ozziepost

Does anyone have a list or remembers the cost of litres of spirits in the Princess duty free

Interested in vodka; scotch; drambui; and anything else that was a bargain (perhaps 2 for the price etc)

 

Thanks :D

This is from a list I obtained on the Sea Princess and was current as of September this year.

Vodka

Absolute Blue $31.99 or two for $59.99

Grey Goose $69.99 or two for $132.99

Ice Vodka $18.99 or 3 for $49.99

Stoli $29.99

Scotch

Specials

Dewars white label $29.99 or two for $54.99

Chivas regal $54.99

Glenfiddich $69.99

JW black $55.99 two for $105.99

JW blue $184.99

JW double black $49.99

JW gold reserve $69.99

JW platinum $99.99

JW red $39.99 two for $74.99

Laphroaig 10 years old $74.99

Muirheads blue seal whiskey $15.99 or two for $29.99

Chivas royal salute 700ml $138.99 20% off.

Drambuie $53.99

I have kept the list if there is anything else you are looking at let me know.:D

Overheard one couple chatting in the theatre on one trip who never bothered about insurance. However for the trip we were on they arranged it and hubby fell over and broke his wrist resulting in a claim you can bet your boots they won’t travel without it again.

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I use Australia Post travel insurance regularly for most of our overseas trips as they use the same underwriter as RACV and rate well with Canstar.

Are they any good? You only find out when you do a claim touch wood I haven’t needed to do that yet.

You can purchase over the counter but the website offers a cruise option which you need when doing a cruise.

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Stick with either Princess or celebrity for NZ itineraries who cater more for your age group. Princess offer 13-14 night trips from both Melbourne and Sydney at that time of year. While P&O offer South Pacific itineraries from both ports but you will find that P&O generally attract a younger demographic of passengers. If you subscribe to both companies websites you will see what they are offering in the way of itineraries and deals.

Good luck with this.

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We only did one very eventful trip on the PAC Sun which was notable for the number of passengers that got booted off on that trip. Despite being a rust bucket it had a great ambience and we had to pinch ourselves at what we were experiencing the staff and the whole experience was simply fabulous. Many great memories of that trip which was our second cruise.

I had to look twice when we were in St Peter Port Guernsey last year as its sister the Magellan was in port.

So sad to see the ship end up on a wreckers beach and I agree it brings a tear to your eye.

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My TA booked a cruise on the Radiance of the Seas through cruiseco once and we didn't receive the tickets until about 2 weeks before sailing date. This seemed to be cutting it pretty fine the TA indicated that was normal for the company concerned. In the end everything worked out ok we got the tickets plus a couple of perks and we had a great trip.

I'd just keep in touch with your TA,

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When we joined the Eden in Adelaide it was on a Sunday we just caught the train from the city to the port. It took about one hour and for seniors free for non concession holders it would have cost only a couple of bucks each why pay for a cab?

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I'm on the Sea at the start of September if I think of it I will have a look when we board and let you know.

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That incident happened on the Aria and I didn't have the phone or my camera on me at the time although I wish I had it then. The incident was reported to our steward just to cover ourselves.

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Yeah I yelled at her to get out of my dryer I grabbed my stuff out of it and got out of the joint as fast as I could it was then I noticed the basket was missing. With P&O ships I don't care if the bathroom in the cabin looks like a Chinese laundry I'm not using the self service laundry facilities on board again.

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Re "personally I sit in the laundry and wait for my clothes and never had a problem"

I sat in the laundry judicially while our clothes were being dried when a lady opened my the dryer I was using and started rifling through my clothes and the clothes basket I was using from our stateroom disappeared in the blink of an eye. I couldn't get out of there fast enough luckily our steward was understanding and replaced the basket.

Thankfully our next trip with Princess will be Elite with complimentary laundry and thank goodness we won't have to worry about using the self service facilities on board.

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Mamgu the only ship ex we are doing on the cruise is the bus to the cultural festival at Alotau and will probably get the shuttle into the town centre and walk back to the ship Alotau is an interesting port. For the rest of the ports we are just going to play it by ear and see what develops.

I've got no doubt we will enjoy this trip as each cruise for us is a new adventure.

Like wise have a great trip.

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Noooo don't stay on the ship just make sure your kids have reef shoes on in the water. We have seen Tricot snakes at various times - just leave them alone and they won't cause any problems. In so far as jelly fish are concerned they can be a problem in the islands at certain times of the year but the ones we have come across haven't been like the nasty ones in FNQ with the stings causing some discomfort and treated with vinegar.

I have seen the kids from the ship interacting with local children which IMO is a priceless experience for them.

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It looks like it we are joining the Sea Princess in Sydney on the 2nd sept. Haven't done a cruise on her yet but we have done quite a few on it's sister the Dawn (now the Pacific Explorer). With the ports on that itinerary we have been to Brisbane, Alotau and Fremantle previously - the other ports we haven't visited before.

We're very much looking forward to this trip

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We were on a glass bottom boat off Amadee island when M noticed a tricot snake that had somehow got on the boat. She figured there was only enough room on the boat for one of them and was about to bail out when the skipper flicked it into the water. We have seen many of these in the SP it's a case of leave them alone and they won't bother you.

It's also a good idea not to go into the water in bare feet and to wear reef shoes or old sneakers to protect your feet from standing on anything nasty in the water.

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I wouldn't bother with formal nights on the Aria as P&O have moved away from a traditional style of cruising to a more laid back style with more emphasis on theme nights whilst Princess is more traditional.

With the formal nights on the Sea Princess and we will be boarding the ship in September I am just packing a pair of business shoes business trousers and shirt as well as a tie with M wearing a dress nice dress for these nights. I honestly don't bother with packing a suit although I have seen some passengers dressed to the nines on formal nights.

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We docked at PV on Good Friday on our first cruise and every thing was open. A cruise ship means $$$ to the locals and lots of them. Enjoy your visit PV is an interesting port to visit.

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There is a classic story doing the rounds about a lady who had a rather expensive dress nicked from one of the ships laundries . She notified security and kept an eye open for anyone wear it. Sure enough she saw someone wearing what appeared to be the missing dress notified security and was able to prove the dress was hers - the offender got booted off at the next port.

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With the incident on the Aria I diligently sat in the laundry while our clothes were being dried when without warning to my surprise a lady opened the drier door and started rummaging through my clothes and then when I realised that the laundry basket from our cabin had been lifted in front of my eyes I was out of there faster than a proverbial Bondi Tram thankfully our steward was understanding and replaced the basket. But there is no way you will,get me back into a ships laundry again.

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I hate the self serve laundries on ships I was involve in one incident on the Aria and couldn't get out of it fast enough - not my fault though. I've heard of stories about punch ups and arguments going on in them that get completely out of hand - the next trip we do we will be elite status and our laundry will be done for us - yeah[emoji846]

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One memorable trip we did was our second cruise and the first on the old PAC Sun in 2010 about 28 passengers got booted off the ship on that trip.

The first didn't make out of the Sydney heads and got put off on the pilot boat apparently something inappropriate in his bags.

A group of kids got put off at Noumea - males and females behaving inappropriately in the spa bath under a security camera and there were others.

But the classic incident happened when a group got booted off at Mystery island. We were on the island at the edge of the airstrip with a large group when a twin engined plane landed. Now the MI airport has a terminal about the size of a funny block and we noticed tickets through one of the windows. We looked over at the tender jetty to see a group of passengers being escorted over to the plane with their bags by security.

As the passengers boarded the aircraft one of the passengers gave the onlookers the bird - with that one lady in our group who was very loud and saw this yelled out at the top of her voice "the dirty b%##^ give it back to them" with the result that the hundred or so of us lined up at the and of the airstrip gave the plane the finger.

We later learned that the passengers were involved in a classic case of laundry rage a couple of nights before that got completely out of hand got secured in their cabins and got put off at the next port which happened to be MI not only would they have had to pay for the flight from MI to the nearest international airport but they would have had to find their way home from there.

What happened was a case of laundry rage at night that got completely out of hand.

The old PAC Sun was a rust bucket but what a memorable trip that was and one of the best we have done.

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If you do a search on google for the subject Dynamic Currency you will find it much cheaper to get your bank to do the currency conversion for you rather than the ship.

If we do a cruise where the currency used on board is different to AUD that's what we do but we also make certain to let the bank know that foreign currencies are likely to be debited to our account and the dates we will be away on our trip.

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Both the Eden and the Aria are both ex HA ships I think the PAC Dawn is the ex Regal Princess.

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Another option would be to catch the train from central station to Katoomba and use the HOHO bus to go down to scenic world and the three sisters. This is an option we are looking at when we have a day pre cruise in Sydney later in the year.

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We visited KI a couple of weeks ago on the Eden and didn't do any of the ship or local tours available as you really can't see much on KI in a few hours. We did a road trip to KI a few years ago and IMO you need at least four or five nights there.

The tender took us ashore at the Sealink terminal at Penneshaw we were just content to just wander around the town taking in the sights - rental cars from Hertz and Budget were available for rent for anyone wanting to venture outside the town.

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