arxcards

The 35 night Hawaii cruise also requires US travel insurance coverage. I hope the sail by of Easter Island is just an error. Seems to be a waste to be so close and not try to land some tenders.

You are correct, the ships aren't setting those rules, and they are government mandated. Read those protocols in detail though, and the whole premise is not to prevent covid aboard or any individual from contracting it, but to mitigate spread to safeguard the operation of the ship. Whether they are still relevant after 10 months of operation, probably not. The US did drop covid specific responses, but the ships still report all communicable diseases to the CDC. Their thresholds are higher than ours, and 95% of their cruises are 7 nights or less, so very different to a Coral Princess lap around Australia. Everything changed the day they stopped publishing covid specific tiers, and maybe NSW will do the same sometime soon. The narrative is changing - slowly. Inconvenient for some, but a shipload better than a year ago, even navigating these boards with covid being woven through just about every possible topic. The goalposts have moved, but I don't expect the boffins to change the rules every month. Sometime soon after the seasonal ships have departed, there will be changes to those protocols which can be planned around the few remaining ships. Whether that becomes 100% unrestricted cruising (no vaxx, no RAT), who knows. Personally, I don't really care either way.

They had no claim. The suitcase just went walkabout for the length of the cruise, not lost. They returned home with the suitcase and clothes intact.

When will they learn. The threat of going to ACA is the play for compensation. Once the story has aired, their leverage has been thrown out the porthole. They were offered extra services N/C on the ship and were given OBC so they could get clothes or essentials from the shops aboard, so not like their plight was disregarded.

Do you consider catching the virus counting as a booster? After all, catching rona on Majestic at the end of October, I am not advised to get another booster till 6 months after having it. By the time I am eligible, it will be nearly a year since my last boost. The whole premise of restricting those that can cruise was about protecting the ship. Tier 2 of mostly vaccinated passengers might result in a couple of hospitilisations or a medevac. Tier 2 of unrestricted passengers could result in the medical facilities aboard being overwhelmed - this is purely about safety at sea, and medical gurus still say you have more chance of serious illness if you are unvaccinated. If the ship facilities are overwhelmed, they risk being unable to provide an emergency response to anything, including cardiac arrest or strokes etc. The season is almost over, and they are sure to address the restrictions that have been in place for the past year. Comments above about getting a sniffle or a head cold - congratulations, the vaccine may have worked a treat or you may be naturally resilient to the bug. I wish I could say the same, having man-flu followed by 5 months of fatigue. I am otherwise a well person, but despite having the jabs, this bug has more lingering effects than anything else I have had. We only got our jabs because we thought we would need them for travel, which turned out to be true. I am glad we got them, as I would hate to think how my body would have responded to the bug without those jabs in my system. Halfway between Noumea and Sydney wouldn't be a great place to find out.

Coral announced elevated levels of covid to the passengers prior to the ship arriving in Darwin, and masks were required to be worn on the ship. I figure she has been on level 2 ever since, but the report to any other state authority doesn't get added to an online page. Fair to presume she was also at about tier 2 for NT and QLD ports. So yes, it was a long cruise - ended in Sydney yesterday for some, with many others staying on to complete a lap around to Fremantle.

I just figure it is the 2024/25 season launch, although they could do a fair bit to Lelepa over the next 18 months - or at least be hopeful enough to put it on some itineraries.

That is true. There is no particular hotel that will do all that the OP requests. When it comes to the airport, as with most lager cities, Brisbane is like SFO where the airport is nowhere near the Embarcadero. We only stay in Hamilton if it is just a single night pre-cruise. It is doable to catch the cat up the river from Brett's Wharf, but I would agree for the sake of a couple of extra dollars on the taxi meter, that it is better to stay in the city if you want to see it.

Yes, more departures from Sydney, but no Melbourne departures. As with the reduced Melbourne season for Diamond Princess, QE not cruising out of Melbourne has been lamented earlier in the topic..

True, hopefully it is just for 24/25. Knowing we get loyalty perks on those lines does make it harder to cruise on P&O for us to, as well as all of their fleet being former Princess ships that are seen as too old for Princess.

That makes sense but I am not sure Princess is a higher margin profit though. All down to bums on seats, and they would have a ship there if they could make $1 more than having it somewhere else. It is also a puzzle that the short Cunard season is missing as well, so there is something Carnival Corp is not loving about porting from Melbourne. As for Virgin, the only Melbourne to Melbourne cruises in 23/24 are short ones to Tassie, which hardly throws them up the benefactor. Niche offerings unless they expand their season in 24/25.

Carnival - not yet. I have a hunch they are going to try it.

The locals are not presently allowing cruise ships to visit Isle of Pines.

Similarly for Brisbane, they are struggling to fill Luminosa & Pac Adventure during the shoulder parts of the season, so better overall for the Carnival shareholders for Princess to have less departures there. Only for a couple more years though, until cruising becomes unrestricted, and confidence returns to those folk who aren't rusted-on.

No tag would mean it doesn't make it to your cabin but would still be in a room to be accessed via guest services. An owner would soon be reunited with their missing bag once they enquired about it.

Thanks for the info Chez. In the end, with the possibility of rona disruptions, I am erring on the side of caution and looking. at a balcony near the aft lifts. The price difference isn't huge between those BE balconies and those aft outsides, and they would be a much ncer option should there be any cabin isolation.

I would agree with the other comments. If nothing else, Grand should give you a typical Princess experience, which is somewhat lacking on newer ships like Majestic.

No, just an early part season for Diamond. There have been many chaotic turnaround days at station pier, so I wonder if that plays a part for basing a larger ship there. They mostly go by bums on seats though, and I wonder if they have had trouble filling their cabins. I think it is likely they will have an extended season for Pacific Explorer, or the possibility of a Carnival ship being announced instead. Princess could be making space so they are not fighting to fill whatever ship they place there.

It almost reads that the luggage was left in the terminal. They were given onboard credit to cover incidentals, which would at least allow for a purchase of an extra set of clothes each for wearing while their other clothing was being washed each day. Yes, pain in the butt to be that unlucky, but airlines lose bags in their system every day, and the only recompense comes from travel insurance. We always pack a set of clothes in our carry-on to get us through the first night in case our luggage is delayed to the cabin. To take it up with the cruise line is one thing, but a threat of going to ACA is just leverage to get extra compo. Unfortunate part is that once their dirty laundry has been aired (pun intended) on ACA, any chance of a goodwill gesture from Royal has gone.

Contact P&O and they will do the best they can to facilitate your medical needs. https://www.pocruises.com.au/faqs/things-to-know-before-you-go/how-do-i-advise-of-any-special-requests-including-medical-dietary-and-mobility-requirements

I think these are far enough away from the aft corridor doors for them not to matter like they would for the same number cabins on Diamond. 749 & 750 are that little bit further away from the pool, but the crew/emergency exit stairs are adjacent t the outside of them. Steel mesh stairs have a lovely hollow twang resonance and could be a pain if they are being regularly used by crew. On some cruises, these aft decks are very quiet, but hard to pick how they will be on a given cruise. We will likely go with the balcony, but prepared to give one of these a whirl for a few K's saved.

Princess surveys are now targeted to a percentage of passengers or specific voyages. In four Princess cruises since the resumption, we have received a survey twice. In each of the four cruise though, there was a "first impressions" survey left in the cabin on the 2nd or 3rd day.

We are currently pricing a balcony for the 2nd half of the world cruise but are thinking about an oceanview as a cheaper price option. There are 4 OV cabins on Riviera deck adjacent to the aft pool (R747, 748, 749, 750). Has anyone sailed in these or similar cabins on their sister ships? I realise they are porthole cabins, but you only need to walk out of the cabin to have comfortable aft views and deck chairs. The location is convenient in some ways, and we aren't worried about movement, but possible noise.

The Crown being pitched as having extra cabins and extra cats of suites seemed to be targeted that more people will get the opportunity to cruise, particularly on the World & around Oz cruises that traditionally sell very quickly. They were at pains to point out that the ship is not only the largest to do a world cruise from Oz, but anywhere. I think they have forgotten about ships like QM2 when they make those statements. For holiday cruises full of families, I expect the ship will be packed. Hopefully not the case so much, with largely twin occupancy on the longer cruises. The passenger space ratio is a good guide but isn't everything. As an example, an open pool deck doesn't add to GRT, but put a solarium roof over it and it does. The tiered aft decks on Crown and her sisters are great spaces that are heaps smaller on the newer ships like Royal, yet don't contribute to the passenger/space ratio which is merely GRT divided by total lower berth passengers. Comparing apples with apples though, Diamond will have more space than Crown.

Princess rates it a better ship, because if they can fill it, they make more money from it. To them the upgrade in size means an upgrade in everything. I agree that isn't the case vs Coral that is a very comfortable ship to cruise on.