Prinsendam 2005 World Tour... it has begun

[Brandis]

I have a question regarding the Signature of Excellence upgrade on Prinsendam. According to the HAL schedule, all upgrades should have been done on Prinsendam. Did all cabins have flat screen TVs and DVD players?

 

Also, do you remember if the show kitchen (Culinary Arts Center) already has been installed in the Wajang Theatre? It is shown to be located there on the 2006 deck plan.

 

Marc

[Traveller1]

Thank you so much Slinkie--great to hear all the details--now my binder is complete.

 

many happy times to you both and enjoy the summer,

 

Wendy

[julia]

I simply had to post my "kudos" to this marvelous thread. I've enjoyed these boards with each cruise we've booked... first the RCCL board, then Princess, then Carnival, and now HAL. (BTW... my post count got nuked). As you all know, each board has is own unique cast and feel to it, and I must say, the HAL board has been my favorite so far! (I've no doubt our upcoming cruise will equal their board!)

 

This thread however, transends all of the boards and is just wonderful!! I started reading it just a few days ago, and discovered a lovely novel with a delightful cast of characters. A glass of wine, my laptop by the fireplace (ok, I know I'm in San Diego... but "dayum", it's nippy here!) and before too long I'm joining in on the WC with Grumpy and Slinkie. I've laughed out loud on several occasions... (carwash pants had me in stitches!). Since I'm only on page 23, it looks like I'll be enjoying this thread for many days.

 

When my husband and I are aboard the Oosterdam this fall, we'll toast to you both for your generous sharing of the Prinsendam 2005 World Tour!

[fb0075]

I realize that this is rather personal--but, in general, what would you estimate that over and above the fare,the out of pocket expenses would be on an adventure of this sort?

Since alcohol and gifts,etc., are personal--they could not be included!

I am considering the 2007 trip after recieving the promotion today reducing this years price to what I feel is reasonable--but looking to get a feel for the total $$ outlay!

THANKS FRANK

[blackbird71]

I realize that this is rather personal--but, in general, what would you estimate that over and above the fare,the out of pocket expenses would be on an adventure of this sort?

Since alcohol and gifts,etc., are personal--they could not be included!

I am considering the 2007 trip after recieving the promotion today reducing this years price to what I feel is reasonable--but looking to get a feel for the total $$ outlay!

THANKS FRANK

 

Frank one GREAT thing about HAL's web site is they list the shore excursions and prices for each port.

 

Having said that, IF the Lotto Godess was to be like to me this year, I would not do the HAL 2006 WC. I spent one night looking at the 2006 shore excursions and IMHO got bored..... I would have to eat a little crow and do Radisson this year....

[blackbird71]

Grumpy or Slinkie

 

For myself, I have copied all your posts from the WC thread into a Word and PDF doc. If you want me to sent it to you email me at bsterner@techsafari.com

 

I will not email this doc to any other requestors. This IMHO is for the authors to decide.

 

OK I did it in 14pt font and it is ONLY 204 pages. :eek::eek:

[jhannah]

I realize that this is rather personal--but, in general, what would you estimate that over and above the fare,the out of pocket expenses would be on an adventure of this sort?

I would think a minimum of $100 per day on incidentals (over and above shore excursions and the like.)

[blackbird71]

I would think a minimum of $100 per day on incidentals (over and above shore excursions and the like.)

 

IMHO it would not be that high this year. With the Tips paid for Full cruise pax and the glass of wine with diner. UNLESS YOU drink a lot of booze, your onboard spending should be very little...

 

Shopping and tours off the ship are another story..

[Mariner05]

Yes the signature of Excellence upgrades have been completed on the ship/ We just disembarked last month from the World Cruise in NYC . Fortunately the rest of the ship was in great condition from Cape Town to NYC. We cannot say, from comments of those on board ,that it was that way for the rest of the cruise. It now looks like a HAL ship. They have worked hard to get her in proper condition.

[fb0075]

blackbird---

my feelings exactly--hope 2007 will be better--

my thinking on the $$$ is, it is better to hear from someone that has actually done it---

After 53 cruises, I have found that we dont spend alot of $$--dont drink,gamble,etc. but mostly because of complacency after so many times BUT this would be new and because of staying on the ship, I think you would spend more but certainly not $100 per day,IMHO--

Still would be interested GRUMPY on what your outlay was if not too personal!

THANKS FRANK

[blackbird71]

blackbird---

my feelings exactly--hope 2007 will be better--

my thinking on the $$$ is, it is better to hear from someone that has actually done it---

After 53 cruises, I have found that we dont spend alot of $$--dont drink,gamble,etc. but mostly because of complacency after so many times BUT this would be new and because of staying on the ship, I think you would spend more but certainly not $100 per day,IMHO--

Still would be interested GRUMPY on what your outlay was if not too personal!

THANKS FRANK

 

A man after my own heart. I am not a drinker or gambler. While my soft drinks and glasses of wine with dinner were provided free on Radisson, I think I spent < $150 in 12 days. LOL most of that was my normal "shopping" on a ship, two tee-shirts, hat, coffee mug... :)

 

On a plus 30 dayer you would have to add in things like haircuts, but still how many $20 haircuts will you get in 100 days.... :)

 

My biggest expense on a WC on HAL would be the two-three cans of DIET COKE a day... :rolleyes: Say $2.00 a can X 3 X 100 = $600 Yipes for my DIET COKE vice....

[Starr Mtn]

My biggest expense on a WC on HAL would be the two-three cans of DIET COKE a day... :rolleyes: Say $2.00 a can X 3 X 100 = $600 Yipes for my DIET COKE vice....

 

 

On the 2006 WC, soft drinks and bottled water is included - at least in some cabins.........

[Grumpy1]

He's Baaaaack!

 

OK, gang, Grumpy is now back online with a brand new laptop! The old one finally bit the dust completely and good ol' Best Buy decided to refund my purchase price (on the last day of the 3 year warranty) and let me apply that toward the purchase of a brand spankin' new one! Fortunately I had copied all files off to a portable hard drive the day before, so I have all of my pictures and documents.

 

Blackbird... thanks for the offer, but I created the posts in one continuous Word document and just pasted the latest part each day that I posted, so I have all of my posts archived. I had also copied the responses between posts into Word documents so I have the whole thread. If anyone does want the file that you have, feel free to share.... proceeds from the sale of such documents to be used to buy Grumpy and Slinkie a drink when our paths finally cross:D ...

 

Brandis... Yes, the culinary arts center has been installed in the Wajang. All cabins have the 20" flat screen TV's (Sharp Aqus LCD) and DVD players.

 

Julia... thanks for the compliments... I'm glad you enjoyed the thread.

 

fb0075.... regarding expenditures over and above the cost of the tickets... well, I've never bothered to add it all up... there were packages... like laundry, beauty shop, wine with dinner, photos, internet minutes... that were purchased before departure and reduced the expenditures on board. There were quite a few shore excursions purchased on board, a few gift shop purchases, a drink or two most days... even a drink for someone else once in a while... but we never contributed anything to the casino or bingo. There were a lot of ports where we didn't purchase a shore excursion through HAL, but spent money on trains, buses, cabs. And then there was shopping!

 

I think if I were to add it all up, I would find that we spent roughly $20,000 over the cost of the tickets. Less than 1/2 of that was on the shipboard account. The rest was spent in the ports. For tickets in the lowest price cabins, $20,000 would represent half of the ticket price. For us it was closer to 20%. For someone in the Penthouse, it would probably be pocket change.

 

Since the prices for shore excursions and most of the other purchases on board can be determined in advance, the biggest variable for most would be the shopping in ports. There were a lot of cruisers that bought very little in ports, others that spent more in one port than we did in all of them.

 

I thought about saying that budgeting 25% over the ticket cost should be a good place to start, but then I remember one couple that stayed in a lower cat cabin and probably spent more than the cost of the tickets in the ports and on excursions, and another couple that were in an SS cabin and probably didn't spend 5% of their ticket cost. The final answer is... YMMV (your mileage may vary)

 

Blackbird... The Diet Coke on the WC was "only" $1.75 a can... We purchased Coke in port on a couple of occasions when we could get it cheap, so the only time it was purchased on board was when it came mixed with rum in one of the lounges. since I could mix my own with on board supplies, there wasn't that much need to purchase in the lounge.

 

Grumpy

[KathieKata]

Hi there All!

 

Haven't posted much since our cruisers (Grumpy & Slinky) got home from their World cruise. I have been reading the posts every few days though. I think it's great that G & S have stayed around to answer all the questions everyone asks of them. Great people is all I can say.

 

I'd love to get a copy of the entire summary of G & S's World cruise. Is this possible??? From what Blackbird posted on here I would need permission from G & S get a copy.

 

Blackbird:Can 204 pages get transferred in one e-mail??? Or would it have to come in smaller amounts?? Not sure if my computer can handle that much at one time!! :eek:

 

Have a safe and fun 4th of July everyone.

Grumpy: Have fun with your new Laptop. Nice to know you were able to get Best Buy to honor the service contract you bought. Do you have a WIRELESS system set up in your house so you can use the Laptop outside?? We have a friend who is into computers BIG TIME and he can walk around the outside of his yard and even into a "pole barn" quite a ways from the house. I'd love to be COMPUTER SMART when it comes to figuring out how to do stuff like that. I'm still trying to perfect how to get my digital photos from the camera to the computer without taking half the night!! :rolleyes:

[blackbird71]

Hi there All!

 

 

I'd love to get a copy of the entire summary of G & S's World cruise. Is this possible??? From what Blackbird posted on here I would need permission from G & S get a copy.

 

Blackbird:Can 204 pages get transferred in one e-mail??? Or would it have to come in smaller amounts?? Not sure if my computer can handle that much at one time!! :eek:

 

 

Grumpy said I could send it out. As a PDF it is 3.5 meg, as a Microsoft Word just at a meg.

 

Send requests to bsterner@techsafari.com

 

No problem :)

[Williebill]

I sure do miss being on board.

[Williebill]

Grumpy1 with all of the information that you gave about the cruise, I wouldn't doubt that you burned your other laptop up. HA!

[Slinkiecat]

Grumpy has a new laptop now, a widescreen one to boot! Now he can think about another cruise to put it to good use. Hmmmm... So many wonderful trips in the listings. I'm sure we'll find a great one.

 

Slinkie

[Grumpy1]

Helllloooooo.... anybody out there? Found the thread hiding on page three.... Well, yeah, it would stay on page one if Grumpy posted once in a while, wouldn't it.

 

KathieKata... yes, Slinkie and Grumpy both have wireless cards in their laptops, although Grumpy doesn't make a habit of wandering around outside with his. It would work fine down by the pool, at least until the first big splash, but Grumpy thinks being able to chose between the couch and the recliner... maybe out on the deck above the pool... gives him as much freedom of movement as he needs.

 

WillieBill... yeah Slinkie and Grumpy miss being on board, too. They really miss all of the wonderful people, like you and Shiela, that they met onboard. Guess the only solution is to book another cruise:D

 

And now for the news of the day... Lazy Grumpy has finally started sorting out pictures and actually has an album posted on Webshots. The ones posted so far cover the cruise from shortly after departure at FLL to Sailaway from Auckland, NZ. There are almost 100 photos... and that's only a small fraction of the total taken. More to come in the next few days...

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/400030670kCEcMx

 

Enjoy!

 

Grumpy and Slinkie

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Great photos Grumpy,

 

Keep them coming.

 

The one's with the Kiwi Fruit canopy were just great.

 

Also liked the one of you both in Auckland.

On that day we picked up our friend Liz who was also on the World Cruise and took her out for the day.While you and Slinkie were on the Volcano at Mt Eden and looking over to the Volcano with the monument on it ,we were probably looking back at you.

Looking forward to your next sector ,as we are off in early August to join Pacific Princess in Bangkok and sail for 30 days to Capetown.

Leaving the ship in Colombo and taking a 3 & 1/2 day Overland tour to New Delhi ,Jaipur, Agra and the Taj Mahal.

 

About 1/2 way through your postings there was betting on how many responses you would get.......

I proposed 1,500 .......

Looks like we are on the way to getting that target!!!!!!!!!!

 

Cheers

David.

[blackbird71]

YIPES.... those Costa Rica birds are BIG....:D:D

 

Thanks Grumpy I really enjoyed those........ Keep them coming......

 

[Sweetdreams]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Cannot wait to see the others!

[2552phxcrzr]

Enjoyed seeing the photos, and look forward to reading the rest.

 

My husband and I love to travel, and a world cruise is definitely on our list of must do's - it will have to wait until we retire, however. In the meantime, as we commute to and from work each day, I read out loud from your journal. Not only does it help pass the time, but we feel like we are traveling. Just makes the commute so much more fun.

 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience.

[tropicalsunset]

Thanks for posting the beautiful photos -- I feel the world cruise has begun again!! of course, I am Particularly partial to the picture of the sunset in Samoa!!! :)

[Cruising Jake]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. What generous people you are!