The Mariners

Hi all. We got off Iona Sat 20th May after a week in Norway. I regularly read CC but don’t post a lot and I must say we had very positive thoughts on Iona. We regularly joined the virtual queue for dinner at peak times just as we were leaving cabin or headliners show and I think the most we saw was 27/28 in front of us (Coral or Pearl ) Never actually got to a bar to order a drink before notification that our table was ready so we found things worked great.

Hi

We were in hurricane force winds with 10-12 ft seas on Majestic southern tip of New Zealand two years ago with a mid forward cabin and she handled it very well.

Yes you could feel movement and we had no sickness problems and speaking to captain a few days later he said the wind was pushing us along behind us which he said helped . Good experience & got some video & photos of it 😁

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

Off for a stroll along front at Cleethorpes today,  finishing, hopefully, with a pint at the world's smallest pub, followed by a fish and chip lunch, booked for 13:25 precisely!

In a radical move, we have transferred our fish and chip allegiance from Papa's to Steel's Corner House ! 

PAPAS……..awful place spoilt the pier completely after it got turned back into a proper venue .

Lived in these parts all my life far better places if you know where to look 🐟

On 3/11/2021 at 3:55 PM, lovetocruise1953 said:

As our trip isn't till Feb 2023 I obviously can't access any information on it. We have 3 nights in Sydney pre cruise in our package, which hotels do they usually allocate for this type of stay?

Hi

We had 3 nights in Sydney before a New Zealand cruise January 2020 and stayed at the Hilton Sydney. We were very pleased with all aspects of hotel it was opposite Queen Victoria building very central we could walk to all we wanted to see good restaurants close by as well.

Feel free to ask any questions I will be happy to answer if I can. 😁

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

I have received an email from Princess this morning saying that you will only be allowed off the ship on a Princess cruises excursion

Thanks for that it’s what we thought but with others mentioning taxis & walking to places left us puzzled 😕 

13 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

I suggest skip the bus to the city and just take a taxi from the cruise terminal.

 

And I agree with the poster who said to book tickets in advance.

So has it been confirmed that we are allowed to do our own thing off the ship and not just ship excursions?

32 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Have Princess confirmed that you can have mid forward because they have been saying all week on Faceache that you can only pick cabin grade and not deck or position of the ship just grade and it can be anywhere on the ship within that grade.

Not confirmed deck or cabin number but online booking process gave me the option of section of ship for me to choose the same as booking any cruise. I chose mid forward which is an area we often go for resulting in grade BB , which we were happy with & I think gave me decks 9-14. Grade BB has been confirmed so we’ll see what cabin we are allocated in due course. Not too fussed in these circumstances where we are just happy to have a week to look forward to fingers crossed.

We would normally chose exact cabin position/number if at all possible though !

29 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We have booked Regal for that date phoned our "beast" of a TA this morning was answered straight away booked a BA balcony cabin and was all done within 5 minutes and was cheaper than booking direct with Princess which wasnt available online on their website at 8am as promised.

That’s good we are BB grade mid forward happy with that, don’t tend to use TA these days after problems with refunds on cancelled cruises (certainly not implying your  “beast” of a TA would be any cause for concern) Roll on September 

All booked on Regal September 9th for 7 days & looking forward to it , seems ages ago when we were last on Majestic round New Zealand January 2020 some rough seas on that one not that it really bothers us.

Booked direct balcony grade fine with package and was printing off travel summary by 08:20 before work got in the way 😀

We have gone for 9th September visiting Liverpool & Belfast can’t be away over month end/start wife’s job again I’m afraid. Thought long about cruising considered P&O had 2 cancelled already in past year but we prefer Princess really but not much in it. We enjoy our cruises but mix our holidays up a little to give us variety don’t necessarily opt for Southampton departure either, we’ll fly anywhere to pick up a cruise if the itinerary attracts us.

Yep we are going for it. Regal in September know my grade of cabin & checked our insurance today to know we are well covered before booking. Really fancied Sky but booked to go on her July 2022 and dates worked better for wife on Regal for her work. Roll on 8am tomorrow 😁

Some odd things can happen with your Captain circle status. Both me & wife are Platinum and whilst on Majestic Princess Jan 20 New Zealand cruise from Sydney We met another UK couple who were Elite but only on their 3rd ever cruise.

They had been on Sea Princess and Britannia before this cruise and told us that their cruise card wouldn’t open their stateroom door ( not Medallion then) so went to Guest Services got an apology and upgraded them to Elite. Happy days for them 😁

Sailing past Brittania on a very wet grey August 2018 

For me it's a thumbs up ! :D