Pullmantur Monarch Transatlantic-English Speakers

will be there for m&g.....but beware of the time change...i tried this on one of our cruises and no one showed up due to the hour time change...oh well the few that showed up enjoyed the cookies and beverages...

rose and stan

Hi all; I made a mistake on the date for the Meet and Greet. The first sea day is actually May 29, 2016. Sorry for the mistake. So, here it is:

MEET & GREET, SUNDAY, MAY 29TH AT 11:00 A.M. AT BOLEROS LOUNGE, DECK 7. NOT MAY 30TH, AGAIN, NOT MAY 30TH.

All are welcome even if you do not respond to this message. But please respond so I can put a list together. Thank you, Kathy

hi all....

my husband and i have booked this cruise from cartehgna? ... we'll be at the walled city for 3 days...have read some negative reviews about this cruise and was very please to read this thread....did hear that there's no food from 3pm-7:30 for dinner...does anyone know if this is true??....we're set for early dinner but don't know if it's open or assigned ... also no spanish....

all in all for the price and free booze don't think we went wrong...

looking forward to meeting everyone....

on other cruises we've met at the back bar after drill on the lido or upper decks...wear beads so we'll know we're from cc....or bring if you have extra!!!

rose and stan from delray beach...

Hi Rose and Stan; This is Kathy from Coconut Creek! I posted about a Meet and Greet and sail away. Meet and Greet is Sunday, May 29, Boleros Lounge, deck 7 at 11 a.m. Sail away is after muster drill at back pool bar. I have not yet had I lot of response but I am sure the word will get around.

OK, I'm in for the M&G 11AM May 30.

Will also be at the Aft Pool Bar post Muster Call...

 

Seis Dias

 

PS

Hey Steve: I posted the date change from May 30th to May 29th for the Meet and Greet. Not much response yet, I realized people are busy traveling or getting ready. Since you organized the vans, can you make everyone there aware of the date for the meet and greet and sail away?? Thank you! Kathy

Regarding our last cruise on the Monarch earlier this spring.

The ship was in great shape and our junior suite was in excellent condition. The Waves Yacht Club, which is available free if in a bigger suite, is a small additional charge for those in junior suites, and is not available to others. If you are eligible it is a must have for the comfort and space as well as the private bar and mini buffet.

We started our cruise in Curacao which was a great experience in itself,and visited Aruba where we just wandered around Orangestad. We also visited Caracas, Venezuela and took and excursion by 4X4 and cable car one mile up to the El Avila National Park which overlooked Caracas. As Canadians we did not need Visas, and we felt quite safe as we traveled through the streets of Caracas in a convoy of 4X4s to and from the ship. I would not think of doing Caracas on our own or without a ship sponsored excursion. I gave up counting machine guns at street corners after a very short time.

Cartagena Columbia is a beautiful city and we got together for a Juan Valdez coffee with old friends we bumped into while wandering around the old town. We also did the hop on hop off bus which was a good way to see the city. Colon was nothing special but our visit to the old and new locks at Gatun was very interesting.

Food on the ship was very good and the service was friendly and we had absolutely no problem communicating in English.

As I have posted elsewhere our only hassle with the cruise was Pullmantur's inept administrative organization, but we eventually overcame that problem and had a great cruise.

As this was our fourth cruise on Pullmantur we will be happy to answer questions about our experiences with them.

what kind of issues did you have with the admin??...would appreciate any helpful hints....thanx for all the great info about the ship....rose/stan

Plato123,

Did you have to use pesos to pay for HOHO bus when you were in Cartagena? I am going to be there for a day before boarding Monarch for the Atlantic crossing and am wondering if I could just use a credit card there. I know most restaurants accept credit cards, but not sure about taxis and the HOHO bus.

Also, what thematic evenings did you have while on Monarch?

Thank you,

We leave tomorrow for our transatlantic cruise. After 3 e mails and two phone calls, we finally received our documents today. We still dont have the docs on the second cruise leaving Lisbon on June 9th.I will be very thankful once we get through embarkation on Friday.This cruise line is a bit disorganized Im afraid.

My husband and I just booked this cruise a few days ago. It's been so hard to find any reviews made after it became a Pullmantur ship. :( I'm excited to see everyone there!

On this last Pullmantur cruise we had prepaid for an upgrade to the free drinks offered and had a Pullmantur email receipt, but when we boarded the ship they refused to give up our upgrade wrist band saying they had to get their own confirmation that we had indeed paid the premium, and to do this they would have to contact Madrid and it could take a couple of days! We eventually did get the upgrade on our day of departure but only after we had pestered an officer with our problem. BTW the upgrade is notvreally worth it.

On another Pullmantur Cruise departing from Valencia we were almost denied boarding because our Canadian passport did not have a stamp saying when and where we had entered the European Union prior to the cruise. We entered at CDG in Paris and the customs officers there often did not stamp passports. We tried to explain that we did not swim across the Atlantic to get to Valencia. As we had booked a suite we got extra attention from our Concierge who told the Purser to take a hike.

On our first Pullmantur cruise we had booked a flight and cruise package with transfers, through a travel agent. We were 8 hours delayed getting to Santo Domingo and the good thing was that they kept the ship in port awaiting our delayed arrival. There were about eight of us in this fix. The bad thing was they had given away our suite to someone else and we ended up with an outside cabin, and later got a refund from the travel agent as it was more their fault than Pullmantur's.

Hi Kathy et.al., we will plan to meet at Baleros (as well as sail away). beth & Kevin

Ok...I will advise my 'crew' of 7 or 8 that we will attend both the Sail Away and the May 29 at 11 meet and greet! Thanks for organizing.

We have a couple of cars...but my ride from the airport didn't show because she was in tears driving from airport to hotel. Decided to take the car back to the Hilton/Albrook Mall and take the express bus to Colon.

BUT will write to Steve and see about getting us all a van maybe.....check your email Steve....I'll ask my group and let you know!

We booked flights from LAX west coast and stopped at Hermillo and Mexico City on way to Panama City. At Hermillo, our luggage was lost for over 2 hrs! Then our plane was 90 mins late which was good. As we were boarding they found our luggage, yes! But big surprise when we got to the ship and opened our bags>>>THEFT of many valuable things. Aeromexico airlines...YOU can do better!

If people have not booked the May transatlantic they could book the return to Panama.

 

We are booked on the September 17th departure out of Bilboa, Spain to Colon.

We have a large exterior for a total of $1,140 including port charges for two including the drinks package. I will start a roll call soon to see if there is anyone else going.

We like to spend some time in Europe and become haggard travelers then chill out on the ship back to the west.

 

Also, for those of you going to Colon to take the ship spend some time in Panama. It is a beautiful place if you get of Panama City.

We live about an hour west of Panama City. It is very tropical and like Hawaii in weather and vegetation.

 

Copa is THE BEST airline to Panama however Spirit also has non-stop filights out of FLL that can be cheap even after all the add on fees.

 

If you are not familiar with Panama I would advise getting a transfer to Colon directly to the port. Yes you can go to Albrook and take a bus but Albrook station is usually bustling with alot of buses going everywhere. If you stayed at the Wyndhum Albrook Mall then it would be convenient to take a bus from Albrook. It use to be the Tryp. It is a nice hotel and Albrook Mall is HUGE.

 

We have used My friend Mario for transfer and tours in Panama. http://www.bscpma.com/mfm/index.htm . There a lot of Tripadvisor reviews of Mario.

Linda

Do you think there will be any problems with the weather between Bilbao and Colon at that time of year?

If someone could answer that question, it could be worth a million or two.

I do not have a crystal ball. But we did take a Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale cruise in October and had great weather. It is like anything, you never know. But we will be going in the southern caribbean which catch less hurricanes than up towards the states. Panama does not have hurricanes and the dry winding season does not start until January/February. You roll the dice. We have cruised often in hurricane season and only have had a problem twice. Once our 7 night cruise became a 10 night cruise when Charlie hit FL. They kept all the cruise ships far away from the weather until it cleared. The other time was coming back from Bermuda to Baltimore.

We are booked on the Pullman Monarch from Lisbon-Panama and looking forward to meeting everyone:) We'll load our Kindles with books as someone kindly noted that the Monarch has a limited English collection. Have yet to make any hotel reservations for LIS or Panama. Any recommendations? We, too, are booked for the early dinner. Putting some playing cards in our suitcase, but only know how to play "Tic"....hahaha! Hasta pronto amigos!

Pat & Jim

We leave tomorrow for our transatlantic cruise. After 3 e mails and two phone calls, we finally received our documents today. We still dont have the docs on the second cruise leaving Lisbon on June 9th.I will be very thankful once we get through embarkation on Friday.This cruise line is a bit disorganized Im afraid.

Hi there, we're looking at doing the transatlantic next year from Costa Rica to Lisbon on the Monarch. We haven't sailed with Pullmantur before and would love some feed back.

We just did this crossing in April 2016, and still can't stop comparing it to the others cruises we are booking...it wasone of the best ever, the crew, the food, the ship, the price and the best part of all the inclusive drinks!

Friendly crew, decent ship, spacious cabins, varied food, lively entertainment, good shows, fun casino, active pool, all this plus the least expensive rates on the seas,

Can't wait to go on it again......

We just did this crossing in April 2016, and still can't stop comparing it to the others cruises we are booking...it wasone of the best ever, the crew, the food, the ship, the price and the best part of all the inclusive drinks!

 

Friendly crew, decent ship, spacious cabins, varied food, lively entertainment, good shows, fun casino, active pool, all this plus the least expensive rates on the seas,

 

Can't wait to go on it again......

Thanks so much, we're thinking of a couple of back to backs once we hit Europe so you've put my mind at ease:)

We live in Canada and have cruised with Pullmantur four times and generally have enjoyed ourselves. We booked through an online company (VtG) but would really like to know if there are other online companies that will book Pullmantur, as we have had issues with our bookings lately.

We don't know of any companies in Canada that will book Pullmantur.

Spirit Airlines, Copa Airlines and others have great one way deals

We live in Canada and have cruised with Pullmantur four times and generally have enjoyed ourselves. We booked through an online company (VtG) but would really like to know if there are other online companies that will book Pullmantur, as we have had issues with our bookings lately.

We don't know of any companies in Canada that will book Pullmantur.

I am CDN and have not found any CDN on-line sites, what type of issues with V to G ?? Sailing Sept 10, from Rostock.

Joe, from Windsor.

I've only know of Vacations to Go (VTG) however, I was told by the ship purser that you can book with Pullman directly. There were multiple groups on board on the Spring 2016 crossing, so there has to be many more places that book it. Have you tried a Google search?

To all Pullmantur prior cruisers

Is there a 110 outlet in the cabin? Do i need to bring a power converter?

I am on the transatlantic next week and it depends on if I bring my tablet or not Help!

Thanks

Pat

Murrells Inlet, SC

I don't recall. I know that the Monarch was until recently an RCCL ship sailing from the USA so the Caribbean, so there would be no need for converters, however, if you are going Transatlantic you will need a converter in Europe.