Hi from the Pacific Princess

[helenb]

Thanks Hank!

 

I didn't know Kemble was leaving. My husband always used to talk about his s**t-eating grin. It's kind of like having Liberace on board, isn't it? :)

 

Banjo was pretty bad on our cruise too. I didn't even bother to go see his second show.

 

We actually found enough (not a lot, but enough) to do on sea days: dance lessons in the morning, pool and hot tub in the afternoon and trivia before dinner.

 

Don't miss the 'culinary exhibition' towards the end of the cruise. It was one of the most entertaining shows (of course that's not saying much).

 

Hope you are enjoying your last days onboard!

[CathyK2]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about the various ports on the Pacific Princess. We will be taking the Royal Princess in October from Bangkok to Beijing with many of the same ports, so thank you very much for those sharing information. I do have a few questions. Although we were in China and Japan a few years back, we have never been on a cruise through the Orient with so many different countries, so I was wondering how most of you prepare for money. We will obviously lean on credit cards and ATM cards as much as possible, but since we will not be taking the ships shore excussions since we like venturing on our own anytime at all possible, this will mean in many cases, we will need cash for a taxi or whatever as soon as getting off the ship. Do we bring cash from each of the countries? Not always knowing how much you will spend will make this tough to plan, so would love imput on how others deal with this. Are Traveler Checks easy to convert over?

Second, when we went to China, we had the Hep A and Typhoid shots. Seeing we will be in southeast Orient for some, I've read Malaria pills being mentioned but also the horrid side effects. Any comments on what others have done? We have an appointment with the Travel Doctor next month so know they will tell us their recommendations, but was hoping to go into the appointment with some background on my own.

Any information on these two topics would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Cathy

[helenb]

We got currency for every country where we would be ashore on our own. Thus we got yen, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars and bhat before we left. In Vietnam (even though we were no a tour) we noted that all the tourist areas seemed to accept (and prefer) $US. Apparently this was also the case in Shanghai (although we didn't disembark there so I can't tell you for sure). We do not use traveller's checks because they are a PAIN to cash and you have to pay commission twice. We just plan on putting as much as possible on the credit card and purchasing enough cash for a day. Generally if we are doing a ship tour we exchange no money, if we are on our own we exchange US$50 (a good guide book with costs beforehand can help you plan this amount) and if we are spending days in a place (such as the embarcation or disembarcation ports) we exchange a couple hundred dollars. You do need to have a plan about the places you want to go and what the admission, transportation and food costs are so that you can make a good estimate.

 

When you are on the ship you can keep all your cash in your safe and you will only have US$50 of local currency with you each day so there is not that much to lose.

 

As for anti-malaria drugs: I am taking them (still am because I have been home for less than 4 weeks) but I care for 2 small children and if I got ill it would be a real problem. I haven't had much bother with side effects. My husband felt the side effects more and talked (informally) to the medical office on the Pacific Princess. Their opinion was that for the ports they did in Vietnam you didn't really need the drugs and they were more trouble than they were worth. Go read the CDC web site and talk to your travel doctor and make up your own mind. There does not seem to be an obvious decision either way.

[aanselm]

Leaving for Beijing shortly and concerned about the double entry/single entry issue. We got single entries because the ship does not leave Chinese waters.... but I guess that does not count...... I am looking into it right now. Thanks for the heads up.

[Hlitner]

The Pacific Princess continues its 16 day cruise and today we are cruising through the Yellow Sea on our way to Nagasaki tomorrow morning. So far, the weather on this voyage (now in day 13) had been remarkably good with very little rain and generally hot (but not too hot) days. Regarding the last post about Chinese visas, do be careful and double check with your cruise line. Better to spend a little extra effort before the cruise than to have a disaster on your vacation. Princess recommends Zierer Visa Service (we have used them numerous times) and they will normally have all the necessary information about the requirements for any cruise (they do have a toll free number). I would emphasize to readers, that long Asian cruises on a relatively small ship is a very different experience for those who have only been on the huge megaships. As posted by both Helen and myself, you will find this type of cruise very laid-back, most passengers will have tons of cruise and travel experience, on-board entertainment will generally not be great, and daily activities will be somewhat sparse and not always well attended. They had a "Not So Newlywed" game last night,, but not 1 person showed-up. The passenger talent show had only 3 entries, and 2 of them were kids and the 3rd read a poem in Spanish. On the other hand, we love sea days for an opportunity to totally relax and read. Helen, Kemble told us that he came on-board in early April for a 2 week contract. Sammi (the cruise director) begged him to say..and he has been here since April. But, its does sound like he will truly be getting off on July 25.

 

Hank

[GottoCruise]

Hank - Thanks for all the good information - We are truly prepared for the "small ship" experience - love to relax w/a good book - walk around the deck - go to the Dance and/or aerobic lessons in the AM, Pool etc. in the PM - In the evening we much prefer sitting around talking & trading stories with the knowledgeable & well travelled friends we are bound to meet - A lot of ships' entertainment/entertaineers are old and older - and we've seen a lot of them do the same act on various ships and itineraries (including your Australian singer - I forget her name - she was on the Star Dec. Jan.) --they must do a circuit - not so "entertaining" for those of us that cruise a lot. Only little more than a week before we're "outta here" for our flight to Osaka....we're ready!!!! Hav a safe trip home ....hope the next passenger will pick up the Posts on the Pacific Princess!!! Renee (aka GotToCruise)

[calexand]

Double checked with China Travel Service they have now told me that we need a dual entry visa. I am so thankful that I have been reviewing this site and the information shared. If not we would have only gotten a single entry visa and we would be sitting on the ship in Shanghai. Without you I would have assumed that what they told me originally was correct. Thanks for the heads up. From now on I will check and recheck the information I receive.

 

Carol

Toronto

[Hlitner]

Carol, it always makes us smile to know that our posts help other travelers. We have learned so much on these boards that it feels great to give a little back. We are on the last day of our 16 day cruise...having left Pusan yesterday bound for our final port (near Beijing) tomorrow morning. After 14 good days of weather, we finally ran into some bad weather which has been in the form of fog. And I mean real fog where the Captain has stayed on the bridge and the fog horn is blasting every couple of minutes. I have a few comments about the ship before we disembark for our 8 days in China. As previously stated, this is a very laid-back cruise good for those of us who love to read, or just lay in the sun, Activities are minimal when compared to the larger ships (we have heard some whining about this fact). Our biggest complaint would be about the entertainment (or lack thereof). The good news for future cruisers is that Kemble (piano bar) will being staying aboard until around August 13. This guy is one of those love him or hate him type personalities and my wife and I fall into the love him group. We first met Kemble on the Radisson Diamond and having him on this cruise has made all of our evenings fun. As to the ship, it is still the beautiful Renaissance ship (it was the R3) but Princess does need to spend a few dollars on renovations. Although we have been satisfied with the food,, others have complained that its generally not up to the standards found on many other Princess ships. Since all my clothes seem to be shrinking,, I cannot complain (smile). I again commend Princess for keeping their drink and wine prices within reason (about 40% below RCL prices). The crew on this ship is beyond excellent and they might win the prize for the friendliest ship. We decided to cancel the automatic $10 per passenger day tipping (added to your account) in favor of personally rewarding the appropriate crew members who have constantly exceeded all of our expectations. We are now totally relaxed and ready to face the whirlwind 8 day China land tour which includes 3 hotels, 3 internal China flights, and a 3 day Yantzee cruise. And now for a little tale from yesterday. We went to the Panorama Buffet for some ice cream yesterday afternoon (they serve it from 3 to 4). The lady who was dipping told some children they could only have banana. They did have another kind...rum raisin, but the server said that you had to be 21 for that ice cream because it was made with some rum! Guess you had to be there!

 

Hank

 

Hank

[Smiles]

Sorry your vacation is coming to an end. First, I want to thank you for sharing so much of it with us. Although I can only speak for me (oh well, and hubby too) I've (we've) really enjoyed and appreciated it. The ports and ship sound fabulous!!!

 

Now, questions :D You said you took a Princess tour from Xingang. First, how was disembarkment? Were there plenty of taxis and other buses (public transportation) readily apparent at the pier? Would you recommend the Princess package (actually, since we only have 3 days max post and precruise the 8 day package wouldn't fit are schedules...but we would love to

hear your recommendations).

 

Again thanks! And welcome back. Feel free to share your general impressions of the overall cruise and your perceived value of it.

[swill]

Talk about a scare - we almost didn't join the ship in Bangkok! We were one of the unlucky people who didn't get the Princess notice and ended up going to Laem Chabang to join the ship. We left the Holiday Inn around 845AM and got to Laem Chabang around 1030AM only to see NO SHIP IN SIGHT! To make a long story short, we had a 6.5 hr ordeal that brought us back to where we started! Upon seeing no ship in the port, we tried everything - going to the Port Authority, looking in every berth, finding phone cards to call USA only to find out they didn't work in any phone, driver wouldn't use his own cell phone, calling the Holiday Inn... getting in touch with Princess seemed to be harder than walking on the moon! Add in traveling with anxious parents-in-law...

 

I'd like to thank Hank for getting us to the ship! I had a bright idea (and my last, desperate idea) to call the Shangri-La where Hank was staying. I figure other pax were there and they might be able to help. Walllaaaa... Princess had a desk there and they provided the MUCH NEEDED directions to our driver. This was at 150PM and the ship was scheduled to depart at 5PM (be on board by 4PM). Needless to say, we rushed back to Bangkok... running on an empty gas tank and asking all the locals to point us to this port. We made it by 350PM! Wooohooo!! Only to come find out we weren't going to sail til 7PM due to those 20 pax or so that were going to be late.

 

the entire trip was fabuluous. The reviews have been accurate.

 

Smiles - as far as tours in Beijing, not a lot of taxis around and they all speak Mandarin. We booked a private tour thru chinahighlights.com which was totally worth it. They picked us up in Xingang and dropped us off at the airport. They can customize anything for you and it was very reasonable. We had a super tour guide and a most awesome time in Beijing. Can't wait to go back.

 

Good luck and thanks Hank!!

 

- Scott

[calexand]

Sure hope that Princess gets their act together before we sail. That must have been one upsetting time getting to the dock and no ship. Especially when the language is a barrier. Thank goodness all ended well and now it will give more spice to your discussions about your trip.

 

Carol

[GottoCruise]

Wow - what an experience Scott...something to talk about in years to come!! So glad you made the ship in time!

 

Welcome Home Hank & Scott----and again thanks for sharing from the ship....

 

We leave for Osaka Thurs. AM and will try to keep up and post our experiences from the ship.

 

Too bad no one is posting from the July 13th leg.....maybe no Platinum with free Internet???

 

I will however, move this over to the Roll Call Board---the group from the Aug. 17 and Aug. 29 etc. etc. will be watching for my posts on that board.

 

Regards, Renee (aka GotToCruise)

[swill]

I heard around the Purser's desk a few times that the ship was out of range (or satellite reception) for internet usage. I seem to think that was on the sail from Pusan to Beijing.

 

The ship is very, very friendly. It's a great ship if you love to relax. We really didn't participate in any ship activities except to hear the lectures by the two lecturers on board (Carol Akright with Financial Planning stuff and Andy Giles a Professor/Historian from Univ. of Maine). Food was generally good - on par with Celebrity. I know it wasn't the freshest as I heard on the galley tour that they only stocked up in Singapore. Soups, desserts and most entrees were great. I noticed that on some salads they took some liberties in substituting things that were listed on the menu (probably due to the stocking only in Singapore). I must say, though, that the Olympic Restaurant on Millennium still holds the title of Best Souffle on the Seas. :)

 

Sammi as CD was great. At first she reminded me of the actress Kathy Griffiths... she goes out of her way and can do a lot - from singing to speaking different languages. We talked briefly on the beach in Nha Trang (ran into her while I escaped from the tour for a minute or two) and we talked about the differences of passengers from past to present. Since I work in the airline industry, we were remembering the days people used to dress up to get on a plane!

 

Seamus the singer was great, too bad I missed her first show. Greg Moreland the comedian/magician was nothing to write home about and I was surprised on some of the jokes he used given the crowd.

 

All the ports were great. Hard to pick favorites but they would have to be Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong followed closely by Singapore and Nagasaki and Bangkok and Saigon.

 

Hope this helps!

Scott

[Smiles]

Please forgive my shortsightness....how could I forget you? What an adventure!!! Thanks for the heads up on where the Princess desk is located in Bangkok, I'm sure that information will help lots of folks....although I hope Princess gets it straightened out before then. The trip sounds very exciting; and relaxing...and with good food....hmmm, I think you've named my top 3 activities: enjoyment, relaxation and eating (although not necessary in that order :D )

 

So glad to hear that you had a wonderful time. Care to share with us things that you'd suggest that we not miss; things that you would skip over, if you did the cruise again?

 

Again, welcome home!

[swill]

Things not to miss:

 

Beijing - Forbidden City, Ming Tombs/Sacred Road, Great Wall

HK - sail into/out of HK, view from Peak, ferry to other side

Bangkok - the ship! don't miss the ship! hahaaa seriously: Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Jim Thompson house was okay, great seafood restaurant named "Somboon Restaurant", river taxi up the river (cheap)

Shanghai - Shanghai Museum, Yu Gardens

Nagasaki - a-bomb hypocenter, peace park

Singapore - botanical/orchid gardens were some of the best in the world IMHO

Nha Trang - the beach if you like beaches

 

Hope this helps!

Scott

[suzieque]

Hi Hank,

This is so perfect that you are on the cruise I was just about to book for next July! (We're going on the Westerdam July 30th this year, to ports in Europe you have given me great insight and help with!

 

I love a relaxing cruise, too, but my daughter will be 17 next summer. Are there any older teens on the cruise you are now on, or does this itinerary draw an older crowd (like me-age 54)? Before I book, I'd like to make sure she won't be the only teenager on board!

We leave in 1 week for London to start our cruise.(Very excited!)

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Suzie Provo

suziepro@comcast.net

[swill]

There were a handful of older teens on this cruise. In fact my wife and I noted that the age mix was quite varied on this ship - more than we expected! It was nice. I think your family would fit.

[Hlitner]

Well, the trip (all 28 days) was wonderful..but jet lag has me awake after a long day flying from Beijing to Pennsylvania. It was great to meet Scott and his lovely bride and I want to wish you both a great life! Scott's problem with not finding out about the correct port was only one example of problems that seem to be within the management of Princess. Our travel agent had several problems with the Princess booking office on getting our pre and post tours properly booked. At first Princess denied they had a pre-trip package in Bangkok at the Shangra-La (although it was in all their brochures) and than a few weeks later said that the same package was sold-out..than a few hours later said it was not sold out.. changed their mind between phone calls a few minutes part..and finally booked the pre-cruise package (yes, the one that didn't exist..than did exist. than was sold out... etc). Oh yes, and of course they forgot to send us vouchers for this tour after they accepted the money (the hotel was not pleased). Another couple at our table was told that the 8 day post cruise China Tour (this is the one we took) did not exist. I will not bore you further with additional details other than to state that there are some major communications problems between the Princess Cruises and Princess Tours folks.

 

As to the 8 day post cruise tour (Beijing, Yangtze River Cruise, Xian/Terra Cotta Warriers) it was a lot of fun and exhausting. Princess contracts with CITS (China International Travel Service) which is the Chinese Government's main travel company, and they do a very good job. The tour tries to "do it all" in 8 days (which included 3 internal flights and a 5 hour bus ride) and certainly delivers on most of its promises. There was some grumbling over some of the food/restaurants...but one must remember that in China you will get Chinese food....not the American version of Chinese food.

 

Smiles..the disembarkation at Xingang was flawless. We walked off the ship directly onto our air-conditioned bus where we were greeted by our excellent Chinese guide (he used the English name of Jason). Jason stayed with our group the entire 8 days and was joined by additional local guides at most of the sites. Jason tried very hard to be a mother to his 22+ charges... and he made many friends among us tourists. We did see some taxis at the port..but I have no first-hand knowledge of whether they fully met the demands of the independent passengers. As to ship's tours,., Kathy (the boss) and I continued our long-standing tradition of avoiding all port tours in favor of doing "our own thing." Overall. on a 1 - 10 basis the trip scored at least a 9!

 

Hank

[swill]

Thanks, Hank - it was a pleasure meeting you and the boss, Kathy. I can only imagine your hectic schedule the last 8 days. I belive I've adjusted back to east coast time but my wife still gets up around 430AM each morning.

 

Our tour was actually operated by CITS as well (out of their Guilin office). They did a great job. We had a lovely, local guide named Tan-Jing whose English name is Tina and a great driver named Zhang. We even ran into one of the Princess tour twice! Once in the Forbidden City (where we saw Lloyd of all people, Hank!) and the next day at lunch on the way to the Great Wall. Of course we had a few people on the United flight out of PEK as well.

 

My wife and I even brought back something special from this trip - our first child! We'll be expecting another cruiser around Feb 19!! Janet was a real trooper on the trip given the fact she was at least 6 weeks pregnant. Didn't phase her a bit. (We knew before we left, though).

[helenb]

Give my regards to your wife! Our recent PP cruise was my first in 5 years where I had NOT been pregnant! I sympathize with not being able to have some of the foods because of alcoholic sauces and having to avoid the hot tubs, etc. :( I'm sure she had a terrific time though!

 

You know even though we tell our 3 year old that she has been to Russia, she just doesn't understand somehow.... :)

[Dortmunder]

Swill,

 

I'll be doing Bangkok-Beijing on the Sapphire Princess next year. Intend to do my own post-cruise in Beijing with an independant tour operator. How much do they charge to pick you up at the port? What kind of vehicle do they use? We will be 4 on this tour and hope there is enough space in the car for all of us and the baggage.

This is a great thread. Thanks to everyone, fantastic information.

 

Andi

[Hlitner]

WOW! You never told us you were a "party of 3" but perhaps that was very wise. These days they might charge you for the "third passenger." What wonderful news.

 

Hank

[calexand]

We are also doing the Yangtze River Cruise (but booked independently), can you tell me what ship you were on and possibly a little about your river cruise?

 

Thanks

Carol

[Hlitner]

Carol,

We were on the Victoria Prince which is a 4587 ton boat that can handle 206 passengers and had a crew of about 110. The standard cabins all had balconies and were 211 square feet. The cabins even had TV which usually received CNN. The dining room accomodated everyone in a single seating.. with breakfast and lunch being buffets and dinner served Chinese style (table-wide platters on a center turntable). There was one large lounge that was used for their home-grown shows, accupuncture demonstrations..etc. This lounge also housed the ships only bar and had a table with 4 internet terminals (very very slow). We were pleased with the cabin and the service, but a little disapponted in the food. They put on a crew variety show that was actually better than any show we had on the Pacific Princess. This Victoria line is supposed to be the best line on the river (Viking River Cruises would argue that their boat is nicer) and we saw nothing to make us think otherwise. The Victoria Queen and Victoria Star have similar deckplans. The Victoria Katarina is a little larger with a similar layout. The Victoria Rose and Victoria Empress should be avoided because of their smaller cabins (and no balconies on the Rose). My wife and I thought that 3 days was just about right for this cruise. Going through the 3 Gorges was stunning... but one could argue that once you have seen one Gorge you have seen them all! As to the Dam,.. it is an amazing project. We saw many other boats (many of them tied-up unused) and none of them looked as nice as the Victoria boats.

 

Hank

[stingraynz]

Hank

 

Many thanks for the play by play, your time doing that is much appreciated by us other cruisers planning on going to Asia.

 

I have often read your posts on the Europe board and find you are very organized and very knowledgeable!

 

I am going on a slightly differnet sailing from yours however, we too are going on the cruisetour. We can only go on the Beijing/Great Wall tour pre-cruise. We would love to go on the same one you went on but we can only get so much time off work. In fact we were originally booked on the Bangkok to Beijing cruise and had to change it because it ran my sisters' month end.

 

If you could give me more feed back on how you specifically enjoyed the Beijing part of your cruisetour, that would be fantastic. I am really interested to know if it was rushed and how much time you got to spend at the Great Wall. Could you actually climb up and walk along a portion of it? or did you just witness it from a far?

 

Thanks