OzKiwiJJ

And the ship will have plenty of bottled or canned water to sell you as you leave the ship.

Exactly! My guess is that the current Covid requirements will ease at the end of of our current cruise season as long as a new nasty variant doesn't pop up. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of Princess Round Australia cruises go. Both Coral and Majestic are doing them, starting in the next month or so. The outbreak on our Round Australia cruise last year didn't really ramp up until around day 14 of the cruise.

On Princess Rolf had the same restrictions when I had Covid. He had to do a RAT every morning and could leave the cabin if he was negative.

Princess were offering this when I came down with Covid on the Round Australia cruise.

Yeah, you're correct, it was 20% plus fees and OBC. We got 15% on the Round Australia cruise for missing four ports. If just one port is missed due to weather Princess usually just refunds the port fees so I was pleasantly surprised to get the FCCs.

We were in NZ just before Christmas, staying five nights in Auckland before cruising back to Sydney. Although we had some NZ cash with us we didn't actually use any of it until our Lyttelton port stop. Everything just went on the credit card, even food court meals.

That's a bit stingy. When we got stuck in Melbourne for three days on a 9 night South Australia cruise, thus missing two out of the scheduled four ports, Princess gave us 25% of our fare as FCCs plus some OBC ($50pp I think).

I saw a photo of the beachfront road at Oakura with water coming up over the road. I've walked along that beach many times as a close friend has a bach there. Incredible to see the water that far up especially as Oakura is a relatively sheltered beach. I hope you're safely through the worst by now without too much damage.

Mine, from late October, landed in my Princess account a couple of weeks ago. Almost exactly three months after our isolation finished. Rolf hasn't got his yet. I'm going to chase it up again with our Planner.

I hope you recover quickly. Look after yourself and get lots of rest. Masks are most effective when worn by those who have Covid which is why it's best if everyone wears one as people are usually infectious before they develop symptoms . They are less effective in preventing you catching it but still provide a fair bit of protection. You did better than me - I caught it on my 5th cruise last year. We wore masks when moving around the ship and in crowded venues like trivia and the theatre. Trivia was appalling, far too many people without masks. The other problem was people walking through bars without masks, stopping to talk to friends while effectively standing over us, and coughing. But I got over it quickly, Rolf didn't catch it at all, and we still enjoyed our cruise.

What you'll see:

Yes, it is considered an international port "visit" so that duty free can be sold onboard during the cruise. The actual visit is a cruise-by, sometimes with a commentary from one of the Willis Island staff. The casino may have other rules as well about when it can open but I'm not sure as we don't go there.

Yikes, that would have been scary indeed. I was at college that day and getting home was bad enough. A power line had come down right outside our place and was sparking right next to our wrought iron gate - I had to jump the fence.

Bullying? I don't believe the mask mandate onboard ships is bullying, and I never saw anyone being bullied into wearing a mask on the seven cruises we did last year. At most people were politely asked to wear masks in certain places. You have a choice: cruise and follow the current rules or don't cruise. It's no different to any other requirement on a cruise ship, in place for the safety of both you and other passengers.

Thanks. We were very lucky to score a last minute (six days before it embarked from Sydney) mini-suite - which was a blessing as I caught Covid on that cruise. We still enjoyed the cruise despite that. It's certainly a wonderful cruise if you have the time to do it but booking on the day it is released is essential. If you use a Princess Planner you might have a better chance of getting the cabin you want.

What? Verbally abusing people you don't know who choose to wear masks? Tsk!Tsk!

Oops! The last thing Wellington wants is another Wahine disaster.

That's odd, quoting a USD price. In the past ships repositioning to Asia stay as AUD onboard costs until they reach their destination. So the AUD prices would be in effect. I have heard rumours that they are going up in price sometime this month but aren't sure what the new prices will be. I'll find out next month when we cruise on Grand Princess.

Apparently they escorted each other down the coast from Auckland.

And I mostly disagree with you. Having lived in NZ for over 40 years, lived in Australia for over 25 years, and cruised both countries as extensively as I could, I think cruising NZ is far more effective as far as seeing as much of the country as is possible in a short time. Sure, there are some wonderful places you can't get to on a cruise ship excursion but, in the main, you can cover quite a bit of the country on a cruise. Of course it's even better if you can add in some land travel before the cruise but you'll see more for your money cruising in NZ than cruising Australia. Why? Australia has very few viable ports for its size so there are wonderful parts of Australia that you just can't get to from a cruise, and that are expensive to do as land travel. Unless you can afford the time and money to do a Round Australia, which has as many sea days as ports, then you'll only see a small part of Australia on a cruise. You have to choose: A Queensland cruise? A Tasmania cruise? A South Australia cruise? In my opinion some places in Australia are better visited on a land trip than on a one day port visit even if you can get there by ship. Australia is just too vast for cruises to be an effective way to see the highlights.

That's sensible. Napier isn't as sheltered a harbour as Wellington - as long as they avoid Barrett Reef on the way in.

Well said, Linda. 🥰

I think a combination of cruise and land travel would be best. For example if you want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef the best way to do that would be to fly to Cairns, take the shuttle to Port Douglas and stay there for a few days. There are great snorkelling day trips to both the outer reef (usually visiting three different reefs) and the Low Isles. A day tour through the Daintree region is also recommended. Driving between our major cities takes a lot of time, especially if you want to sightsee along the way. Sydney to Melbourne can be done in one day but two is better. Sydney to Brisbane can be done in one very long day but, again, two or more is better.

I've seen some ads combining the Ghan or the Indian Pacific train trips with sectors of the Princess Round Australia cruise. I can't remember who they were from though. An Aussie travel agent I think. That would be a good way to travel through some of outback and, if the right combination was chosen, would allow them to visit some of the more interesting ports without all the sea days.

I found the bid email for our cruise. This is what we were able to bid on for a ten night cruise: