Kellyansapansa

What a lovely thing to do! Please come back and tell us about their reaction. ❤️❤️❤️

Quokkas have a lot of personality but sugar gliders are cuter. 😍

There are still a few random mentions of the 'Patter' scattered around the Princess website.

2 hours ago, awesomefat said:

The pit boss then came over and told me that there were only 2 servers on this level of the ship and they are understaffed.  I understand this as a reason, but how am I supposed to react to that? 

With compassion and understanding. The crew at all levels are doing the best they can under very challenging circumstances. Many industries are struggling to recruit and retain adequate numbers of staff. It's not isolated to the casino on your ship and nobody is doing this just to annoy you. 🤷‍♀️

It's definitely worth asking. We had goodwill FCC extended. They approved our request because we made a booking and it was only a few weeks past the expiry date.

Diamond is our favourite, because of the stunning Izumi Bathhouse. It's a shame she doesn't have an International Cafe but that's a small price to pay for the Izumi experience.

The Coral is also wonderful. She feels very spacious, has the full promenade deck and the Sanctuary is in a great location with a lovely pool.

We're looking forward to comparing the Grand later this year. The only other Princess ship we have experienced is the old Sun Princess.

I'm not sure there's any such thing as a bad cruise ship!

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Piece of cake.  Search cruises on Princess.com.  Select Asia and Diamond and all months showing in 2024 that match Asia and Diamond.

 

This tells me your 29-night voyage is the one departing Tokyo on Sep 4.

There are three other voyage lengths offered, all departing Tokyo on Sep 4:  20, 22, & 24 nights.  Presumably at some point they were selling shorter voyages after 20 & 22 nights that could be cobbled together to make 29 nights. 

Thank you! So it looks like we have one long segment, then two very short ones. Good to know! 👍

Yes it works, except when it doesn't. 🤔

On the Coral in February: 

1.) Yes, we had embarkation photos and  destination (port) photos taken.

2.) Yes, we had the opportunity for both casual and formal photos.

3.) A selection of photos were printed and displayed at the photo gallery, but not all of them. All photos were available to be viewed in the Medallion app and digitally at the photo gallery.

4.) We purchased the 5 photo package and received printed copies and a non-branded USB with the digital images. The USB only contained the 5 images we paid for, not all images we posed for. We could also download our 5 chosen images from the Medallion app while on board only.

24 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

You were fortunate (baggy shorts).  My eyes are forever burnt with an image of an over-aged man in a bikini thong (or whatever they are called).

A mankini? 😉

5 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Are you home yet?

Yes, we eventually took off. Our flight over was delayed because the plane was missing an exit sign. The flight home was delayed because it was missing a flight attendant. 🙄

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

What do they call the Patter now? 

I guess I missed it. 

The heading just says 'Princess event listings'.

I am currently sitting at gate 3 in Melbourne airport, waiting to board a flight which was scheduled to depart 6 minutes ago. Your post is very relevant right now. 😂

24 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

The droppiig of the name "The Patter" has mostly passed unnoticed on this Forum.  I'm glad to see it acknowledged.  But I cannot figure out why Princess has dropped the name.

To be honest, I didn't even notice while we were on board. I saw it mentioned in one of the threads here after we arrived home and went back to check our copies. Sure enough, the Patter name was nowhere to be seen. I reckon someone in the marketing department decided that it sounded a bit old fashioned and not appealing to their new, younger target market. 😉

1 hour ago, Buckeye10640 said:

There have been 'White and Gold' nights lately. Most people I have observed were  not wearing white and gold though. 

There was a White and Gold night when we were on Coral earlier this year. It was tied in with the Love Boat theme and held on one of the formal nights. We saw several groups of people embracing the theme in a big way. There was nothing in the communication formerly known as the Patter, and nothing in our travel summary or on Journey View. Out of interest, I checked back through the pre-cruise emails and it was mentioned briefly in one of those. 

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

For me part of it is the layout. Most of the features of a Grand class ship with the passengers numbers of a Sun class

I love the library on the Coral. It's spacious with full length windows and comfortable armchairs with footrests.

I agree, these features are a big part of what makes Coral so appealing. She never felt crowded. We also loved the layout and location of the Sanctuary, the full wrap around promenade and the location of the International Cafe.

She's so pretty. My second favourite ship since our PNG cruise earlier this year. 😍

I don't know the answer to your question, but I wonder if Harding have taken this on, as part of the deal for them to run the onboard retailing operations?

6 minutes ago, kec said:

I will be cruising with NCL. Yes they can arrange for the visa for $99 USD. But for 4 of us that that cost too much.

I know it's cheaper if I arrange it myself. 

 

 

From the Cambodia Embassy website:

A Cambodian visa is required for all Australians visiting or residing in Cambodia. Tourists can apply for an e-visa online or get a tourist visa on arrival. These are valid for 30 days. For longer stays or other situations, get a visa through an embassy or consulate of Cambodia.

As you are arriving via cruise ship, you are not eligible for the e-visa. Your other option is to visit the Cambodian embassy in Canberra.

The US$99 fee on arrival through NCL appears to be the cheapest option.

50 minutes ago, kec said:

Hi everyone

 

I need to get a Cambodia tourist visa. I cant find an embassy or consulate in Brisbane.

E-visa is not an option as it is not valid by entry by sea onboard cruise ship.

 

Can someone please share their process on applying for visa in Australia. TIA.

Cambodia has a 'visa on arrival' scheme for Australians. Who are you cruising with? They should be able to confirm whether the visa will be arranged on the ship for you.

4 hours ago, Ombud said:

Yeah. Can I say I was lied too as well?? I want a refund bc I was promised only unattached tanned muscular men but I got obese married men in baggy shorts.

 

 

And they wear the baggy shorts in the DINING ROOM. Oh, the horror! 

I'm in my late forties and hubby is in his late fifties, and we have cruised four times with Princess and once with Royal Caribbean. That one RC cruise was enough to cement our loyalty to Princess and we do value the loyalty scheme.

Having said that, I posted in another thread that I would like to see a revamp of the Captain's Circle program. 

There seems to be a high proportion of Elite cruisers amongst the Princess user base but once you reach Elite there is no great incentive to keep booking cruises. There is no higher level to attain, and there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with the perception that Princess is gradually removing Elite entitlements and devaluing this status level.

I would keep the current levels because they are valued by many Princess cruisers but I would repackage the benefits to make them more cost effective for Princess. I would then reintroduce a points-based milestone scheme where rewards are unlocked for every 5 cruise credits achieved, and credits can be accumulated for redemption on bigger and better rewards.

I would have the rewards catalogue include things that are valued and coveted by the Princess user base. For example, a seat at a Chef's Table, priority Sanctuary bookings, dinner with the captain, Ultimate Ship Tour, bridge tour, and I'm sure there are many other things that could be included.

The problem with the current scheme is that different people value different things so it's extremely difficult to please the majority. The ability to choose rewards would please more of the people more of the time.

3 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

In their 50's lol.. but yeah.. you're right that the 80's are NOT pitched at a younger crowd haha. 

Actually the 80s are enjoying a resurgence in popularity amongst the younger generations. And it's not just the music, 80s fashion and beauty trends are also making a comeback. 😊

17 hours ago, mom says said:

You do know that show, which has been off the air for 37 years, was fiction, right? 

Geez, you could have added a spoiler alert. 🤪

On 4/23/2023 at 2:33 PM, 2022cruisey said:

We paid $10 per adult for a special cruise ship passenger ticket which provides public transport all day. It was free for my 14 yo and 73 yo mum, $5 for my 17yo.

The $10 cruise ship Metrocard is still available for visitors to Adelaide.

Pre-Covid there used to be an Adelaide Metro volunteer squad who would greet cruise ship visitors at the Outer Harbor terminal and help them sort out the correct tickets and provide timetable assistance and directions. I'm not sure if it has been brought back after the restart.