UT-Volsfan

One item I forgot to mention was the in-cabin art channel. You remember all of the videos they ran showing various Princess artists and giving histories of some of the masters as well as current leaders in their fields (such as Wyland, Godard). Well, even though Park West doesn't represent these artists they are still running the same videos. I can't tell that Park West has brought anything new to the art channel. Even the commercials for the art sales are still the same Princess Fine Arts videos - Park West gets to use their name since they purchased the whole program from Princess. It would be nice to see some videos of the Park West artists - especially the ones that paint in the same style as the artists we're familiar with.

And don't try to take any photos in the Art Gallery. Several signs say they are prohibited and we saw one of the assistants telling people they could not take any photographs.

Also, they would close off Explorers for several hours prior to the art auction to set the art up. And once it was set up, you couldn't walk thru and look at the art work until 30 minutes before the auction. We used to enjoy checking out the art work early and then finding us a seat. They also placed about 3 rows of chairs up front for people to sit .

When a piece was brought up it was hit or miss whether you would hear that it was a series (and size of the series), a hand embellished series print, or an original. And every time you answered a question by the art director you were supposed to waive your number in the air and make some noise to get extra raffle tickets for unframed art. We didn't talk to anybody that got some of this free art work so we aren't aware of the quality they were offering. We're some of those that still have free art in the shipping tubes at home so we don't compete for it anymore.

What surprised me the most I guess was how lame the art auctions were. I just felt like they wanted you to determine everything before the auction if you needed any information. I wanted to give them a chance so I attended all of the auctions and some of their lectures so I could give an overall impression of their program. Looking back I wish we had gotten up and walked out when the art director made some of his rude jokes and comments. The experience definitely wasn't the good feeling you get on the rest of the ship (have you noticed just about all of the ship's personnel always say hello or good morning or good eveining when you pass in the hallway). I don't know how much control Princess has over Park West's conduct either - if they are renting the space then they may get to act like they want. But it's going to hurt with the long-time Princess customers that used to purchase art. Hopefully the rest of Princess doesn't dumb down their program like Park West has; otherwise we will be looking for another line to cruise on. Based on this experience, I doubt we'll be at any more of the art programs on board.

We've just returned from an enjoyable cruise on the Golden Princess and wanted to provide some comments/observations on the Park West Galleries conduct while running the art program on board.

In the past myself and my wife have bought art from the Princess Fine Arts program that we personally liked and thought was a good momento for our cruise. We moved up until we had even bought some original art work (we compared prices to land based galleries prior to these purchases). Never did we feel pressured to make a quick purchase without all of the information we would need for an informed decision. Our cruise in Nov. on the Emerald Princess was the last cruise as Princess Fine Arts (their art was crated and removed when we left the ship).

This cruise, Park West had four (4) art directors on board (one lead and three assistants) compared to the old Princess program having only one art director. The knowledge of these personnel was questionable at best:

• one assistant told a passenger he didn't know who Michael Godard was (I guess because Park West doesn't represent him).
  
• one assistant, in response to a question I had concerning original works by Martiros, said he'd never even seen an original Martiros anywhere offered for sale. But he did have some limited edition pieces by Martiros on board (although they were within a few hundred dollars of what I paid for an original Martiros back in Dec.).
  

The humor of the lead art director who ran the auctions needs some work/coaching/training because it was offensive to people sitting in the crowds. Some examples:

• at the first art auction he was introducing their staff and said one person working there was a Philipino from Princess who was trying to make a little extra money to support his drug habit! He then corrected himself to say support his family but if that had been me insulted like that, I would have left. The crew members work hard on these ships for minimal pay - they don't deserve to have jokes like this made at their expense.
  
• at a later art auction he was asking people to show him some love (by waiving their bid cards in the air). One of the assistants asked why he never had passengers show any of the assistants the love and the reply from the art director was that they could arrange that on their personal time and wasn't that why he carried a bottle of chloroform in his pocket? He then commented they would be getting more letters of complaint about that comment. Several passengers agreed!
  

You must pre-register before each art auction and get a bid card to participate in the auction. The Terms and Conditions for the art auction are printed on the bid card - read them carefully. At the end of the auctions they made a point of trying to collect the bid cards - several of us thought it was because they didn't want passengers to be able to keep the Terms and Conditions for future reference.

There are 3 categories of pricing for the art work.

1. TO meant a Take Off piece that could be carred off by the successful bidder.
   
2. REG meant a regular pice of art. These do not include framing/matting or shipping in the price. These were usually pieces under $500 if I recall correctly.
   
3. CP meant a Complete Package. The price for these includes framing/matting and shipping.
   

You need to listen carefully to the lot number to determine which category the art work is in.

Other items to watch are Mystery Art. The pieces are brought up hidden from view. Then after showing the piece, the art director will normally sweeten the deal by adding to it while keeping the price the same. Sometimes they forget to mention whether it's a REG or CP artwork. That makes a big difference if you have to pay to frame it later.

Prices are no longer on the backs of the art work. That must come from one of the art directors. Also, the price may be lower if you do a pre-bid for the art work before it's brought up at the auction.

If you were familiar with the Princess Fine Arts program and it's pricing, then be ready to be shocked now. Prices on the few items we could compare between them and Park West were 2 or 3 times higher than they used to be.

As others have indicated, they work to get people used to waiving the bid cards in the air. The three assistants keep going thru the room saying get those bid cards in the air and asking people why they aren't bidding. They want you bidding. If you liked the dignity of the old Princess run art auctions, then you'll hate these.

Passing thru the Art Gallery is more tortuous now. The assistants seemed to be present most of the time and were just waiting to pounce if you stopped to look at any of the art.

Some of the artwork between the two programs is similar (at least in name):

• Peter Max seems to have a huge portion of Park West's onboard portfolio. However, prices were higher on pieces we could remember for comparison.
  
• Thomas Kinkade. They had limited edition prints on board as REG pieces (no frames). They didn't have any giclees available.
  
• Martiros. They had 2 limited edition hand embellished prints on board. Much less than what was available before.
  
• Erte. Had some of these on board.
  
• Norman Rockwell. Seemed all of the pieces they had on board were Estate authorized editions instead of editions with Rockwell's signature in pencil on it. I've always considered Estate authorized editions to be of lower collector's importance than editions actually authorized by the artist.
  

The new Park West program also doesn't seem to focus on the old Princess customers with reception invites or letting them know of similar items available on board to add to their collection. The old Princess program did their homework, I'm sure the old art directors knew every artist we collected and what price range we shopped in when we boarded the ship. Nobody we spoke to on this cruie that used to buy art from Princess was impressed - about all of us said we'd be shopping elsewhere due to the obvious decline in the selection and personnel in the Park West program.

We were on the Emerald Princess Nov. 29 - Dec. 9 sailing. Fortunately the Global Fine Arts program was still operating the art auctions on that cruise. This was the last sailing before their inventory left the cruise ship and Park West brought theirs on board.

We have researched several artists prior to going on cruises so that we felt very comfortable with the pricing Princess was offering. On this cruise we purchased one original by Martiros because we assumed PW would not offer that quality at their auctions.

We were told on that cruise that the art directors had been offered positions with PW, but they would be working on shore instead of on ships. We didn't find out if this was temporary while they learned the PW system of business or full-time. The other support staff (at least on our cruise) was talking about moving into other roles within Princess (such as the Purser's desk) so they wouldn't lose their company service (if they wanted to work the art program with PW they would have to leave Princess and start over with PW).

We put several comments in our after cruise survey about our dislike of the transition to PW. We have been cruisers that have enjoyed the Princess art auctions over the years, including the interactions we have had with some of their art directors.

We were afraid the transition to PW would go just like AZJerry described in his review. We are going to be sailing in March, and that may be one of the first times we avoid the auctions if they don't show some serious improvement. If PW continues to offer limited editions as originals, then they will quickly learn that the previous Princess customers are gone.

I also recommend the sugar free chocolate mousse cake very much. Also love the sugar free strawberry shortcake they've got up in Horizon Court some days.

While I enjoy most of the sugar free desserts in the dining rooms, I have to agree with the previous opinion about the sugar free chocolate tapioca being pretty bad.

Besides the sugar free desserts in the dining room for lunch and dinner that are on the menu, you can also request sugar free ice cream any time you are in there (usually it's either chocolate or vanilla). Sometimes I get that to go with some of the SF cakes and other desserts, and other nights I just order that in place of desserts such as the chocolate tapioca.

If you decide to do the Chef's Table, let them know at the interview when they ask about food allergies that you're a diabetic. The Pastry Chef will bring out a very good SF dessert for you to eat for the last course at the Chef's Table.

Faxed ours in last Thursday and got an email today showing the OBC was applied to our April booking. This one went through very easily - a lot better than the one for our cruise last December.

Make sure when you fax it in that you make a note of the time and date you send it. They can search for it by the time it is received - I was told back in Nov. to call the next day to confirm they had received it after my first submittal never showed up even though I had the confirmation from my fax showing it was sent with no problems indicated.

On our Golden Princess cruise last Thanksgiving, we were told by some ship staff members a couple on board was negotiating with Princess for a one-year contract for an inside cabin with an option for a second year. They were signing the contract during the cruise.

We're also sorry to hear Mrs. Artz isn't doing well. We met her on the old Royal Princess back in 2003.

You will not regret buying a Godard! We have quite a large collection of his including a special request gold and silver drawing he made for us that I absolutely love. I'm not sure if he is doing special request anymore, but the piece is brilliant.

While we were on the Diamond Princess this month, the art director mentioned that on the previous cruise, a passenger requested a custom Godard that Princess worked out with Godard. It is supposed to be 4' x 8' of the Lord's Supper done with his famous olives. The price was $230K plus the 10% auction premium to Princess. They also mentioned that the piece will be available later on as a limited edition release.

Have you seen his new line of paintings with coffee beans? We've seen a few that are very humorous.

In Poland, you can also arrange for a taxi at the pier or in advance. Our party of 4 hired the driver for the day (we spent about 8.5 hrs) and it cost us $250 US. We went to the Stutthoff Concentration Camp and Gdansk.

There were also larger taxis available that would hold six (not sure on their pricing).

West Cost Cruizers:

here's the information on the stops for the two HO/HOs we used in case you want to plan their usage.

Stockholm (web site http://www.sightseeing.se - then go to Stockholm and click on the British flag to show the page in English). The ferry HO/HO boats stop at:

Oslo HO/HO (website http://www.citysightseeing.no) - this website is in English and shows the route and stops. Some of the stops include: stop 9 is at the Royal Castle and the Ibsen museum. Stop 12 is the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Stop 14 or 16 is the Viking Ship Museum. Adult tickets are $33, children (ages 5 -15) are $15 each or a family ticket is $90.

For other HO/HO locations, try their official site (http://www.city-sightseeing.com) and go to the country or city you are interested in.

West Cost Cruizers:

With the exception of Gdansk and St. Petersburg, we'd say that it is quite possible to tour the ports using either the Princess shuttle service or the HO/HO shuttles. We used the HO/HO boats in Stockholm and their bus service in Oslo. The other ports (except for the two earlier exceptions) we used the Princess shuttle buses to get in to town. Several people on the cruise only did organized tours in St. Petersburg and used these services to explore the other ports on their own.

Tallinn is a very quaint town to walk thru once you get off the shuttle. We weren't sure how that stop would be, but it's like stepping back in time. It is a very enjoyable town to see the older architecture.

For Poland, hiring a taxi driver makes it fairly easy to get to where you want to go. Try to get a driver that speaks good English, that way he can point out sights while driving you around.

If you read some of the other posts from people on our cruise, you'll also see some discussions of using the bus and/or rail systems in some of the ports to get around. Good thing is that many people do understand and speak some English, which helps asking for directions.

As for leaving the kids on board, it's been a long while since ours were that age. However, if I remember right, the youth area on board the ship for kids that age does not let the kids leave the area unless the parent(s) is there to pick them up. Teens are able to come and go from the youth areas. You could probably post a question on the board to other people with kids that age and ask them if that is correct.

You'll definitely be able to see the ports on your own and you'll save some money over taking all of the Princess arranged tours.

We were also on this Baltic cruise and enjoyed it very much.

The Emerald Princess did not use tender service at any of the ports. We were at dockside every day. Getting on/off the ships was very quick - if you wait thru the first 30 minutes or so for the initial rush to get off of the ship, you'll be fine.

In Poland, Princess does not offer a shuttle service to Gdansk. However, there are several taxis available just off of the gangway that you can hire either to drive you to Gdansk or take you around the area on a private tour. We hired a driver for the day for our 4-person party for $250 (you negotiate the price up front) and went around Gdansk as well as visited a German concentration camp that's about 40 minutes from Gdansk (I don't remember the price to drive only into Gdansk but Lawrence mentions it in his port lecture). Our driver lived in the US for 5 years and spoke very good English. He made an excellent tour guide and went around Gdansk with us pointing out the sights in the main tourist areas. We also visited the Solidarity memorial at the shipyard gate and made some other stops on the way back to the ship. We would definitely recommend this over the organized tours. The concentration camp was not on any of the Princess tours and we felt like that was one item everybody should visit if they have the opportunity.

In most of the other ports, you can catch a Princess shuttle into downtown for $5 or $6 each way. Many of the ports are perfect for walking around town on your own instead of taking a formal ship tour. Tallinn in Estonia is a quaint town to visit and walk thru. If you do want to get around the towns, you can usually find a Hop On/Hop Off tour bus near the ship that you can buy a one-day pass for and see much of the city from. Only place we had trouble with them was in Oslo. In Oslo, they run different size buses on the loop, and had buildups of people waiting to be picked up at the more popular stops (they also had one break down and leave all of it's people at one stop). Allow more time for pickup than the every 30 minutes they tell you when you buy the ticket. They also don't announce all of the stops - at the Viking Ship Museum they didn't even open the doors when they pulled up to the stop sign near it. We had to ask the driver to let us off.

Here's some information on the different ports I'd posted last week, where we docked, and the price for Princess shuttles.

As for the internet service on-board, the connections are much worse than the service we saw last year on the Emerald. This year, in the Internet Cafe, there were many days when up to 20% of the computers were unavailable due to service problems. And there were problems printing out boarding passes - there were numerous problems trying to print passes from SAS. Some computers would have connection problems repeatedly and make you start over (and over) while the one next to it would work fine. Also had problems with people logging off of the computer and then trying to log on at another computer and being denied because it said they were still logged in.

Wireless service was available. When we weren't trying to print boarding passes, we usually used our laptop in our cabin (we were in Caribe 327). Had good signal strength there the whole cruise. Connection speed with the internet was still slow (about like the internet cafe - imagine you're using a dial up modem for the speed).

We also would recommend the port lectures - these were easily the best ones we have seen on a Princess cruise. John Lawrence was very informative. If you can't catch his talk during the day, catch the rebroadcast in your cabin to help plan your day in port.