OzKiwiJJ

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

I have one, bought from Macy's in Waikiki, but the brown side isn't often seen. My point is, if you need a brown & black belt you need to pack two different wardrobes. An extra belt is nothing in luggage, but the extra matching shoes, shirts & trousers are.

I guess that depends on how much variety you want, and if you dress up on formal nights.

44 minutes ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Whats the problem with using a CC in Cape Town? I hadn't heard of anything. I usually tap and go and never let the card out of my sight.

I got a great eyecatching fridge magnet last time I was in Cape town. It says 466/64, Nelson Mandela's prison number.

I'm not sure but one of the sommeliers used to work there and said "don't use credit cards or you'll get scammed". He was very emphatic about it.

On 5/9/2024 at 3:19 PM, 2022cruisey said:

The furphy about port increases in Melbourne is an excuse.  Yes it increased but was shown to still be less than most other ports in Australia. 

On 5/9/2024 at 3:33 PM, Relaxing Robbies said:

I agree completely. What were Princess thinking when they decided to have Diamond Princess in Melbourne doing cruises to New Zealand in early October and November when the seas and weather are likely to be bad, and then moving it to Brisbane to do Northern Queensland cruises from mid December just when it is becoming unbearably hot and humid up north? It would have been much better the other way round.

 

Definitely a furphy!

My guess is that there is something that needs to be done to Station Pier that the Victorian authorities aren't telling anyone but has caused them to limit or stop any disembarkations/embarkations from Melbourne .

That may explain why the Diamond itineraries have ended up as they are. I suspect the original plan was for Diamond to homeport for the whole season in Melbourne but Princess had to change things due to whatever is going on with Station Pier.

Princess isn't the only cruise line to pull out. Cunard is no longer coming here other than as port stops on it's world cruises. Virgin has also redeployed. 

18 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

Today I received an email advertising an expanded 2025 Japan and 2025/26 South East Asia Program for the Diamond Princess. The base lead-in price for an interior cabin on a 9 day cruise is $2,184. That’s over $240/person/day. 😱

Beyond my merger pocket book I’m afraid. 🤷‍♂️

We paid $3,821 for a mini-suite, Plus fare, on Diamond last year for a 9 night itinerary. Now they want $5,159 or more!

Just now, leck57 said:

 

Agree with all of that. In Corals case the balcony category to have a deluxe option with sofa, rather than going to a mini suite just get a sofa 

All cabins should have a small sofa. On the only Royal Caribbean cruise we've done even the inside cabin had a sofa.

We'd be happy with something very similar in size and design as Coral but a couple of changes:

The first, of course, is cabins with better bathrooms and comfortable seating in all cabin categories.

The second would be to redesign the Bayou restaurant/bar so that it feels less like a brick barn. 

Other than that it's close to perfect for us.

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@trintrav  What a lovely review.  I did a Diamond cruise last spring.  Perfect timing for the Cherry Blossoms.  So far, you have voiced the same sentiments that I had when I was on the cruise.  I had been to Japan before so skipped all of the excursions and did most on my own.  It is too bad that Diamond "parks" so far away from the city.

 

Please do me a favor.  My friend is the Assistant Maitre d' on the Diamond.  Yalcin can be found up in the buffet/Lido Deck.  I just chatted with him and his contract ends probably when you get off the ship.  Stop by and tell him Renee said hello.  He's tall, bald, and will be wearing a dress shirt.  Hard to miss.  Good guy to meet and get to know.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Please also pass on regards from Julie and Rolf to Yalcin. We met him on Coral on several cruises we did during the Australian restart in 2022. We're back on Coral at the moment doing the world cruise and we miss him. 

Just now, arxcards said:

Thanks. I will look a bit deeper. I have an app for my current online banking, but it is IP sensitive and will request MFA if they think it is a risky transaction. Great for security, but a pain to be getting sms verification codes overseas.

Does your phone allow WiFi Calling? We'd had problems overseas last year with our old phones but so far it seem to be working on Coral Princess with our new phones. Fingers crossed it will stay that way for the whole cruise.

We tend to just use the debit card we have specifically for overseas travel to just withdraw cash when needed, and use a credit card for everything else. However we have been warned not to use credit cards in Cape Town. Hopefully we can safely get some cash there otherwise I won't be able to buy a fridge magnet!

Just now, NSWP said:

lyle i do not have credit card, just anz visa debit, use it here and used it overseas in atm and purchases, no problems. being old school i always carry a couple of hundred cash.

 

sorry for typing, but last week had a big fall and smashed left shoulder and arm.am left handed. was in hosp and a lot of pain.

Oh no! I'm really sorry to hear that, Les. Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery with no lingering after-effects. Take care, mate. 😘

17 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Yes, I have noticed this too with many of the places I frequent use to be fee free now have little signs saying they have fees. One bakery I have been going to for years always paid card and my last visit they put up a little sign saying 1.5% fee for CC and Debits. 

A lot of small businesses took a financial hit when most people stopped paying in cash during Covid so I can understand why they have added the charge. I don't like it though. 

Just now, Bowm54 said:

The $279 fare appears to be the lie flat sleeper with meals included. Which is not terribly bad, however the scheduled arrival only a few hours before the ships departure put me off taking the train.

The standard fare is a lot cheaper.

 

We did Brisbane to Cairns many years ago when they still operated Queenslander Class on the trains - pullman sleeper cabins, lounge/bar carriage, dining carriage. It was great, similar to the Indian Pacific but only 30 hours. I can't remember what it cost but it wasn't cheap.

Although they now only have sleeper seats if you like train travel it would be worth doing once.

Just now, Blackduck59 said:

Nice photos with the last one showing a faint 2nd rainbow 🌈 

Oddly enough that wasn't noticeable by eye. It's also in the first picture if you look closely.

Just now, arxcards said:

They certainly have. We have even had our entry processed at sea between the fiords and Hobart. Back in the BC days, some judgements were made on Ruby being assessed as low risk, but now borderforce stick to the rules.

The problem with doing passport control at sea is that two Border Force officers were committed to only that one task and therefore were out of action for several days. With more ships doing the NZ /Australia runs they needed those people available to process more than one ship in that time frame. Our last cruise with onboard processing was in 2017. In 2019 the passport processing was done in Hobart.

Our afternoon in the Sanctuary was cut short by a passing squall but just before we left there was a gorgeous rainbow right off the stern of the ship.

I've never seen a rainbow that close before.

Just now, Cbtours said:

Thats earlier than we make it. So do you mix it up for breakfast? MDR and buffet? 

It depends on what we're doing each day. Today they were collecting passports for the Mauritius stop so we had to get back to our cabin by 9am but usually on sea days we have breakfast in the MDR unless we sleep in too late. On ports days we often have to go to the buffet if we're doing an early excursion.

Just now, Cbtours said:

I’m impressed Julie, were you up there at 6am 😁

Not me! We got up there about 8am.

Just now, MicCanberra said:

A blue whale sighting would be more exciting but then you wouldn't see one of them in the buffet.

I hope not! 🤣

There was a rare sighting of the elusive Greater Red Twinings E.B. in the buffet this morning. 🤣

We're into day 2 of the crossing to Mauritius. It's still cool but just warm enough to have our first day in the Sanctuary.

We've noticed the Bordeaux MDR has been a lot quieter after 7pm over the last three nights. Prior to that it was chocka at that time, and Good Spirits is quieter too. The early show times may account for the pattern change or maybe people have just found their ideal evening routines. 

We've been doing morning trivia and progressive trivia with mixed success but we're having fun. 

Afternoon tea has just arrived so bye for now!

Just now, MicCanberra said:

Yep, I suppose better pours only really works when you are drinking spirits and are paying as you go. When on a package, who cares.

You're just as likely to get better pours if you get to know the bartender well - as we did on Royal Princess in 2017. We ended up having predinner drinks most nights, along with a couple of our dinner companions, at the small Princess Live bar. The bartender must have liked us as he started free-pouring the spirits when making cocktails. His Captain's Bounty cocktail, which has four types of rum (usually a half nip of each) was lethal! 🤣

Just now, reedprincess said:

Keep in mind also, the Sun and Star have "copied" other lines in that every other cabin alternates bed by door, bed by window/balcony. The deck plan at the website tells you for each cabin...

 

 

 

 

Consequently the cabin is narrower where the sofa is. I means they can squeeze more cabins in per deck.

However I believe they are now considered a non-native invasive species in NZ as they are invading habitats of native birds. Very sad as they are so pretty and they are a legume so nitrogen-fixing in soil. At one stage they were planted in cleared forestry sections to improve the soil before replanting.

Just now, colourbird said:

 

I understand what you are saying, but it still doesn't make sense to me. If we want one of those cabins for the 11 nighter all they have to do is let us select one and it becomes unavailable for the shorter cruises. 

Then you haven't understood the situation. 

Cabins A,B,C,D get allocated to the 11 nighter.

Cabins E,F,G,H get allocated to the split itinerary.

That's what the booking system gets told and the software isn't designed to allow willy nilly selections between those cabin groups, it would be too chaotic to program. 

It might be possible to do it though a Princess Vacation Planner or a big and very good TA, who have the knowledge/ability to manually over-ride the booking system. 

It isn't anything new. I vaguely recall tickets being required at a port or two way back. They were probably shuttle bus ports. 

We've rarely had a problem choosing a cabin in a location that suits us. We've only had to settle for a guarantee cabin once on Princess, for a last minute booking, and even then we ended up exactly where I thought we would. Even our upgrade bid for our current cruise put us in our favourite location. Am I just lucky? Maybe. We prefer cabins around the mid-levels, with cabin decks above and below. We prefer mid-aft but are happy with any location that is not too far forward.