Tigerlily75

And for anyone boarding today, their rooms will be ready straight away!

A lot of workers were on board between LA and Sydney doing various things on the ship including fitting extra CCTV cameras to decks and public areas, I spoke to one of the techs who said the CCTVs were being increased from 20 odd to 60 odd due to the ship going over to P&O Australia, work that one out for yourself, (anticipating trouble?):o

Interesting, I read an almost identical post about Carnival Legend when she was coming to Australia for the first time. Installation of a ton more CCTV cameras. I wonder if it's an Australian regulation of some kind, or if we're just a bunch of troublemakers ..

Please keep us posted on the changes made to the Golden Princess during it's recent dry dock. Thank you.

Ditto from me too, I'll be sailing her in December. Thank you!

Thanks again, I'm really looking forward to it, both the ship and Tassie! I feel a bit bad that I've never been before, since it's so close. Though that's part of the problem - it's so close I think "oh I can go there anytime, I'll go to Paris!". One day I'd like to take my car over on the Spirit, hopefully this will give me a taste for it and I'll do that one day soon!

Your referenced article is from a renowned ambulance chasing, anti-cruiseline 'lawyer' whose mutterings are tainted with his efforts to make money, either from legal fees or 'earnings' from blog postings.

 

The whole event is clearly sad for the family, who I have sympathy for but I don't understand the early reports that the husband said she was being sick over the side and was knocked overboard by a big wave, which is now seemingly total BS. Why the false story??

 

Again a 'news story' of someone "FALLING" from a cruise-ship proves to be untrue. I frankly, as a cruise tragic, am fed up with this type of BS.

I don't believe it was the husband who said that, but rather other people on the ship repeating what they "heard". It ranged from Deck 6 to Deck 16, from bingo to table tennis ..and none of those people were actually witnesses to the event.

I don't know why this happens. As an emergency dispatcher, I can have ten people call in an event and get ten different versions of what is happening. Only one version turns out to be the correct one.

I'm pretty sure that cruise law guy is the Alex Jones of the cruise world. Everything is a conspiracy. None of the people in the papers were eye witnesses to the event, and instead were repeating what they "heard", from deck 6 to deck 16, from bingo to table tennis, confusion often reigns in the early chaos of an event - and I speak to that as an emergency dispatcher.

There is nothing to suggest that posting a photo of a deck equals that being the deck she fell from. He provides zero evidence for anything he says.

I'm only interested in real evidence and fact, and the police clearly state the footage gives an unobstructed view of what happened, and that this was an intentional act on the part of the woman. It will now be forwarded to the coroner, and it's safe to say this is an open and shut case.

They don't put the date of arrival, but they'll put a +1 or +2, meaning plus one day or plus two days from the date you left.

So your flight TO Australia should be a +2. Your flight home should be arriving on the same date you left, so March 6. If it was a March 7 arrival, it would have a +1.

As Aus Traveller says, when I fly SYD to LAX, I arrive in LAX before I even left Sydney. Time travel!

Aussielozzie - thank you I'll look into that too, Princess has only listed expensive tours and I'd rather not when it's unnecessary, and thanks for the heads up for MONA too, I didn't know about the ferry!

Thank you, this is so helpful! Thankfully Hobart is a Wednesday, so we can go to MONA

Gut, our exact itinerary is:

Mon Dec 17 depart Melbourne

Tue Dec 18 - Wineglass Bay & Oyst Scenic Cruising

Wed Dec 19 - Hobart Overnight

Thu Dec 20 - Port Arthur

Fri Dec 21 - At Sea

Sat Dec 22 - Melbourne

(And I'm back at work the very next day on the Sunday!!)

Will definitely look into the Port Arthur suggestions, and really glad to hear the MDR will be helpful.

JessBT - thank you that's awesome to know, that's what we love so much about ghost tours, it's a fun way to learn the history of a place

Thanks again

Oh one more question - Princess offers an evening Ghost Tour for Hobart, has anyone done it? We love ghost tours, though sometimes they're a bit hit-and-miss.

Hi all, I'll be on a 5 Day cruise to Tassie in December, including Wineglass Bay scenic cruising, overnight in Hobart, and Port Arthur. I have never cruised Princess, nor been to Tassie.

What is the best way to see Port Arthur - I've heard mention of free guided tours?

In Hobart, we'll firstly visit my Aunt who lives in a nursing home there, and MONA. What else is a must see/do/eat? We are fairly casual people - not fine dining as such, any favourite haunts welcome!

We'll be there on weekdays, so no Salamanca market.

Our trip is listed in the brochure as an "Ocean Medallion" cruise, though it says nothing about it for that specific cruise online. I had to look up what that was, and kind of got gist of it, but also see there were troubles with the roll out, I can't find any new information about whether it's still going ahead as planned for Golden. Nor can I see if they give you something to "wear" this pendant with, or if you have to buy something.

Also, any experience with dietary requests? My daughter is vegan, their process is different to Carnival. Ie Carnival has soy milk readily available, with Princess I had to select "lactose intolerant" in order to pre-order soy milk. So even though they had a blurb about vegan, I had choose vegetarian and then lactose intolerant. The MDR on Carnival does a great job, hoping for the same on Princess. I'll go see the Maitre D on boarding day.

Oh also, it's just before Christmas, do you think they'll be decorated and have any Christmasy things going on? It's 17th-22nd of December. Will be nice to skip some of pre-Christmas rush at home!

Any random tips welcome, thank you!!

Police have very high praise for the way P&O conducted themselves during this tragedy, including immediately securing the woman's room and controlling who went in and what was removed, and their cooperation with police. Police used the word "exemplary". I just thought that should be noted.

They also said the CCTV footage gives an unobstructed view of what happened.

Huge sympathy to her family, they have a long road ahead of them.

Update from 9News

https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/04/14/21/19/brisbane-mother-may-have-jumped-to-death-from-cruise-ship

Heartbreaking for all involved.

Police have been no where near the Pacific Dawn! ( I know I am still on her!).

 

I bet police will be on as soon as we dock in the morning.

Yes Queensland Police have stated they will be meeting the ship tomorrow morning.

But if the ship was lurching has some accounts suggest would that not change the centres of gravity?

 

I do hope there are cameras, that would probably clear everything up:rolleyes:.

I'm positive there will be camera footage, but we're unlikely to hear about it until the investigation is complete.

From what I understand there are cameras down all sides of the ship(s). I remember when the couple went over on the Carnival Spirit in I think 2014, and no one even knew they were missing until they didn't get off the ship the next day in Sydney.

There was footage of the female going over the cabin balcony, and about 15 seconds later the male going over, presumably to try and save her.

That case was huge lesson in what to do and what not to do if someone goes overboard. Call for help first. No one knew they were gone, so they had no chance of survival. That was a very sad case.

I'm really sorry you had to experience that Kiwi_cruiser

Arriving a day early is sort of what I am thinking. I hate adding the extra day, but I would be a nervous wreck I think if I were arriving the day of the cruise. We will likely connect through LAX from DFW, so there *shouldn't* be any weather delays, but weather can always be unpredictable.

It's not just weather, there could be a mechanical issue with your plane. It's a looooong way to NZ, and only a certain number of flights go per day. If something is wrong with your plane, they might not be able to accommodate you on the next flight out (if there even is another one that day) and they might not be able to get you out until the next day. It's just way too risky.

Both Virgin & Qantas are decent airlines with baggage included (check luggage weight limits though - they will be different to your international flight. They can also be quite strict with carry-on luggage, I think most are down to 7kgs for carry-on now).

Budget options are Jetstar (owned by Qantas) and Tigerair (owned by Singapore Airlines). Both of these lines you need to pay extra for check in luggage and food.

People have varying opinions of the two budget airlines - I've never flown Tiger due to a history of cancelled flights and reports of them just leaving people stranded, though some say the same about Jetstar yet I've flown Jetstar plenty and never had a single issue.

Another thing with the budget airlines is a very strict check-in time, if you're one minute late for check-in, you're out of luck. But that said, if you know and follow the rules, it's no problem.

I assume it will be on camera for investigators. How tragic for all involved.

Arrive early, definitely don't risk it, one delay could put your whole trip at risk.

Assuming everything runs smoothly, I think your Cairns plan is very doable. You will have had some sea days before porting in Sydney, so time to rest up and ready to be on the go again.

How exciting - happy planning!!

This thread is nine years old.

I do hope the lady that went over today is found safe and well, it doesn't look good though does it.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/woman-overboard-from-pacific-dawn-liner/news-story/54a4109235d78dbaeeb2f2d98327ebd1

Reportedly a female went overboard at 4pm today, somewhere near New Caledonia. Search is in progress.

Really hoping for a good outcome, though concerning that it's been a few hours now

That’s so weird. Someone on the princess site said that today but it was fine yesterday. I have the PDF let me see if it’s small enough to load.

 

It's a 2mb PDF, max size is 1M. Sorry.

I'm getting the same, and what's even weirder is I am already logged into FB on Safari

I haven't been on P&O so I can't compare, but I've been on Carnival twice and enjoyed both cruises very much, in fact Carnival is what got me hooked on cruising in the first place, since I won my first cruise with them (I had never considered cruising before then).

I like variety and so have booked various lines for future, but my next cruise in June is again on the Spirit.

And another ..

Tigerlily75 .. Golden Princess .. 5 Days Tasmania .. 17 December 2018

Finally booked one out of my home town, will be nice not to have to fly anywhere