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OzKiwiJJ

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Everything posted by OzKiwiJJ

  1. Is she travelling solo? If so the online system may not be able to handle that properly. She shpuld contact Princess directly, by phone or live chat, to check whether she can get the Plus fare at the correct rate for one person. I'm sure they can do it manually as I've heard of one person of a couple being able to get it as their partner couldn't drink alcohol for medical reasons.
  2. Celebrity work their show times differently to Princess. The 7pm show was aimed at late diners and the 9pm show at early diners. That was one of the things that annoyed us about Celebrity as we prefer to dine late then go to a show.
  3. Usually the show times in our region are 7:30pm and 9:30pm, timed so that you can have dinner before going to the show. But until Crown starts operating here you won't know if they are following this pattern. Unless the late show is too late for you I'd recommend booking dinner for around 7pm or 7:20pm then going to that show.
  4. That's got to be an error. She should call Princess to check. But, yes, one of the non-alcohol drinks packages might be better value for her. Does she need internet all the time? If not she could just purchase that on board on days when she does want it.
  5. I did a reality check based on what we actually drink - one cocktail before dinner, wine with dinner, a digestiv or liqueur after dinner, plus coffees and bottled water - and internet and it works out marginally cheaper to get the Plus package and then buy wines by the bottle at the 25% package discount.
  6. If Princess hadn't increaded the drinks limit for the packages when they increased the package cost and the drinks prices they would have had a heck of a lot of cancellations and may even have ended up facing a class action on that issue.
  7. Actually the $12 limit was the old USD limit. The original Australian limit was $16. Yes, we got $25pp OBC to cover that app delivery charge. We'll try to just use one device for that - we don't order much on the app (unless we're stuck in our cabin with Covid) anyway as we prefer to order drinks from waiters at the various bars, and tend not to order food that way either. Alfredos on Majestic did actually have nice pizza. On Coral it's not worth paying for plus you can get slices up by the pool for free.
  8. The rosè, the merlot and the pinot noir were OK. Remember you get 25% discount on wines by the bottle with the Plus package and there are some reasonable wines that aren't too expensive. That's what we're doing for the world cruise. Princess would like me to upgrade my package, originally bought at $40pp per day, but the $25pp per day we'll save will cover wines by the bottle.
  9. After a trip to Europe in 2004 which involved train travel we ditched our very large wheeled suitcases in favour of medium large spinners and overnight bags that fit on top. We've been using this combo ever since. The red bag is the overnight bag which has a trolley sleeve so fits on top of the big suitcase - the other two are our carry-ons. Two spinners and two overnight bags were all we ever needed until we went to the US in 2018. The baggage limits are different on US flights - you can't have a bag over 23kg but you can have more bags. So we bought an extra, slightly smaller spinner. Luckily I figured out how to handle two spinner bags and a wheelie carry-on. Rolf is going to have to learn this trick too as we have decided we will need an extra smaller spinner for the world cruise!
  10. The person on social media doesn't know what they are talking about! 😡 So DON'T PANIC! 😊 The drinks limit increased to AU$22 / US$15 (depending on where you are cruising) for all versions of the Plus fare. I've done cruises booked with earlier versions of the Plus fare and had access to the whole Plus drinks list, including the crappy wines. But, yes, you only get a drinks package and internet package not all the other rubbish. Incidentally it's "strange" how the drinks prices also increased, to the point of ridiculousness in the case of some of those wines, when they announced that change. 🙄
  11. I'm fairly certain that there aren't different prices for things once on board an Australian cruise. All drinks prices, speciality restaurants etc are charged as shown on drinks lists etc. So The Plus package if bought onboard should be AU$65pp per day because at that point all accounting onboard is in AUD. The only difference for passengers who booked from outside Australia/NZ is that they will still be charged the daily gratuities if they booked a Standard fare and that will probably be around AU$25-$28pp per day depending on cabin type since the Australian Plus/Premium fares don't cover gratuities as technically there aren't any on fares booked in Australia. So total cost would be around AU$90-93pp per day. The Plus package bought in USD equates to AU$91.40 at today's XE rate so, in fact, it would work out about the same. It's really a case of deciding whether to gamble on the exchange rates improving or to just take the easy way and buy the package in USD or CAD. Personally I'd buy the package now as I reckon the price will go up within the next 12 months.
  12. And just across the Peninsula is the home of Australia's best mussels - Kinkawooka from Port Lincoln.
  13. Sabatinis is AU $55 and the Bayou Steakhouse is AU $63 for my upcoming world cruise on Coral Princess. Note: on ships operating in AUD there are no gratuities added to drinks prices or speciality restaurant prices - the price you see is what you pay.
  14. Hopefully you'd also get a sealed envelope containing a list of all the outlets listed in full and a map.
  15. Ditto. However the new Sun Princess, which is far too big in my opinion, operates on LNG so more environmentally friendly I guess. RCL have said they going to build more smaller ships and hopefully they will be more environmentally friendly too. It will be very interesting to see what direction the mass-market cruise lines take over the next few years. Will some, like, RCL, start building more small ships to cater for port calls if more and more ports start restricting cruise ship or passenger numbers? Will some cruise lines develop mega-mega- cruise ships that will never visit any ports other than their home port ie they will be designed to be floating resorts?
  16. Now here is something different for cruisers to do when they're visiting a port they've already been to a few times - mystery picnics or tours. Not cheap but they sound like fun. https://www.amazingco.me/us
  17. On the Diamond Princess cruise we did last November it varied from day to day. Some days they were Patters, other days they were Events Listings. 🤣
  18. Princess is now combining modern technology with some of its show. Some years ago we saw Born to be Wild, a show were the story involves a trip down Route 66 in a pink Cadillac. Although I enjoyed the first "edition" of this show it wasn't one of my favourites. We saw it again last November on Diamond Princess, this time with amazing high quality video scenery as a backdrop. It was stunning. We did a few Celebrity cruises pre-pandemic but I found their shows lacking in quality compared with Princess. The live show band on Princess really adds to the overall effect of their shows.
  19. I'm guessing it's Diamond Princess repositioning to Japan. If so, getting Yen from a 7-Eleven or Family Mart ATM at one of the Japan port stops before disembarkation is an option. Otherwise USD, which will be the currency once onboard once the ship starts operating in Japan, will make it easier for crew members.
  20. It depends on the ship. The older ships, like Coral and the Grand Class ships seemed to have more bar/lounge seating. We've never had a probem although in some bars, like Crooners when the entertainer is very popular, it can be hard to get a seat. The Royal class ships have much less bar/lounge seating unfortunately.
  21. Yes, a PVP will get assigned to you once you book direct however you don't have to use the PVP if you don't want to.
  22. There are two ways to get to/from the Sydney International Terminal and both take about the same amount of time. One way is past the Domestic Terminal, the other goes the opposite way hrough some tunnels and loops back around. Since you said you still had the runway on your left after leaving the airport it sounds like your taxi went via the second route. If Uber was quoting $70 then a maxi taxi fare of $97 would not surprise me as taxis in Sydney are usually more expensive than Uber. I've heard that some taxi drivers are trying the flat rate per person trick. It sounds like you were charged the meter rate from the airport but you got scammed going back to the airport from the cruise terminal. You should have demanded the driver use the meter and if they refused then demanded they unload your luggage again. Note - typically an Uber XL can take six passengers without much luggage or four passengers with luggage.
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