Druke I

Further re Fernando.

I believe he was Portugese, last name deOliviera or similar.

Several years ago he "featured" in Cruise Travel Magazine. He certainly was a wealth of informaton on cruising and ships' history.

We also sailed Golden Odyssey, HongKong to Singapore, 11-86, hitting back end of typhoon in China Sea. Green water over bridge, screws out of water, inclinometer pegged several times. Rough 24 hrs!

I believe she is now sailing as either Astra II or Omar II.

Fernando was our CD on that trip, and I believe also when we were aboard

Crown Odyssey, 8-90, Southampton to NYC (won't swear to latter). He was probably the best CD we have had.

Not sure, but seem to remember being told that he went to Crystal for a short time, and then retired.

Candied ginger, usually available in Chinatown, works for some.

Ginger Altoids also works for some.

I like ginger ale and saltine crackers - works for me.

I don't think they disappeared - look about halfway down this page.

Sailed three times on Sky Princess, including her last voyage as a Princess ship, San Francisco to Sydney, 9-00.

Her turbines and her gear box continue to cause many problems, and I suspect her days as Pacific Sky for P&O Australia are numbered.

We also enjoyed Billy Hygate as CD on Sea Princess (originally Kungsholm, later Victoria, now Mona Lisa I believe), back in 1989, Osaka to Vancouver.

If memory serves correctly, his wife is/was a principal dancer/choreographer for Princess. Don't recall her name at the moment.

Odd thing about recalling names of cruise directors:

I do recall the names of a couple of very good ones, and the names of a couple of very bad ones, but the vast majority of them - I don't have a clue.

Almost every cruise I have heard stories of people who, while wandering around nude in their cabins, were surprised to see crewmen washing windows or working on the lifeboats.

Wear a robe, close the drapes, or travel in an inside cabin.

meow

Actually a smaller ship may well ride better.

The Grand class ships, 110,000+ GRT, are flat bottomed (to reduce draft), are very beamy, and prone to wind abeam.

We made another trans-Atlantic crossing on Royal Princess, 45,000 GRT, which rides much better, as she has a liner-like hull, with good length/beam ratio. Sea states were very similar, and both were in gale force winds.

Ride has much more to with hull shape than it does with size.

Reference being close to elevators - normally that is not a noisy location, although on occasion there are boisterous passengers who could be quieter.

The only time we regretted being close to elevators was on Golden Princess' trans-Atlantic, 8-02. We hit two large Atlantic storms, and the noise of the elevator cars banging about in the shaft as the ship fought for seaway was a little disconcerting, along with the sound of windows shattering along Prom Deck, and merchandise being thrown to the floor in the shops.

We were in 6051 on Pacific Princess (new), a sister to Insignia, Papeete to Sydney, 11-03, and thought it well located (had cabin on only one side - lifeboat on other).

We had no noise issues at that location.

We're booked into 4031 on our upcoming Regatta cruise into the Baltic. It is such a port intensive cruise, we thought we would forgo a balcony this trip.

Iamthesea

Yes, there are several errors on the Princess website, which I think poorly designed. For a short time, they tried to lump the Royal Princess and Regal Princess into one class - one at 45,000GRT and the other at 70,000GRT!

Some things are better written by those in the know - not some PR hack!

I still am chuckling at the press release when the Diamond Princess was accepted at the shipyard. The author, a Princess PR type, had the ship transiting the Atlantic (it was built in Japan, and transited the Pacific).

Actually no, no matter what Princess currently calls them.

The Sun class, Sun, Dawn, Sea and Ocean.

Coral class, Coral and Island.

Different hull design, different GRT, different PAX load, different staffing levels, different builders.

The mini-suites on Coral (and her sister Island) are nice, they pale in comparison to the mini-suites on the Sun class ships. I think the Sun's mini-suites are the nicest (and roomiest) in the fleet.

Many of the Brits I knew pronounced it to rhyme with Somalia.

My dad was from Kent England (Sidcup), and that is the way he and his "comrades" usually pronounced it.

On this side of the pond, it almost rhymes with Australia!

Sorry, phonetics is not my strong suit.

Well, how about Oriana, 1964 (just a quickie down the Left Coast, Vancouver to San Francisco)?

Didn't sail again until Christmas, 1970, again on Oriana, on a Mexican Riviera roundtrip out of San Francisco.

I do remember Himalaya (pronounced the British way, not the US). She used to regularly call at San Francisco, along with Oronsay, Orcades, and others.

Don't recall which of the James Bond movies with Sean Connery it was, but the late lamented P&O liner Canberra was featured in several scenes.

Charliesmom

Didn't hear any untoward noises, propulsion or otherwise.

We were in D-606 on Coral Princess, sister to the Island Princess, and the balcony was roughly 3/4 covered, 1/4 quarter open or uncovered.

Pretty ships, those two.

Sea state is always a crapshoot.

Have crossed the Atlantic several times - and worst was late Aug 02, on Golden Princess, when we hit two large Atlantic storms, with 30 ft seas.

The ship was really bouncing about, and several windows along Prom deck shattered due to ship's flexing. We had bow-slap spray raining down on our balcony up on Caribe Deck (deck 10).

Crossed once Eastbound in March, and seas were very calm.

Jig

Princess does offer some very interesting itineraries, and their price is usually lower than HAL.

The Amazon is an amazing trip - we did it several years ago on the old Pacific Princess, and enjoyed it very much.