Porky55

15 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I have to confess that we were rather under-whelmed with the Taieri Gorge Railway trip. We were on the Princess tour that included lunch and wine. I don't remember what the lunch consisted of, but I do remember the 'unlimited' supply of wine. After topping up our glasses a few times, the waiter left the bottle with us.

Haha - I have a hubby who loves trains, so this covered one of  his ”want to dos”.  
 

33 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Porky55, how do you book it privately?  I'd love to do this, but the price quoted by the ship is very high.

If you make it a DIY, how hard is it to get to the railway station from the ship?

I’m really sorry - it looks like this tour might have been a victim of Covid. All I can find is it closed in 2020 because of Covid and can’t find if it’s reopened yet. Perhaps the ship knows something that we don’t ? 
 

Just Google it yourself; Viator, TripAdvisor - or someone on here from NZ might have more info. Good luck, if you can organise it you will enjoy it I’m sure.

46 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

How did you find them?  I found Eastern Europeans to be reserved, very different to the friendly crews seen on Australian ships.  

I agree with this, we cruised on MSC some years ago; very European / East Med crew. As we had cruised from Perth to Rome, we started with Asian crew which slowly changed and it was very obvious the difference between nationalities.

But these wait staff crew on Coral were lovely, very friendly and as I said their experience showed, as in making you feel welcome, comfortable and a pleasure to deal with.

My recommendation is the Taieri Gorge Railway - brilliant scenery, lots of fun.

You can book it through the cruise line or privately.

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

For Coral Princess, I gather? We have had a couple of cruises that come to mind where there was quite a few Eastern Europe waiters - Carnival Spirit and the early days of Sun Princess being based in Oz. 

 

I love that you use the word experienced, as that is a definite plus. For Encounter, i am expecting a few friends to jump aboard in Singapore. They have previously worked out of Brisbane on Pacific Dawn & Aria, and have been away from sea for such a long time now.

Apologies, yes Coral.

The Dining Room Head was from Turkey, our table HW was from Serbia and his first was from Croatia. Our table HW has over 10 years with Princess, started on cruise ships when he was 15 he said. I wouldn’t put him much older than 30, but anticipated our every need. 👍

Must add that this was in the Club Class dining section on Coral, and if anyone is ever hesitant about the value of Club Class, we recommend the extra cost. Felt like the old days of TD 😮‍💨 but so much better.

We are booked on the ‘23 WC sector - Dover to Sydney and have waitlisted for Club Class - (currently have a balcony) - price be damned - the three meals a day was so worth it, the service topped it off.

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yes, lots of crew to board in Singapore.

Was surprised this cruise by the amount of East European crew, particularly among the experienced staff in the Dining Room. Not seen this level before on Aus departures.

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Every indication is that you'd have to drag them kicking and screaming to implement new lockdowns.

Lockdowns perhaps? Time will tell I guess

7 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

. I can IMAGINE the media getting hold of a story and sensationalising about it running rampant on cruise ships, swaying public opinion, and the government having knee jerk reaction of reinstating a cruise ship ban. JMHO

This would be just what some of the Premiers would love ………… being able to lock us down and bring back mandates 😳😤

34 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Should all be released. Dont you want to know the covid history of a ship before you book or embark?

With the utmost respect; I don’t think Covid is any different to Influenza-A or NoroVirus, it’s not the ship that is infecting people, it is other people.
 

Reporting  numbers for any viral infections won’t ever change the facts that there are those among us who continue to either not take proper care or are just unlucky.
 

All we can do is take the utmost personal care, get vaccinated and be responsible for our own actions. And have great holidays, we didn’t avoid anything during our recent 7 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. 😆

2 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

We have heard people rave about Princess but weren’t overly impressed this cruise. There didn’t seem a great deal to do during the day. Fortunately I’m a reader and DW brought some craft projects to keep herself busy. And I spent a lot of time with Auntie. 

I tend to agree with this comment, again, just something missing 🙄

Is this all Princess, or just on Coral? We have a cruise on Majestic in October so will find out then 🤔

1 hour ago, Cbtours said:

Just the bit re PD? We heard an announcement from the captain while we were in cairns (at early dinner I think) that we wouldn't be be going to PD next day due to weather and tenders needed. Though I hadnt been on FB to read if anything was on earlier?

That was the first time we heard it too, though had been ashore and using 4G so FB was easy to check. That’s where they were discussing the extra night in Cairns - just after lunch?

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

He seemed to limit his interaction with passengers. I think that was the only announcement we heard from him.

Agreed, still ironing out all his “first time in this area” teething problems perhaps?
 

Have no idea what other ships he has captained, but sure someone will know 🤔

8 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We returned this morning from a seven day cruise on the Coral Princess. I would like to make some positive and some negative comments -

1. Although the cruise was in school holidays, we didn't see more than 30 or so children on board. Obviously there were many more than that, but they didn't cause any problems or disruptions.

2. Boarding was easy. We were in Group A (11 - 11.30am) and got to the terminal around 10.20. We were able to go straight in. Check-in and boarding were easy, but I feel that there were many more people there than the number supposed to be in Group A. No-one checked to see what group we were in.

3. We parked in Carpark 1 at the terminal. We were able to choose a spot where we felt we would get maximum shade. It was very close to the terminal.

4. We were told it was 750 m walk to the ship. I don't believe it. When the terminal opened I read that it was 375m. I feel that would be more accurate.

5. Although we had up-loaded everything that was required on the Medallion app, the check-in staff wanted to see our passports and vaccination certificates. No-one asked to see the photos of our RAT tests.

6. We had to wear masks in the terminal and while boarding. Masks had to be worn in the lifts and while walking into and out of the dining room. Remove mask when seated. Masks had to be worn in the Princess theatre, but they didn't seem to mandate masks in the Explorers Lounge or the Universe Lounge.

7. One of the best things I found on the ship was the speed of the lifts. We never encountered crowds waiting for a lift and very often I (or we) were in the lift alone.

8. Night-time shows were 8pm and 10pm. Trivia was usually 10 or 10.30am and also 4.30pm.

9. The comedian guest entertainer's show was so bad we regard it as the worst we have seen in all our cruising. Apparently during his second show he kept referring to his notes. Maybe he had down-loaded some jokes off the internet because he didn't have any in his first show. (Sorry to be brutally honest. BTW, we didn't walk out. We sat through the whole show.)

10. The two Buddy Holly tribute shows were good.

11. Three production shows. On the Bayou was superb. This is a new show and is held in the Universe Lounge that has revolving stages. Anyone wanting to go to the 8pm would be well advised to go early. Around 7.40 the CD announced that the lounge had standing room only. We went early for the 10pm show and got a seat at the front. The theatre was full before starting time. On the first formal night we had Encore. It was superb as usual. The last show was Motor City. I thought we had seen that one before, but either the staging or costumes were different, because it didn't seem too familiar.

12. Because of COVID, there was no cocktail party on the first formal night and no champagne waterfall.

13. At the Captains lunch for the most travelled passengers, the Captain didn't remove his mask and the officers didn't stay to host the passengers. They all left so the lunch was just for the passengers.

14. On the second formal night Captains Circle Party, once again the captain had a mask on when he posed for photos. I suppose this is because we are all asked to wear masks when we can't socially distance.

15. The way they run the anytime dining (Dine My Way) works very well.

 

Some negatives -

1. Often the food wasn't hot. We didn't ever get hot chips until we sent the first lot back.

2. At dinner on the second formal night I usually order lobster followed by beef wellington, but there was no lobster shown on the menu. We then found that the lobster is there, disguised under the description 'king prawn and lobster'. A few people I spoke to were disappointed that they had missed the lobster.

3. Sometimes the inexperience of the waiters was evident.

4. No chocolates on the pillow at night. 😢 Maybe I should have put this one at the top of the list of negatives.

 

Thanks AusTraveller, agree with almost all you said (fortunately opted to not see the Comedian 😮‍💨)

But can I add a few additional points:

1) We missed the usual communications from the ship -

     The 12 noon “Captains/Ship Reports

     That we passed Willis Island - ( happened to catch it while walking the decks.)

     The fact that we weren’t going to Port Douglas was on FB before we heard anything from the ship - how did this happen??  
Sure there were more of these type of things missing 🤔

 2) We were Club Class and think it’s worth it just for the restaurant - the experienced waiters, exceptional service, food recommendations and attention to the small details were fabulous. (sorry about the lobster last formal night - we ate it 😋)

3) yes, missed the chocolates on the pillows - so bought our own 🍫

We just felt the ship (not the staff) was a little off, if you get my meaning.Not all changes are due to Covid, or Covid is becoming a convenient excuse. Again, this is just my personal opinion - only time will tell.

We did enjoy our cruise very much, was wonderful to be on a ship again.

28 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We also live with tank water so I think we would have noticed chlorinated water. I do notice the chlorine when I drink Brisbane city water.

Agree, Corals water much nicer than Brisbane city 🤔

1 hour ago, Bizziecruzer said:

You still have the option of a card. Just go to the purser's desk.

But the card won’t open the door anymore?? 🙄🤔

3 minutes ago, maponus said:

Are there any changes to the wine/cocktail prices now that the premier beverage package is "live"?

Nope, not particularly ……… sad really 🥺

Both are as advertised 🙄
 

5 minutes ago, joejoe 59 said:

You definitely need a pull hair out emoji today 🙃

Yessssss 👏😆

5 minutes ago, shireboi said:

The ‘issue’ is that for every item it asks to Link Your Booking….. there’s no capacity to do anything…it won’t allow selection 

 

select medallions…nope…link 

 

TRASH

Perhaps you need to try filling out as much information as you can in the Princess Personaliser? Seems to migrate to the Medallion if it is there.

There is also a windows version for Medallion, where you can fill out information as well. Try this link:

https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/

And use the name/DOB/ Booking number to access it.

Good luck

2 minutes ago, Porky55 said:

They’ve got your napkins ready lol I presume it means cruise critic

Definitely the CC is Cruise Critic,  😂😆🤣😆🤣

6 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

They’ve got your napkins ready lol I presume it means cruise critic 😂😂😂

we had Italian night tonight! Delicious and the tiramisu was to die for! Frank wondered if there would be an angel in a heaven making it for when he gets there 😂😂😂

 

 

Yummmmm 😋

So, we have negative rats and all green to go!! Have finished packing and will head down to BrisVegas in the morning ……… yippee 

🥳🤩😎

Just off topic - wish CC had a few more “reaction” images below posts - like this one 🤯 or 😳 - could have used at least one today 😂

9 hours ago, discoseabear said:

Last night in the Horizon Court I saw and tasted smoked baby Alligator ribs.

The ribs were the size of large fish bones.

They were a little tricky to eat with the little bones.

Eeeuuuw 🥴🤢 these don’t sound very appealing at all - AND “baby alligator ribs” - please explain?? 🙄

13 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Not another dress code thread, lol.

No ………… never 🤭 far too controversial - just a gentle suggestion 😌

15 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Like so many services, taxis are light on the ground too. The queue at White Bay was the longest I have seen following the first Pacific Explorer cruise back to White Bay, and that was on a Saturday morning when there is less demand. We booked P&O's transfer to Central station, expecting the taxi line to be long.

 

I am curious what transfers Princess is offering in Brisbane. For anyone heading to the airport, surely they operate a transfer coach. I would also hope they also run another to a public transport hub, such as Roma St station.

Good question for Brisbane - think things only happen if the minority raise their voices and ask for these services!! 

1 minute ago, Mikey22 said:

His mates were, SOO shirts and BCF fishing shirt in the MDR 😄

Aaah but the BCF fishing shirt has a collar 😳