OzKiwiJJ

Baja, and don't worry about being right near the lifts. It's no noisier than any other cabin location.

Try asking on the main forum for the cruise line, or the roll call for your cruise, or in the relevant Ports of Call section. You're more likely to get advice in those places.

You'll feel very much at home on Coral.😊

Medallion? Meh! It works fine.

The media outlet responsible for this article is well known in Australia for sensationalism. Plus they seem to have a grudge against cruise ships, especially Princess ships. Anyone with any sense downunder ignores their gutterpress reporting.

I've got a Feb 2024 cruise showing on mine that we cancelled more than six months ago.

All the best, Jean. I hope you enjoy Coral Princess, she's a lovely ship and the crew are wonderful. We can't wait to get back onboard her in six weeks time.

Hmmmm, giant snail sauteed in butter and garlic? Can I have a nice pinot noir with that? 🤣

Crystal used to allow visitors onboard. We were able to go on Crystal Symphony a few years ago for a visit when she was in Sydney.

Have you seen this update? It was posted on FB a few minutes ago. "CORAL PRINCESS 6211P EMBARKATION UPDATE The Port of Brisbane remains closed to the adverse weather conditions and we still do not know when Coral Princess will be alongside in Brisbane. We expect your embarkation will take place tomorrow, Sunday, 24 July, and will update you in the morning regarding your embarkation schedule, cruise itinerary, and compensation. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. Please do not depart for the pier tomorrow before receiving our update vis email, SMS, or the recorded call-in number below. For the most up-to-date information, call 1300 367 989 (+61 2 83264580 if calling from outside Australia) Please remember to take a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) this evening or in the morning before departing for the pier, as all guests must attest to a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of embarkation in order to board the ship. We continue to look forward to welcoming you onboard Coral Princess."

Occasionally one of the luxury lines does one but from what I've seen they mostly stick to the standard ports too.

And the Travelodge should be a bit better than an Ibis Budget.

Luckily the place we were staying at in Coffs Harbour had availability for the extra two nights. We had a good trip home on the Friday in dry conditions with only a bit of flooding at the sides of the road near Newcastle.

Which is why I can't afford the Coral Expeditions cruise.🤣 Plus I can go around Australia on Coral Princess too. OK, not as many interesting ports but still!

Hmmm, definitely need to win Lotto for that one! But it sounds like a really interesting itinerary. It even stops at Bateman's Bay so everyone can visit Les.

And sometimes you can't get home because the roads are flooded. We ended up staying two nights extra on our way home from our cruise earlier this month due to the weather conditions.

Have you looked on any of the accommodation booking websites? They are often good for last minute bookings, although you might have to go into the city rather than staying out by the airport. Edit - I just saw you've found somewhere.

I never liked the chocolate ones much because they were dipped in chocolate icing, not melted chocolate, and I didn't like icing much. But I loved raspberry jelly so the pink ones were perfect for me.

The cruise terminal staff are not employees of Princess so they would not be able to make any offers of compensation on behalf of Princess. It sounds like the person you spoke to initially wasn't very helpful but probably all they had heard was that the port was closed and the ship wasn't going to arrive. Princess may not have any staff permanently based in Brisbane. Their Australian offices are in Sydney.

Cake shops in NZ used to do that as well. Yummy!

Evon was on the same cruise so it's interesting that we saw things differently. Timing, perhaps? We avoided the buffet where mask-wearing was probably enforced more, and usually dined after 7pm and went to the late shows.

Yum! My favourite type of lamington. More commonly seen in NZ than here though.

It was quite a noticeable change from the first few days of the cruise. although on the Airlie Beach tenders quite a few people weren't wearing masks either. It's a worry how complacent people have become. We were grocery shopping earlier today and I reckon about 80% of those in the supermarket weren't wearing masks. There were 18,657 cases in NSW yesterday. Our LGA is averaging 120 cases a day at the moment.

We saw the complete opposite from mid-cruise on. During the day less than half the people were wearing masks when moving through the deck 5 Atrium area, while we were having coffee at the Good Spirits Bar (typically mid-afternoon). While having our pre-dinner cocktails in Crooners, around 7pm, we saw quite a few people heading through the Atrium without masks, and after dinner it was just as bad. The worst was at the On The Bayou show in the Universe Lounge. Although we arrived more than 30 minutes before we were very lucky to get two of the remaining seats on the right side where the seating curved around. We could see right across the audience and very few people were wearing masks, even though there were regular announcements about it being a Sip and Cover venue. Some people did cover up for a few minutes, but then removed their masks again. It was very crowded at that performance too. All we can do is continue to wear masks to protect ourselves. It is a shame that so many people have such little respect for others, especially the crew. I was not at all surprised to hear there was a significant number of cases among the crew a couple of weeks after our cruise.

Are you sure you were on the same cruise as us? 🤣 Certainly at the start of that cruise passengers were very good at following the mask rules but by day four that had slipped badly, especially in the Universe Lounge at the On the Bayou show, and in lifts and moving around the ship in the evenings.