Muffinz

Same here - most of the cruises that leave from Auckland go around NZ and back to Sydney, or go to destinations we're not really interested in like mystery island, isle of pines, Noumea. We've seen 95% of NZ so a cruise around NZ to everywhere we've been to doesn't really interest me Celebrity are doing a couple of cruises in 2025 / 2026 from Auckland to Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa back to Tauranga / Auckland - but they are very expensive and I think they go in Jan / Feb which is the rainy season in the pacific Islands and the temp can get well over 30 degrees... no thanks. Would love to go to the islands but when the temp is a bit 'cooler' We priced the one on Celebrity Edge in 2026 and it was about $12k for a 12 day cruise to the islands our one in December 2024 on Crown Princess to Sth Australia was less than $7k and even when you add in return airfares and accommodation in Sydney 2 nights pre cruise, it's still way cheaper

this site might help you https://www.meghanmaloneyphotography.co.nz/post/where-to-find-lupins-new-zealand Unfortunately they grow inland in the central south Island and not easily accessible by a cruise port on the coast "Generally starting mid-to-late November through to early January. The lupins flower first around Tekapo and the Mackenzie Basin and gradually make their way south through the Lindis Pass and as far as Queenstown and Glenorchy" to see the Lupins in bloom you'd need to go to Queenstown and drive north towards Tekapo, or go to Christchurch and drive inland towards Queenstown. It's a 3 hour drive from Queenstown to Tekapo and the same from Christchurch to Tekapo

We've got nothing booked for winter, but have booked the 12 day Southern Australia Explorer cruise on Crown Princess in December - leaving Sydney 14 December Neither of us have been to Adeleide, Port Lincoln, Kangaroo Island or Tasmania, so we're really looking forward to it Managed to get a good deal on Air NZ airfares to Sydney, but are flying back on Qantas.

if you're booking online direct with Princess it can sometimes show there are no cabins available - as many are bought up by Travel Agents, so your friend was probably best to contact a T/A and ask about availability

there's a thread on here about princess soda packages and some people said there was Dr Pepper on their cruise - so maybe it depends what ship or where the ship is cruising from? Dr Pepper is not that popular in Australia (or New Zealand) so maybe they couldn't get any or just decided not to put any on Majestic?

My understanding is that in Aus / NZ there is no smoking permitted in the casino on Princess ships - can someone confirm this? Our only cruise to date was on Celebrity Solstice in 2018 and we loved it - and we're booked on Crown Princess in December 2024, so it will be interesting to compare We probably won't use the casino - unless we have to go through there to get to another part of the ship. we priced a similar cruise on Celebrity in Dec 2024 and Princess was way cheaper

yes - way better, as you have a much more comfortable seat with more leg room. with the sky couch it's just a row of 3 seats really and 1 or 2 people can book it., but we had more space between us because we had 3 seats between 2 and we could put up the arm rests. but it's certainly not big enough for 2 'slightly larger' people to comfortably lie down and sleep. if I had the money I'd do Premium economy - especially for a long haul flight

We flew Auckland - Vancouver return in July last year on Air NZ it's a 13 hr direct flight and it was in darkness pretty much the whole way (maybe I didn't know it was daylight as the blind thing was shut?) flight left Akl 8pm and arrived Vancouver 2pm We chose the 'sky couch' option on Air NZ and it was ok, but all you're really paying for is to have the whole row to yourselves. Unfortunately we had a lot of kids on the plane that were very 'vocal' and we didn't sleep much at all. Coming back we managed to bid and win an upgrade to Premium economy and that was very good. Flight left Vancouver 9:30pm and arrived in Auckland 5:45am and was in darkness the whole time

Sadly this is true - not just no cruise ships either we were supposed to be on Majestic in Feb 2023, but about 3 weeks before final payment in 2022, Majestic docked in Sydney with over 800 covid positive people on board... we decided to cancel that cruise mainly due to the large number of covid cases still happening on cruise ships We're on Crown Princess in December, so hopefully we'll be ok.... we're certainly not living our lives around covid,but we are still weary of catching it

but then there are others who really want / need the wifi to keep in touch with loved ones by video link / zoom / whatsapp on a daily basis The plus package works for some and doesn't for others - simple as that

thanks - we're most likely staying at the Hilton 2 nights pre-cruise and will probably visit David Jones then

thanks for that - something to look into

thanks for posting this - Japan is on our bucket list will follow with interest

thanks - we've been to Sydney a couple of times before and have seen places like Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Botanical gardens.... but can check what excursions are on offer from Princess We did look at Bounce? I think it was and I sent them an enquiry asking if they were open Boxing day and didn't heard back

Hi All, We're disembarking our cruise on Boxing day 26 Dec 2024 in Sydney OPT We will probably be off the ship 9-9:30am? and our flight doesn't leave Sydney until 5:45pm Our plan at the moment is to get train / princess shuttle bus to the airport, drop our bags off (check in?), then go from the airport to somewhere for shopping / sightseeing. Is there any mall / shopping centre close-ish to the Airport? could we go to Birkenhead point factory shops from the Airport? or is there anywhere else we could easily get to from the Airport? any advice would be appreciated