arxcards

Deck 6 worked out better with Good Spirits. Alfredo's to one side, and that is well spaced. Internet kiosks and photo package terminals on the other, also very quiet till the last afternoon. A bit of through traffic at dinner time for Concerto, but heaps less foot traffic than deck 7. Lots of spaces I wasn't such a fan of, but we had a few happy spaces too. As the ships get larger, it is hard to be a fan of everything. As with Royal's "neighbourhoods", there is plenty to fulfil a cruise from the areas you like.

Over the past year, P&O has had around 20 "flash" sales. It has been a bit of a running joke here.

The Pacific Motorway on Majestic that runs from the atrium, down past Princess Live, & Crown Grill to the Vista Lounge. Lots of traffic, and it all felt a bit stale. Yes, not a total fan either, but we started walking the inadequate promenade whenever it was open. Yes, International Cafe & Vines on 5 Good Spirits on 6 Ocean bar on 7. Being around the piazza/atrium opened those spaces up on 6 and 7, so we had no issue. I prefer the Good Spirits location on Majestic more than on Coral, if only they had more seats. When busy, Coral felt a bit hemmed in, where on Majestic if it was busy, you just couldn't get a seat. It would be nice to look at passenger/space ratios, but even then, there are spaces that just don't work.

Gratuities is muddy, so I don't believe that has to be included in the fare. You do need to be advised of them. Grats don't apply at the point of sale, so are different to taxes. Carnival Australia includes them for $AU cruises, partly as that is how we like it, and it saves the queues at the service desk. Royal's brands include it in the fare because that way we can't take them off at the service desk. Cunard cruises here in $US, and daily grats are added. Carnival Luminosa departs for the US in a few months' time. For the relocation cruise, the onboard account is in $US, and daily grats are not included in the fare.

Princess had various incarnations of their 3 for free promo over the past couple of years. At least one of those versions included crew appreciation. Check the personaliser, and it will list all of your inclusions on the "onboard services" and "payments" page, and/or your booking confirmation email.

They are selling one for 2024, and their 2025 itineraries don't extend to Jan 26th PS: If the events on Sydney Harbour start to diminish with empathy to invasion day, there will be no point in anchoring in the harbour for the sake of it. Till then, party on. I am happy to celebrate Australia Day anywhere in the world.

I think it is that way. We did an ultimate ship tour on Diamond some years back, and it had one big galley with an escalator, and it supplied the meals for all three dining rooms. Interesting they change up the dishes. If they are doing the creme in big batches, they might not have enough of the same dishes to go around, and alternate batches between the different dishes.

You should still have the package you booked. They can tell the difference between the various versions of the package, so your grats should still be included. Sadly, the new ice cream, juice bar and fitness classes from the new version of the package will not be included. Best to confirm this with Princess, but you should still be getting what you paid for.

A bit like Luminosa. They are having trouble giving them away.

Or as mentioned about the cruise only fare, why would you pay for a drinks package if you are getting a number of free evening drinks each day. The prices I was looking at yesterday were around $90pp/day difference.

The Australia Day cruises are fun, and that ban doesn't make sense. Half the passengers are wearing patriotic clothing, including flag motifs, so doubly strange. The story is behind a paywall, so I am presuming their reasoning of such a ban. If P&O decides not to market their Australia Day cruise anymore and the ship leaves Sydney for a regular cruise, then they may have the ability to stand on their soap box. As a company, it is ridiculous for them to be apologising for the events of 1788 and marketing Australia Day cruises - hypocrisy.

It is a % on all ships. They need more cases, but also have more passengers. It was Princess' largest ship here that had the highest infection rate (numbers and %) this summer. The Princess day 3 test has made a big difference since they added it in November, and yes, numbers on land dropping sharply is great news for cruising.

Or the lack of Lelepa is the key for Brilliance being pulled.

Give them time. The only legacy for Royal in Brisbane was a season of Legend. They have a choice between three Carnival brand ships, all with more than competitive pricing. Similar issue with Luminosa too, as Carnival cruises isn't established there either.

Looks yum. Don't they all come from the same galley for all three dining rooms?

With your coffee card, it is based on the number of expresso shots. The small with a single shot gets a single punch, the medium and large are double shot that score 2 punches.

I am happy to fly with a meal of bread and water, as long as it runs on schedule. Once late, it seems to trigger a chain of other issues. I have a similar loathing about United after a similar flight, fortunately it ended up finding a gate at LAX eventually. I have the same issues with leg space, and don't think I have ever had more than an hour of decent sleep between here and the US. I am not a fan of long flights, and would have hated your experience equally.

No, I think they have found another market where they can make more money, presuming Asia will be 100% open. No place markers in Melbourne for 24/25. Quantum's Brisbane season for 24/25 is a month shorter as well. Any thoughts of a full time ship here is even further away. I am surprised they haven't gone the way of Coral Princess - cruise locally for 7 months, then load up for Hawaiian & world cruises in the colder months.

Tell him about the downgrades - no free ice cream 😁

Glad you got there on time. I did notice she was cranking at 20 knots into Bass Strait last night, and was banking on her being fashionably late. Other comments are for 5pm embarkation, yet I gather you are already back onboard? Enjoy your last few days.

Having access to Coastal Kitchen is worth it. We preferred dining there more than any of Ovation's specialty restaurants.

Hi Jenny, You can have them all loaded, and most of the info you have added to your next cruise will also be there for the others. They should all be there awaiting your added details, as long as you are logged on to your medallion account (vs logging on via name/dob/booking number). Tap on your profile picture in the bottom corner of the app, and hopefully all of your cruises will show on the left side of your screen.

Yes, it is across most of the Carnival brands, but the question was about Princess. The onboard environment is indeed different to being ashore, but for some reason the Royal brands seem able to provide a different environment on their ships than Princess (and other Carnival brands) are. Without masks in most areas aboard, they still seem to be mostly flying under the covid radar. There is a difference in the aircon. Following the learnings from Diamond Princess, the cruise lines improved their air-conditioning. Apart from the medical centres, the Carnival brands have only announced they have increased the airflow of their units, but Royal's brands (MERV) and NCL (HEPA) also upgraded their filtering. With all else being equal, I think this is the most significant difference that requires masks to be used as a personal filter.

On some ships, the area where the picture is behind Rolf's head is the space they managed to mount their upgraded big screens - behind the sofa 😂 Rest assured, we don't watch much telly while cruising. The screens are interactive though, and I would prefer not to have to use reading glasses to navigate the screens. We do try to catch-up on news each morning before breakfast, mostly to remind us of the world we have left behind. Thanks for the suite information. We are booked in a vista suite. Nice promo ATM, which dropped a bit off the price, so we are going Premier package again and will plenty of value out of it. Up to swirls each day to get a super duper dessert, then bring it down to Good Spirits and wash it down with some XO's. We will also get value from the 2 specialty dinners and will harass the photographers to get the most from photo package. I don't think we will have time for the free fitness classes. I am kidding about the ice cream, but I am not so sure about Barb.

Yes, it is a Princess thing. There government mandate for masks on cruise ships was lifted in October. They tried no masks on Majestic in late October, but the 2nd cruise in early November had 800 positives aboard, so they have reverted to masks indoors until the numbers on land drop away a bit more. It should be masks-off again in the coming weeks, but that won't be any consolation for you tomorrow. I don't know what makes Princess special with case numbers, apart from the way they test B2B passengers - the Royal brands do supervised tests for all B2B passengers, Princess has been an honour system at best. The delayed boarding is partly due to covid protocols, which Station Pier/Melbourne authorities tend to take a bit of time sorting through, plus the ship is a bit delayed due to a medevac off the Victorian coast this afternoon.