arxcards

I had forgotten that the bikini tree existed until you mentioned it. I believe it is still there, but hasn't been painted for decades.

P&O has only recently started to keep similar numbering from the Princess days, and their deck plans still show the location of the fire doors. For Pacific Explorer and earlier, each deck has/had continuous numbering, but you could still work it out via the doors marked on the deck plans. For most Princess ships, there are 6 zones on each deck which are divided by 5 sets of fire doors. 3 of those are adjacent to the 3 sets of lifts, as well as 2 more sets between those. As mentioned, there are some random exemptions. Apart from those, most balcony dividers can be opened. The other exception is where the outside of the ship juts in/out, for obvious reasons. eg - on Coral, there won't be a balcony divider between A622 & A624.

My old favourite. I spent a couple of years growing up in Branxton, and for a teenager, this sign was one of few highlights.

You might be able to touch base via LinkedIn. They certainly prefer that any enquiry starts at their customer service level and gets escalated up to the person that can resolve your issue/enquiry.

She has had a few liveries over the years. I can remember seeing the ship in Sydney around 15 years ago as Superstar Gemini. Sad that the residents will need to leave, but it was good news that the ship was made available following the earthquakes. Still nowhere near my wishlist though.

Or a straw.

But ... they might have decent wines on this one.

Could be. They could be misinterpreting the market, but I think they will be basing everything on advanced booking numbers for Brilliance next season. They did have a Vision class place marker in ports for 2024/25, so to me it seems like they were estimating a small downsize already. Sure they could fill another ship, but at what margin. The market here will shift, but is from health concerns and toward financial concerns? Maybe there will be some sensational news ready to be announced, and they are keeping a secret better than ever before. I agree that with more massive newbuilds hitting the market, that there will usually be newer hand-me-downs looking for a different home - but I am just not sensing anything. Princess is also dropping capacity from 2023/4 to 2024/5, so for whatever reason there appears to be some cautious minds in the industry.

If the tag had come off, it would be Royal's fault for guessing where it should be delivered instead of taking it to guest services. The latter makes sense and is likely what happened.

Royal has a media event in Brisbane next Friday & Saturday. I expect the local 24/25 season cruises will be announced then.

Well, sort of. It would be if a Royal Caribbean employee delivered the bag to the wrong cabin. Hardly their fault that it was grabbed by someone that didn't own it.

The other thing that happens when someone influential stumbles on something they think is new, is that suddenly they become popular cabins. The video made these oversized windows appear to be something unique, but there are better ones out there. As an example, Rhapsody of the Seas 1M cabins have floor to ceiling windows, as those cabins were retrofitted around the outside of the glassed atrium. Great cabins, but the "ship of light" atriums suffered from the need for extra revenue.

For December/January and the relocations, yes there is enough demand for 2 ships. As for the other months, they struggle to fill one. Tough to send another ship down for an 8 week season.

I think there is a crossed wire with the agent. The cabins on deck 8 are obstructed (E502) The cabins beside the casino are not obstructed (F502)

Travel insurance could be fun.

Even before the bidding system, Royal (or via your T/A) used to send out targeted upsell offers. Back even further, the top tier suite that remained unsold would be the one and only prize for "win a suite bingo" on the first night which would rake them in close to 100K in proceeds for a 10K cabin. They don't like giving away freebies much these days. Once upon a time, they would all play upgrade musical chairs, then resell their cheapest cabins as last-minute deals.

I haven't heard much from Diamond lately. They were one of the last ships to resume, and I don't see much Japanese interaction on cruise critic. As for what condition she will be in 20 months from now, that is a lot of drops of the hat. I have felt that generally, the Mitsubishi built Princess ships (including Diamond) are lasting better than the Fincantieri builds. Our entertainment is generally bland but watchable, pretty much the same as North America. Since Princess resumed here last June, most ships have been struggling to get adequate staff, so service has slipped a bit in some areas, but not significantly. I would expect a typical Princess experience, with some awesome Aussie & New Zealand ports thrown in.

Part of my fun with all of this is that we have never had a complimentary upgrade, which used to bug me no end. Sure, we have had some cruises where we wanted specific cabins and ticked the no upgrade box and a few cruises where there was nothing higher to upgrade to, but that still leaves dozens of cruises that the upgrade fairy has ignored us. The only explanation that ever made sense was from a Princess circle host - if you buy at a promo/discounted price, you have less chance of an upgrade. Apart from that, guarantee cabins always give the best chance of un upgrade, but 95% of the time it is only a location upgrade anyway. I would rather pick a cabin, so that lowers our odds. A good location on a lower deck is better than one well forward on a higher deck, but the cabin categories don't often reflect that. Now that Princess has added the bidding for upgraded cabins, the odds of a complimentary upgrade are shrinking even further.

Or from the Star Wars fan in my family - Death Star.

I have flipped back and forth over the past few days - super keen, then also a reluctance that this could still be rona affected two years down the track, and that it would be even better on Coral. But .... we are all but booked for Dover to Sydney in 2025. In the end, the itinerary wins. And probably a 60th birthday party on Diamond as well.

When you say next year, do you mean early 2024, or late 2024? Royal only cruise from Sydney over our summer, generally October thru April. For 2023/24 summer season, Royal will have Brilliance and Ovation based in Sydney. The 2024/25 season isn't yet available and expected to be launched in the next couple of weeks. So far for Royal only Ovation has port bookings in Sydney. I figure Royal will be your first option, but Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Cunard will all have summer season ships sailing out of Sydney. Outside those months, the only two ships to sail year-round from Sydney are Carnival Spirit and Pacific Adventure (P&O Australia). Princess also bases a ship here year-round, but that includes being away on a world cruise for 3 1/2 months.

The worlds' largest sand ship could also mean they are bringing Oasis. I try not to read too much into these, as they are just a good way to attract media attention for a season launch. Any extra news will be great news.

We have friends that are doing a full lap from Freo, and they are otherwise still having a great time. A bit more distant from social media, they were shocked with the initial covid announcement. I am not so sure if the multiple embarkation points change things too much, but it doesn't help. So many are doing B2B's this season, so it is rare to embark with a full fresh load of passengers and the crew are a constant as well.

The 2023 & 2024 WC's are scheduled to tender to Easter Island, so I would hope that is still the case for 2025.