Astro Flyer

Thanks…appreciate sharing your experiences.

We’ll make that 850 m walk to Woolworths to lighten our bodies & not our wallets. 🍷 In 2009 we stocked up at a large Wellington market which as I recall was near Te Papa.

Thanks…I neglected to consider making it a multi-city ticket. Flights will be available soon & will check LAX/BNE (3/13/25) and BNE/AKL (4/14/25) to learn if it’s possible to have 2 flights on the same ticket a month apart. As Jean C wrote, planning is fun for our cruises that we booked 2 years in advance. 🙂

Thanks again Jean C…a cruise friend recommended visiting Waiheke Island wineries. 🍷😊

Do you recall when disembarkation began for walk-off passengers?

Ozwoody & Jean C…thanks for your very helpful information. 🙂 There are many variables for us to consider before formulating our best plan. The port before we disembark Crown Princess in Brisbane on 4/14/25 is Cairns. And we board Royal Princess on 4/16/25 so unfortunately our time in Auckland will be limited. On a previous Sydney to LA cruise we took a ship’s tour from Auckland to a sheep farm & a BBQ. There is a 0930/1430 ship’s tour from Brisbane however there are no post cruise tours currently listed. That would give us enough time to take a cab to BNE for a 1830 flight however unless they allow us to take our bags on the bus tour we have no way to store them. Since it’s a roundtrip Brisbane cruise exclusively within Australia, would anyone know if US citizens will be required to go through customs & immigration during disembarkation? Jean C…thanks for the time change explanation. When using 3/31/25 the ANZ flight shows 1115; when using the latest date currently available (4/7/25) it’s 1215. I see that on 4/6/25 Australia changes to Winter Time & clocks go back an hour so that should benefit us. In 2009 from LAX/BNE/SYD we enjoyed ANZ economy & hope premium economy through Princess’ Flexible EZair on ANZ will be within our budget. Viewing video reviews for PE transpacific flights ANZ appears to provide the best experience. 😊 Pre-cruise we’ve booked Brisbane’s Royal on the Park and Auckland’s M Social post-cruise. Will also research Jean C’s suggestion about the Airport Ibis Budget hotel option.

Thanks John for sharing your insights. I know that in many ports disembarkation usually begins around 0700-0730 so making an 1115 flight might be risky. And to walk off requires handling our luggage which being away from home for nearly 2 months might be more bags than usual…although with free laundry hopefully not. Hopefully there will be other flights around midday before our BNE/AKL flight in 11 months. 🤞

@Mycruiseobsession In March 2025 we fly from the US to cruise on Princess roundtrip Brisbane circumnavigating Australia which will be our first time there. At the end we’ll fly to Auckland for 2 days before cruising Princess back to the US. If you have any experiences to share about Brisbane where we’re planning to arrive 4 days before our cruise it would be greatly appreciated. Looking at BNE/AKL flights they are limited…either at about 1800 or 1100. How was your disembarkation experience? Was it early enough to make an 1115 flight? Most flights are early morning (0500-0900) but we’re hoping that the 1115 flight might be doable instead of waiting until 1800. Catching the earlier flight would be dependent upon when we could disembark & how long it’d take to get to BNE. Any insights would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

You’ll find it on the Princess app’s first page. After clicking on your “VIEW WIF-FI PLANS” option you’ll see your options & can purchase it there.

Do those benefits remain if transferring a BoB booking to my TA within 14 days of the cruise’s end?

In my experience The Catch was much more difficult to get reservations than at Sabatini’s…as you wrote maybe it’s another system glitch. 🤔 I don’t think it would take months to make the swap since both restaurants’ venues are rather generic. We’ll return to the Mainland for awhile when you arrive…hopefully our schedules will be in sync in the future. 🤞😎

That sounds similar to the Oceania cruises we’ve enjoyed…think both are truly premium lines in addition to Azamara.

Maybe they have a “Cold Case” section to handle old cases like they do for crimes??? ☺️

Here’s one I took in Genoa…the large Sky Princess berthed next to their previous Pacific Princess which is an old Renaissance ship like Sirena & is now sailing for Azamara.

I’ve seen a lot of great deals particularly for shorter cruises. However most passengers would likely be from Australia because few around the world would be willing to pay the ever increasing airfares for a long international flight just for a short cruise. We’re flying one-way to cruise around Australia for 28 days and then 22 days back to LA. 🙂