Live from the Sea Princess!

[Knuklehead]

[quote name='Franknca']I'm at a loss. Are you on a repositioning cruise that ends up in New York on Saturday the 24th? That's when Princess shows the Sea Princess sailing from NY to Quebec City.
Frank-in-CA[/QUOTE]
Yes , that is correct . Many of the posts on this thread are about this repositioning . Suzzicruzz is on here right now also .

[Franknca]

I guess everyone's off the ship and back home now. I trust the Sea Princess did an amiable job. We will be boarding her on October 24th in Quebec City for its repositioning cruise to Fort Lauderdale. In March, we'll sail her again in the Caribbean. Unless tours of duty are over, we may encounter many of the same crew members. Hope they have a good cruise director as sometimes that's hit and miss.
Frank-in-CA

[Ibrasu]

And when you're afloat, Frank, you will remember those of us currently land-locked who'd enjoy the odd word, won't you? You may not find much new to say, but just confirming the old stuff keeps the context fresh while the rest of us are counting the days.
(........ of course, what would be best, would be if you could then do a Med. cruise too so that you'd be in a unique position to comment on what we can attribute to the ship and crew and what's down to the different areas. Suppose there's no hope of that, is there???)
Ibrasu

[Franknca]

[quote name='Ibrasu']And when you're afloat, Frank, you will remember those of us currently land-locked who'd enjoy the odd word, won't you? You may not find much new to say, but just confirming the old stuff keeps the context fresh while the rest of us are counting the days.
(........ of course, what would be best, would be if you could then do a Med. cruise too so that you'd be in a unique position to comment on what we can attribute to the ship and crew and what's down to the different areas. Suppose there's no hope of that, is there???)
Ibrasu[/QUOTE]

To be honest, I get very little done on the net when I'm on board because the system is so slow. I just have time to check and reply to pertinent email messages and that takes too much time out of relaxing on board. BTW, in between Sea Princess cruises in October and March, we'll be taking a kick back 10 day round trip out of SF on the Dawn Princess. On that one I'll probably have more time to be on the computer as we may not even get off the ship much in Mexico - been there, done that and don't even want the T Shirt. As far as the Med, pretty much have done that too. Not too many places I still want to go and might take a river cruise in Europe as a change of pace.
Frank-in-CA

[galelynn]

Frank, we just recently moved from Brentwood to Clayton, we were in Brentwood 10 yrs. We will be boarding the Sea Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, on the 5th of Nov. the day you get off. Have a great trip.

[Franknca]

[quote name='galelynn']Frank, we just recently moved from Brentwood to Clayton, we were in Brentwood 10 yrs. We will be boarding the Sea Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, on the 5th of Nov. the day you get off. Have a great trip.[/QUOTE]

How coincidental - most people only know about the OJ Brentwood in Southern California (NG). I'll be interested in your feedback on the Caribbean cruise you will be taking as we will also be doing the 14 day one that embarks March 11, 2006. I wanted one that was at least 2 weeks - why fly that far for only 7 days? - and I didn't want to go to St. Thomas again. We haven't done the Caribbean for over a decade so it fit into trying it again. Although we only have a balcony room for our New England cruise, we will have C747 for the Caribbean and I'm told it is the largest mini-suite of the Sun class ships. Looking forward to that.
Frank

[kathe]

Is there anyone on the Sea Princess now who is active on the board? We leave on Monday for Quebec and want to know how the weather is, who is on staff, how all is going?Kathe

[susancruzs]

Hi!

I've been home a week and trying to get back in the groove! My sister and brother-in-law came to see me this weekend so I was trying to do laundry, put stuff away and get ready for their visit!

Best bet on the weather is to check a weather site for a 10 day forecast as it is so changeable at this time of the year! Right now we're having high 70's in the Chicago area, unusual for October.

I have a friend onboard now, who was on the transatlantic with me and she is experiencing trouble getting online, which was a major issue for us between Newfoundland and New York the last two days.

I thought the crew/staff on the Sea Princess were great, especially Rocky (Raquel) and Lucas in the Explorers Bar plus the wait staff there, absolutely super, Plaza deck lobby area. I liked JJ the cruise director, he was always out and about, friendly, nice guy. Paul (part of the JJs team) was around alot, too and very nice/helpful.

I'm going to do a review just haven't had a chance yet! Overall, I really liked the Sea Princess!

Susie

[Franknca]

[quote name='susancruzs']Hi!

I'm going to do a review just haven't had a chance yet! Overall, I really liked the Sea Princess!

Susie[/QUOTE]

Susie:
Where will you post that review? Here or on another topic? Am very interested as we are on the 10/24 embarkation out of Qubec City. BTW, I know how much fun it is to catch up after being away for a while...I just hope you can post it before we leave on the 21st. (G)
Frank

[spindrift]

Hi Galelynn. See you will be on the Sea Princess in November. We will be on her for the New Year's cruise. Haven't talked much to you since our wonderful Tahiti cruise. Hope you are doing well. Glad to see your loyalty to Princess as well.

[gvre]

Does anyone know who the Sea Princess Captain is? We'll be on her 11/5 with galelynn!:D

Debbie

[kappellof]

I was on the Royal twice in 2004, and will be on the October 24 sailing of the Sea Princess. I'm thrilled that the crew includes Captain Burgess, JJ King, and Alan and Alana. They were all on the Royal and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Captain Burgess is really down to earth and is not one of those captain's who hides from the passengers. When we crossed the Equater he participated in the ceremony and allowed the ceremony hosts to throw him in the pool fully clothed.

JJ King also puts on a great show, and he's very approachable. And I'll be happy to once again hear Alan and Alana with their smooth tunes.

[JOHN33406]

We will be on SEA 10/24 also. There is an inactive board for our sailing on Princess roll calls. Come join us. You too, Frank.

[reader711]

Have just returned from the September 24th sailing NY to Quebec City. It was wonderful. Would be happy to answer any questions.

[GSDsky]

Heard is was cut in half and only minimum tables?

[borgy]

We were on the Sept 10th Transatlantic with Susancruzs and the Sept 24th Canda/New England with Reader 711. We enjoyed both cruises very much. We did meet up with Susie and she is a hoot to hang out with. Our only annoying problem was on the turnaround day between cruises. We had been led to believe that we would have to go off the ship to clear immigration procedures in New York, but would be able to return to the ship and do whatever we chose to do for the day. That was wrong-at least for us. We went through the immigration check and were shown the door-we were not able to get back on til embarkation began. I am not sure who dropped the ball, but luckily we had a bag with us that contained a camera and money so we passed time until the port authority would let us back on. Even when we returned, and showed our transit information, it took about 7 different folks before we were allowed back on. It seemed a tad disorganized. (as was the shore excursion team from time to time) Staff were friendly and courteous, food was fine, we enjoyed late night movies on MUTs, even on cold nights, weather was better than we had expected. Now the bad part-figuring out what to cook for supper now that the job is mine again!

[23bchhp]

We are on our first b2b in Nov. on Sea Princess. I have been hoping that our first day of part 2 would not require a wait on shore. Reading your post has changed this. Do you think it was the port and not ship policy?

[Franknca]

[quote name='JOHN33406']We will be on SEA 10/24 also. There is an inactive board for our sailing on Princess roll calls. Come join us. You too, Frank.[/QUOTE]

OK, I'll see if I can find it.
Frank

[borgy]

[quote name='23bchhp']We are on our first b2b in Nov. on Sea Princess. I have been hoping that our first day of part 2 would not require a wait on shore. Reading your post has changed this. Do you think it was the port and not ship policy?[/QUOTE]

Things were a little disorganized in NYC that day--it was their first US port stop in a few years and there were a number of inspections, etc. We may have just been lost in the shuffle. I don't know what the others did who also did the b2b. It wasn't a problem, just not what we had expected. We ended up doing a CircleLine tour around Manhattan which was most enjoyable, so it turned out all right.
I know from these boards that others on b2b cruises have been able to stay on board, so it might just have been the port authority personnel that we encountered that day.

[gvre]

Anyone on the Sea Princess now, know if the mini suites and suites have the new upgraded perks.

We will be on the ship in 4 weeks and would love to know!

Thanks

[skybuffalo]

With the Sea Princess being in Sydney today, how has the cruise been with all of the rain? We will be meeting you when you dock in New York. The excitement is building almost past the point of control. The bags are packed and ready to go.

Thanks, Ron

[kathe]

We are having a fun time here.Left Sydney on time with LOTS of rain.The weather in Quebec was beautiful high in the 80's, cold and overcast from then on .Today ,I was never so glad, to get back to a hot shower.Food and service on 2sd Trad has been Very good.Rain tomorrow but spirit on ship is great.The number of port days is tiring with weather.The Fort at Louisburg is fabulous but you need a full day.We were there on our own tour and saw 1 building in 2 1/2 hours.Note for elite,If both of you are elite in a cabin, you get 2 bar set ups.Capt's most traveled was in Capt"s Quarters,a fairly small group for generous cocktail party.Time change caused some problems,they did a 1/2 hour change coming from Quebec Province at 3pm and then an hour change that night.It caused mass mess and a bunch of tired people.Kathe

[cubfan1momma]

Thank you for your on ship letters. We will be sailing on the "Sea" next April 8th. Interesting to hear your take on the ship et al.

We haven't been on a Princess ship before and are looking forward to the MUTS.

Have a marvelous trip & enjoy that wonderful sea air! :)
Renee

[Franknca]

[quote name='kathe']We are having a fun time here.Left Sydney on time with LOTS of rain.The weather in Quebec was beautiful high in the 80's, cold and overcast from then on .Today ,I was never so glad, to get back to a hot shower.Food and service on 2sd Trad has been Very good.Rain tomorrow but spirit on ship is great.The number of port days is tiring with weather.The Fort at Louisburg is fabulous but you need a full day.We were there on our own tour and saw 1 building in 2 1/2 hours.Note for elite,If both of you are elite in a cabin, you get 2 bar set ups.Capt's most traveled was in Capt"s Quarters,a fairly small group for generous cocktail party.Time change caused some problems,they did a 1/2 hour change coming from Quebec Province at 3pm and then an hour change that night.It caused mass mess and a bunch of tired people.Kathe[/QUOTE]

Speaking of Elite, do they have an Elite check-in for embarkation or is Platinum & Elite mixed together? I was wondering as my documents read Platinum check-in even though my status on the web site shows Elite. I had to have the cruise person on board change my cards on our last cruise and I wonder if I will have to do this again?
Frank-in-CA

[susancruzs]

Hi everyone!

Frank I answered your post about my review but think it disappeared! Bev, sorry about New York and turnaround day! I'm sure it was just New York Port Authority, Sea Princess back to the states for the first time. Southampton was easy, but then the Brits tend to be organized/structured, not a bad thing.

I'm still working on the review, now I've decided to break it into two parts as it was getting too long.

I've never seen a separate line, Frank, just Platinum. You should get an Elite Card right at check-in.

Glad all onboard are making the best of the weather and all that rain. Bon Voyage to future cruisers, all I can do is sit here and plan my next biggie! Back to back in the Med 2007 to celebrate my 60th!

Susie