Hobart Hurricane

Can confirm that cruises departing from Australian ports will charge in AUD. We cruise on Golden in January, but have also previously cruised New Zealand on Princess

You will be all cruised out before I see you on the Explorers Christmas cruise

Just like it has been mentioned before, if the cruise is an Aus cruise then your tipping is already included in the price of your fare

 

If the cruise commences from Australia or NZ the staff on those ships are actually paid at a higher rate than the USA based ships due to Australian employment laws but tips given are still appreciated

 

Yeah found that out on our first Princess cruise a few years ago. They enjoy working the Australian contracts

Just like it has been mentioned before, if the cruise is an Aus cruise then your tipping is already included in the price of your fare. A lot of cruises from outside Aus find this hard to comprehend.

If you are cruising on the Golden Princess from the 4th of April the ship will revert to its USD policy

Didn't realise you were off on another cruise after posting in the xmas roll call for next year I just happened to come across this :) wish I was off doing this, however have another week of teaching before the school holidays start. Look forward to hearing more

How about The Majestic Princess which is doing China cruises only What ship was she originally

It doesn't exist atm, it is being built to join Princess fleet in 2017

I don't think this is true for people from the U.S.

 

We're on the Diamond out of Sydney next March and gratuities are not included in our fare. We will be charged once onboard unless we choose to prepay. All onboard charges wil be in Australian dollars

True. It is only for passengers booking in Australia and New Zealand from what my travel agent has told me

Dam was hoping it would have one

So why is the OP under the impression he is being charged separately and in $US for gratuities on his March 2016 Diamond cruise? Unless the Diamond is going to return to US policies for the Asian summer season beginning with the above Sydney/Singapore repo cruise. (Could he have booked thru a US travel agent without realizing the reason the price is lower is that gratuities are not included? Or are we mistakenly assuming he is from Australia in the first place? Call me stumped :confused:)

I would presume they are paying gratuities separately because the cruise starts in Aus and completion is in Singapore, therefore not a round trip around Australia, with the recommencing of Princess policies starting at the beginning of this cruise. I however could be wrong, but im sure I was informed that the gratuities were included for round trips departing Aus

Slipped my mind about Golden, which is actually on her way to her maiden season in Australia right now. And I concede being unsure about Diamond which has some cruises that begin and end in Australia and some that are open jaw between Australia and Asia. if there are differing fare and gratuity rules between them perhaps my reply to the OP should have been less harsh, though it is his responsibility to be sure of all charges at time of booking. Hopefully whomever he booked with did not purposely omit this information--not that that is an excuse for removing auto tips.

The Diamond use to operate on the same rules that all other Princess ships used for tipping and charges on board. However, the Diamond and Golden will be charged in AUS dollars and have tipping included in the price of the fare from the 2015/16 cruise season and onwards.

Hi Everyone.

After our Xmas cruise on the Radiance of the Seas last year we enjoyed buying a Thermal Suite pass for our cruise. We are booked on the Xmas Cruise on the Explorer in 2016 and wondering if the ship also has a Thermal Suite?

I enjoyed using the space as it was quiet and relaxing.

For Australia and New Zealand residents sailing on Sun, Dawn, and Sea Princess gratuities are included in the quoted cruise fare and not charged to your onboard folio. For all others on those ships, and everyone on all other Princess ships--including children who are often more work than adults--gratuities are charged onboard (presuming you do not choose to prepay, which it appears your booking agent thought you did). When you sail on a ship that uses the American custom of tipping--as all but three Princess ships do--you need to figure it into your budget. Period. And know that should you remove the auto tips, your cabin steward and waiter will be required to turn any cash you give them into the tipping pool where your auto-tips would have gone.

Golden And Diamond Princess cruises departing and returning to Australian ports this summer also have the gratuities included in the cruise price

Oh, I wish we were. We are going on the 3rd of January 2017. Really looking forward to it. You can give us some up to the minute tips when you go just before us....

Feel free to ask me anything whilst on the ship. Im hoping to a semi-live review

Definitely sticking with the Explorer Royal Family Suite. Might try the bigger new ship in 2018?

Are you sailing on the 22nd Dec 2016 sailing? If so you should join the Meet and Mingle Roll Call I started on here :)

Subscribing as we are on the Jan 3rd sailing from Melbourne. Hopefully I can ask a few questions along the way :)

Will be following very closely and hoping for some videos of the ship. Will be sailing on it on the 3rd of Jan out of Melbourne

Day 4: Luganville Docked

We arrived at Luganville for our first port day. For today we had booked the Blue Water Hole and Northern Beaches excursion, while the in-laws had the Glass Bottom boat tour. Our tour left early and we into a mini-van and on our way by 9:15. Each mini-van had a guide who talked about the city and Vanuatu. The drive to the Blue Hole took roughly 25 mins.

The water colour was unbelievable and the water temperature wasn't bad. I made the mistake of jumping off a ledge of no more than 2 metres and cut my foot on some limestone. I even packed my reef shoes, but thought in the fresh water they wouldn't be needed. We spent roughly an hour here before we were packed back in the mini van for another 25 minute drive to a beach on the North side. The beach was great, there was a bar set-up with free fresh fruit and some water, and for a small price you could purchase soft-drinks and beer. We spent 45 minutes at the beach before we were dropped back at the ship.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around the dock looking at the market and taking photos of the ship.

We were back on board by 1:30 and it was a shower and straight to the Windjammer for some lunch. The temperature for the day was about 30 degrees, but the humidity would of been in the high 80's, making for a sweaty and sticky day.

The show that night was a hypnotist. I was pretty skeptical going into, but the show was pretty good and was enjoyable. I still don't fully believe but thats another story, for another day.

Day 4:

Boxing Day was another sea day. I had a Swedish Massage booked in for 9. The massage was relaxing, as usually I'm receiving a deep tissue massage before a game of football or for recovery. My partner and Mum had one booked for 12, so I went exploring. I went right down to Deck 2 and looked at all the plaques and shields the ship had been given by different ports. I went from Deck 2 right up to Deck 13 into the night club, which was completely empty.

I spent some time in the Thermal Suite talking to a couple that had completed 4 cruises with Princess and this was there 3rd Royal cruise. We compared the two companies and ships and I enjoyed the talk we had with them.

That afternoon we decided to go and have a look at the watch sale. I ended up buying a nice Invicta watch that was reduced by 75%. Then it was off to tea. During which I heard my first Alpha call. Someone had decided to slip near the pool and split their head open.

After tea we went of to the Quill and Compass for trivia with our table group for dinner. Trivia become a constant thing with our table group.

This was a huge disappointment to my wife as I had assured her that there would be a traditional Christmas dinner available on Christmas day. We talked to the dining room staff and expressed our unhappiness but nobody actually seemed to care!

We will definitely not sail on another Christmas cruise with RCI.

Yeah I was looking forward to that. Was a bit of a let down

Keen to hear more, I am on her on tuesday:-)

And is MONA worth a visit, if so how do I get there from the ship? Thanks in advance

I have never been to MONA as I havent had time due to Uni and sporting commitments. However, my family and partner have and they enjoyed it. Where the ship docks in Hobart, all you need to do is walk down past Mures and you can catch the MONA ferry, up the Derwent and under the Tasman Bridge to the museum. The ferry is very nice and have heard the ride up their is nice as well. Anything else you would like to know about Hobart, fire away I'm sure I can help you out

Hello, Thanks for your updates. Did you get your teenagers a drinks package each? If so, how much were they and do you think they were worth it?

 

Dean

Hi Dean. Just got off the Radiance on Sunday. I had the Royal Replenish package at the $19 USD a day. We purchased it before we left though and paid in AUD, which was nice. I enjoyed it as I just bought a few alcoholic drinks along the way.

Here is a link to the drink package comparisons: http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

Day 3:

Christmas Day. We woke reasonably early and headed down to Cascades for breakfast, wearing my funky Christmas shirt and hat (not really was forced into wearing it). We were seated by 8, with a few people. I decided to have pancakes, due to the reason I knew the bacon in Cascades was fried and I don't fancy it that much. Windjammer has english bacon which is much nicer.

After breakfast I watched the kids under 17, have photos with Santa and get a present. We then went to the Christmas trivia, but performed terribly.

For the rest of the day we lazed around and went to the cinema to watch the Grinch.

It was formal night, where we had a few photos taken and then ate. One thing to note I was a little disappointed with Christmas onboard. In the dinning room for tea there was no ham or turkey on the menu (the turkey was on for the last night of the cruise). I don't think there was any ham in Windjammer or turkey either. It didn't really feel like Christmas day to be honest, with the atmosphere around the ship also being down. You couldn't complain about the decorations and the ginger bread houses as they were great, but I think people on board maybe were right into the swing of relaxation by this stage. This didn't faze me much, other than having turkey for tea would of been great.

That nights show was one performed by the singers and dancers from the ship, but we skipped it and went and had a little flutter in the casino, then a late night swim.

I love how the USA have all the bigger, newer ships, yet we get something a bit newer down here and they complain. More to the world than just the U.S ;). You can come and cruise down here now on the Diamond, Emerald and Golden. I know I'd love to go on the bigger ships that sail from the US, but the cost of getting there is rather expensive. So know I will have the opportunity to go on the bigger ships down here :)