I think if you wanted you could stay here from 9:00 am and be entertained all day. If you like the International court food you would never have to leave! Brilliant!

 

The pub night was really a fun evening! I highly recommend you attend. The Princess orchestra, the entire cruise staff and the Princess singers and dancers make it a great experience. Sam, the cruise director is the hostess for the evening and is dressed up in a barmaid wench costume. She and Toby keep the humor going and it is very audience interactive. We laughed, sang and had a lot of fun! It lasted about an hour and afterwards we strolled thru the casino. It was easy to get a machine as it was no smoking night. There are a lot of smokers on this ship. We go to bed about 11:00 and do not set an alarm. Tomorrow is Our last sea day and we can sleep as late as we want to. We are also looking forward to our group dinner tomorrow night in the Concerto dining room.

 

Stay tuned and I will answer any questions I can about the Baltic ports or life on the Royal Princess. I will post pictures of my room, E701 when I am not using Princess internet. They are blocking file sharing so I can't upload pics to Cruise Critic. I could also not even open Google plus documents on a shared drive. Someone said they have recently started this. I am guessing this keeps the internet going a little faster without lots sharing huge files.

 

Some also have commented on me taking time to write this. Thanks so much for your kind words. In the past years I have so enjoyed reading these "Day by Days" from cruisers like Dave and Pia, that I just wanted to give back just a little of the pleasure I have enjoyed from reading them while I was stuck at home and not on a cruise ship. I am so glad you all have enjoyed my daily musings and stuck with me thru this fantastic cruise!

Edited by GweninTX
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GweninTX

GweninTX

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Gwen,

Look forward everyday to your latest Baltic experiences. Will be on Royal at the end of June..can't wait. I appreciate your tips on shopping etc. I am still a little concerned about the different currencies in all the different ports..How have you dealt with this...Any problem using US credit cards?

Good question! Before we left TX we got Euros and British pounds from our local bank. We made it fine using these and our Chase Sapphire credit card with no pin. The only place you needed local coin currency was for the bathrooms/water closets. If you are planning on taking tours with a guide or Princess they will always pay for your potty stops. If you doing it yourself in all the ports, beware you will need coins.

 

All shops would take credit cards and you did not need one with a chip. The only place you need one with a chip us places that are totally unattended like a bus kiosk where you would be swiping your card. We also found many places took even US dollars, but Euros worked for us everywhere. Guides took whatever currencies as tips.

 

One couple had their Princess Visa card declined and had a hold put on it and were furious as they had called the company prior to leaving the US and told them of their travel plans. Chase Sapphire - no problems and they have such good additional travel coverage we do not buy any travel insurance. I read their coverage booklet and was truly amazed!

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Travtimer

Travtimer

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Thanks Gwen, you journal has been fantastic so much information and friendly advice. We are on the 30th August cruise aboard the Royal. Your information regards tender transfers has cleared up the concerns we had for Stockholm.

 

 

 

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gowilk

gowilk

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Rain, rain, go away for good! We woke up to a very gray, drizzly rain which proceeded to get worse as the morning progressed. We slept in this morning till 8:15 AM and went to breakfast in the HC about 9:00. It was packed with people at that time, but what is amazing about the new design, is it is never crowded. The views are good from any of the seats and we never have a problem with either a seat or getting food. We see lots of our friends and visit for a while.

 

The rain is coming down steadily at this point. They also have to turn the ship around completely and back down the ship channel for 30 miles. We were supposed to arrive at 11:00, but this is obviously not going to happen! I am hosting a tour group of 8 to Amsterdam and we are meeting at Vines at 11:00. We wait and wait and the Captain comes on the PA and tells us there is an issue with our doors and the dock. We saw him by the doors about 11:45 and he is very angry about the whole situation. We finally get the clearance about noon to depart the gangway. It is a madhouse at this point because everyone wants off this ship. We decided to take some sandwiches from the IC since we got such a late start - this was a very good idea and almost everyone was doing the same.

 

When we got to the door to scan our room cards, we were told to put on our coats and put up umbrellas if we had them as it was raining hard. They were not exaggerating, it was coming down in sheets of rain hard. It was also very windy, this is looking really bad. It was a madhouse of wet cruisers and guides trying to find their parties. Ours is nowhere to be seen - we look and look. Finally we find him about 12:30 and he had to park about a block away - so off we walked. The tour company was Holland Stopovers and our guide was Hans. He was a retired gentleman who did this part time and usually did walking tours, not van tours. We had a nice van, but the defrost system could not handle 9 hot, breathing bodies. I always take a hand towel from our room in the backpack and it was a lifesaver today. We passed it around to keep the fog off the inside of the windows.

 

We headed out of Rotterdam towards Amsterdam on a very nice highway. Hans was very preoccupied with the traffic and the rain and was not very talkative. I sat in the front and asked him about our plans for the day. He then tells me that the flower fields in Lisse are over and they had a very warm winter and the blooms were gone in late February. Gee, it would have been nice if they would have sent me an email and let me know as this was one thing I had told her I did not want to miss. First strike!

 

We then get to Zaanse Schans - the windmill village. Still pouring rain. Some in our group did not have waterproof jackets our footwear, thankfully we had both. A friend I met in the morning did not have either and I loaned her one of our 2 rain umbrellas. My luck - the one I kept was a brand new Totes umbrella I had bought and would not work at all. He had 4 umbrellas in his van and the one I got was broken - strike 2. This place is probably very charming in the sunshine, but was not so much in the rain. We did get to see lots of windmills, some still working. We also got to watch a craftsman make a pair of wooden shoes. We then went into a cheese store and sampled the cheeses. Very tasty. We also walked amongst the dikes and the sheep grazing with their babies. Hans herds us from stop to stop, but tells us very little and we have to ask him questions to get him to talk. Hard to believe that this is his profession on retirement! The rain starts and stops several times and shows some signs of clearing.

 

We then head to downtown Amsterdam where the tour boat is. We have a hard time parking and if it had not been for the guys, Hans would have returned the van with the sides scratched up. One of our ladies cannot walk very well and we were not told how much walking was involved and Hans cannot tell us how far away the dock is. There is much discussion of meters and minutes, but he is clueless. Then poor Sheila slipped on the wet bricks and takes a hard tumble. She is luckily OK and we start out walking. Hans gets way ahead of us and I have a very stern and pointed talk with Hans about staying with us. He listens, and agrees, but still does not stay with our slow group. I about got hit by a train and Jerry about got flattened by a speeding motor scooter. We are not doing well and no one is happy at this point. We finally make it to the dock and I figured Hans had already bought our tickets, of course not and the boat ride coming up is full and we would have had to wait 45 minutes for the next one with available space. Strike 3. I am angry and our invalids are mad as they walked a long way because we were all looking forward to the boat ride. We feel it would be cutting it too close to wait that long for the 5:00 boat so we decline. He suggests a walk downtown instead to see the historic sites and the red light district. He also suggests a coffee or marijuana stop - Strike 4. I know it is legal here, but I found it in very poor taste to offer it to US citizens on a cruise ship where it is illegal. Thankfully we were smart not too take him up on the marijuana as there were drug dogs at the ship sniffing all of us as we went thru the scanner. Our tour of the red light district is very interesting - the guys enjoyed it way more than the women did. Lynn & Terry decided she could not handle the walk and so they asked for the car keys to the van and walked back at a pace she could handle.

 

When we return to the van it has finally stopped raining. I asked about a partial refund since we missed the boat tour and the flower fields and he was 30 minutes late arriving. For sure the price of the boat tour should be refunded, Hans is not happy and neither am I. He said he would return 5 euro apiece for the boat tour, we saw a sign that said the adult price of the boat tour is 9.75 euro PP. He disagreed and I told him, well there went his tip! He said really and I said really! We are both unhappy on our ride back to the ship. He then stops to plug in his Tom Tom navigator. I noticed he had used it to get out of the dock area in the morning, but did not realize he was lost without it. He cannot find it anywhere. We all start looking everywhere for it as he is panicking at this point. Finally someone asks if it could be I his door pocket, thank God it is and he gets it plugged in and we can head to the ship. Hans is a very careful driver - this is a polite way of saying he drives like an old Grandma - 10 km per hour under whatever is posted. Cars and trucks are whizzing around us both on the way out and back. We are all happy to see the ship and finally arrive back at 6:30. We all get our things and Hans gets no tip - too bad for Hans! I will be writing an email to the tour company advising that Hans is not a very good driving tour guide. I will also put a review on Trip Advisor that will warn others not to use this company or Hans!

 

We are all starving and wet. We decide to change clothes quickly and meet in the dining room. Sheila had pre-ordered her food, so we decided to go to the Concerto dining room on deck 5. When we arrived another couple we knew was joining us. We had a great meal and great company. My favorite appetizer - goat cheese soufflé - yum! It was the captains dinner and had very strange entrees. The hit of the entrees was the fried chicken - go figure! But the peanut butter chocolate ice cream was so good, it made me forget some of our miserable tour that day.

 

After dinner I wanted to go play "Name that tune". I can name the name of almost any song, but I am terrible with who performed it. But since this was called "Name that Tune" I was hoping we did not need to know the artist. WRONG - when I asked he said I had to know the artist too, I told our friends I would rather go to the Princess theatre and watch the last showing there. We left Princess Live and headed to the theatre. We are so glad as the show was a young man who was the best violin player I have ever seen - Michael Bacala. Do not miss his performance if you see his name in the patter. High energy and very talented! He sold lots of CDs afterwards!

 

We are ready for bed and to be able to sleep in on our last sea day - stay tuned!

 

We had a similar experience in that our ship excursion was to leave at 12:30 but left after 2 pm....we straight out asked if the excursion time at the festival would be cut short as it would be difficult to get through in the scheduled 3 hours and excursion said that we would get the same amount of time at the end as the ship would be leaving an hour later to accommodate excursions. Apparently this info didn't get to the tours and we lost an hour and a half at the festival to our chagrin. We let the guide know we were unhappy and proceeded on (no tip promised or given (OF COURSE). On return we complained and were rebated 25 percent which is 2 small as I intend to let princess know next week when we get home. I am disappointed that apparently Princess unlike every other cruise line does not send a trailer from the ship for every bus (hardly the 1st or the last corner Princess cut)

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lostatsea200

lostatsea200

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Thanks for all of the information provided on your live. We have enjoyed

reading it. We are concerned about St Peterburg, was everyone

except Princess tours, require to get a ticket to get off? Again, thanks, and save travels to your home.

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boca7

boca7

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Good question! Before we left TX we got Euros and British pounds from our local bank. We made it fine using these and our Chase Sapphire credit card with no pin. The only place you needed local coin currency was for the bathrooms/water closets. If you are planning on taking tours with a guide or Princess they will always pay for your potty stops. If you doing it yourself in all the ports, beware you will need coins.

 

All shops would take credit cards and you did not need one with a chip. The only place you need one with a chip us places that are totally unattended like a bus kiosk where you would be swiping your card. We also found many places took even US dollars, but Euros worked for us everywhere. Guides took whatever currencies as tips.

 

One couple had their Princess Visa card declined and had a hold put on it and were furious as they had called the company prior to leaving the US and told them of their travel plans. Chase Sapphire - no problems and they have such good additional travel coverage we do not buy any travel insurance. I read their coverage booklet and was truly amazed!

Correct, you can use your card almost everywhere but most cards add on a transaction fee of 3 %, I use Capital one visa as they do not charge the fee.

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Astro Flyer

Astro Flyer

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Correct, you can use your card almost everywhere but most cards add on a transaction fee of 3 %, I use Capital one visa as they do not charge the fee.

 

A couple of months ago the Princess VISA card eliminated the transaction fee and I have never had a problem with it being declined. On their website they also added a function to add the countries outside of the US that we were visiting. The last time I verbally gave them the countries it was listed incorrectly but through their website I was able to accurately list the countries.

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2pbears

2pbears

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A couple of months ago the Princess VISA card eliminated the transaction fee and I have never had a problem with it being declined. On their website they also added a function to add the countries outside of the US that we were visiting. The last time I verbally gave them the countries it was listed incorrectly but through their website I was able to accurately list the countries.

 

Is that on the Barclaycard website? If so, can you tell me where to find it. I just logged on and couldn't find it.

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GweninTX

GweninTX

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A couple of months ago the Princess VISA card eliminated the transaction fee and I have never had a problem with it being declined. On their website they also added a function to add the countries outside of the US that we were visiting. The last time I verbally gave them the countries it was listed incorrectly but through their website I was able to accurately list the countries.

 

The couple had done all of that AND called to confirm that they could pay Alla Tours in Russia and they still had it declined. I know that Joyce will be calling Princess Visa when she returns as she was livid!

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GweninTX

GweninTX

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Last sea day!

 

We slept in this morning and ate at our usual spot in the HC. It is not as crowded this morning as I think all are sleeping really late today. It is depressing to think about packing and I refuse to get out suitcases till this afternoon!

 

I decide to attend Zumba at 9:00 as line dancing is so late this morning. I do not like Zumba in Princess Live as it is very crowded. I stay a short time and then head for a quick shower. At 10:00 they are having a culinary demonstration in Princess theatre and I decide to attend. It was well done and included a performance by the cute young guys who play guitar and sing in the dining rooms. They are not having the crew talent show anymore, I asked. I went on the galley tour and it is very clean and modern. At each turn there was someone to sell you the Princess cookbook.

 

There were sales all over the ship today. I did buy Jerry 2 t-shirts - they were on sale for $10 apiece. The 3 hour sale in the dining room was also held. People were carrying lots of bags today do Princess faired well today.

 

Jerry and I met in the cabin for lunch and decided to go see what was in the formal dining room. We read the menu and nothing appealed to us. They were having the Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse Bar/Crown Grill so we have fish and chips. They are really good solid white fish and fresh and crispy.

 

Jerry wants to try his hand at the slot tournament so I go and cheer him on. He does great and is first place till the finals. At 2:30 we go back for the finals and he was in first place till the last 15 seconds and ended up third. He got a nice tshirt, ball cap. We had fun as another friend was also in the finals, Lydia, and we had quite a cheering section going on.

 

After that fun, we had a marathon packing session and movie watching in our cabin. We watched "Runner, Runner" and "The Internship". We get our bags out to the hallway for our steward. I have one full of clean clothes and one full of dirty. This should make it easier when we get home.

 

Tonight we are having our last dinner with our "Winemakers Friends". We meet at Vines at 6:45 and Franco takes us to our dining room in Concerto. This table is so pretty with fresh flowers! They really make it nice. We start off with champagne and toast to all if our good friends. We use the toast that Dave taught us, "Proast, Proast, Proast!" Several of us donated a bottle of wine, so we also had plenty of wine. We had not drank our free bottle from our TA so we donated a bottle of white. Several had a bottle left on their wine package so we had plenty. A word on the wine package from those who bought it - they were disappointed that Princess ran out of the better wines that they liked near the end of the cruise. Buyer beware!

 

I had ordered escargot from Franco, so we had great appetizers. We ordered off the menus and the food was good. It was landfall dinner, so we had the baked Alaska parade. But We had a special cake with our package and it was gorgeous and delicious. No baked Alaska for us! We chose chocolate and it had fresh strawberries on top and formed pieces of hard chocolate to decorate the sides. We all hated to part company, but know we have again made some lifelong cruising friends. We went to the Piazza afterwards and enjoyed the party and dancing till they stopped playing! Our last sleep till disembarkation in the morning! We are walking off late with our Dallas traveling buddies, Cathy and Jerry and will have breakfast in the formal dining room at 8:30.

 

When I get home I will upload pics of our cabin balcony view and give some final thoughts and advice on the Royal Princess and the Baltic. But we loved her, as did all at our dinner tonight and I would quickly book her again if the itinerary was one we wanted to go on. We book for places on our bucket list, not for ships, but give the Royal two thumbs up for sure!

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Astro Flyer

Astro Flyer

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The couple had done all of that AND called to confirm that they could pay Alla Tours in Russia and they still had it declined. I know that Joyce will be calling Princess Visa when she returns as she was livid!

 

I would be too! :mad:

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icemom5120

icemom5120

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A big Thank You Gwen, My friend and I will be on the Royal Princess for the June 3rd cruise and really enjoyed your daily updates. This will be our second time on the Royal Princess so we don't have to spend time finding our way around. All the info on the land portion has been most informative. I'm taking my hiking shoes for sure. Thanks again.

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windplayer

windplayer

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Thank you so much for your thread, I'm enjoying it hugely!! We went on our first cruise ever last year on the Royal last year around the Mediterranean and we loved her. Your trip to Scandinavia and St Petersburg is the cruise I would love to do next. Ahhh... One day

 

 

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