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On 1/23/2023 at 1:16 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:
Typically Princess cruises bought in Aus/NZ and operating with AUD onboard costs do not have daily gratuities but cruises operating with USD onboard costs do.
However I'm sure I saw a US promo for USD ships that included gratuities as well as the Plus package. It was sometime last year but I can't remember exactly when.
The original confirmation emails usually show what is included, way down the bottom.
I have just booked Diamond Princess round trip from Singapore for February 2024. I took the Plus fare which included the current 3 for free promotion but gratuities were never included. When I inquired I was told it was because the ship did not leave or return from Australia and all onboard costs were in USD. I am aware that I have the option of removing the daily gratuities on board if I choose to do so.
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4 hours ago, buchhalm said:
That seems expensive!
Celebrity was charging USD 10, which is reasonable, as it is quite a distance.
Princess were $35 AUD return for shuttles in both cities.
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On 1/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, timtam2 said:
I went on Spectrum in August. I did not witness any of that behaviour that you mention. I've been on other Royal cruises from Singapore and I always enjoy them - I do not miss drunken Aussies 'making the most' of their drink packages. Singaporeans love to have fun and do tend to travel in large family groups. Perhaps now there will be groups from China onboard too. The food is slightly different but there is still plenty to eat, including Western options.
I did miss not having a Cafe Promenade for a snack whenever it was needed.
I am Diamond but I was not permitted access to the Suite area in the Solarium or the Solarium dining. They are strict about that. However, I was allowed to use the lounge area adjacent to the Solarium and that was a pleasant place for a pre dinner drink.
There does not appear to be a Diamond Lounge on Spectrum. Was the lounge area adjacent to the Solarium exclusively for Diamond passengers? Were your Diamond perks (ie: 5 free drink vouchers) honoured throughout the ship? I have also had many enjoyable cruises out of Singapore with people of all nationalities but the setup on Spectrum seems to be heavily geared for the local Asian market.
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We are looking at Asian itineraries on Spectrum of the Seas from Singapore early 2024. We like the itineraries but have been put off by the avalanche of negative reviews that this ship has attracted. The ship stays in Asia and mostly cruises from Singapore, Hong Kong or Tokyo which naturally attracts a high percentage of Asians. It was the first ship back cruising in Asia after the pandemic and started with four nite cruises to nowhere exclusively for Singaporeans. We are Diamond on RCCL and have done many cruises from overseas ports including Asia. My concern is that Spectrum is a Quantum class ship but the deck plan is vastly different from Ovation OS and Quantum OS which many Australians would be familiar with. The ship is relatively new but the layout seems to be designed exclusively for the Asian market. Common complaints include long ques at every food venue whether booked or not and favourable treatment for Gold and Silver class suite guests who have their own dining room and bar. Not sure where Diamond class and it's perks fits in to this system. Apparently theatre seats need to be reserved as do gym sessions and many other on board activities. Apparently most of these slots are full from embarkation. I am now a bit concerned about having to spend an entire cruise surrounded by bad mannered people talking over the music, stampeding at the buffet, coughing all over me and spitting on the floor as well as smoking everywhere they shouldn't be.
Has anyone had previous experience cruising on Spectrum in Asia?
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On 1/20/2023 at 12:03 PM, cruiser3775 said:
The Princess Terms and conditions says:
"Any alcoholic beverages purchased duty free from The Shops of Princess, or at any port of call, will be collected at the gangway for safekeeping and will be delivered to your stateroom on the last day of the cruise. A member of the ship's staff will be at the gangway to assist guests with the storage of their shoreside alcoholic purchases."
I saw this guy sitting at a desk just next to the stairs and the lifts when you re-boarded at shore stops. He didn't seem to be doing much business.
Everyone who brought a bag back on board had to put it though a scanner. I suppose you could stuff a bottle down your underwear, but it would be uncomfortable.
We were on Coral Princess to NZ in December and the above rules applied. The guy at the desk usually had bottles or cartons of wine that had been confiscated from passengers on port stops. I am aware of the old rule regarding the $15 corkage fee but I don't believe we had that option. I've paid it before and would have paid it again if I had been allowed.
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On 12/28/2022 at 7:16 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:
Kettles are not provided in cabins on any Princess ships sailing out of Australian or NZ ports. However try asking for one, you might be lucky. I have heard of it happening once or twice in the past.
Just a fortnight ago we requested and received a kettle on Coral Princess from our room attendant. It's the first thing we do when we arrive at the cabin. Not always available on other lines but Princess are pretty good. We take our own coffee and tea and bring down a glass of milk the night before from the buffet which we keep sitting in a separate glass of ice in the cooler. I can't drink the coffee in cruise ship dining rooms.
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23 hours ago, Womble99 said:
Which ships (if any) have actually done the Fiordlands this season?
Coral Princess went in on 9 December which was the cruise before the snail cruise.
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2 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:
Julie and everyone: which would you recommend: Dunedin or Christchurch? Not sure we want to do two long days with shuttles in a row. Also to consider are the port towns. Would appreciate your opinions.
Dunedin and Christchurch are both large cities with many attractions depending on where your interests lie. They need not be long days as you can return on a shuttle as early as you like. The port towns of Port Chalmers and Lyttleton are interesting but you could walk around both in an hour. We went in to the cities in the morning and returned after lunch to have a couple of drinks in the quaint old pubs in the port.
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18 hours ago, LuckiePuris said:
If you want to do the ships provided shuttle how do you book?
Do you buy a ticket onboard or register interest onboard, and then pay locally?
We don’t want to miss out as we don’t want to do local buses.
Thanks.
On Princess the return shuttle is $35 for both Port Chalmers and Lyttleton. When you get off the ship you pay directly to the bus company before getting on the bus. Credit cards and $NZD cash are the only method of payment. You cannot pre purchase shuttle tickets from the ship.
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On 12/23/2022 at 11:49 PM, arxcards said:
The Auckland passengers will still get their round cruise, albeit altered.
Coral hasn't called anywhere yet, and first port will be Christchurch on Christmas Day and the rest of the original schedule will follow. In the end, it appears the place they could get this done was near Tauranga and that is what took them over to the East Coast. That leaves them missing the Fiords and Dunedin but the rest of the itinerary will remain in order including Auckland on 29th December.
The second half of the cruise starting today is identical to the original itinerary. You only miss Fiordland and Dunedin in the first half which become sea days. Wouldn't worry me in the slightest given the circumstances.
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On 12/22/2022 at 6:09 PM, NSWP said:
Indeed, the pax will not be happy when they find ChCh is closed.
It was always going to be Christchurch on Christmas Day. Everyone would have known that when they booked the cruise.
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2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:
With half the number of passengers on Coral Princess who probably pay double or more pp in fares Viking can probably afford to be very generous in compensation.
Personally I think Princess has also been generous, as they have been ever since the restart. After all the passengers on that cruise are still being accommodated, fed, and entertained for the full length of the cruise they booked. If they booked with Plus or Premium fares they are still getting full benefits of those packages. Yes, they are missing Dunedin and Fiordland which is sad but there is always the risk of missing one or both of those due to adverse weather conditions.
The $100 in credit is probably a refund of the port fees for Dunedin which is the only port they will miss. It's not unusual to miss Fiordland. Cruise companies cover the possibility of missed ports very carefully in their fine print. I wonder what everyone is doing today on Christmas Day in Christchurch. With probably nothing open and minimal public transport it's probably not worth getting off the ship. Might as well be just another sea day after 5 sea days from Brisbane.
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On 12/8/2022 at 10:59 AM, arxcards said:
Why even a photo. Just showing a negative strip to your steward shouldn't be a health issue.
On Coral Princess we did the RAT test on Day 2 and the result strip had to be inspected by your steward. I assume the results were then passed on and recorded. It did seem to flush out a few new confirmed Covid cases.
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On 12/11/2022 at 7:01 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:
Covid, and also sea conditions, may affect the number of production shows on a cruise. In the past most cruises of 14 nights or longer had about three, I think.
We had three different production shows on Coral Princess on our 14 day cruise. The other guest artists were OK but nearly all of them appeared twice albeit with a slightly varied act.
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On 12/16/2022 at 8:27 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:
That's why I think mandatory tests every 2-3 days would be smart.
We have just returned from NZ on Coral Princess. All passengers were directed to do a further RAT test (supplied) on Day 3. The result had to be shown to your room attendant and I assume all test results were recorded. Not sure how many positive cases were flushed out but Covid precautions were then increased. The dead giveaway was the small knee high table left outside cabins where people were in quarantine.
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On 12/11/2022 at 8:45 AM, JeffroK said:
Torquer,
This is a ship requirement, not a Government edict.
Princess require a RAT, Photo ID and proof of time/date.
We have just returned from Coral Princess to NZ. The morning of departure we photographed the plastic vial showing our negative test alongside our drivers licence. No one would ever want to see the testing stick. On this cruise it was compulsory for everyone to do another RAT test (supplied) on Day 3. You then had to show the test result to your room attendant and the results would have been recorded. Many people objected to the test but it did identify some new positive cases who were then quarantined in their cabin for 5 days or until they returned negative.
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On 12/11/2022 at 2:34 AM, sj-cruiser said:
I'll be stopping for an overnight stay on Holland America Feb 3 through the 4th. cruisemapper.com said that overnight cruise ships are tendered in but Holland America says they're docked. Assuming Holland America is correct is there anyone here who has taken Holland America to Phuket for an overnight stay and what was it like where the ship is docked?
When did you go and how much did it cost to get into Phuket City?
What were your highlights when you were there?
Thank you in advance.
Depending on the monsoon season cruise ships either dock in Phuket town on the East coast or tender in to Patong Beach on the West coast. Many people prefer the tender in to Patong Beach which is the main tourist area for shopping, restaurants and tours. In Phuket town you are docked in an industrial area and the town centre is approx 2 kilometres away. You should be able to get a taxi form Phuket town across the island to Patong Beach which is approx 15 kilometres.
Please note this advice is based on pre Covid experiences and anything may have changed.
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6 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:
That would be wonderful. We used to always get the ferry from Portside when we had a port stop there. It made for a very pleasant day out. Ferry each way then pottering around the city or South Bank, and a nice lunch somewhere.
We didn't bother getting off the ship the last two times we stopped at the BICT.
The City Cat situation at Portside is completely different to BICT. Portside has a huge permanent residential population that use the City Cats for public transport day and night seven days a week.
There is absolutely no one around BICT except when a ship is in. Whilst I agree that transport needs to be provided for cruise passengers to visit Brisbane I can't see City Cats being diverted from their usual purpose.
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22 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:
We've always prefered to go to the late shows as we dine late. That's one of the reasons we like Princess - their late show is late enough to go to after dinner. On Celebrity we had to go to the early show then to dinner so we tended not to go to many of their shows.
Just out of interest can you advise the current times for early and late shows on Princess. (specifically Coral Princess) We like to make our dinner reservations around the shows.
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9 hours ago, jonsmom said:
That's a great idea - I didn't think of staying in an airport hotel. Brilliant and thank you
If it's any assistance we stayed at the Best Western Airport which is about two kilometres from the airport. The hotel is quite acceptable with very little facilities but does provide a basic breakfast. Taxis charge the minimum fee from the airport which is about 20 euros. The hotel provides a shuttle to the airport but it was no cheaper than a taxi and was booked out in advance. There is not much to see and do around the hotel but there are a couple of very good restaurants within walking distance. The local bus in to Venice passes right in front of the hotel and tickets are available from reception.
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7 hours ago, jonsmom said:
We also booked a B2B put starting in Ravenna and ending in Barcelona. Just curious, if you fly in a day or so before and would like to see Venice, do you have to make your way back to the airport for shuttles
I believe cruise shuttles to Ravenna are also available from one of the large public squares in Venice. (don't know which one) We opted to stay in an airport hotel to be close to our shuttle and used the very convenient and cheap local bus service to venture in to Venice for day trips.
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On 10/19/2022 at 10:18 PM, Hlitner said:
Like you, we did quite well at that beach. We arrived via the public bus (which drops you relatively close to the infamous DK Oyster Bar) and strolled along the pedestrian walkway making inquiries about renting loungers. We rejected some places because their beach loungers "sucked," some others because we did not like their beach umbrellas, and finally got to one that had decent loungers, decent umbrellas, and a reasonable menu (offerings and prices). Our last visit was on a very busy day so we had no leverage to negotiate a lower price on lounger rentals (sometimes you can work a deal if you promise to eat/drink). During the busy season some of the beach places reserve most of their loungers for nearby hotels so folks might need to do as we do and make multiple inquiries. It is a decent beach, there are plenty of OK cafes/restaurants, etc. That DK Oyster bar gives a wonderful beach a bad name and it is a shame that the local authorities have long "looked the other way" and allowed them to rip off numerous customers. One would have to assume that the "fix is in" and DK is somehow above the law. Tis a shame.
Hank
All the reputable tavernas will have a menu on display with all prices clearly marked. It was while looking at each menu that we enquired regarding sun loungers and usually got them free so long as we patronised that taverna. Despite five ships being in Mykonos we did not find this beach overly crowded and the public bus was only a couple of euros. If you got to Platis Gialos and found it too crowded you could always use the water taxi to go to neighbouring beaches.
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On 10/20/2022 at 10:04 AM, fmack said:
Hi, when did you experience the above? We are going in May 2023 and hope there will still be shuttles. Also, how much for the shuttle?
We were on B2B cruises out of Ravenna in September. I imagine there will be shuttles for as long as RCI continue to cruise out of Ravenna. From memory the shuttle cost approx $25 USD in each direction.
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On 9/18/2022 at 12:06 AM, Hlitner said:
Do not confuse normal resort island pricing with an absolute crook (DK Oyster Bar). And if you live in London (what it says with your signature) you certainly should not be complaining about Mykonos pricing :).
Hank
We ate at several tavernas along Platis Gialos beach. Fortunately DK Oyster Bar was not one of them although I vaguely remember seeing it. We found the prices quite reasonable given the high quality seafood and the beachside location.
Phuket, port or tender
in Asia
Posted
In January which is high season the cruise ships normally anchor in Patong Bay on the West coast and tender passengers ashore. The tender will drop passengers at the southern end of Patong Beach which is close to shops, bars and restaurants.
In low season (monsoon) the ships berth near Phuket town on the East coast in an area with very little appeal. You would have to make your own arrangements for transport to Phuket town or to the western beaches. The cruise line may provide a shuttle.