Astro Flyer

Most guests will be able to access once your cruise is paid in full. Early access for Captain's Circle Platinum and Elite members as well as guests booked in Reserve Collection and Suites. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/dine-my-way/

A photo of the taped off area that’s full of loungers.

As I recall Carnival Corporation which includes Princess outsourced their IT before the pandemic.

If we’re there at the same time let us know…we squeezed a 6’8” guy into our minivan & as I recall you’re not quite as tall? ☺️

We went Upcountry for the views & for a Maui Wine tasting with lunch across the street at the Ulapalakua Ranch Store…ono-licious. 😋 Have a great visit on the Valley Isle. 😊

Ululani’s now has a franchise store on O’ahu across the street from Leonard’s Bakery so you could compare it sometime…being a displaced local girl you’re much more of an expert on shave ice than me. 🍧 https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/ululanis-hawaiian-shave-ice-opens-on-oahu/

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/04/10/we-asked-you-answered-15-best-places-get-shave-ice-hawaii/

At Breakwall Shave Ice in the Wharf Center across from the Banyan Tree they have shave ice…with alcohol. And on Front Street is Ululani Hawaiian Shave Ice which Hawaii Magazine just rated #1 in all of Hawaii. 😋

Hopefully our timing will be good someday or maybe even on the same cruise. 🤙

We picked up cruise friends for a day Upcountry & when returning to Lahaina they went to the Pioneer Inn adjacent to the tender dock for drinks & to watch the long tender line. The bar rings a bell for last tender call when the lines get short. 🍻

Based on this website it’s Berth 92…it’s the longer pier to accommodate that size of ship but has a smaller terminal & uses a tent next to the battleship USS Iowa to get bags during disembarkation. https://www.portsamerica.com/operations/cruise-los-angeles-terminal-schedule

We’re also new to O & as I recall reading there is a BOGO happy hour daily…4:00 to 6:00? I’ve read that for some it’s been required to get the exact same drink.

Thanks for checking! 🙂 We’ll be boarding Crown Princess in March 2025 for our bucket list Around Australia cruise from Brisbane. We also hope to meet up with Fletch1 who we’ve cruised with on two month long cruises…great fun people who I believe you might also know. Our only other Australian embarkation was in 2009 from Sydney & they were strictly enforcing wine limits. Thankfully in NZ they were very lenient & we refreshed our wine supply for cruising back to LA. 🍷😊

Here’s a statement from section 5 of the Cruise Contract for our Round Australia cruise booked in USD…is the Cruise Contract statement the same when booking in AUD? Although like other policies enforcement can vary from their stated policy. Guests are also prohibited from bringing water, sodas and other non-alcoholic beverages on board that are packaged in bottles. A small quantity of non-alcoholic beverages (i.e., sparkling water, sodas, juice, milk) packaged in cans or cartons may be brought on board on embarkation day, only if carried on in Guests’ hand luggage (not in checked luggage). A small quantity is considered a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans/cartons of 12 ounces each or less per person. Guests will be asked to discard open beverages in plastic containers prior to boarding.

Does anyone have any NZeTA experiences? I’ve read their website & as I understand it having an American passport I am required to have a NZeTA when flying from LAX to AKL and connecting to BNE, correct?

I just rechecked our March 2025 Crown Princess roundtrip Brisbane around Australia 28-day cruise & the water bottle package is currently available to purchase. Although that’s certainly not a guarantee…for example Princess sold coffee programs & recently said it was no longer available when passengers boarded. 🙄

Close to the Reagan Library…nice to see another VC resident. Your CC name looks familiar…maybe from a Princess roll call. We’re booked on our first O cruise in September and also in November 2024. We’re seeking a better experience after too many disappointments on our most frequently traveled cruise line Princess. Good friends who have cruised with us on Princess recommended their favorite cruise line…Oceania. We’re looking forward to having a better experience more like when we first sailed Princess in 1989.

That started about a month ago and on many of the Guarantee cabin categories the deposit is non-refundable.

Haven’t seen that on Princess although on Celebrity that was true in December.

Thank you very much for sharing that information. We’re only about an hour drive from SB so we could easily go there but for cruise passengers having their time in SB reduced is very disappointing. It’s an easy town to explore with many things to do there. TripAdvisor rates the SB courthouse as the #1 thing to do in SB. On a cruise we usually walk less than a mile to the several wine tasting rooms. Once we took an independent tour to the Santa Ynez Valley well known for their Pinot Noir & even had a movie made about their Pinot Noir…Sideways. Here’s hoping that you’ll have a full day to enjoy SB. 🤞

I know that during the pandemic SB closed to cruise ships but searching online didn’t find any info about doing it again. I found an article from a December 2022 council meeting where some locals wanted to ban cruise ships for environmental reasons but didn’t find anything else.

Thanks…we’re scheduled there on Regatta in September & that website provides a contact for cruise ship information. Angela Rodriguez Administrative Assistant CITY OF SANTA BARBARA, Waterfront Department (805) 564-5519 | ARodriguez@SantaBarbaraCA.gov SantaBarbaraCA.gov/Waterfront

On MarineTraffic it shows Grand departed Papeete on 4/16 at 2117 LT and is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on 4/22 at 0600 LT.

From the CC AU/NZ board

It’s also being discussed on the CC Princess board including this letter from the captain.