OzKiwiJJ

We bid on an upgrade from a BA Balcony cabin to a Mini-suite for our upcoming world cruise on Coral Princess, out of Sydney. We bid at about two fifths of the difference between the balcony cabin and current price of the cheapest, still available, mini-suite category at the time, which was essentially a fairly low bid but a decent amount above the starting bid price. Four days ago we got the "You have been out-bid" email offering us a chance to increase our bid. Nope, our original bid is all we can afford. Today we received another email saying our bid had been accepted. We have a mid-aft MB mini-suite for 110 days! We are so excited!

We did a 35 night cruise in 2019 in an inside cabin on the old Sea Princess, and those inside cabins were much smaller than on the newer ships. We really only used our cabin to sleep, shower, and change clothes. There are plenty of spaces around the ship to sit and relax. Go exploring during the first couple of days and hopefully you'll find the perfect place. Although we tended to move around a bit - coffee in one place, quiet reading in another, outside for a bit of fresh air (weather permitting), and so on.

Do you actually have separate accounts each? Our onboard accounts are linked so no matter which account it goes on it only results in one payment. I set up the account and at the end of the cruise the balance on my husband's account is transferred to mine then the total is charged to our credit card. So it really doesn't matter who pays for the drinks.

Do chair yoga! You can find instructions online, or e-books on Amazon, for the various exercises. It will give you some exercise without putting weight on your leg.

We didn't have a drinks package on Cunard so just bought wines by the bottle, and found some very nice ones I must say. Most were reasonably priced (compared with Sydney restaurant prices) but we did lash out one night on an expensive burgundy. However our final account was definitely a bit too much on the high side! 🤣 But we had a wonderful and rather indulgent cruise on Cunard. Even at $65 the Princess Plus fare is still good value for money even if you have to pay extra for decent wine. The 25% discount on wine by the bottle means it just works out cheaper for us to have the package and buy bottled wine for dinner, than to pay for internet (even with the Elite discount), coffees, bottled water, cocktails, after dinner drinks, and bottled wine at full price, however I'm so happy we got the basic Plus fare at $40pp per day when we booked the world cruise.

Every so often I feel these little bubbles of: excitement? joy? happiness? anticipation? popping up. It has really made a difference to how we feel about this once-in-a-lifetime cruise. Roll on April 30th ... but not until I've finished packing. 🤣

110 days worth! We've decided to put a lot of our consumables into a large carton which we're going to put up on the closet shelf. We'll tape it closed and stick a luggage label on it and hand it in with our bags. That's already packed! 😊 Now we can put some into the bathroom, and what's left will go into a suitcase under the bed.

I hate to tell you but the US Plus wines may be worse than Willowglen, and that's saying something! We only tried three on Diamond: - the pinot noir which wasn't as good as the Australian one - the pinot grigio which had no pinot grigio characteristics and was even more bland than the Willowglen Semillon/Sauvignon - the chardonnay which, like the Willowglen, was overly oaky with that raw new oak flavour. Luckily I'd budgeted for wines by the bottle and we had some very nice ones, made even more enjoyable by our wonderful waiter sourcing Riedal glasses for us. We were very spoilt!

Yes, it will make the cruise just that much nicer just having the extra space and somewhere to sit in the cabin other than on the bed. We've both wandering around with big grins on our faces today! 🤣

The longer bathroom vanity, and the extra space under it, will be very useful too. We can store all our extra bathroom consumables on that under-vanity shelf - my skin care, shampoo & conditioner, Rolf's razor blades and shaving cream etc.

The distillery was actually quite fascinating. The guy had built all the machinery itself. I really enjoyed the stop there. Our tour didn't actually stop at a winery, we had a wine tasting at one of the Penneshaw restaurants. The factory behind the honey shop was also very interesting, showing how they extract the honey.

When we did the tasting tour they used two smaller buses, rather than one big one, and staggered some of the various stops so it wasn't too bad. I really liked being able to relax and enjoy the scenery instead of having to drive.

It will be interesting to hear what they are doing on Royal. At least $18 covers the price of all the wines on that pathetic Plus list.

On the Princess website the Zero Alcohol Package is $65.25pp per day (AUD), so that would be $913.50pp for the whole cruise. At that price you'd be better off upgrading to a Plus fare at $65pp per day. Not only will you save whole 0.25 cents per person per day 😉, you'll get the internet package and all the other stuff. If you phone Princess or use their Live Chat you should be able to get the Plus fare for just you, not your husband, unless they've changed the rules about that recently.

So excited! Four days ago we received the dreaded "You've been outbid!" email. We'd already bid as much as we could afford so did nothing even though it was a relatively low bid - not the minimum but still fairly low. This morning we got the upgrade email - a mid-aft starboard side minisuite, which is exactly what I wished for. 😊😊😊😊😊

In that case good to hear it worked for you.

Remember there are "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics". I forget who said that but it's always amused me.

Maybe but we enjoyed our three day stay there in 2021.

Once you get the email saying it has been accepted gp back into the app and select the applicable cruise line. You will then be able to enter your booking number, name, date of birth, and email address.

I don't think so. And if you don't get it done they'll do it at the terminal.

Yes, Kingscote isn't a great town for tourist day stops but it's a good base if you're staying on the island for a few days, especially if you're going to do the big drive down to Seal Bay, the Flinders Chase National Park and the Admiral's Arch.

We just walked around Penneshaw on one of the times we stopped there, and it was fun with good coffee, the market, etc. But Penneshaw is just a very small part of Kangaroo Island so if you want to see more than that on a cruise stop it's best to do an excursion.

One of the problems with Kangaroo Island, apart from the uncertainty of whether the ship can anchor and operate the tenders safely, is that it is a small community spread out over a very large island. When a cruise ship is there it probably soaks up most of the resources for tours. I can't recall if there were many, if any, last minute tours available at the wharf. Since you've been there before you'll be aware of the distances you have to travel between places of interest. The tasting tour stops we did were mostly in the areas around Kingscote, about an hour's drive from the wharf at Penneshaw. Personally Kangaroo Island is one of those place where I'd always book a ship's tour.

I'm sorry to hear that, Mic. I hope it all heals well and you don't get too frustrated by the healing process. Take care.

Yes, I did know that. We were mid-aft on deck 9. But even so getting an espresso from galley to a cabin piping hot is an achievement, better than they do sometimes in the MDRs, or buffet.