jcw0313

So sorry to see this ship leave the fleet. Patsy and I have spent some good times and have beautiful memories of the Pacific Princess......

Recently off the Rotterdam and had cabin 6240 just below 7076. the balcony is not as deep 7065 but "wraps" to a bulk head that blocks out the stairwell so its much wider than other aft cabins. Ours had two new chair and ottoman sets,no lounge chair. Not any wind unless you looked around corner, 6240 was covered all the way, 7067 and all others on the navigation are some what exposed to persons on the lido deck, just the railing and the last two feet of the balcony. Loved corner have already booked 6229 for the next adventure.

Off subject but going for it! Thanks for your comments on cabin 6240. We are booked in that cabin on a 15 day TA leaving April 15 from Tampa. Glad to hear your impressions and that you enjoyed it enough to book similar cabin for another trip. That's an excellent recommendation. Thanks for posting this information!

John & Patsy

M_BA, we so enjoyed your review. We just booked on the LOS for late October, 2017 and the same itinerary you sailed. In researching for our cruise, we ran across your review. Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures and all the GREAT information you included. It was most informative and will help us on our upcoming trip. Thanks again for your efforts!

John & Patsy

We did the same on our April TA on the Rotterdam. We purchased in advance on our credit card and had a notice in our cabin on boarding. As soon as the casino opened, we showed the notification at the cage and they gave us 10 crisp $100 bills. Used the cash to buy chips at the table. Easy as could be and I didn't have to carry the extra cash. Good luck at the casino!

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What a GREAT thread and thanks to the OP for posting the question.

We generally do two cruises a year so are not as experienced as many here on CruiseCritic. We start our planning process with a three ring binder that includes daily trip itinerary by port and date where we include suggestions taken during the planning process from CC and Trip Advisor for activities that may be of interest us. Also included in these pages are information on any tours we have signed up for or activities by day we are involved in. Other binder sections include those for pre or post cruise info, cruise air and insurance documents. We take this binder with us as it has all of our trip info in one place. Next is the actual cruise where we keep the patters which are later filed in the binder and any letters addressed to us specifically and throw away all the "junk" sales material. We keep tickets, brochures, receipts, business cards, maps, cruise cards etc. in pocket pages in our binder. We take pictures all during our cruise and organize those by individual trip on our computer and also run as a screen saver. These trip pictures are also saved on a thumb drive that we play on a big screen TV in our living room and run on random so we have a moving "trip picture" and we change out the various trips regularly. Makes walking through the living room area difficult some times for getting distracted! We also buy one Christmas decoration per port as trip souvenirs (boy does this make decorating the tree hard with all the "do you remember this day in XXXX conversations!) knowing that anything we buy as souvenirs means nothing to anyone but us. After the trip, the binder is finalized and goes up on a shelf for reference if we have any questions after the fact. Most of the time, the binders stay on the shelf but we have had times that we have been asked specific questions about a port or event that we have referred back to the binders.

Thanks to all contributing to this thread and giving us new/better ideas on how we can better enjoy our trips after the fact!

John & Patsy

I'm not new to cruising (elite on Princess), but very new to HAL. I sailed the Prisendam in 2014.

 

I'm considering the 14-day Alaska on the Zaandam in May or June 2018, but I have questions.

 

Ocean View cabins: on the Princess page, one can find a link to a site that shows the actual "view" possible from each "obstructed view" cabin. Is there a link like that on this board?

 

Ocean View cabins: where is the window in relation to the bed -- over the bed in the Queen configuration or another wall (where one can actually see out)?

 

Shower only cabins: I'm older & have mobility issues. I cannot/will not climb over the side of a bathtub on a moving ship for 2 weeks! I know that the deck plans there is an * somewhere on the plans, but I can't seem to find it. Clue?

 

Any other tips? Thanks!

Sorry, no answers to any of your questions but I am sure the very experienced HAL cruisers on CC will be able to answer your questions. We also are Elite on Princess. We did our first HAL cruise April this year on the Rotterdam and we so enjoyed our first experience that we have booked her again for next April. We love Princess but are enjoying the smaller HAL ships and experiences. Proves to us that it is good to "shop around" and see what is out there! Kudos to you for trying something new! Good luck on your cruising adventures and I hope you get the answers you are looking for on this thread!

No, we are elite and our service was slower by a day than the non elites on that cruise. Can't speak to the suites crew as the only separation of laundry we saw was the "Elite" sign. We really do not use the laundry perk that much and the one additional day was not an issue for us.

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Not sure if on all ships, but on a recent ships tour we took, the Elite laundry was separated from the "paying" laundry in the laundry room. The payers received a quicker service.

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Jacqui, thank you so much for posting your experiences at Santiago de Compostela. We were so glad to hear that you got to see the original Botafumeiro swing. You brought back very fond memories for Patsy and me. During our visit several years ago, we were able to talk at length with a young lady that had just completed her pilgrimage. She had walked alone and had no one to share her experiences with......and of course we were quite willing to listen to her impressions during her trek. I know Santiago was on your bucket list. I would rank our visit to Santiago de Compostela in the top five of all of our cruise experiences. Again, thank you for sharing your experience and pictures and bringing back such fond memories.

John & Patsy

PS, hope things in the Casino and at Bingo are working out for you! :)

Jacqui, congratulations on your bingo win! Made me wonder if Patsy and I brought you bad luck on the first segment of your cruise. We have been following your "live from" thread since disembarking in Barcelona. Sounds like things have become very exciting on this second leg of your cruise. Enjoy your remaining time on board the beautiful Rotterdam.

John & Patsy

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I sure hope it is a go. We are in a hotel room in Civitavecchia having just arrived from our trip from home in Houston. She better be there tomorrow or we are going to be very disappointed! Marine tracker website shows her as scheduled to arrive in Civitavecchia at 0530 tomorrow morning. We'll be here waiting!

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Both of Fincantieri's drydocks in Genoa can take the Pacific. GMG also has 3 drydocks that can handle the Pacific. With a 5-6 hour run to Genoa, and a 11 hour run from Genoa to Civitavecchia, and an a.m. 28th embarkation in Civitavecchia, that gives them better than 8 days to dock the ship, repair, paint, and undock. For a ship this size, and the damage quoted previously, this is eminently doable. The biggest time consumer is having enough time to let the underwater paint cure before flooding the drydock. I am assuming they are drydocking, because underwater repairs using a cofferdam could have been done in Nice, but the yard facilities are better in Genoa, so they still could do repairs without drydocking.

Thanks for your insight and information chengkp75. We talked to Princess midday today and received the information about repairs being done in Genoa and taking the ship there tomorrow. I guess we should know if our Oct 28 cruise will be canceled by the end of this week. We are scheduled to leave the US on Wednesday Oct 26. We also are booked on the Nov 09 Pacific Princess departure from Venice. Sounds like we are in limbo until an assessment as to how long the repairs will take is made. Let's wait and see what the next few days bring.....but we are still hoping for the best!!

John & Patsy

I just called Princess expressing concern about our cruise out of Civitavechia. A very pleasant agent said that they get daily updates and today there was nothing on the Princess so she put me on hold to consult with someone. Upon resumption of our conversation, she said the ship will be operable for our 28 October date. I emphasized that many people may be going over early and it would be very inconvenient to delay any notice of cancellation. I HOPE the information was accurate! Look foward to meeting you all very soon. Bob Nalley

......if it turns out to be reliable. Per the web cam, the ship is still in Nice, France. Maybe they are going to do the repairs in Nice? I don't know what is even possible in that area but I sure hope we get to meet you all in Civitavechia on Oct 28th! I wish Princess would put out a little more news and updates regarding the damage and status of the repairs so that we would not be playing "what if" with our plans.

John & Patsy

Has anyone on the next cruise, Oct 28 to Nov 09, received any information or contact from Princess? Wondering at what point we should start considering alternate plans. Thanks for any info provided.

John & Patsy

We were on deck 4 midship and the ship hit right below us, deck 2 had water coming in. The breakwater lights were right by our window when it hit, loud crash and then scraping noises. Most on the ship did not hear anything. On a bus to Barcelona typing this. Princess is actually giving us 1/2 of price as a refund and then full price we paid as a credit for future cruise. :)

We watched divers right outside our window checking the damage.

I hope those on the Pacific Princess cruises that are effected will continue to post and keep us updated. We are scheduled for the Oct 28 Rome departure and the Nov 09 Venice departure. Any information as to how Princess is handling the current cruise that has been canceled in Nice and the future Oct 16 cruise that has been canceled would be greatly appreciated. We are hoping for the best as far as completing repairs before our cruise. We are so sad for those that were on board and those that were to board on Oct 16. What a bummer and inconvenience to go from the excitement of a cruise to the disappointment of having to come up with alternate plans at the last minute. Thanks jim_mve for your update, it is much appreciated.

John & Patsy

A passenger on the October 16th sailing out of Barcelona received an email saying that cruise has been cancelled.

 

I wonder if the following cruise out of Civatavecchia (sp?) on October 28th will be cancelled?

I hope not. We are on that 12 day cruise with you and also the following 12 day cruise from Venice. We have our fingers crossed!

John & Patsy

Thank you to Lew, StLouisCruisers, and Astro Flyer for your suggestions. I picked up enough information from you that I have booked a room for the night pre cruise in Civitavecchia and I think I know the drill to get to the ship. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

John & Patsy

I've boarded a Princess ship in Civitavecchia & it wasn't a nightmare for us: arrived by train after touring Rome, stayed overnight at a hotel and walked a couple of blocks with our luggage to the port's bus at the entrance.

 

As others said, the port shuttle isn't run by Princess & based on your description the shuttle employees apparently didn't care much about passengers. As Bruce said, Princess might be able to put pressure on the port's administration however it's doubtful if anything would greatly improve. The suggestions to take a taxi or shuttle directly from Rome to the ship could be a better option for you.

We are planning on spending a night in a Civitavecchia hotel prior to boarding the Pacific Princess in late October. Any suggestions as to a hotel? Also, can taxis take you directly to Princess check in or do we transfer to a port bus? Thanks for any insight you can give us.

Is it possible those paying to get their laundry done would have preference over freebies?

 

Just wondering...

 

 

 

 

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Yes, there is a breakout of Elite passenger cloths from the revenue generating customers clothes. Just took an Ultimate Ships Tour on the Caribbean Princess in April on a 21 day TA and saw the Elite pile separated from the paying pile in the laundry room. There were approximately 880 Elites on that voyage and many complaints of slow laundry as the trip progressed. I sent laundry down (not Elite, I paid a different way!!) and my clothes were back the next day. The answer may differ on a different ship but I saw this with my own eyes......

We were on the Caribbean Princess boarding on 2/28 and deboarding last Sunday. They are having a generator problem as well that started the week before we boarded and continued through the 2 weeks we were aboard. Not sure if they have it fixed now a week later. Now they have another ship with generator problems.

My understanding from passengers on board is that the generator problem is not yet fixed on the Caribbean. Sorry to hear of these issues on both the Caribbean and the Royal. We are on the Caribbean for the April 17 departure from Houston on the TA. I hope the issue is resolved by then. I'd hate to have a "Triumph experience" in the middle of the Atlantic! :) :)

I am on a Princess cruise in June would I have time to cancel if Princess win the case and continue to show Barry Manilow on MUTS?

........it started my Saturday morning with some REAL belly laughs!! :) :)

Not that I am aware. I went to the navigation talk given by a senior bridge officer on Friday and at that time it had not been fixed. The subject came up and he indicated it was a complex repair. We are headed to Houston running 19 knots with expected arrival on Sunday morning per usual.

I hope they fix the generator problem before the TA. We depart on April 17 and hopefully it will be fixed by then. I don't know how much redundancy is built into a cruise ship but I would hope all would be operational before a TA.

Thanks you SO MUCH for your reply. I actually called them and asked if the did this but didn't tell them when and they said "Yes." That definitely would have been a f... Fiasco

I haven't talked to Enterprise Seabrook about this upcoming cruise season. I would reconfirm the answer I gave you re being closed on Sundays with them with your specific dates. Again, enjoy your Christmas cruise!

Just 5 miles away, wondering if they do pick-ups and drops..

I see by your countdown clock that you are cruising on Princess in December. Unfortunately, Enterprise Seabrook (which is the one you are referring to) is closed on Sundays. They are open until noon on Saturdays and will shuttle you to the Bayport terminal. Enterprise will work for the Norwegian cruisers departing/arriving on Saturdays. Enjoy your cruise!

Anyone know if they do Chefs Table on a four day cruise? We have done a number of them but always on seven day or longer cruises. This is our first four day cruise. Thanks for any insight.