OzKiwiJJ

Thank you, Les. Lovely that you could enjoy a meal out with your family. I hope your move goes smoothly. 😘

I'd just go straight to the OPT and drop off my bags. If it doesn't look like they've started boarding I'd pop up to the Rocks, just a gentle uphill walk, and have a coffee, then go back to the OPT and check-in.

We had one cruise in 2022 where we couldn't get onto the app - we only had three days between cruises and I think that confused the app. We had no problems at the OPT, it just took a little longer to check-in. The check-in staff were very helpful.

From what I've heard they alternate between the two on sea days so if you only have one sea day you won't have a choice.

It's a fun ship. It took us a day or so to find our way around it but we're enjoying it. However if you're booked on short cruise make sure you book your dining choices as early as you can. We've ended up having to dine a lot earlier than we normally do.

That service charge for large groups has become quite common here, possibly because of the extra hassle restaurants have had from some large groups in the past.

How can you tell those OBCs have been reimbursed? I've always been able see a full list of what OBCs we have for the cruise, which now includes the $750pp for the itinerary change, but I've never been able to see how much of that had been used for excursion bookings. Of course I have my own records of what we used OBC for and what we paid separately.

We're doing the full world cruise and none of our booked excursions are currently showing.

I thought they were doing Salty Dog in the Bayou restaurant.

They did have cheaper steak options on the menu. I've seen Wagyu steaks for sale in Harris Farm Markets at eye-watering prices so can understand how it would be that price in a restaurant. And there are plenty of wealthy people in Sydney who wouldn't think twice about ordering it.

I think I've worked out which one it is. The Meat & Wine Co has Wagyu Ribeye on their menu for $135. Too expensive for my wallet!

Yes, it would have to be Wagyu at that price. There are some stupidly expensive restaurants in Sydney, especially in the CBD and around the Circular Quay / Rocks area.

We were told it was an ABF directive that no-one was allowed to enter the terminal until zero count was reached and all passengers had gone through passport control. The shoreside services people manning the entrance didn't seem very happy about the situation as many people in the crowd waiting to enter were starting to get quite angry (and wet).

Even on the old app I think I had to open the passage contract and quickly scroll to the end of it, then I could accept it.

Exactly! I'll start panicking if my excursions don't reappear by early next week.

We've only ever had one delayed check-in at the OPT and that was in 2019 when some self-entitled transit passengers decided they didn't have to go through passport control despite what they were told. Luckily they decided to order drinks at one of the bars, which showed where they were so security could removed them from the ship. I never found out whether they were allowed back on again though! It was raining very heavily and there were hundreds of very annoyed passengers waiting to embark, and a whole heap of TAs on a visit to the ship. In the end we were still onboard by midday but because of the rain the wait seemed endless. Unfortunately Border Patrol wouldn't allow anyone into the terminal until zero count.had been reached. That's the one design fault with the OPT - they only have one set of lifts/escalators so disembarking passengers have to move through some of the same areas in the terminal that embarking passengers use. They really need another set of lifts /escalators at the northern end of the terminal going from passport control to the baggage pickup area.

No only Suites, Platinum and Elite cruisers get priority boarding. Not mini-suites. Often official boarding starts at 12:30pm but they are usually ready to do check-ins earlier.

Although we have priority boarding on Princess I've rarely seen long queues at the OPT for Princess cruises but we tend to board early. The medallion check-ins are very fast and efficient.

Interestingly I saw a post from someone elsewhere that said the exact opposite, and that most of the excursions would be reinstated some time this week.

Those steak prices are ridiculously expensive. What was the restaurant?

We're on Resilient Lady at the moment and so far the food is amazing! Especially in the Test Kitchen.

We're on Resilient Lady at the moment and so far the food is amazing! Especially in the Test Kitchen.

We've always found them to have exceptionally good exchange rates. The XE graph function allows you check the rate close to the time the transaction was posted to the card, in half hour increments, so you can really get a good idea how close the Latitude rate is.

Circular Quay to the cruise terminal is a flat, easy walk. Once in the cruise terminal, after check-in and security, you will be directed to one of two covered boarding ramps. Depending where these connect to the ship you may have a gentle incline up or down. We use Uber to get to the cruise terminal but taxis are OK. Free shuttles are: Napier Wellington Picton (I think) Lyttelton local Paid shuttles are: Lyttelton to Christchurch Port Chalmers to Dunedin

We link ours to Paypal and if travelling overseas we link to a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. That's what I like about Paypal, you can change the credit card it goes to for each transaction if you want.