Ocean princess venice to rome

[Bimmer09]

I didn't think the elevator lobbies looked forlorn. I thought they looked elegantly restrained, in keeping with the the rest of the public rooms. In fact, the absence of brass and marble was one of my favourite things about the decor. Not that I don't like the other ships, but this was a nice change and better suited to the smaller ship, I think.

 

If you had lingered your video camera over that steak one second longer, I was going to have to lick my screen.

 

There are areas of the ship with the rich dark wood and lush carpet that are stunning (and will be seen later) I thought the elevator lobbies were out of character with those "county club" rooms, like the decor stopped after a lick of paint was applied. The rich dark woods areas put other Princess ships in the shade. The Sabatini's is very bland and washed-out compared to the warm Italian scenes on the Grand Class ships.

 

The steak (Filet Mignon 10 oz cut) was fantastic and with that Oberon wine was a sumptuous rich meal. Plate did not need a visit to the dishwasher once I was done licking it.

 

Stay tuned. Eye candy galore is just up ahead....

 

Norris

[perfect match]

After reading your story about the Indian security officer who did not seem to understand your room assignment I had to go pull up the deck plans for Ocean Princess. I guess you really would have had a problem staying in 6033!

 

I thought the Ocean Princess looked like a beautiful ship. I have not sailed on a ship that small yet, but I expect to do so at some point. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the large ships I have sailed on thus far, I think I would also enjoy sailing on a small ship.

 

The opera house in Venice was beautiful. I am glad you were able to get a few photos. A visit there would definitely be in order if we ever get to Venice.

 

I loved the video of the water taxi to the OP. I could spend days riding up and down every canal in that city!

[SOLIVITA LADY]

Still reading and enjoying every minute of our (I mean your) trip. It feels like we are cruising along with you.

 

Jackie

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

[Bimmer09]

After reading your story about the Indian security officer who did not seem to understand your room assignment I had to go pull up the deck plans for Ocean Princess. I guess you really would have had a problem staying in 6033!

 

I thought the Ocean Princess looked like a beautiful ship. I have not sailed on a ship that small yet, but I expect to do so at some point. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the large ships I have sailed on thus far, I think I would also enjoy sailing on a small ship.

 

The opera house in Venice was beautiful. I am glad you were able to get a few photos. A visit there would definitely be in order if we ever get to Venice.

 

I loved the video of the water taxi to the OP. I could spend days riding up and down every canal in that city!

 

Ocean Princess is a beautiful ship and I hope to show you how beautiful the rest of her is- the parts people have referred to as an English Country Manor or such.

Lots of photos inside and out and at one port we get to see a mirror-image of ourselves only with a different paint-job when we come across an Azamara ship.

 

Today I have work and then an Opera in Chicago. A busy day so I will leave you with a video of our trip to Guideca....

 

 

After this we have an hour before the ship casts off the lines and we sail the Guideca canal and get our last look at Venice from the water in photos and video

 

Norris

[konyagiqueen]

Maybe more people are reading this than you realise! We started reading it when we returned from our seventh ( we are lucky enough to live this side of your 'pond' ) visit to Venice. We have loved reliving our visits through your really beautiful and atmospheric photos and videos. Thank you.

[p0240]

Hi

I have only just come across your review, and have thoroughly enjoyed every word, photo and video to date, we sailed the Med in 2013 on the Ruby Princess, 21 days, Venice to Barcelona,and had 3 glorious days in Venice before boarding the Ruby. It was our 3rd trip to Venice, and I still love every square foot, the one advantage of being our 3rd trip is to be able to sit and savour Venice, rather than be over eager to explore every canal and corner, but to ponder over coffee and soak Venice up, it is the most amazing place.

 

As an Aussie, I always smile when I read the American reviews with your 10 hour plane trips, we travel approx 24 hours to get to Europe, normally 2 flights, first flight approx 5-7 hours depending on the hub city, then 14 hours to a Europe destination, so 10 hours to me is bliss! Plus the wait time in the hub airport makes for a very long day, oh to travel business class!!

 

I am now going to look up your Carribean Princess review, as am sailing her from London next May for a Scandinavian cruise, so will check our your notes.

 

Thank you for a wonderful review.

Pat

[Jasperdo]

Still enjoying your review tremendously. The videos are an added bonus. I'm especially enjoying your trips on the Vaparetto. I'm into all forms of Mass Transit, and the Vaparetto is one of the most unique.

[Bimmer09]

Still enjoying your review tremendously. The videos are an added bonus. I'm especially enjoying your trips on the Vaparetto. I'm into all forms of Mass Transit, and the Vaparetto is one of the most unique.

 

Glad you are along for this very long ride!

 

Carol is the Queen of Public Transportation (that's official) whereas I am usually driving and cocooned from the common folk but in Venice driving was out of the question. I enjoy walking to get somewhere.

 

The Vaparetto is a great way to get around. They arrive and leave on time and we missed one back to the ship before sail away because of this. We missed it by one minute. It stops it unloads and loads within 2 to 3 minutes as is off. We loved using them. The money belt gave me a sense of security in a crowd.

 

I enjoyed hearing all the different accents and languages on board and let the video run to capture any Italian within earshot. It ranks with French as vocal music to my ear. I speak German best and occasionally used it without thinking to get past people. I can say excuse me in 4 languages and sometime used them all as I wasn't sure of my audience.(LOL)

 

We normally travel in German speaking countries but are now smitten by Italy and hope to return. You certainly can't see enough of Rome in 2 short days....but we tried so I cannot wait (but I will) to share Rome with you.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Maybe more people are reading this than you realise! We started reading it when we returned from our seventh ( we are lucky enough to live this side of your 'pond' ) visit to Venice. We have loved reliving our visits through your really beautiful and atmospheric photos and videos. Thank you.

 

Wow-a Scouser among my readers-very welcome as my most exciting childhood memories in the late 50's and early 60's were trips to Liverpool on my dad's merchant ship. That was before container ships arrived and the dockyards were fascinating places.

 

Then the Beatles exploded upon the world and as the ships were close to Dingle a young Norris found his way (by asking) to Ringo's house. Very memorable.

 

I love how CC can connect me with people from all over the world who enjoy ships and cruising.

 

Thanks for joining us on this amazing adventure- I have been writing this for nearly two weeks and we haven't even cast off the lines yet. Long attention spans welcome.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Hi

I have only just come across your review, and have thoroughly enjoyed every word, photo and video to date, we sailed the Med in 2013 on the Ruby Princess, 21 days, Venice to Barcelona,and had 3 glorious days in Venice before boarding the Ruby. It was our 3rd trip to Venice, and I still love every square foot, the one advantage of being our 3rd trip is to be able to sit and savour Venice, rather than be over eager to explore every canal and corner, but to ponder over coffee and soak Venice up, it is the most amazing place.

 

As an Aussie, I always smile when I read the American reviews with your 10 hour plane trips, we travel approx 24 hours to get to Europe, normally 2 flights, first flight approx 5-7 hours depending on the hub city, then 14 hours to a Europe destination, so 10 hours to me is bliss! Plus the wait time in the hub airport makes for a very long day, oh to travel business class!!

 

I am now going to look up your Carribean Princess review, as am sailing her from London next May for a Scandinavian cruise, so will check our your notes.

 

Thank you for a wonderful review.

Pat

 

Pat thank you. You will be hearing the words Aussie and Kiwi many times as this thing unfolds.

 

We find ourselves going back to cities in Germany again and again and there-like you in Venice-we don't have to rush around seeing everything and can sit and relax and soak up the "vibe". Someday we will return to Venice and enjoy a calmer pace. I enjoyed every second that I spent there.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

It was maybe an 8 minute walk from the ship to the San Basilio Vaparetto stop.

There wasn't a machine there for tickets as I recall or if there was it wasn't working so we boarded without tickets (50E fine if you travel without one). Once on board Carol asked an Italian gentleman in her crisp Italian how we could get a ticket and he went out of his way to find the ticket collector/crew person who could take our money. I went into the wheelhouse where she was talking to the driver and paid our 14 E as we didn't want to be desperados on the lamm.

 

Here are a few snaps from that trip

 

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Hilton Stucky Molina Hotel

 

 

Vaparetto dock

 

[Bimmer09]

Nearby a young just-married couple were having some romantic photos taken

 

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An adjacent marina

 

 

This was waiting....so we got back on the water

 

 

MSC Lirica is in Marittima dock in the distance

 

[Bimmer09]

I had a couple of chores to attend to once back on board the ship: first was to arrange for Afternoon Tea to be served on our balcony at 3.30 when we would be at sea. I called Room Service to arrange this and a gentleman took my order. He told me his name when he picked up the phone but phonetically it sounded like the noise your shoes make when you take them off after a long day and drop them on a tiled floor- Pat, I'd like a vowel please...an A.

 

That done I unpacked by new tripod which only stood 39 inches high but was so compact when closed that it was not a hassle to attach to my camera bag and forget about- 13 inches and very light but sturdy. This I was going to use to record the Venice skyline during sail away freeing me to walk around and take photos of the buildings. So I may have the longest Venice sail away video ever and wish me luck uploading it to youtube in this lifetime. I may have to chop it into manageable chunks.

 

We weren't going up on deck to listen to a recording of Andrea Bocelli singing that beautiful song "Time to say Goodbye" as we had our own private deck with no heads in the way and a stocked minibar. Speaking of minibar when I called Room Service to have the spirits removed and substituted with beer (Stella as Beck's was no longer on the menu) the young man they sent up told me that it couldn't be done. My fuse was lit again as I have done it on every ship where we had a minibar gratis but he was a nice young lad and I had him call his supervisor who gave the right answer and the deed was soon done.

 

We had two small bottles of Korbel for sail away but in the excitement I completely forgot about them!

 

We were soon to cast off and bid addio to wonderful Venice. Ahead lay the unknown. Sadly before we left Chicago we had an email from Princess telling us that Tunisia was off the itinerary for safety reasons and would be substituted by Palermo, Sicily. We had booked a great looking excursion in Tunisia to Carthage and beautiful Sidi Bou Said....some other time perhaps.

 

It was 1 p.m Sunday September 21 2014...

 

Let the cruising commence!! A tug was hooked up to our stern and the lines were cast off forward and aft and the ship eased away from San Basilio pier....

[ROWSE]

I have been following along since the beginning, and I imagine there are many more. Thank you for this wonderful review, I look forward to many more days.

We are sailing on the Ocean Princess in January so this has been exciting to hear your take of things on the ship.

We hope to someday experience Venice. You have given me much to look forward too!

[bigenna]

I am still reading along and enjoying your photos and videos. Thanks so much again for taking the time to do this for all of us.

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for coming forward and saying such nice things. I thrive on feedback as it gives names to the numbers of people viewing. I like seeing the locations of readers too. Thank you CC and the great men and women who created the Internet!

 

I am just home from the Chicago Lyric Opera and it's after midnight so I have been uploading a 21 minute video of sailing away from Venice and it shows parts of Venice that most people don't see as videos tend to shut off after the famous parts-there is beauty beyond including a green park with our name on it.

 

Youtube warned me that videos over 15 minutes are at risk of failure but I am feeling lucky!

 

Norris

[ar1950]

.............

Youtube warned me that videos over 15 minutes are at risk of failure but I am feeling lucky!

Norris

 

Well, there are many of us out here who are hoping that you are lucky........:cool:

 

Fingers crossed, four leaf clover at hand and lucky horseshoe properly hung. Waiting to see.

Edited October 15, 2014 by ar1950

[perfect match]

Ocean Princess is a beautiful ship and I hope to show you how beautiful the rest of her is- the parts people have referred to as an English Country Manor or such.

Lots of photos inside and out and at one port we get to see a mirror-image of ourselves only with a different paint-job when we come across an Azamara ship.

 

Today I have work and then an Opera in Chicago. A busy day so I will leave you with a video of our trip to Guideca....

 

 

After this we have an hour before the ship casts off the lines and we sail the Guideca canal and get our last look at Venice from the water in photos and video

 

Norris

 

Another great video, Norris! I do love those canals. :D

 

Hope you enjoyed the Opera.

 

Nancy

[Bimmer09]

I had to leave my computer on overnight to upload. A message this morning told me the upload was "successful" so I hopped on over to youtube to look at it and found a black screen with a frowny youtube face saying "video too long-sorry about that". Huh? 21 minutes too long?

 

So I have to slice it in half and try again.

 

Norris

[debrouillarde]

I appreciate all the time you are putting into sharing your videos and photos. We will be on the OP in about 10 days time. I also am disappointed Tunis is not on our itinerary but our stop in Messina will allow a little taste of Sicily. Deborah

[Bimmer09]

I appreciate all the time you are putting into sharing your videos and photos. We will be on the OP in about 10 days time. I also am disappointed Tunis is not on our itinerary but our stop in Messina will allow a little taste of Sicily. Deborah

 

I'll have some port excursions up for you to see before you go and of course ship photos once Venice is behind us.

 

Are you sailing Venice to Rome? I know her 2nd such tour is early November. If not what is your itinerary?

 

2nd sailaway video is with youtube now and I'll post both once #2 is available.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

I'll have some port excursions up for you to see before you go and of course ship photos once Venice is behind us.

 

Are you sailing Venice to Rome? I know her 2nd such tour is early November. If not what is your itinerary?

 

2nd sailaway video is with youtube now and I'll post both once #2 is available.

 

Norris

 

Just checked the cruise Atlas- I guess you are 14 days Athens to Venice?

Amazing itinerary!

 

Norris

[debrouillarde]

Just checked the cruise Atlas- I guess you are 14 days Athens to Venice?

Amazing itinerary!

 

Norris

 

Yes, we will be arriving in Athens 5 days before the cruise so I'll follow your posts as long as possible. There isn't a lot of information about the Ocean Princess so you could consider your TR a "Public Service" :D Deborah

[Bimmer09]

Ok, here is the Venice footage from the sail away, edited into two clips.

 

 

 

In part II I turned the camcorder to look back and in doing so you can see the tug which would soon leave us.

 

The tripod holding the camcorder was perched on a table to see over the balcony rail and this freed me up to take photos.

 

There's a short clip of a plane doing aerobatics leaving a smoke trail. The plane plummeted to the ground soon after (unseen by us) and the stunt pilot was killed. I only found out about it the next day from another passenger. It was the seasoned pilot's second show of the day.

 

No music over the video so you get the sound we got-the wake noise and the quiet of a small city without road traffic.

 

Enjoy.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Yes, we will be arriving in Athens 5 days before the cruise so I'll follow your posts as long as possible. There isn't a lot of information about the Ocean Princess so you could consider your TR a "Public Service" :D Deborah

 

Yes Deborah the Ocean doesn't get a whole slot of attention on CC so I am hoping to spread the word and photos will appear soon to give you the flavor of this fine little ship. Hopefully Princess will not put the Pacific Princess up for sale too.

 

Next up- the last of the Venice photos and then we get to the ship and excursions (and food porn for Annie)

 

Norris