arxcards

That would be close enough in practical terms, but laws are pretty savage around the accuracy of measures. These are the laws that stop a petrol station charging you for a litre of fuel and dispensing 990ml. If it has been certified in fl oz's, they can only sell it in fl oz's. Much easier for a barman to short pour, but they are not calibrated dispensers.

I can only figure that the machine is US design, and calibrated to fl ounces. The price is whatever they want to charge in whatever currency, but the volume dispensed has to be accurately measured/calibrated against a standard. With a lack of these machines in our local shopping centres, I would presume the machine is imported with the US standard attached.

I get that, but it was part of the itinerary when it it was released, and weather conditions might be perfect next year. Slim odds I would agree, but the odds are now down to zero. Princess changed the route from Sydney to Europe to go via Cape Town, as expected, but said they were the only changes that were being made. In typical Princess fashion, at the same time they removed 2 x Norwegian ports and Easter Island from the Dover to Sydney leg. These changes have not been advised to any passengers. The only presumption is they have reduced ports in the 2nd leg to allow for slower cruising and balance the cost of all the extra fuel burn from the longer Sydney to Dover route. We still have a month till 2nd deposit is due, and whether to pay it and stay aboard.

That is awesome. It is a bucket list item for us, and we had our fingers crossed for next years WC on Crown. A few months back, Princess changed the status from a tender port with excursions on offer to a 10am - 2pm "Scenic Cruising" sail-by.

I hope you had a memorable day.

@Chiliburn Back in the BC days, Pullmantur sent ships to Central America & Brazil during the Northern hemisphere winter. In 2019 as an RCI subsidiary, they had 50% of the Columbian market, so Royal must still have some tentacles there. The 50% I read is probably just good PR spin, as it likely translates to only two ships operating from Cartagena, with one being theirs.

I think you are spot on Phil. No holy land, other home ports that are no longer cash cows, and a couple of older ships that still have a for sale sign up. Heads or tails, where to next?

Are they hoping to tender into Easter Island today, or has it been dropped altogether with only a cruise-by planned?

China is indeed a big economy, but the western cruise ships are reliant on at least half-filling the ships with western passengers. There are less people flying, and China isn't the top of the list for those that are. There has been a hope for cruise operators to win by filling a gap left by the collapse of Genting, but now they could be starting to realise why Genting collapsed in the first place.

Dubai is much more protected, but usually too far out of the way for ships not transiting the Suez. The "efficient" short relocation would be from South Africa to Fremantle, but they have plenty enough days aside on the schedule calendar to be able to run an exotic up to Dubai, then to Brisbane via Singapore. As yet, no port booking is showing for Freo, yet there is 7th Dec for Darwin.

Just don't get those pears mixed-up with pineapples. 😉

Same price for a pint vs a stubby/can of beer.

UHT milk tank. Good news about them being espresso - as long as it tastes good.

They may not have been as elaborate, Carnival Spirit had pretty good auto coffee machines in the buffet too. Pretty reliable and quite drinkable. They were fed by Nescafe instant coffee though. Can you see a coffee bean hopper on the top of these machines? Those sorts of machines can be set-up to do instant, filter or espresso.

One of Cunard's features is the sense of occasion, which involves making an effort to dress the part on most evenings. While you can get around it, I can't see the point of trying to make a Cunard cruise like any other. Cunard isn't about sophistication though.

Princess prizes used to be part of Premier packages in Australia, but no longer. I can't recall the exact date it changed (last year), but any Premier bookings after that date had the prizes removed from the package. I put it down to a cost thing to keep the $AU95 packages in check. I don't think it is an Aussie law issue, as it applies to all Princess cruises purchased from Australia/New Zealand, and you can still purchase Princess prizes separately after you board.

Yes. or 5 pints or 7 schooners or 10.5 middies/pots Those I saw being consumed were by small groups, which would be more economical than purchasing by individual schooners.

Merely an observation that many cruises are priced down due to being open ended. For that local market, it becomes enough of a deterrent for us all to get a look-in at a good price. Overall, I think it has all become a bit easy and we become spoiled for choice, with so many preferring to just do return cruises from their nearest homeport. Similarly, Azura is geared for UK passengers to fly to the Canary Islands, for which P&O sells fly/cruise packages. It looks to be a hard sell.

The excitement of world cruises, for most, is a bunch of new distant ports.

Yes, lots of one way and MSC. Still, if we are cruising distant ports, we already have an airfare each way anyway.

The wine by the glass (and bottle) are much better than Princess at least. No buckets of beer, but you can get a 3 litre tube at the Red Frog. I can't recall the price.

After final payment, I believe they have offered no refunds because of the changes, just credits.

The port charges and taxes are collected by the cruise line, but don't belong to them. Carnival didn't directly refund any port charges for us missing Moreton Island early this month, but they did goodwill everyone $100 OBC. There would be pilotage involved, but I suspect Moreton Island is otherwise cheap for port fees. Those who have been on an affected Carnival itinerary to date can probably confirm, but I believe there was OBC included at the time each itinerary change was announced.

And they have N/C benny in the Gold Pearl each morning. Nice looking pizza!

I believe they have withdrawn because they can't make enough profit here. The port charges are a passenger tax, and in most cases, haven't been rising as much as inflation. If they removed those passenger taxes altogether, we get a slightly cheaper fare but the cruise lines make no more money. But, if the cruise lines put their prices up to increase profits, they sell less cabins and they see no point in filling ships if there isn't much profit to be made. Less ships = less cabins to sell, so that more cruises sell out at full price. As much as we love a bargain, they only exist when they aren't selling. When P&O is fully dissolved into Carnival and their new 2026 itineraries are released as Carnival product, the prices at the bottom of the market will rise, and the more premium brands will follow suit. That is the current trajectory, but a China led recession could reverse that trend.