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Topic: Best cruise you ever did?

Paddy
First Class Passenger
Member # 357

posted 04-28-2000 07:13 PM

When? Where? How long? Ship? What made it so special?

Posts: 763 | From: Belfast, Ireland | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

Paddy
First Class Passenger
Member # 357

posted 04-28-2000 07:16 PM

I can't really choose as I have only done two, but of the two it would have been the Seawing, Mediterrannean, July 1997 as the people on board were just so nice and fab.

Posts: 763 | From: Belfast, Ireland | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

gohaze
First Class Passenger
Member # 586

posted 04-28-2000 07:22 PM

Favorite cruise?...easy, 1999, Marco Polo Antarctica, 25 days from Ushuaia down to the Peninsula and then around to the Ross Sea and up to Christchurch. Unique itinerary and an excellent ship to do it on.
We've now done over 40 cruises and can say that this one is the only one we would repeat if we could.

Posts: 1909 | From: Vancouver.BC | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 04-28-2000 07:59 PM

My most favorite cruise.....it's between
two.....a Medy on the Gripsholm and a North
Cape on the Volendam. I will say it was the
Volendam....a 41 day cruise during July and
August 1973.....from NYC to Iceland, Norway,
Denmark, Sweden, Russia, many Channel ports
such as Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Honfleur,
Torquay, and then out to the Azores before
returning to NYC on one of the hottest days
on record with humidity to match. We had
about 350 who did the entire cruise. We
had some who did the crossing from one of
the Channel ports to NYC. The maximum
capacity was 500 so we had a very spacious
cruise.

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

sympatico
First Class Passenger
Member # 797

posted 04-28-2000 09:21 PM

From LA to Hawaii to LA to Vancouver, on the Rotterdam V in 1993. Lots of sea days and a fantastic Hawaiin theme on board the ship. The seas were rough the first few days after leaving LA, but the ship travelled well. There were lectures on the history of Hawaii, two wonderful Polonesian shows put on by a group of dancers from of all places San Fransisco. They were better than the Hawaiin dancers I saw on the islands. I had a "BIG" birthday during the trip and it was the best I can ever remember having. 19 glorious days of cruising.

Posts: 3305 | From: Toronto, Ont. Canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

Grant
First Class Passenger
Member # 1000

posted 04-29-2000 12:01 AM

For me there is a tie between 21 days aboard P & O's Victoria, and any of the trans Pacific sailings aboard Canberra. Like Sympatico I prefer the long legs with many "sea days" the best. In fact on a recent sailing aboard Noordam, I did not disembark at any of the ports! Also enjoyable are sailing that are a voyage rather than a cruise back to the embarkation port as these give you a real sense of going somewhere. In all the cruises I've done, there really hasn't been a bad sailing-some are just better than others. I believe it was ship lecturer John Maxstone-Graham that said it best-"the best islands in the world all have at least 2 propellers".

Posts: 834 | From: Victoria, BC, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Guest
First Class Passenger
Member # 1157

posted 04-29-2000 01:51 AM

1998.
Miami to L.A. through Panama Canal.
11 nights.
Queen Elizabeth 2.

Liked it because the ship is the best ever, the canal was amazing and I had the best time of my life!

Posts: 1888 | From: Earth | Registered: Mar 2000 | IP: Logged

LizB
First Class Passenger
Member # 1243

posted 04-29-2000 07:53 AM

For a long time I thought my best and most memorable cruise was, like NAL's, the one from New York to the North Cape and back to New York in 1972 on the old Statendam. We did the same itinerary as the one NAL did in 42 days - covering Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, St.Petersburg (Leningrad), Poland, etc.
However, now I feel the best one we ever did was the 1993 35-day Grand Europe Cruise on the new Statendam from NY to London. Itinerary included Bermuda, Azores, Med.to Italy..including ports in Spain..and then back up to Portugal,France,Belgium,Holland,Denmark,
Sweden,Germany,Norway and then London.
We embarked on the ship not knowing any passengers and ended up having a group of about 20 getting together every evening and going on tours together. Made many lasting friendships and have cruised with some of these folks since that time.
We also gave a private cocktail party in the Explorers Lounge for retired HAL personnel while we were in Amsterdam -- had invited 35..but ended up with about 65. The party lasted two hours and finally Capt. Hans Eulderink blew a whistle to break up the party so that the Ship could open the Lounge to the regular passengers. Dick Zeller also decided it should be a buffet and not a cocktail party -- so the Line had tables together the length of the Lounge with all kinds of hot and cold foods..at their expense. We only had a bar bill of $1400.!!
A VERY MEMORABLE CRUISE -- plus the fact we had not been back to Europe since 1966 when we went overland.

Posts: 133 | From: S.Dennis,MA, USA | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

KruzinKat
First Class Passenger
Member # 260

posted 04-29-2000 04:52 PM

Of course our first cruise on RCCL's Majesty of the Seas will always be special - that mind-blowing experience of learning what cruising is all about. But our hands-down favorite was our Trans-Atlantic on Norway last August. We went from Southhampton to "Dun Leary" to NYC to Miami between August 7th and 21st. Loved the ship, loved really using our passports for the first time, loved seeing London (briefly) and Ireland for the first time, loved the excitement of our rendesvous with the brand-new Sky - even though most of the August 8th total eclipse we shared was obscured by clouds, loved having John Maxwell Graham on board for lectures and our touching ceremony near the Titanic's resting site, loved sailing into NYC for the first time - past the Statue of Liberty and the wonderful skyline, loved all the at-sea days - and the experience of crossing the Atlantic, and (of course) loved being able to dance to our heart's content. We also loved meeting some fellow cyber-cruisers and families during the cruise. All-in-all, a truly special and memorable crossing. But, that said, we're hopeful of adding more wonderful cruise memories in years to come!

KruzinKat (and Renegade4)

Posts: 101 | From: Kingston, MA USA | Registered: Jun 99 | IP: Logged

CB
First Class Passenger
Member # 58

posted 04-29-2000 11:52 PM

It would be our cruise last summer(June '99) to Russia/Scandinavia. It was 13 days on the Royal Princess but it was the itinerary that was memorable. Never dreamed that I would visit Russia of all places. But it was great to see the palaces and museums. My favorite port of call was Stockholm. Just beautiful. I was mesmerized by the sunset at midnight. I certainly would repeat this itinerary but on a different ship.

Posts: 109 | From: Arlington, TX, USA | Registered: Mar 99 | IP: Logged

Skyhawk
First Class Passenger
Member # 427

posted 04-30-2000 08:42 AM

CB...I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise since We will be leaving from Copenhagen on May 21 for the same basic trip. Why do you say you'd go on another ship? we are scheduled on the Crown Princess the sister ship to the Regal Princess which we were on for an Alaskan cruise. We were pleased with that ship.

Posts: 54 | From: San Angelo, TX USA | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

CB
First Class Passenger
Member # 58

posted 04-30-2000 03:49 PM

Skyhawk:
In general, I like the size of the Royal Princess which is slightly smaller than the Statendam class ships that we enjoy. The service was also good especially at the white glove afternoon teas. Even with the problem in our bathroom as indicated below, they were prompt and they tried.

The problems encountered on the Royal Princess were: Food, maintenance and vibration.

Food: After the first couple of days I did not look forward to meal times. I eat seafood at every meal. My better half is the meat eater. On lobster night, the tails were hard and ropey. I had fish that was over cooked and mushy. The breads had too much yeast and they fell apart. Crumps everywhere. I had pasta at lunch one day and it was not only too salty but also congealed. I sent it back. Of our 8 cruises, it was the only one I had to send food back. My wife likes her meat well done. No visible blood. This was explained to the waiter the first night and when ordering each night and she still had to send uncooked meat back.

There was a couple at a table for two next to us and they sent more stuff back than us. They were really disappointed. They blamed it on the Chef. What gives weight to their disappointment is the fact that they only sail on Princess. This was their third cruise on the Royal and the food was better on the previous two cruises. The food in the Lido wasn't any better.

Maintenance:When we arrived, the bathroom in the cabin(Caribe Deck) had a fermenting sewage odor. We immediately reported to the Accommodations Manager and he came to the cabin. He said that it was due to the age of the drainpipes and because we were dock and no water was flowing through. Not being an engineer, I don't know if he was right or wrong but the bottomline was that I just needed a nice regular smelling bathroom. Throughout the cruise, they made an attempt to correct the problem. One was when the maintenance guy replaced an elbow in the drain and the used of solid air fresheners.
It was livable until two days before the end of the cruise when the smell erupted again. This time the smell was out in the hallway too.

Vibration: This was not the type of vibration most cruisers complain about. It had nothing to do with docking and leaving port. This was throughout the cruise and it mainly effected us in the Continental Dining Room. We were seated center/aft. The rumble not only made it difficult for conversation but it had the water in the glasses dancing, the pepper/salt shakers sliding, etc. Once again, the couple next to us commented that the vibration was much louder than their previous two cruises. The waiter and busgirl stated that they have to sleep with a pillow or an arm over their exposed ear. I felt sorry for the staff whose living quarters were closest to the engines.
As long as you don't have the same Chef(Claude Palloure) and with the other two problems being unique to the Royal, you should have an enjoyable cruise. I wished there was more time spent in St. Petersburg so we could have gone to the ballet.

Posts: 109 | From: Arlington, TX, USA | Registered: Mar 99 | IP: Logged

Skyhawk
First Class Passenger
Member # 427

posted 04-30-2000 05:16 PM

CB...Thanks much for that detailed explanation. Maybe I shouldn't have asked

. We were on the Princess Regal for an Alaska cruise in 1995 and thankfully didn't have any of the problems that you describe. Here's hoping the Crown Princess is up to normal Princes standards. Thanks again for your description of the ports and St. Petersburg. We intend to enjoy it.

Posts: 54 | From: San Angelo, TX USA | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

gohaze
First Class Passenger
Member # 586

posted 04-30-2000 07:21 PM

Royal Princess....we did the Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires down the West Coast trip last nov/dec. For background, we've done 15 cruises on P&O/Princess on 9 different ships.Quite frankly, we found that the Royal was not up to the usual Princess standard. Hard to define but she seemed grungy, and the crew appeared to have little interest, including the Captain. Our dining room waiter said at the end of the trip that if we were'nt going to give him an excellent then don't rate him at all..first time in 40 odd cruises anything like that ever happened to us. The food in the dining room was certainly lacking in preparation and presentation..one night we went through 4 orders of lamb chops and couldn't cut one out of 12...cremated on the outside and raw on the inside. We had zuccini with almost every dish except dessert, and I hate zuccini. I found 2 peas in the soup in the Lido one day and mentioned it to the chef up there and he laughed with me...those were the only ones we saw the whole month. Cups out on deck stayed in corners for days which contrasts with the ship we've just come back from - Marco Polo - where the time is in minutes.
The ship itself is fine, nicely laid out, and the sort of size we prefer, but I think she is probably being ignored in favour of all the new ships. Too bad..she needs a good Master on there and a young interested Chief Officer to get things going...don't think we ever saw him.
rgds...peter

Posts: 1909 | From: Vancouver.BC | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

pungpui
First Class Passenger
Member # 1218

posted 05-01-2000 02:24 AM

My favourite was a transatlantic voyage from New York to Southampton aboard Queen Mary almost 40 years ago. I was 15 then
i really enjoyed it as the ship was wonderful and i found my love.

Posts: 419 | From: Sydney, NSW, Australia | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

Carolina
First Class Passenger
Member # 1233

posted 05-01-2000 01:52 PM

Really I haven't been on enough cruises YET to participate in this, but my fave so far was a Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. So relaxing with the most wonderful sights.

Posts: 15 | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

Winner
First Class Passenger
Member # 1188

posted 05-05-2000 02:14 PM

My absolute favorite was Royal Viking Sun (when Royal Viking was still in business) Baltic cruise in June 1992. St. Petersburg had just be re-renamed and the people there were wonderful! There were impromptu "bands" wherever we went playing (very good) versions of American hits and classics--you haven't lived if you haven't heard a rousing version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" as you enter the square outside the Hermitage!!The weather was perfect; Robert Massie gave lectures on old and new Russia; and we were upgraded to a stateroom with a balcony and tub. Heaven. We have sailed "The Sun" 4 times since and will again in October. The old RVS crew wa the best but Seabourn's should be also.

Posts: 113 | From: Santa Rosa CA USA | Registered: Mar 2000 | IP: Logged

Joe at PwC
First Class Passenger
Member # 225

posted 05-05-2000 02:25 PM

August '93: 7-days in Alaska aboard the Crown Princess. Simply the overwhelming majesty of Alaska is what made this journey, and it helps when the line involved really knows how to present it. I suspect, however, that this cruise may be easily eclipsed by a return journey aboard one of the Sun Princess sisters. These ships are just a whole lot nicer than the Crown Princess (not to say that the Crown was shabby at all).

Posts: 385 | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 05-05-2000 04:07 PM

Sorry to hear.....

I am sorry to hear all the negative reports
on Royal Princess. She has always been my
favorite Princess ship....by a wide margin.
I have not sailed her for five years and
much has changed apparently.....very sad.

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

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