1st Ever Princess Cruise

[User Error]

Hi All.

This is our first post and our first ever Princess cruise.

We cruised once before on the Sundream (through Airtours) back in 2000 and through work commitments have never managed to do so since.

Next year we are booked on the Crown Princess to the Norweigan Fjords and simply cannot wait- first holiday in 7 years!!!

Have obviously done loads of research but am still left with a few questions which hopefully some of you fine people could help with.

 

There seem to be lots of feedback about pool areas and deck areas on hotter cruises but not much on Fjord trips.

 

Do Pool areas still get packed? (Weather permitting)

Do Pools/areas close (We used to enjoy midnight swims- is that permitted on Princess?)

We have booked for fixed dining (early sitting)- if you dont fancy dinner at that time, can you then just get yourself something from the flexible dining areas?

What things (Drink and food wise) cost extra apart from the obvious bar drinks.

Is the Sanctuary worth a visit for the Fjord trips?

 

I'm sure they'll be tons more questions- but I'll stop here for the time being.

[Fuzzyape]

User, sounds like you'll be on a great cruise!

 

I don't know anything about the pools, not much of a pool person.

 

I believe (it's been a few years since a Princess cruise) that the restaurants outside of the main dining room and buffet have a surcharge.

 

If you know ahead of time that you won't be at dinner, you might want to let the servers know the night before. I think sometimes they wait for everyone to show up before they start serving.

 

Have fun!

[Katie333]

Hi All.

 

 

Do Pool areas still get packed? (Weather permitting)

Do Pools/areas close (We used to enjoy midnight swims- is that permitted on Princess?)

We have booked for fixed dining (early sitting)- if you dont fancy dinner at that time, can you then just get yourself something from the flexible dining areas?

What things (Drink and food wise) cost extra apart from the obvious bar drinks.

Is the Sanctuary worth a visit for the Fjord trips?

 

I'm sure they'll be tons more questions- but I'll stop here for the time being.

 

I've not been on a fjord cruise but we did a transatlantic with stops in Norway Iceland and Greenland. Pool areas were far less crowded than on Caribbean voyages, and they were generally closed by midnight. Frankly, it got so cool that I can't imagine it would have been pleasurable.

 

We had cool weather and rain in the evenings and could not even enjoy MUTS much less the pools.

 

You can always get meals in the buffet, grille or pizza if you don't want to go to your traditional dining room at the appointed time. It is considered a no-no to go to the Anytime Dining room in lieu of traditional dining. There is always a large wait list for traditional, and if you think you'd prefer flexibility switch to Anytime and give someone your spot.

 

The Crown is a lovely ship and also has the International Cafe which has mainly no charge food items (gelato has a charge there), and also features a coffee bar for which there is a separate charge.

[User Error]

Thanks folks for your replies.

Pretty much what I was expecting I'm pleased to say.

My only main concern is that we have booked onto the Riveria deck (R505) which seems to be under the swimming pool area- and I'm concerned we may get noise coming from through the ceiling at all hours.

We're both really looking forward to this trip so much and am pretty sure we'll be hooked after this- next stop: Alaska!!

 

 

We prefer cooler climates....btw

[catergirl]

that was our 1st cruise as well:D we are canadian and it was mostly brits with a few canuks thrown in! we had a pipe break down on our deck and were flooded out and were assigned another cabin that wasnt too good for a night. anyway, despite its age i had fond memories, like the midnight chocolate buffet, chocolate as far as the eye could see:D found out i should use seesick meds as well. the crown is great, done it twice amd WAY bigger that the sundream! we like anytime dining. menus are the same as the main and if you like the table and server, you can reserve it for the entire cruise. the upcharge restaurants are good for a change and the chefs dinner, if you like wine is definately worth the $75 each. soda card is worth it if you drink soda. you can bring your own wine on board and we ask for wineglasses and bring our corksrew. we also have never had any problem bringing booze on board from ports, never had it taken away. DH drinks this and adds his diet coke. you may enjoy the pub lunch on seadays, taste of home:) enjoy !

[catergirl]

the pool at MUTS is closed at night for the movie, net over it. not sure if you can swim all night long or not! sometimes they net it to clean it.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great ship choice and iteniary. :)

[User Error]

that was our 1st cruise as well:D we are canadian and it was mostly brits with a few canuks thrown in! we had a pipe break down on our deck and were flooded out and were assigned another cabin that wasnt too good for a night. anyway, despite its age i had fond memories, like the midnight chocolate buffet, chocolate as far as the eye could see:D found out i should use seesick meds as well. the crown is great, done it twice amd WAY bigger that the sundream! we like anytime dining. menus are the same as the main and if you like the table and server, you can reserve it for the entire cruise. the upcharge restaurants are good for a change and the chefs dinner, if you like wine is definately worth the $75 each. soda card is worth it if you drink soda. you can bring your own wine on board and we ask for wineglasses and bring our corksrew. we also have never had any problem bringing booze on board from ports, never had it taken away. DH drinks this and adds his diet coke. you may enjoy the pub lunch on seadays, taste of home:) enjoy !

 

 

Awwww...The Sundream...we had a great time...Our dinner waiter was the spitting image of Oddjob from Goldfinger and he was a legend- great guy.

The Crown ticks all the boxes for us and am really looking forward to seeing the Fjords....Waking up in the morning and sitting on our balcony enjoying coffee whilst sailing through the fjords...Ultimate Peace!!!

 

Sounds like the IC and the pub lunches are gonna be a favourite- love the look of that breahfast sandwich......Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[soccerref]

Hi All.

This is our first post and our first ever Princess cruise.

We cruised once before on the Sundream (through Airtours) back in 2000 and through work commitments have never managed to do so since.

Next year we are booked on the Crown Princess to the Norweigan Fjords and simply cannot wait- first holiday in 7 years!!!

Have obviously done loads of research but am still left with a few questions which hopefully some of you fine people could help with.

 

 

Welcome back to the wonderful world of cruising! I think you will find Crown Princess to e a very different experience to Sunbird - it's a much bigger and more modern ship - but hopefully you will enjoy it as much as we enjoy our Princess cruises. Having said that we did the Fjords and North Cape on P&O. You don't say if your cruise is the long or short version but I'll do my best to help:

 

Do Pool areas still get packed? (Weather permitting)

I'm not sure if Crown has a pool with a retractable roof. Arcadia has and the pool was well used in all weather conditions. We had fabulous weather (late July 2008) so the roof was open a lot of the time.

Do Pools/areas close (We used to enjoy midnight swims- is that permitted on Princess?)

Generally speaking, most ships' pools close around 9ish but often the jaccuzi tubs are still in use until much later.

We have booked for fixed dining (early sitting)- if you dont fancy dinner at that time, can you then just get yourself something from the flexible dining areas? You are not able to go to the 'anytime dining' restaurant if you miss your 'traditional dining' time but there are always the options of the free buffet, the 'speciality' restaurants (at an extra cost) or room service ($2-$5 tip depending on the amount of food ordered).

What things (Drink and food wise) cost extra apart from the obvious bar drinks.

Alcoholic drinks, speciality coffees and sodas all cost extra. Tea, coffee, milk, iced water and hot chocolate are always available in the buffet area and still lemonade is also available during meal times in the buffet. There are speciality restaurants and some cake and ice cream items that incur an extra cost but I've never found the need to buy food as there has always been more food than I could possibly eat available 24hrs a day included in our cruise fare.

Is the Sanctuary worth a visit for the Fjord trips?

Can't help you with this one

 

 

Below is part of my review of our trip which may be of help as there are some tips about the ports we visited. We absolutely loved the cruise and would do it again if there weren't so many other spectacular parts of the world still left for us to see!

P&O North Cape & Norwegian Fjords

J814 - Arcadia - 21 July 2008 (13 nights)

The cruise

Embarkation:

We travelled down from the Midlands on the Sunday and then stayed overnight in Reading. My DH expected the M3 to be busy so we set off at 9.00a.m. anticipating delays but we sailed(!) through so we arrived early (11.15a.m.) at the Mayflower Terminal in Southampton. Our car and luggage were both whisked away with great efficiency and we joined the very short queue which grew extremely quickly after our arrival. Boarding started at 11.45 and we were on the ship within 15 minutes. We had been told that cabins would not be available until 1.30 but DH decided to go straight to the cabin to see if he could leave his suit bag there and, to our delight, the cabin was ready. Emily introduced herself and was happy for us to leave everything in there before we went off to explore and have lunch in the buffet. All our pieces of luggage arrived by 4.00p.m.

Ports:

We decided not to do many organised trips because we were not sure what the weather would be like. In retrospect, I wish we had done at least one into the mountains around the fjords but we still saw a lot although I think we missed out on the information about the areas.

Bergen:

It was cool and overcast when we woke up but, as this was our first sight of Norway, we were immediately struck by the grandeur of the hills and the way the town with its strongly colourful wooden buildings nestled among the hills.

There were 7 cruise ships in that day so everywhere was very crowded. Arcadia was docked about ½mile from the town centre and, following advice gained from the cruise forums, we headed, on foot, straight for the funicular which is situated very close to the market area. We had to join a long queue and stood in line for 30 minutes. The return ride was 70kroner (£7)pp but worth it for the views of the city and fjord. I’m glad we went straight there as the queue was almost twice as long when we arrived back at base.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the harbour area where there was a lively and vibrant market with some unusual stalls - whale products and fur products were in evidence everywhere. It was there that we began to realise just how expensive everything in Norway is!!!! I love to go in local supermarkets and try to bring back home a typical delicacy – jam, packet cake mix, sauce, sweets or a cooking utensil – but I could not bring myself to buy anything. Everything was at least twice the price of a similar item in the UK. Even a single post card cost nearly £1. We quickly learned to eat and drink on the ship and to limit our spending to entrance fees and bare essentials.

Bergen has a delightfully quaint area (a world heritage site) just behind the very deep coloured wooden shops by the harbour side. We wandered around there taking photos for a long time before returning to the ship. It was lovely having our first experience of sailing down a fjord and, to make it even better, the sun came out and stayed out for most of the rest of the cruise.

-4-

Tips

· Do the funicular ride as early as possible to avoid the worst of the queues.

· Public toilets are expensive – between 5kr and 10kr (50p &£1) so have change available.

· There are free toilets in the building at the centre of the fish market area.

Flam:

We thought Bergen was attractive but Flam was a revelation. We were so lucky that the weather was warm with clear blue skies as it accentuated the magnificence of the lush green hills and the sparkling patches of snow high up on the mountainside. The water of the fjord glistened bright blue and everything was so quiet and still. We had set the alarm for 6.30a.m. knowing that we had a long sail up the Sognefjord to get to Flam and wishing to see some of the fjord. I’m so glad that we did as the scenery in the early morning sunshine was just too beautiful to describe. It was lovely eating breakfast and seeing the mountains and tiny villages slide by.

We docked in the little village of Flam at 8.00a.m. and decided to disembark as soon as possible. This was an excellent decision as it enabled us to catch the first train of the day on the famous train for the 50 minute ride up to Myrdal which left at 8.35a.m. The station is about ¼mile from the dock and there was only a short queue to purchase tickets (310Kr-£31- pp return). The train ride was spectacular with amazing views of the mountains, waterfalls, rivers and villages. The train makes a 5 minute stop at a huge waterfall and most people got off to take photos.

There is not much at Myrdal except for the station and its cafe. My DH and I decided to walk down the path opposite the station and, again, were happy with this decision as it took us alongside a mountain stream to a beautiful waterfall. I felt a bit sorry for the couple who were camping there as their peace was suddenly shattered by us and a few others who had chosen to walk the path.

We caught the 10.50a.m. train back to Flam and were amazed (horrified) by the huge queues waiting for the train. There were several coach loads of people arriving all the time.

The village of Flam is a couple of miles from the dock area so we decided just to wander around the dock/station area with its restaurants, souvenir shops and supermarket. There is a pretty park area and a shingle beach where families were picnicking and sunbathing. My DH saw a crew member swimming and asked if the water was cold. The man replied “somewhere between freezing and ice cold!!” so we decided to give paddling a miss that time!

Arcadia sailed at 5.30p.m. and we were able to enjoy the return trip down the fjord while having a drink on our balcony .....bliss!

Tips

· Get the 8.35a.m. train to avoid the queues.

· Sit on the right side of the carriage facing forward for the best views.

-5-

Olden:

This holiday was beginning to settle into a pattern by now as we realised that we would miss so much if we stayed in bed late so, once again, the alarm was set early so that we could have a morning coffee and watch the magnificent scenery pass by as we cruised up the Nordfjord to Olden.

Nordfjord was just as impressive as Sognefjord but in a slightly more gently rolling way. The weather again was superb and the early morning sun accentuated the brilliant greens and blues of grass and water. Olden is also situated a long way down the fjord and, like Flam, has a dock area and then a small town about 1mile away.

My DH had booked a fjord fishing excursion for the morning so he had breakfast and went off to do his thing. I took the opportunity to wander the ship and take photos and then to have a quiet read on the balcony surrounded by the crystal clear air and wonderful scenery. DH had a good time but only caught 3 fish so he was a little disappointed.

In the afternoon we strolled from the ship into the little town. The walk took us past some lovely houses with colourful and well kept gardens before we reached the village centre. There were a few shops selling clothing, souvenirs and food but prices were so high that it was easy to resist buying.

There is a lovely white painted wooden church that is open to visitors and after a look round there we walked slowly back along the waterside to the ship. There was an abundance of wild flowers in bloom and a lot of different sorts of birds. We sat on a bench and soaked up the sights and sounds, revelling in the peace and quiet.

Tips

· There is a trolley train that runs from the ships side and does a 1 hour round trip of the area.

· There are free public toilets in the building next to the supermarket in the village centre.

Trondheim:

The weather continued to be kind to us and we, again, were up early to see the approach to Trondheim. This was a less spectacular sail but still pretty in its own way. The ship docked in the industrial area of the city and there was a regular shuttle bus service into the town centre which we caught. The bus dropped us off very close to the cathedral so we walked to that. It is a very impressive building and reminiscent of Many English cathedrals. From there it was a few minutes’ walk to the ‘old’ bridge which we crossed into the old town area. The buildings here are pastel coloured wooden houses with pretty flower displays. We wandered this district for a little while before heading into the modern town centre. This was a pleasant enough place but very much like any other town so, after an extortionately priced cup of coffee, we returned to the ship.

Tips

· Shuttle bus was 50kr (£5)pp return.

· You could walk into the city but it was a long way and the route was not particularly attractive.

· There is a 100kr (£10) entrance fee pp to the cathedral.

· Toilets are free in the shopping mall.

-6-

Sea day:

This was when we crossed the Arctic Circle although we would never have guessed from the fabulously hot weather we were having. The great thing here was that we could see the Norwegian coastline as we travelled north and it was an amazing succession of high jagged cliffs. Unfortunately the calm and still conditions were perfect to create the fog blanket that descended in mid-afternoon and followed us for the next couple of days. This meant that we did not see the ‘midnight sun’ but we did get the 24 hours of daylight. It was a surreal feeling to be sitting on the balcony at 1.00a.m. in full, although misty, daylight!

Honningsvaag and North Cape:

It was heaven not to have to set the alarm so early as we were not due to reach Honningsvaag until 12.30p.m. After a late breakfast and a bit of line dancing my DH and I went our separate ways to join our different tours. We were tendered into the little town of Honningsvaag as Arcadia is too big to tie up to the dock side. There is a permanent population of around 400 in the immediate area and I’m not surprised. It is very wild and beautiful in a stark sort of way but, in winter, they have 74 days of almost total darkness.

DH was going bird watching and he was full of praise for the whole trip when he returned. The guide had been excellent and the group had seen many different birds – sea eagles, puffins, cormorants etc plus a minky whale, seals and sea lions.

I did the North Cape trip. This cost £46 which included the £20 entrance fee to the North Cape national park. The coach trip took about 50 minutes along very windy roads with some spectacular views across bleak moorland. There were herds of reindeer grazing on the patches of lush grass and wild flowers.

The North Cape tourist centre is large and has some interesting exhibits including the 180 degree wide screen film show. It was such a shame that the mist was still hanging around and was thick enough to make it difficult to appreciate the height of the 900ft cliffs. We were free to return when we wanted so I spent about an hour there and 15 minutes looking round the town of Honningsvaag before getting the tender back to the ship.

Unfortunately the mist persisted so we were unable to see the North Cape cliffs as we cruised past them at midnight.

Tips

· It would be difficult to do anything independently in this area.

· There is a free toilet on the ground floor at the museum in Honningsvaag.

· Have warm clothes.

Tromso:

The mist cleared as we travelled south to Tromso and the warm weather returned, much to our delight. We also resumed our early morning alarm call and were not disappointed as we sailed up another pretty fjord.

-7-

Arcadia docked at the industrial port which is a good way out of the town centre. We were able to see the large bridge and the modern ‘Arctic Cathedral’ from the upper deck of the ship. We caught the port run shuttle bus which dropped us off in the shopping district. This was about 3 miles from the ship.

We walked down to the water front and realised that it was too far to walk across the bridge to the cathedral so we concentrated on the commercial centre. This comprises of a few shopping streets, some pretty wooden houses and there was also a small market where we found some affordable small gifts.

After a couple of hours of slow meandering we felt that we had seen all that was walkable in Tromso so we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship and finished the day with a game of scrabble and a bit of sunbathing.

Tips

· Shuttle bus was 55kr (£5.50)pp return.

· The market had the cheapest gifts of all the places we visited.

· Free toilets in the small shopping mall.

Alesund:

After yet another early morning sitting drinking coffee on the balcony and watching the approach down the fjord to the next destination we were pleased to find that we were docked right in the centre of Alesund.

The weather had changed and was cool and damp. This was a shame because Alesund was perhaps the most attractive of all the ‘cities’ we visited.

Once again we wandered the streets and found some beautiful waterfront buildings. My DH then decided to climb the 400+ steps to the top of the mountain where there is a viewing platform. I gave this one a miss and spent a bit of time window shopping before returning to the ship.

The weather improved in the afternoon and the sun came out as we set sail. Apparently this had been the first visit of a P&O ship to this port so we were escorted out into the fjord by a fire department boat with the hoses spraying fountains of water.

Tips

· There is a trolley train which takes you up the mountain to the view point for 150Kr (£15)pp

Stavanger

We had lovely weather again as we neared Stavanger. I have to say that I was not particularly looking forward to this port but it turned out to be my favourite of the larger ports. Arcadia docked right in the centre of the town and the market was only a 200 yards from the gangplank. We walked to the market square and then, just to the left is the church with some beautiful and interesting artefacts. A short stroll down the narrow shopping streets lined with attractive floral displays took us to the ferry terminal and a most unusual children’s playground constructed from all kinds of industrial materials.

-8-

We carried on walking and eventually came to small hill in the centre of the town with an old ‘lookout tower’ on it. There were very good views of the ship from there. Our stroll took us back to the church square and then into the pretty little park area with the lake and fountain. From there we continued to walk back towards the ship but followed the quayside on the opposite side of the harbour until we came to the Old Town area. This was truly beautiful in the warm sunshine. The old town comprises of several narrow, cobbled streets lined with quaint, white painted, wooden houses which were set off by colourful displays of flowers in window boxes, hanging baskets and the small gardens.

My DH and I spent some time sitting at various vantage points so that we could soak up the atmosphere of this, our last port in Norway, before heading back to the ship.

There was a ‘Great British Sail Away’ party on the aft pool deck as we slid out of Stavanger and down the last fjord. This seemed a fitting end to our Norwegian adventure.

Tips

· This is the perfect place to get off the ship in the morning, return for lunch and then get off again in the afternoon.

· Spend all your remaining Norwegian Kroner coins as banks at home will not change them.

Sea Day

Our last day was spent packing and enjoying the facilities aboard for the last time.

We were able to put out our first bags for collection by 4.00p.m. and any others needed to be out by midnight.

Disembarkation:

We were issued with brown cards which gave us a disembarkation time of 10.10a.m. This was the last time so, as we had to vacate our cabin by 8.ooa.m., we had a leisurely breakfast and then found a quiet spot in the Orchid Bar to read while we waited for our call. The call came at 10 o’clock and we were off the ship and in the terminal by 10.05a.m. We found our luggage quickly but then the wait began. There were very long queues to go through customs and then a chaotic scene as people tried to get to the taxi rank or get their car keys. We finally pulled out of the car park at 11.00a.m. which I suppose, if you consider U.S. immigration and airport waits, was acceptable.

Tips

· Take fewer pieces of luggage and do the self disembarkation. We have done this on other cruise lines and been away in 20 minutes.

Conclusion:

This was a wonderful cruise and I would highly recommend both the ship and the itinerary. P&O will not be my first choice of cruise line for many reasons: we prefer an ‘anytime’ dining option and less formality. We also prefer a more cosmopolitan mix of passengers and a younger profile. Having said all that though, we would not hesitate to go with P&O again if the price and itinerary were right.

[User Error]

Hi Soccerref,

 

Thanks for the detail on the ports.

We are doing the 12 day trip- visiting most of the ones mentioned in your review...maybe a couple of extra ones too- cant quite remember.

 

Lots of good tips there about the ports- 1 I was going to mention was that which ports are best for doing things on your own two feet and which are best for using the ships excursions to get the best out of the visits.

I'm fish crazy btw and understand there is a publiuc aquarium in I believe Tromso, Has anyone visited it?

[caribill]

Do Pool areas still get packed? (Weather permitting)

I'm not sure if Crown has a pool with a retractable roof. Arcadia has and the pool was well used in all weather conditions. We had fabulous weather (late July 2008) so the roof was open a lot of the time.

 

 

No pool with a retractable roof on the Crown.

[Denali2003]

Do Pool areas still get packed? (Weather permitting) - We were on the Crown in 2007 - but that was to the Caribbean. Even then we were still able to find 4 deck chairs together. Since you will be in cooler climate - you shouldn't have a problem finding deck chairs.

 

Do Pools/areas close (We used to enjoy midnight swims- is that permitted on Princess?) Yes - the pools do close at night.

 

We have booked for fixed dining (early sitting)- if you dont fancy dinner at that time, can you then just get yourself something from the flexible dining areas? Yes you can. There are no "rules" saying that you can't change. If one night you're busy at the time you're suppose to go to dinner, you don't have to go. You can go anywhere else on the ship. However, if you decide you don't want the traditional time at all, and want to do anytime - you will need to notify the matrie'd. There is a wait list for traditional dinning.

What things (Drink and food wise) cost extra apart from the obvious bar drinks. Sodas, Juice (juice at bars not in the Horizon Court), Hot Coca, specialty coffees (mocha, latte, espresso, etc), Hagen Daz Ice Cream, there are specialty dinning rooms - those are extra.

 

Is the Sanctuary worth a visit for the Fjord trips? This depends on you. The Sanctuary is great for cruises with lots of kids and you want to get away from them. It's also a great place to relax in peace and quiet. You can also get massages there. They even have a menu you can order from - that is an extra charge also. We toured the Sanctuary on the Grand Princess last November - it was quite beautiful. We thought about it, but never did it. It even has it's own pool. It is a great place to go and get away from the crowds. You can either rent a chair by the day or week. Or rent by the 1/2 day or whole day. If you want to do it for the whole week, that should be one of your first stops after checking in. You will need to reserve a chair (you get the same chair in the same spot each time).

You will like the Crown they have quite a few themed bars. The International Cafe is a nice place. We found out AFTER the cruise that the food in there was free. :( I just wish all the Princess ships have that cafe - they don't.

Hope this was of some help.