Aus Traveller

Probably in a couple of days all will become clear on the Princess website. This has been happening a bit while things are shuffled around.

Maybe this is by agreement between the Princess and P&O (the only ones that have re-started) and the relevant governments. Alternatively, Princess could be ultra-cautious.

Have you checked on your Personalizer to see if Princess is running shuttle buses to the airport?

That could be good. I must have a look around.

Maybe COVID running rampant in PNG?

That wasn't on formal night. This week the cruises were three and four-day events - no formal night. Maybe the report you mention didn't refer to dinner. For breakfast and lunch, the only restrictions on dress that I know of is "no swimsuits".

Might be true and might not be. 😁 We know that the cruise lines reached agreement with the state/fed governments on the protocols required to re-start cruising. As to what exactly was agreed, we only know the requirements re vaccination, testing and mask wearing. In addition the ships have to carry out extra cleaning and have enhanced medical facilities. It is possible that the government wants the first number of cruises to be restricted to a certain length, but we don't know.

When you go on your Holland America cruise, you can go to the dining room in shorts and thongs.😁

Les, When was the last time you were on an Australian-based Princess cruise? 🙂 I have never seen shorts and thongs permitted in the dining room on any evening, let alone formal night.

No formal night night so no formal clothes.

5.10pm. The Coral Princess is turning.

At least there will be two of them - plus the waiters in their formal gear🙂.

My husband is taking his dinner suit as usual. 🙂

It was interesting watching the ships down a u-ie at Portside where the river is much narrower than near the mouth.

That's why I am watching carefully. The last couple of cruises the Coral has left at 4.30 and it is now well past that time.

I think they will change. For the three or four nighters, a lot of people don't want to take dress-up clothes. I suggest that the dressy pants, L/S shirt and tie is a reasonable compromise, or the Goldilocks option - not too dressy and not too casual.

I am watching the bridge cam of the Coral Princess to get some warning of her imminent departure. She is facing upstream so will have to turn before heading out. The last two cruises left at 4.30 (not 4pm as scheduled). For the last cruise, the ship was also facing upstream and I noticed that it took around 15 minutes for her to turn before heading out to the Bay.

But the OPT is in the middle of the city. There would be dozens of taxis nearby. The Brisbane terminal is in the middle of nowhere. When people are disembarking, it is a bit early for most of the new arrivals for the next cruise, so the taxis would have to go there empty.

I would not go to Darwin in February. April to July is the best time. It isn't too hot or too humid and everything is still green from the Wet Season before it 'browns off' in the dry months.

Agreed. There is a lot to see in the area. The only difficulty I can see is with the enormous tidal variation requiring the gangplank to be adjusted a few times.

We did the 2-night Brisbane-Darwin itinerary on the Pacific Sun. We had an overnight stay in Darwin allowing time to get further afield than you can in a one-day stop. We hired two vans and took a group of friends to Litchfield NP then sightseeing in the Darwin area including the Mundil Beach Markets, museum, fish feeding etc.

The Moreton Island stop is at the resort of Tangalooma. The ship anchors in Moreton Bay and passengers go ashore by tender.

With cruises Brisbane to Cairns, then one from Cairns to Darwin then reverse, each would be three or four days but involve the cost of flights.

Princess usually has had the Mrs Mac pies, available with chips or salad. On one ship (I think it was the Sea Princess) they had pies made on the ship. We only tried them once because they weren't very good.

In seven days cruises go from Brisbane to Airlie Beach, Cairns and Port Douglas and return. The cruise would have to be 12 days to get as far as Darwin and return to Brisbane.