OzKiwiJJ

Yes, the Sun class ships had the wrap around promenade deck and were a similar size - 2000 passengers. Coral seems more spacious though, and has an extra lounge (Explorers) plus two permanent speciality restaurants. The Sun class ships only had a pop-up Sterling Steakhouse in part of the buffet area each night - zero ambience. And the lounges/bars are a decent size on Coral. OK Crooners doesn't go right around the atrium as it did on the Sun class ships as Coral has the cIgar lounge on one side but it's still seems bigger than Crooners on the Grand and Royal class ships. Coral's Wheelhouse Bar is big and, as mentioned earlier, it also has an Explorers Lounge. The theatre is similar to the Sun class theater, and the Universe Lounge is similar to the Sun Vista Lounges. However the Universe lounge has revolving stages so Coral is the only ship that can stage the wonderful On The Bayou production show. The downside to Coral is the really tiny showers in most cabins but at least the positioning of the dispenser bottles and grab rail are positioned better than Golden's were.

Happy birthday, Les.😘 My first thought after having a bone density scan some years ago was "now I know what a piece of paper feels like in a photocopier!" 🤣🤣🤣

It's also the layout for me. All the best features, and size, of the old Sun Class ships with a few extras. she seemed more spacious as far as public areas went. Having the IC out of the Atrium worked better, I think, and the Good Spirits Bar was a good back-up coffee venue to the IC for those of us who just wanted coffee but no snacks. It was interesting having the Sanctuary aft, and I loved the little Sanctuary pool. However we did have some issues with soot on some days.

It would be interesting to know where that person was cruising and what mobile service provider they were connecting to. Because as far as I know that would not work unless that person was connected to their regular network. I have a Samsung phone and if WiFi is connected I cannot use the phone as a mobile hotspot, I have to turn off WiFi and take the phone out of flight mode, and there is no way I'm going to do that on a cruise! Of course my phone is a few years old now. Maybe newer phones allow pure WiFi hotspotting.

BTW if you're wanting to use the phone as a phone you need WiFi calling enabled on the phone, then connect it to the ship's WiFi.

No, or at least it doesn't work on my Android phone. A hotspot is where you use your mobile phone signal to provide a WiFi connection to another device. You can't connect while you are using WiFi on the host device. You should be able to connect the phone to the WiFi package directly. No hotspot needed

Ditto!

Which is exactly what it is - the centre part of the medallion, where the sea witch is, is the status colour.

We tried the Aldi Angus beef potato top pies the other day. A bit on the small side but very tasty. Creamy mash, really nice pastry and the meat filling was just the right consistency with a rich flavour. 👍

Probably. Whatever it was, it was very sad.

But look at it the other way - there is the possibility it could have been accidental with those loungers stacked like that if he was fooling around

I've seen loungers stacked like that on ships we've been on but always against the side of the superstructure, never against the railings like in that photo.

It's going to be interesting to see how the 2025 world cruise on Crown Princess sells. It's a big jump from 2000 pax on Coral to 3080 pax on Crown. I would have thought they would have chosen one of the smaller Grand Class ships rather than one of the extended ones. They'll get the numbers for Round Australia and Hawaii/Tahiti itineraries but the world cruise? Hmmm!

Arrrh! Fat finger syndrome strikes again!

Coral Princess is only doing our world cruise this year and next year. In 2015 they are using Crown Princess, one of the extended Grand Class ships with over 3000 lower berth passengers (Coral is 2000). Not my ideal ship for a world cruise. 🙁 Fingers crossed we can do the one we have booked for next year otherwise I doubt we'd want to do it on a bigger ship.

Very tragic.

It looks like it was moved to the Royal Caribbean board. The opening post is identical to what I read here last night. Perhaps whoever did that didn't realise Quantum is repositioning from Australia with lots of Aussies onboard.

You can do a fair amount of the required stuff through the webpage Personalizer but not all. - you can't pick your arrival group but that doesn't seem to make much difference in Australia. - you can't book dining but you can just go to the MDR at whatever time you like and they'll find you a table even if you have to wait a short while. Try to avoid the busy times though (hint - booking slots are every 20 minutes, on the hour, twenty past, and twenty to). Things like showing vaccination certificates and photos of RAT tests can be done at the terminal during check-in. However the App is really useful once you're onboard. You can check what's on where abd when. You can order drinks and food through it and it will be delivered to wherever you are. You can check your onboard account. You can buy Future Cruise Deposits. If you're intending to use the internet once onboard I think you need the App to make the initial connection to MedallionNet.

They are all at the "regular" price, it's just that the lowest category is blocked from being selected so the lead-in fare for selection is the second lowest category. If you note the price breaks between each selectable category you will see that they mostly match the difference between "select your cabin" and "Princess chooses".

Plus it can be surprisingly chilly, especially first thing in the morning, if the ship is doing the scenic cruising through Fiordland. I recommend bringing a wam hat, gloves and maybe a scarf. It's far nicer being out on deck for Fiordland rather than peering through tinted, and possibly dirty, windows.

Yes. I don't want to have too much detail in the summary though as ships are rarely there overnight.

Yes, but 9am to 3pm is free on weekdays.

I'll be relying on feedback from everyone here so if you have any recommendations please post them.

I'm considering changing it to landscape mode and including a short list of places of interest or activities that can be done without an excursion or booking anything. What do you think? Would it make it too unwieldy? I'd just list them with a note saying look them up online for more information.

Updated version below. Note I am not including any prices for shuttles or other transport as this can change at any time and/or may depend on the cruise line in the case of shuttles. https://www.dropbox.com/s/460b0ginwpvmjih/Australia and NZ Ports.pdf?dl=0