Ned49

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm guessing it's Diamond Princess repositioning to Japan. If so, getting Yen from a 7-Eleven or Family Mart ATM at one of the Japan port stops before disembarkation is an option. Otherwise USD, which will be the currency once onboard once the ship starts operating in Japan, will make it easier for crew members.

No it’s the Royal going from Sydney to Alaska via Japan. I believe it’s $au to Japan then $US, we depart the cruise in Japan. Thanks for you answer.

17 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

@Ned49 rather than debate "Tips" which are different than "Gratuities" and whether we should or shouldn't; I will make a suggestion to your original question of currency. Is the ship returning to Australia or is it carrying on to the US, or another country? If the currency on board is AUD and the ship is returning to Oz then use AUD. If the ship is in AUD but will be moving to a new home port with a different currency then use the new currency.

Our next voyage starts in New Zealand, has stops in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and several other countries. It ends in Seattle, where it will start the Alaska season. We will probably give some crew who make our voyage more enjoyable a "Gratuity" when we disembark in Victoria (North). We will take the opportunity to pass on any US currency we may have left over from our Hawaii port stops.

Thanks you, very good suggestion 

2 hours ago, mr walker said:

Wow! Really?? So giving a crew member some $'s in appreciation of their efforts is abuse??

 

Your post has caused me to break one of my 'rules' of not commenting on tipping threads.

 

On our recent cruise (where we had already 'paid' the tips included in our fare), we tipped, in cash, on the last evening, our room steward, our dining room waitress & the guy who served us on the pool deck throughout in appreciation of the extra efforts they made to look after us and help us enjoy our cruise. None of them knew we were to do this, and the tip was accepted with great appreciation.

We mostly do a similar thing, I was only asking what currency to use, not whether I should tip or not. Some people obviously have strong views on not tipping. 

2 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

How did the waiter find you 8 seats (I assume together as a group) that weren't obvious to you when you walked it.

If it was simply moving some empty chairs from nearby, I've seen passengers doing that numerous times. 

He was very helpful, sometimes even going and getting some from the crown grill, as I’m sure you know some of the chairs are very heavy and big. I don’t see that anything was wrong with giving him a few dollars.

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Where did you find it hard to get seats? Because you mention 'waiter' I suppose you mean the dining room. On our recent Coral Princess cruises we were allocated a table for our family group for dinner so we went directly to that table every night after the first night. For breakfast and lunch they always found a table for us without any delay. Also it didn't require a tip.🙂

It was the bars for a pre diner drink, I find princess don’t seem to have as many seats as RC, those in the atrium seem be very hard to get.

10 minutes ago, sciencewonk said:

When we make voluntary additional tips in cash, we tend to use the currency of the next ports of call.  For example, on a 34-day transpacific cruise from San Diego to Sydney, we gave some tips in USD when we reached Hawaii.  We gave some more tips in AUD when we reached Sydney.

 

If you cannot get the local currencies, I'm sure they will appreciate any standard form of currency, such as AUD.

 

Enjoy your cruise, its sounds great.

Thank you for your advice, that was helpful 

11 minutes ago, sciencewonk said:

People who work for tips are among the most vulnerable people in our society.  The large corporations who employ them get away with paying lower wages because the companies are insulated from the fallout.  Tipping is NOT bribery.  It is a recognition of a service someone has performed specifically for you.  Withholding tips doesn't hurt large corporations, it only hurts those who can least afford it.

Yes I agree, by me not tipping how does that help anyone, we just appreciated the service provided

Thanks for your replies, sometimes it’s very hard to get seats on a Princess cruise, we were a group of 8 last time and by giving a small tip each night the waiter always found us seats. I understand that it is included in our fare but we have always given a bit extra for good service. This time we are only 4 so it might be easier to find seats. We always mention by name anyone who has given excellent service.

We’re going on a Princess cruise Sydney to Japan, currency on board is AU’s, if we want to “tip” someone in the bars which currency do we use?  Thanks for any suggestions.

Can anyone please give any information about the port, do the cruise lines offer transportation to the town or is it walkable? Thanks for any help

2 hours ago, bazzaw said:

The first thing the cruiselines should be doing is - closing the Lifts!!!  They were bad enough to ride in pre-Covid. I would avoid them like the plague even moreso now. 

 

Unfortunately not everyone is capable of walking up the stairs so closing lifts is not an option. Masks should be provided outside every lift as sometimes people just forget until they get to the lift. Also if you see somebody without a mask say something!

Hi, does anyone know if you have to upload an international certificate or just an Australian one? I thought it was just an Australian one but some people are telling me it is an international one that is required, thanks for any advice.

Have been on Ovation twice, loved it. There is more than enough choices to eat. Entertainment was great always something to do. We never felt it was overcrowded. If it wasn’t for Covid we would have cruised on her again. Can’t wait to get back on board. 

Seem to have gotten away from the question! I am still not sure which terminal, I guess P and O will let me know sometime, thanks!

Does anybody know where P&O Explorer sails from? Never done a P&O before but couldn’t resist the June sailing.

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

Announced today.  Oh well there go my remaining cruises for this season.

 

Thursday, October 15, 2020

P&O Cruises Australia today announced it will farewell its much-loved Pacific Aria as early as next month after the cruise ship’s departure was brought forward during the current pause in operations.

This follows the recent announcement of Pacific Dawn’s departure as P&O continues its fleet transformation and looks forward to the introduction of Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter.

It had been announced previously that the 1,260-guest Pacific Aria would leave the fleet next April but her departure was brought forward six months to enable the sale of the ship.

They are offering good cancellation perks, $200 per person on board credit if you transfer to a cruise they following year. Ours is only a 4 day cruise that got canceled. Bargain. Better compensation than RC.

1 hour ago, The_Big_M said:

Why would there be so many with chronic illnesses boarding?

 

A chronic illness is type 2 diabetes, which even if well under control is still “chronic” most people over the age of 70 would have some form of chronic illness. Strange times indeed... only time before all cruises are grounded..

Easier to just get a taxi or Uber, train is an option depending how much luggage you have. 

We are very lucky in Australia, no smoking indoors anywhere on the Ship, wish it included outdoors as well.

2 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

 

I also have the refreshment package. Is the fresh squeezed OJ actually fresh squeezed with oranges or is it Tropicana instead of Tang? 

On the Radiance at Christmas it was made fresh with oranges

We always use "letitrideshuttles " never had a problem $17 each person down to $15 if there are more of you 6 or 8 I think. Great service.

My daughter has lived here for most of her life, but still has a British passport ( has applied for citizenship but that is another story) she applied on line for a renentry visa and it was granted straight away. 

Been on P&O UK and Cunard, they have electric jugs/kettles, the Poms must have their morning cuppa char !! :')

Oh yes, we like our morning cup of tea:*

We didn't have one on Explorer last year, but we just asked for one and the cabin steward brought one no problems. I hope we have one on our Radiance Christmas cruise, if not we will ask for one. I like my morning cup of tea.

Just bought some of Groupon $15 for 5, they are great.