phoenixx

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

I agree.

If they decide to exclude Auckland departures in 2026/7 and beyond, that is one thing. To change their mind for 2025/6 is a backhand to anyone who had already booked. As far as I can tell, Crown Princess will still be calling in Auckland on the same dates, just not changing any passengers. 

"Calling in" to Auckland is nothing to do with no longer having any embarkation or disembarkation in Auckland.

19 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

What it looks like they’ve done is removed all the embarkation in Auckland options for the NZ cruises. My Southern Australia is still intact but is useless to me without the preceding NZ cruise.  

This absolutely stinks! 🤬

My Jan and Feb 2026 bookings on Crown have been cancelled. I'm particularly upset that the 5 night Auckland to Auckland has been cancelled, it would have been my dd first cruise and no, there isn't anything else suitable!🤬

So no Auckland departures at all! 😭

23 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

We’ve done Vancouver to Sydney/Brisbane three times in Economy.   We have always booked the bulkhead for extra leg room.  Not sure I could get DH to do it in any other economy seat.   Helps a lot that no one recline into you.  

Bulkhead with a wall in front of you? So you cannot stretch your legs out?

On 5/3/2024 at 1:59 PM, Jean C said:

I think part of the problem is when Princess sells cruises with multiple embarkation and disembarkation ports. For example, for the 2026 cruise you can't choose a specific cabin from Auckland while there are many to choose from Sydney. They only allocate a few for Auckland and I suppose they juggle allocations later 😔 

Your TA can ask cruise line to release a particular cabin from Sydney allocation so they can then book it for you.

21 hours ago, Muffinz said:

We flew Auckland - Vancouver return in July last year on Air NZ

it's a 13 hr direct flight and it was in darkness pretty much the whole way (maybe I didn't know it was daylight as the blind thing was shut?) flight left Akl 8pm and arrived Vancouver 2pm

We chose the 'sky couch' option on Air NZ and it was ok, but all you're really paying for is to have the whole row to yourselves. Unfortunately we had a lot of kids on the plane that were very 'vocal' and we didn't sleep much at all.

Coming back we managed to bid and win an upgrade to Premium economy and that was very good. Flight left Vancouver 9:30pm and arrived in Auckland 5:45am and was in darkness the whole time

Did you find premium economy better than Skycouch?

17 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The chair I was referring to was the tub chair that used to be inside the cabin, not the deckchairs on the balcony. Princess removed the tub chairs in 2018 or 2019 I think. There was a fair amount of outrage at the time. It makes it difficult if you want to have breakfast in your cabin as one person now has to sit on the bed since there is only a desk chair. Also it's hard for some older people, or those who have back problems, where sitting on the bed is too uncomfortable. 

Oh sorry, I misread your post 😬 

24 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Since Princess removed the chairs from balcony cabins, leaving only a single desk chair for seating for two people, mini-suites have become more attractive for long cruises. Also I prefer the shower over the bath than some of the extremely tiny shower cubicles on some Princess ships - the ones on Coral are a joke! So we heaved a sigh of great relief when we got the "upgrade bid accepted" email for our upcoming world cruise.

Had 2 balcony chairs on my January cruise.

On 4/16/2024 at 8:42 PM, arxcards said:

You don't get to bid for grades except for suite categories, but get to bid for cabin types. Eg,

Balcony

Premium Balcony

Mini Suite 

Reserve Collection mini suite

Premium suite

Penthouse suite

 

If you bid for a mini-suite, it could be for anything from MB down to ME, including those below the seawalk.

 

As for the "no upgrade" upgrade, these do rarely happen, but are possible when they stuff-up on bookings and the jigsaw has run out of pieces. Ideally, they should hold to their word and at very least you shouldn't be bounced to a cabin with known issues (noise, location, obstructions). Some OBC or future credits should also be offered due to them not holding-up to their part of the bargain.

 

For what it is worth, I am on the "never upgrade this person" list. We have never received an upgrade to our booked cruise cabin, not even a category, despite varied selection methods and decent loyalty status across several brands. These days though, we would rather pick and stick unless it takes us from a generic mini suite to reserve collection or better. As for upgrade bids, I can only be bothered if the higher cabins were unavailable when we booked.

 

How do you get onto the "never upgrade this person" list? Thanks

On 3/14/2024 at 11:29 PM, Peal said:

I used Westpac Platinum Card free travel insurance for a recent South Pacific cruise. Never again. I'd already registered for travel insurance & had a "Letter of Eligibility" from the insurance provider. However, I became seriously ill, then found out we had to provide heaps of documents to prove we had paid for the cruise with the credit card, passport photos, Release of Information authorisation, etc Like this -

 

To confirm that you have met eligibility criteria and activated your insurance cover please provide the following:

·       Your Credit Card Statement showing your full name, address and the first 6 and last 4 digits of the credit card number

·       Flight itinerary which confirms the dates that you departed and returned to Australia

·       Tax Invoice or Receipt for travel arrangements showing the last 4 digits of your credit card

·       Contact details for your travel agent if you wish for us to contact them on your behalf to confirm this information

·       Flight itinerary for all travellers on the policy

·       Passports

 

This OK when you have a minor heath issue & can remain onboard, then do the insurance claim when you get home. In my case, I was in a third world hospital for one night, before a medi flight back to an Australian hospital. I'm fairly sure if I had had an insurance policy direct with the company, this would have avoided the local hospital - where I've picked up some antibiotic resistant bacteria (CPE).

So for me, no more free card travel insurance for international travel.

That sounds like a lot to do when you are unwell. Were you able to send them the documents they asked for?

On 2/26/2024 at 8:40 AM, It'smegrandma said:

Reading all the comments about FCD makes me think what a good idea that would be.  We are sailing on a B2B in March to Australia/New Zealand and could certainly do this.  My question is, we also just booked a 14 day cruise for September 2025.  Should I check the price of this cruise when we return to see if there is a better price and use the FCD or ask the future cruise reps about rebooking at a lower price?  

 

I do not have any OBC on the 2025 cruise as I prefer to book my own cruises on the site.  I find I can make adjustments, watch the price for a decrease, make changes myself rather than wait for someone else to do it. If I were to book a cruise on the ship, is that like booking with a travel agent?  OR would I have control over this booking?  Hmmm.....

 

 

If you book on board you can have that booking transferred to your travel agent if you wish.

19 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Oh guys, your all so right on the nail with this, its something that I think only the cruise industry could/should put together, or someone with a real burning itch.

Even if it was just something reginal, say Australia; US; Europe; Asia; what ever, it would be a gold mine.

 

At one time, way back when Princess would release their Cruise Atlas, I had a spreadsheet (yeah ok stop laughing) where each ship had a column and each line was a date and you could see where each ship was on a set date, and if they were in the same port within a week of each other, they highlighted green bold.

I thought it would be handy to cruise somewhere, spend a little time and then catch another cruise to somewhere else.

Stop giggling I thought it was a possibility......🙄

That sounds like a good idea to me, but you don't do it anymore?

You can buy internet for 24 hours. Easiest in the app once on board.

7 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Guessing it was Allegro - aft on Deck 6?

Yes I believe so.

On 2/12/2024 at 11:10 PM, leck57 said:

Ok, a report on Dine My Way on the Coral Princess that we disembarked today. Lovely cruise and a nice ship despite needing a little bit of love. We thought the comradery between the crew on this ship was the best we had seen, demonstrated by the last dinner parade and at the last theatre show where about 200 crew across all teams walked up on stage at the end of the show with many waving their National flags.

 

Anyway, on to dining. Disclosure - I prefer the old anytime dining where you could walk up and either get seated or given a pager if no tables are ready. I do not like to be organised to the point where I have to be at a Dining Room at a booked time (Specialty Dining excepted) and I accept I may have to wait at times. On the second day of our cruise I thought I'd just fall in to line with the new system and book at table, this was about 10am in the morning. One Dining Room had no slots available, shared table or otherwise, and the other Dining Room had 5pm only. Too early for us.

 

So I went to one of the Dining Rooms about 6.30pm ready to dine but not expecting anything. The gentleman on the door immediately advised that they had nothing and long story short, it led to a discussion about the booking system and the former way. I said to the guy that I could see heaps of empty tables and he said they were setting up for 7pm arrivals. I said why have long periods of time when tables just sit there. He had no answer, and of course, he was just being a good Company man. He could sense my annoyance and said if we returned at 6.50pm he would find us a table. We did that and at the conclusion asked if we wanted that table the next night, and the next night etc. While in the Dining Room I observed that about 25% of the tables were never occupied at any time and as we struck up friendship with the adjacent (almost touching) table, our meals took a long time, so I was able to observe over a few hours. I should stress that the guy on the door and I were very respectful to each other and he laughed every time we arrived for dinner and I said we had a booking for 6.50pm. I tipped him well last night.

 

However no one should have to put pressure on staff or they be put in this position, with this system that now doesn't have any balance between booking or walk ups.  In fact on Coral there was essentially no walk ups I assume between about 6.15 to around 7.30pm. I'm totally convinced the old system was much better overall, where both booked tables and walk ups were well allocated. I have done about 10 Princess cruises so know the systems pretty well but I'd hate to be a first time cruiser dealing with this.. 

 

But......it ain't going to change, so I'll play Princess' stupid game. For my 21 day cruise in July I have booked a table every night for 7pm. That might work for us some nights but others not and I will cancel that time at sometime during the day. However I will have blocked a table that no one can book until I cancel and like me, they will look at the App during the day and see no tables available. Also like me they may observe a Dining Room with many empty tables caused by no shows.

 

Yep, it's a first world problem I know, and despite my ramblings this doesn't stop me from having a great cruise. I know people that are happy to book and want that certainty of a table at a set time will disagree with me, or of course, I'll hear how the system is fine on other ships, but I've been on two Princess cruise in the last 12 months on different ships and the issues were the same.

 

Rant...has ended. 

Just off Royal 2 weeks ago, we didn't book for dinner, one dining room is allocated for anytime dining, never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a table for two.

On 11/12/2023 at 4:53 PM, cruiseypop said:

So I ate at the buffet tonight.  There is a themed night every night.  Now, I've eaten at A LOT of buffets over the years.  I've been to many in Vegas, Indian Casinos at home and even those like Old Country Buffet and local Chinese buffets.  And tonight had to be one of the best buffets I've ever had.  The seasoning and flavoring was incredible for buffet food.  The variety was good and the German selections were top notch.  And the food was really good quality.  Good Job Princess!  This was definitely not on the cheap -- which so many buffets can be.  I've attached the schedule of buffet themes.

Where do they post this list please?

Just now, mum and son said:

Oh dear, now I'll likely eat lots of gelato 😬. The sundaes didn't appeal at all (I only tried them once) but gelato is a different matter!

The "gelato" didn't taste to me like genuine gelato which I ate every day in Italy, it was nice enough though.

On 1/25/2024 at 11:44 AM, DCThunder said:

I meant buy the FCD on board BEFORE you talk to the Future Cruise Desk about booking something.  The FCDs process in a day or so and then they're in your account.  You can buy them from the app or on a paper form.

You buy the fcd on board and can book immediately using it, I have just done so.

Just off the Royal yesterday. The 2 casual dining are Alfredo's and Vines, only option in Vines is the charcuterie board and chocolate truffles.

Premium desserts are at the gelato place on deck 5. You can get the regular gelato 1, 2 or 3 scoops instead of the premium desserts which is what we did. We were going to get a couple of the premium desserts just for the photo op but kept forgetting🤣

I had a 4 plug multi strip (non surge protected) confiscated recently. No matter how many times I quoted their own policy to them they wouldn't budge 🤬

I got on in Auckland on Friday. It's not deep cleaning that's causing the delay in Sydney tomorrow it's enhanced immigration.

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Hi Phoenixx

That's great, seen your post on the Round Aust roll call.

Are you arriving Syd on the day, or arriving a day early?

 

Regards

John

 

Hi John,

Haven't booked flights yet (coming from Auckland) but will be at least the day before (my nerves couldn't cope with flying in on the day) 😁

See you on board 🚢🥂🍹

15 hours ago, Pansy2801 said:

Thanks for answering my questions. I did not think that passengers need to clear Australian emigration. Now I understand why is the delay.
The cruise was offered as Sydney to Auckland. It was also one  Auckland to Auckland that will start few days earlier and we booked first, but then decided that is better even that the cruise is shorter since we have more time to visit both Sydney and Auckland . 

There will likely be lots of people getting off in Sydney, a lot of cruisers from the previous cruise before Auckland.

On 1/14/2024 at 1:08 AM, Ozwoody said:

Crown does not arrive in Australia until 26th Oct, its first cruise is the Syd-Syd round Australia, ending on the 23rd Nov.

I will be on it for that cruise, if you can't confirm before then let me know and I will tell you what's there.

 

Regards

John

I'm getting on in Sydney too! 😁

2 hours ago, Mareblu said:

Hi phoenixx,

On Page 3 of Letter of Eligibility:

 

"Under this group policy, the eligible traveller/s listed  below have access to International Travel Insurance which includes epidemic/pandemic (such as COVID-19) coverage and cover while cruising including while aboard a foreign registered cruise vessel in Australian territorial waters.  Cover is outlined in the sections below, subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions, limits and applicable sub-limits outlined in the Policy Information Booklet."

 

The PI Booklet is viewable online as part of the complete information forwarded by Westpac, and a scan through reveals the normal travel insurance inclusions and exclusions.  Allianz is the underwriter.

Hope this helps.

 

I'm in NZ and policy is with AIG. I've just spoken to them and there is no Covid cover! How stupid is that, if Westpac Australia cover Covid but NZ does not, what's the difference? (Rhetorical question but really, that's seems unfair). It also does not cover when in NZ waters, which I see yours does.

On 7/28/2023 at 3:52 PM, Mareblu said:

Only last week I applied for and received free travel insurance through our Westpac mastercard, for next year's trip, which includes two cruises (Oceania and Cunard).  I completely missed reading the last section of the Letter of Eligibility we received, and being concerned about cover for the cruises, I rang the helpline.  A patient and efficient person confirmed we are automatically covered for cruises, and directed me to, "Eligibility for Cover while Cruising and for Epidemic/Pandemic (such as COVID-19) Cover".  

Hope this answers your question, as it did mine 🙂

Hi, I'm just sorting my insurance now for a January cruise and have Westpac Platinum card. Was this sentence "Eligibility for Cover while Cruising and for Epidemic/Pandemic (such as COVID-19) Cover" specifically stated in the letter you received or in the policy document?

Many thanks