mr walker

for our Majestic cruise in a few weeks (10 Feb), there are a number of "Party" nights showing on the schedule including ABBA, Motown, C&W, 80's. On Princess do people typically dress up 'in theme' for these nights like on other cruiselines, or is the dress-up more for the entertainment crew? On P&O, Carnival & RC etc, many passengers dress-up for the evening & photos are a big part of it.

View from yacht club at Airlie, having lunch & a couple of beers - well worth the tender ride in. Note: photo used zoom on camera & the ship is further away than it looks in the photo. We had done the aquaduck tour prior to having lunch - not sure if it still operates as I saw it was up for sale a couple of years back.

Just so we can all understand what caused the problem to be aware ourselves, what was the thing that initiated the problem? Did you incorrectly enter your PIN which started the chain of events ie needing to answer security questions etc? It seems unusual for the problem to occur in NZ. Most are conscious of needing a fallback to our 'primary' card, without the need to carry large sums of cash. We have a debit card, and a travel money card as backup should something go wrong. I don't want to spend my holiday washing dishes if my card is declined 😮 Glad you were able to get through it with your daughter's help

The auto-grats applied to drink purchases etc have nothing to do with gratuity applicable to services such as dining waiters & stateroom stewards

Looks a great option Lyle. Adding to what Mic already replied re the Sth Pacific Islands - Noumea is on the main New Caledonian island Grande Terre & is a modern city & Lifou is an island in the Loyalty Islands province of New Caledonia which is more rustic & basically a beach day - Vila is a relatively modern city (by Sth Pacific standards) on Efate island of Vanuatu. Mystery Island is an uninhabited 'cruise-ship' only island, where locals come from nearby islands for the day - it again is basically a beach day. - Lautoka & Suva are on opposite sides of the Fijian main island of Viti Levu, Savusuva is on Vanua Levu Island (I have not been there) & Dravuni is a very small island which is a beach day All of these places are very interesting to visit, each different to each other. Based on you updated plan, when will you likely be in the Sydney area as I am keen to meet with you & Lynn and maybe visit Penrith & the Blue Mountains - Penrith is about 50km west of Sydney CBD and at the base of the mountains. Cheers

Whilst none of us won, the good news is that Powerball has jackpotted to $100M in the next draw & we have a 'chance' to win that 🙂 Should be able to have a decent get-together for that!!

I had/have no clue of what you were taking about & decided to not show my ignorance 🙂 I guess I could always look it up on my phone 😮

maybe instead of a ship, the process can be quicker if passengers arrive on a Yellow Submarine?

Not good news for PNG. We are glad we got to visit the Milne Bay area on our Sun Princess cruise in 2017 as Tracey's Dad served there in WW2. I really do not know how the country can go forward. Australia has poured money into PNG for decades now, but it seems the country is no better today than before.

Quite a tale there John 🙂 Not sure I would have been as adventurous as you were. I have learned to accept my shortcomings as regards to home projects etc & luckily Tracey recognises that I am pretty useless when it comes to anything involving tools and working with my hands. She accepts that in that regards I am somewhat similar to Frank Spencer or Victor Meldrew. Luckily I had a career that used my brain 🙂 Luckily, I realised early in my life that having friends who were even worse in that regards was a good thing as it didn't make me look so bad. So few of my mates are particularly useful either 🙂 The mate who built a shelf for the microwave that gave way in the middle of the very first night has set a low bar for me. My lot in life then has been to pay others to do many of the things that perhaps would be DYI for others.

Sad news I'm afraid - no win!!! 😮 Will keep trying.......................................

Oh, that makes sense. I visited Palmy regularly as my major customer in NZ had their plant there. Didn't get to too many other regional airports as mostly travelled thru Auck or ChCh.

Good luck with the packing mate. I hope all goes well with the packing & the move. Cheers, Neil & Tracey

From some American colleagues the story is that businesses refused to be tax collectors for the govt, or at least want people to know how much is going to the govt in the transaction. Not sure that their point is being made as they are collecting the tax, the customer is paying the tax & the govt is getting the tax 🙂 Closer to home, well NZ. I recall a levy being placed on passengers flying out of Palmerston Nth airport. The airlines refused to collect it by adding/including in fare and so you had to line up & pay the fee and then show the receipt at the boarding gate. It's a strange world.

Well, I'll play along on the idea of us doing somehting as a group - tonight's Ozlotto jackpot is $5M & we have a ticket. Let's see what we win & then we can make a plan 🙂

Oh I can see it now. Julie & Rolf hosting a party at the Cruise Bar on the eve of Lyle & Lynn's cruise departure with all the CC folk attending 🙂 Who knows. maybe it will happen!

Thanks for that. With no 'allocated' times for boarding, I will just book our shuttle pick up for 10:30 am & so should be at terminal by around 11:30 am & see how we go. We can always drop the luggage and adjourn to a nearby cafe or pub - we will be on holiday 🙂

We were on Ovation in February. There were shuttles from the port to downtown Dunedin. I think it was US$25 or so return. Can't be sure as we spent the day in Port Chalmers this time.

If you win big Powerball jackpot, a few of your friends here on CC will hoping you spring for a cruise for us - doesn't have to be a suite 🙂

I'll be on the case from 10-Feb Les - expect a full review of all things pie related 🙂

That's my query also - we are on Majestic from Sydney 10-Feb. On the new app we have all green ticks & it says "Ready to Sail", can print tags. medallions ordered etc but there is then no information re boarding. We are Ruby only. I see where it says that boarding passes will be available 11 days before, but most lines allow selection (or allocation) of boarding slot ahead of time? Over to all the Princess folks knowledgeable on these things. Oh, while we are on it. Just a question on dining. We normally dine later with My Time or whatever it's called on each line. We see we can choose times thru to 8:20 in 20min intervals, in one of 3 dining rooms - any advice from people who know please?

Sounds like a plan mate. Sure hope to catch up with you here in Sydney at that time.

I think you would fit with the 'modern' look of some. As long as your pants legs were about 4" short & you have no socks 🙂

Sounds interesting to me. Maybe should have put it in "pie thread", but hoping they offer similar on Majestic 10 Feb 🙂

Some familiar stories here about shoe failures. I had a pair of nice casual shoes I hardly ever wore, as I was always working, sporting of thongs wearing - they were a good fews years old and rarley worn. We went away for a few days to visit some family and were going to go to a birthday party. Cue the casual shoes. We returned from dinner & were having a quiet drink when the party hostess (SIL) suddenly asked what is this mess on my floor? Answer: my shoes soles that had self-destructed. Lucky the floor was tile & the mess was easily cleaned up & the shoes in the bin 🙂