Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

First time on Princess

BrisbaneGran

By BrisbaneGran,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
Posted (edited)

We are just waiting for our car to arrive and take us to the Airport, to head to our very first Princess cruise!

We are in Brisbane, Australia, and first we will be flying to Singapore, and then on to Beijing. We have booked our flights and transfer with Princess so hopefully we wont get lost on the way! Just really looking forward to seeing ~someone~ with a Princess sign, when we land at Beijing Airport tomorrow morning. I believe we will then have about a 3 hour bus trip to the Port...possibly quite a bit more depending on traffic. Will be great to finally reach our room some time around lunch tomorrow!

We are not new to cruising, just to Princess, so will be a big adventure learning all the "do's and don'ts"........ hopefully will be able to report in occasionally......(I have booked a small internet package)

Edited by BrisbaneGran
spelling
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ar1950

ar1950

Posted
Posted
At Brisbane Airport, sipping champagne in the Singapore Airlines Lounge....an 8 hour flight will start soon........ already met another couple who are heading to the same cruise as us.........

 

Sounds like the cruise has already gotten off to a good start. Let us know how the rest goes. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Made it to Singapore, think half the plane is heading to the Golden Princess!! A few hours here, then our final flight to Beijing.....getting a bit tired now. Hopefully I can get my internet set up on the ship the day after we board....don't think I will have time on Boarding Day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 1

 

Our final flight from Singapore to Beijing was a bit on the bumpy side, but we arrived in one piece around 7am. The landing into Beijing was something like I have never seen before. We were still way up above the clouds, and then high rise buildings started appearing through the clouds, it was a very strange sight. Then the fun began. Airports are just getting too big for me now, so far to walk to get to where you need to go. Roller skates could have been a good investment. We just followed the signs and the crowds, on trains, off trains, always keeping the sign saying “Baggage Claim” in sight! We then turned a corner, and between us and the Immigration area were thousands of people! So another long queue to join.......for the first 15 minutes or so, we didnt move, and the queue behind us went way out of sight! Then we started to move and it only took about 45 more minutes to clear that area. Finally found Luggage Claim, and were very excited to see all our bags had made it through 3 Airports! Next challenge was to get through Customs........now with TWO trolleys full of luggage, and of course they wanted the trolleys unloaded again, and put through yet another XRay! After mine had all been unloaded xray’d and reloaded, they must have felt sorry for us, and the second trolley was allowed to pass.......that saved the muscles a bit for the next challenge!

 

Out through the “Nothing to Declare” door, and scanned the dozens of signs, looking for one that said “Princess”........easy to spot, and we had our names checked off and told what time the bus would be leaving. I dont think the buses arrived when they were supposed to as we were about 45 minutes late in being taken to where the buses would collect us. We were now all standing outside on the roadway with all our luggage, but still no buses! Our “guide” gave me the Princess sign to hold up in the air and he disappeared! Finally the buses arrived and we all had to pack our own luggage under the bus.....obviously we didnt do very well at this job as we ran out of room, so some people had to man handle their bags up the steep steps and into the bus themselves. The overheads were also not big enough for most peoples hand luggage, and the bus was a bit on the old maybe antique variety. Some seats were broken to the almost lie flat type BUT we were now on our way to the ship!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 1 cont.

 

Now nothing Granny ever does is so simple as a nice ride to the ship, where a cocktail is waiting to help me relax. Our trip to the Port was apparently about 250kms. The first 50kms went ok.........then the traffic came to a grinding halt! We sat, and sat, and sat some more. Our guide brought out a bag of fruit and started giving it out to people who were on the verge of starvation, she obviously knew more about this traffic problem than we did. Luckily our bus had , had a rest room break, prior to the traffic problem.......speaking to other people since, their bus got stuck BEFORE their restroom break, so people had to climb down some steps on the side of the road and look for some bushes! We were finally told, that the Highway we needed was closed, due to fog.......so we just had to sit there until the fog disappeared! Our guide sang for us.........only one song thank goodness! No one else felt in the mood to do any entertaining. We sat there, in the middle of the Freeway for about 1.5 hours. All I could think of, was thank goodness we had booked a Princess Transfer and not a taxi! Could you imagine sitting all that time watching the meter ticking over! There was a huge sigh of relief when the Port and the ship finally came into sight. BUT that was just the beginning of a whole new set of complications. Our bus parked in the middle of the road, we then had to unpack the bus ourselves, there were no porters and no trolleys. As one of my better habits is to well and truely overpack, we probably had more luggage than anyone else, to try to wheel from the bus to the luggage drop......then off again to all the Check In queues.....more Xrays, and then through the lovely huge Cruise Terminal, past all the many Duty Free shops, and after walking at least 5kms we finally boarded the ship! We had arrived at Beijing Airport at 7am........and it was 3pm before we actually set foot on the ship. We were so exhausted, and every part of our poor OLD bodies were sore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Still more Day 1.

 

We didnt have too much trouble locating our suite. I knew it was right on the back, and on Deck 11, so that made it easy. Head to the blunt end, and when you cant go any further, voila, the room should be right there! It was, and our luggage hadnt arrived, so gave us a chance to go and find some food! Re- fuelled, and it was time to fit all my huge amount of stuff into the cupbards and drawers etc. This was probably the time that I had a reality check, and came to the earth shattering decision, that I am NEVER going to pack so much “stuff” ever again. We have another cruise booked at Christmas, so will see then if I remember my latest decision! Only got one bag unpacked and had to head off to Life Drill. This was another case of sit, and sit and sit some more.......Life Drill was held up an hour. EVERY passenger boarding the ship today, had a very similar experience to us. We had ALL sat in the middle of a Chinese Highway, for at least 1.5 hours, and actually been on that Highway for way over 5 hours.

All we wanted now, was a nice early dinner and a nice early bedtime. Headed up to the Horizon Buffet, and found a very big mistake Princess had made. I have no idea how much of the Buffet is usually open at night, but tonight it had one complete side closed. Maybe that is what happens normally, as there are all the other Dining venues to choose from, but tonight wasnt an ordinary night. I think many many people felt like us, exhausted, worn out, and not in the mood to get dressed up for the Dining Room. The place was so packed, hard to find a seat, big queues for the food.......we just wanted to get back to our room as fast as possible!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
skynight

skynight

Posted
Posted

Just for Info. Being in a full suite you can order room service from the full DR menus. Also, you will receive complementary laundry service, no need to overpack.

 

You also receive a complementary specialty dining on the first night, but since your embarkation was delayed request another evening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BrisbaneGran

BrisbaneGran

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Unfortunately when we woke this morning, we were still full of all the aches and pains we had gone to bed with the night before. I had hoped that at least half of them would have disappeared overnight. As they say, it sucks to get old! This is the first time we have EVER flown all the way to join a cruise, on the same day we land......always said we would never do that, and have always had at least a 2 or 3 day break. This time we broke our normal routine, but doubt we will do it again. This was a last minute booking, and as we were flying almost directly North, we knew we wouldnt have to worry about jet lag.......we just forgot about plain old exhaustion. We have learnt our lesson.

Thankfully it is a sea day so dont have to do anything or be anywhere, so thats exactly what we plan to do! First thing for the day was breakfast, which we had at Sabatinis. It was nice and quiet, with only a couple of tables occupied. We then went off to explore a very small amount of the ship, just the shopping area, International Cafe, the atrium area, and I also got the instructions on how to set up my internet. That was about enough excitement for the morning. Lunch was in the Horizon again and by dinner time I was ready for bed ! Decided we werent really very hungry, so set off to find the Burger Grill and Pizzeria. A couple of drinks and a slice of pizza, and I was in bed by 7.30pm. We are lucky enough to have a jacuzzi in our room, so took advantage of that before bed to help ease the aches a bit.

This cruise is the first cruise after a 6 month Chinese Season. Quite a lot of crew members have commented to us, how happy they are to have people back on board who speak English. They havent been able to laugh or joke, or even communicate very well with the passengers for the last few months. I can just imagine how hard it would have been for them. They told us that the Golden Princess wont be doing the Chinese season again, but one of the other ships will. Surely they will have to train a Chinese crew to do this in future? Absolutely everything would be so different to what Westerners expect. They really need their own Chefs, Entertainers, etc etc.......no idea how the Officers would cope. Its a whole new market so I suppose Chinese crews are going to be trained at some stage.

I have taken a lot of photos, but dont think I will be able to upload any until I have better internet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...