OzKiwiJJ

Yes, it's a problem when other people post photos of groups without considering whether those people want their photos splattered over social media.

Actually it's a bit of a grey area in the Princess Privacy policy. It states that photos may be taken and displayed for purchase, and destroyed if not purchased. But usually that means you have consented to have those photos taken. But it's written in such a manner that probably covers them for photos taken without consent as well. The medallion allows you to upload avatars which display on your cabin door screen and, I think, on any screen around the ship if you are interacting with it at the time.

I was very annoyed on one Princess cruise we did. We were up on deck for sailaway and declined to have photos taken as we're not interested in buying them. The damn photographer took a sneaky shot of us in 3/4 profile then used it as the lead-in for their video which played in various places around the ship and on cabin TVs. I wasn't very hapoy about having our faces displayed all over the ship for the first couple of days.

There seemed to be plenty of partying going on when we toddled off to bed around 11pm most nights on our recent cruise.

We had a few unexpected charges. Most came from the dining where two glasses of wine had been ordered at one time and put onto one of our medallions and it didn't recognize that both of us had drinks packages. One charge was when a glass of wine, covered by the package, was charged as a bottle purchase. They were fixed quickly.

I saw a post on FB today from someone who is on Coral now. He attended a presentation about "Living at Sea" and during the presentation it was mentioned that all crew members were out of isolation now. So the only cases onboard would be passengers.

Wear a mask with some pepper sprinkled inside it so you sneeze a lot. They'll give you plenty of space then! 🤣🤣🤣

Exactly!

They sometimes put on recorded music when entertainers are taking a break in the various venues in the evenings but it's usually fairly quiet. I don't whether that's from something that is playing ship-wide or just something setup for each particular venue.

I don't recall noticing any music either. I think I'm so used to tuning out music in supermarkets etc.

Have you seen the cost of lettuces lately? 🤣🤣🤣

I don't think Via Napoli charges extra for GF bases and I would be surprised if they weren't made in house. Luigi sets high standards.

Next time you make savoury mince cook and mash some potatoes as well, put the mince in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then the mash on top. Rough up the top of the mash with a fork, brush with a little butter and bake until the top is golden.

What are their gluten free bases like? I've only had the regular ones but there was someone wanting to know which places in Lane Cove had good GF bases.

Not at my pizzeria - Via Napoli. Even though it is a Neopolitan pizzeria - the owner grew up in Naples and trained as a pizziola there - only a couple of their pizzas have garlic on them. Best pizza outside of Naples IMHO! 😊

I certainly agree with you there i don't know why they can't get fresh milk and cream especially on the shorter Australian-only cruises. Although that would require additional refrigerated storage space

Doesn't it depend on what part of Italy you are in? Garlic use being more prevalent in the south?

I'll have your share, especially if they are as good as the ones we had on Coral recently. They were the best I've ever had. But I know you wouldn't like them as they are done in garlic butter.

She would have had her phone in flight mode while she was on the ship surely.

I had a giggle at the person who commented about the fares being expensive. I thought the fares for these restart cruises were very reasonable compared with cruises we've booked previously. We've been able to indulge in booking suites and mini-suites which were well out of our price range in the past. Fares are going to go up over time. Even before the pandemic fares were higher than when we started cruising in 2014.

Yes, conch needs a white wine but snails work well with pinot noir, although a good chardonnay would also pair well as escargot is a delicacy from the Burgundy region of France.

I rarely take too much notice of reviews these days as more people will leave a review to complain than they will to praise, so the results are always skewed.

I concur. Drinks service in Crooners was a bit slow on a couple of evenings when it was very crowded but, apart from the woeful Plus wine list, that was the only negative. Over the years of cruising on Princess I've noticed the food does vary from ship to ship. I'd rank Coral in the top three.

If she had her phone in flight mode then she wouldn't get texts until she turned flight mode off. SMS works through the phone system not the internet.

No. Passengers were given an offer to cancel their cruise if they wanted and some did do that. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I think it was in the range of 1,400-1500. Apparently one of the media companies tried interviewing some passengers as they disembarked. They were trying get them to say they had a terrible time and the ship was full of Covid. Instead they got reasonably happy passengers (two days extra cruising free!!!!) and no comments about Covid. Apparently it made the media company look a bit stupid. 🤣