OzKiwiJJ

Isn't it just!

Absolutely!

I'll look out for it. You're not tempted to sneak in an extra trip to Capetown and have a cruise at the same time?

Everybody's lookin' for something.

17 pairs per person? Maybe a bit excessive for a 7 day cruise. I'm up to 13 pairs for the world cruise but that includes reef shoes. I'm still debating whether to take my ankle boots but realistically the only time I'm likely to wear them would be on a dinner excursion in Capetown as it could be cool there. I might just make do with my black Skechers - who cares what my feet look like!

And that is exactly why I want a table for two for breakfast! I am not civilized until I've had a pot of strong tea. Even Rolf knows not to ask me anything serious before I've had some food and my tea!

I'm hoping we'll get away with 2 medium-large spinners, two medium spinners, 2 overnight bags, and two cartons for check-in. We're going to drop these down to the terminal fairly early, then take the car back home and finish a few chores. So we'll just have two carry-ons and a backpack to take with us when we check-in. Yes, it's really useful when the port is only 15 minutes away.

Do you know there are some cabins available for the Sydney to Capetown segment of the world cruise? It's mostly sea days, just Fremantle and Mauritius as port stops. About $110pp per night for a balcony cabin. $136pp per night for a mini-suite.

Thank you. I love wearing them, they feel glamorous but are so light and comfortable.

Yes, I've heard that too. I'm not sure if it's true though. The chair was usually placed near the window so not easy to trip over.

I don't have the figure to wear cocktail dresses these days. 😪 Thank goodness for Camilla kaftans, they hide all my wobbly bits! 🤣

Yes, we've almost got all our stuff organized, we just have to pick up a few things from the chemist tomorrow. The battle of the suitcases occurs next Sunday! Clothes are the easy part, it's all the other stuff that's going to be a pain to pack.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🫣

I'm envious. We loved the cruise we did on Cunard earlier this year. Yes, I Iike to have options to wear and changes of shoes. My formal outfits are all Camilla silk kaftans so take up very little space or weight but now I have to pack two dinner jackets for Rolf! He wanted variety too! 🤣

The chair I was referring to was the tub chair that used to be inside the cabin, not the deckchairs on the balcony. Princess removed the tub chairs in 2018 or 2019 I think. There was a fair amount of outrage at the time. It makes it difficult if you want to have breakfast in your cabin as one person now has to sit on the bed since there is only a desk chair. Also it's hard for some older people, or those who have back problems, where sitting on the bed is too uncomfortable.

Yes, it makes a difference.

But that sort of person would big-note themselves any way they could regardless. Luckily not everyone is like that. Even when we were trying out suites and club class minisuites on Coral during the restart nobody that we chatted to in Club Class ever mentioned what type of cabin they were in. Obviously some would have been suites but there was no sense of entitlement that we noticed.

It's sad that Princess doesn't have a second ship wintering over here like it did when we first started cruising. Top end cruises are perfect for winter cruises and could be alternated with return trips out of Fremantle to Darwin or even Singapore when the ship is in WA, and Queensland, PNG, and South Pacific itineraries out of Sydney/Brisbane. We loved being able to cruise up to Queensland in winter in 2022.

Since Princess removed the chairs from balcony cabins, leaving only a single desk chair for seating for two people, mini-suites have become more attractive for long cruises. Also I prefer the shower over the bath than some of the extremely tiny shower cubicles on some Princess ships - the ones on Coral are a joke! So we heaved a sigh of great relief when we got the "upgrade bid accepted" email for our upcoming world cruise.

We've switched from very large suitcases to medium-large expandable suitcases and overnight bags that sit on top of the suitcases. So our regular luggage consists of two of these sets plus carry-ons. That works everywhere unless we have to fly to the US as their baggage allowances aren't based on overall weight, but on number of bags of no more than 23kgs. Virgin Australia is now using this type as well for domestic flights. So when we went to the US in 2018 we had to buy another suitcase as we could not be able to expand our usual ones for the flight home ... serious shopping was planned on that trip. So we flew to the US with three checked in bags but came home with five - we'd packed the overnight bags in our suitcases to use once we got to the US. For our upcoming world cruise we've had to buy another suitcase as we have a lot of "consumables" to take on that cruise. Packing day, next Sunday, is going to be a battle I think!

A lot depends on where you are going, what type of clothes you wear, and what laundry facilities there are onboard. If it's a hot climate I need more changes of clothes than cooler climates but cooler weather may need more layers. On Princess I get free laundry so can have less changes as long as the laundry turnaround is reasonable - ie 2 days maximum. On other cruise lines it depends on whether they have guest laundrettes or offer deals on laundry. In those cases I plan on eight days of changes. When in doubt of weather or laundry facilities I pack more rather than less, and I loathe having to do laundry in my cabin.

That's a new one to me too.

At least the upgrade bid system gives you a chance to try for a cabin that might be outside your normal price range. We did and got a mini-suite for our upcoming world cruise at a very good price. The full price of that cabin was more that we could afford.

Yes, the upgrade bid killed it although it may still be a possibility for those who booked guarantee cabins as what they get allocated may depend on what hasn't sold

No, unfortunately if you booked the cruise in Australia with a Plus fare it's not a error. The system sees you have a Plus fare on a non-Australian cruise so gives you the default US description of the Plus package. But even though you paid the fare in AUD it isn't an Australian fare so does not include gratuities. Remember the US package costs US$60 (AU$93.50 at the current XE rate) and you paid AU$65 for the package. The US daily gratuities at $17 work out to AU $26.50 (but may work out a bit less if you prepay). Add that to $65 and you end up paying a couple of dollars ($AU$91.50) less than you would if you'd bought the US package.