2022cruisey

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

P&O Au used to use Australian food on board, like milk and cereal etc.  Now that they will be USA ships then I would expect to see more long life food from America like we see on Carnival and Princess ships.  Some packaging looks the same until you look at the place of origin bit, even yoghurt, milk and cereal.  So sorry for our suppliers but another saving for Carnival.

The food is different.  Much more Australian and less artificial.  I was so pleasantly surprised by the P&O food, it tasted more real.

Very disappointed.  We went on our first P&O from Freo to Indonesia and back earlier this year.  I really enjoyed the Australianess of the cruise, no endless spruiking for tips and no over the top, fake friendliness of the crew.  Compared to Carnival Splendor last year trip to Noumea where it was just so American in volume, food and tip culture.   Princess is in between the two in attitude if you have the drink package, much more low key.

On the weekend I booked a P&O for September, glad nothing is changing before then.

Have also booked RCI for next April, haven’t been on them, hoping they are not too American.

@Bubbeh OPs cruise ends in Auckland so it may be cheaper to get a return airfare from the US to Auckland if there is a special deal.  Two one way airfares can often be more expensive, even with the extra flight MEL-AUK it might be cheaper.   

We are booked on Sydney to Singapore arriving 16 April.  Can’t book shore excursions as the one showing are for the previous trip for these dates - in Noumea and the Pacific.   I had read on here they were having problems with their website so I just check every week.  The cruise is showing on sale on the website though.

Not sure if I should worry or not yet.

Melbourne would be one of the ports where I would consider the debarkation tour, depending on the cost.  
It is very day dependent and if it is a morning peak hour where there is an accident on one of the freeways it could take a long time.  Alternatively on a weekend it could take half an hour to the airport in very little traffic.

The price shown is the price paid for drinks on Princess in Australia.

For everything we buy in Australia they have to show the total price including taxes.  It is why gratuities are included for Carnival in our prices.  We definitely get refunds for ports missed, as they cannot charge for a service not received - if we don’t get to a port they can’t keep that component of the overall total.

What is shown on the website when we go to book is a base rate for the lowest price cabin, you then get shown upgrade options and then a final total before booking.  It makes it much easier to budget and compare.

The furphy about port increases in Melbourne is an excuse.  Yes it increased but was shown to still be less than most other ports in Australia.  I have done five cruises in 18 months leaving from Melbourne twice, Brisbane once, Sydney once and Freo once.  Melbourne terminal might not be as fancy but it was just as efficient and crew love it as they can get on and off easily.  
There is a huge cruise market in Melbourne and Carnival/Princess have stuffed up royally and misunderstood the market in Australia and NZ.

Also have the pop up and the x is off screen.  Making CC unusable.

Not sure where the obstructed minis are.  Have stayed on aloha twice in minis and they are uncovered balconies but not obstructed.  I would avoid the very back as the noise when anchoring/ arriving was terrible.  I also avoided the dolphin mini suites as they are above one of the performance spaces and at the very back.

The Galley tour happened immediately after the food presentation show for anyone and was free.  We didn’t eat in any of the paid restaurants so didn’t see any tipping requests.

One thing that did annoy me is the location of the smoking areas.  On the pool deck and in the 18 plus area.  

We have $160 pp per night in a balcony on RCI.  I think that is a good price.

On the same cruise and it was our first P&O experience.  
 

We thought the food was really good, better than Princess and Carnival.  We ate in Angelo’s, Dragon Lady, Waterfront and the Pantry.  I really liked the Pantry set up, much better than the Princess and Carnival buffets.  Although it was often busy, we didn’t have to find a table outside like we have had to do on other cruises.

They did have a galley tour and it looked very much the same as other cruise lines.  Also impressed by their chef show - the only one I have seen where they give out the food they have cooked during the show.  
Hung Le was funny, he was the only comedian we saw and the shows were the same standard as other cruises.

 The tendering did seem to take much longer, they were only using 4 tenders, whereas the other lines use many more.  I got into line at 640am to get tender tickets for Bali and we got off the boat on tender  14 at 1030 - long time to wait, when they started at 7.

In Broome we got shuttle bus 31 and arrived in town at 430 on a Saturday afternoon when nearly everything was closed. However we went to the pub for dinner and then to the Sun Pictures for a movie, which was an awesome experience.  Cable Beach the next day which was also great.

Ship was clean, lots of activities, over 18s area always had plenty of loungers, great weather.  Very positive experience and I would definitely go on P&O again.

My absolute favourite thing was that there was none of the fake crew/passenger interaction that comes along with trying to get tips.  This really annoys me on Princess and Carnival.

We went on that cruise last year - school holidays, completely full and hordes of kids.  Had a spa cabin so we were in a quieter place but so busy all the time.

We hired a car and drove to Penneshaw, the lavender farm, Emu Bay and Seal Bay.  Great day but lots of driving.

Why not book with Princess? They usually let you refare if it becomes cheaper, or alternatively cancel without penalty until a certain date.  Have saved thousands on my NZ cruise that we went on in January.

January 2024 our mini suite floor was wet or damp for 6 out of 14 days.

In addition to the Indonesian visa, the Bali government have introduced a tourist levy of roughly $15 as of 14 February 2024.

https://lovebali.baliprov.go.id/article/detail/1695794247752/bali-will-apply-tourism-fee-for-foreign-tourists

When you say cheap, how much is it?
In Australia they are not that cheap overall - depends on the type of cabin and time of year.

We were on the Grand from 8th to 22nd of January and the air conditioning worked well then - too well in some areas, if you ask me.  Sorry this has happened to you.  It was very clean too with lots of staff cleaning each day.  

I have taken the Princess cruise from Brisbane to Port Douglas and return using my drivers license and my kids using their Medicare card.  When it asks for the passport number you just use your aunt’s drivers license.  Also did the same for a cruise from a Melbourne to Adelaide and return.  No problems at all.

On the Grand last week there was an announcement about a week in to the 14 day cruise about respiratory illnesses.  A mask was suggested and there was a few people wearing them.  We’d all had covid across Christmas and New Year so didn’t bother.  None of us got ill.

We just had two weeks on a dolphin mini suite around NZ.  It rained and our cabin carpet was soaked. Took 3 days to dry with a blower.  Very good when the weather was fine and we stood out there in puffer jackets when it was raining through the fiords.

We were in Dunedin with the Grand this month.  It was $35 return.  As it was me and two kids, we caught the local bus which cost us $6 return each - $18 in total saving $87.  We walked off the ship and there were signs showing us where to buy the tickets - we used NZ$ which we bought from our local shopping centre TravelOz.  We also used cash on other buses in Dunedin.  Same price $3 per journey.