LIVE from the Ocean Princess - 28 days from Rome to Singapore 10/15 - 11/12/2011

[Oahucruiser]

OK.

Oahucruiser: interesting about very clean souk. Something has changed.

 

Very strange! We were just there in April and everyone remarked on the cleanliness because it is so unusual in an indoors souq. No odors either. Prepare yourself for the chaos of Mumbai; either you enjoy the totally different way of life and culture or you don't like it at all. The cruise terminal has a few nice shops and there is a duty free shop upstairs which had some wines and liquors; a lot of people missed it.

[Pia1913]

Pia,

Did you see ET on the way in? It is the water tower, on the left as you sailed into port.

 

YES..

 

Very strange! We were just there in April and everyone remarked on the cleanliness because it is so unusual in an indoors souq. No odors either. Prepare yourself for the chaos of Mumbai; either you enjoy the totally different way of life and culture or you don't like it at all. The cruise terminal has a few nice shops and there is a duty free shop upstairs which had some wines and liquors; a lot of people missed it.

 

This is not our first trip to India and have done Mumbai in depth. This time we're going to the caves.

[Oca]

Hi Pia --

 

We will be on the Ocean in April. You had earlier mentioned the Princess Pop Choir. I know you decided to not join this time around but . . . do you know if they are singing the same songs they have sung in the past: Oh, What A Night; Sweet Caroline; Waterloo, etc?

 

I am hoping that there will be something new and different in April otherwise we may pass as well!

 

Thanks for your wonderful notes about this cruise. Continued safe and fun experiences!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Pia,

Did you see ET on the way in? It is the water tower, on the left as you sailed into port.

 

Is this the tower you were meaning Paul?

Its most unusual:):)

 

[paul929207]

Is this the tower you were meaning Paul?

Its most unusual:):)

 

Our first time to Oman, someone called it ET. It does look like something from outer space.

[Maryandi]

Hi Pia & Donna & DHs. We went out of town on our trip to Oman, mile after mile of beautiful areas- Enjoyed the museum and the largest mosque in the world !! Pretty but was closed to us Infadels due to a holiday ! Just pics from outside and the Palace of the 'big guy' was another stop.

 

Back to town, the souk was tight and HUMID (deserved the caps.) but it was clean for us in 2010. It is known for the frankensennce & myhrr (forgive the spelling) and it was wonderful when we lit it for Christmas. I still have more for this year.

 

Oman, for us, was very clean, friendly but bland. One interesting fact (think trivia) is it a totally non-smoking country !!!

 

Onward to the next great place - Enjoy,

 

MaryAnn

[2little time]

OK. We took the shuttle to the souk. Most of the stalls were open and we spent very little time there. It is dark. It is filthy. It smells. There's an underlying "aroma" other than incense. And incense permeates everywhere. Sorry for not being able to give you any additional information, but the best part of getting off the ship was getting back on. Before you leave the ship, they give you a landing card which is checked by Omam security prior to the shuttle leaving the port area. They also look at you/it when returning.

 

 

The early morning rain never again materialized and the day remained overcast and breezy. We will lose another hour tonight as we sail towards Mumbai for our Friday arrival.

 

Oahucruiser: interesting about very clean souk. Something has changed. :eek:

 

 

That does not sound appealing. It sounds like a safety risk as well. If what you were smelling was sewage it could truly be a health risk as well. Glad you are back on the ship safely.

[margord]

Still with you and still enjoying.

[balcony queen]

OK. We took the shuttle to the souk. Most of the stalls were open and we spent very little time there. It is dark. It is filthy. It smells. There's an underlying "aroma" other than incense. And incense permeates everywhere. Sorry for not being able to give you any additional information, but the best part of getting off the ship was getting back on. Before you leave the ship, they give you a landing card which is checked by Omam security prior to the shuttle leaving the port area. They also look at you/it when returning.

 

 

The early morning rain never again materialized and the day remained overcast and breezy. We will lose another hour tonight as we sail towards Mumbai for our Friday arrival.

 

Oahucruiser: interesting about very clean souk. Something has changed. :eek:

Love your style of writing .The pictures you paint are so vivid .I felt I was on that shuttle today showing my landing card lol

[Pia1913]

Back at sea for another two days. Good Wednesday morning, November 2nd. We are now 9 hours ahead of EST, and we get to do it again tonight. But tonight, we only move ahead ½ hour. I have never figured out how that works.. Skies are cloudy, but very warm and humid.

　

Several lectures on tap for today, beginning with Mumbai - Indian Metropolis. Then we have “Ancient Japan: From the beginning to the Meiji restoration: A Nation built on war.” Completing the triad, is, “Cochin and Southern India.” At 1:45 there is something called “Mellow Dramatic Murder Mystery at Sea” which is being presented by CD Peter Roberts who will also play the role of Sherlock Holmes. The entire cruise staff has a role, as they try to solve a crime with a nautical feel. Having never seen this before, I expect it’s a Peter endeavor. The movie Green Lantern (guess the original has been remade) is on the stateroom TV four different times today.

　

 

Tonight is formal and we will officially get our bottle of champagne, which hopefully I can trade for something else. The entertainment is production show “Do You Wanna Dance.”

 

　

I’m off now to have my nails done at this ungodly hour of the morning. Not because it’s formal night, but because it’s been three weeks.

 

 

And yes, Oca, choir songs are still the same.

[QueenCruiseAlot]

I bet you will be happy to see some land again. I enjoy the sea days but it sure feels good to walk around on solid ground again.

 

Sorry for the momentary hijack of thread, but I was on Royal Princess in April of this year and we went something like 11 or 13 days without land. I was never so glad to step foot on land!

 

It's now 3:11 AM for me in Florida, fascinating reading here! Pia, I will be on TA from Roma with you next month. Can't wait!

 

Can you answer me this: The Royal was sold off to P&O at the end of my cruise in April/May and am just wondering who the senior staff are on the Ocean? Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Maitre 'd? Curious where they all went. Peter was the CD on my Royal cruise - didn't really like him. At.All. Loved Roberto & Jean Paul in MDR.

 

Kimberly

[chamima]

Sorry for the momentary hijack of thread, but I was on Royal Princess in April of this year and we went something like 11 or 13 days without land. I was never so glad to step foot on land!

 

It's now 3:11 AM for me in Florida, fascinating reading here! Pia, I will be on TA from Roma with you next month. Can't wait!

 

Can you answer me this: The Royal was sold off to P&O at the end of my cruise in April/May and am just wondering who the senior staff are on the Ocean? Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Maitre 'd? Curious where they all went. Peter was the CD on my Royal cruise - didn't really like him. At.All. Loved Roberto & Jean Paul in MDR.

 

Kimberly

 

Hi Kimberly

We were on the Royal just before you. Jean-Paul is on the Sapphire. We also loved Roberto and were in touch with him but he hasn't written lately. I also am trying to figure out where he is. His last correspondence (this summer) said he was on vacation and then he thought he was going to the Grand but that sometimes contracts get changed at the last minute.

[QueenCruiseAlot]

Hi Kimberly

We were on the Royal just before you. Jean-Paul is on the Sapphire. We also loved Roberto and were in touch with him but he hasn't written lately. I also am trying to figure out where he is. His last correspondence (this summer) said he was on vacation and then he thought he was going to the Grand but that sometimes contracts get changed at the last minute.

 

Capt Ivan is on the Sapphire too. So, that leaves where is Staff Captain Salvatore, Hotel Director Arturo (George Clooney), and Chief Engineer Agnello. I think a lot of the people from the Royal was sent to the Grand and the Ruby. I'm particularly interested in who is on the Pacific.

[keg1]

Sorry for the momentary hijack of thread, but I was on Royal Princess in April of this year and we went something like 11 or 13 days without land. I was never so glad to step foot on land!

 

It's now 3:11 AM for me in Florida, fascinating reading here! Pia, I will be on TA from Roma with you next month. Can't wait!

 

Can you answer me this: The Royal was sold off to P&O at the end of my cruise in April/May and am just wondering who the senior staff are on the Ocean? Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Maitre 'd? Curious where they all went. Peter was the CD on my Royal cruise - didn't really like him. At.All. Loved Roberto & Jean Paul in MDR.

 

Kimberly

How does Peter keep his position with so many people reporting his inactivity as a CD let alone being a real pain to so many?

[QueenCruiseAlot]

How does Peter keep his position with so many people reporting his inactivity as a CD let alone being a real pain to so many?

 

I wondered the same thing while I was on my cruise. I do have to cut him some slack though, I am "young" for a cruise of the nature I was on (there was only one person younger than me on it). And there were so many sea days, and there was some kind of virus thing going around. And, it was a weird cruise because once we finally hit land in Peru the P&O guys showed up. It was just an odd cruise.

[Pia1913]

Giuseppe Franchina is still the maitre de, and he's on until February. We too are not enamored with Peter Roberts. :( Susan Rawlins will be the CD on the Pacific. Just dropping in for a peek. See you in the morning.

[Waynetor]

The CD told us he is starting his vacation when the ship gets to Singapore so not sure who will be on after that.

[keg1]

The CD told us he is starting his vacation when the ship gets to Singapore so not sure who will be on after that.

Hope its a long one (vacation)!

[drandyl]

We are also on this cruise....And we have nothing to say but POSITIVE things!!! The cruise staff has been wonderful and very visible... they clearly enjoy their job and meeting with passengers.... I have seen more of Peter Roberts on this cruise than I have seen other CD's on other cruises... As for activities in port... with about 650 passengers, including almost 500 Captain Circle members, I am not sure what the expectations are when almost every passenger is ashore... I am sure that it would not be prudent to offer a program as complete as on sea days... of which there is an abundance of activities.. The entertaiment has been good also... the 6 dancers and 2 lead singers have been performing very well in a much smaller stage than the larger ships... Chilli Gold was fantastic!!! (She has a website if anyone is interested)....Unfortunately, some passengers have been taking trivia to seriously where the CD spoke to the trivia players and cautioned them regarding their rude and uncalled for behavior towards the cruise staff...Just not right to call the staff 'dumb kids' and challenge them!!! It's a game to have fun and enjoy....

I am really enjoying this cruise and the staff... btw, this our 30th cruise... and we always keep in mind... there is no such thing as a bad cruise.... it is what you make of it...and it beats staying home cooking, cleaning, etc!!!

[Aussie Gal]

I wondered the same thing while I was on my cruise. I do have to cut him some slack though, I am "young" for a cruise of the nature I was on (there was only one person younger than me on it). And there were so many sea days, and there was some kind of virus thing going around. And, it was a weird cruise because once we finally hit land in Peru the P&O guys showed up. It was just an odd cruise.

 

We were also on the Royal Farewell Cruise. There were a lot of sea days, 11.5 of them and of course we missed Easter Island and were late into the first port in Peru where we missed flying over the NAZCA lines.

 

I didn't realize there was a virus going around though as we were all well. We couldn't believe that the shops closed down 10 days before the end of the cruise and quite a few other other unusual things happened which we passed on to Princess. As you said, it was a weird cruise, certainly not our best.:(

 

Jennie

[Aussie Gal]

The CD told us he is starting his vacation when the ship gets to Singapore so not sure who will be on after that.

 

In another post on this Board, we have heard that the wonderful Sammi Baker is going to be the CD. We have our fingers crossed that she will still be on board in March when we cruise from Sydney to Singapore.

 

She is fantastic and such a contrast to Peter Roberts who we found to be just so boring and never around. Instead his friend Jason did a huge amount of work. He is very likeable and has a great personality.

 

Jennie

[Pia1913]

Still at sea and completely confused as to time. We moved our clocks ahead ½ hour last night and were told the next half hour ahead come after we leave Cochin on Sunday. We had the CC cocktail party last night, got our champagne and our 3rd place award and then went back to the cabin to read after dinner. There is no way we wanted to see Do you Wanna Dance again for the umpteenth time. The Captain was his usual personable and eloquent self, including some very funny lines. He mentioned the new Royal for 2013, but said no additional information is available since the interior is still under major discussion.

 

　

A whole lot going on this morning. Two lectures. One is “Hinduism and its influence on Indian Culture” and the other is “The Amazing Life of Mahatma Gandhi.” There is also an Indian lesson that will teach those interested in learning some basic phrases and the usual afternoon art auction (which hardly anyone attends) will be held at 10:00 with mimosas being served. I wonder how many will stick around after the mimosas run out. I happened to look into one auction the other day and saw 7 people in attendance.

　

 

Two movies being shown today - afternoon is “The Help” and at 10:00 PM “The Lincoln Lawyer.” There’s a matinee performance with last night’s pianist Brett Cave (guess he’s getting off in Mumbai) and for the first time I see a notice for the Chef’s Table. I didn’t think they were going to offer it at all. Yes, it’s $95. Tonight’s entertainment is the comic Al Brown again. He was pretty good, so we’ll attend his 2nd show.

 

　

The time changes seem to be keeping folks out of the gym, which is fine with me. I’ve never waited for a treadmill, though there’s an A/C problem in there sporadically. This morning it was like a sauna.

 

 

Drandyl, what you stated is false. Please don't quote Peter when you weren't there. Neither was he. We were. He never bothered to find out what really happened. :rolleyes:

[drandyl]

Still at sea and completely confused as to time. We moved our clocks ahead ½ hour last night and were told the next half hour ahead come after we leave Cochin on Sunday. We had the CC cocktail party last night, got our champagne and our 3rd place award and then went back to the cabin to read after dinner. There is no way we wanted to see Do you Wanna Dance again for the umpteenth time. The Captain was his usual personable and eloquent self, including some very funny lines. He mentioned the new Royal for 2013, but said no additional information is available since the interior is still under major discussion.

 

　

A whole lot going on this morning. Two lectures. One is “Hinduism and its influence on Indian Culture” and the other is “The Amazing Life of Mahatma Gandhi.” There is also an Indian lesson that will teach those interested in learning some basic phrases and the usual afternoon art auction (which hardly anyone attends) will be held at 10:00 with mimosas being served. I wonder how many will stick around after the mimosas run out. I happened to look into one auction the other day and saw 7 people in attendance.

　

 

Two movies being shown today - afternoon is “The Help” and at 10:00 PM “The Lincoln Lawyer.” There’s a matinee performance with last night’s pianist Brett Cave (guess he’s getting off in Mumbai) and for the first time I see a notice for the Chef’s Table. I didn’t think they were going to offer it at all. Yes, it’s $95. Tonight’s entertainment is the comic Al Brown again. He was pretty good, so we’ll attend his 2nd show.

 

　

The time changes seem to be keeping folks out of the gym, which is fine with me. I’ve never waited for a treadmill, though there’s an A/C problem in there sporadically. This morning it was like a sauna.

 

 

Drandyl, what you stated is false. Please don't quote Peter when you weren't there. Neither was he. We were. He never bothered to find out what really happened. :rolleyes:

 

I beg your pardon... I WAS THERE AND SO WAS HE.... and I will stand by what he said... He also asked trivia players to submit questions and answers that staff will then ask.... since some players seem to want to challenge the staff answers!!! btw... not sure how you would know if I was there since you sit in the back corner against the wall!!!! Please enjoy the game...after all it's only a game!!!!

[coo359a2]

Have tried to keep up with your postings but some notices are not coming through to my email. Internet has been pretty good but email has been acting up.

We cashed in the last of our casino credits last week. The cashier said that for this cruise credits would be handled (paid out) as usual. Starting the next cruise, the credits would go on your account for use in the casino slots/tables only. Not sure how credits would be restricted to the casino only though. Went to Passenger Service desk and asked about regular OBC that you can preorder as gifts (asked two different people). Both said that you would be able to get your money at their counter as long as it was OBC that you had preordered. They referred to it as account credit vs company credit which can not be withdrawn at their counter. I guess I’ll gift myself OBC for our May cruise and see how it works.

Only 3 more nights till Ft Lauderdale. The whole ship IMO has the whooping cough and colds. Can’t find a seat in the theater where someone is not coughing. Thanks to someone on board I now have a cold and sore throat.

Continue to have fun and will try and catch up with all posts when we get home on Monday

[Pia1913]

There’s a good possibility of not being able to post tomorrow morning due to an early tour and Indian bureaucracy. We have been given yellow landing permits which have our name and passport numbers on them and attached to copies of our passports. We need to go to the Tahitian Lounge, bring these forms with us, pick up our real passports at the entrance and proceed to a face to face full immigration inspection. I assume that our passports will be stamped and then turned back in to the ship, because we need to carry the yellow card and copy off with us. This we will do at 7:15, and our tour is due to depart at 7:50. We were last in Mumbai in 2005 and I don’t recall it being done this way. I guess security is tighter at this time. We are going to Elephanta Island and Caves. Can’t wait to walk up 120 steps, but that will be our treadmill exercise du jour. I just hope it’s not too wet and slippery, though we have our “Moses sticks” just in case. Poor DH must leave his camcorder home. You are prohibited to video anything inside or outside the caves.

　

Since the Patter has been delivered, I can tell you that tomorrow’s offerings are two movies during the day; “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” and “X-Men: First Class.” In the Cabaret Lounge at night will be a violinist; Vincenzo Gentile.

　

Will check in when we return. Donna and Dennis rejoin the ship tomorrow and I know we are all waiting to hear about their Taj adventure.

 

 

Sounds funny since it's only noon on the east coast, but it's 9:30 here, so..........good night.