mes531

Is anyone booked on this cruise? Has anyone organised any shore tours for the ports of call enroute?

There are several of us traveling together on this cruise...many are continuing on to China, but my husband and I are only doing the first part to Singapore and plan on spending a couple of days there before the long flight home! I guess it will get more active in January...surprised it is this slow!!

:)

Yes, I have been to a timeshare presentation so yes, I do know what a real hard sell feels like.

 

However, when I've ALREADY paid a lot of money to a company for a product or service, I think I should be able to enjoy that product or service and not be subjected to constant daily upselling.

 

I really didn't mind the sales junk and simply avoided the shops. What really got me was the absence of genuine activities in favour of promos, and the anti-climax of formal night. They can have all the photo opportunities they like, but I WANTED TO PARTY!

 

You're right, RC may be just as bad these days. It's likely to be a long time till my nex cruise anyway so it may all be hypothetical.

I think you should give Princess another chance, but try one of the smaller ships that does not have so many activities in the center piazza. The ships built before the Royal and Regal have several places for dancing and partying which make for a more festive private atmosphere as opposed to everything crammed into the center of the ship. We have been on the Regal and Royal and agree that sometimes there seems to be too much in that center atrium so you loose the fun. We love Princess, have been on several ships, they all have different atmosphere!

Can someone on board please let me know about wheelchair access in the main theater. Diagram looks like you need to use stairs to get to the lower level in the theater so the only wheelchair spots are the top row upper level. Is this correct? Do they have chairs for companions next to the wheelchair empty spaces?

Definitely wheelchair access from the first level...they even have it set up that you can go almost all the way to the front and they have left spaces in the aisle where they have shorter rows for the chair at the end of the row!

Wow - I can't imagine what you are all going through. Good luck to you all, especially after the excitement and anticipation of such a fantastic voyage!

I'm currently at the Princess Fairbanks Lodge. The location is fine. I enjoyed the trails, although they're not very extensive. The setting along the river is pretty. The rooms are comfortable, and the public areas clean and attractive. We did have slow service at the bar and grill restaurant tonight for dinner. And the Wi-Fi wasn't working this morning.

 

Overall, though, I wouldn't hesitate to come back here again. We had a great time on the sternwheeler and gold dredge tour today. I was thinking it was going to be hokier than it was. Our bus driver did have a great joke, however, about how there is a state law that every stop has to include a gift shop. And lots of folks were buying. We purchased four postcards and five stamps at the riverboat gift shop.

 

We leave in the morning on the train to Denali. The forecast isn't hopeful, but I still am.

So glad to hear this...I hear there are also restaurants near by. What is wrong with your weather..I am wondering if I really need rain pants?? Also, how much room for your carry on?? Thanks...:):)

Well - I think I will cancel the Hummer tour and give my DH a restful evening.....sit around a lodge will definitely be something he will love...me...I'm all for walking!! We will be seeing the pipeline, I am sure, more than once!

Thanks for all the help!

Gosh -- I live in Fairbanks and am very confused as to what hotels some posters are mentioning. Only one river runs through Fairbanks -- the Chena. Are posters referring to the Princess Fairbanks (on the Chena River), Pikes Waterfront Lodge (on the Chena), or River's Edge Resort (again, on the Chena)?

 

I also am unaware of any restaurant named "Lovells." The poster is referring to Lavelle's which is located in the Marriott downtown. To the surprise of no one, the Marriott is not located on the Chena River, but across the street from the Chena River. The hubby and I enjoy Lavelles's and recommend it.

So great to hear from someone that lives in Fairbanks. I originally posted, and my concerns dealt with the Princess Fairbanks, having read reviews that there was not any restaurants near that hotel, and also noting that the hotel was not near the center of Fairbanks. Thanks, :) for your information. I had originally planned on the evenings in the city area, but was told it was not near our hotel.

Here is the info on the Hummer Tour...

Journey into the Alaskan wilderness aboard a chauffer driven military-issued Hummer. Visit a remote section of the Alaskan pipeline and Creamer's Field, a migratory waterfowl refuge. Enjoy a complimentary snack along with views of Mt. McKinley and the occasional wolf, moose or falcon.

It seems it does have some interesting sights!

From Frommer's Alaska book:

 

"The enormous Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge also merits a mention as a luxuruous and well-run hotel in a pleasant setting near the airport."

I always like Trip Advisor - they have great reviews with names and dates of the people that were there. I am sure the hotel will be just fine, I seem more concerned with the location. I wouldn't mind if we were flying in or flying out, but we are there for a few days, seemingly in an area that is not necessarily touristy! It also makes it more important to try to plan ahead!

Our schedule is arriving in Fairbanks from the Copper River around 4 pm and then there is free time that evening....which we had planned the Hummer Tour????from 6-9. Not sure if there was a better choice. The next day we have the Gold dredge, riverboat from 8 to 3 - this is where I thought we would walk around...but after reading the stuff I scheduled the salmon dinner and show????this was the other question. The next morning we leave for Denali around 10 am. Sooooooooo, is the hummer tour worthwhile....same for the Salmon and show???? Or should we enjoy a nice dinner at the lodge and relax????

Can't wait to hear some more from those of you there, or those of you that have been there. Thanks...:):)Mary - we leave on 9/2 for Anchorage..can't wait!

We were at the Princess Fairbanks lodge in June. We ate at the hotel on the deck our first night there because it was a bit of hassle to try and go anywhere else. The next day we had the included all day tour (Gold Dredge and Discovery Boat). We then used our airport transfer to go pick up our rental car and we used that for the evening and the next day.

 

The rental car was the best decision we made and allowed us a lot of freedom. Even if I had been in a more central hotel, I think I would have wanted a car. It does depend on what you have planned and what you hope to do.

 

As far as the food, I agree that is very personal - my dad liked his and mine was just so-so. I did however enjoy the drinks and the view, so that makes up for a lot in my book!

 

I thought the rooms were clean and there were decent gathering areas in the lobby. Was it as nice as a cruise ship or a high end hotel? No. But it was certainly not a hole in the wall either.

Thanks for the info. We are on the tour, and there are scheduled activities each day, so we don't have the car option..but it sounds like you did great. We aren't fussy, and I am sure we will enjoy the lodge, we prefer more homey type places anyway. Thanks...:)

When we were at the Princess Fairbanks Lodge in 2007, there was shuttle service into downtown Fairbanks for a minimal fee (I don't remember how much). Unfortunately, we were looking for dinner on a Sunday evening and found that the selection was very limited. Ultimately, we went back to the Princess Lodge to eat. We were back this June, however due to the demographics of our travel group, we didn't even try to go downtown this time. However, I believe that I saw vans similar to what was used for shuttle service previously.

 

As has been stated multiple places on these boards, impressions of food quality is very personal. Other than pricey (as expected), we did not have any problems with the food quality nor the service. As far as the lodge, I found it to be clean and good repair.

Thanks for some positive feedback. On tripadvisor, the reviews seem to be that the lodge is in need of repair, and service not so great. I guess I had expected pretty much the same quality as of their ships, and I was surprised. I had also read that the town itself had much to offer, but when I found out this hotel is by the airport, it was also funny, I thought we could just walk around the town. I currently have two evening excursions planned, one being the show and dinner, so I guess I should keep them. Any ideas on that??:confused:

I have been reading some pretty bad reviews of this lodge..should I get concerned??? :confused: Is it possible to get into the town of Fairbanks for dinner, is there a shuttle service, and are there restaurants there. The hotel reviews are not very positive about the food or service....

Thanks for any input!

Hi

We are in e207 this month on the sapphire, does that mean we will have the same view as e208 or worse. Does anyone have an idea please. We moved from an ii category midship because I cannot bear the 2bunks above us because of banging my head. This was my only alternative. Princess says this is an upgrade but I will get more seasick. I told them if I didn't get sick on the golden last week, it shouldn't be a problem. He then told me that 2days of bad weather is different from 5 out and 8 sea days back :). What was he

trying to tell me?

Melinda

Melinda - I don't understand the question about banging your head - are there 3 or 4 of you in the cabin?? We had a cabin on our last trip and the overhead bed is not lowered unless it is used?? Some of these cabins do not need to lower this bed and a rollaway can be used.

Thanks for the great pictures. It is interesting as these cabins are shown in obstructed view catagory, but when you pull up these cabin numbers they do not show obstructed! I even called Princess and they said there are just a few wires....would you believe they even called the engineering division that has the blueprints...and they said just wires. I got an idea that there was a problem when I saw pictures someone took of the ship in port.

These boards are so fantastic...and I can't thank you enough for the pictures. Now it is decision time..we figured on a TA we would just need light:confused:

I took a picture from outside the ship so everyone can see what is covering the windows on these cabins. I was going to try to get a picture before sailing, but the couple were already in their cabin, and they said window completely blocked.:(

You could see over and around the liferaft shelter. It is a solid stucture, about 3 foot outside of the window. The last pics are straight out the window from across the room, then looking forward standing or seated right at the window. There were no wires looking forward. It really wasn't a bad view, but straight out from the room, YUCK

Thanks for the great pictures. It is interesting as these cabins are shown in obstructed view catagory, but when you pull up these cabin numbers they do not show obstructed! I even called Princess and they said there are just a few wires....would you believe they even called the engineering division that has the blueprints...and they said just wires. I got an idea that there was a problem when I saw pictures someone took of the ship in port.

These boards are so fantastic...and I can't thank you enough for the pictures. Now it is decision time..we figured on a TA we would just need light:confused:

I told my travel agent I would research the obstruction outside of E706, on the Crown Princess. Right below the view out our window was the self explanatory answer to the mysterious boxes to the aft of the lifeboat deck. I assume the middle deck boxes are the same but I cannot confirm it. They are a combination escape slide and inflatable liferaft system. Here is the pictogram instructions.

About your cabin....was there a view out the window...or is it wires??? can you see through them, or is there a box around the wires. It seems no one can really answer. I believe the Crown and Emerald are the same layout. It seems like you are saying that you can see out...but nmot down?? Thanks

Hi we are booked on a cruise in October in E705 I can see from your photo that you had some natural light could you tell me what the view,if any, was out of the window was it fully obstructed as described

 

Thanks in advance

Grant

Grant - did you take any pictures from this cabin?? What was actually outside the window?? Thanks...my friends will be in this cabin and trying to figure it out!

Info on Crown Princess E706, "Totally Obstructed View" outside cabin. The description kind of messed with my mind until I got on board. The view is blocked by a liferaft system but the water can be seen in the distance over it and to the front of it. Once you are in the cabin and seated at the window it becomes FAR from a totally obstructed view. This should be similar for E707, but E708 and E709 wil be looking to the stern of the ship but should have a good field of view.

Glad to see these pictures - do you get some view?? Our friends booked E705 and we went to E708 on a future transatlantic...it was difficult to see what kind of view you might have..no lifeboats in front. Thanks for your pictures.

On the Crown Princess we had an obstructed oceanview. We thought it was a great deal since it was much cheaper than regular oceanview. Compared to the photo above we really lucked out!

 

Crown Princess E705....

 

What was outside your window - it just shows a box on the drawing for the ship - no tenders???

The crown is just like the Emerald layout, and we were wondering why those cabins were still available?

thanks - a big help!

Texancruzer, since you are so experienced, what kind of shoes do you wear in Egypt? My husband says I have to wear sturdy (i.e. closed) shoes because there is a lot of walking. I say Birkenstocks or similar walking sandals would be fine. Thanks in advance.

I put a pair of light weight sport socks in my purse..but wore sturdy sandals the entire time. If it was sandy, I put the socks on! Worked great.

Thank you so much Seafun for such a prompt response! I have to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading this thread, your detailed trip report, and your photos! I've decided .... "I want to do exactly what Seafun did!" and DH agrees with me. This thread contains so much valuable information and is such a great resource for someone like me in the planning stages, so many thanks to you and everyone else who's kept up with it. I was born in Egypt (British military), but evacuated as an infant. Throughout my entire life I've wanted to go back and visit, but never had the opportunity. Now at last I'm going to make it happen! Believe it or not, my only concern is the convenience of "facilities" on the buses (frequency of stops etc.) as we'll be on those buses quite a bit. So thank you again for your response.

 

Alma

Bathrooms on buses,,I remember our first bus was pretty ratty,:eek: and the people complained so that ended any ratty bus...after that all our buses were nice with bathrooms. Maybe it was a test to see what our group would take, and in this case, they wanted better. You will love the trip, enjoy!:) Our guide also gave us water each day, and then there was water on the bus as well that you could buy!

When we were there - all 4 of us were very careful - not sick at all.....until.....we felt safe.....and ate the food on the plane!!! The attack came when we returned home....wow how stupid not to realize that the food on the plane was stocked in Cairo. So beware!!!

We just did this tour through Princess.....and it is horrible, and if it is not shown on your cruise that is great. It is a one hour tour, with 45minutes of political dribble and 15 minutes of a ride by things you can see on your own. Never been so upset with a tour. We stopped one block into the town and heard about statues that you can walk to from the port! We then rode to a small pretty beach area....not 7 mile beach...and had 5 minutes there and then sat in trolly and heard more about how good the Camen Islands are compared to how bad the US is.....wow....lots of biased slanted information.:eek:

I suggest you just go to the 7 mile beach area which looked real pretty from the tender, walk around the town...that is definitely better than the trolley tour!!

Cabin 7239

Deck 7 - Sunrise deck

Port side - corner on the bump out

2A

Bed by the balcony

Balcony standard size

Cabin very quiet - Views fantastic - could see forward and back -

Location was fantastic, easy to get anywhere on the ship. Best location we have ever had, right by the elevators. We were next to the cabins with the larger balcony, and they could not see forward, only back..I preferred the smaller balcony with our view!