New ships coming to Australian Waters

[MMDown Under]

One of the most exciting aspects of cruising in Australia is new ships coming to Australian waters.

 

Who has cruised on one of these ships or are booked to cruise on one?  Let us know your opinion on any new ships.
 

Grand Princess on 23/10/23

Disney Wonder, Disney Cruise Line

Resilient Lady, Virgin Voyages

 

 

[lyndarra]

Some new destinations would be nice.

[Zanny]

We are booked on Resilient  Lady  ship from Auckland  mid Jan.11 nights

Not too sure what to expect the food etc has great reviews (I think the food could be too fancy for us) but are going to enjoy the challenge.

Would also like to go on Celebrity  Edge but haven't  booked and not sure if that will happen.

Regards Zanny

[OzKiwiJJ]

Grand Princess isn't new to Australia, she was here last season homeporting in Melbourne. We cruised on her last March - Melbourne to Sydney via South Australia. 

 

We'll be trying Resilient Lady in February thanks to the Velocity points offer. 😊

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Some new destinations would be nice.

Yes but where? Despite the size of Australia there are very few useful ports, all the ports in NZ are regularly used, there are issues with some South Pacific ports and also not many other viable places there, and it's too far from anywhere else. 

[Cruisers47]

We are on Celebrity Edge over Christmas and looking forward to it.

 

i am assuming that since it is more expensive that Royal Carribean the food will be better, although the food on RC is ok.

have been on Celebrity before but not since Covid.

 

Eileen

[lyndarra]

11 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes but where? Despite the size of Australia there are very few useful ports, all the ports in NZ are regularly used, there are issues with some South Pacific ports and also not many other viable places there, and it's too far from anywhere else. 

Wishful thinking?

[SinbadThePorter]

11 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Wishful thinking?

 

I've always thought Nhulunbuy could be a candidate. A deep water port a good stopping distance between Cairns and Darwin. On some of the most scenic parts of the Arnhem Land coast. Town in the doldrums since the refinery shut down.

 

[arxcards]

Grand Princess is on her 2nd Tour.

 

I am interested for others to test out Resilient Lady. When we were looking for cruises this summer, Virgin was just too awkward to commit to a calendar with so many bits and pieces itineraries. Maybe it would be more appealing if I had stashed all those FlyBuys points.

 

Disney can wait till we have grandcruisers old enough to appreciate the trip. 

 

After many false alarms, Royal Princess is currently on her way to her first season in Australia, due to arrive on 23rd October (maybe that was meant in post #1). We were supposed to be on her last weekend, but they cancelled the early part of the season. We ended up on Majestic in November instead, as the dates worked out better for us than a similar itinerary on Royal. There are subtle differences between the two ships, but Royal doesn't bring anything new.

 

Brilliance of the Seas is here for a one-off season. Same class of ship as Radiance that spent many seasons here, but was on our short list. The onboard pricing is a bit OTT for us.

 

Celebrity Edge is a new class of ship for our shores. One we booked on when it was originally announced, but they removed Port Arthur from the itinerary (for Eden) so we decided to jump ship and save some money for a big trip in 2025. Of the new arrivals, this ship holds way more interest, and I may hold a bit of regret that we have cancelled. In the end, for our cruises booked this summer, I am most excited about going nowhere new on Coral Princess.

[resordanis]

1 hour ago, Cruisers47 said:

We are on Celebrity Edge over Christmas and looking forward to it.

 

i am assuming that since it is more expensive that Royal Carribean the food will be better, although the food on RC is ok.

have been on Celebrity before but not since Covid.

 

Eileen

We did a Celebrity cruise in March and found it much better than Royal Caribbean. We had just come off B2B2B on Ovation. Food was similar, ( but actually horrible in Coastal Kitchen)  but everyone’s idea of food is different, but better entertainment and better loyalty program benefits. Definitely looking forward to doing one again this season.

Edited September 29, 2023 by resordanis

[gogo65]

Although it’s not on the list, I did celebrity edge a few years ago.

I loved the ship, we were in aqua class and Blu was pretty good. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

42 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Grand Princess is on her 2nd Tour.

 

I am interested for others to test out Resilient Lady. When we were looking for cruises this summer, Virgin was just too awkward to commit to a calendar with so many bits and pieces itineraries. Maybe it would be more appealing if I had stashed all those FlyBuys points.

 

Disney can wait till we have grandcruisers old enough to appreciate the trip. 

 

After many false alarms, Royal Princess is currently on her way to her first season in Australia, due to arrive on 23rd October (maybe that was meant in post #1). We were supposed to be on her last weekend, but they cancelled the early part of the season. We ended up on Majestic in November instead, as the dates worked out better for us than a similar itinerary on Royal. There are subtle differences between the two ships, but Royal doesn't bring anything new.

 

Brilliance of the Seas is here for a one-off season. Same class of ship as Radiance that spent many seasons here, but was on our short list. The onboard pricing is a bit OTT for us.

 

Celebrity Edge is a new class of ship for our shores. One we booked on when it was originally announced, but they removed Port Arthur from the itinerary (for Eden) so we decided to jump ship and save some money for a big trip in 2025. Of the new arrivals, this ship holds way more interest, and I may hold a bit of regret that we have cancelled. In the end, for our cruises booked this summer, I am most excited about going nowhere new on Coral Princess.

I thought Royal Princess was here last season too, homeporting in Sydney. I might be wrong but I recall not wanting to cruise out of Sydney earlier in the year because I don't like the Royal class ships so we flew to Melbourne to cruise on Grand. 

 

We cruised on Royal in 2017 in the Med. Although we enjoyed our cruise there were certain things we didn't like about that ship - no promenade deck, tiny bars, Princess Live, small theatre, to name a few.

Edited September 29, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I thought Royal Princess was here last season too, homeporting in Sydney. I might be wrong but I recall not wanting to cruise out of Sydney earlier in the year because I don't like the Royal class ships so we flew to Melbourne to cruise on Grand. 

Was scheduled to be, but was cancelled when all the return to cruising itineraries were announced. We were bumped from Royal to a "comparable" cruise on Majestic.

[colourbird]

We've booked Celebrity Edge for her first trip from Sydney to NZ return. Looking forward to something a bit different.

 

Discovery Princess is coming to Sydney for the first time in November 2025, and i'm interested in either a repositioning cruise or another cruise depending on the destination.

[gbenjo]

Curious as to how  many CC’s are booked on a Disney cruise, considering we seem to be an “ older” group of cruisers. We  ( the company I work for) are doing the embark/ debark for them and just by the amount of training we will be doing it would appear the whole Disney experience will be very different ( in a good way) to anything we have previously seen in Australia .Obviously their cruises are aimed more at the younger family demographic so it will be interesting how many of us oldies will cruise with them.

[LittleFish1976]

1 hour ago, gbenjo said:

Curious as to how  many CC’s are booked on a Disney cruise, considering we seem to be an “ older” group of cruisers. We  ( the company I work for) are doing the embark/ debark for them and just by the amount of training we will be doing it would appear the whole Disney experience will be very different ( in a good way) to anything we have previously seen in Australia .Obviously their cruises are aimed more at the younger family demographic so it will be interesting how many of us oldies will cruise with them.

 

It seems they 'announce' every passenger as they walk (strut?) aboard - sort of a red carpet thing and applaud you as you go! Not everyone's cup of tea (even if you're sitting in the cups and they're going 'round and 'round and 'round).

 

[gbenjo]

43 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

It seems they 'announce' every passenger as they walk (strut?) aboard - sort of a red carpet thing and applaud you as you go! Not everyone's cup of tea (even if you're sitting in the cups and they're going 'round and 'round and 'round).

 

Last season the  crew ( about half a dozen of them ) of the Celebrity Eclipse applauded  and sang welcome as guests  stepped onto the ship which everybody seemed to enjoy, making them feel a little special. There are always a few “ miserables” that maybe did not like it but few and far between.

[Chiliburn]

4 hours ago, resordanis said:

We did a Celebrity cruise in March and found it much better than Royal Caribbean. We had just come off B2B2B on Ovation. Food was similar, ( but actually horrible in Coastal Kitchen)  but everyone’s idea of food is different, but better entertainment and better loyalty program benefits. Definitely looking forward to doing one again this season.

Are you on Brilliance Cheryl?

[resordanis]

21 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Are you on Brilliance Cheryl?

October and then December. No Ovation if I can help it! What about you?

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, resordanis said:

October and then December. No Ovation if I can help it! What about you?

3 on Brilliance October to Kangaroo island , January ,February.

And one on Ovation at the end of March ,with an overnight in Noumea,that’s looking like a party cruise.

You’re a party girl Cheryl!  And you’re going to say ,come on Noumea ?

You haven’t been to an overnight with Chili in Noumea!

Edited September 29, 2023 by Chiliburn

[resordanis]

43 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

3 on Brilliance October to Kangaroo island , January ,February.

And one on Ovation at the end of March ,with an overnight in Noumea,that’s looking like a party cruise.

You’re a party girl Cheryl!  And you’re going to say ,come on Noumea ?

You haven’t been to an overnight with Chili in Noumea!

I am not the party girl, but husband is definitely! October cruise with Cheznandy does that mean party? Couldn’t think of anything worse, than an overnighter in Noumea! Definitely not doing that one as we are on Royal Princess 6/4 to Japan. Looking for something January or February though!

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by resordanis

[Cruisers47]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

3 on Brilliance October to Kangaroo island , January ,February.

And one on Ovation at the end of March ,with an overnight in Noumea,that’s looking like a party cruise.

You’re a party girl Cheryl!  And you’re going to say ,come on Noumea ?

You haven’t been to an overnight with Chili in Noumea!

Chilli,  are you on Brilliance around Oz in February?  We are getting off in Perth.  Would have like to have a cruise to Melbourne .   I am sure they would have had a lot more bookings.

 

eileen

[windsor26]

9 hours ago, Cruisers47 said:

We are on Celebrity Edge over Christmas and looking forward to it.

 

i am assuming that since it is more expensive that Royal Carribean the food will be better, although the food on RC is ok.

have been on Celebrity before but not since Covid.

 

Eileen

Just for info  if you have a loyalty level with RCI  Celebrity accept you at the same level when cruising with them

[Cruisers47]

4 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

Just for info  if you have a loyalty level with RCI  Celebrity accept you at the same level when cruising with them

Yes we are Diamond on RCL but have done a few Celebrity cruises Also.  But thanks for the reminder.

 

i actually read yesterday that RCL are thinking of amalgamating the celebrity and RCL points.  This is because MSC and Virgin are offering the same extras if you book with them.

 

we were on RC just after Covid, in Europe, and there were so many Diamond and others that they had to open a larger diamond lounge to fit everybody in!

 

we do love the Diamond lounge ..nice coffee, nibbles, and nice people!!❤️. Did Japan recently…so many Aussies!

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, gbenjo said:

Curious as to how  many CC’s are booked on a Disney cruise, considering we seem to be an “ older” group of cruisers. We  ( the company I work for) are doing the embark/ debark for them and just by the amount of training we will be doing it would appear the whole Disney experience will be very different ( in a good way) to anything we have previously seen in Australia .Obviously their cruises are aimed more at the younger family demographic so it will be interesting how many of us oldies will cruise with them.

I suspect not as many, but it is a rite of passage for many to take the grandies to Disneyland. You will be one of the first to know.