Tikibird

Currently on the Coral Princess cruise to PNG.  Today is Thanksgiving and the menu in the mdr does not have turkey as an option.  The pax are mostly Australian and they said about 40 Americans on board.  They are doing some kind of meet and greet for Americans and a Thanksgiving themed trivia but that is it.  I'm a little annoyed, it's not like Aussies never eat turkey, it's available year round at the supermarkets and mostly featured at Christmas. And the menu always has 5-6 options so they could have at least offered turkey as an option.  Maybe it will be in the buffet.

41 minutes ago, andlep said:

I am also sailing on the 17th Nov but on the Grand from Melbourne. Just had my minimum bid accepted for a mini suite MB from a balcony BE. 

Mine is still pending, just now checked it.  If they aren't going to accept my bid I wish they would at least send an email denying it. 

I wonder if these are processed in the USA or Australia for a ship sailing from an Aussie port?

My cruise is 17 Nov - Coral PNG cruise and my bid is still pending.  I have an obstructed ocean view and bid the minimum on a balcony.  Up to Saturday, they were trying to last-minute sell balconies and below.  Bid is still pending with 3 days to go. 

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

The ship let 'em loose on the community.  As for positives using taxi/uber, some would not probably  disclose their condition to the driver.  Irriots.

 

Standby for incoming, lol.

That scenario can't happen in Brisbane.  The cruise terminal has no public transport and is out on its own.   If Princess holds back the positives until the negatives disembark, the taxis and ubers will know.  We are a 20 minute uber from Brisbane cruise terminal.  We are self-isolating pre-cruise to remain negative.  So I am looking at worst case scenario if we catch it on the ship.  11 day PNG cruise.

What happened to people who were positive and living in Brisbane?  How did they get home if they originally were planning to take a taxi or uber?  Would a taxi or uber driver knowingly accept a positive passenger? 

How do you go about using obc in the casino?  I have seen on the US Princess board that people withdraw credit and buy chips which they can cash out for currency. 

Can you still do this and does it work on the Coral Princess?

Basically we have $175 obc and all we want is to cover the internet package and get some AUD cash to pay tour operators ashore.  Even if we can get some extra cash and it bills to the shipboard account that is a win as it avoids cash advance fees.

I understand that if you buy the internet package on board, it is more expensive. 

So does anyone know a way to buy the package beforehand and make sure it comes off the obc?  Do I have to call someone?  Do it while checking in or on the same day?

7 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

They did for me. Although with Princess it's best never to assume consistency.

That's what worries me!

If I book the Medallionnet package in the app before boarding, do they charge it to my obc?  I want to avoid having anything put on my credit card since I will struggle to use the obc otherwise.  We don't drink and are doing independent shore excursions.  I am platinum and qualify for 50% off.

On 11/2/2022 at 5:23 PM, NSWP said:

If you are Elite you can get priority check in early, otherwise I suppose you need to stick to your given time. 

I just checked and we are in Boarding group C 1:00-1:30.  I am platinum my husband is ruby.   I vaguely remember choosing that time to allow if our Uber is late or something.  We had problems with Ubers cancelling on us sometimes.  So if we are a bit early, my platinum status will get us onboard earlier? 

I finally got it booked over the phone and it shows up in the app.  But I still can't see speciality restaurant booking slots on any other day.  I decided to do it the first day, looking forward to a nice filet mignon and my husband will probably go for lobster or prawns.

When do bookings open for specialty restaurants?  I can't find any booking times available in the app.  So I called Princess and the girl seems pretty clueless. 

MDR reservations are open. 

Sounds good, thanks! 

Bumping this up.  I was wondering if the menu is the same every night or do they change it.  We have vouchers for a specialty restaurant so might try Bayou.  Do they have key lime pie every night?

I am on that cruise and also happy for the 2 day visit to Rabaul as it gives a chance to do morning bird watching at the Wild Dog Mine Road hotspot.  Not sure how much it would cost to hire a car and driver, will look into it more next month.

I almost had a heart attack when I saw an email from Princess with subject Itinerary Change!   Basically they dropped Kitava and are overnighting in Rabaul.  Kiriwina is still there to give a Trobriand Island experience.   For me this is good news as an overnight in Rabaul would allow enough time to do some early morning birding in the area.  Now I just have to find a driver/guide in Rabaul. 

I had a quick look at P&O similar cruise, they also dropped Kitava but seem to have another sea day.  Apparently Kitava does not want any cruise ships.  Therefore I am hopefully assuming the other ports DO want cruise ships because they are still there. 

Another positive - the cruise is still 11 days and still going to PNG so I am feeling encouraged by this!

I'd like to see more off the beaten path  itineraries.  Niue, Palau, Nauru, Kiribati, other Cook Islands like Aitutaki and Atiu, Sulawesi, Timor, more PNG ports.

In the past I would book through airlines cruise link TAs to get the miles.  But that was way before Covid and there weren't any dramas.  Now we book direct with Princess to keep things simple in case of another major issue like Covid shutdowns. 

2 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

Just because a person has had COVID does not mean they are immune to future infections - in fact there are reports that reinfections are increasing and also increase the risk of long COVID or other complications. A fourth vaccination will not stop you contracting COVID - I and a number of others I know have had four (and comparatively recently) but still got COVID - luckily not a severe case but still not a walk in the park as the fatigue  and cough lingered. I can see why places without top notch health systems are less keen on an influx of visitors.

 

But they also need the income these ships supply.  The logical thing to do is be selective on who they allow to interact with passengers, keep their most vulnerable people at home on ship days and have the others masked and maintaining social distance.  And vulnerable Aussies probably won't be targeting a cruise like this, they will stick to domestic cruises. 

If they are going to change it, I wish they would hurry up and do it before final payment is due.  If they completely gut the itinerary, I would rather postpone to 2023 with my fare protected as current prices are way above what we booked for. 

But I don't think visas are an issue based on that link I posted above.  Cruises do their own entry document outside the normal visa thing. 

The islands are small enough, Alotau is just 15k population, surely by now everyone who is going to get Covid has already had it?  And cruisers will be vaccinated.   We are waiting on our 4th one until Oct to be at maximum strength when we go.  There will probably be some kind of social distancing measures in place or masks required.  I plan to go bird watching if this cruise happens. 

Apparently there is a special form for cruise ship arrivals.  This is the Princess one.

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/PNGDeclarationForm.pdf

10 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Con-x-ion does have transfers available, $25 for 2 people Brisbane domestic airport to BICT,  $45 for 2 people from  BICT to Queen St mall.

Still no good if you live in the Brisbane suburbs.  We live about 15-20 minutes from the airport and the quote to BICT was a special transfer for $100.

With so many crew sick and probably isolating, who is doing the daily work?  Cooking, cleaning, running the ship?  I would assume crew live in dormitory rooms so would be very close contact. I would assume mild cases being they are vaxxed and a younger demographic.

5 hours ago, pully8 said:

Reading with interest. Hopefully no one becomes seriously ill.

People keen on cruising again will want to know how outbreaks are being handled, given the recent history.

Accuracy and transparency are key for people to have confidence around risks and safety. 

We know how stretched the health system is at present and most have done all they can to be safe. 

Given how social cruising is and people enjoy eating and drinking masks cannot be worn all the time. 

It is how outbreaks are handled that will assist with personal decisions.

Offloaded? Confined to cabins? Assistance when cruise cancelled? 

Is there a website that shows the health status of cruise ships?   

 

My biggest concern is how ports will handle outbreaks.  I don't want to board a PNG cruise and then have it all for nothing if PNG refuses to let passengers disembark because there are cases aboard the ship. 

I peeked at the role call for this 22 Aug cruise.  Most people were furious at being swapped from a warm weather north QLD cruise with a stop in PNG to the 3 NSW cruises.  Hopefully the backlash will deter Princess from messing with the full PNG itineraries.  I think the majority of these pax will be very destination driven types.