OzKiwiJJ

There is some degree of risk as you may end up being in a location you don't like but if it means getting a much nicer cabin for your cruise you may decide the risk is worth it. It was for us. We're about to embark on the 110 night world cruise out of Australia on Coral Princess. We had originally booked a BA balcony cabin - we usually book this category on a class of ship we've never cruised on before - and on Coral this was on the midships bump so had a very small balcony so we weren't 100% happy with the location after doing some cruises on Coral in 2022 but it would have cost more to change it. Just after Christmas we got the offer to bid for an upgrade. Since it's a very long cruise we decided to try for a mini-suite upgrade for the extra space and comfort. The minimum bid was a bit higher than we'd hoped for though. We raised it as much as we could afford but it was still a low bid. Late last month we received the dreaded "You've been out-bid" email, offering us the chance to increase our bid. No thanks, our original bid is all we could afford. Four days later we received the "Yay - you got your stateroom upgrade!" email. We now have an almost perfect starboard mid-aft mini-suite with a large (but uncovered) balcony. We've very happy with that.

They've stated that one dining room would be for Traditional dining, the other would be for reserved bookings and walk-ins. The Bordeaux MDR has the Reserve Collection dining in one corner so that reduces the available space for general dining. I guess they'll calculate which of the options will be the least popular and assign that to Bordeaux. In the Australian region late traditional dining, usually at 7:45pm or 7:30pm, was popular when we started cruising in 2014 but once Anytime dining was introduced in our region there seemed to be more empty tables or spaces at tables than in the past. We had mixed success with Traditional dining - we loved the concept but more than 50% of the time we ended up with tablemates we didn't really click with or, in at least two cases, dining most nights at a large table by ourselves.

We loved our cruises around/from Japan last year. However we did book excursions through the cruise lines (Princess and Regent Seven Seas). Apart from one Princess excursion (Nagasaki) they were are very good and reasonable value for money. We had balcony cabins on both cruises. In some ports where our cabin overlooked the wharf it was great to go out on the balcony to watch the locals entertaining us as the ship prepared for departure. We had a couple of days in Yokohama before the first cruise but were too tired to really enjoy them. We also had two days between cruises which we spend in Tokyo, happily bouncing around the Metro system.

Even if you book a Plus or Premier fare (in AUD) the gratuities aren't included. They are only included if the Plus or Premier fare was booked in USD.

Yes, we had to.

It will probably be the standard US wine list - US, European, a few AUS/NZ wine and other regions. Furthermore if you have the Plus package they just list the wine type, ie chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon, with no other details. After trying three on Diamond last November - the pinot noir, pinot grigio and chardonnay - we switched to buying decent wines by the bottle with the 25% discount.

Majestic is having a fairly rough ride across the Tasman. Friends are on her and reckon a wave hit their balcony on deck 11 last night.

China?

Print it out, blank out the account number, then take a photo of it.

There shouldn't be any probems entering the drivers licence number. We've done it several times.

It sounds like you need lots of these {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}. Take care and look after yourself!

Houston?

Is it in a west coast state?

I imagine it will be very similar to this year's until the ship gets close to where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. There isn't much variation they can offer given how long it takes to go via Capetown.

Somewhere in Japan?

I think it's only the Royal Class ships plus the new Sun Princess.

The Australian 2024 world cruise, on Coral Princess, departs at the end of this month. I haven't heard much chatter on the forums / roll calls that I follow as to what has happened with those who were doing the Sydney to Civitavecchia segment. Some Australian TAs have been flogging the new Sydney to Capetown sector at around AU$100pp per day standard fare for a balcony cabin so I suspect a few people have cancelled. Hopefully you'll receive more information from Princess in plenty of time to choose what you want to do.

Yes, but it's a classic example of why not to book early flights after a cruise.

Great minds think alike!

Majestic is going to NZ. I have friends waiting to board her. Hopefully the seas will calm down a bit by the time she finally departs.

Correct. We spent a whole day wandering around Brussels looking for the street art. I think we got a map from the tourist bureau that showed where most of it was. It was really interesting as it took us out of the main tourist areas. It was the last stop on a six week trip in 2008, which included our very first cruise - a 7 night Rhine River cruise. Little did we know then that in another six or so years we'd get hooked on ocean cruising.🤣 Your turn.

Crown is an extended Grand class ship - they added an extra deck when they built her so larger upwards not lengthwise.

Coral Princess is about the same size and it looked a bit tight for her to turn around. But Crown is actually a bit shorter in length than Coral so will fit easily.

They also have to be able to turn in that part of the river. That may be the limiting factor not the ship size fitting the wharf.

Neither but you're both in the right country.