charliedalrymple

We arrived too early to board on a recent cruise out of Sydney (due to the train schedule). We sat in one of the many nice cafes at the harbour and had coffee and pastries while we waited. They are very accustomed to this and won't bat an eye!

This is great, and I couldn't agree more. If you go in expecting to have a good time, you probably will--but if you look for problems, you will definitely find them. I thoroughly enjoyed your well-written review. Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

We are Platinum. Do we have any chance of getting a spot in the Sanctuary by the time we board, or will they all be taken by then? (I'm asking generally, not specifically on the Crown.)

The noise levels are truly out of control, and it seems to be getting worse as time goes on (or perhaps I'm just getting older and crankier.). With so many of the bars and restaurants open to the Piazza, there are very few ways to escape the noise. The only place we find it possible to have a decent conversation while enjoying a drink is the Crown Grill bar. Toning down the noise level of music and activities in the Piazza would go a long way in addressing this problem. I'm not even sure why non-musical activities in the Piazza need to be amplified. In my feedback from the last cruise, I said that the average noise level on the ship marred an otherwise perfect cruise. As a result, we'll be trying other lines in the future--probably Holland America, which I understand is more sedate.

So nice to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed your cruise on Ruby! We really want to do a Panama Canal cruise but I'm a bit ignorant on the details. Perhaps you (or others) could answer a couple of questions. - Was this a full or partial canal cruise? How long does each take? Does it get a bit boring after a while if you are in the canal an entire day? - Was this the new or the old canal? Which would you recommend?

You'll be very happy with Concerto. You can't really go wrong with any of the dining rooms on Majestic.

It depends. We had an full-day excursion to a sheep farm in New Zealand that included a fabulous lamb lunch in a beautiful country setting. (This was Royal Caribbean, not Princess.)

Same happened to us. We had a private tour booked at Invergordon but bad weather prevented the ship from docking. We weren't able to notify the tour operator until just a few hours in advance, but they still gave us a full refund. Some companies (not Princess) realise that it's in their interest to do the right thing with customers.

Correct. It's a nice place to take food from the buffet and escape the chaos inside if the weather's nice. Also, the Wake Bar seems under-utilised and the bartender there on our recent cruise was awesome! (I forget his name.)

We were just on Majestic over the holidays. As others have said, all of the dining rooms are now walk-in. It seems that Concerto the most popular and the most difficult to get into during peak hours. They sometimes sent people down the stairs to Symphony if there wasn't room in Concerto. Allegro seemed the least crowded, possibly because it was difficult to reach walking through the centre of the ship without going up and down stairs. We did not pre-book dining times, and the only available times on the app were 5:00 and 8:00 nearly every day. However, we never waited more than about five minutes if we went to dinner between those hours. Our favourite dining room was Allegro, which always seemed a bit quieter.

Nice of you to ask in advance! Personally, I'm more interested in your experience on board the ship and less about what you do off the ship at the destinations, but I suspect there are those who would disagree. I'd say you should focus on whatever you find most interesting or noteworthy about your cruise. I'm sure we will enjoy whatever you post!

That really does sound magical. It makes me want to book a fjord cruise right now!

We're atypical for Australia. Crew members work hard for comparatively little money, and it clearly delights them when we give them personal tips. Apologies to other Aussies for wrecking the curve.

We gave the server $40 and his assistant $20. They definitely earned it.

I've seen multiple comments here saying the same thing, but we never experienced it on our recent two-week cruise on Majestic. (We did have to sit through the Baked Alaska parade once, and I agree that "silly" is an appropriate description.). We often waited a long time for our drinks to come, but that didn't interfere with the speed of the food service. The result was that our wine sometimes came as we were finishing the main course.

I'm guessing that crew members become accustomed to the tipping habits of various nationalities and adjust their expectations accordingly. Australia does not have a tipping culture, and it would never occur to most Australians that they should be tipping beyond the mandatory crew appreciation. Bottom line: you do you. Nobody should feel pressured one way or the other when it comes to tipping.

We were recently in the U.S. and saw that places like Starbucks now have a screen for the tip when you tap your credit card. Seems a little coercive to me. 🙂. I would never tip at Starbucks, fast food outlets and the like. It's a bit out of control.

It just happened to us on a Princess ship, so I know what you are talking about. Not fun.

Thanks so much, Kruzseeka. That's exactly what we are hoping, and I appreciate the guidance. We'll be sure that our itinerary includes sailing deep inside the fjords. We'll be using a TA who will hopefully be able to point us to the best itineraries.

Thanks, everyone. Sounds like we can't go wrong with either ship, but the consensus seems to be in favour of Aurora. We are looking at a Norwegian fjords cruise on Aurora.

That's very specific! 🙂

Translation for the non-Aussies A couple of king browns: A couple of bottles of beer Garbos: Rubbish collectors [American: garbage men] Postie: Postman [American: mailman] Just doing my part as a member of Cruise Critic community. You're welcome!

This is absolutely delightful! Hilarious, entertaining, informative and full of interesting details. You are a gifted writer!

We have traditionally cruised on Princess, but a particularly raucous 2023 Christmas cruise (thanks to 600 children on board) has us looking at other cruise lines. We are quite interested in P&O's "adults only" ships, Arcadia and Aurora. What can you tell me about these two ships: the differences, the pros and cons of each, your favourite between the two? We'd like to book one of them for our next cruise. Apologies if this topic has been addressed before, but I'm new to the P&O board!

Yes, you can definitely get gluten-free pizza at Alfredo's, and it's very good quality. (I'm coeliac.)