jrblach

we have been on 3 world cruises on the Pacific Princess. Charles Crain - you will find this to be a SMALL, TINY ship. Food choices limited. entertainment choices limited. suggest you bring a DVD player and lots of movies to hook into the TV. Internet is poor - very slow - many places NONE. but, the places you see and visit are fantastic - great way to see them is from a cruise ship. have fun. we were on Holland America 2017 world cruise - they had a night club dedicated to classical music - none to rock & roll. Pacific Princess, with all its drawbacks, is 1000% BETTER.

many thanks to all of you who went on cruises from Japan. we appreciate your info. we have wanted to take some of these and were wondering about the cruises. certainly an experience worth doing. an adventure - something different. some thing to adapt to. many thanks

it is a quality issue. wines sold on the ship are ok but usually not outstanding. you may find some very fine wines in port and it might be worth $15 to bring that wine to dinner to enjoy. you may find some very fine wines from the area you are visiting and from the geographical area - like Europe. you might have a chance to visit a winery or a wine shop/cellar that has tastings. we found some fantastic roses wines in Bratislava, for example, that were made from several varieties of grapes. around $13 euros. so delicious. nothing like this can be found on the ship.

we bot plastic french coffee presses (bodum) at Target. we bring starbucks coffee and make our own. coffee on the ships is horrible. back in the old days, we used to get free cappuchino all day and nite on the costa ships.

get a t-mobile phone. consider adding tablet. unlimited data in 120 countries. you can do stuff in the ports = your phone is your own internet cafe. free text in and out. wifi calling via sprint for 2 cents per minute. check email, pay bills, stream etc. the new ships have better internet - connected to fast system. old ships are slooooow. try to avoid internet usage on the ships - expensive and slow.

bring movies with you and hook laptop into tv. ask about the ship you will sail if connection possible and how. new ships are getting more 20th century - oops we are 21st. maybe someday

thank you so much. got the patters.

My pleasure!

 

I just uploaded the Patters and posted the link in my Trip Report thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53282373 around post #19.

 

Note: Please don't repost the download link to another thread. I've spent hours on my trip report, digitizing files, and getting everything uploaded; I want to see how much traffic the thread and the download (via the bit-ly link itself, bit .ly is a link shortening service that also provides click counts) generate.

we have booked 67 days on Coral Princess. we are interested to see some patters to get answers to many questions. or, our email address in richjoanatlanta@yahoo.com. thank you so much

does the Coral have any rock venues. thanks

would anyone who recently sailed Coral Princess tell us about the entertainment?

what was in each venue:

Princess Theatre

Universe Lounge

crooners bar

wheelhouse bar

explorers lounge

thank you so much

would anyone who has recently sailed on the Coral Princess - how late is Horizon Court open for dinner? thank you so much

we bot 67 days of cruising on the Coral Princess. can anyone who has recently been on the ship - how late is Horizon Court open for dinner. our cruise has many late departure times - like 11pm. thank you so much

when we retired in 2004 and started seeing the world, we went to county health dept and got every vaccine available. we keep these up to date. we have visited 130 countries. you can go anywhere. plus, you want the protection if you are going to travel. you dont know what you will run into.

we are on world cruise leaving FLL on Jan 3, 2017. Istanbul is turnaround port - 2 day visit. what email did you receive? we did not. thanks

thank you for the idea of pre-ordering liquor from HAL website. we would not have known about this. cruise critic is such a great forum for sharing info & ideas.

we are on WC 2017 that has Istanbul as 2 day visit and a turn around. how likely is the ship to keep this scheduled stop? thanks

we are joining Kirk's WC in San Diego on Jan 19, 2017. we are assuming embarkation wont be too bad since we will be a small group and most people got on in Ft Lauderdale Jan 3.

we have T-Mobile cell phone and tablet (connected to T-Mobile like the cell phone).. when cruising and traveling the world, we temporarily increase our data on the tablet to 10GB for $50 per month. where ever there is T mobile service you get FREE UNLIMITED data and text in and out. the data is internet where you can do everything like google translate, email, pay bills at your bank, skype, check facebook & post. we create a WIFI hot spot on the tablet (since it has the big data plan), then connect the phone to the WIFI hotspot and do FREE wifi calling.

we will shut phone and tablet OFF at all times when on the ship unless it is a us port

thanks for info on NY Times.

we have T-Mobile cell phone and tablet (connected to T-Mobile like the cell phone). when cruising and traveling the world, we temporarily increase our data on the tablet to 10GB for $50 per month. where ever there is T mobile service you get FREE UNLIMITED data and text in and out. the data is internet where you can do everything like google translate, email, pay bills at your bank, skype, check facebook & post. we create a WIFI hot spot on the tablet (since it has the big data plan), then connect the phone to the WIFI hotspot and do FREE wifi calling.

we will shut phone and tablet OFF at all times when on the ship unless it is a us port

Yes and no. There has long been free wifi to access the HAL site and the NY Times. In recent months ships have been implementing a free intranet service where you can check your on-board account, your reservations, daily activities, etc through wifi in your cabin. But to get on "the internet" off the ship is not free. So yes, wifi is free, but you are confusing wifi with the world wide web. Wifi is simply the connection method. :)

.

how did the free access to NY times work? did the ship download the newspaper every day to a ship website? thanks

Was there in Feb. As said, it is an industrial port with no amenities. The officials decided at the last minute to not allow vendors at the ship but the lovely greeters were there. Only certain prearranged tour guides were allowed onto the pier but for this cruise, HAL had a free shuttle into Phu My and the transfer excursion to 'Saigon'.

there is a town nearby = you pass thru it on way to saigon. how did this shuttle work? how did you find out about it? thanks

thank you for all of the info

thank you all for the information. did the pier have any internet for sale? thanks

did the cruise ship terminal have any amenities? like internet for sale, shopping? thanks

if anyone has docked here recently, can you tell us if any taxis were available at the pier? where any shuttles to Siagon - Ho Chi Minh City offered? if yes on anything, details and prices. thank you

we used to live in west palm. email and tell us what you are doing or want to do. richjoanatlanta@yahoo.com. we can look thru our info and give you some info.