Woodside Lady

One of our March 30 CC Roll call group is also on the March 20 sailing.  So she asked the folks on the Grand Princess, Long Beach or San Pedro?  They weren't real clear either, but they were leaning towards San Pedro.  Hard to set up car rentals or anything with that kind of a vague answer.  Oh well, any port in a ...

it is a California Coastal so we may need everything from a warm cost to swimsuits.  

This is my first cruising in an inside cabin let alone a 4 berth.  We will have 3 adults in the cabin for 7 days.  Any suggestions to make it as comfortable as possible?

We hadn't heard about the Amex benefit but will try that on our next cruise.  Unfortunately or fortunately we usually book last minute.  Using our Costco card to pay for the trip gets us 3% cash back.  

I'm late to finding this group but looking for all the motivation I can get.  Since my last cruise a year ago I've lost 36 pounds.  But was hoping to get to 40 pounds before our cruise on 3/30.  I did lose one pound this week after being STUCK for a month.  Just sticking to my 16:8 intermittent fasting, no gluten, 1/2 ounce of water/pound/day and 10,000 steps.  I also do about 15 minutes of 5 lb weights 2-3 times a week.  During the cruise I plan to stick to the gluten free part, mostly, increase my steps to at least 15,000 a day and take the stairs.     

I’m new at setting one of these up. But quite a few cc members want to do it on our 7 day sailing.  We have the meet and Mingle set up on the first Sea day.  We only have one other Sea day. Is that when you would normally hold the slot pull?  Is there a “normal” time for it?  

We went on the Konsingdam last year to Nord Kapp.  So all the way up the western coast.  But not a small ship.  

1) Haugesund- CC group took the town bus to Skudenshavn (old fishing village) and then on to Avaldnes Viking History Center/St. Olav's Church.  Nice shopping area in Haugesund.   

2) Eidfjord:  Tiny village.  Two wonderful hikes.  The yellow route took a couple of hours and was beautiful.  Viking graves.  If you have any walking issues, take the Troll Train up the hill then walk down.  The blue route was more in town.  We picked up some apple juice at the store, which the area is known for.  If you need a hand-crafted fiddle, this is the town.  

3) Bergen: took the Flotbanen Furnicular up and planned to walk down but it was pouring rain.  Have really good rain gear with you.  Set up the "Walking Tour on Foot" which was recommended by Rick Steves.  Goes through the Bryggen District.  For a snack, Bar Barrista which is around the corner from where the tour ends.  If it hadn't been teaming rain we would have gone and seen the Stave Church.  

4) Flam: Another tiny town.  We didn't do it, but many in the Cruise Critic group did Norway in a Nutshell from here and picked up their tickets in Bergen.  Went like clockwork.  About $125 if you arrange it on your own.  We went to buy better raingear then took the bus to Gudvagen where there are Viking reenactors.  Fjord Safari is popular and goes to the tiny village of Undredall which has more goats than people to learn about making goat cheese.  You can kayak in either Flam or Gudvagen, but it was pouring part of the day so we didn't.  People on the cruise ship that signed up for it looked miserable.  There was a Sami group selling reindeer related items in Flam and a LARGE store for buying Norwegian trinkets (and GOOD rain gear).  I wanted to go to the Bergund Stave Church but couldn't figure out a way to get there.  I think we could have rented a car there to go, but didn't.  

5) Geiranger: another 200 person town set up to handle tourists.  We took a bus up to see the Panorama.  Gorgeous.  Delsnibba is the higher point but we were happy with what we did.  Arranged on-site at the Tourist Office.  Then we did the waterfall walk up to the Norwegian Fjord Center.  Good gift shop and interesting museum. 

6) Molde: Our Cruise Critic group arranged an 8 hour bus tour to the Troll Road.  Fabulous!  This can also be done from Alesund.  There is also a Folk Museum here.  Our ship was there on a Sunday and nearly everything in the town, the City of Roses, was closed so glad we took the tour.  

7)Honnigsvag/North Cape.  I highly recommend contacting Monica at North Cape Sightseeing.  Again a CC organized trip.  Reindeer, a trip to a crab fishery, learned a lot about drying fish and Nord Kapp.  Plus met a local artist.  

😎 Stavanger: If you are ambitious, you can hike up Pulpit Rock.  Easy to organize on your own.  Take the ferry just past the Oil Museum, but start as soon as you are off the ship.  The CC group took the boat ride to the bottom.  It was cold and windy that day so we went to Domkirken (oldest Christian cathedral in Norway), Gamie Stavanger (the old town and went to the canning museum then got a waffle) then to the Oil Museum which was fabulous and the primary source of wealth in Norway.  Great shopping in this town.  

No idea where you are talking about going in Norway so the above are just a few ideas.  

As a heads up, food prices in Norway are breathtaking so we usually had breakfast on the ship and took a sandwich and water with us then ate again when we got on-board.  

We did it in reverse, going to the ship from Amsterdam Centrum (central train station).  We took the train to Rotterdam and then a cab to the ship.  It was easy.  Are you staying in Amsterdam?  As an alternative, I highly recommend Haarlem which is 15 minutes from Amsterdam by train but much less crazy.  Easy transit to the airport too.  

I can't comment on the Princess Tour because we did things on our own.  We went to the Book of Kells before it opened and then were in quickly.  When you go through the old Trinity College library (think Hogwarts) watch for the harp, the only original old harp left and the one shown on the flag.  During Queen Elizabeth's day they burned all the harps and hung all the harpists, but the signage doesn't explain that or why it is precious to the Irish.  Google Irish harp history.  After that we did the one hour tour of Trinity College and then went a couple of blocks away to the Archaeology Museum (check which days it is open).  If you are interested in Irish history, make reservations ahead for the Gael (jail).  We had to choose between the Guiness tour and the Jameson's whiskey tour and took the latter.  It was wonderful.  Be sure to leave time to go to some Irish pubs for "Trad" music in the evenings.  Our daughter liked the early evening Literary Pub Crawl.  Dublin isn't very big and pretty easy to walk around so I don't know if I would do the Hop On Hop Off bus.  We only used the tram once and otherwise walked everywhere.  

Eddy0827, I show posted departure time from wherever the LA port is as 9PM.  Is that the correct time (after the one hour move up) or are we in for a surprise?  And yes, I now have conflicting websites that show the ship will be in both Long Beach and San Pedro that day.  Like I said, when I called Princess, they didn't confirm either way.  There also appears to be a LOT of construction in San Pedro right now (they are tearing down Ports-O-Call) and the lovely red trolley isn't currently operating.  Perhaps the port has worked out some other form of transportation for passengers "enjoying" a port day in San Pedro.  Hope so.  

I second Fisherman's Wharf area.  The wharf itself is a bit seedy but I highly recommend the Boudin Sourdough Bread factory tour and a visit to Musee Mechnique (bring quarters).  You can see Pier 39 (shops, sea lions), the trip to Alcatraz (Angel Island is also wonderful) and the Exploritorium (adult nights are on Thursdays).  Walk or take the street car (runs along the wharf) to the Ferry Building which hosts the Farmers Market (check dates but there are always food stalls) and you can take the ferry to Sausalito from there.  If you stayed on the street car, which turns and runs along Market Street, you would get to Union Square.  There is a cable car from a block away from Fisherman's Wharf and another about a quarter mile away in front of the Ghiradelli (chocolate sign).  The crookedest street, Lombard Street, is 2 blocks uphill from there.  Be sure to stop at the Cable Car Museum on either run.  We always stop at Ghiradelli for ice cream sundaes and to watch them making chocolate.  You can also rent bikes in the wharf area and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, returning on the ferry to SF.  If you want to go wine tasting, take the Muni 25 bus from the Transbay Terminal (or take a cab) to Treasure Island.  There are a half dozen wineries on the island with magnificent views of the city.  And that doesn't cover a few personal favorites like the Asian Art Museum, the Walt Disney Family Museum (great view of the Golden Gate Bridge), Beach Blanket Babylon (an only in SF show) and Chinatown.  From SFO take BART to the Embarcadero Center (Hyatt Regency) and catch a cab/UBER to your hotel from there.  Have fun.  

I booked two guarantee cabins on one 14 day cruise.  Cheapest outside cabins on the ship.  We had multiple cabin assignments in perpetually higher levels within the outside category on the undersold ship.  The cruise was in Europe and we didn’t bring our cell phones with us.  Bad move since they offered us a lovely suite to give up our two rooms, the day before we sailed.  Would have taken that offer.

cr8tiv1, what website are you looking at for the Port of San Pedro?  The website www.sanpedrocalendar.com does not show the Grand Princess there on that day (Tuesday April 2).    

My non-drinking college aged daughter just turned 21.  She was thinking about showing up for the 18-20 gathering just to find out who was close to her age on the cruise.  Is there going to be anyone there who would throw her out?  

We are on the Grand Princess California Coastal Cruise leaving from SF on March 30th.  One of the ports of call is listed as LA.  There are two ports in LA.  One in Long Beach and one in San Pedro.  Cruise Mapper shows the ship arriving in Long Beach near the Queen Mary.  But all the descriptions of shore excursions makes it sound like the ship will be arriving in San Pedro.  I called Princess and they couldn't confirm either way and suggested calling back the week before the cruise.  Has anyone been on the California Coastal on the Grand Princess and if so, where did the ship arrive in LA? 

This is my first time cruising with Princess since they put in Princess@Sea but I used it’s equivalent on HAL last year.  This cruise I am running the roll call for the Meet and Greet and the slot tournament plus possibly some other CC activities like shore excursions.  Is there any way to set up a group so I can send a reminder message or do I have to send it person by person?  What information do I need from our group members (last name?, cabin number?) to message them?  

We have used Walkie Talkies successfully on cruise ships all over the world since my now eighteen daughter was two. If we in a theater, we tell our group where we are then turn them off during the show. Same with dinner. we use them during shore excursions. Just bring plenty of batteries or rechargeable batteries. we use a single channel that no one else is using. If they are we switch to a different channel.

Frankly we turn off our cell phones, store them in the safe and don t bring them out for the remainder of the cruise.

Some ships used to provide pagers for parents of tots. They would light up if you were needed. You may want to check and see if those still are available as they may help your communication problem.