OzKiwiJJ

Yes, it's a trap for the unwary. Best to put cash on your onboard account if you're using a debit card.

With holds the cruise line, hotel or whatever usually releases them when the account is settled but the banks don't release them immediately.

I think we will have to accept higher fares for now. After 2.5 years of no cruises here the cruise lines need to claw back some of that lost income if they want to stay in business. A lot of things are going up in price these days which will add to their operating costs.

Prices were already starting to climb in 2018. When we did our March 2019 Celebrity NZ cruise we looked at booking Celebrity again for our next NZ cruise (we were trying to do an NZ cruise every two years to catch up with my brother) but the fares were much higher than the current cruise, and the two previous ones. I hadn't been tracking the Princess cruises as closely as we had been doing all sorts of different itineraries and switching between inside cabins and balcony cabins depending on itinerary. Of course I do have the fares from cancelled cruises we'd booked and there was definitely an increase in the balcony fares for Round Australia cruises.

We're booked with Princess Plus which is still good value for money even if we pay a bit extra by the glass for better wines with dinner, plus we get 25% discount on bottle prices which means some of those wines are cheaper than bringing a similar wine onboard and paying corkage. We usually have pre-dinner cocktails, and an after dinner cocktail or liqueur so definitely get our money's worth from the package. Besides we hate lugging bottles of wine around the ship.

The app is useful for checking your onboard account and then you can take a screenshot just before disembarking. I didn't find it slow at all.

Round Australia cruises and their sectors are usually more expensive than other cruises. Cruises at peak holiday times are also often more expensive, especially NZ cruises. On the other hand the restart cruises have been much cheaper than 2019 fares were. We have a Vista Suite on Coral booked for an upcoming cruise that is cheaper than a regular balcony cabin was on Majestic Princess in October 2018.

We don't go to the buffet because we prefer the ambiance of the MDRs, and table service over self service. Ar bars we sit somewhere comfortable and order our drinks from the waiter. I don't quite understand your comment about zero symptoms. Are you implying you tested positive to Covid but had no symptoms? If so I hope you were responsible and isolated until you tested negative. Double boosted does not mean you won't catch Covid, it just means you are not likely to be affected as severely thus putting less strain on our already overworked health services. We have had one delightful cruise so far this year, enjoying all the usual things we enjoy onboard. Wearing masks did not detract from our enjoyment. We are looking forward to being back on Coral in just under two weeks.

This diagram shows the risk levels of transmission with and without masks. The key point to remember that an infected person may not know they have been infected because they don't have any symptoms. In most cases people are infectious for around two days prior to symptoms developing and some people remain fully asymptomatic.

Which is why we carry sanitiser so we can sanitise our hands after removing our masks by the earloops, press lift buttons with our knuckles, don't go to the buffet, etc. Certainly there is some risk in removing and replacing masks but if done with care it is less risky than being unmasked in congested areas around the ship, especially the lifts.

Yes, they'd only been operating here for ten days before we boarded so I imagine the crew were still getting used to the system. Hopefully we will have no issues when we join the ship again in another 12 days, apart from the crappy wine that is!

I find the P2 masks much easier to wear with glasses. Just make sure you pinch it firmly around your nose. We use the PPE Tech ones which you can buy directly from them online. The more you buy the cheaper they are per mask.

There were more younger people than usual on our 26th June cruise but I put that down to people of all ages wanting to get back to cruising ASAP. Most of the itineraries so far have been short which suits the younger age group who have work commitments. But there are plenty of us seniors onboard.

That is such a gorgeous photo of you both.

Thanks, Irene. I recall that from our last cruise. My issue is that I had Sabatinis booked for the 13th as we move to a suite that day but the new booking for the 3rd seems which is B2B with the 14th has clobbered my dinner booking as far as I can tell. Of course it might still be in their system just not being picked up by the app because we don't have a suite for the 3rd cruise.

Mostly I like the app. Once we sorted out a minor issue it worked very well for us on our previous cruise. However it does have it's quirks.

We had a couple of instances when when both drinks were put on the one medallion one of the two was charged. Both times it was in the MDR. And on our first night, where we dined in Sabatinis, one drink that was ordered on its own was charged and the discounted price for a bottle was wrong.

I'm having that problem too. Very annoying.

No, it's because I make him wake up early. 🤣

I'm a bit peeved with the app. Since adding the 3rd Sept cruise to the 13th Sept cruise we already had booked it has lost our complimentary suite dinner for the 13th. We have to change cabins that day but the app seems to be only recognising the cabin type for the first cruise. I'll sort it out when we get onboard.

My new favourite pre-dinner drink is the Flamingo. I used to love the Lemontini but on our last cruise it tasted different - perhaps a different brand of citrus vodka - so it wasn't as nice. I love the Milky Way as an after dinner cocktail.

Were they booking through the app? I've heard that it isn't always accurate as to whether there are available tables. Try going to the restaurant, either the night before or early that night to see what is available.

That's not new. Even though they used to slip printouts under your door on the last night your account stayed open until you dinged off. Rolf drinks espressos and always had one or two with breakfast on the last morning of a cruise which were charged if we didn't have any coffee packages ones left. However mostly people don't charge anything to their accounts on embarkation morning so naturally assume the account is closed overnight.

I'm not sure about being part of the younger crowd 🤣 but we do tend to stay up lateish on cruises otherwise we don't have enough time for all the things we like to do. And we enjoy relaxed dining so we always eat in the MDR or occasionally at one of the speciality restaurants. No, we haven't done Alaska yet. It's still on the bucket list.

No different to pre-medallion days where the waiters would write down a folio number incorrectly.