A Wish: Cruising to Get There

"Eileen Garland" wrote in message
...
No, Jean, we didn't have a balcony and yes, I would definitely recommend
one. We went in January and had gorgeous weather except for the first
and last days, if I remember correctly. A balcony cabin on this cruise
was MUCH more money than an outside, so we settled for the outside.

This was one of the most perfect cruises we've ever taken, except for a
low-key night life.


Thanks, Eileen,
Low key night life would not bother me as long as I got my time in the
casino!! ;-) I also have heard many favorable things about the Statendam
that I thought we better take her before she went by the way of the
Westerdam.

--Jean

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:52:21 -0400, Eileen Garland
wrote:

[snip]
So what I wish is that there were more cruises that went round-trip to
exotic places. We love those transatlantics; flying to or from Europe
is not my idea of fun, but it's doable. But flying to or from the Far
East or Australia, for example, is NOT doable for me.

I wonder whether other people would be interested in this type of
cruise. Could you find time for say a three-week trip of this kind? Do
you think this sort of thing would be not profitable for a cruiseline?

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I'll settle for half -- good exotic
itineraries that start far away and end up in the US.

There are some of these, but not enough for me. In fact, I would
probably do this one except for questions about the Royal Princess:

Royal Princess South America 3/8/04

1 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile 6:00
2 La Serena (Coquimbo), Chile 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
3 At Sea
4 Arica, Chile 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
5 At Sea
6 Pisco (Puerto San Martin), Peru 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
7 Lima (Callao), Peru 5:30 AM
8 Lima (Callao), Peru 1:00 PM
9 At Sea
10 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 5:30 AM
11 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 1:00 PM
12 At Sea
13 Panama Canal 7:00 AM 4:30 PM
14 Cartagena 8:00 AM 1:30 PM
15 Aruba 1:00 PM 7:00 PM
16 At Sea
17 At Sea
18 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States 7:00 AM

Really a superb itinerary, with probably a good stop somewhere -- at
worst a second day in Aruba -- instead of Cartagena. Enough time
built in to see Machu Piccu, even.

If I had a cruise line, I would schedule a summer cruise from Hong
Kong to Tokyo to Vladivistock to Nome to Seward and down the Inner
Passage to Vancouver. Tell me that one wouldn't sell! (Actually
Princess has one fairly similar trip on the Star.)

The British really have us licked on this one. Lines like Fred Olsen
and Swan Hellenic include airfare back to Southampton in their one-way
out and one-way back to Africa, Asia, etc. Sigh.


Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

We spent 12 days on the Royal Princess last month, and I have absolutely
no qualms about this ship. She was one of the best ships we have ever
sailed! Great condition. We loved every minute of our 12 day cruise.

Ermalee ---loved the Royal Princess

Mason Barge wrote:

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:52:21 -0400, Eileen Garland
wrote:

[snip]
So what I wish is that there were more cruises that went round-trip to
exotic places. We love those transatlantics; flying to or from Europe
is not my idea of fun, but it's doable. But flying to or from the Far
East or Australia, for example, is NOT doable for me.

I wonder whether other people would be interested in this type of
cruise. Could you find time for say a three-week trip of this kind? Do
you think this sort of thing would be not profitable for a cruiseline?

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I'll settle for half -- good exotic
itineraries that start far away and end up in the US.

There are some of these, but not enough for me. In fact, I would
probably do this one except for questions about the Royal Princess:

Royal Princess South America 3/8/04

1 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile 6:00
2 La Serena (Coquimbo), Chile 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
3 At Sea
4 Arica, Chile 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
5 At Sea
6 Pisco (Puerto San Martin), Peru 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
7 Lima (Callao), Peru 5:30 AM
8 Lima (Callao), Peru 1:00 PM
9 At Sea
10 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 5:30 AM
11 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 1:00 PM
12 At Sea
13 Panama Canal 7:00 AM 4:30 PM
14 Cartagena 8:00 AM 1:30 PM
15 Aruba 1:00 PM 7:00 PM
16 At Sea
17 At Sea
18 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States 7:00 AM

Really a superb itinerary, with probably a good stop somewhere -- at
worst a second day in Aruba -- instead of Cartagena. Enough time
built in to see Machu Piccu, even.

I just got a mailing from Raddison with a wonderful itinerary in
January, LA to Sydney. Of course, you have to fly back - but I'd be
tempted if I hadn't just read Kuki's review.

Eileen

Mason Barge wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 18:52:21 -0400, Eileen Garland
wrote:

[snip]

So what I wish is that there were more cruises that went round-trip to
exotic places. We love those transatlantics; flying to or from Europe
is not my idea of fun, but it's doable. But flying to or from the Far
East or Australia, for example, is NOT doable for me.

I wonder whether other people would be interested in this type of
cruise. Could you find time for say a three-week trip of this kind? Do
you think this sort of thing would be not profitable for a cruiseline?


I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I'll settle for half -- good exotic
itineraries that start far away and end up in the US.

There are some of these, but not enough for me. In fact, I would
probably do this one except for questions about the Royal Princess:

Royal Princess South America 3/8/04

1 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile 6:00
2 La Serena (Coquimbo), Chile 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
3 At Sea
4 Arica, Chile 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
5 At Sea
6 Pisco (Puerto San Martin), Peru 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
7 Lima (Callao), Peru 5:30 AM
8 Lima (Callao), Peru 1:00 PM
9 At Sea
10 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 5:30 AM
11 Manta (for Quito), Ecuador 1:00 PM
12 At Sea
13 Panama Canal 7:00 AM 4:30 PM
14 Cartagena 8:00 AM 1:30 PM
15 Aruba 1:00 PM 7:00 PM
16 At Sea
17 At Sea
18 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States 7:00 AM

Really a superb itinerary, with probably a good stop somewhere -- at
worst a second day in Aruba -- instead of Cartagena. Enough time
built in to see Machu Piccu, even.

If I had a cruise line, I would schedule a summer cruise from Hong
Kong to Tokyo to Vladivistock to Nome to Seward and down the Inner
Passage to Vancouver. Tell me that one wouldn't sell! (Actually
Princess has one fairly similar trip on the Star.)

The British really have us licked on this one. Lines like Fred Olsen
and Swan Hellenic include airfare back to Southampton in their one-way
out and one-way back to Africa, Asia, etc. Sigh.


Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 21:49:49 -0400, Ermalee
wrote:

We spent 12 days on the Royal Princess last month, and I have absolutely
no qualms about this ship. She was one of the best ships we have ever
sailed! Great condition. We loved every minute of our 12 day cruise.

Ermalee ---loved the Royal Princess


Hmmmm. What ships would you compare her to? And which ones do you
usually like?

I may give this a try, it's such a good route and good price to boot.


Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

Hmmmm. What ships would you compare her to? And which ones do you
usually like?

I also spent 12 days on the Royal Princess this July and have posted on several
occasions how impressed I was with the condition and amenities of this ship.

I have also been on the Regal Princess and Sky Princess and thought the Royal
compared favorably to those (which we liked very much). I have also cruised
on the Disney Wonder, the Horizon, the Noordam, the Nordic Empress, the
Seaward, the Fantasy, and the late lamented Seabreeze.

As you can tell, we like the relatively smaller ships and will be on the
Enchantment of the Seas this Christmas. Our first megaship cruise will be on
the Grand Princess next Summer.

Mike

Mason, I hope you aren't sorry you asked, but here goes. I would not
hesitate to book the Royal if I liked the itinerary and the price.

Our cruise in August on the Royal Princess was our 26th cruise.
We have sailed on Grand Princess and Golden Princess and I find that
I am not partial to the very large ships.
Royal Princess is a smaller, friendlier place! Everything
I saw last month was in excellent condition. We had a window with
obstructed view. I enjoyed the refrigerator and the bath tub. We
had plenty of room, and everything was spotless. The safe opens with
a key, not a credit card. Even the entertainment was good, but not
great. I did not walk out of any of the shows (have done this on
a couple of those fantastic Celebrity ships).
We loved RCCL's Splendour of the Seas when we sailed on her twice just
a few years back. I just wonder how that ship is holding up. She
was a beauty. I also like all the Celebrity ships that we've tried:
Galaxy (twice), Mercury, Zenith, and Horizon, Zenith being the least
favorite, probably because she was being redone a bit at a time when
we sailed on her (wasn't able to use the hot tub on that cruise, from
San Diego to San Juan).
Last year we sailed on Brilliance of the Seas. This is a fantastic
ship, and we found it easy to find our way around! We're
going on the Radiance in January and hope it will be as nice.
Old ships that I have personally enjoyed are HAL's Rotterdam V (now
defunct); Costa Riveria (now to be disassembled); and QE2. If I had
a choice among these oldies or the Royal Princess, guess which one
would win out.....? Tough decision between Rotterdam V and Royal
Princess. I can't imagine anyone calling her a rust bucket. It
just ain't so!
Some other ships that we've enjoyed include HAL's Statendam, two
cruises on the old Star Princess (now with P&O), two on Carnival
Sensation, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Pride, Carnival Spirit,
NCL Sky, NCL Dream....... In short, Bill and I love to cruise!
We'll try the Maasdam in November.

Ermalee ----apologizing for getting carried away here

Mason Barge wrote:

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 21:49:49 -0400, Ermalee
wrote:

We spent 12 days on the Royal Princess last month, and I have absolutely
no qualms about this ship. She was one of the best ships we have ever
sailed! Great condition. We loved every minute of our 12 day cruise.

Ermalee ---loved the Royal Princess


Hmmmm. What ships would you compare her to? And which ones do you
usually like?

I may give this a try, it's such a good route and good price to boot.

Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln