Porky55

40 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

I would absolutely never remove the crew appreciation!  Why?  Because I appreciate the crew!!

 

~Nancy

Nancy,

Exactly, we have never removed them either. Just lovely to read a thread where passengers are so supportive of the hard working wonderful crews.

Rose 🌹

So, just to clarify, no one on this thread removes crew appreciation? 
 

On other Social Media sites, this is all that is talked about, removing 'gratuities' as soon as possible when they board the ship.

However, cruising on HAL, from Australia or International we are charged daily gratuities and have never removed them. Believe that the right thing is done and these monies make it to the intended crew members.
 

I have used this advice for new cruisers on more than one occasion, after reading it here on CC. This is gold though … thankyou TPKeller 👏👏🥂⭐️🌟

On 10/8/2023 at 9:06 AM, ceeceeDee said:

Just curious........... What is the significance of chucking flour about?

Easy for staff to clean up afterwards 😉

On 9/22/2023 at 5:37 AM, kwokpot said:

Day 7 Update:

Our cruise past the International Dateline early this morning so we promptly went from Tuesday to Thursday.

That's how it works in the Pacific, welcome to our side of the Globe 🎉⭐️

We are currently on the WC 2023 and as part of our boarding, we had to provide evidence of Travel Insurance and we aren't going to New Caledonia. Also asked for Travel Insurance documents on a majestic cruise to NZ in Dec 22.

Dont know about anyone else, but I wouldn't want to be the passenger in the terminal testing the validity of the Travel Insurance requirements before boarding. We always get Travel Insurance regardless of destination.

As Aus Traveller said, wifi has improved immeasurably since the change to Starlink. (And, I understand that only those who complained received partial credits 🙄)

We can now stream the Aus nightly news each morning, social media, photos, weather apps etc. 

Heard that Coral was the last to be upgraded to this new service, so if you have cruises booked on other Princess ships, wifi should be much better too.

And ekka49, we will see in the Pacific, but it's my understanding that Starlink has more satellites at a much lower altitude so we shouldn't see any loss of service 🤞 Will let you know.

12 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Is there much of a turnover of passengers in New York? 

Overheard an officer say 120 off and 111 on so basically equal. 
 

However, seems we will be increasing the numbers of US passengers, which makes sense.

On 7/12/2023 at 8:13 PM, greyskier said:

Has anyone had experience of a Christmas cruise on HAL with young children.  Are there many others and does the kids club operate.Most of our HAL cruises have been overseas and there are usually no kids onboard but the australian market is probably quite different.

Even though we love HAL I think Royal, Carnival or P&O will do a better Christmas cruise for kids. 😄

On 7/10/2023 at 3:03 AM, Kiwi_cruiser said:

Due to cruises cancelled due to covid and my father passing away we ended up with money owning, which we have asked Cunard to refund us.

(This is a very long story....., this is the short version.).

 

Has anyone had a refund from Cunard (Carnival PLC) before?

 

If so have you had it from HSBC Payment service?

We cancelled a cruise in Feb this year, just before the cutoff deadline - 30 days? It was cancelled for medical reasons. We received 25% of what we had paid Cunard, paid back into the original credit card we had used to pay them, and the remainder from Travel Insurance.
 

Found it imperative to have a letter from Cunard stating that we had cancelled and the amount they had repaid, then a letter from GP with medical reasons for cancelling and making sure all the correct forms for both Cunard and Insurance were completed - and received ALL our money back. 

Most important - you must follow all their procedures and it works. I managed ALL of this via email. It can be done.

Good luck 👍
 

2 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Yep,

An easy day for us today.

Wandered the Gothic Quarter for a few hours, leisurely lunch, made all the better by a busker group ( double bass, banjo, clarinet ) near the Cathedral.

Very pleasant.

On our way back to the shuttle spent some time in the Mercat de la Boqueria for some yummy fruit.

 

Sea day tomorrow then Malaga.

Not sure where you live in Aussie, but don't you find the fruit and veg so much yummier and lusher than in Europe than here? 
 

Our theory is the proliferation of markets in the EU and truly fresh produce 🍇🍓🫐

Rose

I love visiting cities, but wouldn't live in one.
 

We have lived all over Australia and found large regional towns far better for kids, families, buying homes, playing sport, public schools, retirement villages, public transport, parks and gardens etc etc.  Everything is within 15 minutes and when/if you need big cities for specialist medical or whatever, it's an hour flight away. 

So …… I don't think any of these cities are any better than the next, each has good points and bad. A place is what we make of it … much like a cruise ship 😉

Rose 🌹

12 hours ago, arxcards said:

Between Sydney and the US, I am also a firm believer that a stopover in a resort in Fiji or Hawaii is good for the soul. We usually save it up for the trip home though. Long legs and long flights are a pain, and the 3-4-3 configuration of most economy seats now is something else to contend with. 

 

We look forward to a flight to Heathrow in a couple of years' time to catch the Crown world cruise home. I have been considering business class seats, but also figure that money could be better spent on upgrading to a mini-suite for 57 days, more involved port experiences, or most likely - a cruise around the UK prior to jumping aboard Crown Princess. Of all of these ways of spending our money, the business class seats are at the bottom of the list as it is all spent in 24hrs.

 

Business class is great, but not when traded-off against extra days at sea in bigger cabins. Snagging us a twin seat in premium economy would be a reasonable compromise.

 

As to the original topic, I am watching keenly, and have been poking around some of those sites. The obvious candidate is QF1 via Singapore, but also the option to fly to Perth, then direct to Heathrow. There are cheaper options - what airlines do people prefer when heading to Europe/UK?

We were firm Etihad passengers - via Abu Dhabi where we have spent time on stopovers.

But have recently been getting much better $$ with Singapore Air - (particularly on 'one way' ) by booking as soon as the dates open to book. 
 

As much as I love Qantas - have yet to find a price to match SA. We too like mini suites and 5⭐️ hotels (while still flying Business 😉), so try to find a bargain of some sort. Helps that DH is still working full time. Once he retires this will probably disappear. 🥹

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

We all have different needs and priorities: comfort, budget, time… As others have said do your research, listen to all the advice and opinions, but at the end of the day, you do you.

 

Happy travels!

Couldn't agree more with what you have said. We have reached a point in our life that we can afford 'Both' business class flights and 5 Star Hotels. And lots of cruising. 
 

Hopefully we are all helping Kiwi_cruiser 😁

Rose

On 6/20/2023 at 9:48 PM, Kiwi_cruiser said:

What websites do you guys use to find flights?

 

We have been looking at a few different cruises all over the world, but finding flights have been a bit of a pain.

 

Before covid we use to use Webjet a bit, but they now have a booking fee, so that rules them out.

 

I know about Skyscanner but they are a pain to use!

We are with CBtours - check Webjet, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor, Expedia, etc. and then go to the airline  direct. There are a few things to watch this way though; on overseas flights I have always gotten the best price and seats by booking early - like as soon as dates open. This can be between 9 to 11 months before the date. Then times - we fly to Europe every year as our son lives there and last thing we want is flying for forty hours - which really means wasted hours hanging around in airports.
 

We prefer Singapore as the flight to Amsterdam is a total of around 24 hrs usually.  This gives us 21/2 hours in Singapore (would never have less than this after a dreadful connecting flight a few years ago of just 3/4 hrs 😰 - frantic). Etihad is also a favourite. Need to add we always fly Business as we have worked hard to be able to.
 

"Research"  is the key. Only you know what you can afford, the Class you want to fly and the time you are happy to use / lose. And always check the T&Cs of your bookings - must always be able to cancel or change with minimum $$. Flying from Australia, cruising and our ages make this imperative.
 

Can I add that the times we used TAs they were ALWAYS more expensive than the flights I could book myself. ( At least get quotes from TA and then compare what you can do yourself).  And when Covid hit, we had business flights booked with Singapore Air and received all our money back within two days of notifying them - two days!! And … if things go wrong, I can handle them myself.

Cheers, Rose

Agree with the laundry sheets from Woolies - been available for years and work a treat, both in the machines (just throw a couple on top of laundry)or dissolve in water for handwash.

Rose

31 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

Do you think it would be ok to take your own fold-able lounger onto the ship?  If i have that balcony, I want to be able to sunbath, not just sit in an uncomfortable chair.

If you want to you probably could 🤔 just wrap it and put a luggage tag on it and it will be delivered to your room with luggage - then you can bake away 😄

16 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

I have just put a hold on a club class mini suite on the Majestic, for a 14 day cruise Sydney-South Pacific in January - taking advantage of a $99 deposit, low price deal that is being advertised this week on the Princess website. The cabin I have a hold on is Marina deck, M107 which is at the front of the ship with a huge deck.  Given the lack of the sanctuary, I thought that this deck would be a good substitute.  However, I haven't been able to find any videos or photos of these mini suites on the Majestic and I am wondering what the deck furniture is like = do they have the hold teak loungers, or is it the new modern seats with ottomans.  Does anyone have any contemporary knowledge? 

Hi, this mini suite doesn't have any teak loungers, or ottomans but it has an amazing balcony. Only FULL suites have the fancy furniture and a mini suite isnt fancy in that way. This is a photo of the balcony - if you want to see more check out https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/member/catgallery.php?ship=Majestic Princess&cat=Mini-Suite

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

Of course it doesn't. It's Fox News. Is there anyone left in the world who thinks that they will get accurate, unbiased and honest reporting from that source?

Some of the Australian news sources were also clutching at straws, reporting inaccurate comments from passengers who had really no idea what was happening.

 

I'm sure that Sky News (Fox) isn't the only media outlet in Australia who report inaccurate, or even fake, news. Media overall have a lot to answer for in recent years. 
 

All very sad anyway, regardless of reports. 🥺

9 minutes ago, Over from NZ said:

Another bloody jumper. 

It's a long drop if they did 😳 🫣

With everyone else, never had anything go missing on a ship.

But did get hit in Paris by the backpack pickpockets - walking near the Louvre but fortunately the young lady was seen by a Hotel concierge nearby who yelled out, and the young lass dropped my purse and ran 😮‍💨

We were warned of the same type of activity while in Barcelona, so keep belongings close, wallets in front pockets for men and just be vigilant and careful.

This was years ago and have been very alert ever since 🤔

I actually really like the look of the layout  🤔 Each to their own I guess 🙄

On 2/28/2023 at 5:43 PM, caribill said:

 

And where is this juice bar located?

 

Any idea what used to be at that location?

It's in the buffet - don't think they have taken anything out, it's just a selection of smoothies that can be purchased. Or is included in beverage packs.

10 hours ago, a.madruga said:

Anybody seen a juice Bar??

This is the Juice Bar on Majestic currently. These $ are AUD$

1 minute ago, Alaska Lily said:

I appreciate Princess trying to give “added value” to “plus” packages but… is it just me or does this whole “premium dessert “ thing seem like a bad idea?  

It does to me too 🙄

Perhaps free laundry tokens for a cruise would be more appreciated?
Or Specialty Dining?

Or a free shore excursion?
 

What do you think?

Rose