Waynetor

If you do not want to spend time on phone trying to get an extension, you could now just book any cruise that has a final payment date far enough in the future and use the deposit and then when the cruise you want becomes available cancel the one cruise and have agent then use the just released deposit on the new cruise. 

Princess has a ceremony for crossing the equator.  It has been clamed down from earlier events.  I recall getting a certificate for the crossing.  Certificates have also been give out for other events live crossing the dateline or the Artic Circle.

The are harmless fun but I'm sure they are a mystery to many that find them.  I wonder if anyone has ever turned them in as lost and found. 

I prefer the lunches,   Never had a problem with complainers or people boasting.

A one cocktail event my wife passed as she was feeling a bit off.  I sat with a single lady and a officer then sat next to her and just talked to her with once acknowledging I was sitting right across from her,  Another time we sat with another couple and when the officer came by he sat and talked the whole time with the other male passenger ignoring the other 3 people sitting together.  A couple other events no officer came up to us at all.  

Princess has announced they are by-passing the Suez on their w/c.  They are skipping some Australian ports. and all the southern Asia ports on their 121  night voyage. After Perth they go to Africa, make 2 ports and they head up Africa's west coast to the Med. Sea.  They are also re-working a w/c departing in April from Australia to miss the Suez.  HAL is doing similar changes

My wife and I cancelled this cruise just before final payment.  Sure glad we did.

The best places in San Juan are not wheelchair friendly.  The other ports are more flat but wheelchair accessible vans are very rare,  If a passenger can get out of the wheelchair and get into a vehicle you will have a much better chance as the chair could be folded up and stored while moving from place to place.  

I'm assuming this is a case where Princess is offering this to other people.  If so, if you arrive early you would be able to drop your luggage off early,  There should be Princess staff in the area that can provide you with current timing info.  If embarkation is set at noon, then check-in would at least be a bit before that.  

I don't remember the process, but the passengers on the ship need to clear Australian immigration so depending on how that is done, that could be part of the delay.  

Worse case is drop off luggage and go for a walk.

As a port day for most passengers it would be very doubtful the dinning room would be open for lunch

They bring trays of glasses, with or without orange juice added, around the area prior to the intro of the senior officers.  The glasses in the tower have non-chilled champagne and are disposed of after  

A ship photographer will be there to capture the moment, but it is possible to get someone else to also snap a photo of you

Not sure about Melbourne, but typically if you leave the ship in the morning, you will not be allowed back on until embarkation starts.  You will be given a piece of paper referred to as a Transit card.  This allows you to pass any check in areas when coming back so make sure you take it with you.  Your Medallion should be dated for your whole voyage so you would not need a new one or need to have you photo done again. 

I've had this process in many port but not Australia - could be diff there.  

On any Princess cruise that includes segments that can be purchased individually, those doing the full voyage will get a new mini bar for each segment.  A typical Princess world cruise is 5 segments so 5 mini bars 

3 hours ago, phoenixxx said:

Do you have a link to the Royal Princess New Zealand thread or advice where I can find it please?

This is based on post in the current Royal Princess New Zealand thread but I thought it may be worth a separate post.

The Royal is doing a circle NZ cruise and was in Picton a couple days ago.  Picton is the port on the South Island where ferries from the North Island come and go.  It is a major wine production area. 

The Royal was to leave Picton at 6pm but the Captain announced departure would be delayed due to a late arriving Princess tour group.  When the group had still not arrived by 10:45 the ship prepared to leave and set sail at 11PM

Turns out the tour group were caught behind a major accident that blocked the hwy. With all the other vehicles similarly caught it took a long time to get clear and then was clear it would be a 5 hour detour to get back to port.  The next port, after a sea day is Tauranga but there are no flight there so Princess will fly them to Auckland to catch up with the ship there. Their personal valuables, passports and medications were taken off the ship and were to be taken to the passengers.

No mention of how many people or if any private tour groups were also affected.  No mention in the thread, but I assume Princess is covering all expenses - not sure about any refund for missed time but I would think likely enough to cover missed days on the ship. 

This is rare, but can happen in areas with few roads.  I seem to recall a case several years ago when ferries between mainland Mexico and the island of Cozumel were cancelled due to rough sea and a lot of people were stuck on the mainland missing their ships.

Private tours can save you a bundle but in a case like this, anyone on a private tour would have a huge expense. 

Loving your review and photos

The first time we were in Dunedin the wind came up around departure time and the captain decided it was to dangerous to sail out of the narrow harbour so we stayed overnight. That meant we missed Christchurch - that was just a few weeks before the big earthquake. 

Whether its 20 or 60 kids, I'm surprised at there being that many.  I've done 180 night w/c on Oceana and there were 0 kids.  Probably less than 10  people under 55.

Even did 58 night circle South America on Princess just before Covid shutdown and don't remember any kids. 

Great review - thanks

The breakdown for attendants and dinning are close to the old suggested amounts that used to be used with envelopes back around up tp 2010.  All they have done is add more people to the pot.  Adjusting for inflation, the attendants and dinning staff are far behind what they used to get.

There will be a special ceremony when you cross the equator.

Most likely there will be a special interest lecturer as well as port lecturers. 

I seen similar questions like this from a few years ago - all photos are cleared out between voyages.  Although things are more digital now, I doubt that has changed. 

Glad you enjoyed the report.

Unfortunately Freda was loosing her appetite the last 2 days.  

Turns out she has some health issues that are taking a long time to recover from.  We had to cancel a Med cruise in Oct and a world cruise for Jan.  Not sure when we will be back at sea.

A downside of baking service fee into the fare is higher insurance cost.  Also if you did a late cancel of a cruise without insurance then that would be a higher loss which you would not currently have unless you have a package as part of your fare, 

I've often asked for a plate of the Petite Fours that they have in the MDR once per voyage to go - never had an issue

When your hotel was built (late 1920's) it was the tallest building in the British Empire

The thing that bothers me about the current system is the expansion of who is included in the pool.  For many years is was standard that wait staff and room stewards were paid low wage and made up for that with tips.  Bar staff and servers got share of the bar charges tips to top up their low wage.  Other staff were paid enough of a wage without tips that many would come back for additional contract periods.

Now over the last few years as the crew appreciation charge has gone up Entertainment, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas.have been added to those getting  a cut of the pool.

That brings up 2 questions to me 1 - did those people now new to the pool take a base pay cut or is this a new bonus pay that they did not get before so that they are ahead of where they used to be and 2 - with so many people now in the pool with inflation and smaller cuts of the pool, are the wait staff and stewards better off now than they were back around 2010 when the $10 daily was split 3 ways?