trabeler

I've been working in Australia the last two years and have never seen anyone here drink Fosters. It isn't carried in any pub or bottle shop I've been in.

However... when sailing on the Diamond Princess from Sydney, they DID have stubbies (bottles) of Fosters. I only saw a few of the Chinese passengers drinking them. Everyone else went with beers that are actually drunk in Australia, like Crown Lager, VB, Carlton Dry, or Corona.

Last month on the Diamond I believe the price quoted was $29 AUD for the airport transfer after the cruise. Don't remember the timing, however.

I spend about 50% of the year in Australia and pretty much get all my AUD from ATMs using my US card. Suggest you talk to your US bank and understand any fees/transaction charges for an overseas ATM, plus to understand their per-day withdrawl limits. If you have an account that doesn't charge fees, it would be the preferred one to use (for example, I have a credit union account that allows 8 free transactions per month).

Most Australian ATMs will charge $2-4 AUD fee in addition to whatever your US bank charges, so be prepared for that. Also many foreign ATMs will give you an offer to do the US->AUD conversion for you... I always decline that option as the rate is not as good as what my bank provides.

With the various per-transaction fees, you'll often be better off taking out the maximum amount in a single transaction instead of making multiple small withdrawls.

On the Regal last month and it was the second formal night. Personally, we do not like this menu at all. The beef had way too much pepper.

Definitely agree that the pepper can be extreme. We've had this menu about three times on different ships (Star, Caribbean, and Diamond). On the Diamond, the steak was crusted with so much pepper it was practically inedible even after scraping it off. On the other two ships, it was fine.

However, I like food spicy so I may have been able to handle it on the other ships but the way the Diamond prepared it was over the top. I heard several other tables complain about it and I mentioned it to the head waiter as well.

We were very disappointed that there was NO Pub Lunch during our 13 night cruise on the Golden Princess over Christmas and New Year :(

Same for our 13 night Christmas/New Years sailing on the Diamond. There were six sea days and no pub lunch. They did have an "Aussie Pub Hour" on the last sea day in Club Fusion with a few trays of hot snacks (chicken wings, meat pies, etc). None of the food was particularly good. The event was combined with a bar demonstration of special cocktails.

We have asked on multiple ships about the possibility of a day pass and have always been told no.

You didn't mention what cruise line you're sailing on, but for your info, Princess had arranged a shuttle that was $15 pp for a return trip or $10 for one way.

The cabin had two US style outlets at the desk plus a new universal 240V outlet that I was able to use an Australian plug in without problems.

Just off the Diamond on Sunday. The cabin had two US style 120V outlets plus a new 'universal' outlet that was 240V. I was able to plug an Australian plug into the universal outlet.

All three plugs were at the desk. This was for an inside cabin, Plaza deck.

We were just on the Diamond sailing from Sydney and although the menu on our sailing was different than what we were used to on pre-Curtis menus, it was not the same changes as mentioned in this or other threads.

For our 13 day trip, the "classic" every day always available choices were:

- Shrimp Cocktail

- Classic Caesar Salad

- Fettucine Alfredo in Parmesan Basket

- Grilled Salmon with Herb & Lemon Compound Butter

- Spice Rubbed Tri Tip Roast

The three new every day always available Curtis Stone items were:

- Chicken and Leek Pot Pie

- Roasted Pork Belly (w/homemade applesauce, potatoes, spinach)

- Veal Osso Bucco (w/Cannellini puree)

Most days, there was also a "chef's special" that was told to us by the waiter (the menu just said "Chef's Daily Special" on it). I don't remember all the specials, but some were interesting and others were simple items like meatloaf and fried chicken.

Hi I will be on the diamond in March to Singapore. How did you find the food. How was the ship overall. I am getting excited less than 80 days to go.

Food is very subjective, but overall we thought this sailing on the Diamond had some of the best food, particularly the desserts. The buffet had a theme every night and the NYE buffet was extraordinary - lobster, oysters, sashimi, etc.

We thought the ship was in great shape and all the crew we interacted with were friendly. We also had one of the better waiter & assistant (5:45 pm fixed dining) in all our sailings.

The touches for the Japanese market were a plus for us - Kai was a good option for lunch on sea days, there was always some Japanese items on the buffet and a hot noodle station was available at lunch and dinner in the Horizon court.

They also had a different special 50th pizza every day of the sailing, compared to just on sea days as we've experienced on Caribbean and West Coast sailings.

We did New Years on the Diamond Princess, sailing between New Zealand and Sydney. The weather was not cooperating for an outside event (strong winds and intermittent rains) so everything was done indoors. It was one of the better organized evenings we've had on a cruise. They split things up into different venues based on music tastes. All five venues started between 10-11 pm and ran until the party stopped:

- "Classics" with Craig Andrews (fairly popular pianist) plus a duo in the Wheelhouse

- "Modern" with DJ Madi (CD staff) with modern rock classics, ABBA, etc in Club Fusion

- "Gala Balloon Drop" in the Piazza with the party band, hosted by the CD (JJ Ulrich)

- "Black & White Ball" for big band / ballroom dancing with the ship's orchestra in Explorers

- "Late Night" with the ship's DJ in Skywalkers

All venues had TV screens showing remaining time for 2016.

New Years hats & tiaras were distributed during dinner and noisemakers were handed out in each party venue.

Very well done overall and it let people find the music/party environment they preferred to enjoy the evening.

Just off the Diamond today. They still have buy one, get one for $1. The main time was 3-4 pm in the Wheelhouse. There was a second time later most days (like 9-10 pm I think).

I am on the Diamond now an the current price is $15 (AUD) for 2 hours. They had a port day special for $10 and offer a buy four get one free coupon book for 5 sessions for $60.

For our sailing from Sydney, they have nude time 6-8 am and 8-10 pm each day. The rest of the time, swim suits are required in all areas.

It's the "wagon wheel" pasta dish and one of my favorites.

Can't help for a 15 day sailing, but for info last week on the Caribbean Princess 7 day from Houston the rate was $159 for one or $199 for a couple. Plus 15% gratuity, I think.

For a warm weather itinerary, we thought it was priced too high to be worth it.

Latest update. Around 10:45 am, the people on the small boat were transferred to a Mexican coast guard ship and have departed. The small boat was left abandoned.

We're bringing in our small tender boat now and will be underway shortly.

8:30 am update - Captain just announced there are 12 people onboard from Cuba who left there a month ago and have been drifting. Some are in need of medical assistance. We will provide food and water and wait in position until the Mexican coast guard arrives in approximately 2 hours.

Onboard the CB now. 7 am this morning Captain announced ship was turning around to provide assistance to a small craft with a few people onboard that were waving flags as we passed. We're approximately 23 miles offshore Mexico on route to Roatan.

Would upload a picture but can't figure out the new tapatalk yet...

I'm in a similar situation having booked the Diamond Princess from Sydney sailing this December. The booking was made a year ago and all my USD OBC from the promotions and FCCs at the time was converted to AUD at 1.1 AUD/USD.

A year ago, the real exchange rate was around 1.25 AUD/USD, so 1.1 still wasn't great.

Since the sailing is coming up soon, I just applied the stockholder OBC, which was also converted at 1.1 AUD/USD, however the real exchange rate was around 1.4 at the time.

My TA questioned Princess on this and was told that the 1.1 AUD/USD was "locked in" for my booking from the time of initial deposit until sailing for any credits applied. During the sailing, the exchange rate would be based on whatever the real rate is on the Thursday before sailing (minus whatever Princess percentage they add in).

For me, that means that my $450 US in credits only gets me $495 AU, but the onboard gratuities (which are USD based) will be converted to AUD onboard (since the folio will be AUD) at a higher rate.

Not really fair, but that's the way they do things. I was trying to get them to re-convert all my OBC at a better rate but they wouldn't budge...

We're booked on the Diamond Princess from Sydney this December and were wondering if the menus used for the Australia trips are the same as the menus for trips originating from the US or is the menu different? I'm seeing some interesting menus from the Japan departures on the Diamond.

We've only sailed Princess from US ports and have seen the same menu many many times, so we're hoping for something different.

I did some looking for any recent Diamond menus from Australia but the only thing I could find was from Japan trips.

Thanks!

We've definitely seen differences between ships and even between chefs on the same ship.

I have a related question that I haven't been able to get a solid answer from Princess about so I'm hoping someone here has first hand experience.

We have a Dec 2015 sailing booked on the Diamond from Sydney. The booking was made in the US but the onboard currency for the sailing will be AUD.

The booking promotion we have provides $200 OBC plus $150 for two FCCs, all in USD.

On our booking summary, this $350 USD shows as $385 AUD, which is a miserable exchange rate (1.1 versus 1.25 presently).

Does anyone know if this will be re-converted at time of sailing to use the prevailing rate (or at time of final payment)? I also asked about buying OBC in AUD now (to take advantage of the rate) but so far the Princess agents I've spoken to haven't been clear on what the exchange rules/rates are.

Any suggestions / personal experience on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

On past 7 day trips with two sea days (Emerald, Crown, Caribbean) there has been pub lunch on each sea day. Last month on the Star for a 7 day with two sea days, pub lunch was only offered once.

We didn't think to ask if this was something new or not. Has anyone else seen only one pub lunch when there was more than one sea day?

We're done several Thanksgivings on Princess and the turkey served in the MDR seems to be the same as what is available on the "American night" menu on their ships. We've even had it on the menu twice during Thanksgiving week - on Thanksgiving itself (usually combined with a formal night so you also have lobster) and then on American night again.