***live From The Sun Princess*** (12/10/06)

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We're enjoying your thread and looking forward to spending the next 4 days enjoying the cruise thru your posts!!!

[mississauga]

Hello Arlene,

 

I am writing to you from Colorado.....visiting friends here who were on the Sun Princess in October. They asked me to ask you if Capt. Martin Stenzel was still the captain on the Sun. Is he?

 

Time to go look for chocolate chip cookies.

 

Was that really you or Milt posting? I thought he was the cookie monster.

 

Keep up the great job you are doing. Your thread has been very entertaining.

 

Mary

[arlenemilt]

Ready to perform. :)

Good Morning everyone from a beautiful, clear, sunny day in St. Thomas. Announcements have been going on for over an hour; need to report for immigration check before anyone can leave the ship. My cell phone woke me about 5AM, when it started playing the "you've got a message" tune. I guess that's when it acquired a signal. It will be nice to check in with friends/family, all for a local call. And it's unlimited Sunday too!

We've docked in a new area where there's no shopping. From our balcony colorful small buildings are visible, which may be the construction of various stores. We're several miles away from downtown and Havensight. Not going. Been here too many times and don't need any more "bargains."

For our entertainment last night we chose the comic ; name is ???? Strong. Very funny guy. He'll be doing a midnight show tomorrow. There was also a Princess Jeopardy following the show; our team won.

Tonight's entertainment will be a production show, "Curtain Up" and another comedy show starring Pete Matthews. He's listed as being high energy comedy/juggler. I'm not up to high energy anything; will go to production show. Then again, aren't they high energy too? There will also be a 50's/60's sock hop party at 10:30 PM. hahahahahaha...........would love to see these old people hopping. :D The ship gets very quiet after 10 PM and yes, most of the passengers are seniors. Mostly VERY senior!

Mary: No. The Captain is Roger Bilton. And no, it wasn't Milt posting. Someone has to make sure he gets his "stash." :)

Stacey, et al: Thanks for your support, though I sometimes think my posts are boring. Being funny doesn't happen all the time.

TONY: Where the H*** are you? I need relief!!!

Until later folks. Another cup of coffee on my horizon. My little Melitta is working beautifully.

Arlene

[arlenemilt]

Arlene,with your cruise being pre Christmas are they playing lots of Christmas music?Have they started decorating the ship at all?

 

Hi David.....

No Xmas music at all and very little decoration. Not much. A tree here and there, some wreathy garlands and one menorah near the Purser's desk.

Arlene

[spyro1952]

For our entertainment last night we chose the comic ; name is ???? Strong. Very funny guy.

 

I think it maybe "Sarge" who is really hysterical. I've seen him on several cruises.:p

[envy4u]

T will be on later today ...."Live from the Tahitian "!!!

[bionicbeacher]

Hi Arlene ...we are enjoying your Live Reports from the Sun very much....nicely done.

 

We have a question and we hope that it hasn't been answered before and we have missed it...

 

Recently on Tony's "Live from the Golden reports" and Bill's "Live from the Coral reports" there was some discussion regarding how there might be a change in the wind on how the three members levels ...Gold...Platinum and Elite would be determined ....in that consideration was being given to changing the method of determination from Number of Cruises (now being used) to actual Days at Sea or some combination of both of these methods.

 

Have you heard anything further regarding this possible change in determining passenger "status" ?

 

also ......

 

We are not sure if you frequent the Casino or not...are you able to tell us a bit about the Casino?

 

Cheers

Ken & Jan

[arlenemilt]

Hi Arlene ...we are enjoying your Live Reports from the Sun very much....nicely done.

 

We have a question and we hope that it hasn't been answered before and we have missed it...

 

Recently on Tony's "Live from the Golden reports" and Bill's "Live from the Coral reports" there was some discussion regarding how there might be a change in the wind on how the three members levels ...Gold...Platinum and Elite would be determined ....in that consideration was being given to changing the method of determination from Number of Cruises (now being used) to actual Days at Sea or some combination of both of these methods.

 

Have you heard anything further regarding this possible change in determining passenger "status" ?

 

also ......

 

We are not sure if you frequent the Casino or not...are you able to tell us a bit about the Casino?

 

Cheers

Ken & Jan

 

Hi Ken and Jan...........

 

Yes. It's definite. Beginning 2007, the number of days travelled will determine your Elite status. So if you're up there with 150 or more, you're automatically in. AFAIK, Platinum remains the same; your 6th cruise, and Gold is cruises 2 thru 5. I have 300 days and can't even come near the top most travelled on this ship. All of them have 500+ days.

Don't know what I can tell you about the casino, except that the slots gobble $$$. :D What specifically do you want to know? There are a few 5 cent machines and 2 cent machines; mostly quarters and dollars. The tables have caribbean poker, blackjack, let it ride and my favorite 3 card poker, which also wasn't good to me. There's a craps table, roulette and a Texas Hold em' table.

Basically, at this point, all I'm using the casino for is passing through.

Arlene

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hi Arlene,

A shot of St Thomas for you.I think thats an RCL ship we can see.

Can't make out Sun in the shot.You must be "parked" around the corner and out of sight .........

 

 

[kruisey]

Congratulations on your great posts.

I felt the same as you when I was asked to report on my cruise on Island Princess this fall...was very apprehensive.After the nice comments I received from my daily reports I became alot more confident :)

Yes I agree with those that state they wont current happenings on the ship...cause the times are always changing......

Naturally MR TONY is definitely the expert in this field and I personally look forward to his posts from the Tahitian.:)

Again you have done well....Have you been getting the frozen screens...were everything you have written just goes nowhere and you have to start up again? this is what I had to contend with alot on Island P.....Maybe Princess has had that fixed?

[Carolyn R]

You are doing a great job Arlene! You are a very good writer and quite prolific. I can tell you and Tony are related!! Tony will be on in a few hours. What is the time difference, 6 hours? I'll be doing the b2b on the Tahitian Princess next year and will be hanging on every word for the next 20 days. Happy Holidays!

[arlenemilt]

Hi Arlene,

A shot of St Thomas for you.I think thats an RCL ship we can see.

Can't make out Sun in the shot.You must be "parked" around the corner and out of sight .........

 

http://i13.tinypic.com/453qexf.jpg

 

http://i10.tinypic.com/2ia8lyg.jpg

 

David.........there are no other ships here. We're parked at the new dock area; believe it's called Crown. We didn't go into town, so don't know who else is currently in St. Thomas. Right now they're paging two errant passengers; we were supposed to leave 1/2 an hour ago. They're probably sitting at a bar not responding. :rolleyes:

Almost time for dinner. We do personal choice at 6:30; same table with same wonderful staff since day one. Our head waiter brings us a surprise every night. :)

Arlene

[arlenemilt]

Congratulations on your great posts.

I felt the same as you when I was asked to report on my cruise on Island Princess this fall...was very apprehensive.After the nice comments I received from my daily reports I became alot more confident :)

Yes I agree with those that state they wont current happenings on the ship...cause the times are always changing......

Naturally MR TONY is definitely the expert in this field and I personally look forward to his posts from the Tahitian.:)

Again you have done well....Have you been getting the frozen screens...were everything you have written just goes nowhere and you have to start up again? this is what I had to contend with alot on Island P.....Maybe Princess has had that fixed?

 

Interesting that you just asked about frozen computers, since up until a few hours ago everything was perfect. Then my terminal froze, I reported it and 2 1/2 hours later when I came back in here it was still sitting as I hasd left it. Really got me annoyed since I couldn't get back on. Called the purser's office again and sort of raised my voice. Must have worked. All fixed now.

 

BTW, I've never been apprehensive about posting and have the utmost confidence in MOI. :D Can you see my modesty showing? :)

Arlene

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.

Love the pictures from the webcams.

We were docked at the crown dock in May on Disney, it cost us $16 each way into town and back with the kids - adding $32 just to get there didn't make the bargains very worth while!!:D

[arlenemilt]

You are doing a great job Arlene! You are a very good writer and quite prolific. I can tell you and Tony are related!! Tony will be on in a few hours. What is the time difference, 6 hours? I'll be doing the b2b on the Tahitian Princess next year and will be hanging on every word for the next 20 days. Happy Holidays!

 

Thank you Carolyn. Prolific often means a big mouth. I identify. :D

I think Tahiti is more than 6; more like 10. Someone will come in here and tell us. Maybe even Tony. I'm sure you'll love the Tahitian. We don't have experience with that ship, but we do have 82 days on the Pacific.

Arlene

[cactusrose]

Hi Arlene ...we are enjoying your Live Reports from the Sun very much....nicely done.

 

We have a question and we hope that it hasn't been answered before and we have missed it...

 

Recently on Tony's "Live from the Golden reports" and Bill's "Live from the Coral reports" there was some discussion regarding how there might be a change in the wind on how the three members levels ...Gold...Platinum and Elite would be determined ....in that consideration was being given to changing the method of determination from Number of Cruises (now being used) to actual Days at Sea or some combination of both of these methods.

 

Have you heard anything further regarding this possible change in determining passenger "status" ?

 

also ......

 

We are not sure if you frequent the Casino or not...are you able to tell us a bit about the Casino?

 

Cheers

Ken & Jan

 

Hi Ken and Jan. . . here's a link to a thread that discusses the new change. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=452326

[T&J]

We'll everyone I have finally arrived in Tahiti and onboard the Tahitian Princess...currently I am -5 hours behind the East Coast.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[cactusrose]

Wow, you are now only two hours behind my time. That means I will actually be able to catch some of those wonderful sunsets and sun rises this time on the Bridge Cam. Glad to see you arrived safe and sound. See you in about three weeks.:D

Stacey

[PescadoAmarillo]

it cost us $16 each way into town and back with the kids -

So is it $4 per person each way? And isn't there a ferry to Water Island (or someplace like that) that leaves right from where the ships now dock?

[bionicbeacher]

Hi Ken and Jan...........

 

Yes. It's definite. Beginning 2007, the number of days travelled will determine your Elite status. So if you're up there with 150 or more, you're automatically in. AFAIK, Platinum remains the same; your 6th cruise, and Gold is cruises 2 thru 5. I have 300 days and can't even come near the top most travelled on this ship. All of them have 500+ days.

 

Thanks Arlene ...that certainly is good news.

The tables have caribbean poker, blackjack, let it ride and my favorite 3 card poker, which also wasn't good to me. There's a craps table, roulette and a Texas Hold em' table.

 

I (Ken) generally play at Black Jack and Jan generally takes a go at the slots. So from your description it sounds as if it is a fairly good sized Casino.

 

Arlene

 

Hey Stacey....thanks for the Link...that makes us feel a lot better. We definitely will be getting up there to Elite Status a heck of a lot faster then counting actual Cruises.

 

Cheers

Ken & Jan

[Julia’s Journey’s]

So is it $4 per person each way? And isn't there a ferry to Water Island (or someplace like that) that leaves right from where the ships now dock?

 

Yes, $4 each each way and they piled us into that taxi, took more time for them to stop on the way to town to collect the money than to get there, I thought it was a rip off but it was the Magic's first cruise back doing the caribbean and we had always been at Havensight so was expecting to be there, wasn't expecting $32 taxi fare and bad attitude of the taxi drivers which I've since read a lot about!!:D

Never heard about the ferry to water Island.

[arlenemilt]

Good Morning.....

Just want to comment about St. Thomas transportation. AFAIK, it was $4.00 or $4.50 to go downtown or to Havensight. No mention was ever made about water taxi/ferry.

It's a nice, calm, balmy morning. So why did I get to the gym at 6:45? Guilt, that's why. Slept a bit later yesterday and didn't do much walking; had to double up today. Actually just walking the ship is good exercise, especially if you use the stairs too. There's currently an announcement from the PSD asking 3 different people to immediately return to their cabins and call the pursers desk. We heard there was some quarantine yesterday and these are probably the "cabin escapees." Would hate to see germy spreads now. :(

We attended the production show last night; probably have seen it 1/2 dozen times. Each ship does it a little differently and the costuming has also changed. Good way to kill an hour and since Milt likes to sit up front we really get to see how hard these performers work. We heard that the comedic juggler last night was very good, so perhaps we'll peek into his show tonight. Also on the agenda tonight is another production show "Piano Man." Title does not sound familiar. Yoo Hoo............TONY.........did we see this one?

Tonight is 2nd/last formal night with the Captain's Club cocktail party preceding dinner. Not going to party; hardly ever do. Also the champagne waterfall is on tap at 11:30; probably won't do that one either. Too many things to do all at the same time, or within minutes of each other. Hate to chase my tail which I always do at home. Talking about home, can't believe that we'll be packing tomorrow. :( Where have all these days gone?

Thankfully Tony has finally surfaced on the Tahitian and can "take over." He does it so well and is far more dedicated than I. :)

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Arlene

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thanks for the St. Thomas updates and all the posts. We generally head to St. John or Coki Beach (not shoppers) so maybe we won't feel the pain of the move quite as much.

 

Woke today to the realization that we leave 3 weeks from right now, and will board the ship the next day! Will also begin to closely follow Tony's posts, as the TP is up next year. These "live from" posts are so much fun!!!!

 

Arlene, can you comment on the food quality vs. other Princess ships you've been on recently? B2B on the Sun were our first Princess cruises 4 years ago, and we were NOT impressed with the food, but on every ship since it's gotten better (the Grand excepted), so I'm hopeful. Also, have they installed personal TVs on the treadmills, or should I be sure to pack my MP3 player?

[T&J]

Good Morning.....

 

Just want to comment about St. Thomas transportation. AFAIK, it was $4.00 or $4.50 to go downtown or to Havensight. No mention was ever made about water taxi/ferry.

 

It's a nice, calm, balmy morning. So why did I get to the gym at 6:45? Guilt, that's why. Slept a bit later yesterday and didn't do much walking; had to double up today. Actually just walking the ship is good exercise, especially if you use the stairs too. There's currently an announcement from the PSD asking 3 different people to immediately return to their cabins and call the pursers desk. We heard there was some quarantine yesterday and these are probably the "cabin escapees." Would hate to see germy spreads now.

 

We attended the production show last night; probably have seen it 1/2 dozen times. Each ship does it a little differently and the costuming has also changed. Good way to kill an hour and since Milt likes to sit up front we really get to see how hard these performers work. We heard that the comedic juggler last night was very good, so perhaps we'll peek into his show tonight. Also on the agenda tonight is another production show "Piano Man." Title does not sound familiar. Yoo Hoo............TONY.........did we see this one?

 

Tonight is 2nd/last formal night with the Captain's Club cocktail party preceding dinner. Not going to party; hardly ever do. Also the champagne waterfall is on tap at 11:30; probably won't do that one either. Too many things to do all at the same time, or within minutes of each other. Hate to chase my tail which I always do at home. Talking about home, can't believe that we'll be packing tomorrow. :( Where have all these days gone?

 

Thankfully Tony has finally surfaced on the Tahitian and can "take over." He does it so well and is far more dedicated than I. :)

 

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

Arlene

 

 

 

 

I am sure you saw Piano Man...it was going last year and the year before as well and you were both cruising!

 

Yes, these "Live from's" are a full-time job huh?...now you know!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[kruisey]

Interesting that you just asked about frozen computers, since up until a few hours ago everything was perfect. Then my terminal froze, I reported it and 2 1/2 hours later when I came back in here it was still sitting as I hasd left it. Really got me annoyed since I couldn't get back on. Called the purser's office again and sort of raised my voice. Must have worked. All fixed now.

 

BTW, I've never been apprehensive about posting and have the utmost confidence in MOI. :D Can you see my modesty showing? :)

Arlene

Its soooo frustrating when you are trying to answer a question sent from this board....you cannot say 'Hey sorry we are all frozen up here':eek:

That happened to many in internet cafe on Island....The pursers desk would get annoyed with us always having to phone down to get them to come up to fix.........I can understand their point of view...its not their problem really.

They would mention 'oh just leave it '.......but suppose someone had been in the middle of Internet banking.......:eek:

I understand debarkation is such a sad day...... Until the next embarkation:)

Well we have Mr TONY back again and his great posts