6pack

Thanks for providing this update on the changes to cp. Really looking forward to our October cruise

puzzums, which Avalon Mekong are you doing in January? We just booked the 1/15/16 Avalon, Fantastic Vietnam, Cambodia, Mekong and Ha Long Bay from Hanoi to Siem Reap. this will be our first time with Avalon, have done 6 river cruises with Viking and loved them but we like the small new Avalon ship and small group size.

 

I totally disagree that Viking is the Carnival of river cruises, they've always done a very good and satisfying job as far as we're concerned and we've enjoyed everyone of our travels with them. As a matter of fact we're booked on Viking Grand European this May.

 

Don't let anyone dissuade you if you think Viking is a good fit for you. Same thing for Avalon, AMA, Vantage, etc. go with what you feel will work best for you.

 

Enjoy your travels.

Looks like we are booked on the same tour! We depart December 9 for Bangkok and will be joining the Avalon Siem Reap ship in Siem Reap on December 15th. We have done many ocean cruises, however this will be our first river experience! Do you have any recommendations in respect to clothing? We are hoping to pack light! If there is any info you would like us to pass along after our experience, just let me know!

Dave

Kelowna, BC

Canada

Hello,

 

My travel agent is enticing me to join a group he's leading for a 13-day Mekong River cruise on the brand new Avalon Siem Reap river boat. When I hear about river cruising (never done one) I always hear Viking come up. Is Avalon a quality company comparable to the good things I hear about Viking?

 

Also, does anyone know what kind of temperatures and typical weather to expect in that area in January?

 

Thanks!

Did you decide to take the Mekong River Cruise on the Avalon Siem Reap boat?! We make final payment today for our December tour! So excited :-) If you did travel we would love to hear about your experience!

Dave

Kelowna, BC

Canada

There are also RHIB tours - you pilot your own inflatable, hard bottomed hi speed boat following a guide. You see wildlife up close on off shore islands.

Linda, Are you able to provide more information on this? Sounds very interesting! I'm unfamiliar with the term "RHIB" Do you have a tour company name?

Hi Cruisers

 

I recently retired after 44 years in the dry cleaning industry. Actually, you can wet clean those items that you spelled out, beading, metallics, or spangles. Unfortunately, Princess employees may not have the skill level needed to handle those kinds of items. Furthermore, the equipment that is used could create an issue if it is not up to date with specific kinds of gentle cycles.

 

For your information, wedding gowns with beads are wet cleaned by many professional dry cleaners. Soil condition of the garment can affect the decision of the cleaner. I could go on and on but the bottom line is the Princess employees will not handle a garment if they feel they cannot process the garment safely. Fear of damage is the determining factor.

 

Harvey

Mission Viejo, CA

As a professional, would you have them clean one of your suits?

Thanks in advance!

Please be aware that there is NO DRY CLEANING on Princess ships. They do have a professional cleaning process but it is not dry cleaning.

Their FAQ certainly implies it does. I'm not going to chance it though!

"Take advantage of our onboard laundry, press-only and professional cleaning service"

Thanks for your feedback! I think I'll get it cleaned prior to leaving and have them dry clean it for me to take home :)

I was going to dry clean a suit prior to sailing on a 7 day Alaskan, however I just realized dry cleaning is included. Does anyone have first hand knowledge on how long it takes to have a suit dry cleaned onboard? If I send out first day of boarding will it be ready for formal night?

Thanks for providing this review! I'm always interested to hear other passengers experience.

We were on the Crown over Christmas and also purchased the all-inclusive drink package. Bar service was good with the exception of pool service, this was non existent. We are off to the Coral on Sunday and hoping our experience is better pool side. We won't be purchasing the AI as this is a 15 day cruise and we would never get our $$$ out of it.

What is the cost for the ubd?

$100 per couple for dinner or $32 for breakfast

Plenty of room! You will love the experience :)

so then my question would be would they give me two glasses of wine to consume in my cabin ?

 

sometimes i take my time getting ready for dinner - and i mean take my time lol upwards 2 hours - now thats not all spent primping (more or less day dreaming and doddling!) lol

We did the AI during our Christmas cruise. You can only order 1 drink at a time. If you wanted a couple of drinks in your cabin I guess you could stop at another bar on the way up or just drop back down for a refill. We usually picked up a Grand Marnier on the way back to our stateroom to enjoy on the balcony before retiring for the night. By that time one night cap was enough :D

Thanks for the great review! 3 weeks and counting :)

Congrats on the Balcony upgrade :) They will have you hooked!!

Yup, we always book balcony or high, so no problem there. If the offer is the one listed by leeives above, then we're out - no Europe cruises this year for us....my TA is working on it as we speak, so we'll see. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks very much for the heads up!

Looks like they are following HA and Celebrity's lead as they have been offering quite a few beverage packages as promo's. Hope to see these offerings continue!

Are you still able to take a partial bottle with you after dinner to another venue? Do they frown upon this? We've only done the wine package once when it was first introduced and they did allow you to "take out," however they always looked at you a little funny when you walked into crooners etc with a bottle under your arm :-)

I forgot to ask two quick question relating to your cruise! Were they offering wine packages for sale? The all inclusive drink package doesn't make sense for us, however the wine package certainly would :D Where do they hold the Platinum / Elite happy hour on the Coral?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Thanks for providing this great review! We will be sailing on her in 25 days and are getting really excited after reviewing your thread :)

I was interested in seeing how the OP all-inclusive beverage package balanced out over his 18 day Brazilian cruise. I hope Cruiselover1951 liver is still in good working order!! :p Looking forward in hearing his summary :)

Who did you use for your private tour in Aruba? Would you recommend it? Looking forward to your review as we sail in April on a full transit :)

How bad is the vibration and is it the same for all levels of the ship? We are going on the Grand and booked an Aft room.

Vibration didn't bother us at all. The wash noise took a bit to get use to, however with the door closed it was never an issue. The balcony and view are the best in my opinion! We had a corner stateroom on the crown (B748)

Picture of our balcony:

Is all wine by the glass $8 or does it vary? Is the korbel champagne the small bottle or by the glass? What brands do they serve by the glass?

Thanks in advance.

 

Do you have to pay for orange juice now?

Korbel champagne is sold by the small bottle. When we were on our Christmas cruise they were switching from cork top to screw cap :( You can get pretty much any wine on the menu in Vines. We enjoyed a Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley called Silverado; it was $10 / glass and therefore included in the beverage package. Some of the bars do not serve this wine so we took it out in a "to go" glass! :-)

I believe they do charge for Fresh Squeezed OJ, however I'm not 100% sure as they didn't have me sign for it.

Do you have to buy the drink card for everyday, or can you do it one day on, one day off?

How hard is it to share drinks from your card with cabin mate?:confused:

You have to purchase for your entire cruise. The card is certainly not for sharing, however I'm sure some do.

Great idea for a thread! Looking forward to future reports. Just a few questions. Do they tend to make the drinks weaker on the AIBP? Is it harder to get the bartender's attention if you have a AIBP or are you treated the same as a pay-as-you-go customer? Thanks for your time keeping track of all the details.

We tried the AIBP during our Christmas cruise on the Crown. We always received great service and the drinks were always excellent; as a matter of fact most of the bar servers were advocates for the top shelf booze!