***Live From the Pacific Princess Part II***

[T&J]

Hey, Tony, get off the bubbly on the PP, you have posted 4 times on your last update. Sorry to hear about the rough weather. About time they took Sammi, the Cruise Director off the ship for a spell and let her go back to Juneau for a break, she is a pain sometimes. As for the current Capt. Ivan Jerman, we saw plenty of him on our cruise K612, Sydney to Osaka - 26 April to 17 May, nice Brit chap, now living in Sydney town. Spoke to him a few times, he even invited my wife and I to the bridge for an hour visit, maybe it was because I was a retired Water Police skipper.!!!:cool:

 

We are looking at doing another cruise on the PP next year, I like the ship, easy to get on and off with only 600 or so pax, who knows, even a gold card holder might get invited to the Capts.lunch with few elite pax getting around. Bit of a worry with the North Koreans firing rockets about the area. Stay safe out there. Hope the Canuk - Bruce in the Piano bar is still hitting the keys, he was great. Are the english couple still playing on deck and in the Pacific Lounge, they are a good duo.:)

 

Happy sailing.:p

 

Lester, now gold but soon to be platinum pax.

 

 

Lester well Captain Jerman was at the table next to mine in Sabatini's tonight...first time I see him on another deck other than Deck 8 or the bridge. Seems like a nice man the very few times I have conversed with him. As for Sammi...Sammi is Sammi you either like her or hate her...no in between with her. Her replacement is official it's J.J. King since he has never done a small ship and they a grooming him for the new Royal next year for the ignaugural season. so he gets a test run using the Pacific Princess.

 

Bruce is still hitting his keys in the Casino Bar as always and the british couple is upstairs, although truthfully I never see them or most of the shows.

 

Hope to see you soon on the PP again!

 

Tony

:cool:

[T&J]

As I said earlier today, tonight was Formal night and the Captain Circle Cocktail party as well. I didn't attend the cocktail party this evening, instead I went to the "office" and made a little hit and run and decided to go to Sabatini's for a great meal. I had the Cold Water Lobster and they prepared a 10 ounce Filet as well cooked to perfection. I ordered a bottle of Brunello de Montalccino 1998 which was so smooth I almost polished the whole bottle to myself.

 

right now the ship is pitching and rolling quite a bit in these seas and we must be trying to outrun the Typhoon.

 

Tonight I might go back to the "office" and see how it goes a second time around.

 

More to follow tomorrow morning from the Pacific Princess.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[Druke I]

Good luck with outrunning the typhoon.

 

Way back in 11-86, on the little Golden Odyssey, a 10,000 tonner, we were in the China Sea, between Hong Kong & Manila, and tried to outrun a typhoon.

 

We had green water over the bridge, screws out of the water, and the inclinometer was pegged several times. It was rough! In those same waters, Halsey's Fleet lost three destroyers (DDs or DDEs?) to capsizing in a typhoon!

 

Travel can be an adventure!

 

Typhoons can be pretty rough. I spent 2 1/2 years on Okinawa with the Army, right in the middle of "typhoon alley".

[TorontoTL]

Michael, hopefully it won't be that bad for those on the PP!

 

Thoroughly enjoying your posts from the PP Tony, keep it up. Wish I was there instead of at work!

[T&J]

Michael, hopefully it won't be that bad for those on the PP!

 

Thoroughly enjoying your posts from the PP Tony, keep it up. Wish I was there instead of at work!

 

TorontoTL...thanks...will keep up the postings daily!:D

 

As for the Typhoon it looks like it is curving now from what I can see on CNN and heading away from us north east. We are currently steaming our way towards Hong Kong and will arrive at 7:00am tomorrow.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[arlenemilt]

As for Sammi...Sammi is Sammi you either like her or hate her...no in between with her. Her replacement is official it's J.J. King since he has never done a small ship and they a grooming him for the new Royal next year for the ignaugural season. so he gets a test run using the Pacific Princess.

 

 

Tony

:cool:

 

Tony, J.J. has already been on the Pacific. He was Sammi's replacement last year when she went off on vacation. Maybe he only lasted that one voyage; don't know. Dee and John would know since they stayed on when we left in Cape Town. We were not overly impressed with him, though Sammi is a hard act to follow. I just pray they don't bring John C. back.

Arlene

[T&J]

Tony, J.J. has already been on the Pacific. He was Sammi's replacement last year when she went off on vacation. Maybe he only lasted that one voyage; don't know. Dee and John would know since they stayed on when we left in Cape Town. We were not overly impressed with him, though Sammi is a hard act to follow. I just pray they don't bring John C. back.

 

Arlene

 

J.J. King was only there last year for 6 weeks as a filler for when Sammi left. I can't remember JJ King truthfully so don't know if I like him or hate him....I'll let you know when I do that BKK-CPT and CPT-SYD!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[arlenemilt]

J.J. King was only there last year for 6 weeks as a filler for when Sammi left. I can't remember JJ King truthfully so don't know if I like him or hate him....I'll let you know when I do that BKK-CPT and CPT-SYD!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

Well, those were MY six weeks. :) Anyhow, I don't hate him; he's a pleasant guy. I'll wait for your opinion. Time to start thinking about dinner (us) and breakfast (you).

Arlene

[T&J]

Well, those were MY six weeks. :) Anyhow, I don't hate him; he's a pleasant guy. I'll wait for your opinion. Time to start thinking about dinner (us) and breakfast (you).

 

Arlene

 

Yep...going for breakfast in an hour...I'll let you know about JJ King when I see him in September.

 

Tony

[mississauga]

Tony, am enjoying following you to the many ports of call. How is Hong Kong for shopping? From the sounds of your postings, it seems as if you are getting better bargains than can be had in Hong Kong. Hope you continue to enjoy your cruise. Wish I was your your cruise. I would enjoy those ports too.

[T&J]

Tony, am enjoying following you to the many ports of call. How is Hong Kong for shopping? From the sounds of your postings, it seems as if you are getting better bargains than can be had in Hong Kong. Hope you continue to enjoy your cruise. Wish I was your your cruise. I would enjoy those ports too.

 

Mississauga, we arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 7:00am and leave at 4:00pm although we must be onboard by 3:30pm. It is a shame because on the northern run my next cruise we arrive at 12 noon and depart at 7:00pm which is much better since most stores do not open until 10:00am or 11:00am in HKG. Tomorrow I plan on going to the Temple Street market. The quality is great but it isn't as cheap as in Shanghai or Beijing but a very big variety of merchandise.

 

Also, Hong Kong has an eclectic mix of different foods from all over the world so eating there is always fun!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[T&J]

Today was by far the best day weather wise we have had on this cruise so far. Very sunny and warm and not a cloud in the sky all day. Plenty of people on deck suntanning themselves around the pool area which is jammed packed.

 

I did lunch at the Club Restaurant today and they were offering an Asian Buffet in the Panorama Buffet this afternoon.

 

I went to the Art Auction today at 2:00pm and there were only about 25 people that attended the event....and not much buying going on either!

 

After I had a personal training session booked for 3:00pm whereby Mihelle the fitness instructor kick my *ss for one full hour.

 

Tonight is the Princess Dinner menu which is so so as a menu.

 

Will be possibly going to the "Office" later tonight after dinner!

 

More to follow later from the Pacific Princess.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[phillipahain]

Tony,

 

Thanks for the info on Xingang. Had been considering a local tour but really could not find a lot to see in Tianjin. Since this will be our first ( other than Hong KOng) but not last visit to China may well just get a taxi into the centre and wander around on our own. I know that Pat will be keen on the large Mall you mentioned.

 

Enjoy Hong Kong , we love the place.

 

Barry

[mississauga]

Mississauga, we arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 7:00am and leave at 4:00pm although we must be onboard by 3:30pm. It is a shame because on the northern run my next cruise we arrive at 12 noon and depart at 7:00pm which is much better since most stores do not open until 10:00am or 11:00am in HKG. Tomorrow I plan on going to the Temple Street market. The quality is great but it isn't as cheap as in Shanghai or Beijing but a very big variety of merchandise.

 

Also, Hong Kong has an eclectic mix of different foods from all over the world so eating there is always fun!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

Yes, it's too bad you are arriving so early........Hong Kong doesn't wake up til much later. There's a huge market ( the name escapes me right now, but it's the biggest one in Hong Kong ) that doesn't open up until 6 or 7pm . You are so right about the food. Enjoy yourself in Hong Kong! At least you can't go hungry there.

[annmarz]

I have been on two cruises with J.J. King (Royal Princess) and I love him. He is very personable and has an awesome voice. I understand he used to be in shows in London's West End. I was VERY pleased to hear he will be on the Aug. 17 sailing.

 

 

Question for Tony:

 

How much does the personal training session cost?

[arlenemilt]

Yes, it's too bad you are arriving so early........Hong Kong doesn't wake up til much later. There's a huge market ( the name escapes me right now, but it's the biggest one in Hong Kong ) that doesn't open up until 6 or 7pm . You are so right about the food. Enjoy yourself in Hong Kong! At least you can't go hungry there.

 

 

Let me jump in here about Hong Kong, since we've been there a dozen times since 1992. The market you may be referring to is the "night market" which is Temple St, and yes, it opens only at night. The other market (Stanley Market) used to be wonderful; much larger than Temple. I have found however in the past few years that it's becoming run down. When I visited last summer I vowed never to go back there again.

Arlene

[T&J]

I have been on two cruises with J.J. King (Royal Princess) and I love him. He is very personable and has an awesome voice. I understand he used to be in shows in London's West End. I was VERY pleased to hear he will be on the Aug. 17 sailing.

 

 

Question for Tony:

 

How much does the personal training session cost?

 

A one hour session is $83.00 which is quite steep!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[T&J]

Tony,

 

Thanks for the info on Xingang. Had been considering a local tour but really could not find a lot to see in Tianjin. Since this will be our first ( other than Hong KOng) but not last visit to China may well just get a taxi into the centre and wander around on our own. I know that Pat will be keen on the large Mall you mentioned.

 

Enjoy Hong Kong , we love the place.

 

Barry

 

Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot to do in Tianjin. The outdoor huge mall is always my favorite. FYI, just allow yourself enough time to get back to the port as traffic sometimes only took 10 minutes and once 1.5 hours to get back to the ship.

 

Tony

[T&J]

Good Morning All:

 

I have been sitting here typing away in teh internet cafe and watching the Hong Kong skyline as we are making our way into the Harbour. Those of you that would like to watch on the Princess site I am sure they have the ship's cam pointed in taht direction.

 

It is always an amazing site pulling into Hong Kong....I have done it many a times. We have currently a lot of cloud cover and I hope it doesn't suggest that it will be raining today.

 

I will be going out to the Ladies Market in Mongkok later this morning once everything is open.

 

More to follow later today from the Pacific Princess.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Tony, J.J. has already been on the Pacific. He was Sammi's replacement last year when she went off on vacation. Maybe he only lasted that one voyage; don't know. Dee and John would know since they stayed on when we left in Cape Town. We were not overly impressed with him, though Sammi is a hard act to follow. I just pray they don't bring John C. back.

Arlene

 

 

Hi there Arlene...I'm confused!!...The Cruise Director on "our" PP Bangkok/Capetown cruise last year was indeed Sammi Baker to Singapore,

then she was replaced for the Singapore/Capetown sector by JJ Ulrich...

I am wondering if JJ King is maybe someone else??...Anyway...I found

his constant description of the Cabaret and Pacific Lounges as "aaaaaaall

the way forward" very irritating!!!.....Remember??.....Best regards

[T&J]

I can't stand JJ Ulrich!!! I had him on the "Random Regal" for 29 days in South America this past March and April. The guy is more interested in looking into a mirror than actually working....he's the most absent CD I have ever had on any ship...just the worst!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[T&J]

We'll what agreat day this turned to be in Hong Kong. The weather this morning was raining very heavy and around 12 noon it started to clear up and was eventually complete sunny skies all afternoon. I decided to go into Mongkok to do some shopping at the Ladies Market which is approx. a 30 minute walk from the Ocean Terminal. The market was very busy this afternoon with many good buys...a little more expensive than China.We were 30 minutes delayed here in Hong Kong for our departure as the Captain decided to wait upon 4 pax's that were running late and telephoned the ship.We are now ready for sea and we are about to depart Hong Kong if you are to watch it from the cruise cam.More to follow later from Pacific Princess.Tony

[TorontoTL]

I can't stand JJ Ulrich!!! I had him on the "Random Regal" for 29 days in South America this past March and April. The guy is more interested in looking into a mirror than actually working....he's the most absent CD I have ever had on any ship...just the worst!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

I agree with you on that Tony. We had JJ Ulrich on our Coral Princess cruise to the Panama Canal and weren't impressed. He was never around and visible. However, the rest of his team was great. He did set up FOD meetings for every single sea day for us and provided the usual sparkling wine and one of his assistants were always there to host.

[RGriswold]

While Tony was checking out and gave his report on the Ladies Market, let me offer our experience today at Stanley Market. (Tony has been encouraging me to post additonal items - so here goes!)

 

First, here is the cheapest way to get there (unless you really need to enrich Princess Tours anymore than necessary!) - Take the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island-right next to where we dock on Kowloon - and then from the Central (Exchange) bus station, take the #260 city express bus which will take you right there. $2.2HK for the Star Ferry and $10.60HK for the bus - we are talking less than $2USD per person.

 

Almost as good as the best bargain so far on the entire trip - cabs in Shanghai! For $2USD we got an E-ticket ride at high speed for 5km through the streets of Shanghai. Much better than Disney has ever made a roller coaster; more in the realm of Six Flags Magic Mountain Superman or Goliath speeds! The best touch is the traffic coming the other way and then swerving at the last minute. Plus, clearly our driver got bonus points or was trying to reach the higher level by running over toes (maybe even entire feet) as he raced through pedestrians honking his horn while people dove for cover - although some didn't move at all!

 

I'm sorry I digressed!

 

Back to the Stanley Market - While everyone will have a different opinion about whether the merchandise is high quality or if the prices are great (especially after being in mainland China!), it is an interesting experience. The old saying about "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" surely applies!

 

However, our observation was that the main difference is that the negotiating here is much less than in China. In China (Beijing and Shanghai and even Pusan), you just keep saying No and walk away and they chase after you - or ask you how much will you pay. In HK, they may go down 10% if you purchase multiple items but not much bargaining in most of the Stanley Market stalls where we tried to inquire about certain items.

 

We have 4 kids (age 17, 15, 14, 11 - girl, boy, girl, boy if you are wondering) traveling with us so we are not your typical passengers on this cruise but our daughters (Mom has taught them well and they have Black Belts in shopping!) both did pretty well. Today, our oldest daughter found some Billabong T-shirts for her boyfriend for about $8 each. While they ultimately made their big purchase right (A&B Photo) near the Star Ferry Terminal in Kowloon, my two middle kids priced out Ipods at the same prices in Stanley Market and ended up paying just over $200USd for Ipod Nano 4Gb. I don't think this is a great deal myself but it is their own hard earned money so they will learn a life lesson if nothing else. (I actually don't think the electronics prices I saw were really any better than US prices. Also, we may find them cheaper in Singapore - we will try to let you know as we have heard different reponses (even from the crew) as too whether HK or Singapore is cheaper for electronics). For overall trinket and small junk gifts for friends at home, my younger daughter did much better in Shanghai and really enjoyed the bargaining as did my youngest son who is proud of his "soccer-ball kitchen timer" he got for $2.50USD!

 

Personally, I only found one item worth lugging back home for the savings! I spoke with a Continental Airlines pilot (on a 2-day layover here in HK) on our city bus to Stanley Market and he gave me a great tip - authentic Greg Norman polos at 2 for $100HK - less than $7USD. Not bad and the quality was excellent. My wife does all of the shopping at home but indicates that they are comparable to Nordstroms polos which run about $50 at the half-yearly sale! So not too bad!

 

Does anyone have any feedback - pro or con - on Vietnam Paradise Travel? We have at least 2 groups (my family and a group that includes Tony) that have made a reservation for transportation and an English speaking guide from the pier at Phu My to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC to the locals apparently) and back for about $155USD for a 7-seater van. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Robert

[earljr]

Hi all --

 

We are following your adventure closely as we try to make up our minds regarding following in your footsteps. Trying to decide on '08 cruises.

Tony and Robert -- info is a great help -- keep it coming - thanx

 

Tony -- I agree with you 100 percent on JJ - even when he was around he really wasn't!!

Are you getting latest info on Murray?

 

Nice day to all -- Earl