Over from NZ

They're as formal as you want them to be. On our Mediterranean cruise I wore a suit on 5 of the 6 formal nights and shorts and a t-shirt on the 6th.. and it didn't effect the taste of my food at all! Nobody commented on my attire. I was a bit self-conscious at first; wearing shorts and a T-shirt like a naughty school boy.. but so many others were too.. nobody was staring at me.. and I soon got over myself when the starter arrived. 🙂 . Just go as you feel comfortable.

And there rests my case haha. If the poor old DJ has got it that bad that he has to have a punter give him a CD.. or worse - their phone so he can figure out what to play.. that's cringe material lol. I'd be hanging up my headphones and getting a new job at the next opportunity to get off 🤣

No. It would be near irrelevant.

The worst, most tedious job one could ever imagine - being the DJ on a Princess ship. lol! It's lights out at 9.30pm most of the time and the Grease Megamix is the most modern song you get to play! Princess is aimed at the pensioner market. It is what it is. Wouldn't cruise on Princess if you're looking for nightlife 🙂

Cruises booked down under - the gratuities are not included in any of the packages. Your culture (just like mine) is irrelevant when we're in their culture. 🙂 It's real simple. We antipodeans don't like the idea of the crew wages being separate (and called tips) and prefer that it's all included in the fare. Well when you pay the automatic gratuities with your fare - it is. It's simply itemised separately. So we shouldn't grizzle and have a problem with the auto-gratuities.. other than splitting hairs about how it's charged.

Cheers. Would happily have done that. Unfortunately it's a package deal including flights, land tour of LA, Vegas, San-Fran, Yosemite, accomm.. and the deposit was non refundable. Was never planning to go to the States.. but got carried away on a whim and a promo deal haha.

And please don't split hairs. However old the Crown and the Sapphire were.. it mattered nothing compared to the Enchanted which was less than a year old. Couldn't have cared less.

Nah. The ship is neither here nor there. Our further afield trips have generally been on new or near-new ships. Take out the destinations and it's a floating benidorm haha

Exactly. Take out the locations/ports.. the cruise offering isn't that wonderful.

Cheers for that. We're seriously considering cancelling our Alaska cruise next year.. but I don't like the idea of writing off the deposits! 🤣

Short answer - old people. 🤣 Preferably American. That's who they're targeting 🙂

The water is Potable and drinkable for ALL. End of story. Personal taste is the only reason anybody would need to bring water onboard.

If you're doing the 14 or full 21 night loop - It will just be another port day for you. You don't have to do anything.

It's potable alright! If it's desalinated.. the likely problem is it doesn't contain enough sodium (your bottled water and tap water at home do).

No, you missed the point. Completely. The process of sending laundry out is the same whether it's free or you pay for it. If you send it out and have to pay for that.. it doesn't use any more vacation time than sending it out and having the cost covered..

Why would it not be?? We're not third-world countries. Bottled water is in most cases a con-job sold to the masses in first world locations.

I don't get this infatuation with free laundry?? Surely.. if you add the cost of paying for laundry to the fare.. and it still comes out cheaper than say Holland.. then what exactly is the problem? All we're talking about really is a credit for the cost of laundry.

Aussies. The American's of the South Pacific 🤣

Couldn't imagine any teens wanting to be in the sanctuary. It's like gods waiting room in there! 🤣

Skimping on time in port is another biggie for us. And they seem to be doing that more as well. They travel slower between ports saves them fuel.. and they sell more add-ons when at sea. We travel for the itinerary.. we don't want to spend all our time in a floating benidorm. 🤣

The line has offered you a guideline as to what they consider "appropriate". Fellow cruisers will offer you what their own versions are.. and you're going to get the whole gamut. Run with the cruise line version or run with your own version.. because either way they're going to let you in, feed you and not blink an eye whether you're in shorts and a t-shirt or in a Tux. Most of your fellow passengers won't care.. and those that do - that's their problem.

Anything that offers services and products to only a certain demographic onboard is certainly a turnoff and would encourage me to look elsewhere. Princess have already started down that slippery slope..

Thanks. I have. Even more convinced now. Cheers.

Sounds like a tall story. I'll bet money there's much more to this story than we've been told..

Those forward prices you've quoted are extremely cheap and rather abnormal.. so it's likely we're not comparing apples with apples. Princess, cruising in general, holidays/travel and leisure activities - have all gone up dramatically in the last few years. The world had an inflation issue. following covid. That may have been tamed (and without getting political.. let's hope we're not staring at another bout of inflation), but prices don't come back down unless there's a disruptor 🙂