arxcards

The earliest disembark slot we have had is 7am, and express walk-off was at 6:45 for that cruise, however like Pacific Encounter this morning, that was a full turnaround. Partial turnarounds run a bit later, of which we had one late last year on Majestic Princess. We were one of 400ish disembarking, and first disembark slot at 7:45am with express walk-off starting at 7:30am. Your Brisbane to Brisbane is likely a similar arrangement, with the majority of passengers doing the Sydney to Sydney lap. Given only up to 500 passengers disembarking, is also why you may not see the disembarkation tour to the airport. It might be a bit frustrating, as you can watch the planes banking and landing on your starboard side as you are approaching the port, yet they are so many hours away.

HAL is very comfortable, and what any Princess cruiser should be able to easily grow into. But then, there are no DAM ships in Melbourne either and they are operated by the same DAM company that took your Princess ship away. Have you checked out NCL's offerings for next summer out of Melbourne? Quite a nice alternative if you can find a suitable itinerary.

On a good day, you can be off the ship by 7am. Most days are good days, but not all. Princess will say PM flights, so I will go with them - just in case it is one of those bad days (weather, customs, broken gangway etc). PS: I will take a look at our more recent Brisbane disemarkation schedules when I get back from the salt mines. PSS: Pacific Encounter was docked in Brisbane this morning before 5:30am (no idea what time disembark started though).

At least they listened to passenger feedback (for a change). There are still some that like the traditional way. Coral & Island would be a challenge compared to all the other ships with more dining rooms. On the Grand class, they used to keep a fixed traditional dining room, while all the others were mixed between pre-booked and walk-up anytime diners. Worked OK then. I am OK with it. More choice can't be a bad thing, except when traditional tables aren't being filled and they drop in the overflow of walk-up dinners into that level. Now if they listen about the pillow chocs - taking them away for covid is no longer a valid reason.

I have one, bought from Macy's in Waikiki, but the brown side isn't often seen. My point is, if you need a brown & black belt you need to pack two different wardrobes. An extra belt is nothing in luggage, but the extra matching shoes, shirts & trousers are.

Curious if you saw James the juggling guy. Sounds like an interesting show.

For Good Spirits, we target one of those 8 stools at the bar, except for when it gets quiet later in the night. There are also times when you are drinking spirits when they will ask if you want a double. P&O are strict in every which way, but the Ocean Now delivery will not work on Princess if they followed the same guidelines. P&O also seem to be paranoid about sharing of drinks with non-package passengers and that motivates their strictness more than RSA. Their bars are reconciled every cruise, and staff are judged on their adherence to stock levels. That means if the cocktail lists Absolut vodka, that is usually the only option. Any other brand is rung-up as a sum of the parts, and if it goes 5 cents over you can't have it in the package. Nice that you can have a $23 cocktail with plus on Princess and pay just the $1 overs. You tried a few cocktails in 14 nights. What were your favourites?

P&O don't think they are a budget line though. They consider themselves the best in their field - cruising the Australian way. They may have had a box to stand on a few years back, but trimming costs to cruise to a price has turned them into a receding brand. The same is happening to Princess, but at a much slower pace.

Still one less ship. Sharing is caring! Yes, I like to have some degree of confidence that my cruise isn't going to change because of a change of mind. Have already lost 3 ports from our Dover to Sydney cruise next year - starting to look like a 57 night cruise to nowhere.

Not so much about being relaxed, but the practicality of the system. When app ordering to cabin, it is much easier for everyone if both drinks are ordered in the one transaction. The system just assumes it is one drink each, and applies it to your package that way. On the shorter Princess cruises, there are quite a few that are 3 sheets to the wind.

It was $AU cash only when we were there in 2018, which caught us by surprise. Being an island without a bank, card is so much easier for them - as long as they have power and a reliable eftpos link.

Indeed. And on cost, I have a hunch that the identical itineraries on Crown will also cost a grand more than the cancelled ones.

Sounds nice. Concierge lounge on Royal Class is a bit of an upscale compared to earlier ships. We quite enjoyed that addition to Princess' usual suite privileges. It would be nice to have a concierge lounge retrofitted into the earlier ships, and a must for our new Princess ship too.

It reads quite OK as food plan. There are plenty that sit there all day, so they must have a food plan.

Our next cruise to book isn't available yet, but I have sent the email request as a Mothers Day gift.

Thanks. Glad it was enjoyable. Coral has been based here for nearly two years, so the coffee should be Australianised by now. Staff come and go, and they don't really have a barista mentality when they make their coffees. We have had some good coffee on Coral, bland on another cruise, undrinkable on another. When busy, they tend to rush and work like a production line. We got good coffee at one of the bars last time, Good Spirits I think. Alas, they didn't open till 11am. What is that drink with the pink stuff sticking out of it? And are they crocs?

Yes, skimming devices. Not just Cape Town, although it appears to be a significant problem there. Bobs up in Australia from time to time.

How good would it be if you could use your cruise card to pay, and have it go to your folio. It would be doable.

It depends on your dentist.

I think much of this is that waiters/restaurateurs don't want to have to resolve arguments about who had to pay for what, and to leave it to the group solve their own disagreements. Especially true if someone in the group went outside "for a smoke" and just kept walking.

Conflict Islands is a highlight though. I hope your friend gets there at the end of the month.

The top post is the official notification sent by P&O to passengers aboard that cruise. They give no specific reason, so it is up to all of us to fill the void. Those on FB groups will fill their own void. I suspect that the opportunity for a 3 day window to do some specific maintenance while in Honiara required them to skip one of the other ports.

A handful of the cancelled Grand cruises are being replaced like for like with the Crown (those in bold). Brisbane gets a shorter season, and the relocations are only 3 nights instead of a month across the Pacific. It is all confused by the lack of any announcement, but pieced together from new port bookings. 21st December 2025 Sydney (3 nights) to Brisbane 24th December Brisbane (11 nights - Pacific Islands, probable) 4th January 2026 Brisbane (8 nights - Pacific Islands) 12th January Brisbane (10 nights - Tasmania) 22nd January Brisbane (11 nights - Pacific Islands) 2nd February Brisbane (14 nights - New Zealand) 16th February Brisbane (14 nights - New Zealand) 2nd March Brisbane (8 nights - North Queensland Coastal) 10th March Brisbane (8 nights - North Queensland Coastal) 18th March Brisbane (3 nights - Newcastle, Sydney 21st March Sydney - resume original schedule

Nothing cheap for us down here. You get all the good deals, but they are reliant on international passengers getting on expensive long flights to make up their numbers, and that makes us a less attractive place to cruise from.

Crown Princess itineraries have been withdrawn from sale from 21st December 2025 till 21st March 2026. All affected passengers should have been notified of the cancellation of those cruises. As already posted on this board last week, Grand Princess has also been withdrawn from Brisbane for the scheduled 2025/26 season. Replacement itineraries have not yet been announced by Princess, but port bookings have been updating in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Port Douglas, Newcastle & Eden. An extra date has been added to Sydney to coincide with a port visit. These bookings all point to Crown Princess being based in Brisbane for a 3 month season, and Sydney having only Discovery Princess for much of the summer. The dates are per Brisbane terminal bookings, and those in bold match the previous Grand Princess itineraries. This confirms why only some of the passengers on the Grand's cruises have been notified, as others will get an email advising them of their swap-over to the Crown. I have guessed the remaining itineraries based on the number of days and/or port bookings: 21st December 2025 Sydney (3 nights - "Seacation") to Brisbane 24th December 2025 Brisbane (11 nights - Islands) probable, Fiji maybe, as it is a Chrissy/NY cruise, and some of the Sydney cancellations might get to switch to a modified itinerary and salvage their Christmas holiday. 4th January 2026 Brisbane (8 nights - 3 x port Islands) direct replacement for cancelled Grand Princess cruise, passengers swapped? 12th January Brisbane (10 nights - Tassie) direct replacement 22nd January Brisbane (11 nights - Pacific) direct replacement 2nd February Brisbane (14 nights - NZ) direct replacement 16th February Brisbane (14 nights - NZ) direct replacement 2nd March Brisbane (8 nights - Qld Coastal) direct replacement 10th March Brisbane (8 nights - Qld Coastal) based on port bookings in Cairns, Port Douglas 18th March Brisbane (3 nights - "Seacation") Newcastle, Sydney 21st March Sydney - resume original schedule The updated itineraries will be available on the 14th of whenever, unless Princess still have another trick up their sleeve. Hopefully, some of these cruises will make-up for those who lost their cruises when the Grand was pulled from Brisbane.