arxcards

There is no north entrance to the terminal. Hickson Rd will take you to level 2 and a boom gate operator that will redirect you back to George St. Level 2 is the taxi rank for departing passengers. Bag drop is at the south end on ground level. Boring hotel, but close to some good eateries and super close to the cruise terminal. Ozwoody is spot on with those stairs. Another option is to get your bag drop done earlier before you check-out of the hotel, then head back to your room until check-out time.

Great warm-up for the real stuff.

Only 9 teams can make the 8, and the minor premier is decided, so it looks pretty settled. Then I look at Geelong, who can have a big win and a bit of luck with other results and finish 2nd and a home semi. A loss could also see them finishing 8th. A few games that matter this weekend, but hopefully Fremantle still has something to play for and the home and away season goes down to the final minutes.

I just picked-up on the term "personaliser", which is Princess. Princess pre-payment of grats for a cruise booked in Australia is in $AU. That is outlined in the personaliser, as for one of our Southampton departures next year on Princess:

What cruise line?

NSW law says you need permission from the master of the vessel, so you can't just rock-up and do a DIY. Princess will make it feel special, and as mentioned above, they do cater for it. The 2nd subject down in the FAQ also lists that email address. https://www.princess.com/en-au/faq/onboard-experience

There are grey areas. Royal's FAQs say they don't accept pre-paid cards, but there are different types of pre-paid cards. Generally, if you have a name on the card and an expiry date, they work in the system like any other debit card as long as your money on the card is double your spend to cover any holds. I stopped using a debit card for travel when 28 degrees mastercard came out, so I can't help with any Ubank or Wise specifics.

I am pretty sure Royal Caribbean (and others) don't accept pre-paid cards. Not sure why, but I think they are unable to get holds on pre-paid cards.

Possible, but they will be limited with what they can do. The stuff they are doing at swap-over in Melbourne is unlikely to involve much hull painting as they will only be tied-up at Station Pier. Initially, they will look much the same from the outside, but in the end I think a similar logo is all that will be left as a nod to the past (which is just a recent thing anyway). For 2025, they need to satisfy all the P&O folk that booked a P&O cruise, but still attract Carnival passengers. It will be an interesting balancing act.

I haven't received a refund like this personally, but it is the way they do it. There will be others here with personal experience, as I have read of it here a few times over the past couple of years. PS Try this link

I think the replacement should read as Crown Princess departing Brisbane on 13th November, arriving in Singapore on 30th November. You still have pretty much the same itinerary, same ship with different dates. If you haven't outlaid for flights or accommodation in Singapore, while not ideal, you are in a much better spot than many others who have no plan B. Your mention of 4 months is alongside them making excuses and pulling another ship from Australia. I get it, you shouldn't be happy, but it is a big stretch to connect those dots vs just rescheduling a drydock. There must be a significant reason for the reschedule that is taking Crown out of the water for much of their most profitable month.

It isn't a 4 month drydock. That is the period of affected itineraries - new ones for when it was originalky meant to be in drydock, cancelled ones for the new dates and some adjusted ones in between. Even though the original drydock was 2 weeks, there was another 5 weeks cruising to & from. Now it looks like the updated drydock will be a bit over 3 weeks, plus the 5 weeks of cruising to/from Singapore.

Correct. You are fine for Dec 2024 - for now.

Awesome. It would be nice if they have at least upgraded their cabin TVs to 12 inch. 😉 Apart from a couple of tweaks to some of the buffet station brands, I am not aware of much in the way of visible changes. Have a great cruise.

True. It is from a friend's eagle eye, as she is in Singapore ready for the cruise back to Sydney. Nice touch. I would have hoped that Carnival could rotate a ship in & out from time to time, but the logo sure does suggest otherwise. Then again, ask someone from Alabama and they might suggest it is a stylised version of the Stars & Stripes

Absorbing P&O Australia in more ways than one. Carnival Splendor has recently exited her drydock in Sembawang, Singapore with a familiar looking motif. First Carnival ship to wear a Southern Cross badge.

The full navigations for Brisbane, Freo, Adelaide, Melbourne on Crown in late 2025 are gone. On the earlier schedule, Crown was doing a lap and a half, which allowed each of the cities to get their own 28-night version of a circumnavigation. It is sad to think an 11-night Freo to Sydney cruise would be a reasonable substitute for a full lap. It is their marketing people that need the white coats for suggesting it as a viable option.

Yes, there will be some footy. Not a dedicated area on Coral, but a screen or two near the casino bar. Also the cabin TVs are pretty good, and they have both Sport24 channels. As a guide, this is the upcoming weeks programming https://sport24live.com/schedule

I feel partly to blame too. Princess thought they would need a drydock immediately after I was aboard for 50+ nights with a drink package. Now that we cancelled that 1/2 world cruise, Princess has decided Crown will be in good enough shape to get through another couple of months.

When they want to tell you they are changing their packages again, they will shout if from the rooftops. None of the cruise media or 'click me so I can cruise for free' outlets have picked up on this, so the bland reasoning from Princess lacks the detail of a bit of scrutiny. But that is refreshing news - those affected have been the first to know ... for a change. Well done Princess.

They could be just relying on a bit of blinken' luck 😉

If you can only do Sydney to Melbourne, that would fit with 24 nights if they call at Hobart in between. No way they can shorten the world cruise to fit Melbourne in on the way back to start a lap there. So yes, it is just a 6/7ths lap they are offering you. 26th October is a good pick-up. I thought it was a blip. The above island guess departing Sydney on 24th October should look more like (yes, with Adelaide & K.I): 24th October Sydney 26th October Melbourne 28th October Kangaroo Island 29th October Adelaide Maybe Hobart + Port Arthur or Burnie (their public page doesn't go that far) 4th November Sydney

Just on a side note, while digging away, it appears we will have Royal Princess back in 2026/27 instead of Discovery. She looks to be the only ship joining Crown Princess for the season, and it appears Crown will be in Brisbane for Christmas through to March.

Princess website has blocked out everything from the return of the WC into Sydney on 26th September, through till 22nd January. That one is still listed, but with no pricing available. Some of these could be just on hold to allow existing customers to swap over. With such a void, I am mostly interested in new dates appearing in the port schedules, and the number of days between. From Sydney, 26th September 2025 - 28 nights (around Oz?) 24th October - 11 nights (guessing Islands, as there are no matching QLD dates) 4th November - 7 nights (presuming Tassie, as she is also booked in Eden for 10th Nov) 11th November - off to drydock. There would have been enough days for Crown to get back to Brisbane for 24th December to resume her existing schedule, but it looks like they are doing a longer docking. On her return, she is showing as Darwin (26th Dec), Port Douglas (30th Dec), Cairns (31st Dec), Brisbane (4th Jan), Sydney (6th Jan). So, I guess anyone looking for Christmas/New Year on Crown will need to start looking for flights to Singapore. She still holds a date for Sydney on 21st December, but that was an existing booking that should disappear. The 6th January date in Sydney is definitely new though and fits with the other port dates. My earlier mention of 14th January is a red herring - that is a booking for Newcastle. If I were to start a rumour, it could be that the original September drydock date is being taken by Pacific Adventure to be converted back into Golden Princess.

Interesting they gave that reason. Originally 21st December 2025 was a Sydney based cruise that was relocated for a Brisbane season. Then it became a 3 nighter, followed by a Pacific cruise out of Brisbane on 24rd December. Well, people have a right to be miffed at this. This is well after the drydock has been completed, and Crown Princess now has bookings in Sydney again during January 2026: 6th January 14th January 20th January. Don't tear-up your tickets and keep an eye on the possibility of your cancelled cruise being replaced with an altered dual-ported Syd/Bris cruise. In addition to those Sydney dates, Brisbane still has Crown Princess listed for 24th December, 4th January, 12th January, 22nd January. They have mentioned an update will be provided in a few weeks - perhaps a rebook option will be available then.