grand princess 20th December till 22nd of January

[yes!yes!yes!]

[yes!yes!yes!]

we shared the pork belly. so glad it wasn't my main dish

[arxcards]

Charcuterie & Lamb shanks for me please

[yes!yes!yes!]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

Charcuterie & Lamb shanks for me please

yes. I like the lamb shanks.

won't have the pork belly again 

[yes!yes!yes!]

we are getting off in Melbourne for 6 nights. it looks like a miserable day.

any suggestions of things to do?

names of any good dimsum or dumpling places in China town please.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

4 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we are getting off in Melbourne for 6 nights. it looks like a miserable day.

any suggestions of things to do?

names of any good dimsum or dumpling places in China town please.

Enjoy your time in Melbourne.

Its a sunny day out here on the fringes and I've just been out to Coldstream to drop off the furbies.

Will post if anything of excitement happens on board this next week. I hope the storms don't hit and we get stuck in the Bay this evening.

[resordanis]

6 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we are getting off in Melbourne for 6 nights. it looks like a miserable day.

any suggestions of things to do?

names of any good dimsum or dumpling places in China town please.

I have enjoyed your posts and look forward to the next instalment.

[possum52]

2 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Enjoy your time in Melbourne.

Its a sunny day out here on the fringes and I've just been out to Coldstream to drop off the furbies.

Will post if anything of excitement happens on board this next week. I hope the storms don't hit and we get stuck in the Bay this evening.

It's been sunny in southern bayside too. Warm, about 25 I would say but a but humid. I think the storms are on the way. 

 

6 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we are getting off in Melbourne for 6 nights. it looks like a miserable day.

any suggestions of things to do?

names of any good dimsum or dumpling places in China town please.

I haven't been to Chinatown for a while but there was a good one on the left as you walk up the hill maybe halfway up. Can't remember the name sorry. Ypu may have to plan indoor stuff for the next couple of days with rain and storms forecast. At least it won't be cold. Museum, art galleries? Vic Market (not open tomorrow though). If into sport, a tour of the MCG or Melbourne Park. Or a show, of which there are plenty on in Melbourne at the moment. There's a couple of websites where you can get last minute tickets. 

Enjoy your time in Melbourne. Hope you continue your posts while here.

[yes!yes!yes!]

went to secret kitchen  in China town. was packed. very good

[yes!yes!yes!]

2 minutes ago, possum52 said:

It's been sunny in southern bayside too. Warm, about 25 I would say but a but humid. I think the storms are on the way. 

 

I haven't been to Chinatown for a while but there was a good one on the left as you walk up the hill maybe halfway up. Can't remember the name sorry. Ypu may have to plan indoor stuff for the next couple of days with rain and storms forecast. At least it won't be cold. Museum, art galleries? Vic Market (not open tomorrow though). If into sport, a tour of the MCG or Melbourne Park. Or a show, of which there are plenty on in Melbourne at the moment. There's a couple of websites where you can get last minute tickets. 

Enjoy your time in Melbourne. Hope you continue your posts while here.

we plan on the markets on Thursday. we both haven't been there for about 10 years.

we will check out the shows. we might get the ferry to Williamstown  one day, we haven't been there.

we went to international cakes on londsdale for tonight's tea.

 

[yes!yes!yes!]

secret kitchen 

[possum52]

4 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we plan on the markets on Thursday. we both haven't been there for about 10 years.

we will check out the shows. we might get the ferry to Williamstown  one day, we haven't been there.

we went to international cakes on londsdale for tonight's tea.

 

I forgot Williamstown, lovely historical suburb. My paternal great grandparents settled there when they arrived in Victoria in 1874 and my grandfather and his siblings were born there and some buried there as well. 

[ceeceeDee]

21 hours ago, arxcards said:

Charcuterie & Lamb shanks for me please

Love lamb shanks, but I'd have had a problem with most of the main courses. All of them featured rosemary which certainly doesn't agree with me. Rosemary means 'remembrance' and believe me I can't forget it if I inadvertently eat it.😯

[yes!yes!yes!]

28 minutes ago, possum52 said:

I forgot Williamstown, lovely historical suburb. My paternal great grandparents settled there when they arrived in Victoria in 1874 and my grandfather and his siblings were born there and some buried there as well. 

Williamstown ferry brochure looked good.

[possum52]

33 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Williamstown ferry brochure looked good.

It will be a lovely day out, there are plenty of places to have lunch.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, ceeceeDee said:

Love lamb shanks, but I'd have had a problem with most of the main courses. All of them featured rosemary which certainly doesn't agree with me. Rosemary means 'remembrance' and believe me I can't forget it if I inadvertently eat it.😯

Could be worse - if your parents named you Rosemary. 🤣

 

Barb has a significant allergy to mushrooms, and those are those nights where your eye drops straight down to the more generic "favourites" part of the menu. I showed her the menu photo last night, and she said crispy salmon cake for starters, crispy salmon cake(s) for mains, crispy salmon cake for dessert.

[ceeceeDee]

6 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Could be worse - if your parents named you Rosemary. 🤣

 

Barb has a significant allergy to mushrooms, and those are those nights where your eye drops straight down to the more generic "favourites" part of the menu. I showed her the menu photo last night, and she said crispy salmon cake for starters, crispy salmon cake(s) for mains, crispy salmon cake for dessert.

I'd probably go with the watermelon and fetta and the sweet and sour prawns. Acceptable, but not something I would salivate over. Some of the offerings earlier in the cruise looked pretty awesome, however.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

I haven’t tried uploading from my phone so I‘ll see how it goes. I’m happy to add in paperwork and leave food to others. How interesting is cabin breakfast? 🙃

So we have the Patter and Ports and Elite Lounge.

 

Edited January 14 by Host Kat
Removed one of the images per Member's request.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

Two differences from my last cruise-

the cabin door no longer has full names. Just Mary A and John B.

At security they were checking the alcohol as the bottles appeared on the scanner. Checking what I had was indeed wine and I heard one guy get questioned about 2 bottles and he said ‘my wife’s over there’. Possibly random as I arrived around 3.15 pm so not busy.

[yes!yes!yes!]

1 hour ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Two differences from my last cruise-

the cabin door no longer has full names. Just Mary A and John B.

At security they were checking the alcohol as the bottles appeared on the scanner. Checking what I had was indeed wine and I heard one guy get questioned about 2 bottles and he said ‘my wife’s over there’. Possibly random as I arrived around 3.15 pm so not busy.

yes I prefer the first names on the door 

[OzKiwiJJ]

13 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we are getting off in Melbourne for 6 nights. it looks like a miserable day.

any suggestions of things to do?

names of any good dimsum or dumpling places in China town please.

There is a Din Tai Fung restaurant in The Emporium shopping mall, on one of the upper levels at the Lonsdale St end of the mall. They have some of the best dumplings in the world. 

 

Hochi Mama is excellent for pan-Asian cuisine, and offer a great range of small dishes. Gyoza Gyoza can be a bit variable but has some really nice Japanese 'tapas" dishes. Both are in Chinatown at the upper end of Little Bourke St. 

 

For exceptionally good upmarket Thai try Longrain but it's quite expensive. Also upper end of Little Bourke St.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

But wait there’s more…….

Haven’t had one of these since before Covid. I think I’d rather a choccy on the pillow but still ….. a lot of happy people.

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

But wait there’s more…….

Haven’t had one of these since before Covid. I think I’d rather a choccy on the pillow but still ….. a lot of happy people.

5 x Princess since restart for us. We had one Coral cruise where we scored one of those old totes, and another on Majestic we scored a nice mini toiletry pouch with a fair few emergency goodies inside. Nothing on the other three cruises. A pillow choc or two would be awesome.

[yes!yes!yes!]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

There is a Din Tai Fung restaurant in The Emporium shopping mall, on one of the upper levels at the Lonsdale St end of the mall. They have some of the best dumplings in the world. 

 

Hochi Mama is excellent for pan-Asian cuisine, and offer a great range of small dishes. Gyoza Gyoza can be a bit variable but has some really nice Japanese 'tapas" dishes. Both are in Chinatown at the upper end of Little Bourke St. 

 

For exceptionally good upmarket Thai try Longrain but it's quite expensive. Also upper end of Little Bourke St.

thanks will Google these. we are on little Collins, very close to china town

[yes!yes!yes!]

13 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

But wait there’s more…….

Haven’t had one of these since before Covid. I think I’d rather a choccy on the pillow but still ….. a lot of happy people.

yes we got those last Christmas 2022 also.