Sapphire Princess Staying In OZ Winter 2020?

[OzKiwiJJ]

47 minutes ago, Busy Mum said:

How absolutely crazy not being open on a weekend, surely their busiest time! Fingers crossed you can get the inside stateroom you are after! 😊🤞

Thanks Busy Mum. At least I'm booked on the cruise with an actual cabin. 😊

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 minutes ago, subaru94 said:

Hi Ozkiwi, I had a look at princess australia cruises on princess site, is there any reason you have not gone for a obstructed ocean view you are able to reserve them, and they are on deck 8, which we have been on before and have booked for our June cruise.

When I looked there were only guarantees in all cabin categories except inside mid-forward on deck 12. We're quite happy with inside cabins, we usually book them on Princess.

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

I reckon you will see a whole lot of cabins become available tomorrow😉, it is the 1st March when the holds are up, lots of people put holds on lots of cabins that they have not deposited on.

Not sure what time, but keep looking!!

That's what I'm hoping. It seems the best time to look is first thing in the morning - at least it was today.

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 minutes ago, datone said:

We had one of the sideways inside cabins under the pool area and never heard a thing and we are light sleepers.   I would take one of those cabins in a heartbeat over the usual inside ones.   They just seem so much roomier.   If it's one of them, (A506, A507, A512 or A515) I would consider holding onto it.  

No, it's not one of the sideways cabins. It looks like it's right below the forward edge of the pool or the area in front of the bar/grill.

[queenslander]

I hope everyone managed to some good deals on Sapphire! I first sailed on that ship in 2006 with my late husband. It was a memorable sail away out of Sydney with a fantastic firework display in the harbour as we went out later in the evening. 

I was lucky enough to get a midship balcony cabin for the Northern Explorer on the Clean website.  At first I thought it had gone up in price but then realised it included a good deal on Premium drinks package and Wifi package. I don’t usually do the package but this seemed to be a better deal than usual so I took it!  

[cheznandy]

8 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's what I'm hoping. It seems the best time to look is first thing in the morning - at least it was today.

I can see insides  B621, C728 and C732 available at the moment for the 30 day Syd/Syd, it is 10.25pm Saturday night.

Edited February 29, 2020 by cheznandy

[cheznandy]

Also, OV C732 and balconies B220, B110, B109, B215, B219 and C115.

 

Not much left!!

[Cootakid]

Looking at the Northern Explorer out of Brisbane on 9 July.  Balcony sold out. I note plenty of balcony availability out of Sydney 2 days earlier.

 

Is it likely they will free up some of that unsold inventory to allow departure from Brisbane? 

[OzKiwiJJ]

16 hours ago, cheznandy said:

I can see insides  B621, C728 and C732 available at the moment for the 30 day Syd/Syd, it is 10.25pm Saturday night.

Rats! I missed those. Too busy this morning. Good to hear they are coming up late at night though. I'll have another look tonight.

[OzKiwiJJ]

15 minutes ago, Cootakid said:

Looking at the Northern Explorer out of Brisbane on 9 July.  Balcony sold out. I note plenty of balcony availability out of Sydney 2 days earlier.

 

Is it likely they will free up some of that unsold inventory to allow departure from Brisbane? 

Hard to tell, but keep looking. Some early bookings may get cancelled in the next day or so as people change their mind, or who booked through more than one agency, cancel those bookings

[ozziepost]

I usually book inside cabins but when I saw the sale Princess are having for the Sapphire I managed to get a balcony cabin for much cheaper than some of the inside cabins we have had in the past I lashed out and grabbed one. We are doing the 12 night Southern Australia cruise in September. We previously did the 14 night western Med cruise on the Sapphire in 2018 she's a nice ship.

Edited March 1, 2020 by ozziepost

[possum52]

We're all set to fly to Perth for our 8th June cruise around the top end to Sydney. Flights and hotel booked and insurance organised and paid for. Our FCDs have been applied to our cruise account. So just final payment due in just over three weeks. Yah!

 

It seems as if there are a few CCers booked on the same cruise. Hope we have all have a wonderful cruise.

 

Leigh

[icat2000]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:41 PM, datone said:

 

We are on that one too in a Vista Suite on Dolphin Deck.   Yes - one of the few times where suites are priced well below usual and thought we might as well grab the opportunity.    Doing a back to back and staying on for the 4-night one afterwards down to Margaret River.   

I like to stay on for the next cruise. Not sure if Pete can get extra time. But we might see if we can swing it. 

[icat2000]

On 2/28/2020 at 5:42 PM, bazshirl2 said:

Hope to see you on and Pete on this cruise. We also booked a mini suite. For us this replaces an October Freo to Melb 6 day cruise on the Sapphire which was cancelled as it followed the cancelled Asian cruises. 25% FCC compensation helped.

We are also booked on 7th July sailing Sydney to Freo and used FCC's to replace Melb-Syd-Freo booking on Sapphire departing March 2021. Have saved several $k's so very happy campers.

Winter sailings in far northern Aus are the way to go particularly if you live in Ballarat or Melbourne. Hopefully Princess will redeploy in future.

We trust all who booked on these cruises are well pleased and enjoy their experiences.

Shirley and Barry

I hope Princess looks at having a ship in the Winter season too for some cruises. I think the pricing helped. They could look at that factor too.

 

I don't have a cabin allocation yet. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

50 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

I hope Princess looks at having a ship in the Winter season too for some cruises. I think the pricing helped. They could look at that factor too.

 

Princess did have winter cruises a few years ago. We did a Top End cruise on Dawn Princess in 2015, before she went to P&O. Then Golden wintered over here, but after that it was just Sun and Sea, and Sea was off doing the long itineraries B2B - circumnavigation, Hawaii/Tahiti and world cruise. 

 

I'd love to see more winter cruising here.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'd love to see more winter cruising here.

 

I agree, but it's hard to see cruising out of Adelaide and Melbourne being a success over winter. At that time of year those southern Sapphire cruises look a bit daunting to me.

 

But Sydney, Fremantle, Cairns and Brisbane definitely.

Edited March 2, 2020 by SinbadThePorter

[MMDown Under]

15 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I agree, but it's hard to see cruising out of Adelaide and Melbourne being a success over winter. At that time of year those southern Sapphire cruises look a bit daunting to me.

 

But Sydney, Fremantle, Cairns and Brisbane definitely.

But couldn't cruisers from Adelaide and Melbourne fly to Sydney or Brisbane to cruise north during winter?

I agree I wouldn't want to do a southern cruise during winter. 

[subaru94]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

But couldn't cruisers from Adelaide and Melbourne fly to Sydney or Brisbane to cruise north during winter?

I agree I wouldn't want to do a southern cruise during winter. 

We live in Adelaide and no thanks to cruising out of Adelaide and Melbourne in the Winter time, go up to Brisbane.

[dizzy1948]

Just booked a 3 day cruise from Fremantle on the Sapphire for May. Almost gave up on mini cruises from Fremantle. Then up popped this little beauty. Absolute bargain prices - had to look twice - but booked only once 😜 It's been a "day or two" since we last cruised. I noticed that "gratuities may apply." Never paid them before on an Aussie cruise - is this something new? I will ring tomorrow to clarify - but I can't rest in my skin waiting - hoping someone can reduce my stress level to ease the pain of waiting till morning 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by dizzy1948

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, dizzy1948 said:

Never paid them before on an Aussie cruise - is this something new?

 

No gratuities on Princess cruises bought in Australia/NZ for cruises from an Australian/NZ port to an Australian/NZ port.

 

Same with Carnival, P&O Oz, RCI and I think Celebrity.

[possum52]

6 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I agree, but it's hard to see cruising out of Adelaide and Melbourne being a success over winter. At that time of year those southern Sapphire cruises look a bit daunting to me.

 

But Sydney, Fremantle, Cairns and Brisbane definitely.

No way would I be sailing out of Adelaide or Melbourne during winter. 

 

Leigh

[possum52]

1 hour ago, dizzy1948 said:

Just booked a 3 day cruise from Fremantle on the Sapphire for May. Almost gave up on mini cruises from Fremantle. Then up popped this little beauty. Absolute bargain prices - had to look twice - but booked only once 😜 It's been a "day or two" since we last cruised. I noticed that "gratuities may apply." Never paid them before on an Aussie cruise - is this something new? I will ring tomorrow to clarify - but I can't rest in my skin waiting - hoping someone can reduce my stress level to ease the pain of waiting till morning 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As SinbadThePorter said, no gratuities on Princess cruises sailing from an Australian port and returning to an Australian port which are purchased here. Hopefully your stress levels will reduce now.

 

Leigh

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by possum52

[dizzy1948]

22 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

No gratuities on Princess cruises bought in Australia/NZ for cruises from an Australian/NZ port to an Australian/NZ port.

 

Same with Carnival, P&O Oz, RCI and I think Celebrity.

Thanks for that, greatly appreciated

[dizzy1948]

23 minutes ago, possum52 said:

As SinbadThePorter said, no gratuities on Princess cruises sailing from an Australian port and returning to an Australian port which are purchased here. Hopefully your stress levels will reduce now.

 

Leigh

Thanks Leigh, stress levels dropped now 🤣

23 minutes ago, possum52 said:

 

 

 

[Cootakid]

Is there such a thing as an Australian contact number for Princess Cruises?  Having a couple of dramas with a Sapphire booking and called the generic number to the overseas call centre a couple times, to no satisfaction....... 😞