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We are retired and in our late 50's and have always taken holidays where we have been in control of what we do and where we go (mainly fly / self-drive). We decided it was time to try something different and in late 2008 booked a 21 night cruise to SE Asian ports on the Sun Princess, departing Fremantle on Sunday 19 July 2009.
Embarkation proved to be simple and fairly painless and we found ourselves in our Caribe-deck (deck 9) balcony cabin (sorry, STATEROOM) in quick time. Our STATEROOM steward (Olimpio) was very helpful and attentive and showed us everything we needed to know. By the time we departed we were enjoying a glass of wine on the balcony, eying an approaching cold front with trepidation!
That night and the next day were wild - allegedly Force 9 gales and 8m seas!! However, by Tuesday the seas were abating and the cruise was beginning to show some promise.
The crew worked hard to look after us and make our cruise enjoyable. We had no negative experiences there.
The STATEROOM was small and we have heard that cabins on newer Princess cruise ships have more room. However, the space was adequate for our needs and we really appreciated having the small balcony.
The public facilities were excellent, especially the dining room where Primo and his wife Maricar looked after us nearly every evening. We are not great buffet enthusiasts but the Horizon Court buffet, the Sterling Steakhouse and Verdi's (pizza) provided variety.
We had a wireless-capable laptop with us and purchased a 150 minute Internet plan for $75. This proved to be better than expected as it worked in our STATEROOM, not just the Atrium. Logging on, downloading messages and then immediately logging off took only about 1-2 minutes. I could then compose responses and save them as drafts for sending the next time I logged on (another couple of minutes). It is vital that you remember to log off!
Entertainment was extensive and varied. The Cruise Director (Adam) and his staff were enthusiastic and hard-working. The onboard dance company were extremely professional, well choreographed, beautifully costumed and well drilled. The two singers were great and they were backed up by a really good 7-piece band. With very few exceptions, the guest performers were also very good and well received by the passengers. If I have a criticism it is that the cruise had enough "young" passengers to warrant having a band aboard that could play regular shows featuring more modern music, as an alternative. The ports of call had changed from the time of booking and hotel bombs in Jakarta resulted in Bali (Thursday) being dropped in favour of Kota Kinibalu (Saturday) but by late in the week our Captain informed us that the rough weather had held us up to the extent that KK was no longer possible and that Vung Tau in Vietnam (16 miles from our scheduled port of Phu My - for Saigon) had been substituted, with arrival scheduled for Sunday.
Vung Tau was therefore our first stop and after seven days at sea, eagerly anticipated. The long wait for the long, hot, sweaty and airless run ashore in a lifeboat and the long wait in the sun for a bus back to the tender point were counteracted by the pleasure of being ashore and being able to go for a decent walk.
Phu My the next day was different, with a berth alongside and a long bus ride in to old Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The trip was worth it as the city was quite pretty and the shopping was not too bad either.
Sihanoukville was another (shorter) tender ashore with not much to see.
Laem Chabang (port for Bangkok) was good for us as we had our golf clubs with us and we went ashore to play 18 holes at Laem Chabang Golf Club (excellent course!).
Ko Samui was another tender ashore to a small town that proved to be surprisingly clean and tidy and quite good for shopping (nothing too fancy but a reasonable selection and price).
We were delayed sailing from Ko Samui (missing passenger?) and apparently encountered adverse currents and these two issues combined to delay our arrival into Port Kelang (for Kuala Lumpur) by about 3 hours. This was a negative for us as we had to cancel a hard-worked for game of golf. However, we joined up with on-board friends and hired a taxi for the day (US$80) and spent a pleasant enough day exploring the shops of KL.
Singapore was well-organised as usual. The local train system and one taxi got us around and back to the ship.
Geraldton (our final port) involved another tender-ashore on a nice sunny and calm day and we went ashore with Mike the golf pro for 9 holes at a local golf club. Arrangements on-shore seemed well coordinated and it was nice to be back in Oz.
Rumours abounded and the ship's newsletter and TV channel did nothing to address the rumours (a bit like living in a communist state???).
We would have preferred more time in our ports of call but doubt that will ever change.
There were a few people aboard who seemed very negative and could find nothing but fault with the cruise. However, most of the people we met were like us and found the cruise to be a positive experience and the hiccups nothing more than something to laugh about later. Three weeks was enough for us and any future cruises will be shorter and to different locations (Alaska, South Pacific, Mediterranean?).
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