Hobart18

Hi,

This is for anyone who loves cruising in and out of Melbourne. I love Station /Princess Piers in Melbourne. I was one of the many thousands of people that arrived here on the SS Strathaird (one of 4 Strath boats) that were used along with the Italian and Greek ships that brought many, many migrants to Australia's fair shores. I was cleaning out my back room yesterday and I came across a publication - 'Station Pier - Gateway To A New Life ' It is a beautifully produced book published by Museum Victoria in 2004, GPO Box 666E, Melbourne Victoria, they are in the Old Customs Building in Flinders Street Melbourne across from the main train line between Flinders Street and Southern Cross Railway stations. http://www.museum.vic.gov.au or phone (03) 8341 7777. The Immigration Museum is a great place to check out whilst visiting Melbourne, it has always got some great presentations on from all parts of the world where migrants came from to settle in Australia. You can catch the tram direct from Station Pier and get off at Flinders Street and walk up or catch a tram that stops right near the front of the Immigration Museum. I think they have great price rates for the many of us who might be in the retirement age bracket.

No matter what our ages may be, we all love cruising and new adventures and if you may be interested in the histories of the many cultures that have settled here in Australia you should check this out.

Regards and continued good sailing in our fair waters and beyond.

Hi,

In answer to your query about the quad rooms on the soon to become Pacific Explorer, you could possibly have to contact P&O in Sydney as the Dawn princess is to have another makeover when she becomes a P&O ship next year, I think the P&O ships are more geared for the much younger generation of passengers whereas the Princess ships are usually for family and upwards. I personally cannot climb up ladders so wouldn't be suitable for the 'Baby Boomers' especially when the sea gets a rockin. You should have tried sailing on the Strathaird or sister ships in the 50s, they had no airconditioning, they were built around the 1930s I think. There are some great photos of her docked at Circular Quay. There is a website you can check these ships out on if your interested in checking the original cruise ships out, they were great fun for a young person for a great adventure to Australia.

Regards,

Princess Cruiser

Yes, noticed that the other day, it is doing a fabulous journey back via Asia, similar to a Circle Pacific, we did this on the Diamond a few years ago finishing in Vancouver, the best itinerary!! They are being sold as separate itineraries too, not just one big long one. Imagine cruising from Melbourne all the way to Vancouver!! Australia, Asia, Alaska and Canada!!

 

Golden is booked back in Sydney October 2018, so must be coming back via the Pacific/Hawaii. Lucky for those with lots of time:p

I have been checking the cruise dockings in Melbourne for the Golden Princess for 2017, 2018, 2019. The Golden Princess is listed as docking in Melbourne on 23rd and 29th March 2018 before leaving Australia.

I am not sure where she will be spending the next few months, previously she has done the Asia routes.

She is listed as docking in Melbourne next on 12/10/18, 18/10/2018, 1/11/2018. 14/11/2018, 27/11/2018, 10/12/2018, 16/12/2018, 29/12/2018,

11/1/2019, 24/1/2019, 30/1/2019. 12/2/2019, 25/2/2019, 10/3/2019, 24/3/2019. She will most probably sailing to Tasmania, New Zealand and New Caledonia. I also note that the Emerald and Diamond Princesses will also be sailing in the Australian waters for the same seasons.

You could check out the cruise dockings on line for the various ports if you want to check further, they don't give the destinations though. The Auckland port dockings do show where the ships are sailing from and their next port of call.

I refer to the comments about the scooters and walking frames on board. I have travelled mainly on Princess and once on Carnival. From what I remember about the Carnival Spirit there wasn't a lot of room for walking, I don't think they had very wide isles. On Princess, especially the Golden Princess, there was a lot more room to accommodate all modes of travel around the ship. I believe that everyone should be able to access cruise ships and to have an enjoyable time, to be able to park on a bench or on a scooter on the Promenade deck and just watch the world go by and breath in that beautiful good clean sea air. I have always found that people are respectful of people on the ship. Where else can you have a holiday where you don't have to cook or clean or do the dishes.Everyone needs a place to escape to for a well deserved rest & relax and overhaul from the every day complexities of our daily lives.

My concern for having a lot more passengers on these larger cruise ships is the tenders. Will they be going to Port Arthur, I know QM2 is supposed to be going there. There was only one docking facility operating when we went there on the Carnival Spirit and Dawn Princess. We had to queue up for over 2 hours to catch a tender back to the ships in hot weather. The tenders had to compete for docking space with the main ferry that operates from that facility.

There won't be too many little nooks and crannies that you can escape to on the larger ships with all those many passengers. I will miss the Dawn Princess once she has become a P&O ship, it won't be the same, from what I have seen about the new designs for the ship it appears to be a bit on the sterile looking side, not a fan of black and white, I love the beautiful wood panels and brass fittings. Why did they spend all that money on the recent refurbishment if they are going to pass her onto P&O just to be refurbished again.

I loved the wood paneling on the Golden Princess down near the Crown Grill, also the size of her is about right with just about the right number of cruisers on board.

In Melbourne we have had recent adds by Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Princess and P&O. Our current cruise season is over until October so I guess there isn't to much advertising going on. I was very surprised to see advertising for Celebrity and Royal Carribean as we don't usually get adverts for those lines. Princess has one on showing the Fiords NZ. We have cruise berthing information for Port Melbourne showing for 2018/19 season which is updated every now and then when further ships are added to the list.

Hi,

I read an article in the paper a couple of days ago stating that all Princess ships will have newly designed Princess beds and linen on all Princess ships by 2018, designed in collaboration with Princess and 2 top designers.

Regards, :):)

Hi,

This is just to let you know that the Port Melbourne has been under going a major upgrade with billions being spent on an upgrade to our docking facilities. They have been dredging, making the channels deeper, building new docking facilities so they can accommodate the larger container shipping and cruise liners, this is an ongoing project, unfortunately when I inquired about Princess Pier being finally being fully re developed they advised that it is not now part of the Port Melbourne Port Authority jurisdiction. From what I read in the papers the government of the day is trying to sell the Ports of Melbourne to who knows who, I think they are selling off the only remaining asset the state of Victoria owns. I think at one stage they were thinking of building a tunnel under the sea between Victoria and Tasmania, maybe building a train line as well.

Whilst on my last cruise on Golden Princess what I did note was that there was a much greater push to buy things which I didn't notice that much on Dawn Princess. I used to enjoy the morning shows but even that had a big push for people to go to places on the ship to spend their money. They had a head buyer on board who ran sessions on how and what to buy either on board or in Port Vila. There also seemed to be more sessions by the Art Auction people with daily sessions on buying art. I know there is more competition amongst cruise lines now coming into Australia so that could be one reason why they are pushing this. This started to become very obvious and started to get a little annoying.

We took a cruise in November to the Pacific Islands and took my eldest grandson with us so he could meet people of his own age, unfortunately that didn't happen.The cruise was mainly made up with the older generation enjoying a great cruise and families. When I asked him later what he thought about that he said that the people he met in his age group tended to be a bit full on and over the top where as he enjoyed the company of a lot of the older generation as he gets on very well with people.

We like the traditional dining as we get to know our waiters and they get to know our likes and dislikes, always great to talk to as well. We had dinner one night at the Crown Grill, this is a very tasteful decorated dining area, the staff were great, the food was excellent. After a couple of days we eventually worked the dining options out, some mornings we would order breakfast in our room, we liked this option as it gave us time to fully wake up without trying to find a space to have breakfast in the Horizon Court. We loved the International Cafe, we went to that about 5pm, it was a lot quieter and you could at least find a seat, the only problem with this area is that it does not have enough seating areas. We also found that going up to the Horizon Court for either a late lunch or afternoon tea there were more areas to sit in. Not mad on the new coffee menu. Loved the cruise,love Skywalkers, somewhere to find a quiet place during the day.The lifts were annoying at times with having to wait for them to sail past , I couldn't come at a ship with 3 or 4 thousand people on board, you would spend most of your time waiting for the lifts to maybe turn up.

Princess just knows how to do it, they just need to work on the lifts.

Regards, :):)

We'd like some suggestions for Tauranga. They seem to offer a lot of kayaking tours in the area, but hubby isn't interested. Has anyone done the Hobbiton tour? Viator has one, but we're not really fans of the movie, but love beautiful scenery. Are there local tours available when the ship docks? Is there anything to see from the port? Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

Hi,

We booked a tour through Princess online through our booking for Hobbitville, from Tauranga, it cost approx. $200 per person which lasted about 5 hours, these excursions were booked out early so if you are interested I would go online through your booking and check out the excursions.

Tauranga is one of our favourite places in New Zealand, you can get great fish and chips in the main street, the fish is (Hoke) freshly caught daily.

They have great shopping in the main street, it is also a good place just to sit on the beach and watch life go by. If you are a lady who dresses in size 16 and above, they have great shops for ladies who require larger fittings, they have great styles and fabrics.

Regards,:):)

Hi all,

 

Quiet day in the office and I'm pondering my first cruise on the Golden Princess last October, and my next one on the Sun Princess.

 

LOVED the Golden, and wondering, did I set the bar too high for myself the first time around?

 

There's a few things I'll know I'll miss - anytime dining and the undercover pool area, all understandable as it's a smaller ship - but generally speaking, how do the two compare? Is Sun Princess noticeably more crummy due to its age?

 

Of course we'll have a fabulous time but if I need to lower my expectations I'd rather know now :)

Hi Claire,

In answer to your query regarding the Sun Princess. I have been on both ships, I always loved sailing on both Sun and Dawn Princess, they both look very 'classy' ladies from the outside. The Sun Princess went through a big refurbishment a couple of years ago. I sailed on the Golden Princess in November, I was really looking forward to sailing on her as we only get the older ships (P&O) down under. I liked sailing on the Golden Princess, lots of spaces to go to escape especially Skywalkers but I always felt better sailing on the Sun/Dawn Princesses, could be because there were fewer people on board, I prefer the Horizon Court at the front of the ship as I could look out at the water and see where I was going. I know the newer ships look better but I don't think I could come at 3 or 4 thousand people on a cruise especialy waiting for the lifts would be more annoying than waiting for the lifts on the Golden Princess. We also like the traditional dining over anytime dining, you could organise your time better.

Regards,:):)

Hi everyone, love to hear from those who have cruised on the Golden Princess recently, especially around NZ. What has the internet cover and speed been like? Is it worth buying?

Hi,

On our cruise to Pacific Islands Oct.30 we were advised that the internet was closing down on the last day of the cruise to undergo an upgrade to their systems, they didn't elaborate on the exact details or how long it would be down for to upgrade, you would need to check with Princess.

Regards, :):)

Hi,

I would like to congradulate P & O and the City of Sydney and the Today Show for presenting Sydney at her very best with 5 ships making a very spectacular grand enterance in to Sydney Harbour this morning. The Today show broadcast live from one of the new ships. To the Captains and crew of these ships also, great sight to start the morning.

Regards, :):)

Hi,

To Melb1988. In reply to your reply, I have read your past reviews which I found quite fascinating, I mainly went onto Cruise Critic Forums to try and find some great photos of the newly refurbished Golden Princess before she came on to the Australian scene. I really appreciated the great video made by Sheba and her husband ' Full Tour 2015 Golden Princess, I thought this was a great presentation for us oz people who have only mainly travelled in Australia on really old delapidated ships. I notice that you are a very young cruiser and must have been very young when you became a cruiser, I also note that you are a cruise ship enthusiast. You would have really liked to travel on my first ship which was built in 1933, she was one of the Strath sisters (4) who were used in the 2nd world war and was also P & O's first cruise ship to Australia in 1938, there are great photos of her on the web showing her docked at Circular Quay. If you are interested in the older ships there is a book put out via Immigration Centre in, Flinders St. Melb. showing all the ships coming into Melbourne in the 1950s and 60s.(Migrant ships, Greek, Italian and British) every week. There is also a great book on the history of Station Pier which is also available at the same place. The Victorian Government a few years ago spent nearly 6 million dollars on the refurbishment of Station Pier and also later they started to refurbish Princess Pier (opposite) but ran out of money. In Melbourne Cup week, Melbourne played host to 4 cruise ships (3) at Station Pier and of course the daily Spirit of Tasmania. Last year they did the same thing and used approximately 130 buses to transport the visitors to Melbourne out to Flemington every day for the week, it was so successful that they repeated the same again this year and I note that they are also listed in the next few years to do the same thing, it must be a successfull venture for both Carnival and P&O or else they wouldn't berth at Station Pier every year. I personally think the Pier copes well. Circular Quay and Darling Harbor can only handle one ship at a time. As for security, I too used to go at anytime down to the Pier and watch the cruise ships come in at the far end of the Pier, but especially now, I am glad that they take such precautions, not too much of a price to pay for one's safety.

As one of the other 2 day cruisers pointed out there were no free drinks, coffee cards, happy hour etc. these were all available on the main cruise (13 days), I just think the 2 day cruise is a teaser cruise to try and get you interested. I am really pleased that a lot more of the younger generation can now enjoy and afford the cruises that are being made available, most of us oldies would most probably not have been able to afford such cruises at your age. I also noted a lot of young families on my cruise with young children and I thought what great great stories they could tell at 'show and tell' at school.

PS neither my husband or grandson didn't want to know anything about the ship before boarding they wanted to find out all she had to offer by their own discovery, which I am glad to say that my grandson didn't want to leave the ship as he had a really great time on board even though there were more oldies than his generation on board.

Regards,

''Go Melbourne"

If you don't like her, send her back. I LOVE the Golden Princess, have sailed her several times in recent years, and would love to sail her again. She is constantly being beautified -- varnished, painted, etc. -- just as you might hope. Her public rooms are lovely and she has a unique water component on her Princess Theater stage that is seldom found ono a cruise ship. Enjoy! And send her home soon!

Hi CVPends,

I am sorry but we love her, she appears to be staying downunder for the Australian/Asian market until at least 2019. I think you should come and visit us down under and tour Australia and New Zealand, I am not sure whether you have sailed on her since her makeover before heading our way but she is a very good looking ship, don't mind the whingers, apparently they haven't sailed on the very old P & O ships that were our once only cruise vessels, luckily they seem to be making an effort to improve the appearance of their ships, there will be 5 P & O ships sailing into Sydney Harbour late November, that should be very spectacular viewing. She sails well and does a pretty mean 360 degree turn before backing into Station Pier in Melbourne, when you see some of the ports she has to dock into you wonder how she can squeeze in, but she does, great ship, thanks for letting her travel down under.

Regards,:):)

The Golden has recently arrived in Australia for the Aust/NZ season, and we are booked to sail in January. I am already reading several reviews that some cruisers have mentioned that the Golden looks a bit tired. I am hoping that it is a minority statement but would like to hear from other cruisers that have sailed on Golden recently before it arrived in Australia.

Hu Kiwi Fun Cruiser,

In answer to your query, we have just returned from a 13 day cruise to the Pacific Islands, she has recently under gone an expensive make over before coming down under. We found her to be a really nice ship to cruise on especially as we have mainly had the older cruise ships down under to sail on ie P & O and now they are changing the Dawn Princess into a P & O ship, I hope they don't mess her up. If you are interested in seeing how the Golden Princess looks now after her make over, Sheba has done a 23 minute video walkabout the ship. You can find it on You Tube under Full 2015 Golden Princess Tour, she describes the ship deck by deck, restaraunts and places of interest and costs that are not included in your package ie dining.

We dined at the Crown Grill on one night, the decor was really elegant, service and food excellent, there was a $25 per head on this dining room but well worth every cent. I am sure there were a lot of areas on the ship that wern't included in the over haul but they are really not that obvious, she is a very clean ship with many nooks and crannies that you can escape to.

We loved Skywalkers, even though it was classed as an entertainment area by night we found that the oldies gravitated to it during the day as you could find some nice quiet place to read a book and have a drink or a nice cup of tea. She is a lot bigger than the Sun class ships (Dawn Princess), I always love sailing on the Dawn but the Golden Princess was well worth sailing on, not over the top or tacky as some ships are.

'Have a look at the video, it is really well done and a credit to Sheba and her husband who just love cruising and have produced this great video for us to share.

Regards:):)

I have just been reading some of the review for a 2 day cruise from Sydney to Melbourne for the Golden Princess, whilst it is very thorough, I just found it was a bit over the top and over critical in some areas especially as you were only on her for a couple of days. We used the in room service nearly every day for breakfast so we didn't have to put up with over zelous, noisy people first thing in the morning before we woke up completely.

We found the hot food was always hot and freshly made, I also used the in room service for a couple of lunches when I stayed on board whilst the others went off the ship to swim on the islands, I also enjoyed their food presentation and freshness. We also found the daily service of our cabin was excellent with a very friendly steward who went out of his way to fix any problems that may have arisen on our cruise (13 days). We also have never had any problems with embarkation and disembarkation in Melbourne, also we get a taxi from Flinders Street Station and are driven right up to drop of point for our luggage on the pier with no hastles. I have been coming to this pier since 1958 and I still love everything about it, it can also dock more ships than Sydney can at any one time. The only problem we had with the ship was 'the lifts' which is apparently a problem on any cruise ship. I don't know how you can get to know about a ship completely in 2 days, even after 13 days I was still learning about this ship and what she offered. She rode well in rough seas. She did a mean 360 turn when backing into the pier without knocking the pier over, great seamanship from the crew, great ship, great service.

A cruise is what you make it, everyone is different and has different expectations. It is great that we are now getting better ships coming down under.

Maybe you are over critical or just struck the wrong people, you appear to have had a very good price for your 2 day cruise and an upgrade as well.

Where else would you get such value for money, no dishes to wash, clean the room, cook etc.

Hi,

I have just completed a cruise on Golden Princess to the islands and noticed that there were less live shows (including dancers and singers)especially themed shows. I am sure the Dawn Princess had more regular live production shows and even their main performers would come out on the excursions as an overseer. I am not sure what the dancers and singers did for most of the cruise. Princess seem to repeat their shows, I have seen the same themed shows on most cruises over the past 5/6 years but just re costumed. The singers and dancers are good at their work but I think they are under utilised.

I am not mad on most comedians but I must say that they got it right on the Golden Princess, the New Zealand comedian/voice impersonator was excellent, as was ' The

Doc' and 'The Scottish Fellow' who had a very dry sense of humour, great story teller with great witt, great piano playing and singing.

I am just not sure why there were less full production shows!!!!!

Regards,:):)

Hi all, just asking if anybody has an recent experience with the bus. Mainly want to be sure that it is reliable and we don't get stranded, also are the bus stops easy to identify? Does it travel in only one direction or both ways?.

 

Any updated info is welcome,

Thank you all.

We used this bus just over a week ago when we sailed on the Golden Princess to the Pacific islands. We were in Noumea on a Sunday which meant most places were closed. We found this bus to be reliable, it travelled both ways, you just had to ask the driver or the girl who got on the bus at the Tourism centre who explained the route where to get back on when coming back. We found them to be reliable and punctual especially for a Sunday service. When coming back we were taken through some of the back streets of Noumea so we were able to see some of the varied houses which you wouldn't normally see. The only thing with Noumea that it is the most expensive of the islands that we visited.

We had some of the best weather, the seas were so blue

Regards,:):)

Hi Kiwi Cruzer,

Thanks for the great photo, very impressive view of the harbour as well, she should look great at Station Pier on Friday. I have packed and re packed my bag several times now, we have to catch the train in and I will be travelling with a new suitcase so don't now how she will tow, any way I always pack too much, half of which I never wear, I have tried to palm half of it off onto my husband's suitcase without much luck, so here goes 4th time around.

Regards,:):)

Hi,

Could any one who is currently sailing on the Golden Princess, her first since arriving on our shores advise what the menus are like and if they have been Australianised since her arrival in Australia. The menus that were previously shown appear to be very spicy and not Australian even though we do have very multicultural menus now.

Regards,:):)

Hi,

Does anyone know why the Golden Princess was nearly 3 hours late departing from Sydney yesterday on her maiden voyage from Australia, Princess usually has a great reputation for always leaving on time. I was watching her on live webcam on the other side of the Harbour from Circular Quay, it was a long wait.She had a lot to contend with all the water taxis as well, it also looks like there are only 2 main docking areas in Sydney Harbour, one in Darling Harbour and the other in Circular Quay, I am only familiar with those 2, I mainly leave from Melbourne, there are 3 there on the same pier depending on the size of the ships, there will be 3 docked there on Melbourne Cup week.

Regards, :):)

Hi Nreader,

I would like to thank you for the great reading for your journey from USA to Sydney today. They were very informative. I hope you had a great trip and hope that you will get to see some of Australia before you head off home.

We here in oz can't wait to sail on her. I have already started to pack but I am sure I will over pack as usual. The grandson has already been out to buy new clothes, he hopes there will be more people of his own age on the cruise this time, he is very respectful of his elders but we thought that if we took him to the islands there could be a more even spread of ages, especially his age group.

I wish you well on your travels.

Regards,:):)

Hi,

If you have been wondering where the Sea Princess has been hiding, she is currently in drydock in Singapore, she is listed as sailing back to Fremantle, Australia on 17th October,2015 which is tomorrow all going well.

Golden Princess is sailing into Sydney on 18th October to start her deployment down under. Does anyone know if they are putting on a show for her entering Sydney Harbour as they did with the Carnival Spirit when she was deployed to Australia. I have tried checking with Princess/ Carnival in Sydney but haven't received a reply as yet.

Regards, :):)