OzKiwiJJ

Thanks.

Princess used to be the same but some bright spark at Princess decided to offer Plus and Premier fares which include drinks packages and made them available on all cruises. Probably to compete with Celebrity.

I just had one! 🤣🤣🤣 Actually I think I have cruise ship withdrawal symptoms. I can't sleep properly without the ship rocking me to sleep. Seriously! I slept really well on the last cruise. The best I've slept in years.

Scary-exciting! There wasn't a lot of organising to do as we're getting experts at hopping on and off the ship. We did pack smart when disembarking the last cruise - we filled one suitcase with clean clothes and other things we would need onboard this cruise. So that made the rest of the packing a bit easier although we have had to fit in our cool weather clothes just in case plus supplies of stuff we use during the cruise - those good quality masks take up a lot of space! We ended up using an extra suitcase rather than squashing everything in. We didn't have time to get haircuts this time so will have to go to the ship's hair salon if we get too shaggy. Luckily we were able to get doctor's appointments today to get new prescriptions including some more Stemetil.

I'm confused too. I had the 8th on the brain as it was the day we disembarked and also the day this cruise disembarks in Sydney. I think I'm too tired, it's been a very busy couple of days and I had a very bad night's sleep last night. Sydney embarkation Tuesday 11th October. Brisbane embarkation Thursday 13th October.

Keep checking, especially close to the embarkation date. We only booked this cruise last Thursday. we were on Coral at the time and grumbling about the Sydney weather forecast. Just for fun I checked this itinerary and found a perfect cabin to book. I hurriedly crunched some numbers then we raced down to the Future Cruise Sales Office and booked it. We went home on Saturday as we had a couple of things we had to do. We're now packed again and ready to embark tomorrow.

Sorry, I can't help with timing. We haven't had a port stop at Kaikoura before, we've only visited it on a land trip and that was quite a few years ago.

I'll post the itinerary after dinner.

We just did our RATs - negative, thank goodness. Yes, see you onboard. 😊

Sydney embarkation Tuesday 8th October. Brisbane embarkation Thursday 10th October. We'll be doing our fifth cruise on Coral since the restart. We really love this ship. In my opinion she's as close as we'll get to the perfect cruise ship - small enough so there aren't too many passengers on board yet big enough to have plenty of choice of restaurants, bars and lounges. Our bags are packed (again) and we're ready to cruise right around Australia. Although we've probably been to 75% of the ports already it's still very special doing a full circumnavigation.

However a percentage of cabins will be the two-dayers going up to Brisbane, filling the cabins that will be then taken by the Brisbane round trip cruisers.

Thanks. Yes, quite a few of the staff recognise us now. It was almost sold out when we booked but one very nice cabin popped up for sale so we decided to grab it.

Princess needs to hire some big security guys and have them monitoring the Horizon Court. Some people will get aggressive with the usual crew members that hand out masks at the HC entrance but would think twice if some big ex-footy player told them to either put their mask on or leave the HC immediately.

We have a friend from Singapore who always stayed there when she was in Sydney on business. We'd often meet at that bar. Great food! It's an ideal place if you've just arrived and don't want to go out for a meal.

The Four Seasons is a flat 700 metre walk to the cruise terminal if you choose the route through the small park near Circular Quay. There is a convenience store at Circular Quay and plenty of restaurants and cafes in the general area.

You should be OK as a good percentage of the passengers will be doing the Round Australia itinerary like us. I'm not sure what the split will be but I think more cabins are usually allocated to the Sydney roundtrip than the Brisbane roundtrip.

I'm sure they were very good at Maths - the lets screw every dime out of our passengers while downgrading the quality of certain things type of maths. Oh, and while we're at it we'll start a cabin door prize raffle and see if we can suck out a few more dollars at $20 a day. Nah, that's probably a bit unfair as fares were very decent here during the restart but the drinks package value has been undermined by the poor selection and poor quality of wines, plus no longer being able to get freshly squeezed OJ.

I'm so glad it was resolved in time. Happy Anniversary. 🍾🥂 The nitwit who came up with the Premier package obviously didn't think it though properly. It will never work on short cruises. Suite passengers don't fill the restaurants on Coral as there are only 16 suites but Premier with two bookings per cabin, and other free speciality dining promos will cause chaos.

Francois is the Head Waiter for the Bayou so first point of contact. We've found him very helpful. But I agree that passengers should have priority in the speciality restaurants.

OMG, how disappointing for you.

Geoff, so sorry to hear of your current health issues. I hope they can sort out something for you to relieve the pain. Max looks adorable, such a handsome dog.

Geoff, I hope Francois was able to sort out your Bayou booking. That was extremely naughty of Princess to change it without any notice.

We disembarked from Coral this morning. We had an aft cabin, B710, and found the aft lifts were great. We're embarking again on Tuesday, this time with a mid-aft cabin. I wouldn't be surprised if we often used the aft lifts rather than the midships ones even though it would mean a longer walk. We need the exercise anyway. 😄

Me neither but some I have enjoyed more than others, and some ships I won't be in a hurry to go on again.

Ditto.