new savings on the PG

[south seas sue]

Tom, actually we considered the "B" or "A" cabins, but as you will notice from the ship configuration, they are clustered at the front end of the ship. For those of us subject to motion sickness, the middle is much more stable. Also, the amenities are the same in the cabins whether you have a window or balcony. Its true there is a difference in size.

 

Also, we have discussed the butler situation on this board, and most of us have concluded that with this kind of ship and the emphasis on water activities and informality, there is not a lot for a butler to do.

 

I am so looking forward to our cruise next week. I haven't tried Crystal, but I did take a cruise on Oceania a few years ago. I was disappointed. There was a lot of emphasis on boutique sales, with tables piled with merchandise out in the hallways. Also, I thought the decor was rather garish. You had to have a penthouse suite just to get a refrigerator. We probably would not be tempted again unless the itinerary was something we felt we had to do, and the penthouse price was a bargain.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I concur, except for the butler, the amenities are the same in all cabins on the PG. The window cabins are the same size as the standard balcony cabins. The B butler suites, in fact, are only a few square feet larger.

 

I love balconies, but don't care to spend my money that way on the PG, since I'm almost always outside. And in fact, when I did have the B last time, I loved the balcony, but didn't use it that much, since it was useless unless it was shady.

[bandt]

South Seas Sue

 

We wish you a wonderful cruise....... and a great bargain for your next one :)

 

B & T

[south seas sue]

Thanks Bandt! I look forward to meeting Mtn.Driver, AnglerGirl, and other posters. Hopefully we all can identify ourselves at some point during the trip! I won't write a review, cause you all know how great it is, and we have had some rather comprehensive reviews already this year. Anything unusual occurs I definitely will report.

 

:D

[bandt]

Hi South Seas Sue

 

On other larger ships we have organised a "Meet & Greet" to find other posters on CC. They have always been successful and it's fun to finally put a face on the "user name". We have made many wonderful friends with whom we still keep in touch.

 

The PG being such an intimate ship, no prior organisation is necessary. Why not set a rendezvous, e.g. 6.00pm at the Pool Bar the day after embarkation ? Print out a CC Logo, put it on your table, order you apéritif and wait for the others to arrive. I'm sure you'll have fun! Don't forget to lift a glass to our health!

 

All the best

 

B & T

[DrmnOfMaui]

Try B for "BUTLER"!If your going to cruise on such a superior line,why cheat yourself on the experience and stay in the "BELLY" of the ship with few amenities and tiny stateroom.Gotta have that verandah,I wouldn't cruise without it.

 

 

While I only have 2 cruises under my belt, I was of the same opinion as Tom before my PG cruise. On our PG cruise we did indeed pay a higher price to get that all important balcony. HOWEVER!! About midway thru the cruise my husband and I both decided that we would not spend the extra $ on a balcony again.

 

On our mass market cruise I absolutely couldn't wait to get to my private balcony to simply get away from the masses. I spent every afternoon on my balcony, had meals on the balcony, etc.

 

The PG was a completely different experience. As there were no "masses", and most everyone that we met onboard was so enjoyable, we felt that we wanted to be up on deck. We never had trouble finding a deck chair, we could almost always (the exception being the sea day) find a private spot if we so desired, and we not only enjoyed, but looked forward to breakfast ousided at Le Grill (never a wait!!) every morning. Here we could be social if we wanted to, or enjoy a table by ourselves.

 

We visited a couple in their porthole level room and found the room to be exactly the same as our C level room. The only difference was the balcony. Amenities and size seemed exactly the same!

 

To be honest, I would miss the balcony a bit... but for the thousands of dollars I would save I wouldn't miss it that much. For the fraction of the time on the cruise that we used the balcony, I would put the $ to something else... maybe a few extra pearls???!! :cool:

 

As for the butler... I'm not sure what I would use him for? On our cruise I talked to a guest who was staying in the Grand Suite and asked her what she used the butler for... she said that every afternoon she asked him to get her a margarita, but other than that she really didn't have a need for any of his services.

 

When we first cruised our trip was mass market. After our trip my husband and I looked at each other and decided we had NO idea why everyoen was so excited about cruising. We had decided that it was not for us. The PG though, was a very different experience that the mass market... from the food (which we found to be wonderful for us!), to the lack of crowds and waiting, to the fantastic level of service. Personally, we will never return to the masses....

 

To Mtn and the others traveling in these next few weeks, I am green with envy!! We will be thinking of you every day and can't wait to hear about your trip when you return! Bon Voyage and have a wonderful time!!!

[Friscorays]

....

 

Tom seems to prefer the mass market lines, and that's just fine, but there are those of us (you and I and MANY others included) that think the PG is a slice of heaven....

 

 

.....Oh,you are mistaken with your assumption of what I like (especially since you don't know me)!PG just wasn't all that great.I like Crystal and Oceania!Those ships are slighty larger but don't even compare with Genesis RCCL etc. Just wanted you to get your facts straight!:p

 

Perhaps the misunderstanding occurred because your list of cruises (besides the PG) only includes Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess:

 

"Carnival Fantasy 11/1997

Carnival Fascination 11/1999

Royal Caribbean Sovereign Of The Seas 08/2002

Royal Caribbean Serenade Of The Seas 04/2006

Princess Crown Princess 04/2007

Celebrity Constellation 03/2008

Celebrity Solstice 03/2009

Princess Grand Princess 03/2010."

 

As long as you are posting what is apparently an abbreviated list of your cruise history, you should consider adding your Oceania and Crystal sailings as well as any sailings with other lines (such as Silversea, Seabourn and Regent) that you might have failed to initially recall.

 

I personally enjoyed my trip on the PG at least as much as (and honestly probably slightly more than) my sailings on Crystal and Oceania. That said, I am planning on being on the Oceania Marina next year. I do not currently have a repeat Crystal cruise planned but that could always change if the right deal or itinerary comes along.:D

[Friscorays]

....On our PG cruise we did indeed pay a higher price to get that all important balcony. HOWEVER!! About midway thru the cruise my husband and I both decided that we would not spend the extra $ on a balcony again.

 

On our mass market cruise I absolutely couldn't wait to get to my private balcony to simply get away from the masses. I spent every afternoon on my balcony, had meals on the balcony, etc.

 

The PG was a completely different experience. As there were no "masses", and most everyone that we met onboard was so enjoyable, we felt that we wanted to be up on deck. We never had trouble finding a deck chair, we could almost always (the exception being the sea day) find a private spot if we so desired, and we not only enjoyed, but looked forward to breakfast ousided at Le Grill (never a wait!!) every morning. Here we could be social if we wanted to, or enjoy a table by ourselves.

 

We visited a couple in their porthole level room and found the room to be exactly the same as our C level room. The only difference was the balcony. Amenities and size seemed exactly the same!

 

To be honest, I would miss the balcony a bit... but for the thousands of dollars I would save I wouldn't miss it that much. For the fraction of the time on the cruise that we used the balcony, I would put the $ to something else... maybe a few extra pearls???!! :cool:....

 

We found the porthole cabin we stayed in perfect for our needs. I can not recall how much money the decision saved us but I know it was enough to cover all of the cost of our excurions in addition to a pearl or two. I'm looking at a return trip in 2011 and would happily book another porthole cabin. There is too much to do on the ship for us to spend anything but a negligable amount of time out on the balcony. So for us personally, it just is not worth the added expense.

[pacaduli]

We have a window room on the 4th floor booked, for the 10/23/10 sailing.

I am glad to hear the same thoughts that I was having being mentioned here.

We saved well over $1200 by choosing NOT to get a balconey. We have cruised in a balconey cabin before, and found that we really didn't use it much.

We will be treating ourselves to some excursions(which are a little pricey), with the savings. We can hardly wait to sail!

I have really enjoyed the messages here, and may I say....

There seem to be two types of people in life...

Those who look at things with a critical eye, and those that look at the bright side..

I prefer to find the positive things, which makes my outlook more pleasant. I can't imagine spending big bucks on lovely vacations to places that I am blessed to be able to visit...

...and then ruin the whole trip by criticizing everything.

Just my opinion.... :)

[TomCruises]

We have a window room on the 4th floor booked, for the 10/23/10 sailing.

I am glad to hear the same thoughts that I was having being mentioned here.

We saved well over $1200 by choosing NOT to get a balconey. We have cruised in a balconey cabin before, and found that we really didn't use it much.

We will be treating ourselves to some excursions(which are a little pricey), with the savings. We can hardly wait to sail!

I have really enjoyed the messages here, and may I say....

There seem to be two types of people in life...

Those who look at things with a critical eye, and those that look at the bright side..

I prefer to find the positive things, which makes my outlook more pleasant. I can't imagine spending big bucks on lovely vacations to places that I am blessed to be able to visit...

...and then ruin the whole trip by criticizing everything.

Just my opinion.... :)

 

 

It Is What It Is!:rolleyes:

[FlightMedic555]

We returned about 2 weeks ago from the 11 night cruise. We were in the window cabin, #425 and it was perfect. All cabins on decks 3, 4 and 6 are exactly the same size. Deck 6 have balconys as do decks 7 and 8.

 

The cabin was a great size and we were not in it too often. We did have room service one night when our short nap lasted 4 hours. There was plenty of room to eat.

 

IMHO a lot of the enjoyment of the cruise was meeting other guests at dinner. The group is generally well traveled and we even received some suggestions for a future trip (Blue Lagoon cruise in Fiji) that we would never have known about had we dined in our cabin or eaten alone.

 

Nobody cared what cabin we were in. All are treated the same, and a LOT of people are on decks 3 and 4. You will have a great time on the cruise and if there are a few who are so high and mighty that they have to eat all their meals on their private balcony, served by their butler, thank your luck. They will not bother you while you eat in the dining room.

[MtnDriver]

FlightMedic -

 

We have been in the 420's on four occasions and, in fact, we were upgraded for free on our 6/26 cruise or we would have been on deck four this year as well. I would much rather go two years in a row on deck 4 than once on deck 8. To each his own, but if we were that wasteful, we wouldn't be able to sail as often as we do. For us, 99% of the cruise is about socializing in the public areas.:cool:

 

BTW - we have booked a group (such a deal!) for next year (on 6/29).

[Texed]

BTW - we have booked a group (such a deal!) for next year (on 6/29).

 

Have you started a roll call? :)

[MtnDriver]

Have you started a roll call? :)

 

Not yet. I thought I should actually cancel our reservation on the Mariner (for which I DID start a roll call a month or so ago!), before starting another.:o

 

One of the reasons we picked this cruise for our Reunion/Rehab tour was because we hoped to join you on board. If we can actually pull in some of the PG Alumni as we hope, it would be fun to add up our total number of nights on board!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Did you get that email from me?

[Texed]

Not yet. I thought I should actually cancel our reservation on the Mariner (for which I DID start a roll call a month or so ago!), before starting another.:o

Probably a good idea.

 

One of the reasons we picked this cruise for our Reunion/Rehab tour was because we hoped to join you on board. If we can actually pull in some of the PG Alumni as we hope' date=' it would be fun to add up our total number of nights on board![/quote']

We are still planning on being on the June 29th cruise, even if they did change the itinerary a bit.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

What was changed?

[Texed]

What was changed?

 

They dropped Raitea and added Fakarava.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Did you mean Rangiroa? Usually they go to Rangi or Fakaravar, one of the two.

[Emdee]

I am seriously looking at this trip.

 

Texed, we will finally meet up if we do. We were both scheduled to do a cruise together some years ago - I think it was a new year's on celebrity but we baled and went on the PG instead.

 

I havent been to Fakarava.....

 

Miriam

[AnglerGirl]

We returned about 2 weeks ago from the 11 night cruise. We were in the window cabin, #425 and it was perfect. All cabins on decks 3, 4 and 6 are exactly the same size. Deck 6 have balconys as do decks 7 and 8.

 

The cabin was a great size and we were not in it too often. We did have room service one night when our short nap lasted 4 hours. There was plenty of room to eat.

 

IMHO a lot of the enjoyment of the cruise was meeting other guests at dinner. The group is generally well traveled and we even received some suggestions for a future trip (Blue Lagoon cruise in Fiji) that we would never have known about had we dined in our cabin or eaten alone.

 

Nobody cared what cabin we were in. All are treated the same, and a LOT of people are on decks 3 and 4. You will have a great time on the cruise and if there are a few who are so high and mighty that they have to eat all their meals on their private balcony, served by their butler, thank your luck. They will not bother you while you eat in the dining room.

 

FM, I dined with SouthSeasSue on our 6/26 sailing and we spoke about Fiji. She did a lot of research into Fiji and recommended Blue Lagoon as well. I was so impressed with what she'd found out, I began looking into it further when I got home. Needless to say, got a phenomenal deal for June 2011 including r/t air from LAX, all transfers, private bures first and last days, and the 7 day cruise.

 

I'm a tad annoyed I'm going to miss the PG Reunion cruise, but with two PG trips in 11 months, adding a third may cause ruckus in an otherwise blissful household.

 

If you want to connect, let me know and I'll send you a temp email address.

 

And SSS, your daughter really wants to come to Fiji with us you know! I hope you all can join us.

[AnglerGirl]

Did you mean Rangiroa? Usually they go to Rangi or Fakaravar, one of the two.

 

Wendy, PG is keeping Rangiroa but dropping Raitea for Fakarava on the Society Islands & Tuamotus 10 nighters (of which there aren't many) in 2011. I don't know if they are keeping Raitea on other itineraries.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Interesting. I wonder why--I guess they wanted to give people more of a taste of the Tuomotus. I can't see them dropping Raiatea on the 7-day, the itinerary hangs together so well the way it is.

[MtnDriver]

The latest PG mailing describes Fakarava as a UNESCO-Classified Nature Reserve.

 

The itinerary for the 10 day is:

 

Papeete (Depart 10pm)

Huahine (8am-1pm)

Fakarava (11am-6pm)

Rangiroa (8am-6pm)

Bora Bora 1pm day 5 until 10pm day 7 (2 overnights plus)

Taha'a (9am-5pm)

Moorea 8am day 9 until 5pm day 10

Papeete 7:30pm day 10

[Texed]

Did you mean Rangiroa? Usually they go to Rangi or Fakaravar, one of the two.

 

Thanks MtnDriver and Anglergirl for answering for me.

 

Windy, we haven't been to Fakaravar before, but we loved Raitea. Hopefully, it will still be great. :)