afto

All of this information is very helpful. Thanks to everyone for posting.

Another vote for the M Social. We stayed for 5 nights and really enjoyed our stay, although there was not a lot of storage space in the room so we were never really able to unpack. Great location if you are sailing from Princes Wharf, which is literally just across the street. Good location also for sightseeing and public transportation and there are plenty of restaurants in the area.

As for things to do ... I recommend the Maritime Museum which is just a 2-minute walk. Since you are there for 4 days, try to pre-book a sail on the museum's Ted Ashby; this is a one-hour trip on a heritage sailboat that will allow you to view the harbour from the water and sail under the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  Photo below taken from on board the Ted Ashby as it was leaving the museum -- shows Princes Wharf on the left and the M Social on the right (it's the low-rise building; you can see the green "L" of the hotel name). 

Congratulations on the new grandbaby! Thanks for taking the time to post this great review. We took the Edge from Auckland to Sydney and February and visited many of the ports so enjoyed the chance to relive some of that trip through this review.

1 hour ago, dog said:

I have done this several times. 
Taxi from London hotel to

 Victoria Coach Station

( not train station). 10 am

Princess reps check you in

Take luggage- goes directly to your cabin

90 minutes directly to ship ( traffic- longer)

see personalizer to book online under Travel or call them

Perfect! Thank you.

26 minutes ago, StrawberryHill said:

We took the Princess transfer for VCS last year.  Once you walk in the main lobby, look at the train board and it will say Sky Princess and then tell you what lane to go to.  Princess will have someone there with you name on a clipboard and give you a numbered sticker.  When its time to board the coaches, they call you out by numbers.  Your bags are loaded on the coach and delivered to your room.  You should have your luggage tags already attached. There were two coaches that left from VCS last year, neither was full.  When we got to the cruise terminal, we were the only ones inside.  5 minutes to check in and got right on board.

Thanks so much, StrawberryHill. This info is just what I needed. Sounds much easier than our original plan!

On 2/14/2024 at 9:28 AM, Jadn13 said:

You can get a Princess Shuttle/Transfer from either Victoria Coach Station or the airport. 
You can book it online under Flights or Travel. 

Just catching up with this thread now. Wondering how easy it is to find the Princess bus at Victoria Coach Station. Staying at a London hotel and thinking it will be easier to take a taxi to Victoria Coach Station and transfer from there than go back out to Heathrow (on Heathrow Express) and connect with Princess there. Also, I am assuming the shuttle would take us directly to the ship in Southampton, with no further taxi required at that end. Trying to minimize the amount of walking. Any details would be very helpful.

We were happy with pre-arranged service provided by QuickShuttle. We could have just taken taxi or Uber, but we arranged with QuickShuttle for a half-hour stop at Mt. Eden to enjoy some city views along the way. 

We asked the room steward for a kettle on a recent New Zealand cruise and it was delivered promptly. I found it easier to ask for a specialty tea bag at Cafe al Bacio and brew the tea in the room rather than try to carry a brewed tea from the Cafe.

Yes, I see what you mean. I failed to word my original post clearly. Thanks for setting me straight. Cheers.

4 hours ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

Nonsense. You can simply raise your hand and wave at the hospitality staff and they will come over or pop up to the counter and ask for help. 
 

Wow. I can't imagine any circumstances where I would reply with "nonsense" to a post made by someone just trying to be helpful by relating their own experience. Yes, you can wave your hand and get help, you are correct. But that doesn't mean that anything in my post was incorrect or nonsense. QR codes exist, robots exist -- not everywhere, of course, but I did not say that this was a universal experience.

We also noticed that many casual restaurants in New Zealand and Australia have menu available via a QR code displayed at the table. Order and pay on your phone and your meal will be delivered to you. And in one place, our meal was delivered by robot as well. Very impersonal and difficult to get any advice or make any changes or requests.

12 hours ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

My infinity cruise in 2 weeks is still only showing desserts 😆. I will be living on Crème Brûlée 

Imho, you could do worse ... gotta love that créme brulée!

Oh no! Best wishes for his rapid recovery.

42 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Statues on Pacific World (ex Sun Princess)

 

 

You are very observant, Norris. I don't know that I would have noticed that this was a statue -- would probably have thought it was just slow-moving seniors like myself 😆

Loving the review and all the photos, especially of the Dynjandi waterfall. Wow, that is a beauty!

Thanks for putting so much work into entertaining and educating us through this review.

 

 

 

Thank you so much to both SindbadThePorter and yarramar for all of these really useful information. And even a map! Wow! Adding Stanwell Tops and avocado toast at the Imperial Hotel to our itinerary and we will see how much time we have to range further afield. have googled all the points you both have suggested and the scenery is stunning. So much to see! Wishing I had 2 extra days now!  Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my query.

We find ourselves with an unexpected extra day in Sydney and are thinking of renting a car for the day and driving south to the Sea Cliff Bridge and then perhaps stop in Royal National Park. DD likes ocean views and cliffs. Wondering if anyone has suggestions for other stops along this area -- scenic stops, good wildlife viewing areas, cute places for a lunch stop, or anything weird and wonderful in a uniquely Australian way (I remember the giant earthworm museum near Melbourne, for example). 

Thanks for any and all ideas.

On 6/21/2023 at 4:48 PM, bunnyette said:

A Norris review!  Hooray

Echoing this sentiment and following along!

Thanks for the additional info, Yarramar. 🙂

Thanks for this information and for the efforts that you make to answer so many questions in this forum. Much appreciated.

This is a ridiculous question, I know, but I am wondering what kind of shop I should visit in Auckland and Brisbane to buy some distilled water for my CPAP machine. I have not travelled with the machine before, and I am staying before and after my cruise for a few days in these cities. I thought perhaps chemist's but when I tried online shopping at chemist's sites, I did not see this product listed. So, not sure what to do and would like to avoid spending hours wandering around looking for this.  If it makes a difference, we are staying near Sky Tower in Auckland and near the Parliament Buildings in Brisbane. I am also wondering if anyone has had success asking hotels to obtain this and adding it to one's room charges.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can point me in the right direction here.

Thanks very much everyone for all this useful information. Much appreciated.

When I click to book the cabana, the reservation screen includes the wording "Additional items such as beverages, menu supplements, food and wine pairings and gratuities are not included."  I, too, have seen reviews mentioning a lunch menu and beverages. I just figured that Celebrity was no longer including anything because I did not see a list of what is included with the cabana. I was figuring that the fee was just for the use of the space. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction; I am totally confused with this now.

I have tried to locate this information on the boards but I failed - the search function is not very user-friendly.

We are considering booking a cabana on the Edge during a New Zealand-Australia itinerary. First time booking a cabana. I understand that the cabanas no longer include any food or beverage items. If we order drinks, they will have a gratuity added to the bill. So I am wondering what the 20% gratuity added to the cabana daily fee is for? I am not a person who would ever try to wriggle out of paying gratuities, but I am confused by this. What kind of service is actually provided to cabana renters?

Also, just wondering if anyone who has booked a cabana can advise if those couches are actually comfortable if we were to be, say, playing board games using the coffee table.

Thanks for sharing any insight.

I will just provide a suggestion for Kotor, since this excursion was a highligh of our Adriatic tour. We booked directly with Kotor Speedboat Tours. Visited amazing caves, saw lots of beautiful scenery, went past an WWII era fortress.  And the boat took us into a camouflaged Soviet-era submarine hangar -- something like a cave. We also stopped for a walk at the town of Perast -- very pretty -- and at the tiny island with the church of Our Lady of the Rocks. I really recommend this tour. When you get off the tender ito town, the speedboat will leave from very close by the tender dock. https://www.kotorboat-tours.com/index.php/en/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4ZeaosSY_wIVhRd9Ch0gcwQ_EAAYBCAAEgL-4fD_BwE

Thank you for taking the time to review. Loving the balance of detailed useful information and pretty pictures. Following!