Runaways

Thank you for your input. I'm happy to know we should be boarding portside - nice and stable!

I will be grateful to receive clarification regarding the embarkation procedure for Seabourn cruises commencing in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Has anyone done this? Where is the cruise check-in conducted and who/how is luggage transported? We've never embarked the beginning of q cruise by tender before, and can't imagine how it works. Thanks for your any first hand information and input you may have. We are not cruising with Seabourn until European summer 2024. Oh, any tips on characterful, convenient accommodation at moderate cost for a good standard in Dubrovnik will also be appreciated. Thanks again.

Thanks to those who responded to my query. It seems we'll be paying quite a lot for Specialty Dining, especially with a hefty gratuity added on top. Not really sure if the value is there at these current steep prices, even though we very much enjoyed these experiences in the past. Will think on it!

Fair enough - if the furniture was in fact comfortable and working well, but not the case. The cruise cost was high enough to expect a decent standard of stateroom fixtures, etc.

The staff in the diningroom said the words 'cost cutting'. Normal covered toothpicks and one use note pads & pencils could/should be returned now. If Proncess don't even bother to sight/ask about 'mandatory' 24 hour-prior-to-boarding RATs, then don't know why they'd be concerned about single use items.

Maybe your Club Mini Suite sofa and stateroom carpet were in good condition - ours was not. Looking up at the underside of curved balcony overhangs showed wide, very bad bands of rust. Likewise smaller areas were visible around our balcony. Glad you were very satisfied with your accommodations etc though. We still enjoyed the cruise.

Sorry guys, my Coral Princess sofa & Conflict Island photos loaded upside down and can't find edit icon! Please ignore.

Hi all. We returned 10 days ago from our first cruise in 3 years 7 months - Coral Princess to PNG, Brisbane return. This was only our second cruise with Princess and a repeat destination to wonderful PNG. We've cruised extensively, but only experienced this itinerary with Princess on the old ships they use (Golden Princess 5 years ago, and Coral Princess this time). The destination was great, as was the weather and calm seas. We found the crew to be generally excellent again but this old ship and our Club Mini Suite were not that great for the hefty price paid. We love this ship size, but thought there would have been lots of time to get rid of obvious rust on lots of external and some internal surfaces, recarpet and replace a mismatched, very uncomfortable sofa in our stateroom. Likewise, the balcony glass & metal hadn't been well cleaned for ages and the old balcony furnuture had drops of paint on it. Window sills in the Club Suite Diningroom had ugly rusty surfaces where the glass met the sill - large very noticable areas. However, the FABULOUS staff in that diningroom made up for it. They were consistently wonderful, and made the cruise. Another big plus was the Sanctuary. A thoroughly enjoyable, well priced and beautifully serviced area by great staff. During the boarding process, we were shocked not to be asked by Brisbane Terminal check-in staff to see our negative, ID'd & dated Rapid Antigen Tests. Not only was there no request to sight it, but not even a question asked if we had done it! Our Vaccination Certificates were sighted, but nothing else. Unsurprisingly, we believe there was Covid on board. I did not see a lot of 'enforcement' of hand sanitiser use either, except at entry to the Horizon Court buffet. Our experience with Celebrity, even prior to the pandemic, is that hand sanitising is always facilitated at many positions on board, and when returning to the ship, unlike Princess. We're not particularly concerned about CV (had it, and luckily no issues for us). However, follow through on Princess's own rules is expected - or don't bother with the rules. Better information would have been very useful regarding the desirability to use Kina not A$ on Kiriwina (as the local people have no bank & can't change A$s unless another passenger can do it or when the next ship arrives many months out. We knew this as our second visit, but many had no idea)) and that NO cash is accepted at beautiful Conflict Island - credit card ONLY at the souvenir shop & bar area! This might sound like a big moan but not really as we loved being at sea again and many aspects of our holiday. But we also noticed cost cutting (like no pen or notepaper in our suite, no toothpicks in dining venues!, a very limited, but reasonable quality, wine selection in our package, truly bad icecream and quite a few food fails: However some dishes were excellent, to be fair): And very noticable was the ship's aged condition & old fashioned decor. It will be interesting to see how Celebrity Eclipse compares in a few months time re general ambiance, service and value for money. These comments are meant to be informative and useful, not to spoil anyone's excitement about their upcoming holiday. We're certainly glad we went, even if all was not quite as expected. Happy sailing!

Hi. Long time, no talkies😊, but we're finally, happily, back to cruising🤗. We received a half-price specialty dining package onboard Solstice some years ago, but don't know if such deals are being offered these days. We're on Eclipse (Sydney-South Pacific) in about 3 months and unsure if we should pre-book what is now a very expensive per person dining package, or wait to see if anything better will be offered on boarding. Any current info will be much appreciated. Thank you. Gwenn.