Sparky74

I never take jeans when traveling. They’re heavy, bulky, and take forever to dry when you wash them. JMHO

Tell me about it! We’re embarking on a 55 day holiday later this year.

I guess it depends what you call a cheapie. 🤣 An annual policy MIGHT be cheaper than two individual trip policies. It’s worth looking into. YMMV

If you are planning another trip, cruise or land based, within 12 months it may be worth considering an annual multi-trip policy.

I beat my wife up every morning!

In that case wear the long pants and the coat/jacket. Simples! 😁

The rule in our house is, if you pack it then you carry it. I’d say the following would be plenty. I plan to do a load of washing and Princess have self service washing machines and clothes dryers. WEAR: a pair of shorts, a shirt underwear, shoes, socks, hat. PACK: another pair of shorts, 3 shirts, a pair of long trousers and a nicer shirt for evenings, a light coat or jacket, 1 set of swimmers, 3 pairs of undies, 3 pairs of socks, a pair of thongs, a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant. You may also want iPad, chargers, and a camera.

Now that I’ve actually booked pre-cruise and inter-cruise accommodation I'll finish my ESTA application. But OH MY GOODNESS! The hotel prices in Seattle seem astronomical! Maybe I’m just out of touch. Even googling "affordable Seattle hotel" was returning results of $700+ per night. It certainly shows how affordable cruising is. I ended up booking the Travelodge North of Downtown. Hopefully it doesn’t turn out to be a complete dive. 🤞

Thanks everyone.

I’m trying to apply for an ESTA so we can enter the USA. We will fly in to Seattle and stay two nights before a 7 night cruise to Alaska with HAL. Upon return to Seattle we will stay 3 nights before boarding Carnival Splendor for a 23 night cruise back to Sydney. The ESTA asks if we are just transiting through the USA. I said "no" but then it asks for a name, address, and phone number of someone In the USA. 🤷‍♂️

When is a sale not a sale? I received an email from P&O saying they are including the premium drinks package when you book a value fare on cruise of 7+ nights. The only problem is when I price check a balcony cabin for our 10 day PNG cruise it’s $700/person more than I paid last week.

Thanks, Evon.

Does Princess process onboard and pre-cruise purchases (eg shore excursions) in Australia? I know it’s in Aussie Dollars but if it’s processed overseas I'll use a different card to avoid a foreign transaction charge.

We are cruising Alaska with HAL in August and I came here to ask the same question. Thanks for the answers. On the HAL site it looks like the Norris Glacier tour is half an hour longer and $60 Australian more.

The issue is we are in separate cabins and even though I booked both cabins myself, they are separate bookings with different booking numbers.

Thanks, everyone. it’s a pain that there’s not a simpler way to do this but I guess it is what it is. 🤷‍♂️

With less than 7 weeks until our first post-pandemic cruise we are ready to book shore excursions. DW and I are experienced cruises. This trip we are taking my widowed aunt with us, who has cruised with Princess several times before. We are Australians and this will be a domestic cruise for us; seven nights on the Coral Princess out of Brisbane, sailing up the Queensland coast. My aunt is keen to book excursions through the ship. We’re happy to go along with that as we're viewing this cruise as her vacation, not ours. Her cabin is on a seperate booking number. I asked our PVP to link our bookings but I think he must be still learning as I’m not sure he managed to do it. I was able to link the bookings in the medallion app so I could book a table for all of us for dinner. Is there anyway that I can book the three of us (my aunt, DW, and me) on a shore excursion? It appears that shore excursions can’t be booked on the medallion app and when I log into the website I can only book for DW and myself.

Indonesian Explorer Cruise - I305N Ship: Pacific Encounter Departure: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 Nights: 13 nights Departs: Brisbane Returns: Singapore Interior Cabin: $899/person

One of the five (are you kidding? FIVE?! That’s ridiculous!) cruises we have booked for this year is a 3 night Comedy Cruise out of Brisbane on the Pacific Explorer. It was in the latest flash sale and we decided to book it rather than finding land accommodation for the few days between our Transpacific on the Carnival Splendor and sailing to PNG on the Pacific Explorer. What should we except on a comedy cruise? I’m worried that being a three nighter it’s probably going to be a booze cruise (we aren’t drinkers) and I’m thinking that the comedy is likely to be of a ribald nature which is not to our taste. If necessary we can amuse ourselves in our cabin for three days especially seeing as the cheap price tempted us to spring for a balcony.

We have 55 days of holidays that must be used by the end of January. We had looked at doing B2B2B2B2B… on Quantum of the Seas (including transpacific) but I suggested to DW that it might become monotonous and why not jump from ship to ship. Then I saw the 23 night transpacific on Carnival Splendor and the price was too good to pass so we booked it. What do you think of this proposed itinerary? Thursday 25/8/22 Fly to Seattle Arrive 2:30pm. Check in to a hotel. Look around. Have dinner and go to bed at bedtime in an attempt to beat jet lag. (This strategy has worked in the past.) Friday 26/8/22 Seattle Saturday 27/8/22 Board HAL Eurodam 7 night Alaskan Cruise Saturday 3/9/33 Debark HAL Eurodam in Seattle Tuesday 6/9/22 Board Carnival Splendor 23 night transpacific cruise. This is the only thing I’ve booked so far and we’ve sprung for a balcony cabin rather than our usual inferior, I mean interior cabin. Friday 30/9/22 Debark Board Carnival Splendor in Sydney Probably climb the Harbour Bridge that night. We’ve done it in the daytime a few years ago. I gave DW a voucher for a night climb for her birthday earlier this year. Saturday 1/10/22 Fly to Brisbane Maybe board P&O Pacific Encounter for a 3 night comedy cruise??? Alternatively have a few days in either Sydney or Brisbane. Tuesday 4/10/22 Board P&O Pacific Encounter in Brisbane 10 night cruise to PNG We've not been to PNG and DW is keen to cruise there. Friday 14/10/22 Debark P&O Pacific Encounter in Brisbane This will be day 51. Wednesday 19/10/22 - Back to work Start saving for the next cruise. 😁 Thoughts?