wobblybob74

If it's your first visit to an unfamiliar location, I'd take the 'Rome on Your Own' excursion offered by the cruise line. On both of our Med cruises with Princess, we did just that, at a very reasonable cost. There was a knowledgeable, friendly guide on the coach who offered advice on what to see and do, and gave us free maps etc.

 

The first time we went, my wife wanted to see St Peter's and The Vatican so we booked tickets for The Vatican museum online before we travelled which enabled us to bypass the massive queue and save some considerable time, important when you're only there for a few hours.

 

The second time, I booked the ho-ho open top bus which departed from where our coach dropped us off. This is, in my opinion, the best way to get around an unfamiliar city as you generally have time to do a 'lap' to see everything and can then go around again, getting off at the places that interest you.

 

It can be a lot cheaper to do it yourself, via train or cab. But, if there is a sudden problem like a strike you weren't previously aware of, or your cab breaks down, the ship will not wait for you. If your 'official' excursion coach does, then it will. I know that ships' excursions are more expensive but it's your holiday so why get stressed?

 

I hope you enjoy your first Med cruise - there are some stunning locations to marvel at.

We cruised on Ventura for the first time in June, having sailed on the Grand Princess twice previously. Ventura is, of course, in the same class as the Grand and is, with a few minor differences, identical. Whilst we had a fine time on Ventura, we didn't feel that she was quite as 'special' as the Grand. Don't get me wrong, we are very lucky to be able to afford to cruise and a 14-day cruise is a damn fine way to spend your holidays. However, I don't think we'd cruise on Ventura again - indeed we'll probably go back to Princess for our next cruise. Or perhaps try Celebrity.

Hello there,

 

On our Canaries cruise onboard Ventura in June, the dress code was enforced in the MDR, the speciality restaurants and (as I recall) three bars. People who did not wish to partake in the formal evenings were welcome in all other areas/bars including the theatre and both show bars. My recollection is a little hazy as we both enjoy dressing up for formal evenings so never fell foul, but the dress codes were fairly well adhered to. In fact I recall a chap being politely asked to leave Metropolis bar on Sky deck as he was without a tie. To be fair to him, he readily agreed and returned later with a tie.

 

You won't have any problems finding somewhere to go if you don't want to join in on the formal evenings.

The deadbolt is not there to keep your roommate out. It is there to keep other passengers out. And it does a good job of that.

 

Exactly. On our last cruise on P&O's Ventura (built to the same design as the Grand class of Princess ships) we requested our room steward to deliver a bucket of ice at around 1pm each day. On one of the sea days, we were in the room watching a movie (the weather wasn't that great) and had absent-mindedly left the 'do not disturb' sign on the outside door handle. We got a phone call from our steward enquiring whether we were actually in the room or not.

 

I'm all for the current system - works very well in my opinion.

This is not supposed to be a stupid question:rolleyes:, but how did you take those bottles on? Just in carrier bag, in your carry on, or what?

 

Simon

 

Simon, there is never a stupid question :)

 

We wrapped the spirits and the port in bubblewrap and then in two or three carrier bags and put them in the middle of our suitcases, firmly encased in clothing. The wine was carried on in our hand luggage.

 

We also took on a box of 250ml Diet Coke and a box of 250ml tonic water, again in our suitcases.

 

We had no problem whatsoever.

As others have said, there is no restriction to the amount of alcohol (within reason) that you can bring onboard. On our last cruise on Ventura in June we took a litre of Bacardi, a litre of gin, two bottles of wine and a bottle of port with no problems whatsoever.

 

I had looked at buying a wine package but I found that, as my wife doesn't really drink wine I managed quite nicely buying a bottle every other night instead. If you do this, then the wine waiters will label your wine and store it for the next evening.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Hello from down the road in sunny Blackpool !!

 

If you click on the port/excursions tab on the cruise page you have linked to, you will be able to see the excursions & prices available in each of the ports. What you spend really depends on what you like to do - we generally just go to the beach and this can be done quite reasonably. And there are independent tours available - we make a choice depending on how long we have in port & the logistics involved in the trip. From Cozumel we visited the ruins at Tulum - I would only go through Princess for this as there is a ferry ride & a bus transfer required - too many opportunities for things to go wrong to risk it.

 

Hope this helps. And a winter cruise on the Caribbean is a great alternative to the cold & rain in the UK.

 

Hi Rubynic,

 

Thanks for that, very helpful. To be honest, I didn't think that prices for tours would be on the website so soon in advance. We're looking at taking as many excursions as possible as we think this will be our one and only trip to the Caribbean so we want to see as much as possible. And, to be perfectly honest, spending the entire time in port at the beach is very definitely not my bag!

 

I know exactly what you mean about a holiday during winter. I suffer from SAD so very much need an injection of warmth and sunshine after Christmas to help me get through the winter.

 

Cheers!

Good morning all,

 

I looking at this cruise: http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=G702A

 

Would anybody have any information on the shore excursions available at each port along with a rough idea of how much each excursion costs please? The cruise costs a little more than we would normally spend so if the shore excursions are very expensive then we won't be able to afford it. And yes, I know that private tours are probably cheaper but I'm after a 'worst case' figure.

 

Thanks in advance.

[url=http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=G702A][/url]

You'll not need a shuttle bus in Liverpool. The ship will dock a ten minute walk from the city centre. If The Beatles are your thing then I can highly recommend doing a Google search for 'Fab Four Taxi Tours'. These, as the name suggests are regular black cabs, the drivers of which will take you on a tour of the major Beatles sites in Liverpool.

 

If you have any particular requests for whilst you are in Liverpool, let me know as I live locally and will be happy to help if I can.

For what it's worth, we love the formal nights although I feel that four during a fourteen night cruise is a one too many, especially when the fourth one is only two nights after the third!

 

On our recent Ventura cruise, we noticed that the formal dress code was very well observed by most of our fellow passengers. From memory, if you do not wish to observe the formal dress code you are not allowed into the MDRs, the Epicurean, Sindhu, Red piano bar and Metropolis. One one of the formal nights, a gent who had not observed the code but was still fairly smart was asked to leave Metropolis by staff.

 

On the subject of dark, smart jeans these are allowed in the MDR on non-formal nights but I can't really recall seeing many people wearing them. The gents seemed to stick to (not literally!) chinos or slacks and the ladies seemed to go for dresses, capri pants or loose trousers.

 

I know that it's a matter or personal preference but I do think that the ship looks wonderful on formal nights and, even though I have to look smart for my job (although I don't wear a suit) I do enjoy the chance to get dressed up and to see Mrs Wobblybob looking even more gorgeous than she normally does.

 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, whatever you decide to do, clothes-wise :D

On our recent cruise onboard Ventura, we left the auto-tips on and gave our cabin steward 30 Euros extra at the end of the cruise. The only other 'over and above' tip we gave was for the one time we ordered room service and that was just a few Euros.

 

I think, if you are on Anytime/Freedom Dining then it is very unfair to turn the tips off. You are, in theory, served by different waiters every night so the option of handing out envelopes on the last night isn't really practicable.

 

If you cruise then, in my opinion you should accept that tipping is an integral part of the experience. If you cannot, or will not accept this then you should look elsewhere for your holiday or at the very least book with a cruise company that includes gratuities within the price of the cruise.

Ouch! :rolleyes:

 

Tom

 

Yes, that's me told.

 

I thought, correctly as it turned out, that joking about the matter in a language that we both spoke would create a solidarity. As it happened, the maitre d' commented to us that our waiter had made very positive comments about us. Yes, perhaps it was a bit off of us to refer to our table mates as ignorant pigs, but that's nothing compared to how they treated the waiters.

Tablemates who are rude to staff are a deal breaker for us.

 

Yes, us too. On our second cruise, we ended up sitting in the same section of the restaurant for more than two thirds of our dinners even though we were on anytime dining - just one of those odd coincidences I guess. Anyway, on a few occasions we were seated with people who were unbearably rude to the waiters. I'd found out that one of the waiters spoke good French so I quietly spoke to him in French, calling these hideous people some choice names, apologising on behalf of the human race for these half wits and telling him that myself and my wife thought that he was doing a wonderful job. Luckily, the rude passengers didn't understand what we were saying - I suppose things could have got a little awkward if they'd have understood! After that, we shared jokes and comments about 'les porcs ignorants'!

As far as I'm aware, all vocals are sung live with no backing tracks used (except for music when required). You'd easily be able to tell when vocals were being lip-synced to, in my opinion.

Do you prefer to stick to one cruiseline, to gain status or doesn't matter

 

To be honest, it's not the deciding factor for us. Obviously, we'll be entitled to a little more if we sail with Princess again but I'm much more swayed by the quality of the itinerary and of the ship than of the offered inducements. If we do sail only with Princess in the future then it will be purely because we have found a cruise company that 'fits'.

I was 36 when we took our first cruise with Princess, and 39 when we took our second. I was very happy indeed with both cruises and found that Princess suited me very well indeed. I suppose that it helps that I have an extremely eclectic taste in music and don't mind 'gameshow' type entertainment at all.

 

Our latest cruise was with P&O which, whilst still being a mighty fine way of spending a fortnight, was nowhere near as enjoyable as our cruises with Princess. None of the entertainment staff on Ventura stood out, whilst I can still picture and name most of the entertainment staff from our Princess cruises.

 

I think that, for our next adventure, we will be returning to the Princess family.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise, whatever you decide.

For some reason the elevators seem to bring out the worse behavior in people.

 

I am extremely ashamed to admit that we became "those people" on our last cruise (albeit accidentally). I was at the end of the recovery period after having major ankle surgery just before last Christmas. All the walking onshore had taken its toll and I was having severe difficulty walking on it. Combine this with me very stupidly having burnt the tops of my feet in the sun on Tenerife and walking was virtually impossible. We borrowed a wheelchair from the ship to get me about a bit more easily and were attempting to get back to our cabin immediately after the end of the later evening show. Several lifts had come and gone without us being able to get into one, so I told my wife to just blithely push me into the next one that came along otherwise we'd be there all night. She did, and then to my shame a little voice piped up "Actually, we were wanting to get out at this floor...". I felt terrible, and still do.

 

To be honest, we didn't encounter much rudeness during our fortnight onboard Ventura aside from the usual sun-lounger hogging or queue jumping when disembarking in port.

Viking Cruises very probably have taken advice from a number of sources before taking this decision. I would imagine that the various governments have advised against docking in Tunis and if Viking were to go against this advice and then, heaven forbid, something terrible were to happen, Viking would be held solely responsible.

 

It is a very sensible decision by Viking, in my opinion. Yes, there is the argument that intending passengers should be able to decide for themselves but Viking Ocean Cruises are a business (and a new one at that) and so they cannot afford to have countless people cancelling their cruise as they do not wish to potentially put themselves in harm's way. Personally speaking, I would be happy to visit Tunis but I acknowledge that I am probably in the minority here and can fully understand Viking's decision.

On our recent cruise on Ventura in June, the evening show was interrupted one night by the Captain announcing, over the PA system, that the assessment party was required to attend Deck 9, aft, where there was a suspected fire. He stressed that passengers need take no action at present but that didn't stop dozens of stupid sheeple from making their way out of the theatre. What they thought they were going to achieve, I will never know. We stayed put and, sure enough the Captain came back onto the PA system after about ten minutes to reassure us that it was a false alarm and that all was well. The show resumed and life went on.

I have quoted the original question on this thread, which is what I thought we were suposed to be answering. The person asking the question is 41 with a wife of 50, so they are much younger than the eras many people are talking about.

 

Cheers for attempting to get things back on track :D

 

We both like all types of music and especially enjoy 50s and 60s - both our mothers had excellent musical taste! So I suppose worrying about the entertainment is a little silly. We also enjoy ballroom dancing, although I am at a much lower skill level than my wife - she is a qualified teacher, I am very much a beginner!

 

I think that a Fred. Olsen cruise would suit us rather well. In all honesty, I can be 'old beyond my years' sometimes - I like classical, jazz, swing, big band and rock'n'roll and am very partial to the odd Werthers Original :p

 

When are the summer 2017 cruises normally available to look at on the website?

 

Cheers,

 

Rob.

Thanks for all your replies, folks.

 

It sounds very much like zit might be worth our trying Fred. Olsen. We aren't ones for the nightclub and, even though we enjoy the entertainment we are generally back in our cabin by midnight. We also have enjoyed the company of passengers older than us on our previous cruises so I very much think that it's well worth us giving it a whirl.

 

Thanks again.

Hello there,

 

We live near Liverpool and would love to be able to cruise from there rather than having to trek all the way down to Southampton. The only cruise line that starts cruises from Liverpool is, of course, Fred. Olsen.

 

I've heard that they cater, mainly, for a more - erm - mature clientele. I am 41 and my wife is 50; what is the general age range amongst the passengers and would we find that the entertainment is geared towards an older crowd's interest? We've previously cruised with Princess and P&O.

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Rob.

Oh please. It's a joke.

 

I know exactly what Liverpool is like (though there are areas of very significant deprivation). My last visit was about 8 months ago so I doubt it's changed much since then. (I do live 200 miles away) (L8R: Though I wish they'd sort out bl**dy Switch Island)

 

I come from Norfolk and Norwich gets exactly the same sort of stuff (mainly about farming types and Alan Partridge).

 

Every area has its own "joke stereotypes". The best way to deal with it is to reply with humour rather than sulks (which is odd, because I'm always told what a great sense of humour Liverpudlians have, obviously not ....).

 

I know it's a joke, but when said joke reinforces negative stereotypes that have no relation at all to the modern image of the city then it gets more than a trifle wearing. I'm not actually a Liverpudlian but I am from Merseyside and I am fiercely proud of my county's 'capital city'.

 

I can see from your replies to people on other threads that you seem to be a very helpful, witty fellow so apologies if I was a tad over-sensitive. I hope you can understand why.

 

Cheers.

I really don't see why you should even acknowledge the adverse comments. I'm a Scot living in England and I love Liverpool and the people, Its a wonderful friendly city with 2 great football teams. What more could you ask for?

 

I know, I should have ignored them. Nothing achieved, plainly, by commenting.

Lighten up! No need to get your knickers in a twist underneath your shell suit.

 

People like you who persist in perpetuating the tired old stereotypes probably haven't been near Liverpool for years. You should give it a go - you will find a vibrant, feel-good, welcoming city with great pubs, bars and restaurants and eclectic, independent shops. The crime rate in Liverpool is no greater than in most other large cities and the police have done great work over the past few years, in partnership with the council, to rid the city of its previous negative image.