OzKiwiJJ

It's already on our account for our world cruise that departs end of April. It should show up on your account as Guest Onboard Credit.

Happy travels!

The Plus rose is one of the few decent wines on that list but it gets a bit boring when I end up having it every night because I can't stand either of the white wines they offer.

Pre-dinner - Classic Martini (either gin or vodka), Lemontini (also known as Lemon Drop Martini), Negroni, Italian Sunset. Also check the Good Spirits bar special list, there are a few on there that are interesting including the Butterfly After dinner - Milky Way, Baileys on ice, Cognac, Dom Benedictine, or an Amaro (Italian herbal liqueur) if they have any.

Only under the Premier package, the Plus wines are the same-old rubbish.

Thanks, Geoff. We were wondering what those were. We already have favourite martinis so don't care what these new ones are, besides they are well outside our budget. I don't mind (too much) paying extra to buy decent wines by the bottle but draw the line at overpriced martinis!

I was expecting that although it makes things a bit more complicated. I have a record of what prices I bought the excursions at but didn't track which ones I used OBC for as opposed to paying by debit card for. At least I know what to expect, re the way they process the charges, after the Japan cruise we did last year. That was the first time I really took notice of how the charging worked as many of the cruises we've done in the past we've booked very few excursions.

What type of musicians do they have playing in the Atrium during the day or early evening at the moment? In the past we've seen a pianist, a string duo/trio/quartet, guitarist, and a guitar/piano duo.

I'm hoping the refunds for all the excursions we had booked at the cancelled ports were refunded as OBC as the debit card we used for the rest of the bookings is no longer valid. We had enough OBC to cover all our new excursions, which surprised me, so maybe it was all refunded as OBC. However I won't be able to track the rest until we're actually onboard due to the strange way Princess handles excursion bookings - ie what you pay for by credit/debit card goes onto your Princess account as purchased OBC then the excursions are debited off that as they are ticketed. It's all very confusing and a bit of a mess but hopefully they'll get it right in the end.

Yes, it's a shame. I got the impression that bookings here weren't as good as Virgin expected, hence the Velocity Points offer which we took advantage off. Their style of advertising may have put people off initially. We certainly weren't considering trying Virgin until that points offer popped up but after our short cruise we'd happily cruise with them again. So lower than expected bookings + Suez / Red Sea transit out of action + launch of Brilliant Lady delayed = Caribbean instead of Australia. They're a business that needs to make a profit so it's sensible for them to go where the money is and the repositioning costs are lower. Hopefully we'll see Virgin Voyages back again for the 25/26 season.

We didn't mind paying a few $ extra above the Plus price when it was $25 but $30 is too much extra. Princess is reaching the stage where it is almost cheaper to cruise on the luxury all-inclusive lines since the Princess quality is deteriorating while the prices keep on going up.

Yikes, they've hiked the price of the Remy Martin XO up a lot more. Rats!

WHAT!!!! That should be a "walk the plank" offense. Report it to the Captain immediately! 🤣🤣🤣

That's probably because he is a top mixologist as well as a top barista.

Baby Josh sounds like he could be a bad influence! 🤣

How many nights are you planning on staying in Auckland? We've stayed in the Auckland Waterfront Serviced Apartments on Princes Wharf a couple of times. https://www.aucklandwaterfront.co.nz/ They are very nice 1br apartments with wonderful views. Their minimum stay used to be three nights but that might have changed since the pandemic.

When we were in isolation with Covid on Coral in 2022 they managed to get single espressos to our cabin, perfectly made and still piping hot. We were very impressed. Normally we would get our coffees from Good Spirits as the International Cafe was always too crowded. Anyway, enjoy your cruise on my favourite Princess ship.

Check carefully what the travel wallet "current" exchange rates are. You can get credit cards, like Latitude 28 Degrees, that don't charge foreign transaction fees and whose exchange rates are quite close to the XE rate at the time of the transaction. Some travel cards/wallets make their money by offering less than the best exchange rates.

I hope he makes great coffee

Thanks. I was hoping it might have been Aljay who was on Coral in 2022.

I use Lastminute.com these days, or book directly with the hotel depending on which gives me the best deal. We had no problems with our Japan trip last year using both methods, one for each of the hotels. We use Latitude 28 Degrees credit cards for overseas travel.

Who is the barista / head barman in Good Spirits at the moment?

I believe the epitome of scotch eggs is to have the egg yolk still fairly soft and that would be very hard to achieve. For those not so fussy they would be relatively easy - hard boiled egg wrapped in well-flavoured sausage meat, crumbed and deep fried. They are very nice served cold which makes them perfect for picnics and takeway lunches.

Spotted somewhere in Scotland but not by me.

Were they good scotch eggs? I used to love those, often had half a one for lunch many years ago in NZ. It's something I rarely see in Sydney. Plenty of pies and sausage rolls but nary a scotch egg.