Fletch1

I agree!.......a Xmas cruise is well worth it. My wife and I love the decorations, huge Xmas tree in the Atrium, Xmas carols on Xmas eve by the choir and the Xmas music in the background in public areas. Not to mention Santa coming on Xmas day for all the (big) kids! 

Just love it. 

Nice video......key word here....."family" and being a part of that. 

My wife and I have done both these cruises and, without any bias, I would recommend the Aust/NZ cruise.  The Tahiti cruise would be warmer, but I think there is more to see here, particularly NZ and the fjords. Just spectacular. 

We haven't cruised on the Pacific Princess, but have done two cruises on the Ocean Princess (formerly the Tahitian Princess), which is the twin sister of the Pacific Princess. We loved this type of ship and I agree with everything Caribill has said. With 680 passengers, it is much more personal and the staff certainly get to know you quickly. We are a little older than you, and admittedly, there is not as much to do on the smaller ships compared to the bigger ones, but we just loved that class of ship. 

On 8/7/2020 at 7:10 PM, LC1950 said:

All I can say is do the right thing, suck it up and just get on with it!  Oh, and if you feel unwell, stay home and give the rest of us a break!

 

Sorry but many thoughtless idiots down here are out and about when they shouldn't be!!!  Angry about that.

 

Keep safe and keep healthy cruisers.

 

Ditto! 

On 8/7/2020 at 5:02 PM, Russell21 said:

Fold a tissue to the width of the mask and then fold it in a strip about 15-20mm wide, place it just inside the top edge of the mask as you are putting it on, and shape the mask to your face. It helps with the seal and the tissue absorbs the moisture in your breath. Works for me and the wife. This stops fogging.

This is what I do and does the trick for me as well. 

I thought I read somewhere the Regal Princess was coming here?????...might be wrong, or it could have changed. 

Maybe one of the newer Royal class ships will head to Japan/Asia..........perhaps the Enchanted Princess??

14 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

No one is stepping foot on a U.S. based cruise in 2020.

Same here in the land of Oz. IMO 

And now 2 AIDA ships also have infections on board. I read it was detected in the crew and all future AIDA cruises have been put on hold. 

On 7/13/2020 at 11:49 AM, Kiwi Kruzer said:

They don’t even need a shipyard .....just run them up on a beach.

Where ships go to die...

 

 

Was No 2 the old Love Boat...the Pacific Princess? I actually saw photos today of this world famous ship being cut up a few years ago.

On 7/24/2020 at 11:40 AM, Steelers36 said:

They will be nicely aged once we can cruise again.

 

Ditto....they can only get better being left for a few extra months or so. 

3 hours ago, bonox55 said:

Can Anyone confirm if Princess Ships sell duty free alcohol on board ships cruising from Australia to New Zealand?

Most definitely. Adding to previous posts, Princess often have an extra 10% discount if duty free is purchased in the first day or so of the cruise. 

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

At one stage the Police Commissioner said there was "illness" on the previous voyage - true - but there has been no indication that there was COVID on board. If staff were infected on the previous voyage, then passengers om that voyage would have been also, but have been no positive cases from that previous voyage. If any of the staff were infected, it would have spread like wildfire through the crew quarters. We saw how it did that in the weeks after the passengers disembarked and the crew were not observing social distancing rules.

 

Around two months ago there was a '60 Minutes' show on COVID where a scientist mentioned that they can analyse the virus someone has and by comparing the genome, they can detect where that strain originated. This has also been mentioned in recent days with reference to infections in NSW. That means, that the health authorities would have known for months where the Ruby Princess infection originated, and I am sure that if it originated in India or in Asia where most of the crew come from, that fact would have been shouted from the rooftops.

I did not know that. I hope they can use that analysis here in Victoria to determine where our outbreaks are coming from. 

A lot of people would be very interested to know that!!!

6 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The Ruby Princess incident happened in Australia so naturally the class action was filed in Australia. Where else? 😁 The newspaper item that you quoted mentions "the federal court".

 

This action has been mentioned in the Australian media, but I feel it has been generated by the lawyers advertising the class action to get more people to sign up. I am not a lawyer, but even I can see that the 'facts' that the lawyers are relying on to prove their claim are very dubious. Here is a quote:

 

We say the owner and operator knew of the risks that passengers may contract coronavirus before the ship left and they failed to take steps to ensure their passengers were safe and protected,' Ms Antzoulatos said in a statement on Friday.

 

I do not know how anyone could have known that passengers on the Ruby "may contract coronavirus". Although I suppose you could say that they could, the same as anyone in the world could contract it.

 

The Sea Princess left on an around Australia cruise on the same day and had no cases. Several other ships left on cruises around the same time and also had no cases, so I cannot see how anyone can claim that "the owner and operator knew of the risks that passengers may contract coronavirus". If they claim that Princess knew the risk simply because the virus existed in the world, then so did the passengers.

 

Most class action cases don't proceed to Court. They either fail at the first hurdle, or the defendant settles simply the end the bad publicity. In this case, it could be either.

I think I read somewhere one argument they are claiming is the Ruby Princess had coronavirus cases on the cruise before and knew the virus was on the ship and was not deeply cleaned. In addition, staff were infected from the previous cruise and spread it to the oncoming passengers. Thus, "failed to take steps to ensure their passengers were safe.........."

11 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

I somehow doubt that Australia has forgotten the super-spreader Ruby Princess...

That is certainly the case. A law firm here (Shine Lawyers) has just announced they are filing a class action against Princess and associated companies on behalf of 800 people effected by the outbreak on the Ruby Princess. 

14 hours ago, npcl said:

until Australia extends their cruise ship ban. As well as continues their restrictions on people traveling to Australia.

I think this will definitely be the case. Some people are predicting cruising won't start here in Australian waters until our 21/22 summer season, being at least 12 months away from now. I hope it is not the case, but I would not be surprised. 

Here in Melbourne, Victoria, we have just introduced compulsory mask wearing outside your house and are into our second lock down. This could last for a while yet. We are allowed out of our house for only 4 essential reasons, and must wear a mask. 

5 hours ago, Just_Westy said:

I can't see any cruises operating out of Australia this year given Covid19 cases are increasing.

The way Victoria is going, we may never see a cruise ship again!

12 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) UK placed in Administration.  All their cruises are cancelled.  UK passengers could be covered by ABTA or ATOL.

 

Any Aussies have current bookings or waiting for refunds from CMV?

That is really sad and perhaps the sign of things to come. I hope any Aussies are able to get their money back. 

This company had a great World Cruise every year, and very reasonably priced compared to other World Cruises with other companies. 

22 minutes ago, NSWP said:

You had better get used to the taste of Carlton Draught and Crown Lager then.   No NSW Tooheys or Qld Fourex Gold for you mob.

 

Stay safe.

Not a fan of Carlton Draught, but don't mind Crown Lager at all......a much better beer in my eyes (or should that be taste buds?!)

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

No much need for A/C in NZ, if it is hot, just wait 10 minutes.

Ha ha...LOL. 

On 7/8/2020 at 5:52 PM, ozblue_7 said:

Well, we requested a full refund of $23k and have been offered $18.5k. So $4.5k of costs for travelmarvel! We’re disputing.

 

It was all paid on credit card. Has anybody had any luck claiming back through a credit card dispute?

That is a lot of money to forfeit for "costs". 

We have had some luck on CC claims, mainly with airfares and cancelled flights. Haven't tried to claim any package holidays as such, so can't help there....sorry. 

I agree.....well said. 

55 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I thought I had read somewhere that the stewards were no longer going to service cabins. That seems contradictory to "increased cleaning and disinfection in cabins". 

If this is the case, who cleans them?.....us???.....that's no holiday! 

On 7/9/2020 at 12:43 PM, NSWP said:

Couple of days ago there were still 20 or 30 ships waiting in the queue to unload crew at Manila. They are going all over the place now, Singapore, Port Kelang, Malaysia etc.  I feel sorry for the crew, some of the ships have been waiting a couple of months or more to unload.

Ditto....and to think all ships must keep a skeleton crew on board to keep them running will mean some may not get home until this is all over. 

On 7/9/2020 at 1:48 PM, BRANDEE said:

Took the Ruby around New Zealand this March.  Paid in USD.

All currency on board was in AUD.  Our USD OBC became AUD with no conversion rate.  The military credit of $250 USD became $250 AUD.  The promotion $600 USD to book the cruise became $600AUD.  Our FCD of $100USD became $100AUD. .Same with our stock OBC.   Our loyality credit also had no conversion rate. Same with group credit and the extra Guest On board given during the cruise.

Our US agent sent a $25USD gift and it did became $36.50AUD.  Our travel agent also prepaid for speciality dinner in USD and we did not have to owe more.  Our automatic tip of $15USD per person per day became  $21.50AUD.  

 

All pre paid tours are quoted in AUD and charged to cc as USD with conversion rate of the day.

That's how I understand it as well.....dollar for dollar with no conversion rate.