Some Final Thoughts

We are home from our big adventure. Laundry is in process and the rest of the stuff is getting put away. My Roomba robot is vacuuming up 4 months of dust on the floors. The fridge is empty and the cupboards pretty slim so Jim was ready to head to King Soopers and … the car battery is dead.

Good heavens, no one brought our breakfast to the room this morning or made the bed. Speaking of the bed – oh, it felt good to sleep in our own bed. The bed on the ship was really bad and the pillows were feather which neither of us cares for. We asked for a different kind of pillow but our steward said he was all out of them.

Although we are dealing with our usual jet lag and I’m not sure I’m completely coherent, here are some of my basic thoughts about the cruise and the ship.
· It was a great value – a wonderful experience for the price paid. This cruise on Princess was considerably less cost than similar ones on Holland America or Cunard.
· We survived the regular size balcony cabin. Again, I have to look at the value – there was no way we could ever have afforded to do a World Cruise in a full suite so it worked just fine for us. We put the balcony to good use
· I love the small ship. It truly felt like home within a few days and only took a minute or so to get from one place to another. The downfall was that there was only one real show lounge where they had to do all the big lectures, movies and presentations as well as work in rehearsals for the cast.
· We were incredibly lucky with our weather. We had some really rough days at sea but they were all in the early part of the trip where there were many sea days. It was 70 degrees when we did our overland tour to Beijing; the week before when the Tahitian Princess was there it was snowing.
· Our cabin steward kept our cabin clean but his attitude was awful. It did improve towards the end of the cruise. Our laundry would come back a day or two late… just generally poor service. Basically he acted like he hated his job. Here is an email I received from a person reading this blog (I’ve removed their names and cabin number): My wife & I sailed with you on the same voyage between Sydney and Hong Kong. Our cabin was on the same deck (Cabin 60XX) - and our steward was Allan from the Philippines. I believe you had the same steward and consequently, I was interested to read your comments.
Our experience was very similar. Initially, Allan was really surly and almost rude although admittedly, he had occasional good days. He also failed to deliver order forms for Elite canapés on formal nights and on several occasions, he "forgot" to collect our clothing from the laundry.
We were so annoyed that we did consider whether to opt out from paying gratuities via our cabin account. We did not opt out, because Allan did keep the cabin clean and tidy - and opting out would have affected other members of the crew (including the excellent waiters in the restaurant and buffet). Furthermore, I suspect that Princess have cut back on staffing levels, because cabin stewards seem to look after more cabins than a few years ago. However, we did not give any extra gratuity to Allan, who was conspicuous by his absence, when we vacated our cabin at Hong Kong. I am sure he knew our feelings.
· These small ships have no special area or planned activities for children (unless there are more than 25 onboard). There were 3 kids onboard for the entire cruise. Except for the first couple days when I’m sure they were feeling a bit lost, they were well behaved and seemed to settle in perfectly. I bet they are glad to be getting home to their friends now.
· The special “Overland trips” were first class. The hotels were 5 star and all the guides, destinations and food were exceptional.
· Other than the gift of an etched crystal globe commemorating the cruise, nothing was done for the full World Cruise passengers to make them feel special. No special cocktail parties, lunches, dinners, etc. It was pretty much business as usual onboard. This was the most common derogatory remark heard over and over at the end of the cruise. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of the passengers; Princess needs to do better in making this experience feel special.
· I found that a number of the passengers who were on the cruise had survived a serious illness or had been diagnosed with one. I received a similar comment from a friend (and client) that was just on the Holland America South America/ Antarctic Grand Voyage. He said “Wish we had done this cruise 10 years ago -- you have to be fit to see many of the places and to really see & enjoy them. My wife did better than I hoped for, but still missed some good tours.”
· Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! I loved it.

Twenty years from now you will be more
disappointed by the things that you didn’t do
than by the ones that you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
Discover.

Mark Twain