OzKiwiJJ

It's calmed down a little in Sydney today but the last two days were very wild. The trees in our little valley were thrashing about all over the place.

Don't get mixed up between the Plus Fare and Plus Drinks Package. Make sure you and your Princess agent are talking about the same thing. The fare is usually $50pp per day extra and also includes internet. Usually both people on a booking have to have the same fare type. I can't see any way you could have two different fare types on one booking. The drinks package is $86.99pp per day and can be bought for just one person.

Oh that's right, I remember now. They must have run out by the time we started the September cruises. I think we did get some stuff on the cruise where we had a suite but nothing on the other three cruises where we had minisuites and a balcony cabin.

Keep looking. One might pop up close to sail date.

We were glad too. We only booked that cruise a week before embarkation day and scored a minisuite so we were very comfortable in isolation. Definitely worth the splurge.

Which cruise?

I doubt they would allow anyone out of their cabin if they tested positive. That's one reason we're booking cabins with balconies now. It certainly paid off on our last cruise when I got Covid.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Australian government made them available at the subsidised price.

Restaurants and bars were pretty packed when we were there last March. I was quite surprised. Our granddaughter wanted to take us to one of her favourite bars at the Spring St end of town but they were all chocka so we went to our apartment and opened a bottle of wine instead.

I don't think they will unless they are able to get ahead of it. There is some nasty stuff going through the Tasman in the next couple of days.

It seems to vary by ship. Possible supply issues I guess. Majestic and Grand probably stocked up on that sort of stuff before they left the US

Yes, Google Maps is wrong. But it's easy. After crossing the Anzac Bridge stay in the left lane and you will see the sign for the cruise terminal left turn into James Craig Rd. Then you just follow that road around.

Elite or Suite?

We usually go over 2-3 days before a cruise but this time I wanted to allow extra time, just in case. I don't trust the airlines atvthe moment but I booked the flight through HAL so if anything goes haywire it's on them to get us to Auckland. We have quite a few friends in Auckland so visits there these days is usually a mad rush catching up with them.

It's good that you did post that info. Some Sydney taxi drivers get up to all sorts of shonky things so it's important to hear of any possible scams.

We're hoping to go there next month. We're spending five days in Auckland before our next cruise.

Maybe they had supply problems with the liquid hand wash by the time we did the September/October cruises. We only got it in the full suite, not the minisuites. 😪

I contacted the medical centre when I woke up with a sore throat. They sent someone up to do tests - PCR for me, RAT for my husband. I tested negative but was asked to isolate. Next day they tested me again (PCR) and it was positive. My husband had to test every day while we were in isolation and report the result to the medical centre. After I tested negative again we were out of isolation. At some ports my husband had to test before leaving the ship but I was given a card stating I had been cleared by the Medical Centre. All tests were provided by Princess and all treatment was free including antivirals. While we were in isolation all drinks were free - we had the drinks package but this enabled us to get wine by the bottle and canned soft drinks free. Internet was also free for those who didn't have a package.

No, it's years since we last went to Waiheke.

How strange. Was that on the 26th June cruise?

On Coral the only cabins that had the liquid hand soap were full suites. The Club Class minisuite, regular minisuite and balcony cabin had bar soap. The liquid hand soap is lovely.

Yes, Grand class ships have three MDRs, two off the Atrium, the other aft. Coral id a Panamax class and only has two MDRs. The aft MDR on Grand is only accessible via the aft lifts and stairs, down from deck 7 and above. You can't access directly on deck 6.

Either would be great but I'd probably go for the Waikeke excursion. The ferry ride itself is gorgeous.

Not all big coaches have toilets. The one we were on to go to Cradle Mountain recently didn't. The seats were OK though.