Shiprobbo

Most likely she did call in Jamaica, however not on a cruise but as part of her migrant voyages. During the closure of the Suez Canal between 1967 & 1975 Sitmar sent the ships out via South Africa and back via Panama, so call would have occured then.

Cheers,

David

She is on the move again now, picking up speed apparently outbound once more.

David

Correct, she is not supposed to be here.

She was in yesterday and departed with AIS showing 'Dunedin' as port of entry, which it still does. She sailed last night and was tracking outbound during the night when she turned around and came back in doing at times up to 21-knots. Suspect it is a medical emergency. Also now suspect that there will be some itinerary adjustment and I would suspect the fjords will be dropped and she will go direct to Dunedin.

David

22 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

IME, the ships anchor off Athol bay (yellow dot) and then they tender to the Man O War steps by the Opera House (other yellow dot).

The Athol Bay Anchorage is actually located closer to the Zoo than marked above - actually it is more in the area below the label 'Bradleys Head Walking Track' and above the label 'Bradleys Head Ampitheatre'.

Cheers,

David

On 1/16/2024 at 2:23 PM, MightyMaroon said:

I would love to know the dates of the two Fairstar Cruises I did.  December 1983 - 18 nights New Years Cruise.  Then a second cruise in Sept-Oct 1984 - also 18 nights for my 21st.  Can you please help me?  My name was Michelle Watts.  Thank you in advance. 

Hi Michelle,

I have most of the brochures for Fairstar from 1979 onwards, unfortunately not for 1983. I do have 1984 though, however Fairstar did not do an 18-night cruise at that year, perhaps it was 16-nights and you just partied like it was 18! In any case the cruises in September/October 1984 were:

September 9th - Sydney - Boulari-Havannah Passage - Vila - Lautoka - Suva - Bounty Passage - Taunga - Nukualofa - Matthew Island - Noumea - Sydney (16-Nights)

September 25th - Sydney - Amadee - Noumea - Isle of Pines - Mystery Island - Tana Island - Vila - Havannah-Boulari Passage - Sydney (12-Nights)

October 7th - Sydney - Boulari-Havannah Passage - Vila - Suva - Bounty Passage -Taunga Island - Nukualofa - Matthew Island - Noumea - Sydney (15-Nights)

October 22nd - Sydney - Noumea - Tana Island - Vila - Suva - Dravuni Island - Lautoka - Sydney (14-Nights)

Interesting to note that each cruise has a number of 'sail-bys' - Boulari-Havannah Passage, Bounty Passage, Matthew Island, Tana Island. In the 1980's far more was made of these to pad out a sea day than generally occurs today.

In any case, I hope this assists with at least one of the cruises.

Cheers,

David

Also Queen Elizabeth in port. 

…..or Majestic Princess arriving Hobart from the departing Resilient Lady!

5 hours ago, sandk1204 said:

Hi, can anyone recommend a transfer company from LAX to Long Beach for 4 people with luggage? We are sailing 3rd October from LA to Sydney.

Thanks

So by the date, presume this is Grand Princess? If that is the case she is sailing from San Pedro ont Long Beach. If it is another ship my apologies, however I am on GP ex-San Pedro on that date hence this response.

Cheers,

David

Carnival have also pulled Carnival Spirit from Australia and she will commence sailing from Jacksonville, Florida on 7th March.

Unless there is a very clear direction within a very short time I suspect that the entire 22/23 season will be gone. Companies are going to want certainty to fill ships and unless they see that in Australia they will move the ships to areas where they can guarantee they will be used and start selling the itineraries.

It is not just Australia, we need the South Pacific ports to welcome the ships and New Zealand. Our summer season is driven by inbound tourists who are planning their holidays now....if there is no certainty they won't come, Australia is a long flight from most places and people are not going to back uncertainty. I suspect even if there is a 22/23 season it will be much curtailed, don't expect all the ships that are planned and listed now will actually come, I suspect Royal won't have their big ships here, nor Princess, lets see what the announcement is on 17th February but if that is a further extension, then I would expect more cancellations.

David

Since we are on the subject of Fairstar I went aboard her after she returned to Sydney from her final cruise, she berthed that 10 Darling Harbour prior to moving round to Garden Island where Fair Princess berthed to allow Fairstar to de-store and transfer some fittings across. 

While aboard that day we were pretty much allowed to go anywhere, so that meant a trip to the engine room and to some other parts of the ship that were generally off limits. I have attached some pictures that I hope are of interest.

21 hours ago, leluka said:

Hey thanks for all info...you certainly know your stuff.  Don't suppose you have photos of the jungle room?  I've even been unsuccessful trying to find pictures in old brochures.

Hi,

I sailed in Fairstar in 1986 which is after the changes were made, I visited here on a number of occasions both pre- and post the changes, however I don't seem to have any photographs of the Jungle Room. I have attached a picture that I believe is the Jungle Room, this is from the 1984 brochure, also another which is a section of the Deck Plan showing the location.

As a comparison, I have also attached a picture of the interior of the Sharp End Bar which this area became, as well as a shot of the Sharp End Bar Beer Garden which had originally been a Children's play area.

Hope these are of interest.

Cheers,

David

Regarding Fairstar,

The Jungle Room was not the 'Animal Bar'. Officially the 'Animal Bar' was called 'The Tavern' and it was removed in the mid-1980's and replaced with a casino, the original casino having been converted into a shop. The Jungle Room was a children's facility located forward, at the same time that The Tavern (Animal Bar) was removed the Jungle Room was converted into an adult space known as 'The Sharp End Bar'.

As noted elsewhere, Fairstar was not a converted aircraft carrier, she was built as Oxfordshire for Bibby Line of Liverpool to service a UK Government Troop contract, her near sister Nevasa was built for British India (part of P&O Group) for similar purposes. When built it was expected that trooping by sea would continue for at least 20-years, this did not prove to be the case and in the early 60's the near-new Oxfordshire was chartered to Sitmar for conversion to a migrant ship. During the course of an extensive re-build there was a dispute between Bibby and Sitmar and ultimately Sitmar bought the ship. Nevasa was much less altered but was moved to the British India school cruise program to replace older ships that were being used.

Ultimately Sitmar was bought out by P&O/Princess in 1988 and she was rebranded at around the same time. As originally built Oxfordshire and Nevasa looked very similar.

Interesting.

Something is not quite right here. Ruby Princess left a month ago, so if we assume that the patient in question was among the last cohort of crew to disembark, he/she has been under the care of specialists in communicable diseases since at least early May and it has taken a month to find out they have TB???? Frankly I know we are dealing with Covid-19 here, but I would have thought that an early test for TB would have been part of the elimination process. The communication from NSW Health states that the patient was diagnosed 'many weeks after you were on the cruise', why if there was no initial test, was there a subsequent one??

Perhaps it would be cynical to think that NSW Health is attempting to divert attention back to Ruby Princess and perhaps show medical standards on ships are not as good as they could be. Unfortunately TB is a fact of life, particularly if you travel. In 2018 1.5 million people worldwide died from TB, with approximately 10 million cases recorded. Of these 1.1 million were children and 205,000 of those died. The majority of cases originate in China, Indonesia and the Philippines, together with a further 5 Asian region countries. On this basis I would have thought elimination of TB as a factor in any treatment of a patient who presented with a respiratory condition and originated from one of these countries, would have been high on the 'to do' list.

So, the next question is...did the patient have TB or actually contract it in the hospital where they are being treated? There are approximately 1,200 cases of TB annually in Australia, it would be reasonable to assume that some of those are being treated in the same hospital, in the same isolation ward given that this is also a respiratory condition. With already weekend respiratory performance and lowered immunity, one wonders.

I sailed on Ruby Princess on 8th February on a 3-night cruise.

On boarding, we received in our cabin two letters, the first being the standard 'Guest Stateroom Health Advisory' that has been given out on Princess ships for the past few years. The second was a specific 'Health Advisory - Coronavirus'. This second document gave specific information with regards the Princess response, and also reiterated the need for taking measures to reduce the potential spread of any infection.

Now, while I understand that a lot changed in the month between 8th February and 8th March, I cannot believe that if Princess were going to the effort of giving out the information in February, they would not have done so in March. I suggest that those who 'didn't get the information', probably threw it away without looking at it.

Anyway, copies of what we received on 8th February are attached for anyone who is interested.

Cheers,

I have resisted commenting on this, but.....

This is an absolute disgrace and a witch hunt against Princess. Reporting has been biased against them from the start and appears intent on laying blame. There is a clear intent to deflect any blame away from the NSW Department of Health and from Boarder Force.

Aspects that should come into focus is:

Why are Princess being treated differently from every airline flying into the country? Everyone of them at some stage or another has contributed to the virus spread.

What attempts have been made to track back the inbound passengers to their flights to determine the virus profile from each flight that inbound passengers were on?

If spreading the virus in a confined environment is a bio-security 'crime', what steps are being taken against the nusrse who deliberately went to work at the Anglicare Newmarch facility even though sick and has now infected at least 10?

What about the origin of other cluster groups?

It seems that there is a desire to point the figure for the whole of Australia's Covid-19 issue back at the Ruby Princess.

So, when will cruising restart.....The ships have been kicked out, no other country has done this, our media is trying their best to destroy the profile, why would they want to come back? Yes we are a market, but there are many others around the world that have not sought to blame this entire problem in one area. How welcome have we made the crews feel by telling them to 'go home'. I find this very depressing right now.

Rant over and I will crawl back in my hole!!

Cheers,

From Mr Gut's post:

Flight 11:45

3 hours prior 9:45

travel let’s allow an hour 8:45

customs 1/2 hour 8:15

disembark and find luggage 7:45

Good reason to research, based on that you would assume it's doable, but the assumption is incorrect, the corrected picture would be:

Flight 11:45

3 hours prior 8:45

travel let’s allow an hour 7:45

customs 1/2 hour 7:15

disembark and find luggage 6:45

Does it still look so comfortable? Not worth the stress.

Well we disembarked Sapphire Princess on 8th October and had a refundable OBC of USD264.93. Despite 3 phone calls and one email I am yet to receive any refund, despite being told twice that it was on its way. In 50+ cruises with Princess and 75 cruises in total, this is the first time I have felt the need to complain.

I was prepared to cut some slack being located in Australia and the refund being USD, but it should be easy to credit back to my Credit Card. Not angry, just really disappointed that it has not been resolved.

Sorry to be pedantic, but Sapphire Princess will not be new to the Australian market, she was based here in 2004/2005

On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 5:13 PM, sazen said:

shiprobbo can you assist with details or a brochure for Fairstar - Nov 1991 South Pacific?

Hi Sazen,

Sorry don't post here all that much anymore!

Hopefully this can help though. Fairstar did three cruises ex-Sydney in 1991:

02/11/1991 (Cruise 78) - Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney - Melbourne Cup Cruise - 9 Nights.

11/11/1991 (Cruise 79) - Sydney, Vila, Champagne Bay, Lautoka, Mystery Island, Noumea, Sydney - 13 Nights.

24/11/1991 (Cruise 80) - Sydney, Vila, Mystery Island, Noumea - 9 Nights

Hopefully some of that helps with your provenance to Princess.

Cheers,

We were on Majestic Princess in November. As mentioned earlier a Crooners has replaced the former VIP Gaming area, I believe that this is only for the duration of the Australian cruises and that it will be refitted again as a VIP Gaming area when the ship returns to Asia at the end of its season. The gaming tables from this area are in storage in a room forward of the Crooners Bar and hence supports the belief that the intent is to change back. During our cruise, Crooners was in use as the Platinum/Elite Lounge in the evenings and as such tended to be very full.

A couple of other minor changes included the removal of the electronic gaming tables from the Vista Gaming Lounge and removal of re-purposing of the Bellini Juice Bar to a regular bar.

In my opinion, this ship misses an opportunity on the promenade deck by having the high end watch/jewelry shop occupy an area that by rights should be re-purposed as a Crooners. Who needs floor to ceiling windows in a shop, it is one of the best view areas on the ship?? The shop would be better relocated elsewhere and this area at the top of the Atrium used as a bar.

David

Don't worry - we are just home from 15 nights on the Sapphire. We also read the negative reviews, however they proved, in our view, to be mostly unsubstantiated. Crew were excellent and always keen and happy to help. The food was excellent, portions smaller in the main dining room, but more than adequate, lots of choice in the buffet. Our only negative was the standard of some of the entertainers, rather poor apart from 2 young violinists who were excellent Due to location of the ports felt that time onshore was too short and found we spent a lot of time clock watching.

Yep, agree completely regarding the negative reviews. We were aboard Sapphire Princess for 21 days over New Year and into January, we too experienced no issues with the ship or the crew at all. We had a great cruise, food was fine, service in the public rooms was fine also, as we the International Café. To be honest I think those that take time to review cruises (and other things) are sometimes those who have either a bad experience or an unrealistic expectation. I think the vast majority of people are satisfied with what they experience but don't take the time to post the review.

Cheers,

Oztpot & Chloe,

My wife and I did a very similar B2B cruise on Sapphire Princess over New Year and into January, we left the ship in Singapore on 21st January. Reading your comprehensive review is just like doing it all over again - and it is nearly as enjoyable as actually being there, thanks for taking the time in your busy days to make the posts.

My apologies too if I have hijacked your posts with my replies to Les (NSWP), just there were a couple of points I thought I could assist with, but I do know that hijacking is annoying for the OP so again, my apologies.

Hope you continue to enjoy your trip and have a good trip home.

Cheers,

Hi David,

 

I appreciate your reply, which has clarifed the 1st sitting issue I raised. We will stick with first sitting in MDR, either Vilvadi or International MDR's as you outlined. If we are too late back we will do the buffet, but checking our booked shorex only a couple arriving back late. Don't worry we won't starve.

 

I am a Coeliac - gluten intolerant so order my GF dinner items from menu via Head Waiter the night before. Any Time Dining is not much good to us as they would have trouble finding me with my order. All up we are on Sapphire Princess x 2 B2B and then Royal Princess. All from/to Southampton.

 

Good to hear your views on the ship, we go with the flow, I don't read too much into Princess ship reviews. We have never had a bad cruise, couple of ordinary ones but most good to excellent.

 

Thanks again and happy cruising to you.:halo:

Hi Les,

My wife has a fructose intolerance which also means wheat is an issue for her so she sticks to a GF diet even though she is not Coeliac. I raise this as we were late back one night and asked at Alffredo's Pizza in the Plaza whether they did a GF base, they do, so that is an option if you choose as well. They will make any of the Pizza's with a GF base.

Cheers and enjoy.

Cheers,

Question if I may, is the first sitting Traditional Dining being maintained at 6pm ? Or has it been moved to an earlier time as often happens.

 

We are on 1st sitting on Sapphire in a few months, set for 6pm, but if it is coming on earlier we may have to re think some shorex. etc.

 

Thank you.:D

Hi Les,

We were on Sapphire Princess in January and yes, 1st Sitting has been moved forward to 5.30pm which made it a problem for some shore excursions, but also a little early for a pre-dinner drink.

During our cruise the International was dedicated 1st/2nd Traditional, however the Vivaldi was Traditional 1st, then went to Open after that. We were in the Vivaldi and as a result of the 1st/Open structure the Head Waiter said that if we were late from an Excursion it shouldn't be too much of a problem to come in late as there was no need to swap the tables over for a 2nd sitting. He did say that if we were too late then he might not be able to guarantee 'our' table. After he told us this we let him (and our table waiter) know if we were going to be late and about when we would be in - didn't seem to be a problem. Not sure this would have worked in the International with a more rigid 1st/2nd regime though. I think communication was the key.

Hope that helps. Really enjoyed Sapphire Princess. I have read some of the reviews posted on the 'Review's Board' basically for the same cruise that we were on and wonder if people were on a different ship!! We had a great time and found the crew to be as attentive as ever with none of the 'issues' that others have raised in some reviews, reading this thread though it seems just like I am back on board!!

Cheers,

This link probably won't help with Princess that much, but you might find it interesting...

 

http://www.ssmaritime.com/fair2.htm

 

Keep in mind that Sitmar had a newbuild (the Fairstar) in progress in 1988 when they were sold to Princess. The Fairstar never sailed under that name being renamed the Star Princess by Princess.

Actually, the 'Newbuild' was Sitmar FairMajesty which ultimately became Star Princess and prior to recently becoming the Columbus of CMV, she was Pacific Pearl in the Australian market.

Fairstar did indeed serve the Sitmar brand, she first arrived in Australia as a migrant ship in the 1960's before becoming a full time cruise ship in 1972. She was based in Sydney for all of her cruising career and became something of an icon until being despatched to the breakers in 1997.

Cheers,