rickays

As per terms and conditions for upcoming cruise in April.

Bringing Alcohol Onboard On the day of embarkation, guests are permitted to bring one 750ml (no larger) bottle of wine or champagne onboard per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in Your stateroom. Additional wine or champagne bottles are welcome, but will incur a $15 corkage fee each, irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed. Liquor, spirits, or beers are not permitted. Any beverages purchased during the cruise at any port of call will
be collected at the gangway for safekeeping and will be delivered to Your stateroom on the last day of the cruise. Princess Cruises is not responsible for any alcoholic beverages confiscated by local security staff. These items are not eligible for monetary refund or replacement

On my last cruise I bought 12 bottles onboard.  Paid corkage on 10 bottles.  I would prefer to pay the current corkage of $30 per bottle and drink a decent wine than pay their $60+ for a bottle.  I make sure I carry a printed copy of my booking with terms so I can show if they decide to tell me I cant bring it onboard.

If you are on the Australian site https://www.ncl.com/au/en/  the price will be in Australian dollars.

It will show as - from $2000 PP / AUD

Why  not stay for a few days after the cruise - bullet train runs Tokyo to Osaka many times a day and only takes 2.5 hours.  Osaka airport has many flights back to Tokyo or maybe direct to USA.  This is what I am doing after our cruise (on different line).  Even found flight to Australia cheaper out of Osaka than Tokyo.  The Japanese are a very friendly nation and willing to help tourists.  If you have questions while you are there ask a younger person as they most likely have learnt English while in school and love to chat to English speaking people.

I would think that you should get refund on CA for the missed day.  Those who didn't pre pay would not have been charged for the day they were not onboard.  I wonder if the people who were onboard for the extra day got charged an extra days CA???

Our cruise was May 6 this year.  Weather was mostly sunny but cold, glacier bay was open and we could get quite close.  But weather could be different next year.

On 8/23/2023 at 3:08 AM, ldtr said:

As I asked before and you did not reply what specific drink item did you try to order on the app and could not get it without going to the bar?

 

 

I had the experience of wanting a drink "lemon, lime and bitters" not on the app to order and when we found a waiter, he couldn't find it either, after asking lots of questions off he went to get our drinks from the bar.  We didn't expect him to return but after about 15 minutes he found us and explained that he was new and didn't know this drink we were asking for but he went to the barman and found out all about it.  He wanted to try it one day.  That waiter got a special tip from us for his enthusiasm in learning things he did not know. 

10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Hard to believe there isn't a workaround as the people in charge in Sydney ought to darn well know if the practice in your country is to only provide quarterly statements with no online access??? (Is this for real in 2023???).

Yes, this is for real.  I think it relates to us buying international shares that our brokers here need to work through a USA agent to get the shares for us.  I haven't found any way that I could purchase them direct without this extra step.  Was never an issue before, this is something that has just started happening with Princess.

4 minutes ago, Tripmode33 said:

Princess definitely applying the 90 day rule at the moment in Australia, but I think the broker in this case is a bit lacking. I bought shares when they hit rock bottom. In Australia, I used CMC and so easy to download an acceptable document online any day with required holding information. Definitely no waiting for a quarterly statement. Shows all details and holding in your Portfolio as at that day.  Always accepted by Princess.

Are you sure CommSec doesn't have an equivalent page you can screenshot. Or as someone else suggested, use your Portfolio Statement at today's date together with another page from the same online site that does show full member details and date.

Can download a page from Comsec that has our holdings, but it doesn't show full name (as required, and rejected) only account number, so unless I doctor it in photoshop it is not acceptable.  I prefer to find a solution that is probably a little more legal, BUT will resort to that if Princess continues with these rules that are different to rules for USA.

37 minutes ago, Hammer61 said:

Having exactly the same problem! And for a cruise on Royal in October.

 

This is a problem that has just recently raised its ugly head.  Never had this in all our other cruises.  Makes me wonder if this is now being handled off shore and we only have a token office here in Australia.  I might try and check out their address when I'm next in Sydney and see if I can actually speak to a person.

Are you doing Honolulu to Sydney on 2 October?

55 minutes ago, sewgood said:

I put in an order today to buy some more shares to try to get a statement dated later than the 30th of June.

It will take two working days to clear, I'll let you know if that works to get a new statement with my name and address.

Just had a phone call from my Princess CHP after my complaints (phone & email).  He has personally added my SHOC and will take it further up the chain to try get this problem resolved for Australian customers.  Lets hope someone in management pays attention.

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

I am on the Royal from Honolulu on the 2nd of Oct and I too have had my application rejected.

With the exact same wording as you.

 

 

Hi Sowgood, same cruise as us.  Booked this 2 weeks ago so we could celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary onboard but have nothing but problems.  Couldn't even make payment as there was no way on my payment page to do it as the buttons were missing, spent hours on the phone to try get it sorted and then it showed that I could only make payment via direct bank payment not c/card or pay pal. Back on the phone again as I needed to pay via pay pal using my amex for the c/card insurance.  Finally get that sorted and now this problem.  Why are the making it so hard!

6 hours ago, Ombud said:

Oh no @rickays Lynda & Ken!! Do you have a broker you can contact? If so can you get an interim monthly stmt?? You're going to need the OBC now and next April (that one is also right after end of quarter).

Yes, if this is not sorted we will also miss out for the April cruises too!   Might see if selling some of the shares (have more than the required 100) will trigger a statement that contains all the details required or if not, might have to resort to photoshop to add my name to a document I can download that only has account number.

Yes this is the Australian rules also the first time they have not accepted brokerage statement that is out by a couple of weeks. I cannot request a statement at any time they are only issued every 3 months. I can use a screen print but that is also rejected because it doesn’t include my full name only my account number which must be blanked out.  And we certainly cannot request OBC for cruises next year. Try to escalate this from customer (not) service and get told no one can help, if we email we don’t receive a reply. There is no way to speak to anyone who actually knows anything.

Have just been denied shareholder OBC for a cruise commencing 2 October 2023 because my brokerage statement dated 30 June 2023 is 92 days from commencement of cruise.  Next brokerage statement will not be available until 30 September by which time we will be already traveling to reach cruise and anyway that statement will be of no use because under rules I "must apply 4 weeks before commencement of cruise."  When I queried that they would deny Shareholder benefit for a matter of 2 days was told "Yes, our policy is: The date of the proof documentation must be within 90 days to sailing and

On 7/2/2023 at 4:09 PM, possum52 said:

On 7/2/2023 at 10:09 AM, lyndarra said:

There was an article in today's Sunday Telegraph about travel insurance claims. It seems some have had a problem with Cover More. In particular trying to prove they were not intoxicated when injured by a fall. One insurance company was wanting copies of bar receipts to see what the claimant had been drinking.

 

There was the case last month where a Newcastle woman tripped and hit her head at a resort in Thailand and was refused cover by Covermore. Covermore was able to obtain her bar receipts and claimed she was 'dangerously intoxicated'. Her blood alcohol level was not tested, so Covermore decided to refuse the claim from footage of the fall and her (and her husband's) bar tab. Covermore wouldn't have known if the woman had drunk too much or if it was her husband doing the drinking. Covermore Declines Travel Insurance Claim

It is behind a pay wall unfortunately.

I think its a bit harsh blaming Cover More for declining the claim.  They cover accidents involving alcohol up to a blood reading 0.15 which I think is very generous.  The lady in question had a bar tab showing she had drunk 9 Long Island Tea (made with vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a splash of cola) while her husband had consumed 12 beers, Cover More estimated her blood alcohol was over 0.37.  I am sure Husband could have requested a blood alcohol reading be done on blood hospital had collected when she first arrived if he was sure she wasn't drunk.

For anyone who wants to know about fires on cruise ships this is a link to a fire on Star Princess - very interesting reading on what can happen and how the staff manage it.

24 minutes ago, SwapSeasons said:

Excellent. Hopefully Princess will now fix the bookings in our online accounts, so that cruisers from Australia (going to USA) don’t still see the option to pre-pay gratuities when they’ve paid the Princess Plus fare. It feels like a trick to pay even more than we need to.

I still see the option to pre pay crew appreciation even on an Australian cruise when it’s already included in fare

5 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Being an American had to do some research to understand the context of that “Memo to Alan Joyce” which I now better understand.

 

I discovered that Qantas had record profits in the first quarter so hopefully they’ll reinvest those profits into improving their performance. We recently rebooked our bucket list Around Australia cruise for March 2025 that was canceled due to the pandemic in September 2020. While our flights won’t be available to book to Brisbane roundtrip until a year from now, we’ve been surprised at the available airfares up to March 2024 which are nearly triple of in 2020. We’re reading that’s a result of having more demand than supply but averaging about $2,000 USD per person that’s 2/3 of our 28 day cruise fare.

 

Is Qantas routinely that unreliable? We’re primarily considering Qantas & Air New Zealand (flew them to SYD via AKL in 2009)…if you had a choice between a Qantas non-stop roundtrip LAX/BNE/LAX flight and ANZ via AKL which one would you chose if pricing was similar.

 

While my question isn’t directly related to cruising it is about how to get there for our dream cruise Around Australia on Crown Princess.

 

My choice for flying Aus to US is Hawaiian Airlines with a couple of days stop in Honolulu.  Have found they have good sales and food, drinks and seating is good.

28 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

I just had a look at my summary and it is different than that.  It shows as follows:  

 

 

SPECIAL SERVICES

SERVICE	QUANTITY	PRICE	TOTAL	PASSENGER
Food Allergy*	1	$0.00	$0.00
Vegetarian Diet	1	$0.00	$0.00
MedallionNet 1-device WiFi	1	$283.29	$283.29
Plus Beverage Package	1	$1,941.66	$1,941.66
Prepaid Crew Appreciation	1	$439.43	$439.43

Have just finished another cruise in USA with plus fare and this time crew appreciation was applied automatically (it wasn’t charged to onboard account) so maybe they now have the computer program sorted.  It never showed as prepaid like above maybe because you prepaid extra?

Would also agree to booking with qantas if your inward flight is with them. If possible see if they will link the two flights.   Allow about 3 hours between flights.  If you cant use the qantas transfer, there is an airport transfer bus just outside the international airport.  Very efficient and no problems to take luggage with you.  We quite often have inward flight with Qantas and then transfer to connect to Perth flight (booked on the same ticket)  If we are departing Australia, we prefer to fly Perth to Sydney the day prior to the international flight.  Then we stay at the Rydges just across the road from the international terminal.  Thats me just being stressed and not trusting an airline at the beginning of my holiday to have me connecting smoothly - on the return I dont really worry if I miss my flight and have to stay overnight.

15 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

That’s great and potentially a model for US cruises moving forward as people seem unhappy with add-on costs.

I think that is the purpose of the all inclusive PLUS fare but they still have the standard fare for those who prefer.

10 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

In the context of cruising, ships leaving out of Australia do not add gratuities to prices and fares because Australians "do not have a tipping culture". 🤷‍♀️

Gratuities are INCLUDED in the fare we pay.  How Princess then distributes this is up to them.  Waiters and Cabin Stewards say they are very happy doing Australian/NZ cruises so something must be working.

If you dont want to understand, thats up to you!

7 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

I am sorry if you were personally offended by the statement, it is not meant to be judgmental. One of the things I have learned from cruising is that as a general rule, Australians do not believe in tipping. That fact has been mentioned by several others on this very thread. 

We do not have a tipping culture IN AUSTRALIA  but most Australians do the right thing when visiting other countries.  I know it is mentioned many times on forums that Australians don't tip but that is usually by people from other countries because they don't understand.

4 hours ago, So_Tweetie said:

Of those who choose to cruise, some pay auto-gratuities, some opt-out and don't tip at all (Australians), others remove auto-gratuities because they believe they can tip cash to individuals instead, etc..  

That was a uncalled for remark,  Why do you single out that "Australians" don't tip??? We don't usually tip in Australia but sometimes we do, extra for the taxi driver or restaurant when we have had great service.  How do you know if I have paid auto gratuities and cash tips or one or the other.  I have seen Americans not tip on tours in Hawaii when I have tipped.  It is none of my business as to why they did't tip.  Everyone I know, when they travel to other countries, finds out about the necessity of tipping.

We have just returned from doing a US cruise that we booked in Australia.  After checking with customer service onboard, we were informed that the plus fare includes crew appreciation.  The reason this doesnt show up when booking in Australia is  because there is no computer code as Australians have it included automatically.  Was told to for future overseas cruises with plus fare just go to service desk and they can enter code.

5 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

I’m wanting to book two cabins on a Princess cruise, a balcony for my aunt and an interior cabin for DW and me.

On the Princess site can I book two cabins or do I need to do two separate bookings?

I quite often book 2 cabins, each one gets booked separately and then I phone Princess sometime before the cruise and have the two bookings linked, that way we are all put on the same table for dinner.