World Cruise on Pacific Princess

[Martyjac]

We just booked a world cruise on the Pacific Princess. Can anyone who has taken a world cruise on the Pacific Princess give us some insight into- their buffet, dining room food, medical services, internet capabilities, their service, etc. Any help would be appreciated. We booked a room in the middle of ship. Our biggest concern was there seems to be many sea days.

[shsce750]

I'd be surprised if there weren't lots of sea days on a world cruise. The world is, after all, mostly ocean.

Edited August 20, 2014 by shsce750

[rkmw]

We just booked a world cruise on the Pacific Princess. Can anyone who has taken a world cruise on the Pacific Princess give us some insight into- their buffet, dining room food, medical services, internet capabilities, their service, etc. Any help would be appreciated. We booked a room in the middle of ship. Our biggest concern was there seems to be many sea days.

 

if you have any questions just ask on the world cruising thread

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=833

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree lots of sea days.

[caribill]

We just booked a world cruise on the Pacific Princess. Can anyone who has taken a world cruise on the Pacific Princess give us some insight into- their buffet, dining room food, medical services, internet capabilities, their service, etc. Any help would be appreciated. We booked a room in the middle of ship. Our biggest concern was there seems to be many sea days.

 

I have not been on a world cruise, but I can answer some of your questions.

 

Buffet will be set up for breakfast, lunch and dinner with some snacks in between. Sometimes in the evening it will change to a "bistro" with a sit down menu.

 

A window in the buffet is used at breakfast for ordering omelets. At other times it is used for pizza.

 

Outside the buffet on deck is the stand for hamburgers, hot dogs, etc, but at the breakfast hour it may have breakfast items.

 

The single dining room has only traditional fixed seating with both an early time (about 6 PM) and a late time (about 8:15 PM). You will be assigned a table and seating companions. Before the start of the next segment of the world cruise, you will be asked if you wish to continue at the same table.

 

The dining room menu will be different each evening of a segment. There are some items that will be available every evening and others that change each day. Although an entire menu is unlikely to repeat during a segment, come of the changing items may individually be repeated. When you start a new segment, you will see the same menus you saw on the previous segment, most likely in about the same order.

 

There is Internet but the speeds will not be what you are used to at home. It will be closer to what used to be the speeds with dial-up. You can use the Internet on your own Internet capable devices or on the ship's computers in their Internet room. If you use your own device, you can economize on usage for e-mail by signing on, downloading e-mail, signing off, taking whatever time you want to prepare response or write new e-mails, and then sign on long enough to send the prepared e-mails out.

 

There is a cost to using the Internet. You can pay by the minute (highest cost) or purchase a package of minutes (the more minutes in the package the lower the cost). Before purchasing a package, check with the Internet Manager to see if you can have unused minutes carried over from one segment to another. If so, you can save $$$ by buying a package with more minutes. Packages purchased during the first day or two of a segment will have 10% extra free minutes included. (You can purchase packages in advance on from Princess and get 20% extra minutes, but you will not know the carryover rules in advance.)

 

Since you will be crossing oceans, you will be going through areas of the world where there may not be any satellites overhead to provide Internet connectivity, so it is possible that there may be says at a time without Internet access.

 

The WIFI signal should be available in many public areas of the ship as well in all cabins. If the signal is weak in your cabin, propping open the hallway door a little can result in a stronger signal.

 

If you purchase a package, only one device can be active on it at a time. In other words, if there are two of you wanting to use the Internet at the same time you will need two packages (unless paying by the minute).

 

As far as medical, there is a fully trained, licensed physician onboard with a well equipped infirmary who can diagnose and treat a variety of ailments. You will be charged for any services and must pay for them with your onboard account, but given proper information for submitting claims to your insurance company to get any money from them your policy covers.

 

There will be activities on those sea days, but there will be times you may not find one you want to attend or participate in. There will be nightly entertainment, but some of it will be repeated each segment.

 

Being a relatively small ship, the staff and other passengers will get to know you. (You can see pictures of its twin, the Ocean Princess, from when it was the Tahitian Princess at http://fp.caribill.com/ )

 

Hope this helps.

Edited August 20, 2014 by caribill

[caribill]

Another thought on the Internet.

 

If you are taking the full world cruise at some point you would have the 50 cruise days needed to have Platinum status on the following segment.

 

When that happens, you will be given x number of free Internet minutes on each remaining segment, with x depending on the length of the segment.

 

If there are two of you gaining that status, each of you would get the x minutes.

[Mommypig]

We are thinking of doing the 2016 world cruise on the Pacific Princess. Playing ring around the money and see.

 

We have sailed 51 days plus 12 days on this ship this past winter and love it. Yes there are a lot of sea days, but we loved them. There are loads of things to do. Bridge and MahJong are popular, as is singing in the choir. The library is a lovely room with comfy chairs, loads of books, and generally a puzzle going on. The cruise staff has a variety of games and competitions going on. The ship is small enough to meet and make good friends. I turned into the knitting instructor during the morning craft get together. Many people spent time walking on the track, exercising in the gym, or out on the promenade deck. There were a variety of lecturers who spoke on different things, and a port lecturer who gave some pointers on the ports (although I found Cruise Critic provided more useful information). There is no MUTS, but there was a movie in the Cabaret Lounge most afternoons. Yes there is a casino, but it tended to not be very busy. Various entertainers joined us throughout the voyage to perform for us.

 

My favorite place is on the open deck behind the Panorama Buffet on the back of the ship. Every morning around 6 am the early birds would be up there, waiting for sunrise. The sea and sky are ever changing and so beautiful.

 

You get to really know the staff. It was very nice when we got back to ship after our month in New Zealand and have the security people greet us with "Welcome Home!"

 

The medical staff can deal with minor injuries and illnesses, but anything major and they will hightail it to the nearest port with a hospital. We had to make a detour to Tonga because of a crew member with appendicitis and a passenger with a heart attack. Travel insurance that will cover emergency medical care and evacuation is a must. Coming on board with enough medication for the length of the trip is also essential. My insurance company covered the 4 month supply when provided with copies of my travel documents. The medical staff was very nice, even stored my excess insulin while we traveled in New Zealand between cruises.

 

There is a laundry room on board so doing laundry not a problem.

 

We brought 2 kindles and an iPad loaded with reading, and a Macbook with an external drive full of movies. Checked the email morning and night. Generally got good speeds at 6 am and 11 pm. There may be times when we are out of range of satellites for personal internet use. The ship will always have connection for communication, but nothing for us. There are times when we have no cable TV as well when far out at sea. Then they just have movies and other prerecorded programming.

 

Hubs weaves and he brought a small tapestry loom and wove while at sea. I knit and I made a few shawls.

 

Anyway, the sea days weren't so bad. We had three port days in a row in New Zeeland and we were all complaining about how exhausted we were because we had no time to recover between ports.

 

Linda

 

 

 

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[Martyjac]

I forgot to ask. Where is the best deck to book a cabin on the Pacific Princess? Middle of ship? Back of ship, or front of ship? Being on a small ship can we expect a lot of motion cruising in the Atlantic? We want to book a cabin with an ocean view. Any help would be appreciated.

Martin

[Mommypig]

I forgot to ask. Where is the best deck to book a cabin on the Pacific Princess? Middle of ship? Back of ship, or front of ship? Being on a small ship can we expect a lot of motion cruising in the Atlantic? We want to book a cabin with an ocean view. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Martin

 

 

I like deck 7 midship balcony. No public areas above or below. Coin laundry is on the port side so try to stay starboard.

 

 

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[dorisis]

The cabins on deck 7 midship are my favorite. Very convenient. Also very quiet with nothing but other cabins above and below.

[flamomo]

The cabins on deck 7 midship are my favorite. Very convenient. Also very quiet with nothing but other cabins above and below.

 

I like the minisuites on deck 8 ..... quite roomy, which could be a good thing for that long of a cruise. We had 8041 for a South Pacific cruise, and really enjoyed it .... and nice and quiet despite being under the pool deck.

 

I had a porthole oceanview cabin on deck 3 for a Med & Aegean cruise last year, and even that was very pleasant.

[Pia1913]

We just booked a world cruise on the Pacific Princess. Can anyone who has taken a world cruise on the Pacific Princess give us some insight into- their buffet, dining room food, medical services, internet capabilities, their service, etc. Any help would be appreciated. We booked a room in the middle of ship. Our biggest concern was there seems to be many sea days.

 

Are you booked for 2015? If so, come over and join the roll call. I am the keeper of the list. Here's the link:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1854617

[lizbow]

World Cruise.

I have done 2 W.C on Pacific Princess and would do another one in a heart beat..Sea days are nice and relaxing with lots of options if you don't like lounging.The places on world Cruise are so varied that it keeps the excitement going.

Internet becomes free after a few segments, or maybe you have reached that level already, most places, even at sea it was available in the cabin. Even at P laces like Easter Island.

Food us good and varied,buffet , can be more relaxing after a long day in port, especially sitting outside on those warm evenings.

Enjoy,have fun and take lots of Pictures.