Grand Princess S. Pacific April 2024

[daydreamer16]

I am planning to book a S. Pacific cruise on the Grand that leaves from Sydney on 4/2/24 or from Auckland 4/6/24. I prefer the Auckland departure but when I look at the Princess website it says not available yet. The departure from Sydney has been available for a while. Does anyone have an idea about why this is set up this way. We had a similar cruise booked for this year on the Sapphire that was cancelled & we were able to book the Auckland departure without a hitch. I have a call in to my TA but I thought the Princess board might have an answer for me.

Thanks, Denise

[Astro Flyer]

I just read a P&O Australia (a CCL line & in the same HA Group as Princess) press release that cancelled their 2022 Auckland season because they’re uncertain about when they’ll be allowed to resume. Obviously 2024 is later but possibly Princess is not ready to include NZ yet due to the uncertainty about when the country will reopen to cruises.

[memoak]

2024 is 2 years from now. Who the heck knows what will happen

[daydreamer16]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

I just read a P&O Australia (a CCL line & in the same HA Group as Princess) press release that cancelled their 2022 Auckland season because they’re uncertain about when they’ll be allowed to resume. Obviously 2024 is later but possibly Princess is not ready to include NZ yet due to the uncertainty about when the country will reopen to cruises.

That is what I was thinking. The cruise is scheduled to stop in Auckland on 4/6 but I guess it could be cancelled if they weren't picking up any passengers.

[skynight]

How about pricing as well as allocation of cabins. Perhaps Princess is just waiting to see how well the Sydney sales go before they open up Auckland.

[daydreamer16]

A lot of cabins are already booked. Similar cruises for 2020, 2021 & 2022 were cancelled, so I think there is a real interest. We were booked for 2021 &2022. 

[sewgood]

I just was put on a waitlist this week for a cruise listed as currently unavailable so it is worth phoning Princess to find out if you can go on the waitlist. I used my Princess cruise holiday planner to do this for me.

I believe a smaller amount of cabins that would of been available on this cruise compared to the Sydney to San Francisco/Vancouver sector so it probably sold out early as it has been available for some months.

I notice that Princess is selling the four day Sydney to Auckland sector which is just before the cruise you mentioned so new passengers will be boarding in Auckland to move into the vacated cabins.

Good luck and it's always worth a phone call or an email to your Travel agent to ask about being waitlisted if you really want to do this cruise.