Muffinz

I believe the RAT test has to be supervised / monitored? We will be in the same situation for our cruise in Feburary 2023.... but by then they (Australian government) have have changed the rules / requirements, but there are bargain chemists and Chemist Warehouse all over Sydney I believe that sell RAT Tests

Still no changes to cruises going to or departing from Australia / New Zealand / Pacific Islands Negative covid test still required to board https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/frequently-asked-questions/au-cruises/

ahh ok - that makes sense now thanks for clarifying that

That's interesting... I can't find any information online about Brisbane Cruise Terminal closing / ceasing activities... and according to Princess Cruises it's still listed as a stop on our cruise in Feb 2023 the cruise terminal in Brisbane is brand new and was only just opened this year too

Yes - if you're on the Feb 24th Cruise from Sydney to Port Douglas by all means🍺

We are on Majestic Princess in Feb 2023 and I've been told (by other posters) that the nightly shows are 19:30 and 21:30 each day someone also said that dinner in the MDR takes about 90 minutes?

if your cruise departs from Circular Quay cruise terminal then I'd recommend staying at the Rydges in Circular Quay https://www.rydges.com/accommodation/sydney-nsw/sydney-harbour/ We stayed here before our 2018 cruise and the cruise passenger terminal is literally just across the road - took us about 4 minutes to walk there with our suitcases (and it's a downhill walk) We met some people on our flight from Auckland that were on the same cruise and they had pre booked 'ready 2 go' shuttle from the Airport to their hotel, so we booked it as well from their counter at the airport. They dropped us off right at the hotel front door. Alternatively you can get the train from the Airport to Circular quay station and I think it's a 5-10 minute walk to the Rydges hotel from there?

Most of the covid regulations are not set by Princess cruises but by the government of the country that the cruise ship is visiting...... for example for cruises boarding in New Zealand and Australia, you still have to have a negative covid test in order to get on board, but this is not the case for other countries. Also in the last month New Zealand has relaxed it's covid policies and basically done away with all covid restrictions - including mask wearing in shops...etc... Masks are still required when visiting healthcare facilities and the like though, which makes sense But unfortunately the inevitable has happened and our covid numbers have started to rise again..... it doesn't help that the new covid variant (B something?) that's very active in Europe has been detected here. I'm hoping the need for a negative covid test will be scrapped by the time we cruise from Sydney in Feb 2023 - but that's dependent on the Australian government, not Princess

thanks for that.... the need to have a negative covid test prior to boarding in Australia hasn't changed according to this (last updated 29 September) https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/vaccine-testing-requirements/

I see there's still no change to Australia / NZ....

it's not Princess Cruises who have made the decision you need to be tested.... it's the government of the country you are going to that has put that requirement into place

Still no change to Australia though....

Sadly there has been no update / change regarding cruises leaving Sydney (Australia) and a negative test is still required to board I know that this is the rules of the Australian Government and not from Princess Cruises themselves hopefully this will change before Feb 2023 when we cruise out of Sydney

I see there is still no change for Australia / NZ but this is no fault of Princess - it's the Australian governments rules however it may change before Feb 2023 when we cruise out of Sydney

Sorry to hear of your experience.... our cruise in April 2020 (on Celebrity) was cancelled due to the pandemic and it took us over 6 months to get the full refund from them through our TA... like you we were calling and e-mailing most weeks to little effect

we are on a cruise in Feb 2023 that stops in Brisbane and I believe the new terminal is in operation now I don't know if Princess are providing a shuttle into town though

I suspect for our Majestic cruise from Sydney in February 2023 she will be pretty full to the brim! being in the heat of summer 'down under' I hope they pack plenty of cold beer 😁

Yes - but if I'm getting in a taxi / shuttle I don't want to have to fumble about with a suitcase and an overnight bag.... Sure it's not the end of the world, but I did find it a bit of a pain

that's true, but if we are getting a taxi / shuttle to the airport straight after the cruise I'll have to find a spot at the pier somewhere to re-pack our suitcases as I'll need to pack what is in our overnight bags back into our suitcases.... we had to do this last time and it was a bit of a pain really - repacking your suitcase in front of everyone else walking past staring at you....

thanks for the reply.... yes the more I talk about it with the wife the more we think it might be a good idea to get the later flight.... for piece of mind really We do have friends here that are on the same cruise and they have booked the earlier flight back to NZ I would however like to be able to walk off with my own luggage though if possible.... I don't know if Princess do this but on Celebrity we had to pack our suitcase the night before disembarking and leave it outside the stateroom door, so we were left with just an overnight bag to disembark with and had to collect our suitcases at the pier after disembarking... this was a bit of a pain.

Ideally you'd take a photo of yourself (or get someone else to) holding up the test strip and have the date function turned on your phone / camera. I had to do this for work earlier in the year when I got covid and had to send it through to my boss

Thanks but we’ll probably book directly with the airline (Air New Zealand) the 11:45am flight works best with the arrival time in New Zealand there is another flight at 3:30pm but that would mean sitting around in the airport lounge in Sydney for a few hours....

Do Princess allow passengers to 'self-disembark' with their own luggage on arrival into port? The reason for asking is our cruise docks in Sydney (Australia) in March 2023 and we are looking at booking a return flight to New Zealand that leaves Sydney at 11:45am - this means we'd have to be at Sydney Airport by about 9am and we'd probably have to disembark by 8am to get a taxi / shuttle or train to the airport. does anyone know if it is possible to do this? any advice would be appreciated

They did need to be a supervised / monitored test, but I'm not sure if that's the case now, or if you can just take one at your hotel room on the morning of check in and just tell Princess when boarding that you took a test and it was negative.... someone in the know would be able to tell us bus as I said the cruise is 6 months out and the Australian government could have changed or dropped the requirement to have a negative test by then

Chemist warehouse or bargain chemist will sell RAT tests. There’s stores all over Sydney. We’re on the same cruise as you in February and it’s 6 months away so things could have changed by then