Essence08

I consider the yearly fee of $90 as the price of a raffle ticket to win a cruise each month. They do have good high tea events (obviously all sales related) but in terms of the the prices they can offer on cruises 99% of the time its the same cost for me to book directly with the cruise line, some times better OBC booking direct with cruise lines.

We've got the same glitch with Tauranga on our Dec 20th Cruise - previously there were a bunch of excursions available - not when you go into your cruise booking, look at excursions there is an error message

Marine Traffic app shows her still moored at Station pier with an ETD of nearly 7pm (as opposed to its usual 5pm departure from Melb) I'm on the Bellarine peninsula and it is still pretty wild here. How was boarding today? smoother than her last visit to Melbourne?

The Price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are doing 4 nights Melb - Hobart - Melb - family of 4. Booked one of their secret porthole rooms, which is basically an obstructed oceanview for the price of an interior, there are a handful on them on the ship. In all the cruises we have done I have never booked anything less than a balcony - in fact have an aft suit booked on Grand Princess for Christmas and the price of that was easier to justify than for this 4 night cruise. I know it's Disney, I know it will be magical, but it would want to be the most amazing 4 nights of my life. The aussie dollar is not helping the situation at the moment either.

@cr8tiv1 @david63 @Snaxmuppet Thank you all for your replies, appreciate the info. We sailed on grand in the mini suite last Christmas and loved our time onboard. I think we will enjoy it just a little bit more this time! Any other hints and tips I should know to get the most out of being in a suite?

First time in a full suite cruising to NZ from Aus over Christmas/New Year - could someone enlighten me as to what makes the suite breakfast so special? Is it just that it is in a different location and no doubt has amazing service or is there more to it than that? Could someone also help wth my the complimentary specialty dining on boarding day - how do I reserve this, or are we just allocated to a restaurant at a certain time? Cruising on Grand Princess if that makes any difference. Thanks!!

Any meal I don't have to cook is a good meal! Have a fabulous time on your cruise next week.

@arxcards Pretty sure thats why my dad has them too, doesn't have to share with the wife and no one is judiging him for morning drinking :P) Anyway - Home safe and sound and somehow avoided the **** storm that was the east coast airports yesterday - no issues with our flight (yay) Brisbane airport had a cute little kids play space set up for the school holdidays - with a scavenger hunt, craft activities, duplo blocks etc - it was a really great way to spend an hour. So - because of my son's many many many allergies it was suggested we have all meals at the Waterfront - the manager there looked after us beautifully so no complaints there. I however was bored out of my mind with the same food choices over and over and over again (though happy I didn't have to cook or do dishes) We did have dinner the first night at Dragon Lady and I really enjoyed my meal. However - breakfast - wow - I decided to be a grown up and order the egg benedict one morning - first egg exploded in a torrent of water which flooded my plate and ruined the sauce - needless to say didn't order them again. It was ok, price is better than a local cafe but I stand by my feelings that it should be an included part of a restaurnt breakfast on a cruise ship. So the next day I ordered scrambled eggs with sausages and hash browns - the waiter with the toast came around when I had no plate to put the toast on, so had to skip that, the scrambled eggs tasted like they were from a packet and I got exactly one small sausage link and HALF A HASH BROWN!!!!!!!! Yes my friends, P&O has sunk to a whole new level - the hash browns are the oval ones (like at Maccas) and have been cut in half, and I got ONE half on my plate. It was the saddest looking breakfast I have ever seen on a cruise. Some highlights of our trip though - my super sweet autistic little boy decided he wanted to try some of the edge activities and did the climbing wall, walk the plank and plucked up enough courage to do the zip line - these memories are what cruising is really about. I have never seen him look so proud of himself and he told literally everyone about it for the rest of the cruise, including random strangers on tropical islands. My youngest got over his fear of swimming and finally stopped clinging to me like a koala. As a family we had heaps of fun and made the best of it. We didn't do any of the big parties or activities as they were far too loud for my son, we met some lovely families also travelling with special needs kids and appreciated the support from them. Kids club was just chaotic and noisy and often at full capacity so we avoided that after the first day. Would I cruise P&O again - undecided - would really have to look at the maths of it and all the additional costs involved. For me travelling on my own with the kids it was convenient and relatively stress free, but if we were travelling as a family I don't think I would, we will probably stick with Princess for now.

Stayed at the Pullman hotel last night before boarding today - sooooooo many bottles of tomato juice at breakfast. Oh and omelettes or poached eggs cooked to order. Bloody Mary is my dads breakfast drink of choice when cruising.

Lucky we have a vista suite booked on Princess for Christmas/New Year - can almost taste that slab of smoked salmon, the cream cheese, capers and red onion from the breakfast buffest. Not mention a side of poached egg with some benny sauce over the top 😛

Thats how I feel and I haven't even sailed with them yet. Yes it is a cheaper cruise than others I've been on, so I accept that not everything will be to the same standards (but not substantially) (repeating menus in the main dining room for example) but paying for eggs benny in the dining room is a whole level I wasn't expecting. It's hardly a luxury meal. I like cruising because I have very few additional costs once I'm on board - with P&O it feels like EVERYTHING is an added cost. The kids and I will still have an amazing time, but in future will stick with cruise lines that don't charge for a poached egg 🙂

A giant 1kg slab should get us through the week 😛 Not sure that counts as non-perishable 🙂

Leaving on Saturday for my first cruise with P&O along with my 2 kids (4 and 7) My 7 year old has a bunch of food allergies and for breakfast on cruises LOVES smoked salmon - not impressed about it suddenly costing $7 and don't get my started on the eggs benny situation - that's my cruise breakfast go to!!!! Not to mention chips in the Waterfront restaurant - eek! We do have permission to bring some safe foods on board for him - wonder if I can bring a jar of bearnaise sauce and add it fried eggs 🤣 Or maybe sell it off by the tablespoon - cover the cost of my cruise in no time 🙂 Still grateful to be going on a cruise but don't think I'll be booking P&O again. Anyone else on this cruise from Brisbane?

On the Grand in December and no, there were no sensor lights near the bathroom in our cabin. Enjoy your cruise!!!

Kids menu from last week. Not overly inspiring. It was ok fur my 4 yr old but I’d be encouraging your grandkids to order from the main menu. Even if you have to make a few modifications. mid you would like the kids club program ftom a 13 night cruise let me know and I’ll post it. I only have the 3-7 yr old program, not sure what she yours grandkids are.