CarlaBlit

Good Morning Bangkok. 06 December16

 

 

 

It's a shame the ship has to dock in Laem Chabang, 2.5 hours from Bangkok. It obviously cuts into the amount of time one can tour in a day. I have been to Bangkok previously, but If I had not, I would have looked for an itinerary that overnighted in port. The river longboat cruises are fun.

 

 

 

I rarely book a ship sponsored shore excursion, but I highly recommend booking thru the cruise at this port of call. The coach buses are extremely nice, clean and comfortable. Traffic is heavy, especially getting into the port area. You don't want to risk missing the ship by getting into traffic. It wasn't worth the anxiety to me. However, if you can spend the night in Bangkok, you can build in more travel time and do it independently.

 

 

 

There are a few alternate options also if you are not up to riding in a coach bus for three hours. Pattaya is a coastal city less than an hour away. The ship was offering a shuttle service every hour for $16/pp RT. Beaches, markets, etc. Another option is to stay in Laem Chabang and taxi around. There is a big mall with Starbucks and markets. There are also markets scattered up and down the main road close to the port.

 

 

 

For those of you who like to live dangerously and chose to book an independent tour, leave yourself at least 3.5 hours on the return.

 

 

 

I traveled Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Hong Kong three years ago. It was another one of my lifestyles of the rich and famous fantasies. I even took the Rolls Royce airport transfers to the Peninsula in Hong Kong. It was all a dream. I have to share one of my Thai stories - We were staying at the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. At breakfast one morning PC notices Pierce Brosnan and his wife sitting a table away. I immediately want to jump out of my chair and run over to their table to start a relationship. PC reigns me in, and tells me not to invade their space. Missed opportunity. Maybe I will see them later and we can chat. No such luck. The next morning we were flying on to Khao Lak/Phukett. Guess who was sitting next to me on the plane? Guess who put my bags in the overhead compartment? Yep, Pierce Brosnan. I will never part with my favorite Lipault luggage. It has Pierce Brosnan's DNA. Thanks for letting me share.

 

 

 

One of the tours on my list on my previous visit was to visit Ayutthaya. I ran out of time and didn't go. I get another chance today. Happy Day! Ayutthaya is a Unesco World Heritage site and the former capital of Siam from 1351-1767. The city includes the summer palace, temples and ruins. It is fantastic. I highly recommend. The Burmese looted everything, but the ruins are in good shape. It's not as awesome as Angkor Wat, but still great. We stopped at a hotel for a buffet lunch. Nice and clean. It's always great to had civilized toilets to use also. We stopped at an interstate rest stop for a toilette break and the squat toilets are problematic when gravity is working against you. GRAB BARS please! Our guide was professional and had good English skills. It takes patience to travel with a group, but we fared ok. It was funny because these two Russian women were sitting in the front seats of the bus and they would tell off anyone getting back to the bus late. Better them than me. PC didn't have to hide.

 

 

 

We got back to ship with a few minutes to spare before final call. There were vendors inside the cruise terminal. Bought an embellished halter top with elephants for my 9 yr old niece. $7.

 

 

 

Very long day, but it's not over yet. Only because I suffer from FOMO, a psychiatric condition - Fear of Missing Out. It exhausts PC and he begs for mercy. He is such a good sport, however.

 

 

 

We ate in the horizon court. We are definitely getting a little bored with the same choices, but we never go hungry. I had the short ribs, love those. PC ate tandoori chicken, curry chicken, butter chicken, Indian chicken, and anything else that said chicken. I am hearing good reviews about the dining room. Service and food has been good. We met a couple who said they were disappointed the service was so fast. [emoji12]

 

 

 

Showtime - Symphony of the Shadow. These two Italian boys were phenomenal. One of the best and most unique shows ever. Shadow hand puppetry. Genius. I expected to be leaving the show after 5 minutes, but it was brilliant. Don't miss it.

 

 

 

It Takes Two - vocalists Sara Honey and Andrew de Long from the production cast. They put together a great lounge act featuring duets. They are a couple in real life. They are getting ready to leave sea life in May after several years. They are super talented and could probably find work on the West End or Broadway.

 

 

 

It's 10pm. I got up at 5am, toured all day, rode in a bus for 6 hours, and I looked like a mess. We go to the cabin to ready for bed. Clothes off. WAIT! There is one more activity on the schedule. FOMO! Get dressed PC, we aren't done. He has already fallen asleep with his eyes open.

 

 

 

THE LOVE BOAT DISCO DECK PARTY - the greatest deck party EVER. How long has Princess been doing this? This was so fun. DO NOT MISS THIS PARTY. I want the T-shirt if they sell them. They show clips of kissing scenes on the Love Boat series on the screen. There is a Love Boat dance with instructions from the original cast of the Love Boat. Great disco music - Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Earth Wind Fire, Tina Turner, etc. The Princess dancers are in costume with all the DISCO moves. We have never had so much fun watching people have fun. The cruise director, Lee, sang lead with the band also. I am so glad I have FOMO!

 

 

 

Ok PC, it's 11pm. You are off the clock. Goodnight.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you are not getting bored with me! I think I am getting bored with me! Thank you Aussie Girl and Sunset Beach Gal for being supportive fans!

 

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Loving your thread!

Did you not have a stop in Cambodia?

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Has it been raining much on the cruise?

Will we need to take rain coats for ours on 16th do you think?

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Is there any chance you can please post some photos of the patters?

I understand if not.

We are going on the same cruise from 16/12 and will be our first cruise so are interested in the information get.

Really enjoying your posts & love your sense of humour

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How can I see the FB photos or are they private?

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Thank you for all these updates. We are doing the diamond on 16/12 so very interested in these posts

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We on this cruise from 16th dec. It is our first cruise so interested in your live posts

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Did they have any theme dress up nights?

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If your going on an Australian based cruise there is no benefit, it's only when you are buying in different currencies, so if you were on a cruise where the charges are in US$ you may be able to benefit.

Yes, the one we are going on is un US$.

How do you find out the exchange?

Two that spring to mind

 

1. to avoid "bill shock"

 

2. sometimes they offer great exchange rate, eg at one stage they were offering us Aussies something like 90c when exchange rate from bank was around 75c (probably been even better deals that I missed).

Thank you for explaining this. We are doing our first cruise in Dec so are still learning a number of this.

Who offers the exchange rate? Princess? How do you find out what they offering?

We are in Australia too so its good to know about the deals with it.

i plan to purchase obc for myself before my upcoming cruise. i noticed for some things you buy (like drink package), they have you specify which guest it's for. for obc, it just says it'll be applied to the stateroom. how does this work? does that mean obc might be credited to my traveling companion? thanks in advance for any insight.

Can I ask what the benefit of doing OBC is?

That's exactly what my husband did :D And buckets were available at the bars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruise director is Lee Childers

Is heaps

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There were cultural folkloric shows brought on in several of the ports -Vietnam,Hong Kong and Shanghai I think - and we enjoyed those.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed watching Grease and Mamma Mia on MUTS on sunny sea days.

 

 

 

Sea days had movies like Bridge of Spies, Cinderella, Independence Day and The Martian - either on MUTS or in the Princess Theater or both. There were a lot of movies.

 

 

 

Sea days also had interesting art lectures that I went to and shopping, which I mostly skipped. And of course, trivia.

 

 

 

The regular production shows were very popular but we never went. There were no comedians(I'm sure it's impossible to book someone who would appeal to such a diverse crowd of cultures).

 

 

 

In our case jet-lag, and the port-intensive nature of this cruise, made for very early nights anyway.They did have a lot of fairly current movies for free on the TV (and it's a large flatscreen). I am rarely able to see movies at home so I enjoyed relaxing in the cabin.

 

 

 

We boarded in Singapore and were given zone boarding based on when we got to the terminal. We got there at 11 and were in the first group after elites. I think we were on by noon, mostly due to delays with Singapore immigration.

 

 

 

Not entertainment but I wanted to mention:

 

 

 

Princess put up a tropical fruit buffet the sea day after Hong Kong that must've cost them a fortune. It was fantastic and VERY popular with the passengers. It was on the pool deck.

 

 

 

You picked a great first cruise. The service, people and ports were incredible.

This is really great information. Thank you

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Sorry one more question;

Who was the cruise director?

Can you tell I'm getting excited! [emoji12]

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I saw 3 children in 17 days.

 

 

 

Otherwise, all ages- but most seemed to be in their mid to late 40s to mid to late 60s.

Thanks so much for all your help.

I got over excited and posted two lots one after another.

Not sure if you saw my first one about entertainment, etc

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What was the approx ages on board?

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What were the shows, entertainment and movies like?

We go 16th dec so not sure if we will have the same as what they showed for you?

Never been on a cruise before.

We are on Aloha deck and it says our boarding isn't until 3pm. I think I read you were on this deck. Could you board earlier?

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Did you do the trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand?

Do they have shuttle buses at all the ports?

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Wow thank you very much for all your responses. Gives me a much better idea of what to expect.

Our ports will be in Thailand and Cambodia so we won't have an issue of things not being open, etc

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I understand the differences in tipping in different cultures.

 

The problem occurs when the people working on ships are one

culture, and the passengers are a different culture.

 

For instance, a cruise ship waiter who is working solely in

expectation of tips; and a passenger who feels (based on

their culture) that ordinary work does not deserve a tip.

I understand, hence why I was trying to work out the salary base on it. i.e. even though I am not from there I know in the US waitresses are paid a bare mini wage and rely on tips. But where I am currently living a waitress earns more per hour than what I do after a 5year university degree/masters. i.e I am lucky to earn more than 20AU$phr so i find it hard to pay someone AU$18 per day tip for 30mins work max as an extra to a base salary.

Plus surely if I pay that person directly it is more beneficial to them as then they dont have to pay tax on cash?

Yes.

 

I have read contracts for waiters from South Africa, Ukraine,

Russia and Romania. For those individuals in dining, their

income is solely from the tip pool.

 

I assume other countries are the same, but I don't know for

sure. On the other hand, this is cruise critic, so I should just

make a sweeping pronouncement that what I have said is

true for every person on every ship on every cruise line.

Hi Pablo,

Never make sweeping comments. If that was the case; all americans area idiots, all immigrants countries are dole bluddgers in other countries......these we know are not to be true.

I am just trying to find out what the situation is and if people do not get paid a salary.

I do come from a culture where tipping in a personal opinion if you receive a good service (yes, I have worked as a bar tender and waitress, etc). You receive the tip if you have done a good job not as a given because you are in that role.

I understand in some countries this is different so just want to clarify the situation before I travel as have been given the advice from previous cruise travellers to cancel the compulsary tipping and just tip that person specifically.

Yes, all staff do get a salary.

 

However, those in tipping positions such as the cabin stewards, dining personnel and bar personnel get a low salary and depend on tips to make much of their income.

 

Bar personnel get their tips from a mandatory 15% charge added to any beverage that is sold.

 

Cabin stewards and dining personnel get their tips from the "auto-tip" that is added to all passengers' on board accounts unless cancelled by the passenger once on board.

 

Of course passengers can give additional cash tips to bar personnel, cabin stewards and dining personnel. For the cabin stewards and dining personnel, these cash tips may be kept by them only if the passenger did not cancel or reduce the "auto-tip."

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought that was a bit strange

We have never cruised before but we are doing a cruise on Diamond over Xmas.

Can anyone tell me what they usually do over Xmas?

We have a port day Xmas eve and one Xmas day but a sea day Boxing Day.

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Pablo222

I am curious as to what to mean by they do not get paid.

Is there staff on the boats who do not receive a salary at all?

Is their only source of income from the added tips per room?

I have never cruised before and doing my first one next month

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Thank you. I have sent you an email

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We have just arrived back from Asia on the diamond princess.

There is a free shuttle bus in to PATtAYA and the roads are all clear of road works.

There is a bus from cruise terminal into bangkok for about 49 dollars . It took 1 1/2 hours to get there .and it dropped of left you for bout 4 to 5 hours then brought you back again.

Mbk shopping were not doing any good deals and the quality I felt was lacking

I organised a tour to hcmc which was fantastic it took us 1 1/2 to get we went to the museum. Post office. Not rated dame. Saigon market another massive marker called Ben ton market then a temple . Diamond wanted 150 dollars for less . We did it for 50 dollars each .

Princess do a drop.in hcmc then pick you up later for 80 dollars it's very expensive . Buy your copies here in Vietnam they are great quality and a lot cheaper than Bangkok.

Hi Bimbojet!

That is great information! Thank you very much.

We will do the free shuttle to Pattaya then as have been to Bangkok so dont see the point of spending the time travelling to somewhere we are familiar with when have a short amount of time there is somewhere we havent been closer by. Would like to see that mini landmark park, did you see it? Anything else you can recommend?

As for HCMC...we have also been there before and seen all the sites, etc. Wanting to just get a bus/taxi to/from town to have the day there and show my Mum around. Did the place you did the tour through do just transport drop off/pick up? The Princess cruises extensions do seem very expensive for what they are and the country.

Is there anything else you can share about the other ports? We have been through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia before but not most of these port places and did it on our own travels not a cruise so went into different areas.

Also anything about the Diamond Princess? We have not done a cruise before so any tips, information that might be of help is greatly appreciated. We are trying to decide wether to get the drinks packages but have been told they have quite a lot of happy hours and drinks specials so probably isnt worth it?

We are from NZ / Australia, my husband am I are late 30's/early 40's and my Mum mid 60's so are fairly active.

Sorry for picking your mind so much but first person I have seen post who has been on this cruise.