LIVE from the Pacific Princess; 28 days R/T Ft Lauderdale/Manaus/Ft Lauderdale

[West Coast]

- everyone took pics with the cannon anyway, with ship and the old Windstar now Club Med 2

 

Actually, this is an interesting story. . .

 

Back in the Day (1986), Windstar was doing well and commissioned 2 new ships, to be named Wind Surf and Wind Saga. Troubled times set in (1987) and Holland America jumped in and bought 50% of the company. In 1988 HAL bought the other 50% and made the decision to release their option on these two ships and as a result, they were never part of the Windstar family. They were subsequently developed by Club Med and first launched as Club Med 1 and Club Med 2. 10 years later, in 1998, Windstar bought the Club Med 1 from Club Med and renamed her Wind Surf.

 

So, the ship you saw, the Club Med 2, is a sister to the Wind Surf, which continues to sail today.

[margord]

Enjoying your "live" posts.

 

Marilee

[Host Star]

thank you for posting your live posts.. we are considering taking the cruise from fll to san francisco april 24.. how is the condition of the ship?.. cabin, public rooms, etc.. enjoy the cruise!!

[CruzinNoony]

Hi Pia, I'm really enjoying your posts. Congradulations about winning trivia, not once, but twice in the same day!! And how nice of you to give away your totes. I would have loved to see the other teams faces! (DH is Bob, not Bill:))

[Pia1913]

thank you for posting your live posts.. we are considering taking the cruise from fll to san francisco april 24.. how is the condition of the ship?.. cabin, public rooms, etc.. enjoy the cruise!!

 

The ship is very well maintained, though they haven't really upgraded anything since we were last on in 2005. What they added was another treadmill in the fitness center and eliminated the overhead TV. The treadmills are the cheap ones, not the modern ones will all the bells and whistles. It also appears that they've put in new showers in the balcony cabins. Otherwise everything either looks good or I'm not very observant. Our friends are staying on for the that cruise on 4/24, though it's going to Seattle, not SF. :D

[Pia1913]

Hi Pia, I'm really enjoying your posts. Congradulations about winning trivia, not once, but twice in the same day!! And how nice of you to give away your totes. I would have loved to see the other teams faces! (DH is Bob, not Bill:))

 

When I said hi to you Meredith, and also to Bill, it was to Caribill, not your Bob. Confused? Me too. LOL There was a music trivia late Sunday night, but we didn't go.

[Pia1913]

Hello on this hazyish, humid afternoon in Dominica. It was raining in the AM and has been doing so all day between bursts of sun. The rain amounts to light to heavy drizzles; not worth opening an umbrella. We had nothing planned for today, as we've been here previously. However, when we return on April 20th we have something scheduled. Don't know what; will just follow the leader. :) We left the ship in the AM for about an hour, walked around, went to supermarket, bought nothing.

 

To Keith: forgot to give your regards to Duncan Tuck. Will do so when he returns for his next performance. He did mention have he comes from and/or lives in Aurora. And we did enjoy his show a lot. This guy is extremely talented with his many guitars and his offbeat quips.

 

Tina and Donna left early this morning for river tubing, so I'll let them tell you about it when they log in.

 

The movie du jour is DOUBT. We've seen it.

 

Tonight's spotlight showtime will be Steve Hewlett a ventriloquist. I don't do ventriloquist. :( Also, weather permitting, at 10:00 PM they will be doing an Island Night tropical party, followed by a Sweet Temptation Buffet. By the time they bring that stuff out the sandman will have overtaken my body.

 

Played the penny slots 2 days ago; took $40 of Princess money. That's a lot of money out of a baby machine.

 

Nothing else to report. See you when there's something to say. We are in St. Lucia tomorrow and leave early on a 6 hour tour. Will check in some time after we return.

[paul929207]

thank you for posting your live posts.. we are considering taking the cruise from fll to san francisco april 24.. how is the condition of the ship?.. cabin, public rooms, etc.. enjoy the cruise!!

We were on the Pacific for the last month and it seemed fine to us. Last year we did a Star Princess repo to Seattle. It stopped in SF and a number of people got off and went home from there.

[long cruiser]

Pia,are there any new perks for elites or those in suites?

long cruiser

[Kiwi Kruzer]

 

[windsor26]

Hi I am really enjoying this thread as we have booked on the Royal Princess doing the B2B 28 days next February/March. Is the Pacific Princess the same as the Royal in size and etc.? Thank you for giving us your time...

 

 

Kathe - please can you give me some information on the private tour you took to the Flooded Forest? web site or contact?

 

Would be interested to know if the fitness centre is good and whether the swimming pools are warm salt/fresh water thanks everyone Yvonne:p

[DonahCBrown]

Hi I am really enjoying this thread as we have booked on the Royal Princess doing the B2B 28 days next February/March. Is the Pacific Princess the same as the Royal in size and etc.? Thank you for giving us your time...

 

 

Kathe - please can you give me some information on the private tour you took to the Flooded Forest? web site or contact?

 

Would be interested to know if the fitness centre is good and whether the swimming pools are warm salt/fresh water thanks everyone Yvonne:p

 

Fitness center is small but adequate. Haven't been in the pool. Antours River Tubing was fabulous and great fun today. Weather was nice.

 

Turns out that someone shoreside dropped one of our ropes which got fouled in the starboard propeller and although the local divers worked all day on it, we will have to wait for professional divers to be flown in from Miami to get it fixed, so we are here in Dominica overnight and into tomorrow. Ship is scrambling to put together activities and tours for tomorrow while they work on the propeller.

 

The Captain has been very forthcoming about the problems and doing a great job keeping us all informed and updated.

 

Not much more to add at this point. I'm sure Pia will be in to update in a bit as the entertainer is a ventriloquist - not one of her fave forms of entertainment!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Turns out that someone shoreside dropped one of our ropes which got fouled in the starboard propeller and although the local divers worked all day on it, we will have to wait for professional divers to be flown in from Miami to get it fixed, so we are here in Dominica overnight and into tomorrow. Ship is scrambling to put together activities and tours for tomorrow while they work on the propeller.

The Captain has been very forthcoming about the problems and doing a great job keeping us all informed and updated.

 

Thanks for the update Donah.

I was wondering why we could see all the bright lights of Dominica from the bridge cam:D

Trust this does not put you too far behind in the schedule.

 

[coo359a2]

ventriloquist was pretty good. Had his funny moments and some not so funny. As Donna said, we are still here in Dominica. Boy are the rumors going around. Someone said she thought for sure it was an april fool's joke. Another one was what would we do if ship went into dry dock. It will all be interesting to see how things work out tomorrow. The ship has scheduled 6 tours for tommorrow - all starting around noon-1pm and ending by 4:30. Will probably hang out around the ship.

[cruisecrasy]

Hi I am really enjoying this thread as we have booked on the Royal Princess doing the B2B 28 days next February/March. Is the Pacific Princess the same as the Royal in size and etc.? Thank you for giving us your time...

 

 

Kathe - please can you give me some information on the private tour you took to the Flooded Forest? web site or contact?

 

Would be interested to know if the fitness centre is good and whether the swimming pools are warm salt/fresh water thanks everyone Yvonne:p

 

On www. cruisedeckplans.com it states the Royal was built in 2001 and the Pacific & Tahitian Princess in 1999.

Royal is essentially the same but carries 720 pax compared to Pac Princess at 702.. Have also read elsewhere the Pac carries 640 pax so the truth is likely somewhere in between :)!

 

As to your question - yes - they are basically the same..

 

Hope this is the info u wanted!

 

Have happy cruisin'!

[margord]

Fitness center is small but adequate. Haven't been in the pool. Antours River Tubing was fabulous and great fun today. Weather was nice.

 

Turns out that someone shoreside dropped one of our ropes which got fouled in the starboard propeller and although the local divers worked all day on it, we will have to wait for professional divers to be flown in from Miami to get it fixed, so we are here in Dominica overnight and into tomorrow. Ship is scrambling to put together activities and tours for tomorrow while they work on the propeller.

 

The Captain has been very forthcoming about the problems and doing a great job keeping us all informed and updated.

 

Not much more to add at this point. I'm sure Pia will be in to update in a bit as the entertainer is a ventriloquist - not one of her fave forms of entertainment!

 

Oh my, hope they get it fixed quickly.

[paul929207]

The ship map card lists the capacity at 688. Other places I have seen 670. The main difference between the Tahitian and Pacific and the Royal is that the Royal does not have any minis. It has extra balcony cabins. This increases the Royal's capacity by about 50.

[paul929207]

I noticed in todays paper that the US is playing Trinidad & Tobago tonight in World Cup soccer qualifying.

[Toto2Kansas]

Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you onboard and let's hope the divers get that darned rope out of your propeller and that there was no unrepairable damage done, so you can continue on this afternoon. Keep us posted please! :)

[Pia1913]

OK....I lied. I don't do ventriloquists, but did go last night. Lots of funny stuff as Tina has already told you.

 

No news yet; it's 10:30. I expect the captain will advise when he knows for sure our expected time of departure. Meanwhile, we will do one of our favorite things; nothing. Relax and read. Since Princess has scheduled tours for this afternoon, we know we're not gettting out of here before dinner. Might as well make back some St. Lucia revenue.

 

Needless to say our private tour in St. Lucia is not happening, but perhaps we can reschedule it for when we return on April 19th. Donna is in charge.

 

Entertainment tonight will be another production show which I know we've previously seen. Bonsoir Paris. It's always interesting how they manage to transform these big stage shows into small cabaret shows.

 

I don't recall seeing any questions, except about the gym, which is quite adequate. We get up there every morning between 6:45 and 7:15 and it is definitely underutilized. At least it's so on this particular cruise.

 

With nothing new to report and spending the day in Dominica redux, I'll sign off now and return with updated info...........whenever. :D

[Clutterlady]

Pia, so sorry to hear about this delay:( Glad you're at least trying to make the best of it!

[paul929207]

OK....I lied. I don't do ventriloquists, but did go last night. Lots of funny stuff as Tina has already told you.

 

No news yet; it's 10:30. I expect the captain will advise when he knows for sure our expected time of departure. Meanwhile, we will do one of our favorite things; nothing. Relax and read. Since Princess has scheduled tours for this afternoon, we know we're not gettting out of here before dinner. Might as well make back some St. Lucia revenue.

 

Needless to say our private tour in St. Lucia is not happening, but perhaps we can reschedule it for when we return on April 19th. Donna is in charge.

 

Entertainment tonight will be another production show which I know we've previously seen. Bonsoir Paris. It's always interesting how they manage to transform these big stage shows into small cabaret shows.

 

I don't recall seeing any questions, except about the gym, which is quite adequate. We get up there every morning between 6:45 and 7:15 and it is definitely underutilized. At least it's so on this particular cruise.

 

With nothing new to report and spending the day in Dominica redux, I'll sign off now and return with updated info...........whenever. :D

Maybe you can sweep the trivia again today. Just don't give prizes to people who will give them as tips.

[CruzinNoony]

David-Thank you for posting the photos! It is fun to see where they are. Pia-how has your itinerary changed? :o

[treesah]

Pia,

This itinerary is definitely on my list and your "Live" posting is very much appreciated. You and your friends are very generous, indeed, in sharing your cruise with the rest of us. I'll wait until you get to the Amazon. Very much interested in the theater in Manaus and the mosquito situation.

[easykruz]

Hi Pia,

 

I am glad to hear that you made it safely to the ship. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Send our best to Mike, Tina and Ken, Donna and Dennis, and Vicky and Bill. Wish we were there having dinner with all of you again.

 

Fran

 

Hello Fran,

 

We are having a great time until the ship decided not to sail (propeller problem):eek:, still waiting on the divers unless they just arrived while I've been on the computer. Maybe we will spend another night here (Dominica).:eek:

 

Vicky and Bill