Live from the Grand Princess Transatlantic Nov 3-17 Southampton to Fort Lauderdale

[caribill]

Shipboard entertainments for the evening will include more of Playthoven in the Piazza.

 

Is this Piazza entertainment only ten minutes long or is it really a decent length performance?

[luvcdays]

Thank you for doing the live from! Someday we will get around to doing a TA. Have a great time and I hope the weather improves for you.:)

[SwissDave]

Is this Piazza entertainment only ten minutes long or is it really a decent length performance?

 

Couple of weeks ago Playthoven were on for 30-45 minute sets, e.g 6.30 to 7.15.

 

To be honest we got a little bit bored of them after a few nights as their playlist seemed a bit limited and there were lots of repeats. They were quite good though and nice to listen to.

[DonahCBrown]

In re: the Remembrance Day observations – Trent from Passenger Services called yesterday to talk about how to incorporate the wreath that Cruise Critic roll call member Tony made into the ship’s planned observations. It sounds like there will be observations throughout the day, starting with a morning ceremony, a moment of silence at 11:11 AM and a multi-denominational service in the afternoon. The wreath will be presented at some point and then laid by one the ship’s company. It is difficult to do a public wreath laying from anywhere on the decks that large numbers of people can gather, so it will be done in a more accessible crew only area, as I understand it. It sounds like it there will be some very touching observations and I will report more after the events.

 

Today we are going to be in Lisbon, which is predicted to be rainy and in the 50s. Our tour is with ‘We Hate Tourism” and the tour is called Pirates of the Cruise Ship – sounds like even in the rain it is going to be fun. Would be nice to have weather like we had in Vigo, but I guess it is not to be, so will pack the umbrella and dress accordingly. I guess that’s just the risk one takes sailing at this time of year.

 

Today’s shipboard entertainments include the usual complement of games and quizzes, a matinee movie – Prometheus, MUTS will have George Michael Live in London concert during the day. Playthoven has been replaced in the Piazza by Calypso Sounds with Pan Player David Clarke – I’ll hang out and see how long the performance lasts – we haven’t been around that much so far to have a feel for how long the piazza performances last, but there seems to be something going on pretty much all day and evening. The evening movie in the Vista Lounge is Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Wheelhouse will have music and dancing to CJS. Stateroom tv will feature The Hunger Games, MUTS evening show will be Paul McCartney in concert in New York. The Princess Theater will feature vocalist Mark O’Malley. There will be 50’s and 60’s music trivia after the movie in Vista, followed by the 50’s and 60’s Sock Hop.

 

Have seen some questions about the Princess EZCheck system for luggage, and we received our form yesterday, so I’ll summarize the program. First off, there are some obvious errors on the form and Princess needs to update it as Continental Airlines is listed under both Fort Lauderdale and Miami, but the basic rules are these - the airline must be on the list (For FLL – American, American Eagle, Jet Blue, Air Tran, the aforementioned no longer in existence Continental, USAirways, South West, domestic only Delta, and United and for MIA American, American Eagle, United, Air Tran, Continental, and domestic only Delta) and flights must fall into particular time frames – between 11:30AM and midnight for FLL, and 2:00PM and midnight on the day of arrival, and you can have only 3 pieces of luggage per person. The fee for the service is $20, (plus any additional fees for baggage imposed by the airlines.) For this fee, you will get your boarding passes on board during the last night of the cruise, and your luggage will be transported directly to the airport from the ship and checked in directly to your flight and you can proceed to security and your gate.

[Shogun]

Hi Donna

 

Thanks for up date,

 

from the chats I had with Princess it appeared that all wanted to mark

 

the day,

 

have a safe crossing

 

yours Shogun

[SkystheLimit]

Enjoying your review. Thanks for posting. Hope to do a TA one of these days.

 

Would love to know more about Maurizio's schedule for the next few months. Will he stay on the Grand?

[Gaynors]

Have the new menus made it to the Grand?

 

We'll be boarding the day you get off so please take good care of her for us:D.

 

Penny

[caribill]

Have seen some questions about the Princess EZCheck system for luggage, and we received our form yesterday, so I’ll summarize the program. First off, there are some obvious errors on the form and Princess needs to update it as Continental Airlines is listed under both Fort Lauderdale and Miami, but the basic rules are these - the airline must be on the list (For FLL – American, American Eagle, Jet Blue, Air Tran, the aforementioned no longer in existence Continental, USAirways, South West, domestic only Delta, and United and for MIA American, American Eagle, United, Air Tran, Continental, and domestic only Delta).

 

Not-only does the Continental name no longer exist, Air Tran no longer flies to/from MIA.

 

The form is really out of date.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks Donna...I'm really enjoying your journey!!

[beachgirl000]

Donah, Thank you, thank you! We have this cruise booked for Oct, 2013 & I can't believe how lucky I am to find this.

[ischeer]

Not-only does the Continental name no longer exist, Air Tran no longer flies to/from MIA.

 

The form is really out of date.

Does it really matter ? If there are no "Continental" flights, and no AirTran flights out of Miami, no one will even try to check luggage to them, even if they are listed on the form.

[caribill]

Does it really matter ? If there are no "Continental" flights, and no AirTran flights out of Miami, no one will even try to check luggage to them, even if they are listed on the form.

 

No, but it makes you wonder if the old form being used has left out airlines which did not participate then but do participate now.

[DonahCBrown]

Lisbon – after a bit of a rocky start – our guide went to the wrong port to pick us up and two of our party of six got tired of waiting and went with a driver at the port – we set off to see the sights of Lisbon with Tiago from We Hate Tourism Tours for the Pirates of the Cruise Ships tour which included Lisbon, Sintra, Cascais, the Estoril Coast, Belem, and the hills of central Lisbon. Tiago turned out to be a charming guide, with excellent English and a good command of the history and culture of Portugal. We started with a ride through the old quarter of Lisbon to the highest point overlooking Lisbon and the ancient Moorish castle then made our way to the charming seaside village of Sintra where we stopped for pastries typical of Sintra, and also a sample of cherry liqueur served in a dark chocolate cup, and a look around the square and a little shopping.

 

By this time it was beginning to rain, and we made our way to visit the Quint da Regalerira – a very ornate building from the later half of the 19th century built by the Freemasons, with extensive grounds and out buildings as well as a network of tunnels connecting the various points of interest. As it had begun to rain in earnest by the time we got there, we did not explore as much of the grounds as the site deserved, and given the claustrophobia of two of us, didn’t use the tunnels to get around either. The chapel and main building were interesting and the government of the area – the equivalent of a US state – is in the process of restoring and refurnishing it. The grounds are lovely and would be wonderful to explore given a nicer day weatherwise.

 

We then made our way to the upscale resort town of Cascais, which Tiago told us had been the home of refugee royal houses from all over Europe during the Second World War. There are many miniature castles built during this period all along the sea coast and it is still a very exclusive area, although now more a home to well heeled retirees from Northern Europe than to exiled royalty. The rain had slacked off in Cascais, and we had a delightful picnic prepared by Tiago with local bread, wine, cheeses, chorizo sausage – a mllder and larger version that what we had seen before in the States – olives, and grapes. Just as we were finishing our picnic, the rains began again, so we packed up and set of for our drive up the Estoril Coast, stopping to visit the tower in Belem, the monument to the Age of Exploration, and the monastery. While we explored the magnificent chapel in the monastery, Tiago went to fetch us some of the Pasteis do Belem which went back to the ship with us – quite delicious with a coffee!

 

We made one more brief stop in the center of town to check for some of jewelry shops selling the silver filigree work I remembered from our prior visits to Lisbon, but were unable to locate the ones I remember – Tiago said many of the silver shops had been closed down in the economic downturn, though, and I couldn’t locate any in the area I saw them before, and we were running short on time, so returned to the ship.

 

There were a few vendors in the port, selling table linens, pottery, wines, port, cork goods ranging from handbags and belts to vests and slippers, but no silver filigree. One of the decorative motifs that you will see all over Lisbon is a crowing cock. It appears on everything imaginable from pottery to tee shirts to table linens. There is a legend about this that a man was arrested for a crime he did not commit and he is brought before the magistrate just before his scheduled execution. The magistrate is eating his dinner – a roasted chicken, and the man, pleading for his life, declares his innocence and as a last effort says that God will show the magistrate that he is an innocent man by having the cock crow to show that he is telling the truth, and at that instant the roasted chicken stood up on the table and crowed. Naturally the man was released and the crowing cock became the symbol of Lisbon.

[DonahCBrown]

Caribill - agreed - I will mention to the desk and see if they've updated any of the other airlines as well.

 

In re: Maurizio - will see if I can find out for you

 

In re: new menus - seems like the same ones we've had for a while now, although the 'newish' Sabatini's one is the posted one.

[DonahCBrown]

Been a quiet day at sea for us. Dennis has a bit of a cold, so we’ve taken it easy. I did my first trivia today, tied for third. Haven’t mentioned the most traveled thus far – seems that we have a VERY well traveled group on board as when we stopped by to check with the Captain’s Circle host, the cut off for the luncheon was likely to be, he thought, in the 500 + days. In chatting with some of the folks who had been on the previous cruise as well, the top three, who, I think, are all still on board, were all over 1500 days. In such company we’re not expecting to receive an invitation with just over 400 days.

 

The big event of the day was return of our passports, and beyond that, there are an assortment of mostly older films on tap (Dirty Dancing and Spiderman on MUTS, The Intouchables in the theater and The Odd Life of Timothy Green in the cabin,) the same Calypso guy in the Piazza (the shows are 20 minutes or longer, and while the steel drum playing was good, his singing is only so so) Enrichment lecture today was titled Where are You Dining Tonight – topic was the art and artist for whom the various dining rooms are named, and how they have inspired the chefs. Dance class was Cha Cha, and also featured were the Pub Lunch, and the Art Auction. The afternoon featured the Sommelier Wine Club, and Bingo and the Runway at Sea fashion show. This evening there is a comedian in the Princess Theater – Darrell Joyce and the venerable production show Motor City is on in the Vista Lounge. Explorer’s will feature Liar’s Club, and Maurizio will be in Crooners.

 

Internet is down for maintenance so I’ll post when it is available

[DonahCBrown]

Yesterday was our last port call before the crossing to Bermuda, in Ponta Delgado in the Azores. Our table mates did a private tour into the interior to view the volcanic crater lakes and see some of the countryside, which they said was spectacular. Weather finally started to warm up and it was pleasant during our walk around town. Dennis still isn’t feeling well, and now I’m coming down with ‘the cold’ so we took it easy and just meandered around for a while. There are pretty squares, a couple of museums, lots of shops and restaurants and we saw a number of people taking the horsedrawn carriage rides around the streets. There is a large botanical garden a few blocks inland of the port and right at the port is a large complex of shops and restaurants. Interestingly, right within the port, there is an area cordoned off for swimming and we saw a number of people in the water. Not sure, given the level of activity in the port area that I’d feel comfortable swimming there, but to each his own!

 

Stopped in (briefly) to check out the ‘mindreader’ who was on in the Princess Theater – not very impressive and lightly attended, as well – lots of empty seats. Motor City was on again in the Vista, so I made a contribution in the casino and called it a night, hoping to avoid having my cold get worse.

 

Today is the first of several sea days between here and Bermuda, so will take it easy and keep it low key. Three trivias during the day, plus the evening one - multi-media trivia. Usual complement of other games – carpet bowls, golf putting, darts, and slot tournaments, Texas Hold-em, seminars and lectures. Runway at Sea again at 4 PM, and the Crew Show tonight at 8:30 and 10:30 – unusual, as that is typically only done one time, late in the evening. Vista Lounge is Jimmy Tamley, a ventriloquist.

[DonahCBrown]

Still not feeling well, so haven’t ventured out much today, but did want to attend the Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day) service, and just returned from that – it was a lovely ceremony, and well attended by passengers, with many of Susan’s poppy pins in evidence, and Tony’s wreath presented along with one made by the ship’s florists. These will be laid at sea at some point this afternoon by the ship’s officers. There were readings of Flander’s Fields, What is a Veteran, and The Last Post as well as hymns and prayers, and a bugler doing The Last Post bugle call and Reveille. All in all, very touching and clearly heartfelt on the part of all the participants from the crew and passengers.

[caribill]

On another thread someone was asking what does Princess charge for a transfer at the end of the cruise from Port Everglades to MIA.

 

Can you find out the answer?

[septrack]

We are booked on the Grand starting Nov 17th. We paid $24pp from MIA to Port everglades.

[cruisefreaks]

Still not feeling well, so haven’t ventured out much today, but did want to attend the Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day) service, and just returned from that – it was a lovely ceremony, and well attended by passengers, with many of Susan’s poppy pins in evidence, and Tony’s wreath presented along with one made by the ship’s florists. These will be laid at sea at some point this afternoon by the ship’s officers. There were readings of Flander’s Fields, What is a Veteran, and The Last Post as well as hymns and prayers, and a bugler doing The Last Post bugle call and Reveille. All in all, very touching and clearly heartfelt on the part of all the participants from the crew and passengers.

 

 

That is very touching, Donna and thank you for sharing.

Donna, too ;)

[DonahCBrown]

On another thread someone was asking what does Princess charge for a transfer at the end of the cruise from Port Everglades to MIA.

 

Can you find out the answer?

 

Septrak is right - $24/p for just the transfer - they also offer some tours and transfers for people with later flights.

[DonahCBrown]

The couple of times we have made up to the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge on One5 it has been mobbed. It appears that we have a LOT of Platinum/Elite folks on this crossing – finally got our Captain’s Circle invitation yesterday and we’ve been invited to the ‘non-formal night’ one tomorrow – may actually feel up to going by then, so it is probably a good thing.

 

Lots of talk at the dinner table last evening about how generally disappointed everyone has been in the level of the food this trip. Three of our table mates have been on since the prior cruise and they said it has been the same the whole time they’ve been on as well. The beef has been particularly disappointing, with most of cuts that have been ordered by anyone at our table turning out either tasteless, overcooked, or tough or all three. Sauces have been non-existent or dull, and there seems to be an oversupply of turnips and parsnips in the kitchen as they turn up on about every plate at every meal. After 32 cruises, I would have to say that this one has had the most consistently disappointing cuisine. Soups, which are generally one of our favorite components of the meals on board, have been very uneven – they seem to do pretty well with creamier soups like potato and pea, but the broth based or Asian soups have been disastrous – about the consistency and flavor of dishwater. Horizon Court, too, has been pretty disappointing with really ‘blah’ pasta salads, which are usually a reliable staple, and even the salad dressings have been ‘off’ – either too thin, too peppery, or not balanced in flavors. About the only standout items seem to be the pizzas, which have been good, and the desserts, so there is a good pastry chef on board. It is hard to understand how there can be such a huge discrepancy from ship to ship, using the same menus, recipes and suppliers, but I must say that there is here. On the positive side, our servers have been terrific, even in the face of a fair number of ‘send backs’ and uneaten dinners.

 

Our weather today is overcast and we have a pretty good swell going on with white caps, but our temperatures are going up on a daily basis, today’s reaching 75, and it is a formal night – haven’t yet decided if we will dress or not – depends on how we feel by the afternoon. The Patter tells us that there is likely to be little or poor satellite reception for both the internet and the television, as we are at a point where there isn’t anyone out here to transmit to but the odd passing ship, so this will post whenever we do have reception.

 

On tap for today’s entertainment are the usual lectures, crafts and games during the day, lots of old movies on MUTS (Overboard, Maverick, Mirror Mirror), a rum tasting and raffle, Bingo, Matinee Movie will be The Magic of Belle Isle with Morgan Freeman, and stateroom movie is The Avengers. Vista will have the comedian Darrell Joyce and the ventriloquist Jimmy Tamley (our table mates enjoyed both of them) on a double bill and the Production Show is Stardust, which I don’t recall having seen before, so will try and make that.

[paul929207]

Donna,

Thanks for taking us along. Two questions should you have time:

 

Do they offer the wine package?

How long will Petra be onboard? We have sailed with her a couple of times and always enjoy her presentations. We will be boarding the end of January.

[Shogun]

Hi Donna,

Thanks for you dates,

 

Hope you are feeling better

 

Sorry to hear food is a bit hit and miss, food was OK when were onboard

 

in the summer not out standing. Pizza was good.

 

 

yours Shogun

[Pia1913]

Donna - very much enjoying your Live. We will be flying to Rome (for the Crown's T/A) the day you are disembarking and your posts are really getting me in the mood. I followed you & Pia on the Ocean thread and loved every moment. And although we've never met, any friend of Pia's is a friend of mine!

 

That makes me blush. :o

 

Hi Donna: Just got off the Coral yesterday; looked for and found the thread this morning. Will follow along the rest of the way. Hope you both get unsniffled soon. Fortunately we avoided it this time.