arxcards

The same will happen with the Princess app. It works differently pre-cruise to how it works for boarding and when aboard. Just before your cruise, the app will show a boarding pass, so that part is simpler than P&O's app. Once aboard - log out of your app, then log in again with just your booking info instead of your account login. If you need any help to get it working, there is an Ocean now booth with staff who are assigned with sorting out any issues. Have you booked a plus/premier package, or are just on a standard fare? If on a standard fare, be aware that to use your app for ordering food and drinks, you will incur a one-off $23 activation fee. If you have booked with either of those packages, that fee is waived.

Who needs cruise critic? All that info is on the forum here, and more. A couple of corrections: The app is no longer called a medallion app, but is simply called the Princess app, available for your phone on Apple & Play stores. The option of having the medallion mailed to your address is supposed to be available to Australians in the next month or so.

Not completely different, but off the beaten track. I am looking at picking a London hotel and think I have narrowed it to a handful of possibilities. Does anyone have a standout location or hotel from past experiences in London & the UK? I am not looking at cheap, quirky, trendy or luxury, but a good location, comfortable with a moderate price. A nice view would be a bonus. We are in via Heathrow and heading out to Southampton after a 6-night stint.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. There doesn't appear to be one running - you can start a roll call for your cruise here -. https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/forum/2598-carnival-luminosa-roll-calls/

Another young Aussie is joining the circus next year. Jack Doohan, son of five time 500cc grand prix motorcycle champ Mick Doohan. I just hope the Alpine is a bit more competitive for his rookie season.

No I wouldn't. I would be in the same boat 😁

The record is one of conjecture. In a traditional liner sense, SS United States will forever hold that record. There is no call for a transatlantic passenger liner service these days, so speed is no longer a selling point. Branson tried to claim the blue ribband, but was knocked back as it wasn't done by a passenger vessel. By definition, some fast cat passenger vessels have since done the trip in less than three days, but there is no interest without the romance of a passenger liner. And then, the SS United States is her own continuing story to the current day.

We have always gone with annual insurance, and the generic pricing is still great for trips up to 21/28 days (depending on the brand). 45 days max policies are still comparable, but many brands will not insure longer trips on an annual policy. Those that do are somewhat painful. We have tailored our trip to the UK next year to fit within a 45 day policy. Ideally, we wanted a few more days, but the jump in insurance prices was more than significant.

Thanks. I guess that being sold out is why I couldn't see it. There is another one from San Diego on Zaandam with options of 60 or 93 days, but that is a bit outside spec. I noticed this is being heavily discounted. Original price of $29,150 has been slashed to $29,149

I would agree, and would suggest that everyone needs to kick their own tyres, as there is so much variation based on age, pre-existing medical, length of trip, details of trip. Personally, Qantas has never come-up with the best price for us. Yes, they include cruises without specific add-on cover, but other policies can still be cheaper even after adding that specific cover. If you have a thing for Qantas FF points, they could be the best option. Qantas are just badging an IAG (NRMA insurance) product, which is a reliable brand, but more expensive for us. With 4 cruises in the 55 days, I would think that cruising is a significant part of the OP's itinerary.

Ooh, a 55 day trip max is very expensive to cover on an annual policy.

I am looking ahead for Alaska. Ideal ship for there too.

It is treated as a single holiday of 55 days. It will need cruise coverage, which might be an add-on depending on your policy. Most policies are based on zones. If part of your trip includes the US, it would generally be an international policy, including cruise and including North America..

All wonderful, but there isn't much wiggle room for agents or PVPs for sweet deals/extra OBC on those 4 week circumnavigations. Lots of these great OBC stories were from post covid bookings when it was a bit of a free for all. Yes, they will honour price drops, but only when there is an actual price drop. HAL has no current around Oz cruises scheduled. At this stage, I think Princess is the only line offering any.

Nice to read your post Uncle Les, and I love the oncologist's anecdote.

Following a nice stint as an Aussie home based ship since June 2022, Coral Princess has departed for her final locally based cruise. The current itinerary will take her from Fremantle to Singapore, where she will undertake an overdue drydock and return to her usual array of Panama Canal cruises. Nice ship. I am glad we had the opportunity to do a few cruises on her.

An extra port on the 2nd one, so I would go with that too. Heaps of variety of things to do in Wellington. FYI, our cruise capital is spelled Sydney.

Sad that a sound byte by Royal's CEO is being translated into a concrete outcome by an apparently reputable industry publication. As for an "exclusive" story, it has been circulated here and on social media for days. For such a big exclusive, it contains words like [prospective, thin on the ground, hinted], then speculates about year round cruising and what it will mean for Australian cruising, ending with a link for the Lelepa story they published in 2019. All this from a bit of hubris from Michael Bayley. Will it happen - probably. Will it happen in 2027 - very long odds.

Sounds like they need a few popcorn makers too.

According to NZ authorities, those passengers are a blight on their society.

The "price unavailable" is a nod to you unlucky people that have had their bookings affected. There will be a week or two when those already booked have the opportunity to confirm their new itinerary before they are opened-up to everyone.

I have trimmed down to just the points that lead us to not choosing Carnival as a regular option. Locally, they are the best we have for winter though, so we are starting to head overseas for our winter travels again. I would have hoped that drydock led to some improvements, but it is more of the same as we had in July. TV is garbage - both the mini SD screens, the crap channels, and the minor selection of pay-per-view movies. After the modern large interactive HD screens on Princess, it is hard to take what Carnival is dishing up. Yes, we don't cruise for TV either, but it is nice to catch-up either side of bed time, and it was hard to read info screens even with reading glasses. Bacon - hopefully they still have rations of rashers in Gold Pearl, extra crispy to burn-off some of the fat content. Mongolian Wok - they did this in July too. We were looking at the board for our embarkation lunch, and the server just pointed to the tub of whatever and the sign that tried to describe it. Barb is allergic to mushrooms, so asked about that, and was assured there were none. There was, so off to the deli. Drinks - on a cruise ship, you are not going to get club prices for wines, beers, or anything alcoholic. Yes, you could often buy a bottle at Dan's for not much more than a glass on Carnival, or pretty much most of the main cruise lines. Compared to Princess and P&O wine by the glass options, I think Carnival stack up better. Our waiter had no issue with the bottles we ordered, so they do learn in time. Our open bottles were waiting for us at the table the following night. It would be nice to have dedicated wine waiters or sommeliers, but it's definitely not a Carnival trait.

Here is a contender that would suit Dora, at least the name. They are a new Chinese cruise line that has some older Costa ships. Could Dora cruise for Adora cruises? Hey, only a rumour, but so is everything else - right?

They should have. That itinerary is unaffected by the change in drydock dates.