lovedecruise

Do you have to use the 90 minutes in one session or can you spread it over your cruise? Thanks

Has anyone stayed aboard overnight in Sydney Harbour? We are looking at a Celebrity Edge cruise and it ends in Sydney with guests having one day and one night onboard before disembarking. It is a Saturday night so could you expect quite a bit of noise from the nightclubs, and restaurants around the Opera House? How late do the ferries run? Would they have a time you have to be back on board or could you stay out exploring Sydney as long as you like? Would just like to hear of other's experiences. Thanks

I would never book an Aqua guarantee cabin on the Solstice class ships as there was the possibility of being placed under the sundeck, pool etc. What are your thoughts on the Edge class Aqua rooms? Are there any really bad locations or things we should be aware of? I think most of them are on Deck 9 and 10 so no problems regarding the sundeck. Thank you

Thanks for your replies. Just have an update and are impressed that Princess did refund our lost day, our port fees and taxes and also a day of prepaid gratuities. These gratuities weren’t part of a package. We were surprised to receive it as we had been told differently by a crew member at guest services. We know they probably weren’t obliged to refund but it was a lovely gesture of goodwill. Good on you Princess.

Thanks for your reply. Has never happened to us before so just wondered what the policy was as we were rather surprised too.

Hi, what is the procedure if you miss a day of your cruise due to not being able to board the ship? This was caused by bad weather and the ship couldn’t make it into Port. To compensate for the missed day and night Princess gave us a token goodwill non refundable credit to cover extra expenses, refunded some of the Government Port tax and gave a missed day refund to cover the portion of the cruise we missed. As our crew appreciation wasn’t included in our fare, we prepaid the gratuities before we boarded. Should we be entitled to a refund for the missed day if it was due to a weather event? We asked at Guest services but she just said no, because it was out of their control. We don’t mind the crew getting the extra $$$ but is this the norm?

Thank you. Have had notification that we will now embark tomorrow between 12 and 3.00 pm. Looks like the weather will be improving. Hopefully the seas won’t be as rough either.

We are just waiting for word from Princess on what we are to do. We’re meant to board between 12.30 - 3.00 pm but the ship is still out in the harbour. On the port website it is scheduled to berth at 7 pm. As we are driving to the port we have been instructed to wait but we are about four hours away. The weather is terrible here so don’t want to drive thru it in the dark. They have cancelled Tauranga visit and are spending an extra night in Auckland. Maybe they’ll let us board tomorrow. Even if they get in at 7 pm they still have to disembark passengers and get the rooms ready. It will be a rocky ride for sure.

Hi, as we have previously sailed on cruises leaving Australia or NZ, we have had our gratuities included in the fare and have tipped those we felt deserved it at the end of the cruise. On this cruise, however, we have a daily gratuity to pay that is added to our onboard account. This is because the cruise is en route to Australia from the US, sailing through NZ, where we join the cruise. When I was speaking to our Princess Cruise Planner, I was rather surprised when he said we could just take the tips off as that is what some Australians and NZ's do, and then tip those who deserved it at the end of the cruise. The way he said it, it sounded as though this was almost the norm. To those out there in Australia and NZ, what did you do when you found yourself in this situation? I know tipping is a personal decision but I just wondered what others thought.

Cruises based in Australia seem to have the gratuities included in the fares. From experience this applies to Princess and Celebrity cruises. I’m not sure about other cruise lines.

Thank you for your answers. The ship is on its way from LA and is coming down under for the summer season. It will pass through Auckland, where we will pick it up, for the last five days of the cruise, on its way to Sydney. It is still in US currency etc but when it sails out of Sydney later that afternoon, there won't be daily gratuities added to the folio and the currency on board will be Australian.

Hi, because I am from NZ and we don’t have much of a tipping culture down under, our gratuities have always been included in the fare when we have sailed out of Australia or NZ. This time round, the ship is repositioning to Aust from the USA so we have a daily rate of $16 pp to pay. It is a five night cruise but when I multiply this amount by 5 and adjust the exchange rate, it appears we are paying less if we prepay before boarding. Is it normal to pay less if you pay before boarding rather than at the end of your cruise?

We have a short 5 night cruise coming up on the Majestic. Have no packages. Can we just pay $5 per delivery if we require room service or do we have to buy the Oceans Now access if we want to order using the app? Until we get on board, we are not sure if we’ll even use room service. Thought we would just “pay as you go”. If we only wanted to try it once or twice, paying $5 per delivery would be more cost effective but would we only be able to do phone orders?

Thank you for that thought. I never considered that any outbreak might be over. I guess eating at the restaurants or ordering room service would also be safer options. We don’t want to shut ourselves away, just want to be vigilant and avoid crowded areas.

Yes, I have to admit the more I think about it, the more concerned I am. It's not so much the actual covid, it's the consequences at the end of the cruise. I'm just worried if we tested positive on arrival in Sydney, we wouldn't be able to fly home to NZ. We have a disabled daughter in care so need to get back for her and then we'd have to change flights, find accommodation etc. This is supposed to be a break from caregiving duties, but it's not sounding like a very relaxing holiday if we're forever worried about covid and having to mask up all the time. I don't think we would have booked had we realised this was a repositioning cruise. We have a 10-day cooling down period so maybe we should reconsider. Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!!

See you will you be embarking on the Majestic, as we disembark. Enjoy your cruise. We’re hoping the trip across the Tasman is not too rough as we have a front facing cabin.

Yes, you are right, thank you. What concerns me more now than the extra gratuities, is discovering the cruise was a 29-night repositioning. We would pick it up on the last 5 days. Just wonder if Covid will have been incubating on board for all that time as there have been a fair number of sea days. Also, we did something similar in the past with Diamond Princess and joined a cruise mid-way in Auckland. It was such a shambles checking in as no one seemed to take responsibility for organizing it. A small group of us sat around for ages just waiting. When we did finally get on board, we had to take our own bags to our cabins and I must say we felt a bit like "gate crashers". It will probably be the same for this cruise as everyone will have been on board for at least three weeks. Also hope they restock with some fresh fruit and vegetables in Auckland as they will probably be pretty low on supplies after all that time at sea.

Hi, I haven't sailed since before Covid and have just booked a cruise on Majestic Princess, Auckland to Sydney. From previous sailings on both Princess and Celebrity, the gratuities have been included in the fare, giving cruisers the option to give extra if they so desired. I was surprised to see on my booking form that we have two charges for gratuities at $16 per day per person. As they have given us a few OBC in US$, I'm assuming this is in $US as well. All our past cruises out of Australia and NZ have been in A$. Is this new with Princess Cruises or have they made a mistake?

Can anyone please offer the pros and cons of any of these staterooms on the Majestic Princess? I don't know much about the layout of this ship but there is talk on a previous thread that there could be a crew area below, which could generate some noise. Would you hear noise from the theatre? Many thanks

I don't think it is because we are in NZ as when checking prices previously on the website, the dates have all been correct. Then all of a sudden the dates change. As the Celebrity consultant said, " An IT glitch".

Just checked the website for updates on cruise prices for a cruise we hope to book. Was surprised to see the sailing date and arrival back in port had been brought forward by a day. I had already booked land accommodation but knew this was able to be canceled, but wondered about those who had booked flights and non-refundable accommodation. Decided to check with Celebrity, and they said it was an IT glitch. The original sailing dates apply. Would be a shame if someone decided to book through the website and booked the (wrong) dates that are displayed, then went ahead with flights and accommodation bookings based on these dates. Could be pretty expensive/inconvenient if they had to change flights etc. because Celebrity had the wrong dates displayed. Guess that is why it is important to check with a TA or with a Celebrity agent to make sure you are booking the correct dates!

Hi, We are hoping to cruise on Celebrity Edge in March 2024 but still have a few things to get sorted before we commit to the sailing. We have been checking the stateroom inventory regularly and nothing has been changing that much at all, with still plenty of choice available. We have noticed now, however, that the only dining option in the MDR is for the late sitting of 8.30 pm and you have to add your name to a waitlist if you want either of the other two options. Due to my bad digestive problems, eating at this late time is just not an option, and I don't want to commit to eating in the buffet every night. If we put our name on a waitlist, are we likely to get the time we request? Has anyone else had an experience where they weren't able to eat at their preferred time? Is there any way we can guarantee an earlier allocated time? Our first preference would be select dining. Many thanks for your help

Thank you.

Does anyone know if the passengers off the Pacific Explorer were able to make it onto Norfolk Island today, (31st August)?

Does anyone know if the passengers off the Pacific Explorer were able to get into Norfolk Island today, (31st August)?