OzKiwiJJ

That would have been smarter but we weren't sure if there was an ATM there. We didn't see one on our very quick exit from the terminal but I guess they may have been somewhere. We just got some Yen before we left, enough for the taxi fare to Yokohama. Not the best exchange rate but worry-free.

For the daily gratuities there should be an offer to prepay them. It's often worth doing that but check the exchange rate first

That sounds like the cheese trolley in Cunard's Princess Grills!

It sounds wonderful, Marion. We're doing a four night cruise on her next month.

You could always fly over a bit earlier and fly up to Brisbane when you arrive here then join us on Diamond on Feb 17th for a four day "seacation" to Sydney, stopping at Newcastle on the way. And maybe Mic and Rosie would like to start their Diamond voyage a few days earlier too?

I already have the next one booked, and the next one, and sometimes one after that - I think my record is six cruises booked.

Don't feel bad about that. Last time we were on a cruise that stopped there it was also rainy so we didn't even bother getting off the ship. We'd been to Napier both on a land trip and other cruises so decided to stay warm and dry onboard. There is no rule that says you have to get off the ship at every port, sometimes it's just lovely to be on the ship when it's quiet.

If you're used to the luxury lines I'd recommend booking either a suite or a reserve collection mini-suite on Majestic. This will give you slightly enhanced dining in a special section of one of the MDR, and suites also get an enhanced breakfast in one of the speciality restaurants. Warning: if you do decide to book a Plus or Premium fare be aware the wines by the glass under those fares are mostly poor quality. Princess does have some decent bottled wines and you get 25% off the price of those. Unfinished bottles are stored for you until the next day.

We could easily pick you up on that turnaround day and take you to somewhere you hadn't managed to get to while staying in Sydney at the start of your trip.

We'd probably want to go home and dump our bags after disembarking but would be up for a get-together later in the day or when you are back in Sydney on your cruise. We live about 15 mins drive from the OPT

I come home thinking "damn, now I have to go back to cooking our meals again!" 🤣

That's a great idea. Sadly we'll miss it as we don't disembark from Diamond until the 21st.

I take combinations of my velour hoodie and/or a fleece, plus a very good lightweight rain jacket that can be worn over either, or just over a tshirt. I find this is more flexible and caters for most weather conditions. Since I tend to overheat easily I'd rather have layers I can shed when I need to.

I just did a screenshot!

On most of the cruises we've done since the restart we haven't booked. The only exception was our recent Diamond cruise. On the Round Australia cruise we just joined the queue and took whatever table we got allocated until we found a waiter team we really liked then we asked for a regular booking at that table. We'll probably do that on the world cruise as well.

That is nice and clear. I must try to remember it.

I'm fairly sure Diamond and Golden had them when we did repositioning cruises on them but I could be wrong. It was too long ago! Our travel electronics kit has a new Aldi travel adaptor, an AU double adaptor with USB ports (my fan has a plug that neatly blocks the USB ports on the ship's AU socket, the double adaptor solves that problem), two US adaptors, one EU adaptor, two Samsung fast chargers, and a motley collection of cables. These live in two neat little bags so all we have to do is check them in our carry-ons.

Yes, unlikely to convert those but it does confirm there is a 220v supply to each cabin on Crown. I don't think I've ever cruised on a Princess ship in our region that didn't have an AU socket. Even when repositioning up to Asia.

On our first NZ cruise we had a similar weather change. 30 in Akaroa one day then 14 in Dunedin the next day. Ah well, it is NZ after all. I'm currently trying to decide what layers I need to take to Tassie next week. I think the mornings will be cool on our port days so I might need my hoodie but I should be able to leave my fleece at home.

The isn't really any fixed dining any more either. If you wish you can book a time in one of the MDRs for the whole cruise, or you can just walk in when it suits you. If we find a good waiter team we ask to have a booking at a particular table and time for the rest of the cruise. We were very lucky on Diamond as we found our perfect table on the first night.

Arrgh! I'm getting my ships mixed up. On Diamond it's the Savoy MDR, deck 5, where we found the wonderful waiters - Ana Joy and Fernando.

River cruises certainly but for ocean cruises you need to check the medical cover. Cruise ship medical centres aren't covered by Medicare and treatment is very expensive. Then there is the risk of needing to be transferred from the ship, by helicopter, in an emergency which is very, very expensive.

We disembark from Diamond on the 21st, we're bringing her down from QLD for you. I'm hoping the waiter team we had in Japan will be on the ship then - they seemed to think they would be. So book the Da Vinci MDR for dinner just in case.

All they have to do is change the face plate on the EU outlet to AU so you should find one AU socket in your cabin. However I always recommend carrying a US and a EU adaptor, just in case. Note: the EU circuit is 220v so should be OK for the CPAP. The US circuit is 110v.

Thst was bad luck. Most of the times I've been there it usually only rained late afternoons. It was only a nuisance twice when we were staying in hotels a long walk from the nearest MRT (I was tagging along on Rolf's business trips so had no choice of hotel).