My First Cruise!

Hi everyone,

My hubby and myself are going on our first cruise on 11th Feb 2016 on Golden Princess to New Zealand. I know its months away but I am so excited. I have been busy reading everything on the Princess website and I have been on CC for over a year reading all I can about cruising to different destinations.

Our departure port is the city of Melbourne which is about 360kms away from us. My hubby is not too sure about cruising so this is a trial to see how he goes because in 2017 we would love to add a cruise onto our Alaskan land trip. He thinks he will get bored of being on a ship. Me, I am sure I will love cruising.

So, I have a few questions to ask.

1. The Sanctuary – does it cost money to use it? Is food, drink and massages a part of the Sanctuary or do you have to pay for those things also?

2. The Café Select Coffee Card for $33.35 - does it include hot chocolates? My hubby loves coffee but I only drink tea or hot chocolates.

3. The ship TV in your cabin – can you watch movies or do we have to bring our own. I am hoping that we will be too busy to watch any TV but just in case one night we are too tired after a day of fun activities to just relax in our room with a movie.

4. Chef’s Table – is it worth going to. We both love food.

5. Crown Grill or Sterlings – Which is better?

6. Movie under the stars – is popcorn free?

7. Afternoon tea –is it included in your price?

8. Dining Options – I have been studying the dining options. I gather The Pizzeria, Burger and Hotdog Grill, International Café, Ice-cream bar, English pub lunch are all no charge. So you can eat your meals at these places if you wish instead of the Horizon Court and Main Dining room?

9. What is the Crab Shack?

10. Café Caribe – is there a charge there?

11. Room service – no charge for food I guess?

12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water.

13. Do you get juices, water, tea and coffee with your meals?

14. The Lotus Spa - What can we expect to pay for things there?

I am so sorry that I have asked more than a few questions. :eek:

Thankyou

Maureen

Hi everyone,

So, I have a few questions to ask.

1. The Sanctuary – does it cost money to use it? $20/half day per person or $40/full day per person. If booked for entire cruise it might be only $30/day. Is food, drink and massages a part of the Sanctuary or do you have to pay for those things also? Pay. Some food only has a delivery charge.

2. The Café Select Coffee Card for $33.35 - does it include hot chocolates? Yes. Unlimited hoit chocolate and brewed coffee. My hubby loves coffee but I only drink tea or hot chocolates.

3. The ship TV in your cabin – can you watch movies or do we have to bring our own. I am hoping that we will be too busy to watch any TV but just in case one night we are too tired after a day of fun activities to just relax in our room with a movie. There are two or three channel that will have movies at scheduled times on this ship's TVs. Princess is gradually updating all the ships to have on demand movies (no charge) but I do not know when this will be on the Golden.

4. Chef’s Table – is it worth going to. We both love food. $90/person. If you love food, you will probably feel this is worth it as many people do. Sign up for it ASAP once onboard by calling the DINE line from your cabin phone.

5. Crown Grill or Sterlings – Which is better? The Crown Grill will be on some ships and the Sterling will be on other ships. The Golden has a Crown Grill.

6. Movie under the stars – is popcorn free? Yes

7. Afternoon tea –is it included in your price? Yes

8. Dining Options – I have been studying the dining options. I gather The Pizzeria, Burger and Hotdog Grill, International Café, Ice-cream bar, English pub lunch are all no charge. Yes, no charge for food at these venues. So you can eat your meals at these places if you wish instead of the Horizon Court and Main Dining room? Yes

9. What is the Crab Shack? A seafood menu offered some evnings in a section of the buffet area for $20/person.

10. Café Caribe – is there a charge there? No. It is a buffet just like the Horizon Court. In the evening either the Cafe Caribe will be open or the Horizon Court will be open, but not both. They are both open at breakfast (Cafe Caribe will have a more limited breakfast selection than the Horizon Court) and at lunch (Cafe Caribe may have a theme menu at lunch).

11. Room service – no charge for food I guess? Pizza has a $3 delivery charge to discourage waste. No charge for other room service food except for canapes and party trays.

12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water.

13. Do you get juices, water, tea and coffee with your meals? Juice is free only at breakfast. Others are free at all meals. (Water is chilled tap water. There is a cost for bottled water.)

14. The Lotus Spa - What can we expect to pay for things there?

I am so sorry that I have asked more than a few questions. :eek:

Thankyou

Maureen

Ask as many questions as you need to.

You may want to go to the Princess web site and download the Cruise Answer Book. It may answer many questions you did not know you had.

Hi Caribill.

Thank you so much for answering my questions.

"12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water

14. The Lotus Spa - What can we expect to pay for things there?"

12 - You can take a look here:

14. - If you go into the cruise personalizer there is a place where you can pre-book spa services. You can get an idea of the pricing there. You can pre-book or wait until you board.

Please note: all the prices provided in the previous posting and this posting are in US$. On board currency for your cruise, I believe, is in Aus$. You will have to convert and the conversions are probably not exact.

"12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water

 

14. The Lotus Spa - What can we expect to pay for things there?"

 

12 - You can take a look here:

to get an idea of the drink prices. The information is from 2014. I believe the prices have increased about $1 per drink in 2015.

 

14. - If you go into the cruise personalizer there is a place where you can pre-book spa services. You can get an idea of the pricing there. You can pre-book or wait until you board.

 

Please note: all the prices provided in the previous posting and this posting are in US$. On board currency for your cruise, I believe, is in Aus$. You will have to convert and the conversions are probably not exact.

THANK YOU! I hadn't previously thought to check a currency conversion site to clarify how much I need to budget for my Australian cruise in November 2016 until I read your post.

I just searched for USD to Australian Dollar currency conversion and found http://www.ozforex.com.au which quotes USD$1 at AUD$1.37 I think-didn't write it down, and I couldn't copy-and-paste, not sure if it's the website being a pain, or my technical skills! *rueful grin* Good basic operator but lousy on the technical side.

I'm going to multiply the current USD prices for Souvenirs, Photography Package, Specialty Dining, Internet Package, and put the calculated and saved total multiplied by a factor of 1.4 into On Board Credits. I also intend to take the money for the necessary taxi travel plus an additional cash buffer as Casino Credits. This last hint, I actually learned off Cruise Critic-I had been planning to take coins and notes with me as I like to have the correct change for the taxi drivers as possible in as small a denomination, even gold $1 coins are useful as possible. I've been told by a taxi driver both here locally, and in Adelaide my State Capital, that they are delighted when a passenger has the correct money, I've even offered to change a large note for the taxi driver! Which he gratefully accepted.

Once again, another poster on Cruise Critic has helped me solve something that was puzzling me!

ENJOY YOUR CRUISE!

2. The Café Select Coffee Card for $33.35 - Listed at $37.40AUD on the Personalizer

12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water. - Not sure on individual drink prices but drink packages are available unlimited soda $5.45AUD/Day, unlimited soda and more $7.65AUD/Day on the Personalizer and just recently Princess have added the package that includes alcoholic beverages for Australian cruises at $59AUD/Day

1. The Sanctuary – does it cost money to use it? Is food, drink and massages a part of the Sanctuary or do you have to pay for those things also? A version of afternoon tea is included, the spa lunch menu is extra.

2. The Café Select Coffee Card for $33.35 - does it include hot chocolates? Sounds like you definitely need a coffee card. The hot chocolate is very good.

5. Crown Grill - very nice, good food, more than you can/should eat.

10. Café Caribe – really just an extension of the HC. Less food choices, seating usually more.

11. Room service – just the optional tip (except for the pizza)

12. Roughly, how much can we expect to pay for drinks – soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolates, wine, beer, juice and water.Drink the ship's water (it is fine and free), juice is free. We buy a coffee card and rarely drink alcohol.

13. Do you get juices, water, tea and coffee with your meals? As the first poster stated, but lemonade is available at lunch. Plus a larger selection of juice than oj if you ask.

14. The Lotus Spa - What can we expect to pay for things there? Don't know (I imagine it is 1/3 or more than you would pay on land?)

I agree about checking out the Princess website for lots of good info. Is there an Australian one?

Our last two cruises were on the Golden, but back in 2010/11 and 2012/13 so my experience may be out of date for answering some of your questions.

The only food choices that would entail an extra charge would be Sabatinis and the Crowne Grill, that Crab Shack (it wasn't on the ship when for our cruises), and the pizza delivery (again, not a charge on ours), but you don't pay for pizza if you go to the poolside pizzeria.

Even popcorn at the MUTS movies are free...they'll pop it at the machine that's by the lido ice cream stand.

There was a variety of movies available on the in-cabin TV, many of which were pretty recent. There were scheduled times. I'm guessing there may be an on-demand type of service, but that wasn't on our last cruise.

THANK YOU!

Once again, another poster on Cruise Critic has helped me solve something that was puzzling me!

 

ENJOY YOUR CRUISE!

Seriously, you should write a book for cruisers like yourself when you get back. You have become an encyclopedia of cruise knowledge!

Hi hopestotravelmore.

Just a suggestion for you ... this is the first season that the Golden Princess will be sailing out of Australian waters so it might be wise for you to bring one of those power adaptor plug thingies. Unlike the 'Aussie' Princess ships (the Dawn, Sun and Sea) the powerpoint in your cabin will be American.

You might also like to check out the Australia & New Zealand Cruisers section here at Cruise Critic, you'll find lots of information there too.

I hope you and your DH have a fabulous time.

I agree about checking out the Princess website for lots of good info. Is there an Australian one?

 

Our last two cruises were on the Golden' date=' but back in 2010/11 and 2012/13 so my experience may be out of date for answering some of your questions.

 

The only food choices that would entail an extra charge would be Sabatinis and the Crowne Grill, that Crab Shack (it wasn't on the ship when for our cruises), and the pizza delivery (again, not a charge on ours), but you don't pay for pizza if you go to the poolside pizzeria.

 

Even popcorn at the MUTS movies are free...they'll pop it at the machine that's by the lido ice cream stand.

 

There was a variety of movies available on the in-cabin TV, many of which were pretty recent. There were scheduled times. I'm guessing there may be an on-demand type of service, but that wasn't on our last cruise.[/quote']

 

Yes, but nowhere near as active in the postings. Will try to find the details and copy-and-paste (which is where I usually strike trouble-no techie here! :D )

 

Found it1 Here goes.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2227245

 

YIPES! It seems to have worked, that's a MASSIVE improvement in my technical skills!

Just one minor point; there is no Cafe Caribe on the Golden Princess. The Golden is one of our favorites and we have sailed on her for a total of 42 days. Enjoy!

There will be a couple of channels with movies, even if the On Demand hasn't been installed. We had the On Demand on the Regal and there were a number of options. In addition, Princess doesn't charge for the On a Demand programming.

THANK YOU! I hadn't previously thought to check a currency conversion site to clarify how much I need to budget for my Australian cruise in November 2016 until I read your post.

 

I just searched for USD to Australian Dollar currency conversion and found http://www.ozforex.com.au which quotes USD$1 at AUD$1.37 ................

 

I would check that currency conversion price often the closer that you get to your cruise. The currency rates between different currencies can and do often change, sometimes fairly dramatically, over a period of time. :cool:

You have done your homework! Enjoy your cruise. You can do as much as you like or as little. I never wanted to cruise, took my Mum on a cruise in 2005 as she couldn't go on her own - the rest is history. I absolutely love cruising, sometimes I join in all the activities, sometimes I just sloth around!

Just wanted to wish you a wonderful 1st Princess cruise...enjoy:)

Thanks everyone for all your help.

I am really looking forward to this cruise.