Teechur

If you are arriving to Australia from any other country, you will go through customs at your FIRST stop in Australia. If that is Hobart, you will go through customs at there.

I'm pretty happy with any unobstructed deck, and port or starboard depends upon the itinerary. I choose which side will have afternoon shade for happy hour on the balcony.

They have a loveseat, not a sofa.

Yes, they do. The uncovered ones appear mostly on ships prior to the Royal class.

We've been on 4 Princess cruises in the past 18 months. The most recent one, Australia/New Zealand on the Royal, was the first disappointing one with any brand. The food was really poor quality, and we were constantly pushed and overcrowded in elevators and public spaces by loud, rude passengers from 2 large Asian countries. We talked with a couple of dozen people in Sydney after the cruise, and the one complaint nearly all of them had was the poor food quality. Both of my grandsons found hair in their MDR meals and refused to eat there again. On the last night, none of us ate our meals. The fish was past its prime, and the veal scallopini was like shoe leather. In November, we are booked on the Diamond Princess (Tokyo to Singapore) and to be honest, we are thinking about cancelling. 😒 Maybe it's time to try a different brand or take a land-based trip. My grandsons would rather we go to Las Vegas.

We will be sailing from Yokohama to Toba, then Osaka in November, on the Diamond Princess. (Our next stop will be Taipei.) Is it possible that we will be able to see Mt. Fuji from the ship? TIA!

True, but you're taking all of the fun out of the random guesses. 😂

Princess is tracking how much time you spend on the throne. 🤣 Soon to be a pay-toilet...

I am enjoying your review and wish you a great cruise! 🤙 We will be on the Diamond from Nov. 25th through Dec. 7th, Tokyo to Singapore. Vietnam and Taiwan will be new countries for me to visit. I was in Japan in 1978 while backpacking around the world, then again in in the 1990s. Probably many changes since then.

Maybe it has something to do with whether they are in territorial waters or not.

Did they explain why the casino is only open for 3 hours, early in the morning? How weird!

We just booked the Holiday Inn, Orchard City, for Dec. 7-10, with Premium Lounge access. Reading the reviews, it sounds like a lot of families with kids stay there. Guess we can live with that, using the lounge for breakfast and drinks in the evening. My question is: Are the beds soft, medium, or hard? (We like soft, being side sleepers.)

I live in Hawaii and the only times I've wore long pants here was to a funeral and to a job interview. In both cases, most were in shorts. Live and learn, LOL! On my recent New Zealand/Australia cruise, shorts were very common in the dining room at night. No one had to ask me twice! 😉

Need to resist the urge to click on threads that you find annoying.

We will be visiting Toba, Japan, a tender port, in November 2025. Is it worth getting off of the ship? What is there to do aside from an aquarium, Mikimoto, and shrines?

Same goes for shareholder credit. My US $100 was awarded as Aus $100 which is actually about US $62.50. Pretty greedy of Princess.

My experiences on city buses are very different from yours. I've encountered many drunks, druggies, and mentally ill derelicts on public transportation. Never seen any on Hop on buses. YMMV.

We took the FJ Tour purchased on Viator. It was a loooooong day (10 Hours) and our driver/guide was very knowledgeable and a good driver. He was also a nice guy but talked a bit too much for me. On crowded days it really helps to already have tickets for Scenic World, which he did. We were going to go independently but were glad we took the tour. It includes a stop at the Featherdale animal park (zoo) and ends with a river cruise back to Sydney. Well worth it! 👍

The Adina Apartment Hotel Britomart was absolutely awesome for the 4 of us! We were in Suite 6001, which had 2 bedrooms (upstairs), 3 bathrooms, 3 balconies (one with a fireplace), living room, dining room, full kitchen, 2 dishwashers, etc. It had recently been renovated, and we loved it! The beds were excellent as well. It was a short walk to the hop on bus, and to Woolworth's Supermarket. Maybe a 10-minute walk to the harbor. I would stay here again! BTW: Avoid the Brew on Quay, near Woolworth's. Really rude, hostile employees!

Is there ever a need for a hop on bus, in any community, if you are willing to ride city buses? 🤷‍♂️ We enjoy the open tops and the commentary. I contacted Viator about my refund again this week. They finally issued it after admitting that the person previously handling my claim failed to process it.

If Princess changes their written policy to include shorts, you would then be satisfied? 🙄 How is what I wear, "inconsiderate, rude, and selfish" to you? Just off of the Royal Princess in NZ and Australia. Shorts were very common in the MDRs at night. I wore them along with a variety of Tommy Bahama shirts. Princess needs to worry about the poor quality of the food they are serving instead of what guests are wearing.

We like the heavy curtain that divides the mini suites on Royal class ships. With 2 TVs, we can sleep while my grandsons watch movies in "their room" without disturbing us.

Majestic didn't have them nor the other 3 Princess ships I've sailed on in the last 18 months. It's good to know they have them on some ships! 👌

Princess could alleviate most of this problem by purchasing washers/dryers with digital timers on the machines telling the amount of time left in a cycle. That feature couldn't add much to the cost of an appliance and would let others know the machines are in use.