OzKiwiJJ

I'm guessing it's Diamond Princess repositioning to Japan. If so, getting Yen from a 7-Eleven or Family Mart ATM at one of the Japan port stops before disembarkation is an option. Otherwise USD, which will be the currency once onboard once the ship starts operating in Japan, will make it easier for crew members.

It depends on the ship. The older ships, like Coral and the Grand Class ships seemed to have more bar/lounge seating. We've never had a probem although in some bars, like Crooners when the entertainer is very popular, it can be hard to get a seat. The Royal class ships have much less bar/lounge seating unfortunately.

Yes, a PVP will get assigned to you once you book direct however you don't have to use the PVP if you don't want to.

There are two ways to get to/from the Sydney International Terminal and both take about the same amount of time. One way is past the Domestic Terminal, the other goes the opposite way hrough some tunnels and loops back around. Since you said you still had the runway on your left after leaving the airport it sounds like your taxi went via the second route. If Uber was quoting $70 then a maxi taxi fare of $97 would not surprise me as taxis in Sydney are usually more expensive than Uber. I've heard that some taxi drivers are trying the flat rate per person trick. It sounds like you were charged the meter rate from the airport but you got scammed going back to the airport from the cruise terminal. You should have demanded the driver use the meter and if they refused then demanded they unload your luggage again. Note - typically an Uber XL can take six passengers without much luggage or four passengers with luggage.

True and Princess does need every cent to recoup the pandemic losses but when their pricing becomes unrealistic in the local market all they are doing is tempting their regular passengers to look for better deals elsewhere, particularly when there is also a decrease in the quality of certain things like food and wines. I was not surprised when the Plus and Premium packages increased in price from the original deals. $40pp per day was ridiculously low for drinks and internet packages. However when they raised the prices of drinks just because they'd raised the package prices, to the point where the mark-up on some of the Australian wines is around 1500%, then it becomes a rip-off rather than a sensible financial decision.

Pre-pandemic Princess tended to just use the US price for Australian cruises, ie if it was US$29 it would be AU$29, since it was more of a token extra payment. Since this new wally became CEO they started to convert the USD to AUD which means the prices aren't always realistic for our region - the $30 corkage being one classic example, and don't get me started on wine prices!!!

But in past visits to Melbourne we never went to that part of town so I never discovered it. We probably would still be oblivious to it's existence if we hadn't gone to the Angliss Restaurant for lunch.

I've found the quality of cuisine on Princess varies from ship to ship. Usually there are two types of bacon on Princess ships here: - crisp American strips which are usually crisped to death and usually don't taste of anything let alone bacon although on one ship pre-pandemic it was really nice - "English" bacon - a roundish piece sometimes with a short strip of streaky bacon attached. This is usually cooked soft ie cooked just enough to change colour from raw. In general the bacon we get in Australia is known as Middle Bacon although American-style streaky bacon is now available. Pastries are also very variable from ship to ship. Ever since Princess downsized their souffles they are no longer worth ordering. I think the smaller ramekins are too small to allow the souffle to rise properly so they always end up not properly cooked and gluggy. Such a shame. The souffles used to be a highlight of dining on Princess.

Yes, Strandbags is often in outlet centres. I've been to the one at South Wharf before but didn't even know there was an outlet centre at Southern Cross. I hate the Sydney outlet centre at Homebush, it's a nightmare, but I've always found things I want at the Melbourne ones.

Sheer luck?

Welcome back Lyle We've just got back from a short trip to Melbourne. While we were there we discovered a small outlet centre above Southern Cross Station which has a Strandbags in it. I noticed this bag there and wondered if it was the sort of tote bag you are thinking off. It was AU$99 - not sure what the original price was though. It looked very sturdy.

Is it because you can't find a link to My Cunard, or because your login won't work? I had problems on my laptop before our January cruise because a dropdown was blocking the link. I can't recall exactly what I did to get into it but there was a way but it was a bit obscure. On my phone if I Google Cunard it does show a direct link to My Bookings so that might work on a laptop as well. I'll check what happens on my laptop when we get home tomorrow - we're in Melbourne at the moment.

Sensible. I've been on one cruise into Melbourne where there was fog in the bay so our arrival was a couple of hours later than scheduled.

Anyone who sails to and from multiple international ports would know but people who go on holiday then hire a small boat could run into strife. I think the other marine markers are the same regardless of where you are in the would, it's just the channel markers.

But port and starboard buoys marking the entrance to harbours are not global. Here it's red (port buoy) to the left and green (starboard buoy) to the right when entering a harbour. In the US it's the opposite, known as "Red Right Returning".

Yes, I recall seeing that on Sea Princess. The problem was it was only outside one set of doors so if you came out the other side it was easy to turn the wrong way to walk.

If you look at the upgrade option on the Princess website it tells you in what timeframe upgrade bids open. I think it's around 75 days. We got an email 8th Jan for a 30th April cruise. I don't expect to hear whether our bid is successful until very close to embarkation day.

We're currently in Melbourne for a few days. Our eldest GD is doing a commercial cooking course at the William Angliss school. Part of their course includes running the kitchen at the Angliss Restaurant and yesterday was their first day. We went there for lunch and had an amazing meal. As good as any you'd get in a top rated restaurant at a fraction of the price. So for those of you who live in Melbourne, or are stopping there on a cruise, I recommend the Angliss Restaurant for great food, plus you'll be supporting these budding chefs in their efforts. The restaurant is in Little Lonsdale St just up from Southern Cross Station.

Good to hear your move went well, Les, and that you have nice neighbours.

Oddly enough people manage quite well on Princess. The Promenade deck on the Grand class ships doesn't go right around the ship. To get across the bow you have to go up an uncovered stairway then down another on the other side. A lot of people, including me after I slipped and nearly fell going down, just turn around on the Promenade deck and go back the other way. I've never seen any issues with that at least in our region. Maybe Aus/NZ Princess cruisers are more flexible and polite.🤔😄

If you like Malaysian cuisine I highly recommend Ho Jiak in York St, just opposite the Queen Victoria Building.

How about Mousehole in Cornwall? I believe it's pronounced Mowsel or something like that.

I think they have replaced blue medallions with white ones for first-timers now. I didn't seen any passengers with blue medallions on our Diamond cruise last November, only white plus gold, red, gray, and black. I think blue medallions are now reserved for crew members.

Then again sometimes it works to your advantage. We were at Mystery Island in the South Pacific on a Ruby cruise in 2019. We went to the Elite tender waiting area (one of the MDRs) reasonably early. There was a bit of a wait, which was a bit annoying, but after a few more people turned up the hostess made a hurried phone call after which they sent us down to the tender. The Elites group were the only ones on that tender! It was very nice. For some unexplained reason there had been a delay/pause in the tendering for everyone but we definitely got priority that time. 😊 Since the pandemic I've noticed they seem to be spacing out the groups they send down to the tenders more than they used to so that area doesn't get too crowded.

I've never seen that in Australia, thank goodness.