mum and son

If you're concerned about breakfast then I would upgrade to an M1 or MA category mini-suite as they include access to the Byron Beach Club, which includes breakfast at Angelos (only for those in those rooms). It is lovely, and I would think a better way of spending your allocated balcony breakfast money. There are a number of other perks as well, like coffee machine in your cabin, but the access to the Beach Club is the best. I think Luke's is fantastic. Excellent quality and value for money compared to restaurants on land. We usually order a lot of different dishes and share the food, so I can taste as many things as possible. It's more than enough food to try a selection of the smaller plates than necessarily going with an entree and main per person. Lots of yummy options!

There have been plenty of occasions that I would've been ok to take a move-over offer, but I've never been offered one. I would be more than happy to accept a downgrade if it was offered though! That wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

The apartment-hotel at Portside is called Alcyone. There are other options around as well. At Portside there are plenty of restaurant options and a 24hr cafe downstairs from Alcyone. There's an IGA supermarket in the precinct and a Woolworths in the neighbouring complex.

Nepal?

Ok, then that's a positive for me! I'm an ice-cream and gelato snob so won't be tempted if its not the good stuff 😁.

I took a Panama Canal cruise on Princess last month and compared pricing between the Princess Aus site and a big US travel agency. At first glance the pricing difference looked huge but when all was wrapped up we saved about AUD$500 per person after upgrading to the Plus package onboard (still excellent). Besides our dollar being poor, the main price considerations were that the US agents don't include taxes and fees in their advertised prices and they get added on at the end. They don't include gratuities and, for Princess, we had to buy the Plus package at the US price instead of the Aus offering. Buying in Aus via Princess the Plus package addition was AUD65pp/pd but, because we booked in the US, we booked the Plus package at US$60pp/pd, which equates to over AUD$90pp/pd. The benefit being that the higher US price did include daily gratuities which were not included in our US booked fare, but for a 15 night cruise it was a big price difference for the Plus. So, I guess the point of my post is that they make it VERY hard to compare apples with apples. Be very careful to include everything because the price difference may not be what it first appears to be. I have checked costs now that I'm home and the saving of approx USD$500pp for the cruise portion is accurate for my journey.

Oh dear, now I'll likely eat lots of gelato 😬. The sundaes didn't appeal at all (I only tried them once) but gelato is a different matter!

Yes, the walk inside the terminal will be the bigger effort. Maybe I can hail one of those golf cart things that sometimes whizz past.

I just looked at your signature and realised my parents also went on the Alexander Pushkin in the late 80s. I remember waving them off at the wharf.

Thanks for the suggestion. We're flying in a day earlier so there's no pressure on the day. Honestly, price is not the issue as much as comfort for my parents and ease of luggage handling for me. My dad is not a bus kind of guy. He may be 90 but he swims at least 1km every day so he's doing ok. They don't drive anymore and yesterday they ran out of wine so they hiked off down the hill to the local bottle shop with a trolley and wheeled their trolley of wine back up the hill, so maybe I'm underestimating them 🤣.

Thank you! It looks a taxi is the solution.

Thank you Leigh. Very helpful. I see they've started kerbside Uber pickups at Terminal 3, but not available at Terminal 2 just yet.

Hi team, I'm taking my elderly parents to Sydney to join the Royal Princess in March and am looking for the best transport option from the airport. My parents are pretty spritely but, at 90 and 88, I try to limit them walking distances (and I have to handle all luggage). We'll likely arrive at Terminal 2. I won't even contemplate the train with them and, from memory, the uber pickup location is a bit of a hike in Sydney?? I was considering a private transfer or a taxi. Where would the private transfer vehicles be parked? Or is the taxi rank closer? I'm more concerned with convenience than cost. Any tips? Thanks.

I would love to cruise with Virgin but there is nothing about the itineraries that appeals to me. As others have said, I don't want to pay flights for a short cruise and booking B2Bs is far too many $$ for my stingy wallet.

Doesn't it cost the cruise line a lot more to remain at the dock beyond their scheduled departure time? I don't know the reality but someone did say that to me when we were waiting for a couple of pier runners in Puerto Vallarta a few weeks ago.

Hi CC friends, I'm well and truly back from my last minute Xmas and NY Panama Canal cruise - 15 nights on the Emerald Princess. All in all a wonderful time was had. After booking solo, I ended up with a friend travelling with me, plus friends onboard who I met on the NCL Jade 14 years ago in the Med! Booked an inside guarantee, put in a small upgrade bid and was bumped to an obstructed oceanview mid ship. I was very happy with some natural light and ocean and sky glimpses and one of the best room stewards I've ever had on a cruise. I think that's a hidden benefit of the medallion - they know when you leave the cabin and when you're heading back. It creates such a seamless room servicing experience. I made it to the USA and back on staff travel (standby) without any issues but, alas, no business class seats available. Damn those points upgrade people! Going over Bris - LAX we had 4 economy seats for the two of us and returning on the A380 LAX - Sydney we had Premium Economy on the upper deck. I also had a spare seat next to me on that flight but its pretty useless with the fixed arm rests in Premium. On such a long haul flight I can happily say that 4 economy seats shared by 2 is more comfortable than one PE seat. In terms of the "deal", with all things added in - including a Plus Package I purchased onboard and the horrible AUD - I saved over AUD500 per person by booking through a US agent rather than here in Oz. I was more than impressed with the dining room food onboard - even the buffet food was a very high standard. We had one meal in Sabatini's (too much food, it's ridiculous) and a lovely meal in Crown Grill. I didn't even use my two free casual meals from the Plus Package because the venues didn't really appeal to us. Staff were absolutely excellent except, ironically, Guest Services. The ship was in pretty good repair for its age and the furnishings etc were all fresh. The dining room booking system didn't work at all because even those with reservations had to line up every night to wait for an available table just like the walk ups. I don't know why they waste their time letting you make reservations. The Panama Canal was a lifelong dream for me and I'm already planning another bucket list cruise for this New Year, Antarctica I hope! But with my last minute tendencies who knows where I will end up! Next up is a quick Tassie/Kangaroo island cruise on the Royal Princess, B2B with the 2 day leg (Syd - Bris) of the Sydney - Japan end of season relocation cruise which kindly drops me home in Brisbane. Nothing better than disembarking in your home town. I did write a "proper" review awaiting approval by CC but I thought some of the above snippets might be of interest in this group.

I think you might be on to something!

I'm just hoping they'll clean the app up a bit. Remove all the unnecessary bits and moving parts. Just a clean, functional app would suit me. The Carnival app is excellent, and the P&O app is ok too. They seem to have more functionality but a simpler interface.

I read it was a new app and the old app will be obsolete as of end of Jan... but I don't know. In the Google Play Store the current app has a note that says "this is the last update for the app. The app will be replaced" or something along those lines.

Hi team, The new Princess app was supposed to be launched December 1st. Has anyone heard anything further? I'm android so not sure whether we're just a bit slow on the uptake. 🫠

Maybe Santa needed a pre-Christmas break!

Sounds like everything went very well. It's makes me excited to be back onboard with Princess in 3 weeks!

Thanks for alerting me to this. I knew nothing about it!

I'd never heard of it much before either, other than the odd one off, and that was usually at least a few days or a week prior to the departure. There are rumours about requiring the cabins for isolating staff or something but not sure if there's any truth to that. There were apparently 13 couples told they didn't have a cabin, all standing at the port. In this day and age, with all of us carrying mobile phones, why weren't people notified earlier? It all seems very strange.

The article I read interviewed one of the affected couples and they only found out after they tried to hand over their luggage at the dock and were told they weren't on the manifest. And that was at 2pm! He ended up being the squeaky wheel who was finally offered a refund, a free cruise and a premium beverage package, which I think is appropriate. They didn't even arrange a hotel for the poor suckers, just offered to call them a taxi! I wonder how RCI picked the unlucky cruise losers? Yes, guaranteed cabins apparently but maybe they had local addresses? Maybe last minute bookings? Maybe just happened to be in a batch of cabins that went unserviceable or were otherwise required? I'd love to know 🤔.