OzKiwiJJ

Yes, we always put our laundry on the bed before dinner. We've always done that, it just seems more sensible.

But those who don't have free laundry might like to have a laundry package. I'm not suggesting options within drinks packages, just bundling the selected standard drinks package of whatever type with whatever is chosen from the other things. But those who don't drink alcohol might like to be able to choose a no-alcohol drinks package bundled with internet and gratuities say. Essentially every item would have a bundle price and the chosen items added together would give the package price for that person. It actually wouldn't be technically difficult to implement, especially with the medallion technology.

Not completely individual but being able to select between a few options would be good. Celebrity used to do this in the past - you could choose between the drinks package, internet, gratuities and OBC. Any combination from one to all. For example Princess could offer: - Drinks packages - full, no-alcohol but coffees etc, sodas, coffees only - Internet - Gratuities for non-Australian cruises - Speciality dining x number per y days depending on length of cruise - fitness classes x number per y days depending on length of cruise - OBC or Excursion credits - Laundry package (like HAL has) Select your options then the package price is shown which you can accept, change or decline

It's actually not a surcharge as what they seem to have done is remove the lowest category in cabin classes, typically the "F" category, for being booked directly so the pricing that shows for "choose your own" is one category higher so slightly more expensive. However it's annoying for people who preferred those blocked category cabins.

Some of the current Princess ships I've been on have pools with steps. The Lotus Spa pools on the Grand class ships, the Retreat pool on Royal, the Sanctuary pool on Coral.

I think there was a ramen station in the buffet.There was also a miso soup station where you could add various things to the soup but I can't recall if that included udon. I don't recall anywhere to make your own sushi either.

All the menus on that cruise were good. Plus we had a waiter team that actually understood wine service and, since we were buying wines by the bottle as the Plus wines didn't suit us, they sourced Riedel glasses for us every night. It was an exceptionally good Princess cruise. Unfortunately I suspect we will be brought down to earth with a thud, foodwise, when we embark on the Australian world cruise next month.

True. Again, it's usually the newer ships where a high percentage of public space is shops not lounges/bars. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by Virgin.

It depends on the size of the ship, I guess. Bigger spaces are needed for some things, especially trivia, but we found the small bars on Resilient Lady really nice for a quiet drink at times, and if one was crowded then we moved on to a less crowded one

True! Virgin wasn't too bad though. There seemed to be little bars tucked away all over the ship, inside and out.

I suffer from insomnia so those bright night lights are a health issue for me as they wake me up and it can take hours for me to get back to sleep. My "bits and pieces" kit now contains masking tape (painters tape). Sufficient layers of that blocks the sensor nicely.

I prefer twice daily cabin servicing, especially if I'm in a balcony cabin or lower. Why? There is nowhere to sit in those cabins other than one desk chair or stool so someone has to sit on the bed, and it's much nicer if it's been made up. We shower in the evenings and I hate having wet towels around the bathroom all night. They never seem to dry properly on those miniscule towel racks and there is nowhere else to put them except on the floor.

On one cruise we ended up next to a door slammer, ones where they were slamming the door hard against the wall when opening it. After a couple of days of constant slamming we waited until they came back to their cabin, complete with the usual door slam. As we left our cabin I slammed our door as hard as I could against the wall. We never heard another door slam out of them for the rest of the cruise! 😊

Cruise in the Australian region - no smoking at all anywhere inside the ships. 😊

What do you need to know? There will probably be a thread running in the Australia / New Zealand forum where those of us on that cruise will post our comments as the cruise progresses. There is also a roll call in the Coral Princess Roll Calls forum.

It's fun! But make sure you book your dining well in advance. The Test Kitchen is really worth trying.

This was one of the menus we had on our Diamond cruise. I had no complaints about the dishes I chose over the whole nine night cruise - and that is actually unusual for me. No, I lie, I chose the lobster/steak combo on one of the formal nights and the lobster wasn't worth eating. It was tough, tasteless and tiny. The steak was lovely though.

The Princess Royal class ships are worse than the older classes though. They sacrificed lounge/bar/theatre space for more space for high end shops. Ah well, I guess that's what the Americans want! 🤔🙄😡

Did they not offer the Japanese "Always Available" MDR menu items on your cruise, as well as one or two Asian dishes in the main section of the menu? We cruised on Diamond around Japan last November and I was in foodie heaven with all the Japanese/Asian selections in both the MDR and the buffet. But it very much depends on what your personal tastes are. I love Asian food, especially Japanese, so it suited me perfectly. However I have heard there are noticeable cutbacks on the ships sailing out of Australia this season nonot what I want to hear with a 110 night world cruise starting in a month's time! It would be interesting to hear if many people have noticed menu/buffet cutbacks on US-based cruises.

It sounds like Princess actually listened to the feedback when they built the later ships of that class then.

You can go out on deck any time you like unless the decks are closed due to weather conditions, especially strong winds. It's wonderful being out on deck on lovely day when you're in the middle of the ocean with nothing around you but the sea. 😊

I used the term lecture theatre style as that best describes the seating style. It's quite good for game shows, but useless for trivia as it's hard for teams to group themselves given the style of seating. It just isn't as flexible as the Explorers Lounge it replaced.

I agree! Diamond is a standard size Grand class ship, with a few Japanese touches. Crown is an extended Grand class ships ie an extra deck of cabins was added when she was built but the public spaces - dining areas, bars and lounges - remained the same size. If you choose a cruise on Crown during school holidays be prepared for long queues to get into the MDRs, and difficulty finding a table in the buffet. Royal was the first Royal class ship built. The bars/lounges and theatre are too small and there is no promenade deck. The Explorers Bar has been replaced by a lecture theatre style area which is a bit strange.

They do say in the confirmation of bid email that notifications could be as close as two days before embarkation. I was very surprised when we got our upgrade just over a month before we embark.

Well, our successful bid freed up a balcony cabin on that cruise so you never know, you might be lucky. But we're boarding in Sydney not Auckland. Fingers crossed for you!