jrblach

we spent 32 days on the Coral Princess in Jan & Feb. late dinner was at 7:15 - ugg. the entertainment was mainly planned for early dinning. we missed out on a lot of it due to late dining.

we find that Princess is fun with music & activities for everyone. HAL is stuffy and for old people - like a nursing home - assisted living. HAL has a nite club for classical music but very little rock & roll. we did the 2017 world cruise on the amsterdam LA to FTL. we died. each to his own. no more HAL for us.

We were on the 2017 World Cruise on the Amsterdam – LA to FTL. We visited Korea, Japan & China in February. It was cold. It snowed during our visit to Beijing – the crew made snowmen on the ship. The ship was cold during this time especially the Lido Market buffet on the top deck which was surrounded by windows that let the cold in. Orlando visited our cruise for a week. He hosted a town hall meeting. A passenger asked why the ship was so cold. Orlando could not answer so an engineer type officer said the following. The air conditioning is controlled by HAL headquarters in Seattle. They turn the heat off from midnight to 6am. Also the ship failed to bring adequate repair parts and replacement filters for the A/C system. Can you imagine that for a 100 day voyage!!! But, this affected us personally. The heat in our cabin broke during Feb & March and the ship could never repair it. Finally at the Beijing port, they brought us an oil heater (electric) that heated enough so we could shower.

We were on the 2017 World Cruise on the Amsterdam – LA to FTL. We visited Korea, Japan & China in February. It was cold. It snowed during our visit to Beijing – the crew made snowmen on the ship. The ship was cold during this time especially the Lido Market buffet on the top deck which was surrounded by windows that let the cold in. Orlando visited our cruise for a week. He hosted a town hall meeting. A passenger asked why the ship was so cold. Orlando could not answer so an engineer type officer said the following. The air conditioning is controlled by HAL headquarters in Seattle. They turn the heat off from midnight to 6am. Also the ship failed to bring adequate repair parts and replacement filters for the A/C system. Can you imagine that for a 100 day voyage!!! But, this affected us personally. The heat in our cabin broke during Feb & March and the ship could never repair it. Finally at the Beijing port, they brought us an oil heater (electric) that heated enough so we could shower.

Business week article on Zandam. apparently it sailed ANYWAY in early March after all the problems with covid and the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess. absolutely amazing. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-zaandam-pariah-ship/?srnd=businessweek-v2

we cancelled 97 day jan 2021 world cruise in mid april. got refund to credit card early june.

we cancelled 97 day jan 2021 world cruise in mid april. got refund to credit card early june.

we booked the 2022 world cruise today. 97 days LA to FTL. we have set up a roll call WORLD CRUISE 2022 ISLAND PRINCESS under roll calls - Island Princess. come join us there thank you CEILIDH1 for posting Princess brochures - very helpful. please post them at the roll call.

hopefully here is a link to a list of bookable princess cruises View the list of available voyages ❯. you can download an excel file -and unzip it

Jan 13 – visit Cape Horn, Chile. Ship circled island. Steaming toward Antarctica. Jan 14 – 15 – abbreviated 2 day compressed visit to Antarctica. This replaces the scheduled 4 day visit. Temperatures ranged from 36F to 30F. 2C to -2C. Sunrise 3am sunset 10pm. Lat/long 62. Place visited Time & TEMP Details of the visit JAN 14 start scenic crusing Anvers Island – Palmer station 1115 36F Visibility good, low clouds, Ice bergs Neumayer Channel 1215 -1415 36F Ice bergs, penguins & seals on ice bergs, Visibility good, low clouds, After – Gerliache straight 1415 36F Visibility good, low clouds, ice covered land Charlotte Bay 1900 – 2130 36 F lots of whales, Ice bergs, penguins & seals on ice bergs, Visibility good, low clouds, After – Gerliache straight 2130 ice covered land JAN 15 Place visited Time & TEMP Details of the visit Deception Island 545 to 630 fog caused visit to be discontinued & cancelled. We did not get up for this – too early Admiralty Bay 1030 – 1400 32F-30F Visited Stations Polish, Brazil, Peru. Polish came on ship. Few ice bergs. Gigantic penguin colony next to polish station Elephant Island 2000 – 2200 30F-28F Went along the coast for part of the Island. Beautiful sunset Travel to Falkland Islands Jan 15 – around 10 PM, the Captain announced a fire in the engine # 3 area. Smoke came into Decks 6 & 7. ships crew was put on full alert. Fire was put out and alert was cancelled. All entertainment and services stopped during the alert. Jan 16 – at sea. 32F. Most traveled passengers lunch Jan 17 – Falklands Islands. Private tour with Patrick Watts to see Penguins at Volunteer Point. Colonies consisting of thousands of Penguins – mainly King.

We visited Ushuaia, Argentina on Sunday Jan 12. Stores, museums, hop on hop off bus all gladly took US dollars. Exchange rate 63 to 1 USD. They were very favorable in rounding up or down to have full dollar transactions. Sunny, partly cloudy, 60 F. most stores open Sunday. Hop on Hop off bus $10, 1 hour. Fantatstic museum $15 USD. Occupies old prison. 5 museums in one: Prison, maritime, Antarctic, marine art, art, original prison wing. Very complete exhibitions & info on expeditions, ship wrecks, native people, prison. You could spend several days there. Visited Cape Horn Monday Jan 13. ship went around entire island. Shrouded in low clouds.

We r in ushuaia. Sun 60f. Miss beagle ch. Ship is compressing 4 Antarctic days into 2. Will publish actual. Looks like long days

We are in Puerto montttt 50f rain free Wifi at port with seats and Bathrooms. Ship cold . food .entertain. Lectures good. From. My pad.gave map of inside passage. No info on Antarctica We have a great attitude. We booked b 2 b since all r cruisers in this area had problems. we trying to report the facts

Jan 8 - SLOW BOAT TO CHINA. Ship going very slow thru very calm seas. Captain has promised to provide map and details of our brief “2” day visit to Antarctica. Jan 9 – still a slow boat to China. Seas a little rough, winds 50 mph, ship rocky & bumpy. Internet is slow. No info on Antarctica yet. Storm is many hundreds miles away. we probably will only post and not read since have limited internet minutes. if you have any questions, send email to world2021@yahoo.com you are welcome to post our responses to your email on cruise critic

THEY TOOK AWAY 2 DAYS OF ANTARCTICA. Now we have only 2 days in Antarctica instead of 4. Antarctica is the reason we came on this cruise since we have been to all the ports before. We were delayed 1 day due to no fuel. We sailed afternoon of Jan 6 – day 2. Now, a storm with potential high waves is causing a detour. We will hug the coast of Chile and stop in Puerto Montt. Then we will go to Ushuaia by the inside passage. Our stop will be on Sunday so most things will be closed. Ship has chosen ports where they get the shore excursion profits instead of providing the 4 days in Antarctica. Not so bad but Captain said we were only losing 1 day and would see everything. Sounds like fake news.