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****Live From the Golden Princess****

T&J

By T&J,
in Princess Cruises

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T&J

T&J

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We'll here we go again on another 24 night adventure doing the Greek Isles and the Egypt/Aegean cruise Back 2 back. You wanted it and had withdrawl symptoms so here we go.....

 

First it all began on late Friday afternoon when I happened to check my Airline reservation online just to double check that there wasn't a schedule change. Oh Boy was there ever! My flight within Europe connecting out of Frankfurt this morning went "poofetee" and just dropped off. I was stuck with holding a flight into Frankfurt and out of Rome on Nov 22nd and no flights into Venice for today. I immediately called Air Canada and they re-protected me going into Munich and then another connecting flight on Air Dolomiti (don't ask) into Venice which got me into Venice at 10:20am today. I had to do coach on that tin can as they couldn't re-protect me in Business as I was before on Swiss and Lufthansa.

 

This last plane was as old as I am and thought we would never see the Golden Princess except in another life!

 

I met coincidentally Sue and her husband from Charlotte on that flight boarding the shuttle bus to take us to our little plane....another coincidence! My big plans of taking the bus into Stazzione Maritima from the Airport (Marco Polo) ended up in sharing a $33.00 euro cab ride for all three of us which we split.

 

Now for the big surprise!:) Upon getting to the pier which took us all of 18 minutes as our driver I swear must of been from Naples, I learned at check-in that I was further upgraded to the Owners Suite on Baja Deck Cabin B751 right next to the Grand Suite. It is a very nice Suite, the second largest onboard after the Grand Suite with 598 SqFt full jaccuzi, tub, seperate dinning room table in the Suite couch and captain chairs, seperate Bedroom and an expansive teak deck that runs 30 feet long by 9 feet wide with another teak dinning table and lounge chairs. We'll I am gonna suggest that we move our CC get together to my Suite for tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping that they will keep me in this Suite as it is still unsold for the next voyage to Egypt....let's see! (fingers and toes crossed).

 

My cabin steward David (Philippines) is very nice and so eager to please I had to tell him to relax and just call me Tony. My bottle of Veuve arrived just before I came down to write this so after I will be going up to crack it open and sit on my deck and take in the views.

 

Upon getting onboard, Franco Consavare (PSD) greeted me and welcomed me back as he was on the Pacific Princess for part of the summer while I was there. Our Captain is David Calabrese which is an excellent Captain and I have sailed with him before. Mario Propato is the Maitre'd and he has arranged a nice table for four each night in the Bernini Dinning for me for 7:30pm. There are several other familiar faces that I recognize as well that I have cruised with before on other ships.

 

The weather today in Venice, is a little hazy and a high currently of 74 F. My luggage has not arrived but then again I checked in at 11:30am and was onboard the ship by 11:50am. It is now 2:05pm local time in Venice.

 

I plan on going ashore into Venice to try and get those two Cartier rings again and perhaps have dinner in town just to get some fresh air after flying 9 hours.

 

The ship appears to be in relatively good shape but some of the common areas at a quick glance appear to have wear and tear that will be corrected on Nov 22nd when she goes in for a mini-drydock in Palermo, Italy.

 

Thus far the crew and ships company have been great and I expect it will continue as well.

 

More to follow later today from the beautifull city of Venice onboard the Glorious Golden Princess.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

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T&J

T&J

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Oh my, this is going to be so much fun. I cant wait to hear all about your adventure and cruise. We sail the Golden for the first time in December, what a great sneak preview for us.

 

 

Yes it will be...I have done this first cruise 3 times previously and just as recent on the Grand Princess in August. The following cruise to Egypt is the highlight of this trip for me and also going back to Mykonos where Javier and I dispersed my Father's and Mother's ashes.

 

I can't wait until we sail tomorrow at 1:00pm which will be 7:00am for those of you on the East coast that care to watch the sailaway on the Grand Canal out of Venice....it is something to be had and on the Grand in August we were invited up to the Bridge by the Captain Nicolo Baramarco for the entire sail away. I will always remember that one!

 

Tony

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T&J

T&J

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Thank you Tony for coming back just before severe withdrawal had set in. Wow-the Owner's suite! Will keep good thoughts you won't be moved on the second half of your b2b.

 

Yes me too!..I am already starting to meditate!

 

Tony

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MamaTene

MamaTene

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TJ:

What a wonderful upgrade! We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Vista Suite on the Grand a few years back and friends of ours on the same cruise were upgraded to the Grand Suite! Both of us were in standard mini suites to begin with.

May I ask what category cabin you originally booked for this cruise?

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T&J

T&J

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TJ:

What a wonderful upgrade! We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Vista Suite on the Grand a few years back and friends of ours on the same cruise were upgraded to the Grand Suite! Both of us were in standard mini suites to begin with.

May I ask what category cabin you originally booked for this cruise?

 

Chris I am almost embarassed to say; however this is my 39th cruise on Princess...I started on a flash promotion in a CAT II inside and then they moved me several weeks ago to a CAT D on both sailings and then early this week to a CAT BD balcony and now this!

 

Yes it's always hard going back to something smaller when you get the Full Suite Upgrades!

 

Tony

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Shogun

Shogun

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Hi There,

 

We sailed into Venice in August it is just amazing to look to the sky line and see Vencie start to appear then to try and wonder how we are going to get in, all thos e twist and turns , the little boats sailing right across our path.

Have a great Cruise I love the Golden done three cruises on her now.

 

yours Shogun

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T&J

T&J

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Speaking of embarkation and forgot to add some additonal thoughts and observations. Firstly mostly everything went smoothly for me, however I could see where there was a lot of confusion regarding the luggage drop off and it's location in a tent away from the pier check-in area.

 

I myself made my way to the check-in location which wasn't the new terminal as I have always been check-in but rather the two buildings opposite side. I then proceed upstairs beside building #106 and #107 and there were about only 12 kiosks taht were open and only for Preferred and Express check-in. No dedicated check-in for Elite or Full Suites which I found very strange.

 

I was checked in relatively quick and given a paper number #1 to board the ship as it was determined by your cabin number location on the ship. I then had to walk down 3 flights of stairs and onto a bus to be transfered to the ship which was in it's berth opposite to where we were located.

 

Finally got there and the process of taking your initial picture was very quick. As usual what was holding up the lines, were those dam fotogs taking those Embarkation photos and creating queues!

 

Staff was very knowledgeable about assiting people to there proper floors and answered questions. What was noticeably different was the heightened level of security. We had our hand luggage X-rayed before leaving the Check-in Terminal and then Re-Xrayed again thru the ships X-ray machine onboard after taking taking our pictures.

 

We'll it's been almost 4 hours and I am going to go and check to see if my luggage has been delivered to my cabin and get showered and changed and hopefully head out in a while. I am resisting taking a nap and just fighting it so that I adjust immediately and sleep well tonight.

 

More to follow later from the Golden Princess in Venice, Italy.

 

Tony

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T&J

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Oh I am just thinking; my poor cabin steward David when it comes time to hand in all my tons of landry tomorrow morning as I didn't even have the chance of doing any laundry since I came back on Oct 14th...

 

Tony

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suzieque

suzieque

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Hi Tony,

I love reading your travelogues!!! How do you feel about these larger ships? Do you still get to know the crew & passengers? Is this particular sailing full? Can't wait to hear about the Egyptian portion of your cruise. That's on my list in 2008 (either cruise or Nile River cruise and a land guide). Are you travelling with Javier this time or on your own?

keep posting!! I read you every day :-)

Suzie Provo

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suzieque

suzieque

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Hi Tony,

I love reading your travelogues!!! How do you feel about these larger ships? Do you still get to know the crew & passengers? Is this particular sailing full? Can't wait to hear about the Egyptian portion of your cruise. That's on my list in 2008 (either cruise or Nile River cruise and a land guide). Are you travelling with Javier this time or on your own?

keep posting!! I read you every day :-)

Suzie Provo

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T&J

T&J

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Hi Tony,

I love reading your travelogues!!! How do you feel about these larger ships? Do you still get to know the crew & passengers? Is this particular sailing full? Can't wait to hear about the Egyptian portion of your cruise. That's on my list in 2008 (either cruise or Nile River cruise and a land guide). Are you travelling with Javier this time or on your own?

keep posting!! I read you every day :-)

Suzie Provo

 

We'll when Javier and I were on the Grand Princess this past August for 2 b2b cruises it was the first time in almost 2 years that wehave been on a Grand Class ship. At times, I do find them way to big like the days when we ahve to tender almost 3000 pax tahts when you really feel youa re on a big ship. You still egt too meet people and run into the same people but not the same intimacy as on the Pacific Princess.

 

Nope travelling again on my own...that whole nig suite all to my little self! Tonight I am havinga jacuzzi bubble bath....that's for sure!

 

Tony

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T&J

T&J

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Oops! Don't know why that posted twice... Computer ghosts I guess. Halloween is around the corner :-)

Suzie

 

I know...don't know what I'll be doing for Halloween onboard the ship as we will be in Dubrovnik, Croatia!

 

Tony

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