Pullmantur Monarch Transatlantic-English Speakers

[ColoradoBelle]

Hi Kathleen! Now go post over on the Roll Call thread!!!

 

Mal and Marie Louise: thanks for linking the OTHER thread. How are you coming with transportation? Maybe we can meet up in PC the night before the cruise for dinner?

 

I took the liberty of inviting all of the TA Panama to Lisbon peeps to be friends. Now I'm not at all sure what that means, but maybe we'll be able to contact one another or at least get email notifications from Cruise Critic when someone posts.

 

I'm going to ask all of you to go over to the OTHER thread (listed under Roll Call, since Pullmanteur doesnt' seem to have its own listing. WHY? Because if we get enough people, cruise critic might give us a meet and greet. And it would be helpful to have us all under one thread.

 

Wanderwoman: we have 4 single ladies in our group (2 US, 1 Can, 1 Mexican)and 3 of us are in single cabins...heck, for the price, we had to do it! I had a single cabin once through the Panama Canal when the lady I was to share it with cancelled....and I LOVED it!!!!!!

 

Lee: I agree this will be a FUN cruise! I had originally booked us into Colon for two nights because some of the peeps are shoppers BUT THEN I talked to a friend here (in PV) who lived in Panama for 3 years and she said NOPE. So I cancelled and rebooked the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson onthe Canal (there are 2 hotels w/ same name but only one on the canal). It's a good area in Panama City and from your balcony you can watch the ships going through the Canal and free breakfast and shuttle to the Albrook Mall. So if you reconsider your option of staying in Colon....let me know. What time do you get in on May 25th? Kathleen (dejane) gets in @ 2 and I don't get in til after 7pm (on Copa from FLL). If times are close we may be able to share a taxi from the airport.

 

DCCruising: thanks for all the info on Icelandic. I'm having a hard time getting airfare back...may end up joining you on the Sept return!!!!! In my REAL life, I'm also a Linda!

 

Jakubowv: I tried renting a car one way, but they sent me this weird confirmation letter that indicated I could not...at any price....and that I had to return it to the airport. also, it looks like dejane got a rental tonight, but she may find the same thing. (Hope not!!!!!) Anyhow...welcome and please go to the OTHER thread!!!!!

 

Bought My Points: thanks for all the info on the Zenith. Can't believe there were only 100 of you!!!! Our cruise has been so low priced I can't believe that it isn't sold out. Looks like they finally raised prices a wee bit, so maybe it is filling up.

 

Those of you sailing the return TA in Sept: hi, you may talk dejane into that trip too!!!!! (allig and 123 and dccruisin)

 

If I forgot anyone, I'm sorry, but I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I'm hoping we can get a spreadsheet started with names and emails or cabin numbers so we can start an activity and excursion sign up...and maybe a small party on board (hey, with free drinks, why not?) or dinner the night before the cruise, etc.

 

It's only a MONTH!!!!!

CB:D

Edited April 26, 2016 by ColoradoBelle
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[Bollywood]

Hi All,

I am considering to join with my brother who will fly from India for Bilbao to Colon Cruise on Sept 17th, 2016 and I will fly from california USA.

This will be our first cruise ever and like to know as much as possible who don not speak spanish............

Cruisers, need your help in this adventure of our lifetime.

Any of you english speaking cruising this time ?

[Bollywood]

First time poster here so Hi from Australia:) I have put a deposit on the September 17 sailing from Bilbao, Spain to Colon, Panama but am a little unsure. It is a long way from Oz to Spain but the cruise is so cheap I can't resist as I can continue on to Boston to visit family after Panama. I am a single lady, well travelled, but never cruised. Do many English speaking people use these cruises departing Spain and also in general, what age group would do this type of cruise. It is a repositioning cruise and just too good a price to not go, but for 15 nights, is it an OK cruise for a single? Is this ship nice?

• 
  

Thanks guys.

gogirl

 

drop me message here if you get more info about this cruise, I am very much interested due to low cost cruise. Thank you

[dccruisin]

Hi All,

I am considering to join with my brother who will fly from India for Bilbao to Colon Cruise on Sept 17th, 2016 and I will fly from california USA.

This will be our first cruise ever and like to know as much as possible who don not speak spanish............

Cruisers, need your help in this adventure of our lifetime.

Any of you english speaking cruising this time ?

 

Bollywood,

 

There are several of us on the September cruise that are English speakers. We have our own roll call for the September cruise is listed on the “Roll Call” section under "other" with the title "Pullmantur Monarch Transatlantic 9/17/2016 Spain to Panama" come on over and join us. The link is http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2331760 . You can subscribe to a thread (under thread tools) and get daily (or immediate) updates in an email.

 

As you can see from my signature we like to cruise and we have done a transatlantic before. We have been on sister ships of the Monarch and it is a nice size ship to start out on and get a taste of cruising.

 

There should not be a problem with language. Announcements are in Spanish and English. We even took a Costa cruise (which is Italian) out of Venice one time. Italian was the first language but there were a lot of people and crew that knew English. And of course there is always hand waving.

 

There are a lot of sea days, which we like. We like to read and relax and play cards. On the transatlantic there was a group of cruise critic people that got together on sea days at the same time and played cards. Scrabble is another good game. I will try and remember to bring my travel scrabble.

 

We are Americans but live in Panama and we would be glad to have people spend some time in Panama before rushing home

 

If you need any other info just ask.

One way airfare can be expensive because the airlines stick it to the business traveler. But there are airlines out there that do not. We found Icelandic was a good one. I know they fly from Boston, NY, Orlando to Europe. The bonus thing is you can do a stopover in Iceland for free. We are going to do that on our way to Europe. If you have the time it is a good deal.

 

Linda

[BoughtMyPoints]

Hi, we can't get an answer from our Travel agent, are tips included in our cruise price?

 

Assuming you purchased from a US agency, the answer is NOT INCLUDED.

 

The gratuities are auto charged to the shipboard account in their entirety at the beginning of the cruise at approx. $13 per person per day.

 

Other than a token authorization, my bank card was not hit until a few days after the cruise ended.

 

Some of those passengers with accounts to be settled with cash may have ducked the service charge.

[reallytrulyliving]

Plato,

 

How did you find the all inclusive on the drink service?

My husband likes to have a beer or two with lunch and a drink with dinner and I am wondering if I should upgrade to one of the packages vs. the free one.

I heard with the free on they are cautious to just give you one drink over the course of a meal vs. two (especially at dinner where you can be taking your time to eat).

 

Did you find that?

Any tips?

[KimTravel]

Hello Everyone,

 

We (group of three women) will join the cruise from Panama to Portugal too.

Me & my mom are from Holland (Amsterdam) and my aunt is from Aruba.

It would be lovely to have a meet & greet with other cruise passengers.

 

Lets keep in touch.

 

Kim

[Floridastorm]

My wife and I, Luxamee and Dave, are considering the Monarch sailing from Colon on May 27th and are also considering continuing on with the Monarch from Lisbon to Berlin. The pricing is great and so many good ports. We've received pricing, from VTG, for an Ocean View Cabin. $407 PP all inclusive from Colon and for the Lisbon to Berlin portion of $762 PP all inclusive. That's 22 days with many interesting ports for $1,169 PP and including drinks. Although neither of us drinks much we do like a good mixed drink every once in awhile.

 

VTG gave us cabins, although we have not yet booked. The ocean crossing is mid ship on deck 2. The European leg is mid ship on deck 3. I wonder if these are guaranteed cabins or am I able to pick my own cabins for the same price.

 

Although the Monarch, is either owned or managed by Royal Caribbean, my understanding is that it is primarily a Spanish run ship. That is fine by me as I do speak classroom Spanish and love the Spanish people. We spent time in Barcelona and Madrid two of the most incredible cities on the planet. The only thing that concerns me, since I am 75, is having the dining room begin it's service at 7:30 PM. Can't sleep well on a full stomach these days. However, my wife wants to regularly eat in the dining room instead of the buffet. So, we'll eat in the dining room.

 

When booked I will join in with some of the other folks here on the roll call.

[CrossBluePerchance]

Looking forward to reading everyone's post cruise reviews, since we just placed a deposit for the May 2017 sailing from Limón.

[dracutgirl]

Hi all, I googled roll call for Pullmantur and it brought

me to Cruise Critic. But when I went on Cruise Critic I couldn't find Pullmantur roll call please can someone direct me to how I actually get on here using Cruise Critic's website. Thank you

[Bollywood]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=49821424&posted=1#post49821424

 

bookmark above link to come back this page again

[reallytrulyliving]

Boughtmypoints....

How did you find the all inclusive on the drink service?

My husband likes to have a beer or two with lunch and a drink with dinner and I am wondering if I should upgrade to one of the packages vs. the free one.

I heard with the free on they are cautious to just give you one drink over the course of a meal vs. two (especially at dinner where you can be taking your time to eat).

 

Did you find that?

Any helpful tips in that area?

thanks

Eden

[wanderwoman424]

My wife and I, Luxamee and Dave, are considering the Monarch sailing from Colon on May 27th and are also considering continuing on with the Monarch from Lisbon to Berlin. The pricing is great and so many good ports. We've received pricing, from VTG, for an Ocean View Cabin. $407 PP all inclusive from Colon and for the Lisbon to Berlin portion of $762 PP all inclusive. That's 22 days with many interesting ports for $1,169 PP and including drinks. Although neither of us drinks much we do like a good mixed drink every once in awhile.

 

VTG gave us cabins, although we have not yet booked. The ocean crossing is mid ship on deck 2. The European leg is mid ship on deck 3. I wonder if these are guaranteed cabins or am I able to pick my own cabins for the same price.

 

Although the Monarch, is either owned or managed by Royal Caribbean, my understanding is that it is primarily a Spanish run ship. That is fine by me as I do speak classroom Spanish and love the Spanish people. We spent time in Barcelona and Madrid two of the most incredible cities on the planet. The only thing that concerns me, since I am 75, is having the dining room begin it's service at 7:30 PM. Can't sleep well on a full stomach these days. However, my wife wants to regularly eat in the dining room instead of the buffet. So, we'll eat in the dining room.

 

When booked I will join in with some of the other folks here on the roll call.

Welcome aboard - a welcome thought about dining is that as we progress eastward, and the time is changing, we are eating one hour earlier every night, so you shall after all be able to sleep after we are finally underway...

[GramaJudi]

I am also considering this cruise in September from Spain to Panama. Has anyone found inexpensive airfare to Spain. I am leaving from Houston.

[Bollywood]

I am also looking for cheap fare to fly from Los Angeles and back from Panama City.

[dccruisin]

I am also considering this cruise in September from Spain to Panama. Has anyone found inexpensive airfare to Spain. I am leaving from Houston.

 

Most of the airlines kill you on one-way fares because they figure you are a business traveler.

Icelandic air is one of the few that do not. Icelandic flies from 16 cities in the US. Unfortunately Houston is not one of them.

But you may be able to take Spirit from Houston to say DC (watch the change of airports) or Denver then Icelandic to say Paris or Barcelona. (Watch the bag charges on Spirit).

It is going to take some looking.

If you have the time Icelandic has this deal where you can do a stopover in Reykjavik Iceland for free. We are going to spend a week in Iceland on our way to Europe. There is actually quite a bit to see in Iceland and we have never been there. Have our fingers crossed we get to see the Northern Lights.

We are actually flying from Panama City, Panama to Orlando on Spirit. Staying a few days to see relatives then Icelandic to Reykjavik then to Geneva to see the LHC before going to Bilboa.

Linda

[dccruisin]

I am also looking for cheap fare to fly from Los Angeles and back from Panama City.

 

Spirit is probably your best bet. But they do not fly every day. There is a flight Tuesday the 4th for $275. Baggage fees do add up. They offer, for and extra fee, up front seating in big seats that are like first class. We sometimes splurge and get these seats.

Spirit does leave Panama City at 2 o'clock in the morning. So it is a weird time.

 

$493 is the next best direct rate from PTY.

Linda

[stephensfamily5]

My DH and I are booked on the Sept. 3 Baltic cruise, and I am hoping that someone cruising on the Monarch earlier will be willing to answer a couple of questions.

1) I see Reallytrulyliving has asked about the all inclusive drinks a couple of times, but with no answer. We, too, are curious about the service. We drink a lot (as in thirst, not a lot of liquor), especially during meals. Will they balk if we want a couple of sodas or mixed drinks?

2) There was one review that said there was no food available in the afternoon at all, so if you come in from a port hungry, you are out of luck until the dinner seating at 7. So first- is this true? Also- I am pretty sure that room service is available at least, but there is a charge. Would someone mind taking a picture of the room service menu, so we could get an idea of what the costs are? Just wondering if I need to pack some granola bars just in case!

3) Entertainment- thoughts, is it worth going to if you don't speak Spanish?

4) Any tips, hidden places, highlight???

 

Looking forward to your thoughts!

[rawlin]

We are Linda and Frans from Costa Rica and just last week booked the May 27 sailing Colon>Lisbon. Totally lost as to where the correct post is for that ...

 

....BUT if anyone is flying into PTY May 27 and would like to share taxi or shuttle to either Albrook Transit Terminal OR Colon, please write me at

linleela@gmail.com

 

We have early dining. If there's a Meet and Greet we'd like to attend.

Many thanks for any input,

Linda

[mexgringo]

I am Chuck and my husband is David. We will be on this transatlantic with our good friend, Dolores. We live in Patzcuaro, Michoacan and moved there in 2010.

 

We moved to Mexico from Vancouver, Washington as we lived and worked in the Portland area.

 

David was a hairdresser and I was a school teacher.

 

We will also be on the Monarch for the 9 day European cruise that follows the transatlantic.

 

See you all there. Imagine 30 days with no talk about Donald Trump! Yahoo!

[CMS2016]

Hello,

We are a mother-daughter team from Virginia looking forward to cruising the Atlantic again!

We are arriving in Panama on May 26 and we were wondering how many of the other passengers will be traveling from Panama to Colon in the morning of the 27th. Does anyone want to share a ride? We haven't found any good information on shuttles thus far, but I have e-mailed someone who was mentioned on Tripadvisor: jose@goldenfrog.net--just waiting for an answer now.

 

 

WOULD LOVE TO SHARE TRANSPORT FROM PANAMA TO COLON MAY 26! Please call me: Carol at 760)625-4842

[PanamaSteve]

Hi,

 

My postings have all been on the other Monarch May 27 thread, but if there is anyone that needs a ride to Colon Friday may 27 for the relocation cruise, I can help.

 

CMS2016 (Carol) and MexGringo (Chuck, David & Delores) and Rawlin ( Linda & Franz)

 

If you all need a ride, this is what 7 of us are doing. A Van will pick you up, take us to gatun Locks in Colon to see the ships go through and the New Canal (opening June26). He will hold our luggage and then take us to the cruise port for $25 per person.

 

E mail me directly at mycondoinparadise@gmail.com or call my USA telephone number 505-990-3562

 

Steve

[dracutgirl]

Maybe I missed it but it does not look like a Meet and Greet has been organized. I do not know how to actually organize it so I am going to do it informally. So, here it goes.

 

THE MEET AND GREET WILL BE AT BOLEROS LOUNGE ON DECK 7 AT 11:00 AM ON THE FIRST SEA DAY, MAY 30, 2016.

 

Now, if anyone has a better suggestion, we can consider that as well. But I felt we needed to get this started. Please everyone that is interested, reply and I will try to get a list started!!

 

Also, we can do an informal sail away at the pool bar, aft after the muster call. (there are two pool bars, one outside the Windjammer and one towards the aft.

[PanamaSteve]

Maybe I missed it but it does not look like a Meet and Greet has been organized. I do not know how to actually organize it so I am going to do it informally. So, here it goes.

 

THE MEET AND GREET WILL BE AT BOLEROS LOUNGE ON DECK 7 AT 11:00 AM ON THE FIRST SEA DAY, MAY 30, 2016.

 

Now, if anyone has a better suggestion, we can consider that as well. But I felt we needed to get this started. Please everyone that is interested, reply and I will try to get a list started!!

 

Also, we can do an informal sail away at the pool bar, aft after the muster call. (there are two pool bars, one outside the Windjammer and one towards the aft.

 

OK, I'm in for the M&G 11AM May 30.

Will also be at the Aft Pool Bar post Muster Call...

 

Seis Dias

 

PS

[butchie44]

hi all....

my husband and i have booked this cruise from cartehgna? ... we'll be at the walled city for 3 days...have read some negative reviews about this cruise and was very please to read this thread....did hear that there's no food from 3pm-7:30 for dinner...does anyone know if this is true??....we're set for early dinner but don't know if it's open or assigned ... also no spanish....

all in all for the price and free booze don't think we went wrong...

looking forward to meeting everyone....

on other cruises we've met at the back bar after drill on the lido or upper decks...wear beads so we'll know we're from cc....or bring if you have extra!!!

rose and stan from delray beach...