arxcards

There have been voices concerned about the Coastal Trading Act 2012, specifically about the exemption expiring at the end of the year. The exemption will again be rubber stamped for another year, The intent of the act is to provide for Australian jobs and income on ships and in the case of cruising, to try to prevent all of the profits from Australian domestic cruising disappearing overseas. It can never take effect on foreign cruise ships until we have an Australian crewed ship in our ports, and that is unlikely to ever happen as our red tape would make it so uncompetitive. Broader than that exemption, as Australian cruisers, we are simply being gouged by the governments that over-administer the cruising from our ports. A bunch of government fees, taxes and service charges are being added to our fares, and these are continually indexed. By the time port charges, GST (on domestic), passenger movement charge (on international) is added, our governments are making more money out of a cruise than the cruise lines are. They are the ones making the investment and doing all of the work. In NSW. Most of these charges are not for a specific service but are merely revenue. This is when the added costs switch from being inconvenient to being unreasonable. All this is impacting on our choice of cruises. Cruise lines are less inclined to focus on a market that offers them little return for their efforts. We have fewer ships this coming summer, and even fewer the one after. No more newer ships, and then there is the demise of an historic brand that was seen as being Australia's cruise line. That demise leaves minimal to nil options for cruising from Melbourne, Fremantle, Cairns & Auckland. For those that have yet to add your signature, I would encourage you to read Adrian's @The Cruise and Travel Guy petition, and consider lending your support. Petition · Lower Port Fees & Extend the Cruise Vessel Exemption Under the Coastal Trading Act 2012 - Australia · Change.org Thank You Geoff

I have had a few marked as no upgrade and a couple in the #1 cabin. But the one thing Barb has said is to never book a guarantee again, as it pretty much guarantees we will be in the worst cabin on the ship.

I am doing the WC on Crown next year. I get the occasional email. I am glad they are generated per cruiser and not per cruise and I am not getting 4 x emails for 4 x cruises. Currently, I am getting more emails from Celebrity and I have nothing booked with them.

There is plus or premier package, that you can add at the time of booking, by upgrading your booking prior to boarding, or by purchasing on the ship on embarkation day. Plus is $65, Premier is $95. They are inclusive prices, with no additional gratuity added. Princess also sell a separate premier drinks package, but I don't know why anyone would ever buy one separately. I wonder if anyone still gets caught with these separate drink packages? Even there, there is price confusion saying $140 per day in the script as if it is $US, while there are $AU references as well. Diamond Princess - next Feb Crown Princess in July

Ah yes, I was caught up with all those other lines that make you pre-pay your $US cruise grats at booking. Locally, we can still pay the $65 for a plus package after boarding. I wonder how that works for us if we upgrade to plus after boarding a $US ship. The plus package available to book after boarding would be $US60 and surely include daily grats. Like you say, much of a muchness unless there is an increase in grats or a currency shift.

That is a sweet upgrade. The fairy has never scattered upgrade glitter on any of my bookings. Not even a move to an identical cabin in a different location. It got to the stage that friends would go well out of their way to message me about their recent visit from the upgrade fairy. It used to erk me a bit, but I made my piece with it 10 or so years back. Just as well, as I think the wand has run out of glitter, and the fairy has retired with a voluntary redundancy package.

The drinks package, purchased separately, is more expensive than the plus fare. Good news is you can upgrade your fare to a plus package after boarding, or you can upgrade to a plus fare via Princess or your T/A prior to sailing. Either option is currently $65 per day on an Aussie based ship, with no additional gratuity. Upgrading after boarding on a $US ship could be more difficult, as you would be paying more for a package that contains daily grats which you already pay with your fare.

We have had that too, but they have gotten heaps better over the past year. We often found that if we ignored it for a day, it was reconciled off our account without us doing any chasing. We found it was best not to be too diligent and to trust the system till the last night.

Thanks. It helps that I use the same broker and have had a bit of recent practice fumbling through to download and edit reports. Very true, I don't think they have the means to do proper beta testing on their apps. The Princess medallion app was so buggy for so many, as it was trying to do too many things at the same time, then bloated even further when covid protocols came along. Stockperks worked OK for me, but it isn't very intuitive. Some might think writing work procedures is part of my day job. 😉

After being changed last year, both need to be the same fare type whether standard, plus or premier. For a non-drinking partner, the balance does shift to PAYG. Mocktails & espresso coffee will add up a bit, especially if you don't want to cart your own softies and water aboard. If Barb or I were tea totallers, we wouldn't get plus. Before plus came along, it was rare for us to buy a drink package. It is only because it is a cheaper price and extra benefits that any other drink packages around. We don't get a massive gain out of plus either, but I love not having to justify and reconcile each purchase.

Then the advice, as suggested, is PAYG.

I didn't mention soft drinks. 3 hard drinks (old fashioned) = approx $45 when purchased one by one. Comparatively to most ships, when added to the other items, is good value.

Invisible Ink?

I can see the comparison from a HAL, Princess, Cunard, Celebrity or even a Royal cruiser. As for P&O cruisers making the comparison with Carnival, it is Pal v Chum and I have gotten bored with Pal.

I feel the most consuming part is getting the report, especially if you are munging the account info on a PC with software, then having to email it to your phone to add it to the app.

Your gonna need a bigger fridge!

I agree with Mic. For us internet, 3 drinks, a coffee and a water covers our daily Plus fare. We don't give a rats about gym & the add on desserts, but the occasional Alfredos/Salty Dog sitting or juice bar gives us a bit more value. Main shelf cocktails/Spirits run at $13.50 to $16, so if you are not using the package for anything else, 4 drinks gets you close, and anything else is a bonus. If 2 to 3 drinks is your tipping point, PAYG.

Eventually. Months down, maybe months to go. Usually when there is a tinkering, there are winners and losers - more benefits at top tier, and less for those below. There has been no real suggestion about a new tier, but the goalposts could always be moved. The main changes mooted appear to be how points are gained in addition to a simple days at sea ratio. Currently there are no extra points for solos or suites, and there has been solid rumours about bonus points being gained via onboard spending, much as HAL Mariner program does. There is also mention of their milestone program being enhanced. The other possibility is for Carnival to do a reciprocal recognition across their brands like Royal does for theirs. If it is so complicated to administer that it takes Carnival several months to convert a thought bubble into an announcement, I am starting to think this is a real possibility.

Lost to all. The Carnival one is a quirky OBC deal.

Easy solution that you have chosen which is great advice. Do both.

As much as they keeping asking for a higher tier, any Carnival VIFP at 1000 days is still Diamond. In the grand scheme of things, adding P&O numbers would barely be a blip on their loyalty program. They also have a milestone program to keep the serious cruisers interested.

If the price and itinerary were equal, I would likely go with Westerdam. As for Crown vs Royal, personally I would like to get one on Royal before she departs at the end of this season, but then we do have two cruises booked on Crown. I don't think the two ships are so much good & bad, just different.

Princess has added a few vegan options. I haven't taken much note though, and certainly can't make a current comparison with what Westerdam is offering. Seats at shows - if I really want to see it, I get there early to get a good seat. Mostly, we don't bother with shows. Seats at dinner. Princess are switching to 3 version dining in September. You can prebook traditional dining (early late for all of cruise). You can pre-book casual dining via the app, then vary your plans and adjust your bookings for each day once aboard. You can also do walk-up dining. They have separate dining rooms for each. Apart from a day when the booking system crashed, we have never had to wait for a seat on Princess. We have only ever had buzzers on P&O and Carnival. Up till now, we have rarely done a walk-up dinner on Princess, so it will be interesting to see how it works.

@CDaze71, without outing anyone, it is a prolific cruiser that is connected to a school. I also figure that half the school staff in Greater Brisbane will cruise at the drop of a hat, and that might not have narrowed things down much.

We could go with either, and our choice would be based on the convenience of the itinerary, then price. - Westerdam is smaller and quieter, and more comfortable in the public areas. - Most Westerdam cruises will turnaround in Sydney at White Bay - perhaps less convenient than OPT, but you do cruise under the bridge. - Crown will be busier than Westerdam, especially during the holidays. Activities attract crowds, but that includes HAL's cooking demos. - Depending on cabin type, I find Princess cabins almost as comfortable as HAL. For a mini, I prefer Princess' current spec. - Food varies from cruise to cruise across both lines, and I find Princess food to be generally a match for HAL. In my opinion, Westerdam has a better buffet, Princess is better with International Cafe, deck pizza & burgers. I prefer Princess MDR, slightly. - Crown & Pinnacle Grill are a near match on quality, but Pinnacle Grill has a bit more choice. - Crown Princess is $AU. Royal is bigger. We have cruised on Majestic, and prefer the grand class in preference. Not a good & bad thing, just different. The promenade is much better on Crown, although there is a bit of up and around to get around the bow.