Princess ships for 2024-2025

[OzKiwiJJ]

I wonder if Melbourne is going to upgrade its terminal facilities and is minimising the number of cruise ships there that season. Now that the Spirit of Tasmania no longer operates from there it would be a good opportunity to upgrade the facilities etc. 

[springaussie]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I wonder if Melbourne is going to upgrade its terminal facilities and is minimising the number of cruise ships there that season. Now that the Spirit of Tasmania no longer operates from there it would be a good opportunity to upgrade the facilities etc. 

could North Shore be an option for a New Melbourne Cruise Terminal? 

[martin jenkins]

am giving princess a miss for a couple of years, got 3 p&o ones booked 2 to the islands and a bounty adventure, got a 19 day princess brisbane to tokyo but am cancelling this, is to expensive when you factor in flights, i know p&o is cheap but some of these 7 day island hoppers for $599 is a no brainer.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

32 minutes ago, martin jenkins said:

am giving princess a miss for a couple of years, got 3 p&o ones booked 2 to the islands and a bounty adventure, got a 19 day princess brisbane to tokyo but am cancelling this, is to expensive when you factor in flights, i know p&o is cheap but some of these 7 day island hoppers for $599 is a no brainer.

 

We were booked on a Sydney to Tokyo cruise until Covid wiped it out and had scored

a very cheap one way business class airfare on China Airlines via Taiwan through Princess but, of course, never got to do it.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, springaussie said:

could North Shore be an option for a New Melbourne Cruise Terminal? 

That would mean building a whole new pier and terminal. There is room for at least 3 cruise ships at a time at Station Pier, depending on size -  few years ago I saw a Grand Class Princess ship on one side and Queen Elizabeth docked behind the Spirit of Tasmania. 

 

However they desperately need to upgrade the access, and possibly the terminals. I think the old vehicle ramps are still there from Spirit days. If they were removed that could perhaps offer an alternative access to the current historical entrance. I guess they'd have to retain the original buildings which might limit what they could do but if each terminal had separate entrances that would cut down the chaos when two ships are in port at once. 

[icat2000]

I'm seriously considering cruising RCL at Xmas or I might even go Carnival. I haven't cruised RCL for ages as I always used to be happy with Princess.

 

Its Grats included in fare with RCL when cruising out of Oz? We always give on top even when its included in fare but just want to check. And they still operate AUD for sailing out of Oz.

[Aussie Gal]

15 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We were booked on a Sydney to Tokyo cruise until Covid wiped it out and had scored

a very cheap one way business class airfare on China Airlines via Taiwan through Princess but, of course, never got to do it.

We were also booked on the little Pacific Princess, Sydney to Tokyo, until Covid reared its ugly head so that Princess in the end decided to sell the ship.  We are going to book the Tokyo to Melbourne cruise on the Diamond for September next year.  We have been to Japan twice before though this time the Diamond does go to a few new ports which is always a bonus. 

[LittleFish1976]

3 hours ago, springaussie said:

could North Shore be an option for a New Melbourne Cruise Terminal? 

 

Geelong is not a pleasant drive from Melbourne. That would be pretty off-putting.

 

Geelong is its own city.

 

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That would mean building a whole new pier and terminal. There is room for at least 3 cruise ships at a time at Station Pier, depending on size -  few years ago I saw a Grand Class Princess ship on one side and Queen Elizabeth docked behind the Spirit of Tasmania. 

 

However they desperately need to upgrade the access, and possibly the terminals. I think the old vehicle ramps are still there from Spirit days. If they were removed that could perhaps offer an alternative access to the current historical entrance. I guess they'd have to retain the original buildings which might limit what they could do but if each terminal had separate entrances that would cut down the chaos when two ships are in port at once. 

 

The State government (and local residents in the area, it seems) are committed to preserving the historical aspects as well as keeping Station Pier as the focus of Melbourne's cruise industry. The port is undergoing enhancements to the container/commercial side of things plus a new port near Werribee for containers so perhaps that could free up some additional space at Port Melbourne for cruise ships. I can't see that there's anything planned, construction-wise, for cruise ships in the next couple of years that might have sent the cruise lines running from Melbourne for the next couple of seasons.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by LittleFish1976

[woodscruise]

6 hours ago, arxcards said:

It is also a puzzle that the short Cunard season is missing as well

Geoff, looking at Sydney Ports it seems that QE is homeporting in Sydney.

[stki]

6 hours ago, icat2000 said:

I'm seriously considering cruising RCL at Xmas or I might even go Carnival. I haven't cruised RCL for ages as I always used to be happy with Princess.

 

Its Grats included in fare with RCL when cruising out of Oz? We always give on top even when it’s included in fare but just want to check. And they still operate AUD for sailing out of Oz.

daily Grants are included  on RCL if cruising in OZ, but it is USD on board . Also 18% grats  on drinks, unless you have the beverage package

 

Tanya

[Gwendy]

6 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That would mean building a whole new pier and terminal. There is room for at least 3 cruise ships at a time at Station Pier, depending on size -  few years ago I saw a Grand Class Princess ship on one side and Queen Elizabeth docked behind the Spirit of Tasmania. 

 

However they desperately need to upgrade the access, and possibly the terminals. I think the old vehicle ramps are still there from Spirit days. If they were removed that could perhaps offer an alternative access to the current historical entrance. I guess they'd have to retain the original buildings which might limit what they could do but if each terminal had separate entrances that would cut down the chaos when two ships are in port at once. 

Melbourne Cup cruise 2022, absolute chaos getting off ship and back on.  Then we were moved to the commercial port, had to be bussed out and in.  If they could organise the terminal entry and exit in a better way, the position of Station Pier is excellent as it is so close to trams to city.

[ozdevil]

15 hours ago, springaussie said:

could North Shore be an option for a New Melbourne Cruise Terminal? 

that is 1 reason why the spirit of tassie stopped berthing at Station pier , it was competing with the cruise ships .

I would imagine now that S.O.T  now in Geelong   Station Pier  Should be upgraded to suit  the bigger cruise ships  .   i believe the is a stategic plan to revitalize Station pier  to suit the modern day cruise linears.    i think   if Melbourne wants to keep  cruise ships coming in to Melbourne they have no choice to upgrade the facilities  .   

to be honest   the spirit of tassie berth at station pier looks shocking and run down already   where the vehicles would  head up the ramps    with huge weeds ..etc  

    

[Ondine]

Re Mini bars:  We had no trouble changing the items to whatever we wanted in March cruises.  Just call room service for it now.  Feb we had a strange mixture of wine and other drinks due to some items not being available.

 

However between our Feb and our March cruise they changed the ability to convert mini bar to coffee cards.  No warning or information.  Coffee cards no longer exist and I was advised to buy a soft drink package which would include coffee.  Not for me at $40 pd. Also the cost of my coffee from the International Cafe had gone up from $4.50 to $6.00.  Not happy Jan.  No price list at the Cafe.  Everyone seemed to be surprised at the speed of change.  

 

On the plus side:  Son noticed on the Princess Patter that the drink price allowance on the Plus package had changed from $16 to $22 and I think on the Premier package up to $30.  The price of drinks has also gone up.

 

Hopefully some time in the future they will reintroduce a coffee card for those of us who like coffee.  Coffee and sodas are not the same!!!!!

[Aussie Gal]

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

Re Mini bars:  We had no trouble changing the items to whatever we wanted in March cruises.  Just call room service for it now.  Feb we had a strange mixture of wine and other drinks due to some items not being available.

 

However between our Feb and our March cruise they changed the ability to convert mini bar to coffee cards.  No warning or information.  Coffee cards no longer exist and I was advised to buy a soft drink package which would include coffee.  Not for me at $40 pd. Also the cost of my coffee from the International Cafe had gone up from $4.50 to $6.00.  Not happy Jan.  No price list at the Cafe.  Everyone seemed to be surprised at the speed of change.  

 

On the plus side:  Son noticed on the Princess Patter that the drink price allowance on the Plus package had changed from $16 to $22 and I think on the Premier package up to $30.  The price of drinks has also gone up.

 

Hopefully some time in the future they will reintroduce a coffee card for those of us who like coffee.  Coffee and sodas are not the same!!!!!

I so agree. We like to have a coffee once a day at the International Cafe with our lunch and now at $6 x 2 =$12 x 17 days = $204 which is a lot to pay. We don't drink"sodas" so buying that card at $40 a day x 2 = $80 x 17 dsys is out of the question.  Especially as the coffee is nowhere near as good as here at home in Melbourne. We will just have to resort to drinking tea at lunch. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

On the plus side:  Son noticed on the Princess Patter that the drink price allowance on the Plus package had changed from $16 to $22 and I think on the Premier package up to $30.  The price of drinks has also gone up.

 

Hopefully some time in the future they will reintroduce a coffee card for those of us who like coffee.  Coffee and sodas are not the same!!!!!

 

The price of some wines have gone up to ridiculous levels. It really irritates me when it costs more than double the retail bottle price for a single glass of very vin ordinaire.

 

I agree about the coffee package. We rarely drink sodas but like espresso coffees. Under the old coffee card system we even saved a tiny amount on those coffees so always bought coffee cards. Since the Plus package has increased in price it is now very borderline for us due to the poor quality of most of the wines offered under the package. We ended up buying four bottles of wine on our recent 10 night cruise even though we had the Plus package.

[Aussie Gal]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

The price of some wines have gone up to ridiculous levels. It really irritates me when it costs more than double the retail bottle price for a single glass of very vin ordinaire.

 

I agree about the coffee package. We rarely drink sodas but like espresso coffees. Under the old coffee card system we even saved a tiny amount on those coffees so always bought coffee cards. Since the Plus package has increased in price it is now very borderline for us due to the poor quality of most of the wines offered under the package. We ended up buying four bottles of wine on our recent 10 night cruise even though we had the Plus package.

We too are bringing on board our own wines as we appreciate good wine and would prefer to pay the corkage than pay Princess the exhorbitant prices they want for inferior wine. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Aussie Gal said:

We too are bringing on board our own wines as we appreciate good wine and would prefer to pay the corkage than pay Princess the exhorbitant prices they want for inferior wine. 

I'm trying to figure out how many cases of wine we'll need to take onboard for the world cruise next year. We did get the Plus fare at $40pp per day for that so will leave it in place for the internet, coffees, bottled water and cocktails, plus the 25% discount on some of the better wines by the bottle (there are a few), but we'll need to take some on with us. 

[Aussie Gal]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm trying to figure out how many cases of wine we'll need to take onboard for the world cruise next year. We did get the Plus fare at $40pp per day for that so will leave it in place for the internet, coffees, bottled water and cocktails, plus the 25% discount on some of the better wines by the bottle (there are a few), but we'll need to take some on with us. 

It depends on how many bottles you drink in a week. A bottle of wine usually lasts us 2 nights so for a week that would be 3.5 bottles a week. I am sure you can bring on wine at the various ports that you visit, as long as you pay the corkage.

 

[joejoe 59]

21 hours ago, stki said:

daily Grants are included  on RCL if cruising in OZ, but it is USD on board . Also 18% grats  on drinks, unless you have the beverage package

 

Tanya

There isn't 18% added to drinks on Australian & New zealand sailings they are already factored into the price. The price you see at the bar is the price you pay. We didn't have a drink package & got off Quantum on Monday. A glass of wine was 9.00 US dollars a bottle of the same wine was 31 US dollars. I mainly bought by the bottle & you could take it with you.

Cocktails of the day were $12 US.

We had US currency so very easy to follow your onboard account. 

[springaussie]

When I was on Grand Princess in November I thought the drink prices were fair. That seems to have changed from what others are saying here. 

[Ondine]

4 hours ago, springaussie said:

When I was on Grand Princess in November I thought the drink prices were fair. That seems to have changed from what others are saying here. 

 

Yep it changed between our 9th Feb cruise and the 8th March cruise on Grand Princess.  No information given and as said previously list of coffee prices was missing from counter at International Cafe.  I just like a coffee latte in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Grand still had not got its coffee pumps in the buffet fixed.  Still using the plastic urns.  Been like that the entire season.  Not good enough.  Not that I can drink that so called coffee.  The International is best followed by Crooners and last Coffee and Cones.  Even then the International machines were out of order some of the time.  Princess needs to lift its game here in Aus.  I haven't noticed any drop in pricing here in Melbourne and I am feeling a little unloved at the moment.  Hasn't helped that I have brought back the dreaded covid virus with me.  Positive the day after getting off (coughing for the last few days on board but tests were showing neg then).  So on first and last cruise for the season (Nov and Mar) both picked up an unwanted visitor.

Six months until I give it another go in Oct.  Just saving my money over winter.

[OzKiwiJJ]

17 hours ago, Aussie Gal said:

It depends on how many bottles you drink in a week. A bottle of wine usually lasts us 2 nights so for a week that would be 3.5 bottles a week. I am sure you can bring on wine at the various ports that you visit, as long as you pay the corkage.

 

Typically one bottle a day between us. Pre-Plus we would usually have 2-3 bottles on the go at any one time - a crisp white, sometimes a chardonnay, and a red.

 

Yes, we may be able to buy wine at some ports but that's not always easy to do when you don't know the towns or the wines, and may not have time to explore if doing excursions 

 

However there are some decent wines available onboard, but not many by the glass, especially white wines. They had run out of two white wines by the bottle on our recent Grand cruise but luckily not our favourite. I'm hoping Princess may have improved it's wine list by then though.

[bazshirl2]

21 hours ago, Aussie Gal said:

I so agree. We like to have a coffee once a day at the International Cafe with our lunch and now at $6 x 2 =$12 x 17 days = $204 which is a lot to pay. We don't drink"sodas" so buying that card at $40 a day x 2 = $80 x 17 dsys is out of the question.  Especially as the coffee is nowhere near as good as here at home in Melbourne. We will just have to resort to drinking tea at lunch. 

Having just cruised on the Grand, we too were very disappointed in the removal of the coffee card option for the mini bar. For non or minimal drinkers it was a reasonable alternative and an equitable benefit that has now been removed without warning. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, bazshirl2 said:

Having just cruised on the Grand, we too were very disappointed in the removal of the coffee card option for the mini bar. For non or minimal drinkers it was a reasonable alternative and an equitable benefit that has now been removed without warning. 

Princess seems to be making some unpopular decisions since the new CEO took over:

- Removal of the coffee card

- Increased price of Plus package with unpopular "premium desserts" and fitness classes added - which many people don't want and won't use. Increase of drinks limit countered by increase in drinks prices to the point where some wines are selling at ten times (1000%) the retail price.

- Reduction of the use by date of FCDs to one year

- no free internet any more for Platinum and Elites, just a 50% discount, although this is probably more to do with how the new MedallionNet works ie not feasible to track minute-based usage.

- I saw a post elsewhere this morning where someone said they could not use their FCDs to book a cruise under a certain promo. To use the FCDs they would have to pay a higher fare. Possibly a mistake by a phone support person or maybe not. I'll be watching this closely in future. 

[Normanville]

3 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

Yep it changed between our 9th Feb cruise and the 8th March cruise on Grand Princess.  No information given and as said previously list of coffee prices was missing from counter at International Cafe.  I just like a coffee latte in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Grand still had not got its coffee pumps in the buffet fixed.  Still using the plastic urns.  Been like that the entire season.  Not good enough.  Not that I can drink that so called coffee.  The International is best followed by Crooners and last Coffee and Cones.  Even then the International machines were out of order some of the time.  Princess needs to lift its game here in Aus.  I haven't noticed any drop in pricing here in Melbourne and I am feeling a little unloved at the moment.  Hasn't helped that I have brought back the dreaded covid virus with me.  Positive the day after getting off (coughing for the last few days on board but tests were showing neg then).  So on first and last cruise for the season (Nov and Mar) both picked up an unwanted visitor.

Six months until I give it another go in Oct.  Just saving my money over winter.

Same as you Ondine, we also got of the 8th March Grand with a "respiratory illness ". So all that scotch, Flo, Dettol wipes and Glen 20 and masks didn't work! We were unwell for the last few days of cruise and made sure to wear masks everywhere. When I got in lifts and people remarked " I thought we were over that" I had to hold my tongue to stop  yelling, " I'm doing this for you". All RAT tests negative but all symptoms the same, mind you got off the Ruby Dec '19 with same thing. I just called it the Ship Cough. Covid may have been around longer that we all thought.

We got good value from the Plus package as Scotch drinkers and very glad to have it for future cruises but can see why you would question it for the wines.

We are off to Queensland for the winter then back on Grand 26th October.

Juls