Te Aroha

Thanks for posting this link.

 

Now I want to know why none of this is on the Princess web site when you click to Find Cruises????

They are available to book from 27th April 2017.

I just received a Smartraveller travel advice email update:

 

The New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence andEmergency Management has advised that the impact of ex-Tropical Cyclone Cook onNew Zealand is an extremely serious weather event. States of local emergency havebeen declared in the Bay of Plenty Region and Thames-Coromandel District. Theweather event is expected to impact New Zealand on Thursday, 13 April 2017through to at least Friday, 14 April 2017. Monitor local sources for the latestinformation on severe weather and follow any instructions issued by localauthorities. Travellers should be prepared for disruptions to their travelplans in the regions affected.

 

 

Take care all in NZ.

Here in Matamata we have flooding already. We are safe (we live on a hill) but our neighbors have pumps and sandbags running trying to keep water levels down from the farmland behind them. The main rainfall is not due until 6 pm. I have never seen the fields flooded as bad as they are now and this is not half the rain we are expecting. State of emergency has been declared in several areas already by Civil Defense. Airports and schools are closed and everyone has been advised to have 7 days of food and water available as they expect power cuts and the water supply maybe disrupted. Stay safe everyone

We sailed on the Diamond Princess in Feb. last year and there was a shuttle to get you off the dock and into the town center. It was not free I think it was $10 for a return ticket.

Full disclosure - I am a Travel Agent but often come to CC because I can never know everything that many well travelled folks here do!

 

I have clients wishing 3 nights pre cruise in Sydney and 3 nights post cruise in Auckland. I have already provided them 2 options in each place but wondering what you folks here really like!

 

 

I've suggested Shangri La and Park Royal Darling Harbour n Sydney based on previous clients feedback and Sky City Grand and the Pullman in Auckland but if anyone has better suggestions, I'd be most appreciative!

 

 

My thanks :)

A small comment the Pullman in Auckland is on a hill and if your clients are the least bit against climbing hills I would suggest you stick with the Sky City Grand, that is also in a hilly area but nothing compared to the Pullman. We have stayed at both and would recommend the Sky City Grand over the Pullman for up to date decor and feel of the place.

Recently in the news was that we need to check our bottles in NZ as we have sold all our wine overseas and they are importing Aussie wine to fill our bottles for the local market! We checked a few and sure enough "Product imported from Australia Bottled in New Zealand"

The demand is so high we can't even get a bottle for ourselves

Known as UShop here you can order from America UK or China and have NZ post take care of it for you.

You get the items shipped to an American address which UShop provides, they then charge you the NZ post rate which applies to forward them on to you, It will for sure be cheaper than the quote you have been given. If you know the size of the package you can estimate the postage yourself before you order, hope this helps :)

Thanks, It is getting close now and yes very exciting cruise, It looks like it is not running next year from my searches on Princess which is sad as it is great not to have to fly further than Sydney for us. The Golden goes up to Alaska but seems to stay there next year.

GOLDEN PRINCESS 2017 Circle Pacific 19th May 2017

 

is it like the last 2 posts in this roll call ??

that look like a tour itinerary ??

Think one of those posts is mine, we are cruisers on that cruise :) One of those tours we are organizing in LA

We have not had any issues on that roll call similar to what you are discussing if fact it has been a very quiet roll call.

e-cigs and vaping are not at all the same thing. I wouldn't suggest vaping in you cabin or most places onboard.

I have been a member of the Vaping community for over 5 years.

Not sure what you mean by this post Vaping and E cigs are exactly the same thing, e cigs give off vapor.

You can use your E cigs or if you prefer to call it Vape, in your cabin, it is allowed and in all the designated smoking areas.

The International cafe (IC) should be able to give you hot milk. This is where I get my hot chocolate from when I cruise. Remember it will be hot let it cool down. :D

The IC on the Golden is on plaza deck 5 in the center by the panoramic lifts.

Enjoy your cruise :)

We are sailing in July on the Crown Princess and I have been reading the reviews and have to say that it has really shaken me. We are going to be on our honeymoon and this is our first cruise so really don't know what to expect but it is starting to look like a very expensive trip with rude staff and shabby rooms and being harassed by hard sell from everyone.......please tell me its not true?

It is common for some to complain about anything and everything they are also the ones that tend to be very vocal. The passengers that have a great time tend not to be so vocal, but as a dedicated Princess passenger I can say I have never had a bad cruise with them. Some have been amazing and some not as good but never a bad one. The staff treat you as you treat them so always be polite they work hard to give you that amazing cruise.

So go with an expectation of great cruise and that is what you will have a great cruise. Congratulations by the way in advance :)

Early bookings of the World Cruises which also include the Pacific Rim start with $1000 per person OBC from Princess. Add to that FCC, Military and TA discounts plus TA OBC and it gets up there to the point we are wondering how we can spend it all on a 75 day voyage. We do private tours and are not heavy drinkers.

We are still paying less than the best fare we have seen advertised including after the cruise went past final payment.

We don't need anymore coffee cards and the mini bars are apparently set up 3 times as this cruise can be booked in segments.

We have had a similar experience where we ended up buying watches we didn't need just to use up the OBC.

The cruise is from Sydney to Sydney so there are no gratuities to pay, many other passengers will have similar amounts of OBC so I will be interested to see if this affects the cruise in general.

Thanks for replying to my post. Was just wondering how bad the sulphur smell is.

Rotorua or any thermal area equals sulphur smell some of the time, what I will say is that after approx 10 minutes you wont smell it any more as you get used to the smell.

I would also recommend Waiotapu this is where we take any overseas visitors that we meet on cruise ships.

We have always needed to provide a credit card number and that is charged for the FCC even if we did have on board credit so I would say no unless Princess has changed it recently.

They fixed what wasn't broken and then broke it sounds about right :)

Our experience is that unlimited hot chocolate is still included with the coffee cards even though it is not mentioned on the web site or even on the cards themselves.

 

Your unmarked coffee cards will likely be accepted (especially if they are the newest kind), but the server may mark the current voyage on the back.

Thanks caribill information is much appreciated :)

Notice the article says she "fell" overboard. Someone needs to tell them that isn't possible.

Maybe she "fell" while doing something really stupid, like sitting on a balcony rail.

It used to be that fresh brewed coffee and hot or cold chocolate were free no punches taken. Now I am reading fresh brewed coffee and "Liptons" tea are free. Is the chocolate still free as I don't drink coffee and always had this when DH has his coffee do I need to have Tea now?

LOL so much confusion...I also have brand new unmarked coffee cards paid for with excess OBC so I would hope they would be honored on future cruises as that is why we bought them.

We left a bag at SF when we departed our cruise. Long cruise and we had an extra bag but we always make sure our bags are labelled with the hotel we are staying at or our on going address externally and inside the bag.

After we arrived at our hotel there was a message waiting for us from Princess saying they had a bag for us at the port could we arrange to pick it up or would we like them to send it out to us, we had the address and the hotel phone number on the tags. Amazing Princess service :)

So always label your bags with an address as well as the Princess colored tags.

Happy to hear your bags have been found.

We sailed on the Diamond princess in Feb 2016 and there was a paid shuttle from Princess. It was $10 (AU) for a return trip and it dropped you off opposite the cable car entrance in the city centre.

Just heard it is now 6 pm to leave.

Emerald is due to leave at 4 pm today sailing directly to Sydney, after the authorities have finished their investigation. If they get away as expected then there will be no delay to the next cruise.

Sad day for family, crew and passengers.

Australia based ships use Asutralia $ for onboard currency.

 

But your advice applies here also. Let you credit card company convert to your home currency.

OP is cruising the Baltic pretty sure they don't charge in $AU there. ;)

Make sure that you are charged in US$ on your ship board account, let your credit card company convert to your home currency. Princess exchange rates are very high compared to the CC rates. I have never had a charge or hold on my own CC unless I have run out of on board credit with the exception of buying future cruise credits which are charged directly to the card.

Also try not to buy any foreign currency on board as the same high exchange rates apply plus I believe a charge per transaction of $US 6. Take foreign currency with you or find out where you can get this on arrival in ports.

Enjoy your cruise :)