Sunday, December 14, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
More Senior Crew Announced
Today Princess Cruises announced two senior crew members who will be joining the Pacific Princess for the upcoming World Cruise. These officers include the following:
Leonardo or Leo as we know him, was born in 1973 in Valdagno, near Vicenza, Italy.
After gaining work experience in different hotels in Italy, Leo felt a strong urge to explore the world. So in 1996, he left his shoreside life behind and began his career as a Junior Assistant Purser on Sun Princess.
Shortly after, Leo became part of the inaugural team for both Sea Princess and Grand Princess. He even worked as an inspector during the builds of Coral and Island Princess in France, followed by Diamond and Sapphire Princess in Japan. His dreams of traveling the world continue to be fulfilled.
During his time off, Leo does not tire of travel, though he also enjoys reading and watching movies.
  Leonardo Pavan Hotel General Manager |
After gaining work experience in different hotels in Italy, Leo felt a strong urge to explore the world. So in 1996, he left his shoreside life behind and began his career as a Junior Assistant Purser on Sun Princess.
Shortly after, Leo became part of the inaugural team for both Sea Princess and Grand Princess. He even worked as an inspector during the builds of Coral and Island Princess in France, followed by Diamond and Sapphire Princess in Japan. His dreams of traveling the world continue to be fulfilled.
During his time off, Leo does not tire of travel, though he also enjoys reading and watching movies.
The other senior office joining the ship is the Maitre d', Oscar Perego.
Oscar Perego was born and raised in a small town in northern Italy near the Swiss border.
With a passion for fine food as well as service, Oscar attended catering school in Bellagio, Italy. After graduating, he gained industry experience by working in premium hotels and restaurants around Lake Como in Italy and Switzerland.
Oscar's first appointment at sea came in 1991 onboard Regal Princess in the position of Junior Waiter. His hard work and diligence allowed him to progress through the ranks to his current position as Assistant Maitre D'Hotel on Star Princess.
Over the course of almost two decades, Oscar has sailed aboard nearly every Princess ship. While he's traveled all over the world, he favors Princess' European itineraries, particularly those in the Mediterranean and Baltic regions. The city he cherishes most in the world is St. Petersburg, Russia.
When he's not at sea, Oscar enjoys spending his time off at home in Italy. A unique hobby, Oscar collects postcards from all around the world, an easy collection to maintain when he cruises from port to port with Princess! Not surprising, he also finds great joy in cooking. While he's on vacation, he invites friends and relatives over for dinner to taste all the special courses he's prepared, but only on one condition - they have to wash the dishes before they leave.
With a passion for fine food as well as service, Oscar attended catering school in Bellagio, Italy. After graduating, he gained industry experience by working in premium hotels and restaurants around Lake Como in Italy and Switzerland.
Oscar's first appointment at sea came in 1991 onboard Regal Princess in the position of Junior Waiter. His hard work and diligence allowed him to progress through the ranks to his current position as Assistant Maitre D'Hotel on Star Princess.
Over the course of almost two decades, Oscar has sailed aboard nearly every Princess ship. While he's traveled all over the world, he favors Princess' European itineraries, particularly those in the Mediterranean and Baltic regions. The city he cherishes most in the world is St. Petersburg, Russia.
When he's not at sea, Oscar enjoys spending his time off at home in Italy. A unique hobby, Oscar collects postcards from all around the world, an easy collection to maintain when he cruises from port to port with Princess! Not surprising, he also finds great joy in cooking. While he's on vacation, he invites friends and relatives over for dinner to taste all the special courses he's prepared, but only on one condition - they have to wash the dishes before they leave.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Phone, Internet, Text
Recently on a trip to Thailand and Myanmar, we visited many areas on a river boat where we did not have Internet access. We noticed one of the passengers on board who was always checking things on his cell phone and we wondered how he was doing this without running up an extremely high bill. In discussions with this passenger, we found out that he was using a BLU unlocked phone and T-Mobile as the carrier. Over the years we have seen crew and passengers buying SIM cards for a particular country, but we had always wondered how to do this when you visit as many countries as we will be doing on the World Cruise. It didn't make sense to be buying a new SIM card for each country.
After more research, we decided on getting a BLU Life One L120 "unlocked" phone. We ordered this phone from Amazon, because their price was the best. Within a few days the new phone arrived. Now we had to get over to T-Mobile to setup an account and get a SIM card. So, off to T-Mobile we went. The representative at the T-Mobile store couldn't have been more helpful. After listening to the descriptions of all the plans they offered, it became apparent that the Simple Choice Plan for International was the best for us. We had already used their data calculator online to determine how my GBs of data we wanted available each month. We settled on 3GBs. However, under this plan, you never run out of GBs, because once we reach the 3GB limit, you aren't charged any additional. What T-Mobile does is just reduce the speed of your Internet connection. This plan includes UNLIMITED Talk, Text and Data. The T-mobile service is available in over 120 countries and the best part is that there IS NO ANNUAL SERVICE CONTRACT. The plan also includes FREE unlimited Talk and Text over any Wifi connection. When you are outside of the USA, you pay 20 cents per minute for calls to mobile devices and landlines back in the USA. Additionally, you can share (Tethering) up to 6 devices with your phone Internet connection.
If you decide to do something similar to what we did, I would recommend that you let T-Mobile setup your phone and the correct APN (Access Point Name) for T-Mobile.
BLU phones can be found at this link BLU Phones .
T-Mobile Plans can be found at this link T-Mobile Plans .
After more research, we decided on getting a BLU Life One L120 "unlocked" phone. We ordered this phone from Amazon, because their price was the best. Within a few days the new phone arrived. Now we had to get over to T-Mobile to setup an account and get a SIM card. So, off to T-Mobile we went. The representative at the T-Mobile store couldn't have been more helpful. After listening to the descriptions of all the plans they offered, it became apparent that the Simple Choice Plan for International was the best for us. We had already used their data calculator online to determine how my GBs of data we wanted available each month. We settled on 3GBs. However, under this plan, you never run out of GBs, because once we reach the 3GB limit, you aren't charged any additional. What T-Mobile does is just reduce the speed of your Internet connection. This plan includes UNLIMITED Talk, Text and Data. The T-mobile service is available in over 120 countries and the best part is that there IS NO ANNUAL SERVICE CONTRACT. The plan also includes FREE unlimited Talk and Text over any Wifi connection. When you are outside of the USA, you pay 20 cents per minute for calls to mobile devices and landlines back in the USA. Additionally, you can share (Tethering) up to 6 devices with your phone Internet connection.
If you decide to do something similar to what we did, I would recommend that you let T-Mobile setup your phone and the correct APN (Access Point Name) for T-Mobile.
BLU phones can be found at this link BLU Phones .
T-Mobile Plans can be found at this link T-Mobile Plans .
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Returned from Trip
We just returned from a trip to Thailand, Myanmar, and cruising for 28 days across the South Pacific on the Crown Princess. We met 8 people on board who will be doing the upcoming World Cruise. It was great to see how excited each of them are about this wonderful trip.
Lots of things to catch up on and time to finish getting ready for the World Cruise coming up in just 64 days! This morning I submitted for the Carnival Shareholder Benefit and got it back from Princess in less than an hour. Really great service lately from this department. Then I called Princess and purchased the World Cruise Internet Package (1100 additional minutes). Probably will need this additional Internet time while doing our blog. The Internet is usually very slow across the South Pacific.
Anyway, the clock is really starting to countdown now. Won't be long until Sail-Away!
Lots of things to catch up on and time to finish getting ready for the World Cruise coming up in just 64 days! This morning I submitted for the Carnival Shareholder Benefit and got it back from Princess in less than an hour. Really great service lately from this department. Then I called Princess and purchased the World Cruise Internet Package (1100 additional minutes). Probably will need this additional Internet time while doing our blog. The Internet is usually very slow across the South Pacific.
Anyway, the clock is really starting to countdown now. Won't be long until Sail-Away!
Monday, September 22, 2014
Captain Ciruzzi
| Today, Princess Cruises announced our ship's master, Captain Mario Ciruzzi. This will be the first time we will have sailed with him. | |
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Sunday, September 7, 2014
World Cruise 2015 Trivia
Here
are some pieces of trivial information about the upcoming World Cruise.
How
far will the Pacific Princess Travel?
·
65,081
Kilometers
·
35,141
Nautical Miles
·
40,439
Statute Miles
How
many ports will we visit?
·
33
Ports
To
how many continents will the Pacific Princess travel?
·
Six
Will
the Pacific Princess cross the Equator?
·
Yes,
twice. Prior to arriving at Apia,
Western Samoa and after leaving Darwin, Australia.
What
affect will crossing the International Date Line have on the cruise?
·
This
will cause us to lose or not have February 2, 2015.
How
many laps around the Pacific Princess Jogging Track equal a mile?
·
13
laps
What
are the vital statistics for the Pacific Princess?
·
Passenger
Capacity 680
·
Length
593 feet
·
Gross
Tonnage 30,200
WORLD
CRUISE SEGMENTS
1.
Los
Angeles to Sydney 23 Jan 15 (22 days)
2.
Sidney
to Hong Kong 15 Feb 15 (18 days)
3.
Hong
Kong to Dubai 5 Mar 15 (20 days)
4.
Dubai
to Rome 25 Mar 15 (16 days)
5.
Rome
to Fort Lauderdale 10 Apr 15 (18 days)
6.
Fort
Lauderdale to Los Angeles 28 Apr 15 (17 days)
Friday, September 5, 2014
Final Payment
With our upcoming trips to Thailand and Myanmar rapidly approaching, we went ahead and made final payment today on the WC. So, it looks like we need to really get serious about organizing and preparing. We have a couple more vaccines to get next week and hopefully pickup the flu vaccine. 140 days and counting.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Changed Staterooms
After watching pricing and other factors for a long time, today we changed from stateroom 7107 to 7121 which is an aft-facing balcony. This will afford us more balcony space on this 111-day cruise which is extremely sea-day intensive (71 sea days). We were able to pickup additional on board credit due to the sale that Princess is currently running. Looking forward to this great cruise.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Countdown Continues
The time to prepare for this upcoming adventure is really starting to get short. We are down to 153 days until the Pacific Princess sails away from Los Angeles. In previous years, we would have already had a list of Special Speakers from Princess. Hopefully they will finalize this soon. And we can expect them to release the list of Shore Excursions within the next month or so.
Last week we got our vaccinations updated for travel to Burma next month and for the World Cruise. Our Yellow Fever had expired and we needed several boosters for previous vaccinations. If you would like to view a list of vaccinations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for each country in the world go to this link Link To CDC
After you CLICK on the country name you are looking for, then CLICK on Vaccines and Medicines.
Won't be long now before we will be sailing across the Pacific to great destinations.
Last week we got our vaccinations updated for travel to Burma next month and for the World Cruise. Our Yellow Fever had expired and we needed several boosters for previous vaccinations. If you would like to view a list of vaccinations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for each country in the world go to this link Link To CDC
After you CLICK on the country name you are looking for, then CLICK on Vaccines and Medicines.
Won't be long now before we will be sailing across the Pacific to great destinations.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Cancelled and Rebooked
Two days ago, we cancelled the World Cruise and immediately rebooked at a substantially lower fare. Of course we lost the $1000 each in on board credit (OBC), but the discounted fare made up for this and more. We were able to keep our stateroom on the starboard side of the ship. Looking forward to the next 203 days passing quickly and getting on board the Pacific Princess.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
More On Board Credit
Want more on board credit (OBC) to use during
the World Cruise? There is an easy way to get those dollars you can
spend for shore excursions or other purchases on the ship. One of
the best ways I would recommend is by getting a Princess Cruises Rewards Visa
card. You earn 1 point for each US dollar you charge to the card or two (2) Princess Points for every one U.S.
dollar ($1.00) of Net Purchases from Princess Cruise Lines including purchase
of the cruise itself and onboard purchases.
As far as how much you can
get in OBC depends on how much you spend. But, for example, say you
purchased the World Cruise using your card. An example would be, if
the cost of the Princess cruise is $20,000 US dollars, this would equal 40,000
Princess Points which can be redeemed for $500 OBC. It can also be
redeemed for other things (See the program details).
Our goal is to accumulate
as many Princess Points as possible prior to the World Cruise, so our shore
excursions will be covered.
More information can be found at the link below.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
UNESCO World Heritage List
Here is the link to all the UNESCO World Heritage sites around the World. This might be helpful to determine which of these sites you may want to visit on the World Cruise.
Less Than A Year
We are now under the 1-year mark for sail away from Los Angeles on this round-the-world adventure. Time is marking on and before we know it, we will be boarding the Pacific Princess. It's still too early to begin submitting our requests for VISAs. Probably won't be doing that until after this summer. With only 363 days remaining before we leave, I'm sure time will pass along very quickly. Looking forward to seeing everyone on board.
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