lindyloo17

Thank you. Wow I'm so hoping they do the same for us, as it's our very first port. And my friend has never been on a cruise before�� sorry can I just ask....

How was the tendering ?

And do they take us dollar at the port?

Thank you. were the 3 ladies in traditional costume at the port ? I would love to see them and the musicians.

We only get a short stay and what with tendering and apparently the very bad traffic by the port.... we will not get very long to explore...which is a shame.

We have a private guide and car. We will see bautan temple and trenglalang rice fields.

Then have a Balinese spa at karsa

It seems a shame the gift items are so large, especially with many international guests.

Hoping if we get to do the tour we get a chance of an apron.

We are causing south East Asia, so maybe the gifts will be more suitable for guests with a plane baggage allowance ?

Any more info on the Sapphire please ?

Want to consider this for a 50th birthday in Feb 2018.

My friend would LOVE to tour the galley area ( she's an excellent baker ) Is this still included?

Thank you so much Keith for the info... I'm not very technical on searching on my small mobile

These tours were in 2011 so whilst amazing review, just wanted to chk out any more upto date information

I enjoyed mine on The Dawn and Oosterdam , and had booked another on Diamond when on an Asian cruise, only trouble was I didn't have enclosed shoes so they wouldn't let me do it. So make sure you have enclosed shoes.......I hadn't packed any due to hot weather in Asia ....

 

 

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Thanks..we would be the same... just planned on flip flops and evening sandals

Are trainers ok ?

The UST is expensive, but the "swag" that you get is worth about as much as the tour costs.

Warn your friend to leave room in her suitcase or she'll be wearing the robe when she boards her plane home.;p

Thank you for the info...

Whilst I love the idea of the swag.... I wish we had an option, as I can't see why I would want or need a chefs jacket etc. It's quite pricey, bit guess it's once in a lifetime.

As for the robe again...we will have to leave it behind 😣

What a shame

I have looked to see that Princess offer a behind the scenes tour for 3 hours on selected at sea days..

I'm thinking of booking this for a birthday present for my traveling companion.

Any feedback please .

We are on the Sapphire in Feb 2018 around asia 😀

Thank you . I'm hoping not to have to iron too much !!! 😂😂😂

I know this is an old thread.

However I was wondering about an update please

We are from the UK. So will have to change coins when onboard.

How much is it to wash and dry a load ?

Also is there ano iron we can use? Or do we pack a travel iron ( on Disney cruise we weren't allowed an iron, in room incase of fire )

Thank you

I think it's March 2018. As we are onboard in Feb...and miss out on the new mattresses 😣😣😣😣😣

Wow...sorry I started off this whole thing! I was genuinely interested in what to do if left behind. The man's lost about being left in Bahamas was a scarey read

My friend is nervous about this so we want to be fully prepared "just incase" though it this rate I can't see us going more than 1 hr away from the port...which is super hard in south East Asia

I'm not into huge group tours so we will have a read think.

.thanks again

What ports are they..?

I go on sapphire in Feb 2018 and our tours are up

Thank you for all the information

I will discuss with my travel companion what we want to do. coming from the UK... we just don't tips for everything !

So maybe auto tipping is just easier ?

Thank you for all the insight and advice

We are from UK. We were going to turn off auto tipping and tip based on service.

We are on anytime dining.

We will tip waiter and cabin attendant.

Is that OK? .

You are lucky you will get her after dry dock and new mattresses.

We miss out on that when we are in asia on sapphire , in Feb 2018

We give the steward extra at the end of the cruise but something special (not cash) during the trip. You'd be surprised to see the difference in service sometimes when doing so.

Do you mean like... leave some English chocolate or something?

Sadly in some ports I'm not too keen on the trips offered. And have found some private drivers etc to take us where we want

I will ask to be back in plenty of time and take a watch on this holiday 😀

The passports and safe contents for any passengers that miss the ship will be left with the port agent.

Well that's better than being stranded with out cash or credit card , I guess.

The link shared at three beginning of the thread makes very serious reading!

It's hard to know about carrying passport and credit cards etc...as we've been warned about getting bag snatches especially in HCMC.

Thank you for all the info.

We will copy our passports and I will wear and set a wristwatch to make sure we are on "ship time "

I was told the last tender left an hour before the ship left...so if ship goes at 5pm last tender is 4pm so get to port by 3pm to ensure you get a tender ok?

I think I will aim to be at the port 30mins before last tender now.

It's a shame the port time is so short and th3 main places to go in asia are 2 hours each way....away from the port.

Rookie error...should have probably booked a different company who have over nights in the ports like Laem chabang.

Still we will get a taster of each place 😀

Thank you for the advice

Getting a little worried now with all the stories of it taking hours to tender... then having to be back to port 2 hours before ship leaves...

This cuts an 8 hr dock to 4 hrs !

So I don't want to cause an argument... however on practical terms. What do you do if you miss the ship?

I assume they give your passports to the port manager and go 😮😮😮

So any tips.

Obviously always carry a credit card and Meds.

Ok - this is not actually a "secret", but I just found about about the Refer-a-Friend program through Princess (why my travel agent didn't tell me about it is just one of many reasons that I'll never use her again). Any person who has cruised Princess before can refer a person who is a first-time cruiser and then they each get $25 on-board credit which can be used in the following 24 months. This is per person (not per cabin). And, yes, you can do this even if the newbie has already booked their cruise. I was referred by a friend and just got them $50 OBC (for me and my husband) and us $50 OBC. It's easy and fun to get freebies!

Personally, I don't see why any first-time cruiser should cruise Princess without taking advantage of this. Just a thought: if you weren't referred by anyone and don't know of any Princess cruisers you want to give the OBC to, why not consider asking someone who has been helpful to you here on Cruise Critic to refer you? Some people put a great deal of time and energy helping others, posting great reviews, etc. - why not give them some goodies?!

Just my 2 cents . . .

Me and my frind are BOTH first time cruisers with Princess if you want to recommend us .. we would all gain 😀😀😀😀

Me too...

Great question as I'm a first timer with Princess too

Can I ask .... if we are on deck 12 and apparently were in the first 100 to book the cruise for Feb 2018 will this help us get an early chk in ?

We flyou from UK to singapore. Our hotel chk out as 11am and we will have a car picking us up. We were planning on going straight to the port 🙄

I'm interested in this too... first cruise with princess booked for asia feb 2018.