MargoK

Farewell Majestic Princess.   Our fourth cruise on her ended today.

Sadly she is not scheduled to return. 

Last night we had a magnificent meal at The Catch. 

Highly recommended.  Food is beautiful presented and tasted delicious 😋. 

By far the best meal we have had in years.    The Catch is only on three of the ships which is a pity.   

On 11/28/2022 at 5:17 PM, startedwithamouse said:

Never. Commodore Nick Nash will. 😉

According to the email from Princess, Commodore Nick Nash will be on our cruise 16 January 2023 Majestic Princess. 

My favourite 'port' to arrive in is Milford Sound at 7am, sunrise is mind blowing, as is arriving in to fog and crossing our fingers the Captain can find the pilot and actually get it.

Leaving - has to be Sydney at dusk in the summer.

Nice to see you bringing the Majestic down under.

We are onboard 16 - 29 January.   I like the ship having done a Christmas New Year B2B 2018-2019.  It was quite interesting.  First leg Auckland to Sydney, Second leg Sydney -Sydney.   Huge difference in the pax! First was fun and it was always easy to find a seat and a spot to hangout.  Second cruise (dare I say it) full of noisy Aussies (ok I am half Aussie!).   Still, lots of fun and never a problem to find a spot!

Question Stu - is Crooners still next to the Casino?  It was our favourite hangout after the last show.  Great entertainers and pianists. 

Is there still Crooners Bar (with Piano) next to the Casino.   The Princess website deck plan has something else there but in the descriptions for entertainment it has Crooners.   Loved Crooners for its close access to the lower theatre.  Loved the lower theatre for the wheelchair 'parks' at the end of the aisle!    For once I could get close to the stage and see everything!

Hi, we are from Auckland New Zealand.

We are booked on our first HAL cruise on the Oosterdam 19 December 2020.   But sadly that is very unlikely to happen.   We haven't cancelled yet.  The plan was the travel with our 'yachty' friends who were keen to be in Hobart where the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race ends around 28th December and the place would swarming with fancy yachts and their crew!     It was to be the 75th Anniversary so it was to be big - may still happen, but with the secondary outbreaks of Covid 19 occurring it is looking less likely.

Here we are experiencing a very mild (read hardly any rain) winter and in Alert Level 1.  This means the borders are closed to anyone other than residents or citizens.    So for most of the population it is life as normal with internal travel permitted.       

NZ has done extremely well and we have had not local cases for a long time (maybe 90+ days) with the only positive tests coming from people returning to NZ and in 14 quarantine.     So we are very lucky.   As winter has been mild we are probably a little complacent and living normal lives.       

I worked from home from 22 March and returned to the office mid June.    The first week back was horrible!   Wanted to be back at home where I could work uninterrupted and all communications via email and occasionally phone!    Got back into it after a couple of weeks!

We feel very sad when we see the dreadful outcomes overseas of the Covid 19 virus.     

Please take care everyone.  Hopefully we will get back cruising some time.

Food for thought - the 1918 Spanish Flu wasn't 'eradicated' (for want of a better word) until 1922 apparently......

Thank you David. 

Always hoped our paths would cross again on a cruise. 

Alas it is not to be so. 

We have very fond memories of our 2010 Diamond Princess at Christmas. 

Stay safe. 

Our thoughts are with you and your partner. 

Margaret and Peter 

Consider flying New York to Auckland on Air NZ which I think starts later this year.   Premium Economy may be a price point option.

Go early and go straight to the wheelchair area

You will be on quite quickly 

14 hours ago, sweetp12 said:

So we recently had the same question except it was the Ruby Princess and an 11.50 international flight.  We only had the one flight choice or spend the night in Sydney (and an extra days leave which I couldn't really afford to do).  To ease our concern I booked the flight through EzAir (Princess's air booking service) + transfers.  My thoughts were that if the ship was late it was on them to sort out.  

 

The 11.50 flight was within their flight booking window (from memory 5 hours after the 6pm docking) so they were able to get the flight I wanted.  Everything worked fine - we were off the ship at 7 and at the airport by 8.  

 

One of the things that likely worked in our favour was Sydney was not our first port of call in Aussie so we did not have to clear customs or immigration as disembarkation.  

 

In one regard it was stressful (what if the ship was late / what if there was road works etc) but I tried to mitigate that risk by putting some of the onus back on the cruise line.  I would be happy to catch the same flight again in the future... even with a later in the day flight issues could happen.

 

 

 

 Hi sweetp12

Glad you made it!   Did you get put in a maxi-taxi?   

We went to our allotted spot 15 mins early and before we knew it we were off with assistance, put in the taxi and gone by just after 9am.   Couldn't check in until 10.30, so had a coffee and relaxed.   Checked in at 10.30 once processed through to Koru lounge and waited for our 5.40pm flight.....  The most amazing thing was when we checked in there was noboby (zip) people around and when we went through to Immigration, the same thing!!!  Usually the place is jammed packed with people, and it is horrible.   The time flew - even caught up with some other cruisers in the lounge.    

I have lost your email address.   Drop a line to me at    alfasrest at gmail dot com sometime.

Go to the rank/taxi stand and request one, coordinator will call for one.    Found that those who had ordered one at a specific time in advance ended up waiting and waiting.

We have used, once for disembarkation and once for port day.  Easy as.

On 1/9/2020 at 8:03 AM, Kiwi Kruzer said:

In Hobart today . Looks like they have scored a great day.....nice view of the City  and Mt Wellington from the bridge.

 

 

 

Hobart put on a lovely day for us. 

Melbourne today is cloudy and cold wind on the pier.  Not doing anything today 

Survived the rough crossing of the Tasman.   It could have been so much worse so no complaints.   

6 hours ago, Clwl said:

We're booked on Ruby March 8th out of Sydney for a 13 day New Zealand cruise.

Related to the fires in AUS, what was air quality in Sydney like when you left port?  And, what has the air quality been like so far on your voyage?

Thanks for being here and sharing!!  

 

Ruby Princess departed from Auckland. 

One day we have had slight discomfort in Picton, otherwise cannot not comment. 

1 hour ago, Porky55 said:

MargoK,

Have seen posts on BookFace saying that Ruby has Medallion up and running, is this true, seeing you are actually on board and how did you get your actual Medalions?
Cheers 

Yes we have all been progressively been issued the Medallions for Testing.  I have trouble with the Ocean Compass but that will get sorted.  Not all functions are working as yet so you still need the card. 

Currently on the Ruby Princess and yesterday when we departed from Dunedin the Commodore announced the forecast was such that we were heading north to traversing Cook Strait. 

Looking at Windy dot come, it was the correct decision. He is aiming to get us to Hobart 

Hi, as locals we have cruised NZ/Aust several times and about to leave again on the 30th December.

We have booked the Oosterdam for 19th December 2020 for Christmas and New Year.    Our friends particularly wanted to go to Tasmania and this itinerary has the ship in port on 28th December for nearly 24 hrs in Hobart  followed by a full day at Port Arthur.   The Hobart will be very busy because of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race which start on 26th December (Boxing Day), so there will be alot of interesting yachts in port.  Our friends are keen sailors.

18 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Anybody who would replace Cafe Corniche with SHARE should be keelhauled. Repeatedly.

True. The most deserted restaurant ever. Good spot during the day for those playing board games. 

17 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

This cruise is a winner for us because we  have  the local benefit of not flying .  Except for San Diego & San Pedro ports here in Calif ,we have flown to meet the ships or flown home ,like our 2015 cruise to Sydney ,from San diego ,a 21 day Adventure ,followed by a week in Sydney ;which was a wonderful experience 😄

 

 I did not check for the July cruise  ;but ,the British Columbia port of Prince Rupert is extra special .It is on our itinerary  ,August 14th . We just wished we had more than jut 7 hours in port ,to do the Grizzly Bear  boat cruise to see them in the wild on shore . The most grizzly bears in any area are there .Also ,all sorts of whales are in that area 

Our itinerary is the same. 

You have made my day! Bears and whales are what I want to see!!! 

Had my favourite cabin on hold. Accessable oceanview cabin.  Laundry across the hall... 

Secrets? I like the Sun's size and friendly staff. A lot of returning crew. On our second cruise we were welcomed like family. Our favourite spot was forward of the buffet in the cafe.  Not everyone knew it was there initially. 

15 hours ago, Thrak said:

Yellow Fish (Pescado Amarillo) is currently on Day 86 of her trip on Ruby Princess. Check the daily postings as she posts the Patter for every segment of this cruise. Her blog can be found HERE (The link is for the most recent day. You can go backward to see other Patters that list the various officers.

 

EDIT: OK. I took pity on you and went back a few days from there and here is a listing from the first day Patter for the most recent segment of her cruise.

 

Thrak yiu are a gem!  Thank you.   XXXX

18 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We will be sailing a 14 night Alaska cruise in August 2021 (booked in a mini suite )   

 

 What are the secrets we should be aware of on this ship ?  how is the food & service  & any other pertinent items ?

 

  TIA for your replies 

Thank you for bringing to my attention our favourite ship - Sun Princess will be in Alaska 2021.  Have put a hold on the same cruise but in July for my Big 60!

Is anyone able to help me with the list of the current officers on the Ruby Princess?      

Captain                                                 

Staff Captain                                      

Chief Engineer                                   

Hotel Manager                                  

Entertainment Director                 

Cruise Director                                  

Senior Doctor                                     

Customer Service Director            

Food & Beverage Director            

Staff Engineer                                    

Chief Electrical Officer                   

Executive Housekeeper                 

Executive Chief                                 

Maître Hotel                                      

Wanting to get Invitations sorted for the Meet and Greet.

TIA

Varies between providers for some reason.

On our b2b last year our friends had reception way longer than we did!  Go figure.   Just use it until your provider signal disappears.

You can get good SIM card deals coming in via Auckland airport.  Friends did that last year then gave to unused portion and SIM card to their favourite bar staff.

Thank you all. Now I have a 110v charger for my power chair. 😊

8 hours ago, pablo222 said:

 

On grand class ships, there are two 220v outlets behind the bed.  One for each nightstand lamp.

 

The below photo is from IECalCruiser's post here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2320883-crown-110v-or-240v/?do=findComment&comment=49896499

 

 

 

 

 

This below picture is courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

 

Available here:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A17I1VW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

For 'mericans, this has the interesting effect of letting you plug a 2-conducter US cord (non-polarized Type A) into a 220v outlet.

This allows you to power things which have a 2 conducter plug and are rated 120-240v.

Most of the chargers and other small gadgets I have are rated 120-240.

 

I have found it handy to move electrical clutter off the desk.

 

 

 

 

Thank you getting much.  The photo is a great help.

Sorry to ask on this thread. (we are on the same cruise 😁

I have a power chair which requires 240v to charge.  My old charger was 110v/240v but when it died it was replaced 240v only. 

Does anyone know if they provide a transformers for 240v to 110v?

TIA