Ausse Gal Welcome Home.....

[sail7seas]

I saw you posted on another thread and want to say welcome back.

 

Hope you had a wonderful time and will be posting some comments.

I think there were other CC'ers on your cruise but cannot remember who....If there are others, of course, a big welcome home to you as well.

[Aussie Gal]

Sail,

 

Thanks so much for your welcome note. We did have a wonderful cruise and trip. We were very fortunate with the weather. In over 4 weeks we only had 3 hours of rain. The cruise on the Prinsendam was great. The itinerary was most interesting and we did enjoy our time in the Black Sea area as well as seeing Dubrovnik and Split.

 

As I have mentioned elsewhere, the food was excellent and the staff fantastic. Captain Gundersen who has been with the ship since new is a lovely man who has a great sense of humour. The Prinsendam is not our favourite ship, though if there was another good itinerary we would sail on her. We found the airconditioning to be either too cold ie. in the lounges or too hot ie. the dining room. Some nights the door outside the dining room on to the deck was fully open to try and let some cool air in. We also could not find a comfortable seat in the main lounge. We kept slipping off the chairs. We are looking forward to returning to the Maasdam in July as we like the layout of the Maasdam and the "old" Noordam. We were still getting lost into our second week on the Prinsendam. It must be a sign we are getting on in years!

 

We had a very mixed group of passengers. Only 50% were from the U.S. The rest were from Canada, Holland, England, Spain, South Africa, Panama, South America, Australia and Belgium. The average age was about 70 and there were very few using walking frames or walking sticks. It was a port intensive cruise and one needed to be fairly fit to get around. In fact I think most of the passengers were people who had travelled widely.

 

We all loved Yalta, it such a small verdant city and Odessa was the biggest surprise. It reminded me quite a bit of St. Petersburg as there are so many beautiful buildings which need such a lot of money spent on them. Next year I think HAL is replacing Yalta for Sebastapol which to me is a shame. Venice was wonderful as usual and our week in Paris was made even better by having superb weather. Now we have our Transatlantic cruise to look forward to in July preceeded by our visit to New York and Boston, which we are really looking forward to.

 

As far as I know, there were no other Cruise Critic members on board. We did meet up with a great couple from the Cruisemates Board though.

 

Jennie.

[jhannah]

Welcome back! We tried to leave the ship in good shape for you. Someone must have come onboard and messed with the A/C, as we didn't have any noticable hot or cold spots on our sailing. (At least not in the areas where we were.) We're anxious to hear more once you can gather your thoughts.

[xpcdoojk]

I want to grow up to travel just like the Aussie girl. :cool: I am so envious of your travels. I am so glad you had a great trip! No you can get back to planning your 2005 trip so that I can benefit from your tips!:D

 

 

jc

[BADBUOY]

:confused: pardon?

 

Aussie Gal -

 

Can't wait to read your review.

 

BD

[lizzielady]

I've been looking forward to your return and to your reviews of your journey. My sister and I are booked for the cruise in October of 2005. What were the most interesting ports you visited? Did you book the ship's excursions, or what other excursions did you take? What is "not to be missed?" Were there ports where you could just get off the ship and browse around the town? We sail on Oct 16. Sounds like the weather was wonderful, but what kind of clothing was appropriate? I saw on the news that St. Marks Sq. in Venice had one foot of water yesterday!

 

I am somewhat discouraged by review of the ship. We've been on the Zaandam and the new Westerdam and loved both of them; however, the itinerary is the most important aspect for us. Will be disappointed? Thank you for your information--and may the next cruise be your very best!

[Aussie Gal]

Liz,

 

You will love the itinerary. It so different to the norm. As we had been to Istanbul and Santorini before we did do our own thing on those two days. This time in Santorini we caught the local bus to Oia, so simple and easy to do and we saw half the ship there. They had paid a lot to do that tour whereas we paid about 1 euro each for the bus fare each way. We had a coffee there, wandered around and then returned to Thira where we had lunch overlooking the ship. It was heaven.

 

We took the ship's tours in Nessebur, Odessa and Yalta. In Nessebur we did the Village tour which was most interesting. We went to a small village about 30kms from Nessebur and we were given morning tea in a home. It makes one realize how lucky we are with all our appliances and comforts etc. The couple were charming hosts. We also went to the local town hall and the mayor welcomed us. The population was only 900 people and it was a typical village of Bulgaria. We also went to the Bulgarian Orthodox church in the village and the service was explained to us.

 

In Yalta we chose the full day tour. This consisted of visiting two palaces - Alupka and Livadia - and having a lunch provided with a folkloric show. The lunch in my opinion was ineatable but the folkloric show was great and it was interesting to see the in Livadia the room where Churchill, Roosevalt and Stalin met during 1944.

 

In Odessa we also took the full day tour. This was an excellent tour. We first of all walked around some of the streets in Odessa and looked at the beautiful buildings. We then went to a Russian Orthodox Church and listened to a choir sing without music - they were all highly trained singers. We then had a wonderful lunch, so different from the day before and were entertained by a string quartet and a opera singer. We then went to the Ballet and watched two short ballets with Champagne at interval. It was a great day.

 

When we were leaving the ship on both of these days we were handed a HAL bag each filled with a cake, a drink, a piece of fruit, some chocolate like a Mars Bar. HAL are really wonderful and obviously thought we would be starving!! After all that good food on board we could have gone days without food.

 

We have been to Kusadasi before and have seen Ephesus so this time we chose to do the 3 ruins tour of Priene, Mileus and Didyma. We had lunch in Didyma as part of the tour and then returned to Kusadasi about 3pm which gave everyone time to shop! By this time my DH said to me that on the next trip "he did not want to see another ruin".

 

In Dubrovnik we chose not to take a tour and we did the right thing. Friends of ours took one and said it was boring. We walked the walls of the old town and then walked around. It was most interesting. We had a lovely Italian lunch in the old city.

 

In Split we again took a ships tour for half a day. We went to some Roman ruins at Salina and then we went to a lovely walled town called Trogin where we had a coffee.

After being dropped in Split itself we wandered around the city on our own. Very easy to do and the ship docks only about 300 metres away. Most of us on board thought that Split was more interesting than Dubrovnik.

 

When we arrived in Venice, it was under water but it only lasts a few hours and then it disappears. The only trouble is that it makes it hard to see St. Mark's and also to go up into the Bell Tower. The lines were very long once the water had gone down. There are police stopping people from walking on the square in the water, you have to transverse the square on the boardwalks. On our last two days, the tides weren't high, so there was no water at all. I found it most interesting as this was our 3rd time in Venice but it would have been most frustrating if it had been one's first.

 

Regarding ports where you could just get off the ship and browse. Everyone of the ports we went to you could do this. I would just be very careful of not wearing too much jewelery and watching your handbag or wallet especially in the Ukraine cities. We also never take very much money ashore with us, usually only $100 US or $100 Euros. and we did make sure we also had a credit card on us in case of emergencies.

 

The Prinsendam is lovely and I am sure you will like her. It is just that after being on HAL designed ships, I like their layout better. We had a wonderful suite and it was very comfortable. I believe she is going into drydock before her world trip, so you will have the benefit of that. I did find that after being on the Noordam last year which is another ship built in the 80's that the Prinsendam was not quite in the condition that we found the Noordam. I have a very keen eye for detail and I do notice the little things. One thing that I was very impressed with and that is there are plenty of toilets around the ship. You never need to go looking. There are only two sittings for dinner and the larger dining room of the two is the better one to be in.

 

Jennie.

[xpcdoojk]

Hi Jennie

 

I am so with your husband and ruins. We just went to London, Venice, Rome, Amalfi, Pompei, Hurculaneum, and Ostia. While the ruins are so fascinating after a while you start to go, O yea, another crappy ruin. Same with cathedrals, after a while you go, magnificent, beautiful, and then hmmmm... seen that, done that, and you start looking for a trattoria for a nice bottle of wine. :D

 

Like I mentioned before, get back to planning South America!:D

 

jc

[lizzielady]

Thank you so much for the detailed info about your trip. You do a great job in describing places and events.

 

I'm keeping a copy of your posts so I can refer to them when I begin planning for each port. (Just in case of lost threads!)

 

Thanks again.

[Aussie Gal]

Liz,

 

One thing I forgot to answer and that was about clothes. I took light clothes for our time in Athens, Santorini and Kusadasi which was correct as they were very hot.

 

In Istanbul, Nessebur, Odessa and Yalta I just wore a long sleeved shirt with pants and carried a very light rain jacket which folds up and is great as a windbreak if needed.

 

The same went for Dubrovnik and Odessa. In Venice I also wore long sleeve shirts or T. shirts with long sleeves. In fact I had packed 3 fine woollen jumpers for Paris (we went on to there for another week) and believe it or not, I did not wear them. In fact yesterday was the first time I have put on a woollen jumper for over 5 weeks and we are coming into summer!!

 

We did have amazing weather but you can always be sure that Greece and Kusadasi will be warm in October.

 

Jennie

[lizzielady]

Oh my gosh--how can I wait until next Oct????? It seems so far away! I have two wardrobes--one dark and one light. The dark one for Europe and the light for Caribbean. Some of the formal stuff is a crossover. We are taking a 14 day cruise out of Jax in Jan for the Westerdan Caribbean on the Celebrity Zenith (no airfare for us). One concern is that the Zenith cabin has no balcony. I am a smoker so I guess I'll be looking all over for a special place for my addiction. Might be a good time for withdrawal!!!!

[Slinkiecat]

Welcome back, Aussie Gal! I'm always interested in hearing about Prinsendam since we will be on her for the world cruise in January 2005 - Can't believe that it is just over two months until departure!

 

I will be prepared for the cold spots on the ship as this is something that I always have to be on the alert for.

 

We're looking forward to several days visiting ports in Australia in February. Wish we would have more time there, but this is a big planet and we have to make it all the way back home in 112 days. :)

 

Slinkie

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie,

 

How lucky are you to be on the World Voyage. It would be the trip of a lifetime. You will be visiting Geelong, our second city in Victoria. If you get the chance, take the trip along the Great Ocean Road, it is a wonderful trip especially if it is a sunny day. You will probably get to see the 12 Apostles.

 

If you decide on seeing Melbourne, be prepared for a 40 minute drive of very flat plains before arriving in our lovely city. The trip between Melbourne and Geelong is very boring as in the west we have the basalt plains and they do not get much water whereas on the eastern and southern side of the city it is very lush. Melbourne itself is the city of gardens and is a very beautiful city.

 

Jennie.

[halcruiser]

Aussie Gal,

We are also on the World Cruise and enjoy hearing about the Prinsendam. Have a question about Geelong. Is the train station close to the pier? We were thinking of taking the train into Melbourne. We were in Melbourne in July on a land tour, loved it.

Marion

[Aussie Gal]

Marion,

 

I am so glad you love our beautiful city and want to see more of it. If I can help you with anything please let me know.

 

I am not sure where you will be docking but there are two stations that you can get the train to Melbourne from in Geelong. The first one is the main station which I feel would be too far from the port. The second is North Geelong and it could be a good 1km or a bit more walk from the ship (nearly a mile). The trains run regularly and are much better I feel than driving up to the city. You would get out at Spencer Street Station which is at the far west end of the city and then just walk or catch a tram to the centre of the city. I think the free tram runs along Spencer Street. The heart of the city would be about 4 or 5 blocks from there. Melbourne's business district is not huge - it is one mile by one mile square, and it is easy walking as our footpaths (pavements) are quite wide.

 

Jennie