Wastegirl

we just got ours on the sun princess for p n g 6th sep $64-90 a day up to $10 a drink. :p

Mozza, if you booked that package on line you had better contact Princess as it is a mistake and should not be there. I contacted them Sunday when it appeared on my Personalizer as it contradicted the marketing information I had received. The US rep had the Australian rep check it out and confirmed it should not have been available to me and not to book it.

The drinks package available to Australian cruisers on Australian cruises leaving and returning to Australian ports is only available for purchase on board at $59 pp for drinks under $14.

What sent up a red flag for me was the fact on line it was $5 pp per day more expensive and only let you have drinks up to $10 which doesn't cover many drinks on the Australian based ships that are in AUD.

Spoke to Princess rep yesterday, and it was confirmed by a Princess rep in Australia. Took a while for both the US rep and the Aust rep to work it out but the current AIBP showing on our Personalisers is a mistake, should not be there. Its the US model. You would think after identifying that it is showing up on Australian Personalisers that they would have removed it quickly. However being the weekend I suppose they don't have their IT people working.

They confirmed that the $59 package is what we have and is definitely only going to be available for purchase on board for drinks up to $14.

Princess was most apologetic about the mistake, I hope people don't fall for it and buy the packages and if they do that Princess fix it for them.

We've got one of the covered Mini's for our cruise in October, we have definitely marked it No Upgrade. All the other Minis are completely open, which for cruises in our neck of the woods is totally ridiculous, no shade what so ever. Not to mention everyone above you looks down into your balcony, not something I fancy.

So unless you can get an Emerald Deck Mini, which fortunately are the lower priced Mini's, I would stick with a standard verandah or grab one of the rear facing Premium Verandahs.

Thank you for supplying this interesting information!

 

Some questions, if you are able to answer them.

 

Where will the naming ceremony take place? In the middle of the harbor? Not sure on that one, sorry its not clear in all the publicity blurb

 

9:00 A.M., the 5 ships move to different locations. Where might those areas be? I was not aware that Sydney could berth more than 3 cruise ships at any one time. Aria will be at the Overseas Terminal, the Eden at Neutral Bay, Jewel at Athol Bouy, Dawn at Garden Island and Pearl anchored off Point Piper. Some of the ships are moving about between their mooring point and places like White Bay to get people on board. What I can see on the map is that they will all be within viewing distance of one another

 

Where will the entertainment in the 4:00-10:00 P. M. take place? On the ships but the fireworks will be open to everyone on the harbour, each of the ships has a Music Act. Then a simultaneous White Party on all the ships

 

As others have said, long may Pacific Area and Pacific Eden, aka Ryndam and Statendam, sail and may all who sail aboard her enjoy their adventure!

Note answers in red above

OP, I gather you are doing the South Pacific Crossing from Vancouver, through Honolulu, Pago Pago and so on.

Well most of the South Pacific Islands on that particular cruise are in Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia with no mention of Chikungunya Mosquito disease, in fact I had never heard of it and have travelled to my end of the South Pacific quite a few times.

So by the look of it the only Port you need be concerned about is Pago Pago.

However you cannot be too careful as we have our own list of mosquito borne diseases and always recommend a good insect repellent.

Statendam to become the Eden and the Ryndam to become the Aria. The Eden and Aria will keep their blue hulls but will gain a white stripe near the top and the other 3 already while existing P&O Aust ships will gain a dark blue stripe near the top of their hulls. This way they all match in without trying to paint the ex HAL ships all white which I am glad they are not doing.

The preliminary refurb information coming out indicates they are going to be looking very swish.

Like you we are doing a New Zealand cruise in 2017 but have already booked. We are spending a week on the South Island revisiting our favourite spots and getting to a couple of places we haven't been to before. Then we are flying from Dunedin to Auckland on the Thursday the cruise leaves and hop on the Solstice for a scenic trip back to Australia.

Its a good cruise calling into the major NZ ports and through the Sounds which are a 'must see', then onto Hobart in Tasmania then to Sydney. That cruise is in February which is a great time to visit both countries and it is also done in the reverse from Sydney to Auckland.

The only issue I have with it is that it does not visit the Bay of Islands which I would like to cruise in and out of one day, though I have already visited on a land tour.

The bar in the Casino area serves generous shots in their drinks. My DH and BIL both called it the 'double dip' bar because they could be assured of a good Jack and Coke or a double B&B. I preferred the Molecular Bar drinks, will miss them :(

Up next to the Sky lounge, just before the entry is two comfy chairs set behind a glass panel with a big window just in front of them. Nice spot to sit with a book and have a wonderful view.

Go up to the Sunset Bar at night, wonderful spot to sit - everyone else is partying or eating around the ship and it is very quiet with a fantastic view of the stars.

The Aria being a thoroughly refurbished ship will most likely offer a more upmarket environment and I have heard that P&O are trying to lift their profile with their new ships. Also the Aria was a Holland America ship and they have a very good layout and good size rooms with large bathrooms.

So if it was just two of you I would go with the Aria but as the ships have not come into service yet we don't know what their quad rooms are going to be like. If you can hold out until November after refurbishment you might have a better idea. However as OzKiwiJJ said, 4 women one bathroom :eek:

Also what category are you going for, if you are looking at a balcony quad, it might be better to do two OV's for a similar price.

We did the Top End of Australia in February which was the second of the B2B round NZ and Australia. When the Solstice was docking - no problems, soon after it was docked and cleared by the local authorities you were able to walk off. Ship's tours were given priority, so if a large party was walking through you had to wait for them to pass or they blocked off a line for them to get through, slowing down the other lines but not to any great degree.

However, we found not only on our part of the trip but the other part as well, that if there was tendering involved it was chaos - so keep that in mind when booking your tours. There was much grumbling amongst the overseas passengers on how bad it was, so with tender ports it might be best to stick to ship's tours.

Oh I forgot, take your own goggles and snorkel, gear is not easily available for hire and this way you can snorkel anywhere, anytime without having to worry about it. Its only if you take flippers that you have to worry about space in your luggage an we do without.

Noumea - Not my favourite port, this year we are stumping up the $'ss and doing Amadee but I understand that you can get there under your own steam on the ferry that the tour uses for a much cheaper amount - someone here has hopefully done it and will give you some tips.

Isle of Pines - Haven't been to the Natural Aquarium but I have heard by the time you get there, there's not much time for snorkelling. If you want to save your pennies just get off the tender, turn right towards the 'big rock' which is a little island just off the beach - and there is plenty of snorkelling around there free of charge.

Mystery Island - a small uninhabited but lovely little island. Don't need to do a tour if you don't want - there is snorkelling from several spots around the island. You can walk around the island itself, which is a pretty walk. Buy lobster from the locals and chow down in a rustic setting. The locals come over and advertise some short tours for very reasonable rates, and they take AUD.

Bay of Islands - yep the New Zealanders are well organised with tours available at the gate as bubbles2014 said.

Auckland - Look on line at the Fullers web site. Practically next to the ship they do harbour tours which includes a brief stop at Rangitoto Island or an actual trip to the island itself. You can book tours on line - which we did - and just get off the ship and wander round to your tour. They give times etc so you can manage your time ashore.

Hi Beanb41 - we were only on the second half and it was nearly enough to put me off sailing Celebrity again and I certainly won't sail with them if it involves a lot of tender ports. In fact if it had not been for my really great cruise on the Century previously, I would have been put off Celebrity entirely.

Interesting to hear your explanation because I have been in just as rough seas on a HAL tender (in fact rougher) and while awkward they handled it very well but I think their ships and tender drivers are more experienced at tendering.

On the Solstice b2b round Australia there was a lot of unhappy Vegemites :D

Oh and I forgot, on the tender ride back from Yorkey's Knob people were panicking, yelling we were going to sink even some screaming. It was an experience.

Another 'hands up' for Bali - we didn't have to wait too long to get on the tender but a good 30+ plus to get to the Port, then coming back a good hour waiting in the line up and another 30+ minutes to get back. Plus our tender broke down twice, once next to the ship and we hit the side, hard :eek:

Even worse though was Yorkey's Knob outside Cairns in Queensland, Australia - we waited 2 hours to board a tender, rough 30 minute ride to the offloaded, then that night returning in the dark, in a darked tender, in rough waters - going more backwards than forwards with water rushing through the tender. Then once getting back to within sight of the Solstice having to sit in rough conditions waiting in line - still in the pitch black dark - for another 30 minutes before they progressed in the line up to dock by the ship and unload us. That was just the beginning because we had elderly people fainting, medical teams rushing back and forth. It was a scary experience, my next Celebrity cruise only has one tender port in a calm bay, glad of that.

OP, just looked at your itinerary, looks a good one, my DH ad I are wanting to do something similar but starting from the other direction from Australia. Once you get into the seas below the equator you are actually travelling at a good time of the year. Cyclone season starts around November, peaks Jan, Feb and Mar and finishes around April. So you are not likely to encounter a Cyclone in the southern South Pacific, we have and it is quite exciting :D

You're going to Dravuni, my favourite island - not dramatic but an untouched little green island amongst other untouched little green islands in blue blue seas. Don't expect much in infrastructure but the local residents are very friendly.

The only other island I have been on that is in your itinerary is Suva - people are incredibly friendly as well - Bula Bula (hello or welcome in their language) everywhere and from everyone - but the main town itself was nothing to write home about. It is the central area for business, airport and to get people out to the resorts. So look for a tour that takes you out of the main town.

Not to mention the knock on benefit of the methane all the sheep would produce being turned into electricity to help run the ship. :D

Been having the same problem when I was checking pricing for my 2017 booking, so its not only 2016 having a problem.

My sister pointed out the work around - start you booking via the inside cabin and once it gets you to the choose a room section you can swap to another category without any problem.

I swore last time I sailed Celebrity, never again because of the web site issues, but the right price and the right itinerary comes along and here I am again battling with the web site. :mad:

I think you are worrying unnecessarily, its not like you are flying from Perth to Sydney, or coming in from the US. While I prefer to arrive the day before I have flown in on the same day from Adelaide without any issues.

The only suggestion I would make is that you fly a reputable airline that has multiple flights out of the Gold Coast into Sydney, choose the earliest flight and if there is a problem, you can catch the next, or the one after that and still be in Sydney in time to board the ship.

I am sure you can board in Melbourne if you miss the ship, but Princess might not like it if you do it because you have not left early enough in the morning and cut departure too fine, or don't keep them informed all along the way.

After all if there is such a disaster that no flights from the Gold Coast can leave and get into Sydney by the early to mid afternoon, you won't be the only one missing the ship.

I think we might be getting the drinks package for our trip on the Diamond as it is to the South Pacific so choice of wine is not so critical. But if the wine list is going to be limited and only average, I think on trips to cooler destinations we would bring on our own wine and just pay per drink, it works out a similar cost - just better wine if we do it ourselves.

I loved the freedom of having the package on Celebrity, we upgraded to Premium as the exchange rate via Celebrity was still good at that time - it no longer is so we'll most probably stay with our included Classic next time. But the thing I did not like was the strong drinks. I kept on telling them just one nip in my cocktails but I kept on getting drinks so strong I could not drink them, the alcohol overpowered the flavour. Fortunately at that time they still had the Molecular Bar which had gorgeous cocktails.

I therefore hope with Princess that they don't go down the same road as Celebrity and their bar staff start pouring doubles, I enjoy a drink but I don't want to be sloshed all the time.

Just booked a Celebrity cruise for Feb 2017, with gratuities paid it was a very well priced cruise of New Zealand and includes the drinks package.

So I have worked out that we won't need to spend on drinks, won't be doing any speciality restaurants, already have a Solstice ship's model, don't need any more bling, don't buy the photos and will do our own thing for excursions. So in reality my account should be $0 at the end of the cruise.

But thought I might need a little bit, so checked pre purchased OBC, now on the Solstice in February just gone, I paid $25 AUD and got $25 USD. Now the OBC is $32.50 that is a 70c in the dollar exchange rate - not very good. But if the dollar drops more, now might be the time to buy some.

That got me wondering, on our trips on HAL we purchased FCC for $200USD and if we didn't use it in 4 years it would be refunded. I wonder if they will give me back my $200 in USD, I might make a profit :)

hi, we are on the sun princess on the 6/9/15. I rang them up and was told it is $67-85 a day you cannot pay before, you tell bar staff you want it then it will be put on your account drinks up to $14. maurice

Just checked with Princess who confirmed the package will be available for my October cruise and confirmed that the price is approximately $59 per person per day. She advised there might be a very slight fluctuation of around $2 - why she couldn't say and that you can definitely only buy it once on board, no pre purchase.

I hope you are making you son and friend pay for his own drinks bill, that can really add up on a ship if you are not careful. Of the Australian based ships only Princess is currently offering a drinks package at $59 pp pd. But once one does it, the others may follow suit (crossing fingers).

With the Legend, as you have worked out, you also have to pay gratuities and everything in US dollars, so that has to be factored in. You have to pay gratuities for each person including children, but then you don't have return flights.

You are right about the Eden, it will be new and refurbished. It was previously a Holland America ship and having been on one of their ships I can tell you their staterooms are a very good size, no matter what the category.

I'm sure you are already aware of this, but don't forget to get all the legal paperwork from the parents agreeing for you to take their children out of the country (I understand this even applies to grandkids).

I also believe that some cruise lines insist on one person in the cabin being of a minimum age, in RCCL's case over 21, so you might like to check this as well.

Well Princess (which like P&O is Carnival) has just introduced into their Australian based ships an All Included Beverage Package of $59 pp pd. I wondered if this was eventually going to happen across all Carnival owned ships.

Anyway a few weeks ago I rang P&O and asked about drink packages and was told they are introducing a soft drinks package soon and the way she worded it I got the impression they might be considering an alcoholic one as well.

We'll just have to wait and see, as long as the value is there I find a drinks package very convenient.

LOL.

 

OK, the real reason I want the mini is b/c...my other half snores & I need him as far away from me at night as possible! No, I'm not kidding. But I refuse to pay that much more $$ b/c of his snoring, so I guess I'm the one who will lose in the end! We really aren't in our cabin much, so while the extra room is nice, it's not really all that important to us.

Maybe you should just book two of the cheapest inside rooms possible and get right away from him :D

Seriously though, there is still only one 'bedroom' area so unless you want to sleep on the couch you won't be getting that much further away.