Muffinz

We were hoping to be as close to the main (middle) elevators as possible for ease of getting around the ship.... we had a mid-ship stateroom on Celebrity in 2018 and loved it as it was central to everything....

thanks for the replies... when I go to do a booking on Princess website and go to choose a state room it says mid-ship is not available (on any deck), so I've been looking at mid-aft and the only staterooms that are available are on decks 11, 12 and 14 - we are booking direct and not using a T/A wife said she might phone Princess and ask about rooms available.... but I would say what's on their website is all they have?

thanks - I've been looking at mid-aft and there are a few on deck 11 and 12 we're not really interested in the premium balconies as the decks above can see down on the balconies

thanks - over the last week we've watched about 20-30 Crown Princess videos on you tube... I feel like I've already been on the ship LOL. I'll try google search for the staterooms we're looking at

ok thanks for the replies thanks for the advice, but where would I find reviews on a particular cabin / stateroom? - I didn't know you could find reviews stateroom

We are probably (providing my leave from work gets approved) going to book Crown Princess for a December cruise (12 Day Southern Australia Explorer) When we go to do a booking online to select a stateroom, mid-ship is sold out, so we're looking at mid-aft and there are plenty of Balcony staterooms available on deck 14 - but looking at the deck plans the calypso reef pool looks to be above these rooms. Wife is worried it will be a bit noisy. The only other staterooms (according to Princess website) in mid-aft are on deck 11 and 12, but they are further away from the central lifts (not that it's a deal breaker) the advantage with decks 11 & 12 is they are stateroom only decks - so no noise from public spaces from the decks above or below if you had to choose between deck 14 or deck 11 or 12 - which would you choose and why?

great thanks for that

thanks for the advice everyone... looks like there shouldn't be anything to worry about Does Princess do the same as Celebrity - where you are issued luggage tags to attach to your luggage and you drop your bags / suitcases off at the OPT?

Thanks - we'd have to pick up our medallions at the port because Princess don't send them outside the USA if you book a mini suite you get priority boarding? we'd want to board pretty early too (before 12pm preferably) we've not actually booked a cruise yet, but looking at one that leaves Sydney in December 2024

Has anyone boarded a Princess cruise recently from Sydney OPT?? We've cruised once before on Celebrity Solstice in 2018 and boarded at OPT in Sydney - we were given a set time to board, however we did have to wait in the queue for about 45-50 minutes before we actually got on board We're looking at booking a Princess cruise in December from Sydney and I understand Princess doesn't have set boarding times and it's first in first served? - is this right? We watched a clip (from boarding in San Francisco) and people were given a number and just had to wait for over an hour until their number was called before they could join the queue to board.... This is something that doesn't really appeal to me does anyone have any first hand experience boarding a Princess cruise in Sydney OPT?

Thanks for that review - that's very helpful We've looked at a few clips of Crown Princess clips on YouTube and this is our general observation from the clips we've seen The balcony staterooms look slightly older and smaller than on Celebrity Solstice, but they do have a larger wardrobe - which was nice. The bathroom / shower looked smaller too and had a shower curtain instead of an actual shower door - that's not a deal breaker though There didn't seem to be any electrical outlets near the bed - it looked like they are by the desk or in the bathroom, but this is not a major problem. There seemed to be a lot more bars on the ship, but one clip showed a long line of people queueing at one bar that looked like it only had 1 server near the pools? But one person said on their clip / review if there is a queue at the bar, just go to another bar... One person did a clip of going to the buffet and it looked very crowded / packed.... but all the food they showed in the buffet and other restaurants looked very nice There were 4? pools on board and someone said the pool by the lotus spa is a 'hidden gem' - this is good to know Someone also posted a clip of Embarkation day on Crown from San Francisco, and the queue was miles long with people standing out in the open for ages... I don't know if it was just the port at San Fran that was the problem or if it is a wider Princess problem? The cruise we are considering leaves from Sydney (Australia) Our first (and to date only) cruise also left from Sydney and we had to wait about 40-45 minutes in the queue at the overseas passenger terminal there, but the queue was moving fairly steadily. We got an e-mail from Celebrity a few days before the cruise stating what our boarding time would be, as they did it by what deck you were on. The clip we saw showed the couple (who were filming it) got allocated a number and I assume when their number was called they were allowed to board? is this standard procedure for Princess? I'm not really a fan of having to wait in long queues. We're just a little worried that we might be 'disappointed' cruising on Crown Princess - because our Celebrity Solstice was so fantastic... but then again we had nothing to compare it to as it was our first cruise but thanks again for the review and for everyone's help!

great thanks for that info....

thanks for that info - much appreciated

Looks like there are 2 adults only pools according to the overview on Cruise Critic, so that's good Does anyone know about Gratuities? When we cruised on Celebrity in 2018 in Australia we were told before booking that there were no gratuities as we don't tip in Australia / New Zealand - is this the same with Princess?

Yes - Azamara docks at White Bay according to the cruise itinerary and it's there for 2 nights I think The main reason for wanting to do this cruise was to see the NYE fireworks - and our friends said most of the CBD streets are closed on NYE and there's no public transport that runs to White Bay, so they were forced to stand on the top deck to get whatever glimpse of the fireworks they could....

Thanks for the replies The only thing that really bothers us is having loads of screaming kids on board... running and jumping into the pools splashing the adults that are there trying to relax and enjoy themselves (unless there are 'adult only 'pools on Crown?) We did see kids on Solstice, but there weren't many of them and the ones we saw were obviously well behaved has anyone experienced any problems with tendering on Crown? 2-3 of the port stops are tender ones and with 3000 guests all clambering to get on a tender it might be a bit chaotic? I'll have another read up about Crown Princess deck plans...etc.. and look at some YouTube videos

thanks for that - Wife phoned Azamara and they confirmed only ocean view staterooms available she also phoned her friend who just happens to have done the exact cruise we were looking at and the friend said where the ship docks in Sydney is way behind the Sydney harbour bridge and you can't see the bridge from the cruise ship. We've decided against doing this cruise, but we do like the look of Azamara and may book a cruise with them in the future

We're looking at booking a cruise over Christmas 2024 on Crown Princess Itinerary is good, price is good, good staterooms still available.... but reading the reviews on CC is making us think twice most of the latest reviews are not very favourable - 1 mentioning smelling sewerage throughout the ship, another said their toilet wasn't working for a few days...some complaining about extra charges, outdated cabins / staterooms ... we were quite shocked Does princess attract a lot of families / kids on their ships? we've cruised once before on Celebrity Solstice and really enjoyed that it was mainly an 'adults' cruise should we be concerned about so many negative reviews?

The spreadsheet is very helpful we're looking at doing our first Azamara Cruise, but the one thing I find slightly annoying is when you go to do a booking, it doesn't show you what staterooms are available on what decks.....

thanks for the replies - We've watched a few YouTube clips on Pursuit and the more we watch the more we like it..... the tight bathrooms are a bit of a concern, but then again you only spend time in there to shower / wash and go to the toilet One thing I don't really like about their (Azamara) website is you can't see what staterooms are available - with Celebrity and Princess if you do a dummy booking you can select a deck and see what staterooms are available, but when you go to do a booking on Azamara it just asks for all your details (name / contact details / next of kin)... I'd like to see what rooms are available first I've just tried to do a dummy booking but it's only coming up with Ocean view staterooms, so maybe the veranda ones have sold out? Wife is going to phone a friend who has cruised with Azamara before on pursuit, so she will have first hand knowledge... and she will contact Azamara to ask about staterooms / availability and ask if Azamara have anything special planned for NYE to see the fireworks - as the ship will be docked in Sydney.

thanks for that advice

Many thanks for that - very helpful!

We are considering doing a cruise on Azamara Pursuit in December around the bottom of Australia (we are also considering a Princess cruise around the same time) and have some questions that hopefully seasoned Azamara cruisers can answer. We've cruised once before on Celebrity Solstice in 2018, so we're not totally new to cruising. Looking at the overview of Pursuit on cruise critic it looks like the ocean view cabins / rooms are slightly smaller than the interior or balcony cabins? (there are no interior cabins available on this particular cruise). What are peoples experience with an ocean view cabin compared to a balcony cabin? When looking at the pricing for the cruise, a Balcony room was $5,000 (NZ) more than an ocean view cabin - is it really worth paying that much extra for a balcony room? The overview of the cabins (on cruise critic) says "Because the ship originally was built in 2001, cabins in general are fairly snug" and "Bathrooms also are tight though well-appointed, with a sink, shelves, toilet and showers. For most cabins, showers are a squeeze...." What are peoples opinions on this? - are the cabins / bathrooms smaller than say Celebrity Solstice? Are there draws where we can put / hang up our clothes and is there room in the cabin to store the empty suitcase? We couldn't see anything regarding drink packages - are drinks (basic beer / wine / spirits) included or are they extra? We also couldn't see anything about Gratuities / Tips.... when we booked our Celebrity cruise we were told that because we were cruising in Australia that gratuities / tips don't apply - is this the case with Azamara? With the ship being smaller than say Celebrity Solstice, would you feel the rough seas more in a smaller ship? That's all I can think of for now.... if we do book the cruise I'm sure we'll have many more questions! Thank in advance

ok thanks for the replies - we'd prefer to book direct with Princess and not use a TA if we can help it (very bad experience trying to get a refund for a 2020 cruise)

We're looking at doing a cruise on Crown Princess 14 December 2024, however, when I do to do a dummy booking and get to room selection - I click on the decks available and it just has a blue box that says 'RESERVE' - no available rooms come up. It just says Princess will assign you a room prior to sailing Does anyone know why this is and what it means? - I've done dummy bookings in the past and available rooms have come up, but not on this cruise I'm new-ish to Princess so forgive me if this has been answered before