ssawjo

That's it! I am swearing off bat burgers for good! ;):p:rolleyes:

Good one, LOL!!!

We are sorry for any disappointment these changes may cause, and appreciate your understanding.

Well, it happened. Princess has decided, out of an overabundance of caution, to cancel several West Africa ports that are ebola free. Not happy, but what can you do. We are reviewing our options and will see how things shake out.

Bill

This can only be a result of the Ebola hysteria.

 

There have been no reported cases of Ebola in Ghana, Togo, or Benin (less cases than have occurred in the USA). There was a case of a traveler to Senegal. Nigeria also had one case of a traveler and was cleared by the World Health Organization before the United States.

 

The cruise is scheduled for next year. Who in Princess or elsewhere for that matter can accurately prophesy the health conditions anywhere in the world a year in advance?

 

Just a note: We lived in Africa for 13 years including 5 of those years in West Africa (2 in Liberia).

Totally agree!

Recently on the Golden, we were in a window suite (very nice BTW) and had Anytime Dining. I would call the DINE line to reserve a table for a certain time first thing in the morning. Initially, the lady said that it was either 5:45 or 8 PM. That is a no go. I then informed her, nicely of course, that we are in a suite and gave her our suite number. THEN we got the time we wanted, no problem. So, the moral of the story is that make sure you mention that you are in a suite and give the DINE line your suite number.

As you can see below, we are booked on the Ocean Princess from Cape Town to Dover next May. We have no intention of cancelling. I think you have a greater chance of contracting malaria than ebola. We are scheduled to stop in Senegal, Ghana, Benin, and Togo. Only Senegal had ONE case of ebola. I do expect, if things don't change for the better, Princess will cancel some ports and schedule others. HAL has already cancelled their port stop in Ghana. Ghana is a developing country and there have been no cases of ebola. I read on another thread that Silversea cancelled their West Africa port stops and added St. Helena Island and Ascension Island. I will monitor the situation and if I don't feel safe, I wouldn't get off the ship.

Bill

Great review. We were onboard with you for this trip. Really enjoyed Santa Barbara and did a wine tasting, self guided tour. Most the tasting rooms are between the 101 and the sea off of State Street, to the east. Did not get off in Ensenada because we were there the previous cruise but did the same tour as you but with a different guide, Leslie. Nice tour. I agree with all of comments and I too was very surprised to go onto the promenade deck to do my morning run and see we never left. But as I started my run, the ship started to leave and it was a very enjoyed sail away.

Great pics, BTW.

Re. The original question....it's all down to the ship. Working in the Falklands tourist industry, it is clear that some ships have more trouble with the harbour than others. Some ships might cancel 3 or 4 Times a season, while others never cancel.

 

Some are more manoeuvrable, some are more risk-averse. Some drag their anchors in strong winds, others find sheltered spots.

 

So, if you have your heart set on seeing penguins in the Falklands, choose a smaller ship, and one capable of Antarctic landings.

 

Then there are the ships which bow to political pressure from the neighbours.....

 

By the way, the non-resident penguins are starting to return this week. Am off to Sealion island tomorrow for a recce.

Glad to hear the "non-resident" penguins are starting to return. Sort of like snow birds in Arizona. We will be visiting the Falklands on Nov. 30 on the Silversea Shadow. It is a smaller ship and hopefully there will be no problems. I will let everyone know what happens when I return.

Bill

Sorry, you can't expect to be able to do this.

 

US Airways has no lounge at Heathrow. I don't know if your membership or pass allows you entry to the Admirals Club where there's no US Airways Club, and I also don't know whether there's a rule that you must be flying AA or US in order to get in. You'd have to look this up.

 

More importantly, although it is theoretically possible that you might somehow be able to get to the airside departures area of the terminal where these lounges are, it is not easy to do so - you are likely to be discouraged at every turn if not positively prevented from getting there. And even if you get as far as the door of the lounge, if you are not departing from the terminal in which the lounge is (which, in relation to the AA and UA lounges, is the case for your itinerary), the lounge is supposed to refuse you entry on that ground. This is an airport rule, applied to all lounges.

 

That's why I said above that the only lounge that you can expect to be able to get into is a pay-per-use arrivals lounge, like the AA lounge in T3.Yes, no problem. There is a London Underground help desk near Excess Baggage, and I think ticket machines too, and ISTR that there is also a ticket desk downstairs at platform level.

Well, that idea is out. It was just a thought. I will continue to consider the other three options, going into London, staying at T5, or getting a hotel room for a few hours. I appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Bill

Hi Bill,

We are on the cruise with you but flying out for an independant 2 week pre cruise tour so won't be on the flight with you.

 

It doesn't appear that there are any lounges available to us 'ordinary' travellers in Terminal 5 but, as your checked luggage will go directly on to your SA flight so you won't have to drag that with you, have you considered going to one of the other terminals and paying to use one of the Lounges there? It is easy to get from one terminal to another. You can see what is available on the Heathrow web site.

 

We are really looking forward to this cruise as the itinerary is so interesting and unusual. Hope to meet up with you on board.

Best wishes

Isabel

Isabel,

Hope to see you in Cape Town. Only a few short months away. Hopefully the Ebola business will be short lived and it will not affect us visiting some countries. Got some good suggestions and information about LHR. Will play it by ear as to what we will do once we arrive.

Regards,

Bill

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. By the looks of things, we will play it by ear, that is, if we are up to it, take the Tube into London for a pub lunch or something, walk around, etc. I thought about a hotel room to sleep for a few hours and freshen up but I will have to justify the cost based on how many hours we have to wait if the flight is delayed. I also thought about going to a different terminal and use either the United lounge or US Air lounge for which I have passes. I realize that I will have to clear customs/immigration to go to a different terminal, go into London town, or use a hotel. This is the one time I have NO worries about the flight from Phoenix being late and missing a connection.

If we go into London, can I purchase an Oyster card at LHR? We will be spending a few days in June after the cruise in London, so I can continue to use the card.

Thanks again for your suggestions. Or, as Globalizer suggested, a looooong lunch at Plane Food may be the trick.

Bill

If you are flying economy, you won't have lounge access in T5. It's a reasonably comfortable terminal for sitting in public areas coupled with shopping and leisurely eating.

Actually flying World Traveller Plus, aka premium economy. Just wanted something more "spacious".

My DW and I are traveling to Cape Town, South Africa, from Phoenix, AZ to meet the Ocean Princess next May 2015. We are flying British Airways because they have a nonstop from PHX to LHR to CPT. So, two flights. The problem is that, not having lounge access privileges with BA, we have a lay over of almost eight hours (depending when the flight from PHX arrives) at Heathrow in Terminal 5. We arrive at approximately 1330 Hours, London time, on May 2, a Saturday. So, my question is, what can I do while I am there for this long layover? We will probably have two carryon bags, a CPAP machine, and my DW's rather large purse.

Any suggestions will be great.

Thank you, Bill

I would imagine the cover charge is to keep the crowd down to a manageable number. It also can get very windy up there, having experienced it on the Royal (not the night club thing). If they charge and have a coupon for a drink or two, maybe. Not sure if this will work but I think a younger demographic may like it, being used to paying a cover for night clubs.

We rented from Europcar but for a few days. Lots of traffic around Puerto Montt but easy driving once we left the town. If you are only 1 day in port suggest you take a taxi to the sites. There will be lots of tour people standing outside the gate offering tours which we used on a 1 day stop.

We will also be in Puerto Montt for one day. So, I gather, that you used a tour company/person who was outside of the gate offering tours? If that is correct, what did they charge for the day and what was offered. In other words, what did you do? If it was easy, then I and the others I will be with can just make a quick arrangement with the tour folks and be on our way.

Thank you for the information.

Bill

I wished the guide in the forest was able to speak English. I could see in his eyes how passionate he was about what he was doing, and I think that he wanted to communicate his love of the rainforest with us.

 

He was able to get us really close to a group of Howler monkeys. I must say that the sounds that come out of those little things is quite scary, but in a good way.

Agree totally with your comments. Those little guys can make a lot of noise.

Bill

Agree with poster Katz re: tour company. We had a German lady who spoke excellent English and Spanish. She was some kind of missionary who moonlighted as a tour guide. However, she was very knowledgable. The only problem was the guide at the rain forest. They only speak Spanish and our tour guide translated. She had been there many times and was knowledgable and knew what the guide was saying with no problem. Remember Ecuador uses US dollars as their currency. Have a great trip.

Bill

We were in Manta in 2013. We were on a private excursion that went to a rain forest outside of town full of howler monkeys, Granada where they make panama hats and some museum in town. The town itself is not very appealing. I am sorry but I do not have the name of the tour agency that was used. I would google Manta for independent tour operators. Outside of the gates of the cruise terminal, there are taxis that are more than willing to help. They seemed very aggressive to me. We had to wait for the tour bus (twelve person) to arrive. There was a bit of a miscommunication. Lunch was included. If I find the tour agency, I'll post it.

Bill

Did some skeet shooting off of the old Sky Princess in 1989 in the Inside Passage. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately you will never see that again. Oh, and it was free but you had to be an adult.

If you're going to be using Skytrain for more than one or two rides, it's worth buying a book of 10 tickets from the airport 7-11 (downstairs from domestic baggage carosels), rather than buying single tickets on the platform. The reason is that on single tickets, bought on the platform at YVR; there's a $5/ticket surcharge. If you buy a book of ten 2-zone tickets for $31.50 by comparison just two singles at YVR (9/ea) and two singles back to YVR (4/ea) would be $26. All tickets are good for 90 minutes once validated on all Translink services (Skytrain/Subway, Buses and Seabus). So if you're in town and visiting other attractions, it's good way to do it.

 

Oh, and yes, the machines (and the 7-11) will take credit cards (and the 7-11 will take US $ cash too)

Thank you for your answer. We will be arriving on Saturday, and catching our cruise on Sunday. Staying near Gastown and have no plans to sightsee. Would like to arrive earlier but scheduling did not permit it.

Bill

Yes you can use a credit card for your ticket. The ticket machine is at the entrance to the station/platform.

 

Which hotel are you staying at so we can confirm if the last station is the best one?

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

Thank you for your answer. We are staying at the Ramada at 435 w. Pender Street.

Bill

To purchase Sky Train tickets, can I use a credit card? And is there a kiosk or something to purchase the ticket? My hotel is about three blocks from the last stop, and we don't mind walking. Thanks.

We have been enjoying your review/blog of your cruise. I am happy to read that you both had a great time and Happy Anniversary.

Bill and Kathi

On one of our cruises the two best loungers were taken each day. We started to check in the morning (by looking at the webcam of the pool deck) and realized they were 'taken' by 6:30 a.m. when books and a towel would appear, yet bodies weren't there until hours later.) This behaviour was the topic of dinner conversation on a few nights and it was tempting to join in the mischief of moving the bookmarks in the books!

 

On another cruise, a 'taken' lounger was cleared by staff and the woman who then used it was verbally abused to the point of it seeming very threatening by the passenger who's things had been touched. All around were quite disturbed and unsettled by the incident.

 

Neither are behaviours one would expect from Silversea passengers.

They're called "chair hogs" and exist on all ships, especially Caribbean sailings. The crew should remove the items after a set time, usually 30-45 minutes, if no one arrives. I have seen some loungers by the pools "occupied" all day without a human ever touching the chair. I would speak with someone about this. If it was by the pool, then the Pool Deck supervisor.

Great review, thank you.