LIVE from the GRAND PRINCESS - FLL to Southampton 5/5/11

[HAL4ME]

I Just can't keep my fingers off this keyboard even if it means typing with one hand. We are currently on a bus heading into London and I saw a sign that said free wifi, Certainly works better here than on the ship. Pretty hard to hold the computer in one hand and one finger type with the other. Lots of smiles around me;must think I'm loco. Bye again.

 

BTW.........toilets got fixed.

 

Just wonderig if you ran out of VIA packets while in London?:D:eek::D

[Pia1913]

Good Morning from Victoria Station in London where I am enjoying my Starbucks and their free wifi.

 

For those interested in transportation from Southampton, we used National Express coach; taxi cost to coach station was 8 GBP which we shared with another couple. Our reservation was for 11:15, but we luckily were able to get on the 10:00 bus. OUr hotel is in Victoria area and we walked there; about 15 minutes with luggage; no more than 10 without. We had tix to see Billy Elliot Sat. night; wonderful show with great 6th row seats.

 

Yesterday we took the 8:30 HOHO bus and didn't get back until 6:00 PM. A long day and we loved it. Saw lots of areas we had not visited on previous visits here including taking a river cruise (included in price) Cost of HOHO ticket is 27 GBP each.

 

No specific plans for today; just more walking. We are seeing Wicked tonight and then home tomorrow.

 

Thank you all for making this LIVE much more interesting by your participation. See you on the next one.

[mississauga]

Pia, thank you for the Live and safe travels home.

[Mapu]

Thanks Pia for all your posts. Friends were onboard with you as well so it was great keeping up with your travels. We will be in London mid-July so your feedback on Billy Elliott is great info for us. Did you get your tickets well in advance? We were planning on getting show tickets when we arrive. Hopefully some will be available at the half priced booth. Gail

[grandmaa]

Thanks Pia for taking us along to London, one of our favorite cities..even though it is expensive with the dollar/GBP exchange rate..ouch! HOHO buses are a wonderful way to see the city. Last time we were there we took the train from Victoria Station to Hampton Court. Any sightings of the "Royals"?

Have a great time at "Wicked" and a safe trip home.

[casaloma]

We were on the same cruise as Pia and our kids were in C506. It started out with twin beds but the steward quickly made it into a queen. Hope it's the same for you!

[Pia1913]

Thanks Pia for all your posts. Friends were onboard with you as well so it was great keeping up with your travels. We will be in London mid-July so your feedback on Billy Elliott is great info for us. Did you get your tickets well in advance? We were planning on getting show tickets when we arrive. Hopefully some will be available at the half priced booth. Gail

 

 

Just got home. Ah........my own bed tonight. Got the tix back in December. Doubt you will find 1/2 price tix for this one; still too popular. Full house for both shows, though Wicked did have last minute seats way back in the nosebleed area.

[Janet Foster]

Just got home. Ah........my own bed tonight. Got the tix back in December. Doubt you will find 1/2 price tix for this one; still too popular. Full house for both shows, though Wicked did have last minute seats way back in the nosebleed area.

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise. I enjoyed reading everything. Hope you get some much needed rest!!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Just got home. Ah........my own bed tonight. Got the tix back in December. Doubt you will find 1/2 price tix for this one; still too popular. Full house for both shows, though Wicked did have last minute seats way back in the nosebleed area.

 

Welcome Home Pia,

 

We were both worried you may have got stuck in London with another naughty Volcano misbehaving .

 

Great to hear you are both home safely.

 

 

[coops]

Pia,

I have a question for you. If you had a choice of the Grand or {Emerald, Ruby,Crown} for next year Southern Car. which would you chose.

 

I have not been on the Grand but have it booked next year. I have been on the other 3. Just concerned about the negative responses about the Grand. People conplaining about the fact that even though it has been refurb , it is still an old ship with problems.

 

Whats your thought about the ship. Thanks so much for any info.

Dawn

[Pia1913]

Pia,

I have a question for you. If you had a choice of the Grand or {Emerald, Ruby,Crown} for next year Southern Car. which would you chose.

 

I have not been on the Grand but have it booked next year. I have been on the other 3. Just concerned about the negative responses about the Grand. People conplaining about the fact that even though it has been refurb , it is still an old ship with problems.

 

Whats your thought about the ship. Thanks so much for any info.

Dawn

 

I would always choose the newest ship if it's going where I want to go and at the time I want to go. Date is a factor, so it's ultimately that which makes the choice.

 

We're booked on the Grand again for 49 days in 2013 and whatever kinks there are should really be fixed by then. ;) Bottom line is that we ourselves were not really affected by negatives. Inconveniences, yes. But those were addressed and promptly fixed. What I never mentioned in this LIVE was our ineffective room steward; worst one we have ever had. But I know the next one will be better.

[compozer]

Glad you are home safe. Every morning I looked forward to reading your posts. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us.

[ssbeagle]

Just got home. Ah........my own bed tonight. Got the tix back in December. Doubt you will find 1/2 price tix for this one; still too popular. Full house for both shows, though Wicked did have last minute seats way back in the nosebleed area.

 

If you are willing to go to a matinee you can get good seats for Wicked. When we were in London we didn't have any tickets when we got there and got great seats in the balcony center for the show for the next day. We really enjoyed the play. We got the tickets at the box office at the theater.

[susie336]

Hi Pia

Glad you r home safe really enjoyed your posts just a question re your cabin steward do you know if they are the ones that were already on the Grand before refit or are they new ones

 

ours last year was excellent hope we dont get a dud this year any suggestions on how to deal with it if we do.

 

Susie336

 

 

 

I would always choose the newest ship if it's going where I want to go and at the time I want to go. Date is a factor, so it's ultimately that which makes the choice.

 

We're booked on the Grand again for 49 days in 2013 and whatever kinks there are should really be fixed by then. ;) Bottom line is that we ourselves were not really affected by negatives. Inconveniences, yes. But those were addressed and promptly fixed. What I never mentioned in this LIVE was our ineffective room steward; worst one we have ever had. But I know the next one will be better.

[Pia1913]

Hi Pia

Glad you r home safe really enjoyed your posts just a question re your cabin steward do you know if they are the ones that were already on the Grand before refit or are they new ones

 

ours last year was excellent hope we dont get a dud this year any suggestions on how to deal with it if we do.

 

Susie336

 

No, this one came over from the Ocean. He's just lazy and inattentive, unlike the others we have had. We don't stress the fact that occasionally you get a bad one, since 99% of the time you get a good one.

[CTGirl]

Hi Pia, thanks for doing the live, I really enjoyed it. I'm curious, where did you stay in London? Last year we stayed at the Comfort Inn Victoria. The location was really convenient, although I thought there would be many more restaurants nearby. Did you find any?

[CTGirl]

Hi Pia, thanks for doing the live, I really enjoyed it. I'm curious, where did you stay in London? Last year we stayed at the Comfort Inn Victoria. The location was really convenient, although I thought there would be many more restaurants nearby. Did you find any?

[Pia1913]

Hi Pia, thanks for doing the live, I really enjoyed it. I'm curious, where did you stay in London? Last year we stayed at the Comfort Inn Victoria. The location was really convenient, although I thought there would be many more restaurants nearby. Did you find any?

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn, also Victoria. Location great and as for restaurants, we had enough on the ship. Just picked and pecked around; never a real meal.

[Woobstr112G]

Pia;

 

Thank you for taking us along for the ride.....:):):)

 

Bob

[grandmaa]

Article on CC main news board reports about Pia doing her "Live From". The subject of the report was that many cruise lines take on big refurbishments and not allowing enough time and also not informing the passengers that there might/will be problems. Also noted was

"reduced" price for the TA because of this issue...was that true? Was the TA on the Grand less than the ones on the Ruby, Emerald, etc. or in the same price range? Curious...

[san diego sue]

Maybe the prices got lowered after our final payment. Our price was no different than previous transatlantics. I think we should have gotten additional OBC for our troubles.

[Pia1913]

Article on CC main news board reports about Pia doing her "Live From". The subject of the report was that many cruise lines take on big refurbishments and not allowing enough time and also not informing the passengers that there might/will be problems. Also noted was

"reduced" price for the TA because of this issue...was that true? Was the TA on the Grand less than the ones on the Ruby, Emerald, etc. or in the same price range? Curious...

 

Where on the main board? Can you direct me to it? Thanks.

[WeBeGone]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4499

[Pia1913]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4499

 

Thank you. They really could have excerpted a whole lot more. And more interesting. :D

[cherylandtk]

Thanks Pia for all your posts. Friends were onboard with you as well so it was great keeping up with your travels. We will be in London mid-July so your feedback on Billy Elliott is great info for us. Did you get your tickets well in advance? We were planning on getting show tickets when we arrive. Hopefully some will be available at the half priced booth. Gail

Gail, you can usually pick up discounted Billy Elliott tickets at the TKTS booths. See here for the daily listings:

http://www.tkts.co.uk/whats-on-sale/ If you have some day-to-day flexibility, you may have a better chance.