arxcards

They do look a bit young for the drinks package audience. Or a caramel crème pot, or a soufflé. For the paid options, why wreck a nice gelato by sticking all that other stuff in it. The look like ice cream birthday cakes from the 80's.

Sorry Bob, no. I was just looking ahead for what might be around in 2024/5 to plan ahead, and joining the dots with the few port bookings I could see. Going from earlier posts, it looks like early March is the typical time for Princess to extend their Aussie itineraries another year. Princess are also creatures of habit, so I also expect most ports would be the same as those this year and next.

Ahh, but they call it French Champagne, and serve it in a plastic cup. The tour is pretty much the Tchou Tchou train route. Much cheaper to go to the Casino for some camembert, a baguette and a bottle of French plonk, then book the train from the cruise terminal market.

It is all looking a bit fancy and complicated and reported in different ways. Some of the travel media are saying it is value added, while others are saying it is dearer. All in the eye of the beholder. After a couple of decadent desserts and a couple of smoothies, I will need a couple of fitness classes to balance things. How symbiotic is that. A 3 night cruise will be tough with two fancy desserts to fit in. They were great value for a lot of people, but for many less now. As spirits/cocktail drinkers who use internet, it is still within our usual daily spend, but we would likely give it a miss on longer cruises and have a couple of dry days to drop our daily spend, take our wine on etc. Still, when comparing with the prices of the opposition, they are comparatively great value. These fancy desserts will have a charge, as already happens with any of the gelato or "real" ice cream on deck. Rolling out on sailings after February 20, 2023 are a series of Princess Premium desserts, which will incorporate gelato, pastries, and candies. They’ll be added to both Princess Plus and Princess Premier, and are available Gelateria, Swirls, or Coffee and Cones venues. They look great, but I want mine to look like a unicorn. 😉 Princess Cruises Enhances Value with Exciting New Offerings to All-Inclusive Princess Plus and Premier Packages - Princess Cruises

Lots of ports are yet to add bookings that far out, but there a few things I can figure from what I can see for Cairns and Sydney. Current schedule for Coral has her in a Singapore drydock from 27th Sep till 18th October 2024, followed by a cruise to Fremantle where her current schedule ends on 30th October. Next cruise is likely to be over the top from Freo to Brisbane, as she shows in Cairns on 10th Nov 2024. There is a series of entries for Cains through to 30th April, and I expect much of this will be from a Brisbane home base. If she continues with Hawaii & world cruises, that will just about fill another year on her calendar. Her 2025 around Oz cruise will be 19th March till 16th April 2025 (Sydney), 21st March (Brisbane) ------- No Royal Princess in 2024/25, but Discovery Princess instead. Majestic also based in Sydney, and it looks like Grand Princess to still be based out of Melbourne. Lots of 14 night intervals for Discovery, so she will be doing mostly NZ. And I expect pricing to be a bit rich indeed. Plus and Premier package fares will be going up on 14th December. Plus is an extra $10pp per day, but includes "Two premium crafted desserts, two smoothies or juices, two fitness classes". Not per day, per cruise. How about that Julie, you can get 2 fresh OJ's per cruise So, I expect when pricing is released, pricing will be a bit rich. I am interested in finding another Coral cruise, but have spotted a couple of shorties to Eden on Discovery in mid & late March. Hard to get excited about a slightly newer ship when it is pretty much a cookie cutter of Majestic.

Quantum appears to be doing it easier. Mystery Island yesterday, and on their way to Vila for tomorrow. All shore tours cancelled - covid restriction?

Plenty of help. Thank you.

And the tenders.

When that cruise was launched, it was a different world. The price for the around Oz cruises on Princess is usually up there on price, as they are 95% sold within a month regardless. Speaking of launch fares, what month were these launched? I am looking forward to when 2024/25 Coral itineraries will be launched.

You will need waterproof carpet for Chili to board Icon's inaugural Aussie cruise to Lelapa in 2222.

We do have a somewhat unexpected surge. That has turned it into a hot topic again, with many contributors here catching it aboard, or taking it home at the end of a cruise. A few of the posts here recently have been from overseas contributors, so it isn't just us. Our local forum page is largely unmoderated, and much of our covid discussions are off-topic vs CC rules. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2786315-policy-regarding-covid-related-discussions/ If we were to have the same topics on the various cruise line boards, they would be moderated & removed. That accounts for much less covid content, as those rules were created to take away the covid dominance from those boards that was present 18 months ago. Vloggers and social media "influencers" do not talk about covid. In fact, they could catch it on a cruise and not even mention it. When you are given free cruises in return for social media influence, you are soon removed from the invite list if you comment much about any negative sides of cruising. When viewing/reading their content, you need to think about the things that have been glossed over or not mentioned at all. Often it is because it was something they didn't like or enjoy, but dare not bite the hand that feeds them. They are not telling porkies, but not telling the whole truth either. The whole if you can't say something good, don't say something at all rationale - so everything is awesome! Just my thoughts. It is a bit much at present, so I hope it all dies down soon. It is still an issue everywhere, but we are at the head of the class ATM.

Whatever your views on smoking, most people have a vice of one sort or another. Imagine if they restricted drinking to only small sections of open decks and wouldn't allow you to consume in your cabin. There would be a whole lotta shakin goin on. It is important to facilitate smokers in that situation. An alternative would be to avoid going into isolation by self-reasoning that the fruity cough is just a smoker's hack not worthy of getting tested for.

I am grad they sorted that. It would be unsafe to smoke in the dark 😉

Different here. You pay one way or another, whether build into the fare or listed as a separate charge. At least as an added % fee, those that pay cash aren't subsidising the card costs of those using cards like they would if those costs were built into the fare. The fees are real, and what the banking system here charges businesses for transacting on their credit card systems. Anyone who accepts card payments incurs a fee from their bank, and they can choose whether to build it into their price or add it on separately. They can only charge you to cover their own cost and it is illegal for them to profit from card fees. Yes, taxis charge a card fee for paying your fare with credit card. I can't recall the %, but somewhere in the order of 2%. The good news is that you don't need to add any state taxes or tips to the fare as is customary in other parts of the world.

Not sure about 24hrs, and don't know for Luminosa. For previous Carnival, whenever the buffet is open, there are coffee machines that will dispense boiling water.

As mentioned, we are a bit loose with the term Limo here. Nice sedan, clean & polished, leather seats, BMW/Mercedes/Audi etc.

As defined as any local info I could find, via the Newcastle Herald. https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/8001327/cruise-ship-with-covid-outbreak-will-no-longer-dock-in-newcastle/ It is unclear exactly how many cases are on the Grand Princess, which can carry nearly 4000 passengers and crew, but local health authorities have been "advised there were a large number" . A Hunter New England Health spokesperson said The Grand Princess was scheduled to dock in Newcastle on Tuesday, but the ship's operators decided to instead divert the ship to its port of origin in Melbourne. "Prior to the decision being made, Hunter New England Local Health District's (HNELHD's) Public Health Unit had applied the Eastern Seaboard and Western Australian Cruise Protocols, requesting that all passengers be tested prior to disembarkation, having been advised there were a large number of COVID-19 cases on board," they said.

Hope it all goes well Les, and as comfortable as it can possibly be.

I might be wrong Chilly. Four Seasons - If they have organised it, it's likely a town car with a driver that meets you with your name on a sign near the carousel, and helps you with your luggage to the car.

New infrastructure spending has slowed, along with the delays in existing projects from labour and material shortages. It is nice to have a plan, but there are too many projects on the books for them to cope with now. I wish the Yarra Bay people and Randwick Council good luck. The Balmain residents and council thought they had a great chance of knocking down the White Bay terminal. For now, it isn't much more than a thought bubble, with only a couple of interested parties dusting off the old plans.

Same spot. Hayes Dock would even fit Oasis. Some of the container ships using the dock are massive.

I was just looking at maps of Port Botany, and it could actually work at the North end with access via Sirius Rd. Being so close to the airport runway though would create an issue with ship lights close to runway lights, and that was an objection from the airport when they were planning a new wharf at Yarra Bay. Would be a cool view from the top deck. Watching planes much more interesting than a view of the cemetery.

A breakfast burrito at 8am sounds dangerous, especially following a 2am pizza. One of the nice bonuses on Carnival is that late night made to order pizza with drinks after the late comedy show.

If one tested positive and they elected to disembark them, everyone on the booking would be disembarked. B2Bs are handled differently, depending on the itineraries. It is normal for passengers to disembark with luggage when an overseas cruise is followed by a domestic one. As you say, they are arriving via immigration, which won't be there to process them after the following domestic cruise. While treated like B2B transit passengers by Royal, they are really classed as arrivals through immigration at the end of this cruise. Domestic B2B with overseas - luggage can usually stay on and moved to next cabin if needed. Passengers have to go in transit to cycle through immigration before returning to the ship. Domestic B2B domestic - passengers and luggage can stay aboard, as no immigration processing is required.

The protocols are solid, except for the human element: Some will fudge a pre-embark test, Some will pretend they don't have symptoms to avoid testing positive and going into isolation, Some will not wear masks when requested. They are probably all the same people, but the protocols don't work when they all become a bit too voluntary.