colourbird

We've booked Celebrity Edge for her first trip from Sydney to NZ return. Looking forward to something a bit different. Discovery Princess is coming to Sydney for the first time in November 2025, and i'm interested in either a repositioning cruise or another cruise depending on the destination.

I booked on the Icon as soon as she was announced. I love water slides so couldn't resist. I was previously booked on Symphony, but those voyages were cancelled. I've been on smaller ships and larger ones and enjoy the differences. The largest we've been on so far was the Ovation of the Seas and we found crowds were managed better than on smaller ships, especially with regards to tendering. My only disappointment booking Icon will be that we probably won't get to travel on her larger sisters (for some time anyway).

We've also done this walk between the bus and cruise terminal. The walk is easy and the buses are frequent with adequate space for luggage. We wouldn't go there any other way.

That's an interesting note about the speed of food delivery in the MDR. On our recent Coral Princess cruise, meals in the MDR took an enormous length of time to arrive. We'd never experienced such slow service before and that surprised me as we have done several behind the scenes tours where we saw meals mass produced and waiting to be delivered to passengers in the dining rooms. On the plus side, it gave us more time to chat to others at our shared tables.

I'm going to stop seeing comedians on ships from now on, i've found most of them are rude and racist. There's nothing funny in listing all the nationalities onboard and mentioning their stereotypes, "why aren't you Aussies in the pub having a drink instead of watching me?" "New Zealanders did you bring your sheep etc... On the other hand we've seen some pretty good magicians like Tim Ellis who we had to see twice (and that still wasn't enough).

Our first cruise was on a Carnival ship (Spirit) with a large family group and that got me hooked on cruising as I previously never wanted to go on a cruise (saw too many episodes of The Love Boat when I was a kid and thought all you did was dance and drink for the duration of the cruise). We aren't loyal to any cruise line and just book based on itineraries, ship features and timing. I like the sound of some of the food options you have described on Splendour (especially the self-serve Asian and Indian), so based on that may book another Carnival cruise, but would have to check the dates so the cruise doesn't coincide with school holidays. We did manage to survive one P&O cruise which we were warned never to do, but we didn't experience any issues, so should be fine on another Carnival cruise.

We booked on Edge as soon as they announced she was sailing from Sydney. Mainly for the novelty value of the ship, but we also liked the itinerary. I've heard good things about Virgin cruises, but haven't really looked into their schedules or booked anything yet.

It feels like my personal space is being invaded when people vape near me. They are stealing my fresh air. I'd hate to see this being allowed anywhere inside a ship.

If it takes too long the other link will expire. If it is possible to call them, that may help, they hate repeated calls that waste their call centre staff time.

It's interesting I had opposite experiences with Princess and P&O. I needed refunds from both companies after my last two cruises. Princess had charged $13 for a drink I hadn't purchased. I had a couple of emails back and forwards and then a really friendly woman called me apologising and ended up giving me US$30 credit for my trouble. On the other hand P&O charged $1.34 in credit card surcharges on my debit card. I spent over 100 minutes on the phone to various people and countless online chats, web forms and emails over five months till the $1.34 was refunded.

I waited a week and emailed P&O to let them know I only received one email from HSBC and no code and they emailed me one four days later.

I had to get $1.34 refunded from P&O and it recently came through from HSBC. It took around six months of back and forth emails, web chats, online forms and seven phone calls to P&O before I received the refund though, so perseverance may be necessary.

I undergo the explosive test almost every time I'm at the airport. However, during our last trip, I wasn't selected for the test, and I actually felt a sense of being lost after going through security.

Any test is fine. The ones we purchase are manufactured all over the world (many from China), We often buy them on eBay and nobody can really tell from your photo of the test where it came from. On my two cruises where I needed to do a test, I wasn't even asked to show proof, I was only asked if I had done a test (which irritated me after the trouble I went through to get my photo showing the test, ID and the date and time).

I would enjoy the sea days more if they were on a different ship that offers more activities than Coral.

Princess and P&O had tours offered, but not RCI.

They must have known this was going to happen ages ago as they never released any shore excursions in Eden for the 10 November 2023 cruise.

Royal Caribbean also cancels cruises and leaves them for sale on their website. I had a cruise booked with them, and they decided to send the ship elsewhere. They sent cancellation letters out and posted the new itinerary on their website. However, we had a feeling that it would be cancelled about a month before, as Cruisemapper showed the new itinerary and no longer showed the ship coming to Australia. The cancellation letters didn't come until just after the final payment was due! Royal Caribbean left the original Australian cruise up on the website, and people were still joining our old roll call saying they had just booked up to a week afterwards. I suspect that they were hoping that some of these people would keep their booking credit for a future cruise and not find a cruise with a rival company.

Last month when we were in Brisbane, Princess provided shuttle buses for $40 for a round trip. They referred to this service as a "Brisbane on your own" tour.

The path was flat and smooth, making it effortless to roll our suitcases along. Although there is a level crossing, the probability of encountering a train passing through is low.

The free shuttle bus in Fremantle runs regularly from the railway station during cruise ship days. However, during our visit last month, the bus had broken down, so after our train arrived about 40 of us opted to walk from the station to the ship instead of waiting for another bus. The walk was quite easy, involving a leisurely stroll across the railway line (just past the station) and took about 15 minutes. During the walk, we had the opportunity to chat with other passengers whom we later met up with several times during the cruise.

During our recent Princess cruise around Australia, we saw ice carving and fruit carving. Towel animals were not provided in our cabin although a towel animal demonstration was held towards the end of the cruise.

I saw those aft cabins, but don't want to be down that end. I prefer the quiet front of the ship.

This is what I can't understand about the cruise we have just booked. 11 days Brisbane to Sydney. On the 7 day portion, we'd be able to book a cabin on a couple of decks and they are all still available. On the 11 day voyage they are guaranteed. What gives? Our TA was unable to get any explanation out of Princess.

It appears cruise lines have adopted the practice from airlines that charge additional fees for seat selection, realising it will generate more revenue.