Kaylacool

3 hours ago, Bowm54 said:

We are spending 7 days on Explorer to PNG from Cairns late May early June, flying to and fro with Bonza!.

Have already bought replacement flights and should get the Bonza money back from  Mastercard. 
Was last in Rabaul more than 50 years ago.

Hope it all works out getting your money back from Bonza flights.

I've had a look for this cruise but not coming up on P & O website.  Are you aware if it's fully booked?

If you into 'shopping' you might be able store your bags somewhere close to Circular Key then catch the tram for a couple of dollars into the city to get some bargains with Boxing Day sales in the stores.

5 hours ago, Dididi said:

We disembarked the Pacific Encounter on a Saturday morning in August 2023.  Our flight home, via Houston, was not until 730pm.  The Luggage Hotel on Princess Wharf was only open on weekdays.  I couldn't find information on lockers at Britomart or the Fuller's Terminal so made a booking with Radical Storage.  We took our bags to a convenience store at the corner Anzac Avenue and Beach Road.  The cashier scanned the code on my phone, took photos of our luggage and placed them in a (locked) backroom.  It was very easy, for a low price, and the location was closer to the port than other luggage storage spots.  Good experience.  My advice would be to check the address where you'll take your luggage for storage.  Some of the cafes and convenience stores were not near the port and/or kind of uphill.  

thanks Dididi for this information.  Was it walking distance to Anzac Avenue and Beach Road if so approx how far to walk with luggage or was it a cab ride due to distance?

54 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Go to virginvoyages,com.  In the upper right corner, there is a little icon that looks like a person sort of.  Next to that is a downward carrot.  Click on that and it should show you recently searched cruises and at the bottom a red and white thing that says "go to my account."   Click this.  Or it may say something like "create account" if you haven't done it before...fill in the stuff like name, email, date of birth, password.  Then it should take you to your account, which is basically a list of your cruises, Click on the voyage you are interested in (if more than one listed), then click on add ons.  A sidebar should open showing any loot, bar tab, bottle of bubbly, deep blue extras, or whatever.  For instance, you might see something like this....If I was missing stuff, I'd call my agent as she will have a list of what I should have.  If you booked directly thru VV, cross your fingers, hold your tongue just right, and call them.

Thanks heaps 😘

On 10/4/2023 at 10:18 AM, cantgetin said:

It should show up in your on line account under "add ons,"  I would suggest keeping a copy of your receipt as a screen shot just in case it doesn't load onto the app when you board!  If you used a travel agent, they should also be able to confirm that it is on your reservation.  If you don't see it on the on line account, call VV!  Mine appears in the on line account under the lead sailor's name, but does not appear on the app.

cantgetin you mention the 'on line account'.  Where does one find this as I too have $300 missing from my bar tab for a sailing in March?

Logon to p & o to manage your booking and go into where you select payment of fees and then you use your debit card details to finalize payment. 

If you pay using a debit card you won't pay fees.

Go for it! With 4 sea days that will value add to your experience by having a bigger space to yourselves. 

38 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It won't be available for purchase. The ship has to visit an international destination, which includes the famous Wiilis Island sail-by before it can sell duty free on a particular cruise.

Thought that may be the case but husband was hopeful there may be duty free opportunity. :)

We are sailing on a 5 night cruise out of Brisbane down to Sydney back to Brisbane.  Does anyone who has done similar itinerary know if duty free purchasing of alcohol etc. will be available?

thanks

K

On 8/15/2023 at 10:22 PM, JohnGc said:

Thats great I was favouring Singapore to Brisbane. Flight cost and Insurance seems to be the biggest expense. Don't fancy it but Jet star seems to be a lot cheaper than the others, just wondering if I can stand the cramped conditions for the long flight. I suppose I could recover on the cruise back 🙂  I like the overweight luggage idea on the return or should I say the wife would like it.

Jetstar are well known for cancellation so would be advisable to fly in the day before at least just to give you some leave way and take the pressure off missing embarkation.

Thanks Ondine for the tip will give this a go  :)

We have booked guaranteed ocean view category OP which is on back of ship deck 12 and has porthole only.  This is for a 7 night South Pacific Island cruise.

Anybody stayed in these cabins and can advise on what they were like?

thanks

Kaylacool

16 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Can you provide more info here?  Husband cannot book PLUS alone unless you are in separate cabins/bookings which doesn't make sense.

There is well-known bug that the Princess App often reflects the incorrect Captain's Circle level for guests which can cause other side-effect issues.

 

We should all be aware this is a poster from Australia and they will have different promos and pricing schemes than us in North America.  Not defending the CVP, because there are turkeys there for sure, but if based in USA, a bit of a time challenge there in contacting one another.  Anyway, I would get yourself cancelled and begin anew.  Do you know a good TA in your area?

thanks Steelers36 more info as requested.

Yes I am in Australia as you mentioned and when making the original booking I asked if my husband could book under the Princess Plus package fare (he drinks - me not so much) and I would book the Princess Standard fare we are in the same cabin.  The Planner had no issue with booking the fare in this format.  Not yet familiar with a good travel agent in local area but will definitely be looking.

Last month I booked 2 cruises as part of the Princess early release for 2024 and 2025 cruises.  I booked these through my Princess Holiday planner had never used him before but been assigned as previous planner left.  I've tried to resolve numerous times over the past month this just not sure where to go or who to contact to get this resolved and to communicate to the extremely poor level of customer service that I've experienced.  Would hate for anyone else to have to go through this.  Never before have I ever had to experience such lack of commitment, professionalism and lies from Princess staff in regards to getting back to me.

The saga so far.....

On the day I booked these cruises I noticed errors in the booking listed below:-

• Not applying the Future Cruise Deposit resulting in no on board credit applied for me
• Me not listed as Elite but another level (husband and I both Elite)
• Husband booked Plus fare and he was charged over $200 more for both cruises than what was listed that day for this category fare
• Husband should have received additional OBC as he booked plus fare
• Incorrect OBC for both of us as this was during the 'Twice is Nice' promo only received $50 each where as I should have received $100 and husband $200

I phoned the planner on the day and advised him of the errors and he said he would look into this and get back to me.  I followed up with email clearly outlining errors and additional mistakes a couple of days later and still no response.  Phoned him but unable to speak with him so left message for him to call me back.

I emailed him and also the princess customer service email address hoping to get some action this way.  I was contacted via email about 4 days later from Princess advising that I would need to call as this involved an existing booking and I need to be ID'd so they could speak further about this.

I phoned and was advised that as I'd booked this with a Planner I would have to speak with him, despite my protesting that he appeared to be incompetent as was not returning my call and could someone else assist.  NO this was not possible had to be with planner the caller advised they had passed on a message to him directly and he would call me.  That has not happened and I have repeated this process again to be told that he would call me after 4pm on the given day but still nothing from him.  I am at breaking point of frustration with the poor service I have received and just don't understand why he is not responding to me and fixing the errors in booking.  I even 'threatened' to cancel both cruises but still NO response from Princess.

If you've read this far I'm hoping you may be able to offer some advice or an email address of who to raise this with in a higher authority as clearly I've not made any progress so far and would appreciate any positive input on where to from here.

Thanks

K

Not to impressed with the Brisbane offerings either.  Next to nothing to the islands, mostly longer cruises.  If you are wanting to do a 7 - 14 nighter for example there is very little on offer

3 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Its a Carnival thing, it applies to all their lines, Princess; P&O; Cunard, etc.

I assume you didn't request it for the Vanuatu cruise? That was $200 OBC.

Definitely need to get you proof of service registered.

I do you need the e-mail address? or is your TA following up at the moment?

3 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Thanks John.  I was asking this question

7 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Its a Carnival thing, it applies to all their lines, Princess; P&O; Cunard, etc.

I assume you didn't request it for the Vanuatu cruise? That was $200 OBC.

Definitely need to get you proof of service registered.

I do you need the e-mail address? or is your TA following up at the moment?

 

 

 

 

Thanks John.  I was asking this question for a friend who has recently booked on this cruise that we are sailing on too.  He is ex military and first time princess cruiser.  He booked through flight centre and has found them rather unhelpful with any followup etc,

3 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

You reckon I can get a Personal Butler discount?

I mean why not. I do my chosen job and get paid for it. So I am just as eligible for a discount then.

 

Cue the outrage.

Also is there such a benefit with Princess as refer-a-friend -.  might be able to request this too  :  )

3 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Have you requested Military Benifits with P&O or any Carnival line?

If so it should be registered and auto added when you book, it has for me with my previous cruises.

 

Regards

John

 

First time Princess cruisers

Travel agent sent off paperwork for military benefits request 3 weeks for cruise departing on 19th December.  Still not showing up on personalizer.  Asked travel agent today but they weren't able to provide any update.  First time Princess cruiser.

Is it possible if its not showing on embarkation day that you can go to desk services and get it applied once onboard?  

Any advice appreciated.

20 hours ago, Essence08 said:

@Kaylacool There is a role call for this cruise if you'd like to join - quite a few CC people will be on the cruise. I am travelling with my husband and 2 kids, as well as my parents, and my in laws. 

We have done a Christmas cruise on RCL and loved it, looking forward to this cruise!!!! 

thanks @Essence08  I have joined the roll call.  It's great that you have your family joining you too.

39 minutes ago, Roatanfans said:

I don't remember anything particularly special about lunch, but dinner is really good.  Desserts usually include gingerbread souffle, cookies, some sort of English Christmas pudding.  Other foods you will see on the ship that are special for the holidays are stollen and decorated Christmas cookies with milk.  They used to have a gingerbread house decorating contest pre pandemic and there are lots of holiday activities including a kids fair and Santa passing out gifts to the kids (stuffed animals on the cruises we went on).  We love the Christmas cruises and all the beautiful decorations!

Thank Roatanfans.  As this cruise is out of Australia to NZ would the Christmas dinner be more likely to be themed from those countries as your Christmas dinner sounds amazing but is it perhaps more what you would expect for Christmas dinner from the destination your cruising from/too :)

On 8/25/2022 at 10:27 PM, skynight said:

The main meal will usually be in the evening. If Christmas is a sea day then lunch will be served in a DR. There probably will be some special selections.

You can book a specialty restaurant for Christmas dinner if you want. The menu will probably be the same as other evenings, maybe a few differences. The MDRs will have special menu selections for Christmas dinner.

Thanks for your response.  Is it any different in relation to selecting table size?  ie.  table for 2 or shared table. You can't seem to select table size like you used to when participating in a shared table with the mediallion app only have been able to select the time and dining room.  

Have never sailed over Christmas before and curious to know of what happens for Christmas lunch on Princess or is it more likely the evening meal is the focus. We are sailing to New Zealand as a couple so no family will be with us.  

Do you prebook into the main dining rooms or are specialty restaurants more the way to go to celebrate Christmas on the ship?

Any insight on what to expect would be appreciated.

1 minute ago, Sparky74 said:

I would like to try to do an almost live trip report, posting as we have access to Internet. If I do, I'll start it as a new thread and just post mini updates here. 
Like:

Our flight from Coffs Harbour was delayed so they had to change our flight to Sydney. 
We are now waiting for our flight to Vancouver, due to depart at 2025 (that’s 8:25pm, not 2 years away!)

I can’t usually sleep on a plane but I’m so tired right now.

We're now scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 2125 (9:25pm) so nice we get through immigration and get to our hotel it will be straight to bed!

Thanks for the update and hopefully this will be your only hiccup on a great trip and your adventures ahead.  Safe travels!