Paid my balance today

[AuzzieCruiser]

Sorry this is in the P & O board, but hate the Princess board, too "Americanised" for my liking.

Well, just paid the rest of the balance today of $850 each. Only 60 days to go before departure:eek:

For those of you who don't know, my mum and I will be doing the Mexican Riviera on October 7 from LA for 7 nights. We were looking for a longer cruise, but was hard to find one at a reasonable price. We are sailing on the Diamond Princess, which will be our first Princess cruise. We were lucky and recieved our cabin number at the time of booking. We are in cabin A718, towards the rear.

If there is anybody here that was lucky enough to sail her this year while she was out here, please tell me how you liked or disliked the ship.

I know it sounds pretty stupid, but I think that I have 6 or more months left to plan and save.

The company we used to book with have been fantastic. Very helpful, understanding and patient!! Trust me we are not an easy pair!! The last company we booked through were hopeless and never answered phone calls, emails and even questions!! We did give them a second chance, and never got back to us with a quote after 3 attempts!!:mad:

[karmac]

Congratulations AussieCruiser, it's a great feeling when you have paid for it. Hope you & your mum have a wonderful time although I couldn't imagine only cruising for 7 nights:( Just not long enough. 11 wasn't long enough which is why we booked the next one for 14 nights. When axactly do you leave?

 

Karen

[kaseyoz]

Hi Auzzie cruiser

 

I havent sailed on your ship but i do have a cruise booked similar time to you from america. October 14th from port canaveral(florida)

ours is only for 5 days , i would love to stay longer but timing just doesnt allow.

There were heaps of cruises to choose from but this suited us the best. It is a step up from P and O but still not as fancy as some of the superliners. This will be a mum and daughter(13) cruise so i think i may get to read some of those books i took on my last cruise. We were way tooo busy to sit and veg out.

[suexxx]

Hi Kaseyoz. If you are ALOUD please please tell us which ship and cabin you are going on. I for one love to follow our cruise family even when not doing Aust. cruises. If you are not able to tell me on this site can I give you my e-mail address on here. Please let me know. Suexxx

[AuzzieCruiser]

I would love to cruise for longer, but since most Americans only get two weeks annual leave a year, they cater to the americans needs of shorter cruises. Last time we had 9 nights, which was great, but it is rare to find long cruises of 10 nights or more.

I suppose 7 nights is better than none!! We have a week in Anaheim to do Disneyland the week before the cruise, and a week in LA after the cruise.

We leave here on the 29th of September, a day before my birthday:D , and arriving back in OZ on the 23rd of October. Just on two months to go now :eek:

[karmac]

I would love to cruise for longer, but since most Americans only get two weeks annual leave a year, they cater to the americans needs of shorter cruises. Last time we had 9 nights, which was great, but it is rare to find long cruises of 10 nights or more.

I suppose 7 nights is better than none!! We have a week in Anaheim to do Disneyland the week before the cruise, and a week in LA after the cruise.

We leave here on the 29th of September, a day before my birthday:D , and arriving back in OZ on the 23rd of October. Just on two months to go now :eek:

 

Have you been to Disneyland before? We went in Dec '94- Jan'95 & loved it. Would love to go again. In fact, after we did our cruise in April, I wanted our next holiday to be Disneyland but the rest of the family (including the kids) wanted another cruise. Was hard to go against thatb as a cruise is such a good holiday for a mum. No cooking, cleaning, making beds etc

 

Karen

[kaseyoz]

I would love to cruise for longer, but since most Americans only get two weeks annual leave a year, they cater to the americans needs of shorter cruises. Last time we had 9 nights, which was great, but it is rare to find long cruises of 10 nights or more.

I suppose 7 nights is better than none!! We have a week in Anaheim to do Disneyland the week before the cruise, and a week in LA after the cruise.

We leave here on the 29th of September, a day before my birthday:D , and arriving back in OZ on the 23rd of October. Just on two months to go now :eek:

 

OMG. we also leave on the 29th but are flying direct to san fran on United. where are you staying in anaheim? we stayed at the howard johnson and loved it there.

we arrrive back on 21st october after being at disneyworld before our cruise!!

how funny

karon

[kaseyoz]

Have you been to Disneyland before? We went in Dec '94- Jan'95 & loved it. Would love to go again. In fact, after we did our cruise in April, I wanted our next holiday to be Disneyland but the rest of the family (including the kids) wanted another cruise. Was hard to go against thatb as a cruise is such a good holiday for a mum. No cooking, cleaning, making beds etc

 

Karen

 

hi karen ,

yes we have been to disneyland before in 2002. we also drove around for a month, las vegas(would love to go there again) grand canyon. death valley, san fran and back down the coast to LA.

we also have been to paris disneyland a couple of years ago but only for one day.

have to agree with being a great holiday for mums, nothing better.

Daughters ticket WITHOUT the cruise is costing more than it cost for the whole family to go on a 10 day cruise!!

[kaseyoz]

Hi Kaseyoz. If you are ALOUD please please tell us which ship and cabin you are going on. I for one love to follow our cruise family even when not doing Aust. cruises. If you are not able to tell me on this site can I give you my e-mail address on here. Please let me know. Suexxx

hI SUE.

i am sure i am allowed to say which ship. i even put a thread on here asking them to leave it on p and o board which they kindly did.

we are going on the carnival fantasy which is a level up from pacific sun i think but not as ritzy as the superliners.

I dont know my cabin number as i have booked for a oceanview guarantee room. you dont know cabin until boarding.

[AuzzieCruiser]

How spooky kaseyoz!! We flying Air NZ via Auckland, with 5 hours in Auckland:mad: We flew United last year to San Fran, just make sure you take a good book. I hope you are short too!! If you are connecting through San Fran, I hope you have given yoursel plenty of time. We were at the last gate, gate 90 I think, and it was a looong walk.

In Anaheim we are staying at the Pepper Tree Hotel. It is a Mexican themed hotel, which according to Trip Advisor is the No. 2 hotel in Anaheim. It is reasonably cheap, and has it's own Kitchen, which will come in handy for us. I'm only planning three days at disneyland. My feet are aching already at the thought. I walked around Adelaide today, and my feet were starting to ache, and Adelaide isn't that big!!

[kaseyoz]

auzzie

We are travelling as part of a large group, so we dont have much say in airlines etc. I also hear that UA are one of the few that still dont have indiividual tvs. We are flying direct to san fran and staying there for a few days. we go to alcratz for a night tour, see the giants play and the girls also have a few friendly games. We are staying at fort mason which is like a YMCA right on the foreshore overlooking the bay and bridge and walking distance to fishermans wharf. UMM up to 10 in a dorm room and lots of excited teenage girls.....sound like fun??

 

check out the disneysites for info on disneyland if you havent been before, you will learn so much.

email me of you like

kaseyoz@hotmail.com

karon

[kimba_99]

If there is anybody here that was lucky enough to sail her this year while she was out here, please tell me how you liked or disliked the ship.

 

Since you've had no one else reply re the above statement I thought I would as I've been on her sister ship, the Sapphire... is that close enough..?? Much bigger than the Sun Princess, which I have also been on... she is bigger than Aussie ships but I found it easier to navigate. The Sapphire/Diamond has long straight corridors (very long) where the Sun has odd shaped ones that annoyed me.

 

We had a cabin at the aft end of the ship on the Sapphire and I would not deliberately pick that location again, too much vibration. We had a guarantee cabin so we just got what they gave us... but really liked the front of the ship on the Sun.

 

Loved all the pools and hot tubs also loved all the lounges/bars, all very comfy and relaxing. Won't bother about reviewing food or personnel as they will be different. I found taking the stairs was quicker than waiting for an elevator and it was good exercise since most of the time you're going to or from a meal venue ;) .

 

 

The Horizon Court buffet has stations rather than lining up... a lot of people don't understand how this set up works and a couple of people got a bit upset as they would line up and others would just walk around taking what they wanted. We never found it was too crowded either and always found somewhere to sit but they did clean up quickly so don't leave anything that you haven't finished.

 

Make sure you go to the champagne fountain evening... that was a lot of fun with lots of photos drinks and dancing. There is also a chocolate or dessert buffet on at some time during the week, not usually advertised you just have to stumble upon it, maybe ask your room steward he might know what day it's on. The Patisserie is a very nice place to have a coffee and pastry in the morning, go at least once.

 

Absolutely loved the hot stone beds in the Spa... I would pay just to lay on them and use the steam rooms.... and leave the massage to someone at home to do as I wasn't that impressed with it. The swim against the current pool is part of the spa too but you don't have to pay to use it, it was terrific since I love to swim laps for exercise.

 

Hope this is something like you were asking for and it helps with the waiting until you leave... been there! and love it too!

 

The Mexican Riveria is one cruise I have looked at doing so I will await your review on your return, including Disneyland! Hope you have a great trip.:D

 

Kim

[Have a Good Trip]

If there is anybody here that was lucky enough to sail her this year while she was out here, please tell me how you liked or disliked the ship.

 

Jarrod, you'll love the Diamond Princess. I've probably said this somewhere here before, but I really didn't feel like this ship was "big" when onboard a few months ago, compared to all the other ships I've sailed on or visited.

 

The things I liked about the DP were the promenade deck that goes all around the ship from the very bow to the very stern, the Lotus pool and Skywalkers Lounge.

Tim

[sandydownunder]

To Auzzie Cruiser,

We have sailed on both the Diamond & Sapphire Princess. They are identical, layout, decor etc. When we got on the Diamond we knew our way round immediately.

 

We went on the Sapphire in April/May last year from Osaka to Seattle and had an outside cabin P326 on Plaza deck. Very good location, just back from the atrium. We had to walk through the art gallery but that was pleasant. We had fixed dining on this cruise and really enjoyed the company of the other three couples.

 

In February this year we went on the Diamond from Auckland to Sydney. This time we had an inside cabin on Baja 725. It was just as big as an outside cabin and was well designed with a wall of mirrors (where you would expect a window to be) and lots of lamps and lighting behind the pelmets. On this cruise we had anytime (freestyle) dining. Although we liked going to the dining room when it suited us we did miss not having regular table mates.

 

If you are going to the show you need to get there early to get a seat. The theatre only seats 702 people. 1404 for the two shows which is way below the total passenger capacity. Often the cast shows had to be repeated on a later afternoon.

 

We found the meals very good on both ships.

 

Sandra

[AuzzieCruiser]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

We ended choosing Anytime dining,as we don't want to feel too rushed, though I believe it is quite popular, and can be frustrating.

We are directly below the Horizon court buffet, so hopefully we won't hear too much foot traffic of the early risers. I prefer to line up and wait, than skip in front of someone, because you might miss something;)

Not long know for me and Kaseyoz....

[AuzzieCruiser]

Double Post!!

[AuzzieCruiser]

We recieved our cruise documents this week!! We were quite surprised to receive them 7 weeks out from our cruise.:eek:

In the past we received them 2-3 weeks prior to departure. Now we are only waiting on the plane tickets.

Our tickets were issued by P&O Australia on behalf of Princess cruises. We actually received something that resembles tickets. Out last two 'tickets' were in like a document folder, with about 30 pages of information.

Getting closer...