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"Live from" the Majestic Princess November 7-27 with pre- and post- cruise adventures

jwattle

By jwattle,
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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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G'day mates and welcome to the adventures of jwattle and c-boy aka Jo and Tom (aka...well, IYKYK).

We will be hitting the road for an undisclosed location in Santa Rosa, California on Wednesday, 3 days hence, for one night prior to our "official" holiday beginning, but I thought this would be a good time to start the trip report. (Plus, I couldn't wait anymore, getting a bit over-excited!).

Itinerary: Leave home on November 1 for our undisclosed location in Santa Rosa for an overnight. We'll take the amazing Groome's Transportation (Airport Express) from the Sonoma Airport to San Francisco airport where we will fly via Air New Zealand Premium Economy, with a bid for Business Premier. (***To any who do this: if you are flying to Australia with ANY stop in New Zealand, you will need an ETA or Electronic Travel Authorization for New Zealand as well as Australia even if you just sit on the plane). We'll arrive in Sydney on November 4 for a three-night stay at the Radisson Blu Plaza in a Business Class room which has free breakfast (brekkie) and access to the business class lounge with noshes and drinks. We board the beautiful Majestic Princess on the 7th with a suite for a back to back Fiji and South Pacific / Tasmania with the Premier Package (no, let's not turn the thread into a debate about the merits and downfalls of the packages please). We return to Sydney for an overnight on the 27th, and on the 28th fly to New Caledonia (Noumea) where we will spend four nights in an overwater bungalow that we picked up for a song somehow. 

I just checked and the weather for our arrival down under is low 70's and rain. It's a bit warmer than here, but other than that, I think they're trying to make us feel at home with the rain.

For those who don't "know" us, we are mid-50's / early-60's, have a fairly extensive background in cruising, definite happy when cruising types...

Thank you to any who follow along, and let's enjoy the ride!

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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Just checked, and we have our QR codes for boarding and Journey View populated in the last day or three. According to our tracking numbers, our medallions will be here tomorrow, so apparently, this is NOT a drill, repeat...this is NOT a drill. We ARE going to Australia! 🥂❤️

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CruzeQueen2

CruzeQueen2

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Enjoy every minute, every morsel. Thank you for taking us along. I do believe your concierge is THE BEST in show, IMHO. Your fondness for the beautiful Majestic is shared here, by moi, The Catch and all.

Kevin Brando who was playing the late night sets at Crown Grill bar in Sept/Oct is also a star. He is scheduled to be onboard till early December I believe.

I look forward to your thread.

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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9 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

Enjoy every minute, every morsel. Thank you for taking us along. I do believe your concierge is THE BEST in show, IMHO. Your fondness for the beautiful Majestic is shared here, by moi, The Catch and all.

Kevin Brando who was playing the late night sets at Crown Grill bar in Sept/Oct is also a star. He is scheduled to be onboard till early December I believe.

I look forward to your thread.

Thank you! We are in the same cabin we were previously, R616, and I read your write-up excitedly! Looking forward to meeting the concierge (Darko, I believe?) based on your writing also, thank you! 😊 

The Majestic is definitely our "sweet spot" so far with the Princess ships💕 and we're anticipating Catch. Appreciate all of your previous writing!!

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CruzeQueen2

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@jwattle Yes, Darko and his team exceeded our expectations at every turn. He offered his attentive and professional service to us throughout. I am spoiled for anything that comes after, .enjoy!  Be sure to attend all of the special events that are offered there. Martini night, themed happy hours, etc!

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milolii

milolii

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Enjoy, your trip sounds amazing.  We were due to fly to Australia tomorrow for a three week land trip of Australia/New Zealand, now postponed to March. United SFO to SYD.  Interested in hearing about Air New Zealand. Hope you get that upgrade. Did you look at the couch seats?  
 

Following your adventures. 

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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13 minutes ago, milolii said:

Enjoy, your trip sounds amazing.  We were due to fly to Australia tomorrow for a three week land trip of Australia/New Zealand, now postponed to March. United SFO to SYD.  Interested in hearing about Air New Zealand. Hope you get that upgrade. Did you look at the couch seats?  
 

Following your adventures. 

We did look at the SkyCouch, but decided that their Premier Economy was so highly rated, that is was a go for us, and through EZ Air, it was a nice rate. I'll be doing a detailed report on it, as well as on my other site.

 

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CruzeQueen2

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@jwattle @c-boy There were five different martinis on offer at the event. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time in the lounge for trying all the varieties. On my sailing, the happy hour started at 4:30 and went to 6:30. Fabulous appies also served.

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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1 minute ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@jwattle @c-boy There were five different martinis on offer at the event. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time in the lounge for trying all the varieties. On my sailing, the happy hour started at 4:30 and went to 6:30. Fabulous appies also served.

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That looks absolutely lovely! The anticipation is getting even greater! 🥂

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Astro Flyer

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2 hours ago, jwattle said:

We did look at the SkyCouch, but decided that their Premier Economy was so highly rated, that is was a go for us, and through EZ Air, it was a nice rate. I'll be doing a detailed report on it, as well as on my other site.

 


Looking forward to reading about your ANZ Premium Economy experience in addition to your cruise.
 

Our cruise isn’t until March 2025 but have been checking airfares for March 2024 using EZair…better prices & more flexibility than booking elsewhere. We also considered the SkyCouch & their new Economy option for extra room…Stretch.

 

Thanks for sharing your travel & cruise experiences. 🙂

 

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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1 hour ago, Cc cruisers said:

We will be on the Fiji  cruise with you and love reading how other travellers get as excited as us.  Don’t envy the plane trip though as we only have just over an hour to travel to port. Safe travels. 

Looking forward to meeting you! We'll be enjoying the flight somewhat as we have Premium Econ on Air NZ, and I've heard good things about them 🙂

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

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21 minutes ago, Cruisintimer said:

Received our medallions today for upcoming Discovery, makes it real doesn't it?  😍😂

Takes it from "yeah, we're going on a cruise", to "OMG, we're going on a CRUISE!!!"

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