Princess cruises 2022

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

That is what I see. I cannot see that cruising will start in Aust waters until either

(1) we have had an extended period of time with no COVID, or

(2) vaccine is available and only vaccinated pax are allowed to board.

 

In either case, passengers' going ashore in domestic ports would not pose a risk. I don't see that controlled shorex would be required.

Time will tell, I wait in trepidation.

[MMDown Under]

On 11/13/2020 at 5:55 PM, NSWP said:

Princess has barred B2B cruises according to those who know on Princess Forum. 7 days is it.

7 day cruises don't interest me.  I don't even rent holiday houses for 7 days unless part of a longer trip.

[GUT2407]

On 11/13/2020 at 8:36 AM, MMDown Under said:

I wonder if there will be long cruises through our off season, like in the past.  Agree things are too uncertain at present to know.  I did read one cruise line ? will only be having cruises 7 days and under.  I think travel insurance is going to be the decision maker for future cruising. Maybe cruise lines will include insurance in the cost of their cruises to get the cruise industry starting again (at extra cost of course).

But was that for the American market? Cruises under 7 days in Aus, won’t get you far.

[getting older slowly]

11 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

But was that for the American market? Cruises under 7 days in Aus, won’t get you far.

 

Well the Coffee Donut and Cake team only advise the US and about half the cruisers in the world ( which at the moment it almost nil )

 

Lets hope a bit of common sense will prevail  and 7 days will be the minimum

 is the norm in Australia.

 

44 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

7 day cruises don't interest me.  I don't even rent holiday houses for 7 days unless part of a longer trip.

 

Agree.....  interestingly look at booking a holiday rental and the coast here... adn max stay is 7 nights... ?????????

 

Generally stay a couple of weeks....  as long as it os not too dear.....lol

 

Cheers Don  

Edited November 14, 2020 by getting older slowly

[Aus Traveller]

56 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

7 day cruises don't interest me.  I don't even rent holiday houses for 7 days unless part of a longer trip.

We prefer longer cruises, but sometimes book the seven day Island Hopper from Brisbane.

 

If it was just the two of us going for a holiday, I would also prefer longer than seven days. However, for the last several years we have booked a beach holiday house for our extended family - our three 'kids' with their families. We go for one week. That is enough with such a large group and we are still all friends at the end of it. With the cost to rent a very large beach front house, one week is as far as we want to stretch the budget. 😁

Edited November 14, 2020 by Aus Traveller

[MMDown Under]

16 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

 

Agree.....  interestingly look at booking a holiday rental and the coast here... adn max stay is 7 nights... ?????????

Generally stay a couple of weeks....  as long as it os not too dear.....lol

Cheers Don  

I have never heard of a 7 day max stay.  Did you ask why?  When people couldn't split their holidays, a lot of families rented for the month of January for school holidays.  Either a basic holiday house or camping.  I was surprised to see the cost of units at caravan parks becoming more expensive.  When we last camped at a caravan park, the rental units were empty after Easter, despite it being school holidays.  That says they are now too expensive for families.  This happened after caravan parks changing from Council control to private ? control. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

We just had 8 nights up at Tea Gardens. It wan't long enough. 

 

We prefer longer cruises. Anything under 13 nights is too short. But I'd be happy to do 7 night cruises initially, until the pandemic is over. Our current next booked cruise is 6 nghts to Tasmania on Sapphire Princess - I figured that would be a good restart cruise.

[getting older slowly]

4 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I have never heard of a 7 day max stay.  Did you ask why?  

 

I was doing an online booking.... it was down at apollo bay..... normal we book this unit for 2 weeks...  anyway  there was an opening covering 2 1/2 weeks and  the system would not let you book more than 7 nights....     tried other properties .... the same... anyway decided against it   as the price were a lot dearer than normal

so didn't bother ringing

Don

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, getting older slowly said:

 

I was doing an online booking.... it was down at apollo bay..... normal we book this unit for 2 weeks...  anyway  there was an opening covering 2 1/2 weeks and  the system would not let you book more than 7 nights....     tried other properties .... the same... anyway decided against it   as the price were a lot dearer than normal

so didn't bother ringing

Don

That is interesting.  I wonder if 1/2 week left was the problem.  There were two days left at the end of our next booking, so we couldn't book the extra two days on line.  However, we booked it in person.  Part was "off season", part was "between season", so you need a "live person" to sort that out.  

Better to book last minute for a better deal or wait until next year's off season rates.

[OzKiwiJJ]

When we looked at booking our Tea Gardens holiday there didn't seem to be anything online and it was hard to work out what the cost would be so we rang them. No problem booking 8 nights from a Tuesday (so only one weekend there) and the price was quite a bit lower than I expected. The place was lovely and we'd happily go back there again. 

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

That is interesting.  I wonder if 1/2 week left was the problem.  There were two days left at the end of our next booking, so we couldn't book the extra two days on line.  However, we booked it in person.  Part was "off season", part was "between season", so you need a "live person" to sort that out.  

Better to book last minute for a better deal or wait until next year's off season rates.

It's good that you can go off season. Because our family group includes three school-age children (grades 1, 2 and 4) we go in school hols at the parents' request.

[MMDown Under]

6 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

It's good that you can go off season. Because our family group includes three school-age children (grades 1, 2 and 4) we go in school hols at the parents' request.

We steer clear of school holidays as it is much more expensive.  I have noticed peak is less than it used to be - Christmas/New Year, plus a week or two in Jan.  Used to be the whole month.

When I travelled north each year with my grandmother, we always caught the Sunlander before the school holidays in Dec. and returned mid Jan. before the cyclones. 

With my own children I often pulled them out of school to travel.  I believed they learnt more travelling than at school.  

I think it is lovely that you can holiday as a family group.  We used to stay beachfront at Burrum Heads and I used to love watching families playing cricket on the beach, going fishing together, etc.  

[MMDown Under]

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

When we looked at booking our Tea Gardens holiday there didn't seem to be anything online and it was hard to work out what the cost would be so we rang them. No problem booking 8 nights from a Tuesday (so only one weekend there) and the price was quite a bit lower than I expected. The place was lovely and we'd happily go back there again. 

It is always a good sign when you're happy to go back again.  Tea Gardens sounded lovely. 

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

We steer clear of school holidays as it is much more expensive.  I have noticed peak is less than it used to be - Christmas/New Year, plus a week or two in Jan.  Used to be the whole month.

When I travelled north each year with my grandmother, we always caught the Sunlander before the school holidays in Dec. and returned mid Jan. before the cyclones. 

With my own children I often pulled them out of school to travel.  I believed they learnt more travelling than at school.  

I think it is lovely that you can holiday as a family group.  We used to stay beachfront at Burrum Heads and I used to love watching families playing cricket on the beach, going fishing together, etc.  

I would prefer not to go in school hols, but (although we are footing the bill), we go along with what our daughters-in-law want. 🙂

 

We have a wonderful time and the children love spending the time together. The house we went to last year (and again this December) is just 'jaw-dropping'. It sits on the sand dunes at Sunshine Beach with full glass fronting the view of the beach and the ocean stretching in front. Even when you are not on the beach, you feel like you are.🙂 It isn't a lot of work for me, because the three girls take turns to cook the evening meal for the whole group.

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I would prefer not to go in school hols, but (although we are footing the bill), we go along with what our daughters-in-law want. 🙂

 

We have a wonderful time and the children love spending the time together. The house we went to last year (and again this December) is just 'jaw-dropping'. It sits on the sand dunes at Sunshine Beach with full glass fronting the view of the beach and the ocean stretching in front. Even when you are not on the beach, you feel like you are.🙂 It isn't a lot of work for me, because the three girls take turns to cook the evening meal for the whole group.

That sounds gorgeous. It's not easy to find places like that. Lovely that you can spend time together as an extended family. 

[MMDown Under]

11 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I would prefer not to go in school hols, but (although we are footing the bill), we go along with what our daughters-in-law want. 🙂

 

We have a wonderful time and the children love spending the time together. The house we went to last year (and again this December) is just 'jaw-dropping'. It sits on the sand dunes at Sunshine Beach with full glass fronting the view of the beach and the ocean stretching in front. Even when you are not on the beach, you feel like you are.🙂 It isn't a lot of work for me, because the three girls take turns to cook the evening meal for the whole group.

What a beautiful location for your holiday rental.  Sounds better than a cruise for a mixed family group, esp. with DILs sharing the cooking.

 

Sunshine Beach is my favourite Sunshine Coast beach.  We used to drive around the suburb a lot looking at the unique beach houses being built there.  Then we'd eat at the Life Saving Club.  

[Aus Traveller]

22 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

What a beautiful location for your holiday rental.  Sounds better than a cruise for a mixed family group, esp. with DILs sharing the cooking.

 

Sunshine Beach is my favourite Sunshine Coast beach.  We used to drive around the suburb a lot looking at the unique beach houses being built there.  Then we'd eat at the Life Saving Club.  

Cooking dinner is shared between two DILs and one daughter - each couple does two nights and on the last night we buy fish and chips. I don't think there are any pie shops close by. 🙂

 

Sunshine Beach is lovely. It works well for us because the houses are fairly new and there are some very large houses, like the one needed for our family of 13.

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Cooking dinner is shared between two DILs and one daughter - each couple does two nights and on the last night we buy fish and chips. I don't think there are any pie shops close by. 🙂

 

Sunshine Beach is lovely. It works well for us because the houses are fairly new and there are some very large houses, like the one needed for our family of 13.

Mooloolaba is one of my favourite spots on the Sunny Coast, although getting busier now, all the high rise, 30 yrs ago it was quieter.

Edited November 16, 2020 by NSWP

[Aus Traveller]

38 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Mooloolaba is one of my favourite spots on the Sunny Coast, although getting busier now, all the high rise, 30 yrs ago it was quieter.

A lot of my childhood was spent at Caloundra where my family had a holiday house. My brother and I remember this as a magical time in our lives. 🙂

[MMDown Under]

16 hours ago, NSWP said:

Mooloolaba is one of my favourite spots on the Sunny Coast, although getting busier now, all the high rise, 30 yrs ago it was quieter.

Mooloolaba is still lovely with the Spit, Seafood Shops, ocean views and loo with the view.  But sadly the quiet seaside village is all gone.  

[MMDown Under]

15 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

A lot of my childhood was spent at Caloundra where my family had a holiday house. My brother and I remember this as a magical time in our lives. 🙂

Caloundra was a popular spot for holiday houses.  It was a magical time for children because a lot of families took off the Summer school holidays.