Help with my In-Laws 50th Anniversary Cruise

[beastiemom]

My MIL and FIL are taking a trip of a lifetime (for them) on Princess (Grand, I think) due to leave FLL on 4/9/10 to Europe, ending on 4/24/10 in Southhampton, England. They have never cruised before, and my DH and kids and I have only sailed Disney, so I am looking for a little bit of help.

 

My SIL, BIL and I are planning on giving them money for their trip for their Anniversary and Christmas. Instead of just handing them money, I would like to either arrange for onboard credit, or contact their agent and have him credit their account. Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions of the best way to do this.

 

How does dining work on Princess? Are their speciality restaurants, do they need reservations and is there extra charge? If so, how much? Any restaurants anyone can recommend?

 

Also, they will be in Scotland and Paris. Any recommendations on excurisions you have taken there and liked?

 

Can we arrange for champagne or flowers to be in their room upon arrival? Do I do this through the TA, the cruiseline, or a private company?

 

Finally, if there is any other advice that someone might have to make this trip really special for them, please let me know. I appreciate all the help!

[-Lew-]

They have never cruised before...

Sounds like a fantastic gift. However, since they have never cruised I question the advisability of their first cruise being a 15-day transatlantic.

 

My SIL, BIL and I are planning on giving them money for their trip for their Anniversary and Christmas. Instead of just handing them money, I would like to either arrange for onboard credit, or contact their agent and have him credit their account. Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions of the best way to do this.

Since you're using a TA, the easiest way would be to have him take care of it.

 

Also, they will be in Scotland and Paris. Any recommendations on excurisions you have taken there and liked?

We did the Paris & Seine River Cruise on our port call in Le Havre last month. It was $199 per person and was a very nice day.

 

For Cobh, Ireland we booked a tour online with eCoach for €19.99 each. It was a very nice tour to Blarney Castle, Cork and Kinsdale. I would highly recommend Fishy Fish Cafe for lunch in Kinsdale.

 

Can we arrange for champagne or flowers to be in their room upon arrival? Do I do this through the TA, the cruiseline, or a private company?

Since you're dealing with a TA, everything you do will need to be done with him. Princess will refer you to your TA for these kind of things.

 

You will also have access to the Princess Cruise Personalizer once the booking has been made. Excursions, etc. can then be made online.

 

Lew

[Cruisin Kay D]

I'm not a "travel agent" just a regular gal who has fun planning our trips.

We took our FIRST TRANSATLANTIC in April after many many other cruises, but going to Europe involves ALOT more planning!!

I booked our own airfare home & flew back through Dublin Ireland for a mere $300 pp one-way to Chicago!!! We used train from London to Holyhead Wales and then sailed on 50,000 ton Irish Ferry (like a cruise ship) from Holyhead to Dublin -- a beautiful sightseeing journey for only 29 pounds per person!

We also did the "ecoach" excursion at Cobh/Cork & also had lunch at Fishy Fishy Cafe -- highly recommend this -- absolutely great food and what a darling little town!!! Our driver & I have become "face book friends" -- I can put you in contact with him to ask any questions. The sailing into Cobh was quaint but gorgeous!! You can email me at mkdetw at hotmail dot com.

Our Transatlantic stopped at Cherbourg France instead of LeHavre, and I found on line a wonderfully delightful British couple who own a French Chateau (B&B) & who conduct tours of Normandy -- they picked us up at our ship & took us to Normandy d-day American beaches which was a HUGE HIGHLIGHT for us!!! I found them through an on-line search & have their email & website info.

At disembarkation at Southampton, we had again a wonderfully delightful taxi driver from Salisbury who drove us through Salisbury, toured cathedral, took us to Stonehenge for walk around the huge stones, stopped for lunch at countryside "pub" style restaurant that our driver selected, drove us to Bath & dropped us off to tour Roman baths, then drove us past Windsor Castle and on into London to our hotel -- all of this was so reasonable in price & shared mini-van taxi with 2 other couples. He had a little trailer behind the van for our luggage. I found him through internet & have his email info if you need it.

Prior to trip, I exchanged some $$ for Euros & British Pounds through our bank so that we had the "right kind" of cash when we arrived in Europe. Of course most people take credit cards, primarily Visa & MC.

Be sure they get on the Roll Call for their cruise -- we did & had a wonderful group of "new friends" before boarding the ship. Our roll call had several get-togethers during the sea days.

We met ALOT of people taking for their 1st cruise a 2 wk transatlantic & also were surprised at that!!!!

[beastiemom]

Thanks, Lew and Cruisin' Kay. We have not actually given them the cruise, they scheduled it themselves. Although they have never cruised before, they are going with another couple that has, and my FIL and MIL sailed for years on their own boat. So I hope it works out okay. My FIL really wanted to take a cruise and my MIL wanted to go to Scotland and England, so it is the best of both worlds.

 

Even though we haven't booked it we would like to enhance their cruise experience. Cruisin' Kay, I will e-mail you for that Southhampton info. That sounds like something they would totally enjoy. Lew, that was the tour that they were looking at for Paris, so I am glad that you thought it was good. We'll definitely make arrangements for them to do that.

 

Onboard, are there any speciality restaurants that would be a good for a special anniversary dinner?

 

My MIL or FIL would never go on a board to get info, so thank you for helping me do this!

[katisdale]

Since they are probably of the age to have lived through WWII I would suggest a tour of Normandy rather than Paris. We used John Flaherty at http://www.handmaidtour.com for our tour. It is undoubtedly the best excursion we have ever taken. The ride from LeHarve to Paris is so long that I don't think it is worth the trip. That said, after arriving in Southampton and spending a few days in London we took the chunnel train to Paris. There are one day packages that take less time to travel from London to Paris since the train is so fast than the bus from LeHarve. It is also great to have two or three days in Paris. Also look at the gift packages on the Princess site. You may find something you like.

There will be two specialty restaurants on board, sabitini's (Italian) and a steak house (either called Crown Grill or Sterling). Neither can be booked in advance. They might enjoy the ultimate balcony dinner (I don't know it it is served in non-balcony cabins) for their dinner. It is a private "surf and turf" with wine etc.

[caribill]

My SIL, BIL and I are planning on giving them money for their trip for their Anniversary and Christmas. Instead of just handing them money, I would like to either arrange for onboard credit, or contact their agent and have him credit their account. Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions of the best way to do this. If you have their booking number, it is easy to call 1-800-PRINCESS, tell them how much you would like have as a gift, and provide your charge card number. There will be a card in their cabin when them embark announcing the gift.

 

How does dining work on Princess? Are their speciality restaurants, do they need reservations and is there extra charge? If so, how much? Any restaurants anyone can recommend? There are two specialty restuarants, a steak house (differenent name on different ships) and Sabatini's, which serves Northern Italian food. The service charge for each is in the $20-$25 range per person. Reservations can only be made on board and there is rarely a time they are filled up, especially on a Trans-Atlantic cruise. Both of these retaurants provide excellent food. Sabitini's is a long series of appitizers following by your selection of main dish and desert. People are often full by the time the main dish appears. You can also make a gift of dining at these restaurants by calling 1-800-PRINCESS.

 

Also, they will be in Scotland and Paris. Any recommendations on excurisions you have taken there and liked? I agree with the recommendation for visiting the WWII battlefields when the ship is in France. Second choice is the tour that goes to Monet's home and gardens. I would avoid the Paris tour. With the time it takes to bus back and forth, you really cannot see very much in the limited time that is left. It takes more than several hours to experience Paris.

 

Can we arrange for champagne or flowers to be in their room upon arrival? Do I do this through the TA, the cruiseline, or a private company? Again, just call 1-800-PRINCESS with your charge card in hand along with the booking number. The flowers will be in the cabin or arrives that afternoon. There will be a card announcing the Champagne and they will have to then call room service to have it delivered.

 

Finally, if there is any other advice that someone might have to make this trip really special for them, please let me know. I appreciate all the help!

 

See above

[Desert Cruisers]

Make sure that they have a good camera with plenty of memory so that they can capture everything to share with the family. :)