arxcards

Welcome back Ms J. Yes! (yes! yes!), no longer tradeable because there is no longer a coffee card. They have a non-alcoholic drinks package which includes coffee for around $30 per day, but hard work to get value out of it. No idea with the other questions.

Not really. At the time, the $29 was meant to be the US price, and the Aussie dollar price was $40. Those that got in early got it for $AU29. For Majestic this coming season, the Crown Grill & Harmony are currently $53, but the same blip exists for the new Catch by Rudi which is also supposed to be the same price, but currently available for $AU39 which is the $US price. The price has gone up, but more of a catch-up IMHO. Crown Grill is comparable to P&O Salt Grill, but still cheaper. Crown Grill is better than Royal's Chops Grill which was somewhere near $AU90pp last season. I agree that the ambiance isn't as good as the more secluded venue on the Grand class ships, and food is always up & down. Last season we found the Crown Grill menu in Bayou to be divine on the plate, but Majestic was still nice enough to go back for more.

I expected Goldilocks to make an appearance by now. Toppers are good if you can get them, but mostly to help the two mattresses join as one without a drastic hollow in the middle. I usually need a trip to the chiro after any holiday, but as much as I like the comfort of my own bed, I will take whatever they dish up - whether it be too hard, lumpy, or having my feet hang out of the rounded-off bottom corner on Royal.

If the cabins are not naturally going to sell out, they will follow-up on waitlists. I have found that waitlists tend to work when you want to get on the cruise, and are not so successful if you are waitlisting for a higher grade of cabin. On one of our early cruises on another Carnival Australia brand, we were booked in a mini with a waitlist for a suite. No luck, but not many suites on the ship, so it was narrow odds. On the 2nd morning, we were seated at breakfast with a couple of honeymooners who had scored a complimentary upgrade from a balcony to a suite. After returning home, the feedback from the Sydney office was that it was easier for them to drop someone in from a balcony guarantee with no cabin assigned than it was to shuffle a series of passengers up a grade. In your case Libby, I would presume it would be easier (lazier) for them to sell the mini again vs following-up on your waitlist and then reselling your balcony. The waitlisting works for them, as they have a pool of people that will pay to be upgraded and they will turn to that list before any complimentary upgrades are granted. Nowadays, they also have that upgrade auction to work in with.

One fine day in Noumea in late 2007, I stood on the deck of the more recent Sun Princess and took photos of an older ship berthed at the main cruise terminal. Nobody knew what ship it was, as it had been recently named New Flamenco and was being used for worker accommodation. Turns out that while on Sun Princess, I was taking photos of the original Sun Princess (Spirit of London). The Captain had no idea, but he wasn't a very good one and only had a short life on cruise ships. Boy, ships have sure changed a lot, and visible through the 3 versions of Sun Princess. MK III is ten times the size of MK I

Clickbait and it works. More eyes = more sales, so there are lots of teases out there. I don't know how NZ laws compare, but there are some Aussie sites that have returned to the gutter to promote with smoke & mirrors. Unless the price clearly says pp twin share, I won't even click. Lots of the "super duper" offers are for pp quad share when the accepted standard is twin share pricing, but you don't know until you get a quote.

I tend to agree with the Aussified Princess being the way to go. One of the biggest bonuses for us is that Princess operates here in our currency. That won't be an added bonus to you. There are other options though. Cunard as mentioned already. Also, Holland America usually do one each season. I don't see one for this season, but they return to it on Westerdam in Nov/Dec 2024. It is a leisurely 35 nights, so could have a couple of extra ports along the way. Royal Caribbean & Celebrity have traditionally done one each year, often including NZ as well. For Feb/Mar 2024, they have a 34 night B2B, which is Sydney to Fremantle followed by Fremantle to Sydney via New Zealand. The following season, Royal is dropping their smaller ship, so there are no more of these itineraries on the radar.

Awesome trip, and worth staying on for an extra lap of Alaska.

There are two types of 4 berth cabin. Those that were configured that way when Dawn Princess was built, and those that were retrofitted from existing twin cabins by P&O. For balconies, there was originally only 8 four berths configured on Dawn Princess, 4 each on A & B decks (11 & 10). For your deck, these cabins are 11222, 11224, 11237 & 11239. These are more traditional pullman beds that retract into the ceiling. All others were added in the configuration like the above video, and I am pretty sure your cabin has that arrangement. If there are only two of you in the cabin, it could be worth trying to get a swap to a similarly located twin cabin. If you are stuck for luggage space, there is plenty of room on the balcony ... or your steward can stow them for you.

East to west across the bight in winter could make for a memorable cruise.

I agree that you should be able to contact your agent (or Princess if you booked directly) to have one passenger pay the plus fare and the other pay the standard fare. As for a non-drinker going with plus, I think it is better if they go with a standard fare and purchase the non-alcoholic package @ $30 per day. The extra $35 for plus only adds internet, bottled water & hideous desserts. https://www.princess.com/html/global/personalizer/ssv/beverages/coffee-and-soda-package-disclaimer/

Correct. You are attesting that you have taken a test, as well as the test result. A self test within 24hrs of boarding, where you attest your result at check-in if negative, to Princess' phone contact if positive. In addition, most of the cruise lines in Oz have requested that you take a photo of your completed test strip along with something that validates the time & date such as a lock screen on your phone. Currently the photo is randomly checked at check-in. This could all disappear if the Australian cruise protocols are repealed, but cruise lines are communicating as if this will remain in place till at least the end of 2023. We have a Carnival cruise on 26th December, and have received the same notification for that cruise. As to the OP, sorry I don't know anything of Bob Wood cruise group. If that is co-ordinated by Princess, is it possible they only deal directly with Princess? When using Princess ezy air, the airline can't help me until everything has been ticketed by Princess, and that is well inside final payment date.

Those would be the emails, with a topic of: Booking #abcde: Latest health & safety protocols Starts as the standard safety & health email, then says: Keep reading for details on: · vaccinations and testing · required Health Status, Passage Contract and COVID-19 Acknowledgement · arriving and embarking · sailing as safely as possible

Death Star?

People are reluctant to pay for flights for open jaw cruising, so if they can help them to get cheaper flights it helps them sell cabins.

I think they will be relaxed around charging corkage on your world cruise. They are generally much more relaxed about bringing back local wines in port on the longer cruises. I hope that is the case for you next year, and for us to a limited degree in 2025. Good pick on the limited acceptable plus wines. We are two from three for those (merlot & rose), which I don't really care about the price mark-up if they are drinkable. Sure they could have a nice $80 bottle that has added cherry notes, but that necessarily make it better value for money. A cheaper all-rounder that is easy on the palate is usually our best value. We don't drink many whites when we travel.

Why would you be, it is a cruise line flyer. Looks tempting, especially if those flights are $499 - but it does say "from $499" so it could be anything.

You will find out soon. Last week, Carnival alerted us that the current test requirements will be required for our cruise in December. Yesterday, we received the same alert for a Princess cruise in November. It is possible that the current protocols could be repealed at any time, but the cruise lines are gearing-up for them to still be in place till at least the end of the year. Full vaccination here = two doss of a recognised vaccine.. Testing is a self RAT withing 24hrs of boarding, with the result attested to the cruise line at check-in. Some lines are also asking that a photo and time stamp be taken of the test strip.

It doesn't matter what ship you are on, testing is based on our authorities. For cruises out of Australia, they are identical for HAL and Princess (and all of the others). Currently, you are required to take a self-administered RAT, and report the result. Most lines also ask you to take a photo of the test strip beside a time/date reference, which "may" be requested at check-in. There is also a vaccination requirement. This is the current protocol and will be in place until the end of the year - at least. You can pay for a PCR test, but it is a hassle, and I can't help with specific locations.

The $30 corkage is relatively good value then. $6 per bottle + corkage is $36 or around $7 per glass. 🤣 Without taxes on a bottle of spirits, they are nominally paying around $10 per litre for the generic varieties, so a Jack and coke has quite a mark-up as well. Yes, it sucks, but we still drink. I see it that we are paying $65 per day for our drinks, so that is potentially less than $5 per drink, whether it be JD, cheap plonk, beer, coffee or bottled water. There are a couple of the cheaper wines that we find to be drinkable, and price becomes less relevant on a package. I prefer this much more than taking a bottle of wine each and our dozen cans of soft drink. It could be worse - the drink packages could be over $100 per day like some of their main competitors.

Looks calm and the Norfolk palms look lovely. Great photo.

As long as you have had 2 jabs, you meet the vaxx requirements to cruise. Yes, even back from 2020/21. Credit card travel insurance should be fine, but you need to check that you are covered for both cruising and covid, and need to be able to provide proof of coverage if you are going to a New Caledonian port.

We used to have group work functions there, but it is close to 10 years since I have been there. Might be worth a diversion, as they do good food in general. For something ruggedly similar, the servo at Steel River does a breakfast wrap. Not as tasty as a burrito, but has bacon, egg, sausage, hash brown & BBQ sauce jammed into a tortilla. Very popular.

A bit of further digging, and it seems they ditched the breakfast pizza back before covid 19 was invented. By their website listing, the ships with Pizza Pirate are 24hr pizza, while those with Pizza del Capitano (including Splendor & Luminosa) are 9am till 4am. Both have the same 5 pizzas on their menu - Brekky burrito - sounds yum & potentially dangerous.