Princess cruises - anyone done one?

JuneBow

Here are some good deals from Princess. http://www.princess.com/uk_topcruisedeals.jsp
We are doing the Egypt and Agean. Outside cabin with balcony down from £2,026 to £899. I am interested in Middle Eastern politics but have never been to Egypt.
The one from Venice to Athens looks good value £1,320 to £299.
Sorry about the delay in replying. Been away got back this morning.

travellerboy

JuneBow wrote: »

Oh my goodness. What was wrong? You have got me worried now!

The general Hygiene standards of some people, albeit just a few, can cause havoc in the close environment of a cruise ship.
The problem is getting worse as the years pass by, only recently we cruised on the RCCL Rhapsody of the Seas and I caught the gastro bug on the last day of the cruise. I am always extremely careful and it happened to me, so we all need to be extremely careful. Two people on that recent cruise were transported off the ship by stretcher straight to hospital.
All the cruise lines suffer the the same risks but some deal with it better than others. Holland America have the strictest policies and I wish the others would follow their example but at the end of the day there are dirty people about and we all have to be ultra-careful, the bug is 24hrs of hell I can assure you.

My tips would be :
1. Never eat in the self-service cafes or anywhere where passengers are allowed free access to food, the risks are too high.
2. Always use the hand sanitisers prior to any consumption of food.
3. Try to avoid using the public toilets use your stateroom toilet. If you have no option wash hands thoroughly and use a tissue to open the door.

Hope you enjoy your cruise and take care.

getmore4less

JuneBow wrote: »

Here are some good deals from Princess. http://www.princess.com/uk_topcruisedeals.jsp
We are doing the Egypt and Agean. Outside cabin with balcony down from £2,026 to £899. I am interested in Middle Eastern politics but have never been to Egypt.
The one from Venice to Athens looks good value £1,320 to £299.
Sorry about the delay in replying. Been away got back this morning.

Some of those are cheaper on seascanner.com (not your balcony)


nice trip if you can get cheap air

getmore4less

The biggest risk for noro are your own hands.

so practice keeping them away from you own mouth and touching anything that goes in your mouth.

On ships the main transfer is by secondary contact, lift buttons,utentials railings etc. Food where contaminated utentials fall in.

Wash regularly and santize.

Think carefully if you finger food what have I touched since the last time I washed.

Once people get ill there is an increased risk of airborn but this is isolated to where people have been actively ill due to noro.

If convenient go past the sick bay when leaving the ship, watch/listen

JuneBow

getmore4less wrote: »

Some of those are cheaper on seascanner.com (not your balcony)


nice trip if you can get cheap air

I am glad of the bit in brackets! I hate it when I think I am getting a bargain but find out I could have got it better.

It does look like a nice trip. We were torn between that and a one which also spent two days in Isreal. That was quite a bit more expensive. I cannot remember the cruise line. We went to Isreal a couple of years ago and I loved it. But OH said we could just as easy get a cheap flight to Tel Aviv from Luton now and go there for a week or two.

I have now seen another one (it may have been even with Princess) which meant going through the Suez Canal, to Oman and a few other Gulf countries. I really should stop looking at more holidays because I will just hum and ha about the ones we are doing.

We have got a couple of good flights to Rome and are spending about 5 days there and another 3 in Venice when we dock.
Thanks for your advice and website. Will have a look.