6/27 Pacific Princess (Asia)

[Hlitner]

The last time we were in Bangkok, the Skytrain was still under construction. We moved around on the city by using the river taxis (we stayed in the Shangra-La with the river at our door), used our feet, and sometimes used taxis and had to put-up with the darn traffic. We specifically are going back to the Shangra-La because it gives us easy access to both the river and the Skytrain. I am already regretting that we did not plan to give ourselves an extra few days in Bangkok (2 full days is not enough). It sounds great that you have a contact in that crazy city! Inside information is always the best way to find the good restaurants.

 

Hank

[helenb]

Hi Guys!

 

osh I'll try and remember everything. The entertainment is OKAY. Not good, not bad but Okay. It is similar to Celebrity in that if you don't go to the main show your choices are limited to some musical groups. There is a piano bar player (Kemble) who is alright, but I honestly haven't listened to him much. He hangs out in the casino bar. The Pricness Orchestra is good and they play a half hour of dance music before shows. We bring sweaters to save our seats and dance the half hour before the nightly show. There is a dance trio that plays in the Pacific Lounge as well (reasonable) and a duo that sings to a karaoke machine. They are annoying mostly because they play LOUDLY at the pool in the afternoons.

 

Osaka was terrific. Yes we took the airport limosine bus and it was easy to find. It is at stop #3 and just tell them you want to go to the Hyatt. They had English speaking people helping us buy the tickets from the machines and they took us right to the front door for 1,300 yen each. We had no problem taking the subway with our luggage because we are light packers. We only had 2 rolling suitcases and 2 carryons and we walked the 3 blocks in the rain! However a taxi from the Hyatt would be about 1,500 yen (as per the concierge at the Hyatt).

 

When in Osaka we actually spent 2 days 'commuting' to Kyoto. The first day we tok the Johnnie Hillwalker walking tour which is FANTASTIC! It is 2,000 yen per person and very interesting. If you have time take it. He offers it MWF wheteher it is rain or shine. We also took a JTB bus tour (paid $135 each including transportation from Osaka and purchased before we left the US) that was nice because of the English-speaking guide. Most of the Kyoto places do NOT have tours or guides (much less in English) and we appreciated the commentary. We also met up with a bunch of other people on our cruise who were on the same tour. Most of them were staying at the Westin or the Hilton. The morning before we boarded we went to see Osaka Castle which is beautiful. Inside is a (slightly boring) exhibition hall but it is worth it to go just to walk the grounds (this is free) or to go to the top of the castle for the Observation Deck.

 

We also spent some time in the evenings walking the trendy nightlife districts. This was fun but you really only need to do it once.

 

The port yesterday was Okinawa. There was no shuttle into town and the Princess excursion desk gave us vastly over-estimated taxi fares. We took a taxi to Shuri Castle (about 1,300 yen) and got there at 8 a. We walked around it and saw some smaller ruins until 8:30 when they opened the castle park. We walked that until they opened the museum at 9 and then snuck in just before the Princess tours. We finished about 9:30, ran over to the Tamauden (royal tombs) and finished that by 9:50. We hopped a taxi (450 yen) with another couple to the Shuri monorail station and then tok the monorail down to the shopping street (Kokusadori I think). Make sure you ride the monorail. The most expensive fare is less than 300 yen and you get a terrific elevated view of the city. We spent some fun time walking the shopping district and then went back to the ship (taxi, 1,000 yen). We only had a half day but if we had had longer I would have liked to see the Japanese Imperial Navy Underground Headquarters. I heard that this was very good. Okinawa is really like the Japanese Hawaii: warm, tropical and lots of Aloha shirts and US military bases . It was a very interestng atmosphere.

 

We are taking a tour this morning in Taipei because there is no other way to get from the port of Keelung to Taipei. Princess is NOT offering a shuttle or 'on your own' tour. They have a few shuttles in a few ports but not many and most of the time they don't take you anywhere really useful.

 

I'll let you guys know about the other ports as we get there.

 

The souffles are awesome! I even enjoyed the orange/lemon souffle with pistachio sauce last night (although my DH wouldn't eat it because the sauce was mint green). They are NOT to be missed. I am a big pasta person and I have enjoyed MOST of the pastas (at lunch too). The salads are pretty poor and the desserts can vary. As always, the dining room lunch is much better than the buffet lunch. The pizza is good but they use this weird cheese that doesn't melt so you get chunks of cheese on your pizza.

 

The BB is nice and is plenty of room for us. The suitcases fit well under the bed (even the high ones). There is no fridge but we don't miss it because we have the soda cards. the bathroom is the standard small cruise ship bathroom. But in the middle of the night I like not having to get up off the toilet to wash my hands! .

 

I'll try checking back again in a couple of days.

[Hlitner]

Am roaring at your toilet remark! Tell that duo to turn down the volume before the next cruise (smile).

 

Hank

[GottoCruise]

Helen - Thank you VERY MUCH for taking the time to post...your informaton is so helpful -

I have had an answer on the Ports of Call Board - from Guam and Saipan. I am waiting for suggested itineraries and cost for a private tour in those Ports - I would prefer to do that in each Port - I have had almost no contact with anyone else on our cruise - I am going to go ahead with a private car, driver/guide where I can. I have been warned that Princess has stopped oferring shuttles to "town" - and that the bus tours on our itinerary are something "less to be desired" .

Sounds like we could do Okinawa on our own - hopefully we will meet others on board that will want to sightsee with us!

(As you, we will not be taking anything other than (1) 26" each and (1) 22" each (all rolling)- with small over the shoulderbags, so hopefully we shouldn't have any problems with the luggage on the transfers !

Thank you for the info on the airport transfer - that is exactly the info I have in my "file.

As for the transfer from the Hyatt to the ship - @ 1,500 yen taxi, I think we'll try that, instead of the subway.

We have been to Kyoto previously (yes, beautiful & interesting). Alternatively, we have planned a day's excursion to Himeji, by train on Sat, with a JTB "Goodwill Guide- (Himeji Castle is supposed to be fabulous & a World Heritage site)Sunday, the day of embarkation, we plan to embark the ship around 11AM (Is that reasonable??) have lunch, unpack quickly, and meet our "Goodwilll Guide" at the pier to go back into Osaka for the Tenjin Festival. We should (hopefully) be able to be back at the ship for dinner.

Please comment if this sounds reasonable to you with your recent Osaka experience??

About how long is travel time from Tempozan Harbor Pier to Central Oskaka?

The Festival is being held at the Okawa River at a "shrine" - I'm leaving all the details to our "Goodwill Guide", and still waiting to hear his final recommendations and arrangements.

Any recommendations for dinner in or near the hotel?? We'll have time for just 1 nice dinner.

Thank you also for your encouraging words about our Cat. BB Balcony cabin. It's going to be fun to see how my husband fits all his "equipment" in the bathroom (power water pic, toothbrush, shaver, all kinds of "pills" etc. etc.) - I guess he'll be able to brush his teeth "sitting down"...LOL!

Re-reading my previous posts - I see I have made an error - my Cat. BB cost was only $2,296 (all inclusive) - I really shouldn't complain about the Balcony cabin for 24 days on this unusual itinerary. - I'm just so Greedy and/or Needy?? (Still hoping, hoping for the Upgrade Fairy..)

Anyway - I'm sure we'll be fine in the Balcony Cabin, as you are - I know the ship is lovely - and I'm looking forward to this cruise so much.

Thanks again for your help and "words of wisdom"...I'll be anxiously looking for your posts!

Renee

 

Until Pacific Princess

Islands of the Pacific Theater

 

 

Until Golden Princess Western European Capitals

 

 

Until Golden Princess British Isles

 

[Smiles]

Hope you all have a wonderful trip! It's exciting reading about it. Would you please post a review (especially the various ports) when you complete your trip? The Diamond will be doing the Beijing to Bangkok trip next fall, and we are considering do it.

 

Thanks

[Hlitner]

Smiles, I hate to do reviews but will be at your beck and call when we return in late July. We have been to Asia before (land and cruise) and we love the change from our more normal trips to Europe. I spent 3 years in Asia while in the Air Force and fell in love with the people, various cultures, food, shopping, etc etc. Its been fun introducing my wife to that fascinating part of the world and she has now become a "believer."

 

Hank

[helenb]

Well here is another portion of the ongoing review! I think I will just cut and paste it all together into a big review when I get back!

 

First, Renee we are very cheap when we are onshore so we didn't go into any expensive restaurants. We ate breakfast at a nice French pastry shop in Osaka Station and lunches/dinners were wherever we happened to be in small places. There are a number of FANCY restaurants in the Hyatt that all smelled terrific but they were expensive ($200 per person for dinner) so we didn't use them. There is not much else in the immediate hotel area but knowing this we would always eat while we were out before returning to the hotel.

 

On the subway it took about 20-30 minutes to get to Osaka Station depending on transfer time and whether or not it was rush hour. Leave yourself extra time to learn to navigate Osaka Station! It is a maze!

 

Re: the bathroom, I use one of those hanging toiletry bags and it works very well.

 

Princess has some embarcation problems (the card readers weren't working) so we actually were close to the first ones on board at about 1:30. Hopefully this will be fixed when you board though!

 

Okay, on to Hong Kong! We had a fantastic time! We were the first to disembark at about 8 am (ship was early). We docked Kowloon side at the Ocean Terminal and were right next to the Star Ferry. It took us 10 minutes to navigate through the Harbor City shopping mall though! It cost us about US$0.40 to take the ferry across to Hong Kong Island (if we had been seniors we would have been free) and it was very fast. When we got off the ferry (at Central) we walked to the Victoria Peak Tram (about 5 minutes walk) and took it up to Victoria Peak (about US$4 round trip). The train was the steepest land vehicle (ie: not suspended) I have ever been in. The views at the top were terrific and as we were getting on the tram to come down we saw all of the Princess Tour Groups coming up. :-) When we got off at the bottom we walked through the middle of uptown to get to the midlevels public escalators. We arrived just at 10 am so they were still going downhill so we rode to the bottom and visited the tourist information booth there for some maps. Then we took the now-reversed escalators to the top! We walked down, meandering through some more 'traditional' shopping areas (Hollywood Rd., Upper Lascar Rd.) seeing the antique and herbal markets and the Man Mo Temple. When we got back to downtown we grabbed a bus to Aberdeen, which is a 'fishing village' on the south side of the island (US$0.60 per person each way). Of course it is more commercial now but this is where you see all of the Chinese boats in the harbour. We were constantly pestered to ride the sampain boats (one saleslady followed us for 10 minutes!) but we took the free boat out to the 'famous' Jumbo floating restaurant. We walked around there for 10 minutes (and found the Princess Tour Groups eating lunch) and then took the free boat back. I think we got all of the experience without being ripped off! After walking around Aberdeen a bit more we went back on the bus to Central Hong Kong. We got off and walked to Hong Kong park, which is very beautiful. It is incredibly landscaped and is in the middle of all of the downtown high rises. They had a fantastic aviary (free) that we went through and an equally interesting conservatory (also free). However the star of the show was the Teaware Museum in the old colonial Flagstaff House (free too), but only because of its fantastic air conditioning. :-) We then wandered back to the Star Ferry and went back across to Kowloon. We went through the landmark Penninsula Hotel and the ritzy Nathan Rd. shopping areas and got to Kowloon Park. This wasn't really worth the trip since it wasn't nearly as nice as the Hong Kong Park. At this point we were exhausted (no lunch, 6.5 miles of walking over 10 hours in 95F heat with 99% humidity) so we went back to the ship. We got back an hour before departure. Turns out they were having 'Oriental' night in the dining room and the menu looked awful, so we showered and went to the alternative pizza/foccacia restaurant. You don't want to know how much pizza I ate! :-)

 

After the pizza we went to the Newlywed Game. No one had volunteered so we got volunteered and ended up winning. The prize was a bottle of champagne which is sad because I don't drink. We'll probably share it with some people at dinner tonight since tonight is formal night. We are spending 2 days at sea enroute to Vietnam and today is our first day on Bangkok time.

 

Any other questions?

[Hlitner]

Helen, Kathy and I are loving your posts and will look forward to your future notes. I hope we get the same docking postion in Hong Kong on our cruise. You mentioned the gentleman who was in the piano bar. Is he good? After tons of cruises we tend to spend less and less time in the main show room and love the piano bars on any ship. Am hoping the Pacific Princess has someone who can, at least, carry a tune.

 

Hank

[GottoCruise]

Thanks Helen---I heaar you about being "conservative" onshore - we are too -- and are certainly not looking for Osaka $200 pp dinners (we'll wait and eat our fill on the ship) - That being said - it is the reason I "worked so hard" to get a Club Room (without paying the premium,) we are looking forward to Free (full) breakfast and evening snacks that can "stand" for a "light" supper with free drinks etc....My Flyer Talk friends posted that the Hyatt Osaka Club Room was one of the best perks in the Hyatt chain - and one was so wonderful he sent a free suite upgrade certificate for us to use for the 1st night, I was able to consolidate all our Hyatt points for the 2nd night for a free Club Room- Can't get much "cheaper" than that!

Hong Kong sounded terrific - you did very well to see the sights - Victoria Peak was very clouded over the time we were there - so glad you got to see the fabulous view. we were last in Hong Kong about 19 years ago - spent the better part of a week shopping in all the markets, and all the designer showrooms - I don't know if that's still possible - but we "shopped "til we dropped" -those years ago - Diane Freiss dresses were all the rage in cruise wear - we visited ALL her showrooms on the Kowloon and the Hong Kong side, and came away with about 8 of her designs - I think I still am still wearing a few! Also had (4) presciption eyeglasses made - (24 hrs). 1 pr. w/Cartier frames that I am still wearing - albeit as "sunglasses" now. Paid about $120 - the frames alone are now over $2,000 in the local Mall!! Had shoes made, bought loads of pearls at the Jade Market very early in the AM - bought "Trousseau Lingerie" (had a daughter just getting married, and too many other things to remember - After that crazy week, we boarded the Royal Princess for the ship's first cruise to China. What memories - I know you will come away with wonderful memories especially if this is your first visit to that part of the world - Somehow, I don't think it ever gets any better than your first visit!!

Can't wait to hear all about Vietnam - we've never been - our Vietnam Ports last year were cancelled due to SARS -- it's on my "Must see" list someday. Sail on.....Renee

 

Until Pacific Princess

Islands of the Pacific Theater

 

 

Until Golden Princess Western European Capitals

 

 

Until Golden Princess British Isles

 

 

[aanselm]

HelenB... Thanks for all the wonderful information that you are providing. I am sure that it will be of great utility to all who read. Your efforts are particularly appreciated in light of the many fun things you could be doing on that beautiful ship.

 

I must also say that it is quite interesting and redeeming to hear you guys on this thread talking about being 'conservative' with your re$ource$. In my case, I am often faced with the 'single supplement'. Hence, while I spend as much as I need to, if cutting corners means an extra cruise for that year, you bet that I will cutting those corners. LOLOL!! As my parents put it, seems like my tastes and spending have changed now it is now on my buck, and no longer on theirs Truer words have never been spoken.

 

Blessings,

A.

[Smiles]

HelenB, thanks so much for your posts; they are fantastic! Were you familiar with the ports/cities before your trip? You seemed to have mapped out your excursion so expertly--and knew exactly where to go. Did you follow any particular guide book? Are the places as easy to get to as you make them seem? How crowded were the cities?

 

Thanks for sharing

[helenb]

Hi Guys! I wanted to post on the most recent sea day but of course that was the day the boards were down! But here is some more info.

 

The piano player is quite good. In fact he is probably the best regular entertainment on the ship. The problem is that he plays in the Casino Lounge which is the smokiest place on the ship. So I am unable to listen to him for long. He also has some confidence issues because if you walk out on him while he is playing he will (jokingly) insult you. He does it EVERY time. He also likes to hold conversations with my husband as he is walking by. He;s quite flamboyant and definitely has an interesting personality. :)

 

The big crisis on the ship (after the cancellation of Hiroshima) was that we ran out of fountain Diet Coke. Everyone who had soda stickers wanted Diet Coke and shortly after Hong Kong the entire upper part of the ship was dry of it. If you were at the pool and wanted one you had to go down to Deck 5. I called and asked the Food & Beverage Manager to move some up to the pool deck and he did, but then we ran out in Vietnam. Why we didn't restock there I don't know. Of course instead of telling us the entire ship was out of Diet Coke they started giving you watered down real Coke. This is dangerous (suppose I were a diabetic?) but they would not admit that they were out. There was a very long sea day in between but they finally restocked yesterday in Singapore. You can tell this is a small community when this issue is a crisis. :)

 

Okay, ports. In Vietnam we did the standard Ho Chi Minh City tour (NOT the shopping tour). I strongly recommend that you at least do the On Your Own tour because the city is 1.5-2 hours away from the port along very muddy backwater roads. The Phu My port itself is NOT set up for passengers in any sense and isbasically a mud pile where they are loading sand and construction equipment onto barges. It would be nearly impossible (without speaking Vietnamese and having a LOT of patience) to get off the ship and do ANYTHING on your own. There isn't even a town to walk into. Once in Ho Chi Minh there is very little public transportation and taxi drivers do not speak English so be prepared to walk a LOT (if you're not on tour).

 

The tour itself was actually fantastic. It was probably the best ship tour I have ever been on other than perhaps Pompeii and Amalfi Drive. The drive to Saigon (they actually do call it Saigon there, only the government in the north calls it Ho Chi Minh) was very interesting because you really got to see daily life along the roadside the ENTIRE way. I'm talking children running barefoot through the mud, makeshift marketplaces, dusty homes open for all to see, etc. etc. It was very interesting and the first time in a long time where I have really felt WEALTHY as compared to the local populace (and trust me, by US standards we are definitely not rich). First we went to the Vietnam History museum which was not 100% interesting but our guide knew which of the few pieces were worth taking a look at (the mummified woman was the most interesting). We also saw a water puppet show there which was cute and just long enough to appreciate it (not long enough to get dull).

 

 

After this wen went to a lacquer factory. I know what you're thinking and yes, it was a sales/shopping thing but the best one I have ever attended. They took us through the actual factory where people were working and it was very interesting to see things hand-made in every stage of production. The prices at the store were unbelieveably cheap (eg: US$24 for HUGE fancy jewelry boxes with mother-of-pearl inlays, includes shipping to the US) butwe didn't buy anything simply because there was nothing we wanted/needed. It was very interesting to browse though. After this we went to lunch at an extremely fancy hotel (the Equatorial). They had women in costume lining the stairway and seriously I felt like royalty going up to the ballroom (where lunch was held). In the ballroom on a stage there were people performing traditional dances and playing traditional instruments. Each segment was a few minutes long so it changed rapidly. The food was decent and for dessert there were a number of interesting Asian fruits I tried for the first time (Dragonfruit being the most exotic) which was an experience in itself. After lunch we had some free time before getting back on the bus so we decided to walk around the block. We started to walk towards the street when a large number of vendors just swarmed down on us with their souveniers. It was somewhat overwhelming but we just retreated and went out the side entrance of the hotel and no one botherered us. We walked aroundthe neighborhood and the vendors didn't swarm us again until we were right ack at the hotel entrance. By this time there were a number of other tour participants so we weren't overwhelmed and could enjoy the bargains. If you want purses there were BEAUTIFUL silk and/or beaded purses for only $2 or $3 each (depending on how you bargain). They ONLY wanted $US. Bring small bills because I wouldn't trust your getting change. They had other items as well, but the purses were by far the best bargain.

 

After lunch the vendors followed us on their mopeds to the Sea Goddess Temple. This was a beautiful temple hidden away in a ramshackle part of Chinatown and I would never have discovered it on my own. After the temple we stopped at Reunification Hall for a photo op and then went to the Rex Hotel (site of the Friday Night Follies). We had enough time to go upstairs and walk arond the rooftop bar (beautiful with great views) and take pictures of the lobby before getting back on the bus. On the way back to the ship we made a 'rest stop' at this strange food store. It had a bunch of tourist souvenirs (and the same kind of pushy vendors only these were selling kimonos for US$5 or less) but also a lot of strange dried Asian foods including whole snakes and bugs. Quite the creepy (yet fascinating) display! back at the ship the entire bus talked about how we had enjoyed the tour so much. This one is DEFINITELY worth going on.

 

Okay I'll make another posting for Singapore since this is getting long.

[helenb]

Someone asked before how we prepared for ports. Well if we were going to be on our own I would purchase a city guidebook (I like Lonely Planet best but Fodors does okay too.) and read up on the place. This helped me plan out what things were best to see and how the public transportation worked. 2 or 3 hours of serious planning at home helps you get the most out of each port. Of course it also helps if you contact the tourist bureaus in each place beforehand and get maps mailed to you!

 

Yesterday we were in Sinapore, which we did on our own. All the prices I mention here are Singapore dollars. If you want to do ANY ports on your own Singapore and Hong Kong are obvious ones to do. Singapore is probably the most Western of the places we have been, even more so than Hong Kong. The high level of 'social engineering' is also evident. There were many signs in public areas reminding people where to stand (versus walk) on escalators, to let other through doors first, to give up seats to elderly, pregnant and disabled, etc. There were also many postings of the fines for eating on the subway, smoking in public places, etc.

 

The ship docks at the Singapore Cruise Center which is conveniently located between the cable car up Mt. Faber and the Harbourfront MRT station. It is EASY to walk to both. The ship docked late so we scrapped our plan to goup Mt. Faber and instead took the MRT (and then a cheap $4 taxi) to Changi Chapel and Museum. This is a very interesting museum filled with photos and quotations about the POW camps and occupation of Singapore by the Japanese in WWII. It was in-depth without being too technical and I enjoyed the display very much (as much as you can enjoy photos of torture and starvation). Then we took the taxi and MRT down to Fort Canning. We walked through the park and visited the Battle Box, which was teh underground headquarters for the British. There was a cheesy tour but the site itself is very interesting and you will learn a lot about the reasons behind the British surrender of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942. it was interesting to see things from both the Pacific Theatre and Axis points of view. So in Vietnam we saw evidence of American wartime humiliation and in Singapore we saw evidence of British wartime humilation. It was actually a terrific experience.

 

Leaving WWII behind we walked over to the Padang area and then took a stroll up to the Raffles Hotel. Being forewarned we were appropriately dressed (no shorts or sandals of any kind, my bare shoulders in my sundress were okay) and let into the lobby, which is beautiful. We did see lots of tourists being turned away for inappropriate dress. We walked through the fancy shops back to the MRT and went to Little India where we wandered through various temples (including the Temple of 1,000 Lights where you will see a giant, garish Buddha whose bottom you can enter to see another Bhudda) and took in the atmosphere of the markets. Then we went back to Harbourfront station and took our abbreviated trip up Mt. Faber. The view was nice, but not spectacular and I was a little disappointed, but I suspect this is the kind of thing that HAS to be done when you visit Singapore. All in all it was a terrific port and there were a lot of things we wanted to do but didn't have time for. We could easily spend another few days here too.

 

Total spent (including the Mt. Faber cable car and admission to the Battle Box) was about $60 (Singapore Dollars). It was not expensive at all.

 

Today we are taking the Pekhan tour in Kuantan. I will try to report on this tomorrow (our last sea day).

[GottoCruise]

Hi Helen- So interesting to read your "reports" - thank you for sharing....Can't find my way around the new boards comfortably yet and of course lost my countdown clock and photo avitar...when I have time I'll have to read through and perhaps get some help....We got our tickets today for our Pacific Princess sailing , July 25 - Next week everything goes into the luggage and we'll be all ready to leave (early? yes! - but we're getting the kids visiting early July for my birthday - and wanted to be all done before they "swarm" in.....Cheers! Renee

[arlenemilt]

Helen, I am so enjoying your ongoing review. Though we won't be doing Asia, you are refreshing our former experiences in some of those cities.

 

We will be boarding the PP in Honolulu on August 17th for 36 days, so the PP reporting is most interesting. Pizza, one of my favorite foods..........I can almost taste it! Sorry to hear that the piano player hangs out in "smoke." We usually love piano bars, but alas, this time we'll be steering clear.

 

We're in a BD; happy to hear your BB is comfortable. I'm still hoping for a mini upgrade. We do have a mini on our second leg, the 24 day segment.

 

I hope we don't run out of diet coke. That's another of my staples. Renee will have to see that her cruise doesn't drink it all. LOL

 

Keep having fun and thanks again.

 

Arlene

[calexand]

Helen, Thank you, for providing such details on your port excursions. We are sailing aboard the Royal Princess Nov. 1 from Beijing to Bangkok. There has been very little information about the ports of call on these boards so I am most appreciative of every scrap of information you can provide. Hopefully you will be up for questions when you get back.

 

Carol

[Smiles]

Helen, thanks for sharing so much of your tour. There isn't a lot of information on the ports for Asia. Your contributions will help educate many of us planning for such a trip. BTW, keep having fun!

[helenb]

Hi all!

 

This will probably be my last post from the PP since we disembark tomorrow morning. Princess offered us a Bangkok tour that we are taking. There were actually 2 different tours, each about $50 pp ($75 pp if you did not purchase the operational overnight + transportation). We are taking the Highlights tour which includes two temples (one with a giant gold Bhudda and one with a giant jade one) and the Grand Palace and lunch. They will drop us off at our Siam City Hotel afterward at about 3 pm. We leave Monday morning (EARLY) for the airport and our LONG flight home. I guess it's not too long: we leave Bangkok at 7 am and arrive in San Francisco at 11 am. Only 4 hours, right? :)

 

I should make a clarification about the pizza situation. The pizza at lunch is okay. It is decent (if you can ignore the sometimes strange cheese images from the non-melting cheese) and tastes okay. But the GOOD pizza is at dinnertime (5:30pm - 12:30am). They have table seating (with waiters) in part of the buffet each night as alternative dining (no charge). Some nights they have a Bistro (3 or 4 rotating menus) and the other nights they have a pizza and focaccia trattoria (always the same menu). The Bistro always has 3 or 4 choices of pizza in addition to non-Italian dishes.

 

I think someone asked about the entertainment before and I didn't answer it. The entertainment is not as good as on the bigger Princess ships. The main male singer in the shows (Scott Archer) is pretty bad (he sings out of tune) although the other singers are fine. The shows are mostly song and dance numbers. There are none of the actual plays (like Pirates and Glamour) that I remember of the past. The magician and comedian they got are mediocre at best. They got 2 outside entertainers, both from Australian. One is a guy named Banjo, which tells you a lot about his act. If you like a guy playing a banjo as if his life depends upon finishing within 60 seconds then he is for you. Let's just say that most of the passengers did NOT enjoy this. The other entertainer is a female singer named Seamus. She is excellent and outstrips everything else. She apparently has won a number of awards in Australia (but then they told us that Banjo did too so I guess that doesn't mean anything). She is performing her second show tonight.

 

Okay, on to the (second) last port: Kuantan, Malaysia. You probably won't find any port information about this place if you search the internet. This is because I think the PP was the first cruise ship to go there ever. I may be exaggerating, but not by much. The port was 100% a 'working' port. There were no passenger facilities and the buses were driving through a maze of shipping containers to exit the place. There were almost no taxis available at the pier and from what we understand none of the drivers spoke English. However we did talk to a couple who were able to hire a driver for US$20 for the entire day (I don't know how they did this with the communication gap). We had booked the Royal City of Pekan tour. First they drove us on gravel and paved roads for 45 minutes into Kuantan and then we continued to drive further towards Pekan (another 45 minutes). We turned off onto this nearly invisible dirt road that I think had never seen anything bigger than a pickup before (remember we were on a big tour bus) and drove down aways until we got to these wooden huts. One hut was the birthplace of the second prime minister of Malaysia, the hut beside it was a museum of his life. We weren't sure why this was a major site, but after reading on our own through the museum we discovered that this was the guy who was instrumental in obtaining Malaysia's independence from British Colonial Rule. The tour guide did not tell us this. Across the street was a bigger hut-like complex which was a silk factory. I just presumed that this meant a forced shopping excursion. No, just the opposite. We walked over and there were 2 women weaving cloth on old fashioned wooden looms. That's it. No store, no salespeople, nothing, just 2 girls who ignored us while working. It would have been nice if the tour guide had at least explained something about the process but he did not. We walked back across the dirt road and back into our tour bus and drove to the outskirts of Pekan and the royal compound. One of the interesting things the tour uide did tell us is that 9 of 13 of the Malaysian provinces have Sultans. Every 5 years there is an election held by the country to see which Sultan will be King of Malaysia. The King is purely ceremonial. This Sultan (whose compound we were visiting) was not the current King and we couldn't find out from the tour guide if he had ever held the post. Since he was living in his palace we drove up to the front gates and took pictures of the gates.Then we drove by his 2 polo fields. He had a rusty steam train that he had converted into a dressing room at the polo field and we were allowed to get out and take pictures of the outside of the train. The big claim to fame here was that Prince Phillip (UK) had played at this polo field. We also saw the horse stables from the road (they were quite a distance back). Then we got back in the bus and drove to downtown Pekan. It was all of 2 blocks. We got out and walked the 2 blocks and I have to say I was a little frightened. It was obviously an extremely poor area and the locals stared at us with an intensity that I found disconcerting. The 'stores' we passed were pretty meager and everything was filthy, including the one restaurant that had flies swarming all over the 'buffet'. At the end of the 2 blocks was the Sultan's museum. It was in the former British Governor's house. Basically it was a lot of memorabilia of the Sultan and his family and a few old ceramic items of Malaysian Heritage. It was about 30 minutes of interesting items and then 45 minutes of blah. The place was obviously not set up for hordes of tourists. I do have to compliment the Malaysia tour guides on being organized though: they got all 3 tour groups there at different times so that we did not overwhelm the museum.

 

After this we were supposed to go to the watercraft exhibition across the street but it was closed. The guide really had not planned this well because we could have gone there first (while it was till open) and then gone to the museum. So we got back in the bus and drove to Kuantan for lunch. We did not arrive at the restaurant until 1:30 pm so many people were very hungry. The restaurant was in the nicest hotel in Kuantan but it was very spare. After the royal treatment in Ho Chi Minh City I was shocked. There was a linoleum floor and the chairs were all broken. The tables were formica. Let's just say that ambiance was zero. But this can be made up for with a good meal, right? Well they seated 10 people at the tables (which were made for 8) and we were elbow to elbow. ALL the Princess tours were at the same place and the staff were obviously overwhelmed. It took awhile to get served and then they just dropped dishes on our table without telling us what anything was. The food was worse than food court Chinese at home. It was edible but not too tasty. We were trying to identify some of the dishes. Afterward the guide told us that one dish was deer. This didn't bother me so much (I have had venison before) but many people were upset that they have been 'eating Bambi' and were not told about it. Then one lady at our table found a bug in her food. I was across from her so I didn't see it personally but half the table did and they all swore it was a BUG about an inch and a half long. She showed it to the tour guide and waitress and everyone looked shocked (so we know it wasn't some kind of weird Malaysian delicacy). The owner of the restaurant came over and offered the woman a clean plate but understandably she refused to eat any more. Neither did the rest of the table.

 

When we left the restaurant many people were unhappy and the tour guide apologized. Then he said that we were going back to the ship. Some of the passengers got angry because they thought there would be a shopping stop. The guide said there was no time so we went back to the ship. Frankly if we were going straight back to the ship why didn't they skip lunch altogether? I really don't understand this. Anyhow the shopping passengers were very angry.

 

Talking to other people back on the ship it is my understanding that the other 2 tours had similar experiences (and of course they had the same lunch). Even the people who took the taxi admitted that there had basically been nothing to see. On our tour the Sultan's palace and part of his museum were interesting, but there was maybe an hour of that during the entire day. Lunch was a disaster and I am angry that we had to pay for that. We are not even sure why Princess stopped here since it is obviously NOT a tourist place in any sense of the phrase. The only insight was that one passenger surmised that they might have stopped for the cheap fuel. Regular unleaded gasoline is about US$0.30 per litre, so it was probably a cheap place for the ship to refuel. I am not sure if this was the reason or not.

 

So my overall view on Kuantan is that you might just want to stay on the boat. Princess should really drop it and either go over to Kuala Lumpur (which would probably add another 2 days to the cruise) or have an overnight in Singapore (which we would have enjoyed). So anyone on the future cruises be warned!

 

Hopefully Bangkok will be as good as the previous ports. We have high hopes. I'll report again next week once we are home!

[GottoCruise]

Thanks again Helen - I enjoyed reading your posts and all the details about the various Ports were great! It will be a big help to those stopping in the same Ports. I know you will just love Bangkok - everyone usually does - so enjoy and have a wonderful and SAFE trip home. We'll be looking for your posts from home. Renee (aka GotToCruise)

[Smiles]

Thanks again Helen for your extensive notes. Sounds like you had a great time. Just a few more hours till you're home!

[sandydownunder]

Hi to the above posters. I'm reading your input with interest. Husband and I are booked on the Sapphire Princess, Osaka to Seattle, April next year. Some of the ports are the same (Nagasaki, Pusan).

 

The information about watching for price decreases is what I want to know about. Where do you get this information? Do you call Princess? They don't have prices listed on their web site as HAL does. My problem is that I live in Australia, so telephoning is out of the question. We did use a US on line booking agent so every three weeks I email to ask "has our price gone down?" The answer has always been "No".I think we got a good deal.

 

We do have a Princess office in Sydney but that's another story. They wanted over $1,000 more for the same cruise, so there is no way I'd contact them.

 

Is 9 months out too soon to be checking?

 

Have a great cruise all you guys going this year.

 

Sandra

[GottoCruise]

Hi - Yes - I think it's early to check prices..but for a "baseline" go to Travelocity and notice the rates posted. Then you can watch to see if they have a price change ---if so, call your TA! Good Luck! Renee

[helenb]

It is NEVER too early to check prices! If there is a drop you want to re-book, no matter when it is. Of course the likelyhood of a price drop is greater the closer you are to the cruise.

 

I used 2 sites (bestpricecruises and cruise411) to check prices. If both of them had a significant price change then I would call my TA.