OzKiwiJJ

So two different stories on one ship. I'm not going to bother asking on Coral. We'll just test out various options and see what results in extra charges. I don't think I'll be able to have an occasional drop of my favourite cognac though, I think they've hiked the price of that up to much now.

Yes, I started this when we were all stuck at home due to the pandemic and it seemed a nice way to visit and discover places around the world that we may not have been to, or if we have then to bring back fond memories. It is better to have helpful responses to guesses, not just yes or no. Responses that guide people in the right direction. If the game seems to have stalled then clues are appropriate but remember people aren't online all the time so don't jump in too quickly with the clues, give people time to think about it first. I see nothing wrong with using Google Maps to check whether your guess is on track. For example I wondered if the previous photo was the Crown Ranges in NZ but a quick check on Google showed me it couldn't be as that road has more vegetation around it. This is supposed to just be a bit of fun not a competition. Let's keep it that way.

I'm keeping all my fingers crossed that the weather and seas will be kind to us as we start the world cruise. Coral is going to have to make a fairly fast run across to Fremantle and and bad weather could seriously impact our itinerary.

Trying to outrun a storm going from Hobart back to Sydney. I'm not sure how high the waves were that we actually encountered. The BOM was predicting 8 metres, and it did get quite bouncy, but I think we avoided the worst of it. We did hug the coast quite closely as we cruised up the NSW coast as it was still very windy. We had great views though.

And it's not only just the cruise fare. It's also built into the drinks and speciality restaurant prices so what you see is what you pay - and this applies to everyone not just those who booked in our region. 😊

Which ship? I'm wondering if the variations are by ship.

It may have just been a weekend special. Keep checking though. It could drop again.

Possibly cost saving but also maybe because it softens faster once taken out of cool storage. Salted butter is lovely as a spread but not for cooking.

You have to be quick when you spot a price drop.

This is the entrance to the channel from the Kotor side. There was a reasonable amount of space for Royal to go through but it was a calm evening so no problems with wind.

Of course it may not be Princess that caused the cancellation per se, it could be that the local port authorities aren't happy about a ship that size going through that channel. The channel has roads either side and damage to one of those could be serious, particularly on the western side where there doesn't appear to be an easy alternative route. But Princess should have done its homework before releasing itineraries that included Kotor unless, of course, it was a last minute local decision.

Yes, quite a few times. In fact on one cruise we have booked for next year our PVP actually called us to tell us of the price drop. Just phone Princess and they should be able to help you as long as the fine print doesn't say "new bookings only" and even then you can sometimes be lucky.

I always pack an evening outfit in my carry-on, plus basic skin care and simple make-up (if I can be bothered with that which is actually less and less these days).

We were on Royal Princess when we went there and it did seem to be very narrow. They also have to allow for the effect of wind hitting the ship which may cause it to drift to one side or the other. The hills either side of the channel are quite steep so there could be some interesting wind effects at times.

Butter flavoured popcorn seasoning?

Real butter, made from cream from cows that are grass fed, is yellow - at least it is in Australia and New Zealand. I use unsalted butter and the ingredient list on the packaging of the blocks of both Australian and NZ butter currently in my fridge shows just one item: Cream. That's all. If there was any colouring used it would have to be listed by law.

Ships have to pass through a very narrow channel to get to the anchorages near Kotor. Perhaps Sun is just too big to safely navigate this channel.

Of course you will rarely get really good Japanese food on a cruise ship. Just the mere fact that they are catering for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of passengers at every meal means that they don't come anywhere near matching the quality at (usually quite small) local Japanese restaurants. But I thought they did reasonably well considering. At least it was a tasty change from the standard Princess fare. This is the menu from one of the dinners on Diamond last year. Of the Japanese favourites the octopus was a delightful appetiser, the miso soup was good, and the tofu was amazing (but our lovely waiter made sure it came out piping hot and crispy). The other dishes were also very nice. That night they had Nasu Dengako, which has been a favourite of mine for many years ... when it's done well. Sadly the Princess version wasn't great. I forget what other things I tried but food-wise that cruise stands out as one of the best I've ever been on. I live in an area of Sydney, Australia, where we are close to many excellent Asian restaurants, including a few Japanese ones, so the standards I'm comparing against are authentic cuisines, not westernized.

We get Plus for the internet, coffees, bottled water, cocktails, liqueurs/digestifs, and the 25% off wines by the bottle as that's the only way you're going to get decent wine.

Rule #1 Always take a change of clothes, plus whatever you need to freshen up, in your carry-on. We've had to resort to using ours once. Oddly enough that was on Royal, out of Barcelona in 2017. We dropped our bags off around 10:30am so they had plenty of time to get them to us. They arrived just as we were leaving our cabin, around 7pm, for our pre-dinner drink. 🙄

We were on Diamond last November. The minibar was standard Princess minibar items. We loved the MDR menus. There were a numbef of Japanese always available items plus one or two Japanese/Asian dishes that changed daily. The buffet also had a good selection of Japanese and other Asian dishes. I can't recall if there was any Sake available though.

Don't bother booking, just go to one of the MDRs when you want to dine. You might have a short wait, especially if it's fairly early, but you'll soon work out the ideal time to join whatever queue there is

We've been able to refare a number of cruises over the past 10 years. However you have to take into account the value (to you) of any perks that you have with your current booking and make sure you either keep those or that the new fare is still cheaper taking those into account. For example one cruise we could hae refared would hae meant losing OBC and a speciality dining credit, so we didn't refare. On another cruise we would have lost a complimentary bottle of wine - no big deal so we refared that one.

Be good and look after yourself!

What really annoys me is that they stopped allowing freshly squeezed juice with breakfast after the first few Coral cruises in 2022. That's the only time I drink juice and I only ever want a small glass. Never mind, we just order sliced oranges with our breakfast fruit course - it takes more effort to slice an orange properly (the way Princess does) than to squeeze an orange! 🤣 If I could be bothered I'd make sure we both had our 15 alcohol drinks a day, just having a tiny sip then leaving them. Drinks-wise they do pretty well out of us as, apart from coffees and bottled water, we would only have 5-6 drinks a day.