silverwillow

* Athens (Piraeus), Greece

We went on an excursion to the Acropolis and then visited the new museum. We saw the changing of the guards and the tomb of the unknown soldier. We also stopped at the stadium and the Agora as well as the Temple of Zeus.

* Santorini, Greece

We took the cable car up to the top (fira) and then took a bus to Oia and wondered around, took lots of photos then found a cafe with a beautiful view for lunch. Bused back to Fira shopped looked around then cable car back for sail away on the aft of the Emerald Princess.

* Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus)

We did a tour to Ephesus, The house of the Virgin Mary and The Basilica of St. John as well as the Artemission Temple. We had an authentic Turkish lunch before heading back to the ship. We used Ephesus shuttle

* Rhodes, Greece

We took a ships Tour to Lindos. Then looked around Rhodes and the Street of the Knights (medieval st), Palace of the Grand Masters. Amazing place.

* Crete (Heraklion), Greece

We took a bus out to Knossos then bused back into Crete to the archeological museum which was excellent.

* Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii)

We too a hydrofoil over the the island of Capri which was beautiful we took the bus up to Anacapri and took chair lifts up the top to Mount Solaro for amazing views then explored the island. We visited Villa Michelle then had a lovely lunch back in Anacapri before heading to the gardens overlooking Via Krupp. We also went to Salerno on another day which is a port near Naples and we went to Pompeii we wish we had another day to go to the museum in Naples which holds a lot of the treasures from Pompeii. We used Romeinlimo

* Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

We visited twice on our cruise and visited Vatican city including St. Peters Basilica, the vatican museum and the sistine chapel. We also went to the colosseum, and capital hill. We used the subway and went to the spanish steps the Pantheon, and Plazza Navona and Trevi Fountain (which is under renovation. We used RomeinLimo.

I wish Princess would allocate my child's internet hours to her or me. She doesn't get any of the circle member benefits even though if she did she would be platinum and I pay full price for her to cruise.

I wish princess would give more details about where ships will dock i.e addresses or exact positions on a map. I like being informed and enjoy playing around with street google before I go to places. I dislike all the guessing as to how far places I want to visit will be to walk to or visit by taxi. Sometimes I think Princess is intentionally vague in order to sell their ships excursions.

I wish Princess had cabins like Solstice class ships in the Celebrity fleet.

Better room service menu I think breakfast is subpar now can't even get eggs on toast but you can get something resembling a McMuffin. yuk.

I wish Princess would do anytime dining on the Sea, Dawn and Sun Princess.

I wish Princess would stop scheduling trivia, port lectures, movies and other activities to finish after the kids club closes for dinner or lunch breaks so we don't have to keep missing the end of these activities.

I wish the Princess spa's had cheaper massages the prices are getting so expensive and the last massage I had was really disappointing.

I wish princess would read this post and make these changes. :p

We also took a bottle of wine onboard each from some of the ports we stopped in.

I would love to read a review of a cruise from Florida on a Princess ship that goes through the Panama Canal and on up to Alaska. oh and I am happy to come along and carry your bags also. :p

It really is a shame. We had an amazing roll call on our recent Mediterranean cruise thanks to one amazing person who lead the way with a spreadsheet where we could all join private tours and organise get togethers. This was so valuable and we enjoyed the private tours over the ships excursions hands down for every one of them. I will always try and organise or look for small group tours now not just for the saving in costs but the friendships and the amazing experiences you can have in a small group as opposed to a big, slow, lumbering ships excursion.

The Sun's food has been the best of all our cruises so far. We found the buffet to be awesome. Normally I avoid the buffet! The Sushi place was all but dead so not sure they will keep that.

We just got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago and a can of coke was $2.20. We decided that the soda package was too indulgent as we wouldn't let our daughter drink copious amounts of coke at home. We were also able to buy cans of soda at grocery stores in port very cheap and theres no problem bringing them onboard. I think we ended up buying around ten cans of soft drink onboard for the whole 28 nights between all three of us.

The kids club on Princess is excellent and we were told off for picking our daughter up before closing time a number of times lol. :p We were on a really port intensive cruise though and often up at 6:30am for excursions. When we are on an island cruise we would be hard pressed to drag our daughter out before 10pm. We have never found any places on Princess that are adult only (besides some of the pools) but we don't stay out late in nightclubs. The only time we've heard of a venue becoming adult only is when a show is on that has adult contact i.e. sexual jokes from a comedian.

It has now been confirmed that our June 1st scheduled stop in Tunis on the Emerald Princess has been replaced with a stop in the port of Naples. I would have liked to go back to Malta but I am happy with the change.

Thanks, I am on Riviera deck in May. So takes American coins?

Cue elevator music while we all wait on hold. :p

I can't specifically answer for 10-12 year olds because when we cruised my daughter was seven. We have been in lots of kids clubs and this was by far her favourite. Some of the whiz bang ones are too big and impersonal, she hated the Voyager of the Seas kids club and wasn't as fond of Celebrity Solstice's either. The older kids on the Sun all appeared to be very happy from what I glimpsed though. :)

and no refund if we don't use them all

I don't think they can keep them. :eek:

I'm interested to know also. I have cancelled one only once and rebooked without a problem.

I was under the impression we could do it as often as we want and also if we had not applied it to a cruise after 4 years it would just be credited back to our credit card.

Diamond is in US$ this season, both in AUS$ next season.

I am grateful for this topic being raised thanks :).

Thanks By the Bay I am surprised that Golden will be in AUD. Diamond is USD. Good for us though we won't be worrying about the exchange rate. :)

That's even better not paying till September.

We are past final payment which must be why we had to pay it now.

Does anyone know what currency Golden Princess will be working on when it sails in oz? I am wondering if it's worth considering obc for our cruise on her.

I want to Know how to get an upgrade. :p

Does she have an indoor solarium like the Rhapsody?

Yes

Do they show movies at all during the day? (not referring to the cabin)

sometimes

Is there an onboard library?

yes

Is there much variety in the main night-time entertainment?

worst aspect of Princess is their entertainment and nightlife in my opinion.

Any suggestions re a balcony cabin. Will be wanting to book a mid ship location hopefully on a quiet deck.

To avoid noise look at the deck plan. Perhaps avoid Aloha as the pools are above. also check to make sure you're not above a lounge where the band plays ect. The Caribe and Baja decks are quiet and out of the two Caribe has bigger balconies.

Its likely I will be doing this one solo - do they offer any meet ups for solo cruisers?

I have seen many notices in the patter for solo get togethers. :)

I love princess but I wish they would update and improve there entertainment.

We saw on the buying OBC post with Royal Caribbean that someone had mentioned that they received the credit at a dollar for dollar exchange rate between USD and AUD with Princess. We jumped on that and rang Princess and unfortunately that is no longer the case but they are selling $500 USD for $550 AUD we saved $730 in the end by buying $4000 USD (it cost us $4400AUD). We are prepared to take the risk and will only lose out if the USD increases to 91 cents again and of course we will win further if it falls even lower. Down side is we had to pay now and we put it on our credit card but we are sailing in the next few months so that's not an issue for us. We get Kris flyer points on our credit card so we always pay by credit card anyway which means the credit card fee we incur is a non issue for us.

That was this mornings experience. We don't usually spend that much onboard credit but its a 28 night around the Greek islands and Mediterranean and we have booked around $1800 worth of ships tours and will also have around $1100 in gratuities to pay. Who knows we may even get change at the end of it but I doubt it.

Go Diamond for that cruise, unless you have kids travelling with you, then take the EoTS.

My daughter loves the princess kids club she did not like the kids club at all on the Voyager of the Seas.

I have done NZ twice on the Diamond and would love to go again. It has so many places to view the spectacular scenery. Diamond gets my vote.

Just doing a little research to see what kind of cruises you all like... So please let me know:

- when are you cruising next?

9 May 2015

- which ship?

Emerald Princess

- where to?

28 Night round trip from Barcelona heading around the med and greek islands.

why there?

I have always wanted to see Europe and we will do some land travel before and after also.

- anything you want to find out about your cruise? (or should I just wait for you to come back and tell me? )

I wish I knew more about the ports and about whether Princess will be putting shuttles on. I would also like to know if the kids club is open on changeover days as this cruise was sold in blocks of weeks as well.

Really wish I'd seen this post a few months back. :rolleyes:

This is strange.

I asked the travel agent we booked through if I need a visa for the cruise. He put me onto this link which you can check on for every port. http://www.visalink.com.au/

I put Turkey in and I don't need a visa. I hold a NZ passport. I thought I would try an Australian passport and it showed yes need a visa. I tried as a tourist then I thought maybe there is an exemption for shorter visits so I tried transit but that is only applicable for transit up to 24 hours so if you are on the ship for the overnight stop in Istanbul this wouldn't apply. No wonder everyone is so confused as I am sure I also read that cruise ship passengers have an exemption. I would play on the safe side and get one in your position.

Hi Blue Elephant I looked right through the cruise personaliser and it says nothing about specifically getting a visa for Turkey. It has the general visa note as follows in several places but nothing specific.

TRAVEL DOCUMENT, VISA AND VACCINATION DISCLAIMER

This information is provided as general guidance. Because governmental and medical vaccination requirements and recommendations change periodically you must check with your travel agent, government authorities for the countries you will visit and/or medical professionals to determine or verify the actual requirements and recommendations at the time of sailing. Princess assumes no liability for the passenger's failure to do so.Failure to present required travel documents, visas, or vaccination certificates at cruise cruise check-in will result in denial of boarding without refund of the cruise or cruisetour fare.