Monorail Orange

Here's hoping she's just got a case of 'the barnacles'.

😄

On 9/22/2020 at 10:25 AM, Captain_Morgan said:

Official press release from Princess

 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/sun-and-sea-princess-to-leave-princess-cruises-fleet.html?cid=dm_affiliate_affiliate_awin_yieldkit_brand_na&awc=12208_1600766674_e1a3b4ca2373bd7de0a45e0aa52c6849

Little bit of nostalgia for me, Sea Princess was the first ship I went on; when she sailed as Adonia for P&O. She had the dented propeller at the time - made for a very juddery sailing.

Where's she heading to next?

St. John's NB, was our first Canadian port of call nearly 10 years ago.. lovey location. We went on a trolley tour to see the Bay of Fundy, which was a nice trip, even if it was foggy and you could hardly see the bay. Even so it was a great trip.

Conincidently, our last stop was St. John, Newfoundland - which was also lovely, and I hear they don't go there any more.

Good job the first service isn't a 12 month one or she'll be having it before she welcomes any guests.

1 hour ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

Is it only me that thinks he's really cute? 😍

Not quite my cup o' tea, but I can certainly see what you mean.

BGM in the parks is never that obtrusive.

Silversurf - Correct

Adawan47 - Correct on both counts. 🙂

Anyway moving swiftly on...

I don't think Iona would be this loud, but still - not a cabin for me.

7 minutes ago, AnnieC said:

If you still can, you might want to edit the first line of your post (word begins with p).😂

Dang it, too late. typing too fast - missed the letter. 🥺

Here's one. Its a lovely location - I'm sure a few will recognise it straight away.

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Very weather dependent though. We would have been tempted to have booked an aft suite on Iona (when we feel safe to cruise again) as it won’t be blighted by soot like the one we had on Britannia, but I would worry about potential noise issues from that huge public area below, especially as we tend to go to bed earlier than most.

Given what I've seen of similar cabins that back onto pubic areas (ie. those on the Oasis of the Seas over looking the aquatics theatre) they will have decent sound proof glazing - however as you can imagine, that doesn't work on balconies.

One cabin tour i saw on another shup (may have been a Carnival), they stepped out onto the suite's ample decking that was above the pool area. Instantly you could hear the thump-thump of the techno music. Not to mention the hoots and hollers from the revelers.

Not saying that Iona's outside dining will have the exact same issue. Maybe the odd rowdy table, but nothing like the aforementioned. That being said, I don't think I'd go for a cabin above a public area. You can always bet that the night you want to turn in early will be the night of the noisiest event of the cruise.

1 hour ago, Eddie99 said:

Pic which I “borrowed” from Twitter this morning.  In Bremerhaven 

 

 

Looking quickly at that, you'd be forgiven in thinking the ship is docked in front of another structure. That lower deck seems to really jut out.

Lovely photo though!

After seeing it on the recent Joanna Lumley show - Tblisi looks like one for this list.

Another one I've thought of - Madrid. I've been to Seville and Barcelona, and I've wondered how it compares to those.

I'm confused about what ITV has to do with excursions. I've been on a fair few of them, but I've not watched the channel since The Durrells finished last year. Plus I don't think I've watched ITV on a Saturday night since the early 90s.

Well I certainly wasn't expecting to see Brum mentioned in this thread.

Another one to mention, the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales.

Hopefully she can sail to Southampton - if she had to stay out for the entire winter.

21 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We always love going to Orlando Florida.

Always lots to do including Disney, Universal, Disney Springs, excellent food and shopping.

That's a good one too (you can probably tell I'm a little biased).

Being the nerd that I am... I did a little research.

Of the six resorts, its only Paris that's not really accessable by a port. (158 miles from Le Havre.)

HK and Tokyo are right on the coast, and Shanghai (18mi), WDW (60mi) and Disneyland (26 mi) are only short trips away.

So yeah, the idea of a day at the parks, and getting back to the ship at night sounds wonderful.

21 hours ago, wowzz said:

Surely there are only two answers to this question - the foothills of the Himalayas,  looking up at Everest,  and then,  my favourite,  Uluru in Australia at dawn.

In third place, the Serengeti,  going for a dawn drive watching the wildlife. 

Uluru is a wonderful idea. That'd be amazing to see.

I'm loving the idea of Lake Como.

And the Blue Ridge Mountains is certainly one I'd not thought of. I'm thinking of mountain trek type trips... and for those of us not that energetic; there's Dollywood. 😂

Great suggestions so far.

I'm guessing the shore excursion for Dijon would have to include a mustard factory?

Another one of those "just for fun" topics.

Are there any places in the world that you'd think would be great places to stop on a cruise - that you just can't. I'm thinking mainly landlocked cities and areas of the world.

One caveat, there are places you can go on river cruises, but we'll ignore those for this.

My first suggestions:

Vienna

It looks a beautiful city, with plenty of history and architechture. Plus it's home to the Sachertorte.

Interlaken, Switzerland

I have been there a couple of times, its a lovely idyllic part of the country. I can imagine the shore excursions would include trips to the Schilthorn's Piz Gloria (famed for being Blofeld's hideout in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service') and the highest train station in Europe up at the Jungfraujoch.

18 minutes ago, Britboys said:

One thing I am curious about is why they have not shared any designs for most of the interiors. All previous ships had tons of publicity on what it was going to look like, with design boards, renderings of a number of public rooms and photos of material swatches etc shared well in advance of launch. To date, they have only shared renderings of the atrium, the skydome and some cabins. That is so different from how they have handled things in the past. Is it such a departure from previous ships that they are scared it will shock or frighten people 😀

That's a very good point. We've not had much even in the build up.

Unless it was all planned to start trickling out leading up to May. Even so, you'd think some of it may have been released by now.

2 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

However, the rest of the news about a second new ship seems badly timed. I don’t think people are really that bothered about what’s happening in 2 years time, when there’s more pressing and important matters in August 2020.

I have a feeling that announcement was as much for investors as it was for potential customers.

Sure its more conventional to do this through the traditional channels (fiscal reports etc.) but putting the information out into the broader public spectrum shows that they are confident and willing to proceed with Iona's sister.

I've been on a couple of cruises where Geoff Capes was also a passenger.

As for people working on the ships; quite a few from Strictly and their celebrity guests. Also Peter Howarth (The Hollies), Brian Conley, Roy Walker. There are others (form the Limelight Lounge etc.).

^Oh yeah, that's a good one Sue.

They have one In that funny little corridor at the top of the escalators in Ocean Terminal.