Aus Traveller

I am sure we can take extra bottles of wine on board (and pay the relevant corkage). Although the T&C state that any alcohol purchased during the cruise will be confiscated, in practice, often wine is allowed under the same rules that apply at embarkation.

This is what the upgrade bids are about. Julie has booked a balcony cabin and is hoping for a mini suite. When we have received the email invitation to bid for an upgrade, there is an indication of the cost for each different type of cabin, e.g. balcony, premium balcony, mini suite, suite. They don't break it down to different 'grades' within each type of cabin.

I will see if extra wine is allowed on the Coral on the NZ cruise that leaves on Thursday 11th. Early last year, and again a couple of times on the World Cruise I asked the man at the alcohol collection table if I was permitted to bring wine on at the ports of call. The answer was that one bottle was 'free' and corkage would be charged on others. These occasions were all ports where scanning was done on the ship. I thought about asking Security, but I don't think they are the department that will allow or disallow additional wine to be brought on board. The person manning the table is a dining room waiter from the Food and Beverage Department under the control of the Hotel Manager.

Is the previous cruise coming from an area outside Australia/NZ/Pacific Islands? If it is trans-Pacific and maybe even a cruise from Asia, immigration could take longer than for a usual Australian cruise.

I don't use apps unless I absolutely have to and much prefer to speak to a live person. Last year we had to use the Medallion app to load health info and for P&O their Verifly that was even worse. Now thankfully, none of that is needed.

They are thrilled I am joining them on board Coral Princess. That is what they told me.🙂 However, I could have done without 14 emails with the subject 'Reservation Changed'. When I received the first one I had a moment of concern wondering if the reservation for the cruise had been changed. this cruise is with my daughter, son-in-law and their three little daughters. I would not have liked to explain to the girls that the cruise was cancelled. These emails puzzle me when they are all detailing the exact time and place I booked for dinner for the whole cruise.

Thanks. The Princess call centre says it is OK so I will rely on that. As an aside, I am currently receiving a series of emails from Princess regarding our dining reservation. It states that they have changed the bookings, then detail exactly what I booked for every evening - 5.40pm on the Provence. This is a 14 night cruise and so far I have received eight separate emails, each with the same details, but a different date. They have the notation 'no reply'. I doesn't really matter - I have the place and time I booked for my family group. Another email just arrived - no two more!!

Princess still include single-use plastic bottles in their mini bars and sell 600 ml bottles of water.

I phoned the Princess call centre and was told we can take as much (bottles or cans) of softdrink on board as we like. The only restrictions are that it has to be still factory-sealed and it has to be in hand luggage. There was no mention of restrictions on softdrink in the Cruise Contract.

Can someone tell me the latest rule on this? I am referring to non-alcoholic bottles of softdrink (not cans).

It seems to be allowed on Princess. I don't know about other cruiselines.

On one Princess ship pre-COVID, they served pies made on board. Unfortunately they weren't as good as Mrs Macs. Usually there are several different flavours available and of course, they always have hot chips available.

We always go to the dining room for lunch on embarkation day.

Thanks for the info. I think we will still plan to arrive earlier than 12 noon. 🙂

We are cruising later this week but I cannot see any embarkation times. Last year I made notes on where to find various sections of the Medallion app, but it isn't there now. I think we will just roll up around 11am. As Elite, we should be able to board fairly soon.

We are cruising on Thursday (the cruise before yours). I asked a Princess rep a while ago about boarding time and he insisted it was "any time after 11 am".

Hah!

Lucikly not expensive bottles of wine, but imagine the astonished look on his face when the bottles of softdrink landed on his feet.🤣

My blue Princess bags crumbled and they hadn't been exposed to sun. We got a shock when the firsts one broke. My husband put some plastic bottles of soft drink in the bag and they went straight through the bottom. Since then a couple of the bags have just crumbled, even though they were inside the house. We haven't got these bags on our last few Princess cruises.

We live in Brisbane. The only supermarkets in my area that have a charge to use a trolley is Aldi. Woolworths and Coles definitely don't.

I agree with your comments. I often use my credit card but the only time there is a surcharge is when I book a cruise!

Wow! That's a lot of walking. I am very impressed. 🙂

Maybe. However this thread refers to a shuttle bus from Port Chalmers to Dunedin and Colourbird quoted Normanville's post that specifically referred to Port Chalmers.

Were you going to walk from Port Chalmers to Dunedin? It is 13.4 km. At a brisk walk, that would take 3.5 hours - each way.

Wow! I paid A$130 in August (including drinks). My daughter and Son-in-law were planning to book the Chef's Table when I told them it was $130. At $207 pp I don't think they will.