Aus Traveller

I believe the answer from the call centre is incorrect. I understand that Australians can cruise domestically using their driver's licence as ID. Someone else on this forum will be able to confirm. If not, I can check into it further for you.

The only time that a port-side cabin would be an advantage would be on the Fiordland day when cruising between Milford Sound and Thompson Sound. However, views of this stretch of coastline are much better in the afternoon rather than the later morning when your cruise will be there.

BTW, the blow-up mattresses I mentioned are surprisingly small, measuring about 30cm x 30cm x 5cm when they were in the box. I don't know if my daughter managed to compress them back to that size when she was packing everything!

We were on the same cruise. Maybe you were one of the couples I saw wearing masks! After we left our last port (Auckland) staff at the Guest Services desk wore masks. My daughter asked one of the staff there if the masks indicated that there was more illnes on board. The reply was that after the last port, people are more likely to report being ill.

It might vary on different cruise lines. I disembarked from the Coral Princess last Thursday. I saw probably three or four couples who wore masks on board. One couple remarked that it was for their own protection.

Angelos is excellent. Dragon Lady isn't for us!

John's advice is spot on.

Going by train will save you a few dollars, but I wouldn't bother. I would go by taxi or Uber both ways.

Additions to my review - Elite wine tasting - I don't always go to the wine tasting but it was my daughter's first cruise as Elite so she wanted to try it. When we entered, instead of just showing out Medallion (in the old days our Cruise Card) to prove that we were entitled to enter free of charge, we had to give our cabin number. We were then crossed off the list. A friend said that when he tried to go to two wine tasting events on a cruise three weeks ago, he was told he had to pay $25 because he had already been to one on that cruise. It was somewhat embarrassing for him. Library - There were probably a hundred or so hand-me-down books in the library - a welcome change from previous cruises when there were only a few.

Hah! Hah!

I don't like booking and pre-paying for transfers. On the few times we have done that in Sydney we have ended up waiting literally hours past the agreed time. Obviously on these occasions we phoned the company several times and were always told the car would be there in a few minutes. Yesterday a couple in the taxi queue at the Brisbane terminal were frustrated that their pre-paid taxi hadn't turned up. The Taxi Supervisor got another cab driver to enquire with the office and was told it would be another 45 minutes' wait. This was while there were several cabs waiting for customers. In Sydney I advise just going out to the taxi queue and getting in the first available one. It will be less frustrating and probably much faster.

There were more choices on the lunch menu, but still ..... the same menu for three sea days, then again for the three sea days at the end. I was hoping that at least the menu would have been different for the last three days.

A short review of the cruise - The weather was kind and the ship was great as usual. Individual comments - Cabins - We had two balcony cabins, one a four berth and one a two. They seem to alternate betwen four and two berth cabins so we would not have been able to get adjoining four-berth cabins. We selected cabins where the door between the two balconies could be latched open. This was ideal for the young children in the party. I suggested to my daughter that the pull-down beds would not be very comfortable and suggested she have her two youngest sleep on blow-up mattresses on the floor. These cost $16.95 at Bunnings and had an inbuilt pump. I am glad my daughter had the job of blowing them up and not me! When they boarded they asked the cabin steward for the bedding off the pull-down beds and also that the two single beds be made into a Queen-size bed. The children's blow-up beds were pushed under the Queen size bed during the day. This system worked very well. Crew - Superb. We got a lot of extra attention because of the young children in our group. They are three lovely girls aged nearly 10, just turned 8 and the littlest at 4 and a half. The dining room staff were excellent. We were assigned the same take for each meal. When we arrived, there were always three children's menu/activity sheet and a pencil and their favourite apple juice waiting. Kids' Club - I cannot praise the Kids' Club and the staff enough. Our girls loved it. There were interesting activities and they always came back to the cabin with something to show us - painted T-shirt, painted little backpack, bead bracelet/necklace, stick-on transfer that looks like stained glass. On the last day they each received a lovely stuffed toy as a gift. The hours were 9am-12, 2pm-5pm, 7pm-11pm (I think) on sea days. On port days the centre is open all day and the staff take the kids to lunch. Food - We had nearly all our meals in the MDR. The service was excellent and the staff made a big fuss over my young grand-children. I was disappointed to see that the lunch-time menu remained the same for the whole cruise. I have not encountered that before on Princess. As someone has already mentioned, on the second formal night, not only has the lobster disappeared, but the beef wellington has also. There is now a dish that has beef and a tiny piece of 'shrimp patty'. It was so tasteless I would not have known what it was if it wasn't described on the menu. The children tried the famous Volcano, but none of them had more than a few scoops. They had a large dollop of fake whipped cream. This was also used on the Black Forest cake, totally spoiling it. Specialty dining - Our travel agent had gifted us two specialty dining vouchers for two. I was not at all impressed by our meal at the Bayou Cafe last year so we went to Sabitinis. The food was very good and the service impeccable. However, I wouldn't like to pay the new price - $55 pp. Captain's lunch - This was held in Sabitinis where we were greeted by the Staff Captain for our photos. Table #1 was hosted by Martina, the lovely Hotel General Manager. The food was good and the service excellent. We had the same waiter we had for our specialty dinners so he made sure our wine glasses were filled regularly. Captain's cocktail party - Captain Diego Perra made an appearance. He didn't attend many of these on the World Cruise. He was leaving the Coral today and a new Captain will be taking over. I am sorry, but I don't know his name. Apparently this will be his first command. Wine - I took the permitted bottle of wine on board at embarkation. Corkage at the rate of AUD$30 per bottle was charged on additional bottles and a 'corkage paid' sticker attached allowing the passenger to take the bottle to the dining room. During the cruise I didn't see many people with corkage stickers. At ports of call passengers were able to take one bottle 'free' on board and corkage was supposed to be charged on additional bottles. Prices on the Princess wine list now start in the 'high 50$' range per bottle. Entertainment - The first entertainer was billed as a comedian, but the general comment from people was that the funniest thing was watching the mass exodus of people. For his second show he was called 'a storyteller'. I missed the first show and didn't go to the second, but people said his stories weren't even funny. Next was a hypnotist I have seen before. Against my better judgement I went to his first show. I don't find it very entertaining. On formal night the production cast put on 'Encore', always a brilliant show. We didn't have a guest soprano but the show was still good. The Champagne waterfall and drinks now ran for just half an hour, not an hour as I recall from previous cruises. Other shows were On the Bayou (excellent even though the main rotating stage wasn't working), Motown, and Secret Silk. I hadn't seen the latter one before, but it was really great.

The ANZAC Museum is worth visiting. When we have been in Albany we have caught the free shuttle bus the short distance to the middle of town. There was always a local tour available at a very reasonable price. It operated on a Hop on Hop off basis with a stop at the ANZAC Museum. We found this ideal because we could spend at much time as we wanted at the Museum. Maybe you could email the Albany Visitor Information Centre to find out if this tour still operates.

We disembarked this morning from the Coral Princess after a cruise to NZ. While on board, we were asked to check our shoes for cleanliness if we had been to a farm, but there was no mention at disembarkation.

I am sure we can take extra bottles of wine on board (and pay the relevant corkage). Although the T&C state that any alcohol purchased during the cruise will be confiscated, in practice, often wine is allowed under the same rules that apply at embarkation.

This is what the upgrade bids are about. Julie has booked a balcony cabin and is hoping for a mini suite. When we have received the email invitation to bid for an upgrade, there is an indication of the cost for each different type of cabin, e.g. balcony, premium balcony, mini suite, suite. They don't break it down to different 'grades' within each type of cabin.

I will see if extra wine is allowed on the Coral on the NZ cruise that leaves on Thursday 11th. Early last year, and again a couple of times on the World Cruise I asked the man at the alcohol collection table if I was permitted to bring wine on at the ports of call. The answer was that one bottle was 'free' and corkage would be charged on others. These occasions were all ports where scanning was done on the ship. I thought about asking Security, but I don't think they are the department that will allow or disallow additional wine to be brought on board. The person manning the table is a dining room waiter from the Food and Beverage Department under the control of the Hotel Manager.

Is the previous cruise coming from an area outside Australia/NZ/Pacific Islands? If it is trans-Pacific and maybe even a cruise from Asia, immigration could take longer than for a usual Australian cruise.

I don't use apps unless I absolutely have to and much prefer to speak to a live person. Last year we had to use the Medallion app to load health info and for P&O their Verifly that was even worse. Now thankfully, none of that is needed.

They are thrilled I am joining them on board Coral Princess. That is what they told me.🙂 However, I could have done without 14 emails with the subject 'Reservation Changed'. When I received the first one I had a moment of concern wondering if the reservation for the cruise had been changed. this cruise is with my daughter, son-in-law and their three little daughters. I would not have liked to explain to the girls that the cruise was cancelled. These emails puzzle me when they are all detailing the exact time and place I booked for dinner for the whole cruise.

Thanks. The Princess call centre says it is OK so I will rely on that. As an aside, I am currently receiving a series of emails from Princess regarding our dining reservation. It states that they have changed the bookings, then detail exactly what I booked for every evening - 5.40pm on the Provence. This is a 14 night cruise and so far I have received eight separate emails, each with the same details, but a different date. They have the notation 'no reply'. I doesn't really matter - I have the place and time I booked for my family group. Another email just arrived - no two more!!

Princess still include single-use plastic bottles in their mini bars and sell 600 ml bottles of water.

I phoned the Princess call centre and was told we can take as much (bottles or cans) of softdrink on board as we like. The only restrictions are that it has to be still factory-sealed and it has to be in hand luggage. There was no mention of restrictions on softdrink in the Cruise Contract.

Can someone tell me the latest rule on this? I am referring to non-alcoholic bottles of softdrink (not cans).