~*Lou*~

We have the choice of Coral, Caribbean or Sapphire Princess for Alaska - same itinerary. Which would you choose and why? We’re a family with teenagers. Probably internal cabins. But all 3 ships look like they have promenades and lots of outside decks. many thanks in advance

Disembarked at Melbourne station pier this morning. We did self assist walk off, with a time of 7.50am. We managed to not receive yellow customs declaration cards last night so by the time we walked off the ship, waited for just two lifts in the terminal with our bags, found customs cards from station pier staff, completed them, passed through passport/customs clearance, waited in queue for a taxi, we were in the taxi at 8.35am.

Because we have teens, after all the sea days we were very keen to get off & explore. We were off the ship at 7.30, and by 10.30am we had wandered round the main streets looking at art deco buildings, hired bikes and riden along the beach front for one hour ($80 for family of 4 for one hour - walk in rate) and bought ice creams from Lick This. Then we played mini golf ($30 for family for 18 holes), had another look at the beach and back on the free shuttle at 11.45am. Other family friendly activities would have been the aquarium (1.3 km south from I site) or the bathing pools (about 1km north of I site).

This was June 2022, one of the first after the re start. I know there were cases on board only from tables outside rooms. Definitely no MDR or IC on last day. Excellent to know we should have better options this time! Thank you!

You can have breakfast in the MDR on the last day??? We were on Coral last year, only the buffet was open, not even IC, it was utter chaos, we gave up and ate at the airport!

Has anyone looked at the marine weather forecast for next week? We board in Melbourne on Monday and I'm a bit anxious about a rough crossing (sea sick children and husband) and we might miss Fjordland and even Dunedin? Would love to be wrong!

We had a mid-ship cabin but noticed more movement in the dining room and buffet compared to the cabin in rough seas on Coral. Yes burgers, hot dogs, tacos at the grill on deck 15 above the pool deck. Alfredo's pizza (only pizza, no entrée or dessert) was in Sabatini's at lunch on sea days in 2022 - no idea how they manage that now with extra "casual dining" charges. Its a lovely ship, so much outside space.

We're in Dunedin on 12th January. When we originally booked the cruise, we were scheduled to be in port from 8am to 6pm but now it's 7am to 5pm. I had booked us on a private tour (with Fantail Tours) from 10am to 4pm but now I'm worried we are cutting it too fine to be back in time and on board on time. I have emailed the company who say we will be back at the port by 4pm and "there is no need to cancel" but I'm anxious about the timing now. I still have a couple of weeks to cancel without loosing money - any thoughts? Should we cancel? The tour operator website doesn't have anything on it about guaranteeing getting back to the ship on time. Many thanks Lou

We’re on Grand Princess to NZ in January and we’re taking friends with us who have never cruised before - if they hate it they may never talk to me again?! So I am trying to make sure I can give them as much information to plan as possible: We’re all on Standard fares, no Plus or Premier. What are the costs at Alfredo’s in AUD – can you just sit down and share a pizza between a couple of people from different cabins and charge the pizza back to one cabin? How much in AUD? (we have 4 teens between us, this is important!). Is there a difference in quality of pizza between Alfredo's and Slices? Can anyone post some Princess Patters – mostly the sea days to see what activities are available across the ship. Power points in cabins – in a mini-suite, how many Australian power points, and USB plugs? At Coffee & Cones on the Lido Deck, aside from the free soft serve, do they offer milkshakes and how much do they cost? (Coral had them for $3 each in 2021) Many thanks! Lou :)

Hi, we are in Tauranga in January and the Zealandia tour to Hobbiton is fully booked for our date, and our cruise line doesn't offer ship-sponsored tours to Hobbiton. Is it a reasonable idea to rent a car for the day and drive ourselves to Hobbiton? I understand once we're there, we join a tour group, and I'd need to book that in advance? We are in port 8am-6pm. Many thanks for any suggestions.

Zealandia tours to Hobbiton is booked out for our date (16th Jan, on Grand Princess). Can anyone recommend another tour company? Could we rent a car from the port and drive ourselves? Many thanks Lou

Happy to help. Happy to answer any queries you have on this - also try doing a search on my user name as I have posted trip reports abut our Alaska cruises in 2015 and 2019 - these were both quad-share internal cabins. I have found we mostly all go to bed and get up about the same time when cruising, rather than the children going to bed much earlier than the adults, we just wind up on the same time timetable (my husband might try to stay in bed longer in the mornings but that generally doesn't work out). Also Alaskan cruises are mostly port-intensive - you are up and off the ship for a full day more days than sea days, and when you get back you are all tired, that's been our experiences anyway.

The photo above looked familiar and then I realised it was my image! That is a standard balcony on Coral Princess with foldaway and one pullman. We had children age 11 and 14 at the time. You CAN walk round the pillow-end of the foldaway to get to the balcony (that's my husband on the balcony in the dark in the photo!), its not impossible but you are shuffling sideways and need to be careful not to bump your shin on the corner of the bed (or the head of which ever child you have down there!). Yes the steward folds the bed up during the day for a bit more space. 4 in a cabin works with children but you do have minimal personal space and need to be considerate of each other 100% of the time - I found this harder with my husband than the children. We have done 4 x 7 night cruises (2x Alaska, 1 x Med and 1 x Queensland) with 4 in a cabin (3 x internal and 1 x balcony) and lived to tell the tale. Better than not cruising at all!

Hate to sound like a broken record, but they still haven't updated their website:

They haven't updated the Princess website yet - this is a screen shot of "what is included for a standard fare" on the 8th January 2024 sailing to NZ which we are booked on: