Bluesky014

Would love your thoughts on the 2024 P&O Round Australia Cruise on the Explorer. I assuming (but not sure) that this is the first time this has been done by P&O? Very familiar with the P&O ships and onboard offerings but wondering if/how P&O may offer different activities such as destination talks etc for a longer cruise. The thought of 28 days with the same 3 day rotating restaurant menu fills me with dread - surely they wouldn't do this? Would love to do a round Australia cruise and Princess/Holland America are a bit out of our price range, so am giving this cruise some consideration but just not sure.  Thanks

We caught covid on the first of our b2b2b cruises in August. It took just over 3 months and a number of phone calls before our credits were allocated to our account.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will call Princess, but sometimes the information I read on here is more reliable than the call centre.

Hi, we may need to cancel a Princess cruise that we have booked for January 23 but if we do I was wondering what happens to cancellation fees. I can see from terms and conditions that we are required to pay a cancellation fee of 25% of total fare, but not sure what happens as we only used two future cruise deposits (totalling $200) for the deposit on this cruise. If we cancel will we just lose the $200 FCD’s or would they ask us to pay the remainder of the deposit balance, which would be approximately another $1200.  I can call Princess on Monday, but just wondered if anyone on here who knows what would happen. Many thanks.

Just off the Coral Princess and one night we asked to see the cocktail menu in the P&E lounge, the waiter brought over the regular list and also a one page list for cocktails priced at $6.25. We didn’t order from it as we had the plus package so not sure if that is up to date or even US$.

6 hours ago, Nuka said:

Do they have different Covid policies for charging for Covid medical related expenses depending on region? I am confused, but glad while ill you were taken care of.

I am not sure, however the two cruise lines that are operating in Australia at this time (P&O Australia and Princess) both offer complimentary Covid testing and medical treatment if you test positive while onboard. 

An observation on this topic from an Australian perspective. We were on B2B2B Coral Princess cruises in August this year, when unfortunately 2 days after joining the first cruise my husband started to feel unwell. 2 negative RAT tests followed by a negative PCR followed by a positive PCR (over 2 day period) and we  both went into quarantine. We are both sure that he caught the virus on the day we boarded from an obviously unwell hotel waitress. I then tested positive 3 days later.

From the moment we were advised by medical that we were positive to the day we left we have nothing but praise for the treatment we received. 

All medical tests, medication, anti-virals and daily check ups by a nurse were provided free of charge.

Every day we received a call from guest services to see if we needed anything.

Every day we received the restaurant menus to choose our meals from. We could nominate a delivery time and it would come within approximately 20 minutes of that time. We could order from room service at any time, and priority was given to us - I discovered this fact when calling down one afternoon for a cup of tea to be advised that they were very busy and there was about an hour wait. There was a brief pause and the attended said “I am so sorry, you are in quarantine, the tea will be straight up”.

We were provided with free drinks (and because we had the drink package we received a goodwill credit to our account to compensate) and free wifi.

The night before arrival at our disembarkation port we were asked to keep our bags in the room and they were collected separately and were waiting for us (wrapped in plastic) once we disembarked.

Because we were still in quarantine Princess provided a private car to take us home.

I realise that not everyone has had the same experience but for us I have nothing but praise for the way we were treated. Quarantine in a cabin is not a lot of fun, but at least I didn’t have to cook!

It looks like this is happening to many Coral Princess Cruises. We are on b2b cruises from August 12, and when checking my account found that our cabin had been changed. We had been moved from an Emerald Aft cabin to aft deck 12 - opposite the teen lounge, 2 cabins down from the laundromat and under the gym!!  Not an upgrade but moved due to Princess blocking out aft deck 8.

Spent over an hour on the phone with a helpful Princess call centre man who eventually managed to find us reasonable substitute cabins -  one of the cruises is sold out. Unfortunately no possibility of having the same cabin for both cruises as we had previously but at least not the awful position Princess moved us to. 

If you have a cruise coming up in an Emerald deck aft I suggest you check your booking to see if you have also been moved.

Hi, posting here as I know many of you are frequent Princess cruisers.

We have an issue that we are not sure how to deal with, or who to contact. We had quite a lot of FCC’s that we placed on back to back Australian cruises for August this year. We then decided to bite the bullet and cruise in Europe so contacted our PCC who had made the bookings for us and asked to move the credits from these two cruises to another one in August departing from Southampton. We were ok to do this using the Princess cruise with confidence.

We received an immediate cancellation of one of the cruises, then the next day a notification that the credits from this cancelled cruise had been moved to the second cruise that we had (supposedly) cancelled but which was showing as now paid in full.

I sent this notification to my PCC.

Since then I have made a number of phone calls and emails to my PCC asking her to please cancel the remaining cruise (which now has ALL of our credits on) and move the credits to our new UK cruise - Nothing is happening! We are now past the date of full payment for this UK cruise - I finally received a reply email at the end of last week from my PCC saying that she will get her supervisor to ‘protect’ our new UK cruise while the other cruise is cancelled.

Four days later this supposedly cancelled cruise it is still showing as active in my account, and this is now 3 weeks since I first asked her to cancel, along with my repeated emails.

I am at a loss as to what to do. The Australian call centre just says I have to discuss with my PCC but I can’t speak with her as all calls go to voice mail. 

What is surprising is that this PCC has always been really responsive and efficient so it makes me wonder what the issue is in cancelling this cruise.

Does anyone have any idea of what I can do or who to contact.

Many thanks

I was just talking with my Princess consultant about changing (again) a booked cruise. She mentioned that there is going to be some ‘exciting news’ very shortly. I wasn’t able to get much more information other than a hint that there will be new cruises offered this year and likely to be earlier than existing cruises. Anyone else heard anything like this?

Cruise date 21/3/20 cancelled a week before sailing by Princess. FCC’s given early May. Refund received by TA on the 12/6/20 and showing on our credit card today. We have to wait another 14 days for the bank to credit this back to our bank account. We also received FCC’s 3 weeks ago for a cruise we cancelled a week before the first Princess pause, which they included in the refunds - this also includes the amount we paid via Ez Air for non refundable flights with Virgin Airlines. I know it has taken a while for this to happen, but appreciate the work that Princess (and our TA) have had to do. Now we just have to wait to be able to cruise again - and this could be quite a wait as our Prime Minister (Australia) has announced today that international travel is likely to not take place for another 12 months.

We are in Australia and were advised by our TA that they have received the refund for our cruise cancelled by Princess (21 March 2020) We now have to wait up to 14 days for the TA to refund back to our credit card. We received the FCC’s for this cruise over a month ago. We have also received FCC’s for a cruise we cancelled a few days before the first pause by Princess including FCC’s for our non refundable ez-air flights. It has been a long wait (90 days) but an end is in sight.

Update - 21 March received FCC today but no credit card refund as yet

No. March 21, 2020 and April 6 2020

20 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

There will be someone standing near the luggage carousel holding a clipboard with a list of names. I am sure you won't have any trouble finding the correct person.

Thanks Aus Traveller

We are using Princess transfers for the first time after a flight from Sydney to Melbourne. Just wondering how we find the transfer bus when we arrive at Melbourne Airport - do they have someone standing with a board with your name, or is there a desk where you register for the transfer?  Have tried ringing Princess to get an answer but they are obviously very busy fielding calls regarding the Diamond Princess and I haven't been able to get through. Thanks

It has been 3 years since our last Princess cruise and I understand that coffee cards are no more, and that it is loaded onto your cruise card.

Previously my husband purchased a card (as he likes a flat white coffee) and when he ordered a coffee I also got a filtered coffee - both drinks off the same card but only his was punched.

Can we still do this, or do we have to both purchase a card to be loaded on our cruise card.

Many thanks

4 minutes ago, bedrick said:

Hi

i have booked a few cruises with them and found them to be excellent.  Far superior to Australian agents.  Their customer service is great and they are available to speak to 7 days a week for long hours.  There was no trouble and no charge for repricing  when fares dropped.

Thank you for your reply - we have gone ahead and booked and so far everything is ok. We did get charged $100 overseas transaction fee by our credit card provider but we knew that would happen. 

Many thanks, that is reassuring. 

We are thinking of doing a cruise with MSC that is sold out via Australian travel agents/websites. A cabin is available with a US online agency (sort of like 'go on a vacation')

Has anyone used this online agency to book a cruise and did everything work out ok?

They have assured me that there are no issues with them booking with MSC for someone based in Australia, but knowing that someone has done it and all been ok will set my mind at rest a bit. Don't fancy turning up to board in Venice and find we are denied boarding.

Many thanks

7 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Who advised you? Why not send it in and see what happens?

He has sent it to both the Australian and the UK addresses and both have advised that as his Military Service was in the UK then his booking has to be made in the UK not Australia. 

My husband was a Naval Officer in the British Navy, but because we now live in Australia he has been advised that he is not eligible. If we still lived in England he could get it, or if he had served in the Australian Navy he could, but not if you live in a different country to that you served in. I find that a bit strange - he still did his Military Service.

Thank you very much for your comprehensive review. We are doing this cruise in November this year, and have been a little concerned about the very negative reviews about MSC and the Lirica. Your review certainly helps.

Many thanks

Many thanks for your reply - can I check are these offered in the buffet or would we need to pay for them?

Thanks again - only 2 weeks until our cruise so starting to get pretty excited.