joll

Have you checked the cruise personalizer, it should have a summary of what has been included or not.

On our payment summary for a future RCL cruise (which I made directly with RCL), the cost is broken down and it does show the actual amount of any prepaid gratuities.

However as this is a Princess cruise which was booked and paid for, through an Australian TA, there is no reference to, or details of, payments on my cruise personaliser. We were only aware of the advertised price and it was not itemised. I also know that in Australia, airlines, travel agents etc. are required to advertise prices with no hidden additional costs.

I'm pretty sure from the information received from various sources and here on CC, that we will be billed for the daily service charge (gratuities).

Even so, we decided to take this cruise because of the huge price drop and it gives us the opportunity to visit friends and relatives in the major cities around Australia.

Just a follow up on my previous post and concerns regarding paying by bank transfer.

On Monday I rang RCL (Guatemala) and confirmed the bank account details here in Australia where I could transfer our final payment. I then went online and paid.

I also sent an email to payments.au@RCCLAPAC.com with relevant booking information and attached a scan of the bank transfer receipt.

This morning(Wednesday), my cruise personaliser showed payment made and zero in the outstanding balance.

Final payment wasn't due for another 3 weeks, so I had time to pursue if things hadn't gone so smoothly.

the currency will be in USD and gratuities will be added to your account

I know the onboard currency for this cruise will be in USD. It is the conflicting information about gratuities which I am still confused about.

When we previously sailed on the Diamond (Singapore to Vancouver). we were charged daily gratuities because that cruise was regarded as overseas, ie. not Australian based!!

As you probably know, Australian cruises sold here in Australia include taxes/gratuities.

The TA mentioned something about our booking being coded so as the daily service charges will not be allocated to our shipboard account. I guess we will just have to wait until we are onboard to see what happens.

We have recently booked the November 2014 sailing of the 28 day Around Australia cruise for $70 (includes taxes) per night. Next year's cruise is still selling with insides from $4799 ($171 per night).

We have been told that the Diamond Princess will be charging in USD onboard but are still getting conflicting information on whether gratuities are included in the price already paid as this was booked in Australia and paid in AUD.

For Australian passengers on RCL:

We are due to pay final monies for our Voyager of the Seas cruise next week.

One of the options is to pay by bank transfer to RCL Cruises Australia AUD (through JP Morgan Chase bank, Sydney).

Has anyone used this method and were there any problems??????

I guess we just put our reservation number and name in the section which will appear on the recipient's statement.

I am trying to avoid using the credit card just in case they do double conversion AUD to USD to AUD - Don't want to use the phone either for payment as will probably be giving personal details/number to someone overseas in Guatemala.

Information from anyone who has directly booked with (and paid) RCL would be appreciated. Thank you.

Am I reading this right? Can't go but maybe ok for someone. Diamond Princess 16 Nov 28 nights around Australia. $1959.02pp inside twin.Anjo

Thanks again for this information. We booked yesterday at 1968.82 pp (guarantee cabin, one category above the base). At the time Princess were still showing inside cabins available at $4039.00 pp.

I don't understand the pricing system. We paid the Sydney to Sydney price as it was over $300 each cheaper than Sydney to Brisbane for only 26 days. We have made arrangements to disembark 2 days earlier in Brisbane for convenience and our one way flight to Sydney was on special today for $100.

So overall we have got a real bargain and will be able to cruise with friends as well as visiting others in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Port Douglas.

Au cruise site but I prefer walMART!

Found it!! Thanks for the information. Just need to check it out and make some decisions. Is the TA reputable??

My email for DP 16 nov, $1999 inside.

Can you give me some more details/contacts etc.????

Am I reading this right? Can't go but maybe ok for someone. Diamond Princess 16 Nov 28 nights around Australia. $1959.02pp inside twin.Anjo

Where did you see this advertised?

We have friends and family on this cruise and would love to join them!!

A couple of weeks ago, we booked the 11 day NZ Cruise on Voyager of the Seas when they offered the BOGO deal. Just did a dummy booking for the same cabin category for this latest deal which offers the BOGO plus $200 OBC and our booked fare is actually $4 cheaper and it includes the prepaid gratuities of $250.

In 2013, we flew Hawaiian Air from Brisbane to Las Vegas and San Francisco to Brisbane as we we wanted stopovers in Las Vegas and Hawaii. We also used Southwest to get to Fort Lauderdale for our 49 day South American cruise finishing in San Francisco. The fares were cheaper than Qantas and we booked the Southwest flight on the internet. Both airlines are OK.

The advantage of flying via Honolulu is that US immigration is performed there and this can reduce long processing times which can occur at LAX. We did have a 9 hour layover before the domestic flight to Las Vegas but after checking our bags, we caught a local bus at the airport (for $1 seniors return) for the 20 minute ride to Pearl Harbour. As all bags have to be checked in at Pearl Harbour, we were able to deposit our carryon luggage ($3) whilst we looked around the site. I'm not sure of what the layover time on the return flight would be as we spent a few days in Honolulu.

Sun Princess 14 day Christmas cruise from Brisbane to New Zealand reduced for new bookings - from $998.

Check out the Princess 7 day sale on this week!!!

13 days NZ cruises from $998 for November and $1199 for December plus $100 OBC per cabin (limited cabins). Departures from Sydney and Brisbane.

Have just booked for the Christmas period and transferred the booking to a well known TA where we got a further $150 off between us. We have also submitted a Future Cruise Letter which should get us some more OBC.

The cost of this cruise will be less than half what we paid for a similar cruise in January 2010.

What about the 'free' hot chocolate you can get now if you still have one hole not punched? Will this be treated the same way as brewed coffee???

Just returned from a 14 day New Zealand cruise. Our American tablemates paid $1700 AUD each for their balcony cabin across the aisle from our inside cabin. We paid $2180 each and this was after Princess dropped the fare by $220 each, 3 weeks after we made the initial booking.