New Princess Policy

[Homosassa]

What was Princess Cays called in those days?

I can envision people climbing out of the tenders to get ashore. :D It must have taken them a 1/2 hour per load to get the people off.

 

It didn't have a name. The day was a day at sea but the daily activity sheet had " a special treat at the first of it's kind private beach day that is not offered on any cruise line."

 

We were warned we would need to go ashore in the smaller tenders on boat ship which were basically the open dory type and then wade ashore. Th boats held about 20 people.

 

Only about 75 of us out of the approximately 800 passengers on board (ships were smaller then) took advantage of the offer. You needed a certain amount of agility to get in and out of the tenders as you had to wade back out and climb aboard the tender to return to the ship.

 

The beach was beautiful, a wide sandy expense with a sandy bottom under the water. There were sand dollars and shells everywhere.

 

The crew bought over everything in the dories: BBQ grills, folding tables, paper goods, fresh water, toilet paper for the pit toilets, a volley ball net, etc.

 

The lunch was hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and fresh fruit.

 

Within the next year that cruise line was bought out by P&O and we were given credit for the cruises on Princess (as we found out when we booked our first princess cruise and found out we were "Platinum").

 

To my husband, daughter and me, Princess Cay is a sad version of the wonderful beach that was there. Rocky bottoms and sea walls due to the erosion from dredging and building the dock; loud music compared to the sounds of waves and sea birds, and of course, thousands of people. It is now a day where we remain on the ship for the peace and quiet.

[RickEk]

We've been invited a few times. On our first visit on Sapphire Princess, we were admonished not to stand on the bridge wings because they didn't want us to be seen by folks on their balconies. My second one was on Dawn Princess and the Captain invited us out on the wings. This was my favorite visit because Dawn's bridge wings are open to the elements and it was great being able to stand outside but still be on the bridge.

 

Bridge Visit-Dawn Princess by RickEk, on Flickr

 

Bridge Visit by RickEk, on Flickr

[KruzeKrazy!]

And one thing that was strikingly noticeable to us (which, of course, makes sense) is how quiet and serene it was on the bridge.

[jagsfan]

The two bridge tours I remember most were

Premier's Majestic's first sailing out of Tampa. We stood on the outside of the bridge (wing? fly?) drinking Dom Perignon and eating hors d'oeuvres as we went under the Skyway.

The 2nd was the QEII in the North Atlantic. The water was black and rough. The ship had been hit by an 80 foot wave a couple of weeks before. It hit straight on at the base of the bridge windshield. I asked Commodore Warwick what that looked like. He said he didn't see it because he was asleep in bed.

I said it must have been hard on the ship and he replied that "She was built for the North Atlantic. She shrugged her shoulders and went on".

Those two bridge visits are probably the high points of my cruising life.

 

 

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