SuitesRbest

On 4/16/2024 at 11:16 PM, arxcards said:

Dearer packages, but the cheapest per day cruise fares.

 

The water cap is interesting, but would seem reasonable unless you were bathing in it. Perhaps the bottles of water are easily shared with those not on a package.

 

I am not a fan, as their packages have always been over-priced and often restricted to just menu listed items, especially for cocktails. No P&O on the horizon for us, so I guess I will stick to $65 Princess Plus, which also has internet and a few other less useful bits.

 

All the same, there will be a large number of P&O passengers that won't bat an eyelid.

Correct,

I'll be buying drink package as the cost of fair was very cheap!!!

Totally agree with the pricing. Good for a cheap cruise and the EX Princess ships P&O are running are much better than the early ones (Jewel, Dawn, Sun, ect). Definately penny pitching now days and that will never change, evan the duty free isn't true duty free unless you going to Vanuatu and then it is much cheaper.

Gone are the day's of $3 beers/wines however, you spend on what ever you want OR NOT, this is your choice.

On formal night I ALWAYS wear a suit, I just like to get into the whole sreem of things . I believe the various different attire nights makes the cruise more enjoyable and yes, NEVER wear a hat at dinner.

On 4/14/2024 at 1:30 PM, icat2000 said:

Still overpriced. Cannot convince me to cruise either RCL or Celebrity out of Australian waters. There zero incentive. I've been watching the fares for months. 

Absoloutely agree, Royal has lifted there price way to far for our liking, many better deals out their.

I am going on Encouter next week, I will ask the question for you and grab one if they are still available.

We leave on the Pacific Encounter in 10 days 24/02/24, this was another players club offer. 14 day New Zealand Cruise for $500 with the $100 casino play. Another 10 day Papua New Guinea in June, same again players club deal. 

We get that many offers we can't take them all up and honestly we don't really gamble much at all. Have a bit play in casino but never spend any more than $200!

On 12/22/2023 at 12:16 AM, coldweather said:

Hello.

I am an American looking to understand the cruise/weather season in the Australia/NZ/South Pacific area.  

 

Google has informed me that cyclone season runs from November - April.  In 2014 we were indeed impacted by a cyclone for an April cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea.  We missed a few ports.  We are trying to avoid that.  

 

As I look at the cruise schedules, it seems that most of the south pacific cruises have sailings concentrated from November - April. 

 

We are looking for a once in a lifetime cruise to visit South Pacific islands.  Fiji and Tahiti and sound fantastic!  We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

 

I am seeking information why there are so few South Pacific cruises from May - August.  I do understand that is the winter season. In the USA, winter is a popular cruising time for people who live in the cold (me) to get to warmer weather and to avoid any storms (USA Hurricane season is June - October). 

 

Thanks in advance for your information and coaching me on selecting my Australia/New Zealand holiday choices. 

 

We also have planned both the intinary's you speak about here in 2024. New Zealand in Febuary (60 days to go) and Papua New Guinea in June, been on both prior and loved each one.

We cruised to Papua New Guinea in June 2023, it was fantastic typical sticky hot conditions. No bad weather however, a littke rain up their as always. 

War history was fantastic although did not do everything. Saying this we planned the exact same intinary and date for 2024 and I would recomend this.

Love the Voyager, my favourite ship we have sailed on out of Australia.

On 5/24/2023 at 8:58 AM, GandM-nq said:

I am booked on an 11 day cruise on Explorer in June.    I see mention that we should expect 2 'formal' nights on this cruise, one of which will be  'Gatsby' themed?

Suits and cocktail dresses I was expecting, but Gatsby?  Was wondering do people actually go the effort and dress up for these special themed formal nights such as this Gatsby night?

 

 

 

Oh yes, Gatsby is a big night and a lot of people participate. White night is great on the Lido deck also.

After reading this whole thread, the definate trend is that P&O have and will continue to cut always included choices and nickel and dime where they can. P&O Aust are the budget cruise line and generally have the cheapest fares.

We have been on 2 P&O cruises post Covid and mostly agree with all coments in this thread however, to be very honest, the only thing that is keeping us cruise with P&O Aust is the deals we are getting from P&O Players Club. At $500 per the 2 of us we can put up with the Nickel and Diming as we can spend a little more at the specailty restraunts like Lukes. We will be dong 2 more cruises on the Encounter next year, 14 day NZ and a 10 day PNG cruises, both from the players club at $500 each cruise for both of us.

All in all, any cruise for us is a cruise after all. Some are exellent some are OK, we make the best of any s@#t situation.

How funny is that, I was just watching the La Lido Loca channel on youtude and Tony showed the Ambassador as he is on the Carribean Princess at the moment in Canada.

Our very first cruise was on the Dawn 11 dayer out of Sydney. You never forget your first !! Pentacost cruise and seen the land divers, they were crazy!!!

We have been very lucky by the sounds of these experience however, the only bad experience we have had is customs in L.A, VERY grumpy and intimidating looking.

Our PNG disimbarkment in June this year went smooth, we declared and carried our woodern carving through. We were sent through another line only to be asked if that is all we had and let through.

No did not 😔

14 minutes ago, arxcards said:

If you hang in there or are ready to risk a little more, not sure which, you will also get offers from the equivalent casino programs on Princess, Carnival & Royal. Not for me, but I have friends that cruise often that way.

Its funny, have cruised just as much on those 3 lines mentioned and spent the same budget we always take but never got any offers from their casino's.

6 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

No you just need to know when to stop!

That is correct, we do not overspend in the casino, sure we have a play for fun and budget for it however, never go overboard.

We have been cruising for many years and have around 300 days at sea on 6 different lines with a pretty even mixture of time spent between them all.

In this time, we have had many offers come from different lines however, the past 6 months P&O players club have been sending us a fantastic offer. We have taken up this offer 3 times know with the latest one being a 14 night NZ cruise.They have all been the price- $500 for my wife and I in an oceanview room. We have been recieving this offer via email and snail mail nearly every 6 - 8 weeek. In all the years we have been cruising no other deal from any other cruise line has offered this, even with all the loyalty programs we are in still nothing comes close.

All other lines have not come close to these offers. Thanks P&O.

20 days out, no room asigned yet 

Thanks for all this history, it is fantastic to from a late blooming cruiser, they would have been some great memories. Nothing like you would get these days, with all the penny pitching from cruise lines and not to mention the winge and whine you hear these days about every little thing!!! 

There was shared bathrooms and not a worry in the world on these ships..

Just make sure your covered in case you need to use the medical facilities on the ship. We are cruising to PNG in June and we are not worrying to much about Covid insurance meaning cancelation costs and so forth. We are still getting insurance. That is my opinion only though!!!

Love the new muster drills. Very versitile and not so dramatic.

We are 29 days out from our Pacific Encounter cruise embarking from Brisbane.We also have not got our room designated as yet either, from past experience (Pacific Explorer) in March this year, we were designated our room about 7 days out from our cruise and was able book a 12pm embarkation time. the early ones were all gone. 

20 minutes ago, sewgood said:

 

 

We sail out to the Islands at the end of May from Sydney.

 

I'm glad to hear we won't be in competition with you SuitesRbest for a penthouse suite! 😄

 

I'll let you both know how my low bids goes.

In March on Princess I bid only $125 over the starting bid for an upgrade and I was successful even though the bidding needle was showing it as a weak bid.

Thanks, thats good to know!!

21 hours ago, sewgood said:

I put in a bid yesterday on a penthouse and the grand suite.

They were very low bids but you never know.

We are happy with the cabin we have now so I was not too interesting in paying too much money to upgrade from a mini.

We cruise at the end of May so I will come back and report if we get an upgrade.

Our cruise is now listed as sold out so I don't think too many cabins would be available to upgrade to.

 

Best of luck SuitesRbest for your bid.

Yes Best of luck for you also!!

We sail out of Brisbane in early June!