Dawn Princess Now Australian?

[Gerbera]

Dear All,

The silliest Questions, are the one's NEVER asked

Can anyone answer these for me?

I understand the "Dawn Princess is now to be living in Australia

and run from Australian waters.

I also understand this trip I am taking on Sunday 23rd is to be her first out of Australia from Australian waters??

Will the staff on the "Dawn Princess" have changed now that she is an Australian ship?

Who is the major Shipping Company that now own her?

Will tips need to be the same?

Will tips need to be in Australian Dollars? Money is money and I guess they can exchange for what currency they want or need.

Cheers Carolyn (and Roger) Only 4 more sleeps :)

[moojar]

Dear All,

 

The silliest Questions, are the one's NEVER asked

 

Can anyone answer these for me?

I understand the "Dawn Princess is now to be living in Australia

and run from Australian waters.

I also understand this trip I am taking on Sunday 23rd is to be her first out of Australia from Australian waters??

 

Will the staff on the "Dawn Princess" have changed now that she is an Australian ship?

 

Who is the major Shipping Company that now own her?

 

Will tips need to be the same?

 

Will tips need to be in Australian Dollars? Money is money and I guess they can exchange for what currency they want or need.

 

Cheers Carolyn (and Roger) Only 4 more sleeps :)

 

Hi Carolyn,

 

Second cruise - she is on her first right now, left Sydney 26 October on a 28-day Oz circumnavigation.

 

She is owned by Carnival Corp, same as the P&O ships are, and run out of the Carnival (Australia) office whilst down here. They appear to be trying to keep the Princess ships apart from the P&O ships marketing wise, which is not a bad idea given the "floating frat party" image that P&O has.

 

Don't know about the staff. But will still be a mixture of third-world low-paid workers. You might remember that nice Mr Howard removing all foreign-crewing restrictions in one of his union-busting exercises.

 

On-board expenses are in Oz dollars while she is here, and tipping is $10 AUD per day per person over 13. ($400 for us for a 10-night cruise :eek:, two adults and two kids.) I understand that you will need $1 coins for the casino slots, and for the laundromat.

 

Carnival Oz told me the powerpoints are US-style and power is 110V when I called them 5 or 6 weeks ago, but others are saying they were progressively installing Oz powerpoints in all the cabins during the recent trans-pacific trip from San Francisco. Let us know when you get back, won't you! :p

 

Rumour has it that DP will be based here permanently like the Sun Princess, but with the recent announcement that Carnival had managed to source two more P&O Oz ships closer to what we are usually allowed (20+ years old), maybe DP will not stay?

 

Hope this helps, but would appreciate you posting your new-found knowledge upon your return! :)

[NSWP]

Correct Moojar..Both Sun Princess and Dawn Princess are still 'Princess Line ships' flying the Princess flag, but operating from Australia. Just on loan really from the US of A. Will they ever return to the 'Land of the Free?' Who knows, if they keep filling them up with over 2000 pax every cruise like they are, they will stay a while for sure and true.

 

I was on Sun Princess around Australia in June/July this year, the usual Princess cruise, but not quite up to the Princess standard I have experienced on other Princess ships.

 

Enjoy your cruise Gerbera, give us a review for the benefit of others sailing DP from OZ.

[moojar]

Enjoy your cruise Gerbera, give us a review for the benefit of others sailing DP from OZ.

 

Hi Carolyn,

 

Re what Les suggested, Packetau has a bunch of questions over here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17052100#post17052100 that she (and the rest of us future DP cruisers) would like answered. Maybe you could drop in there and answer some of them when you get back? You will be the local expert by then! :)

[RickEk]

From what I understand (from a Princess employee), the Dawn may be back in US waters in a couple of years. She IS doing a World Cruise in the Summer of '09 and there's a good chance she'll be back for Alaska in 2010. But things can always change. Remember, Princess has NO newbuilds on the drawing board and will want to maintain their fleet at its current level.

[RLBlack]

We were on the 31 day- SFO to Sydney on the Dawn Princess. The employees were a huge nationality mixture. The Stewards appeared to be mostlly Asian-from Thailand and Philippines. If you are fortunate to have the steward we had - "FA"- he was wonderful.

 

During the trip they did a number of major "upkeep" items. Refinished railings- did some electrical things- painting. The ship was very well maintained.

 

What we found, was that 95% of the employees were working hard, did a good job, and paid attention to detail - it appeared that some times the training was not really great and some times we had problems with understanding due to language understanding. When we did

 

We were not overwhelmed with the food- which was probably a good thing, since we did not have the urge to over eat and pay for it by out growing our clothes. We decide either we our pallettes were not "sophisticated" enough or we were just use to a very different style of cooking. It seemed like the description of the dishes on the menu and the end product were somewhat different.

 

We did love the ship and the trip was great. Have a great trip. Ruth

[Gerbera]

Second cruise - she is on her first right now, left Sydney 26 October on a 28-day Oz circumnavigation.

Yes she is on her first AROUND AUSTRALIA.

However this trip on Sunday is her first "OUT" of Australia

 

but others are saying they were progressively installing Oz powerpoints in all the cabins during the recent trans-pacific trip from San Francisco. Let us know when you get back, won't you!

I also heard while she is dry docked now in Brisbane, this week they were "supposedly changing the power points

 

Hope this helps, but would appreciate you posting your new-found knowledge upon your return!

 

You answered all my questions Thank You

A great source of information, much appreciated :)

I will indeed be an expert when I return, and will provide a review, photo's and the latest news

I will pop over to that link on my return and answer what I can with my new found (Newbie knowledge) LOL

Thanks again :)

 

RLBLack (Ruth) Thanks for your update on staffing and maintenace, sounds like you had an good time. Who wants to bust out of their clothes anyway? I've been working hard at losing weight to get on the ship LMAO (Had to get my Captains Dinner Dress taken in YAY)

I'm hoping we will have a Fabulous Time and Thanks for your best wishes ONLY 3 more sleeps :)

 

NSWP: if it's a great trip, we will want to keep her I am sure.

Will be interesting to watch over the next couple of years to her progress and status :)

 

CHEERS and Thanks to all Carolyn (and Roger) 3 more sleeps :)