JJK2008

We also have tours booked but have been informed that they will be cancelled because of construction that will be taking place. We were told that no release date has been given for when the construction will be completed, and tours resumed. Very disappointing.

Thank You for the info. Seems to be a good deal of confusion on this subject.

From all the research we've done, my understanding is that any cruise that leaves and returns from Australia includes gratuities automatically in the cruise price. Apparently, Australian law requires this. Again, my understanding is that it does not matter where the cruise was booked from as long as it departs from and returns to Australia. That said, I have also read that the US site for Princess will have the boilerplate language that they use for all cruises and will show gratuities as being an additional cost. Our plan is to check once onboard to make sure gratuities were NOT automatically added to our folio. We booked our cruise here in the US and the quote I posted is from the US site under the Terms and Conditions for the addon packages. Please VERIFY what I've written for yourself. As an added suggestion, do some searches on CC for tipping policies. Tipping is generally an American custom that is NOT followed in most countries of the world, Australian being one of them. If you search the Australian and New Zealand Cruises thread, you should find many postings addressing this topic. Locals strongly advise NOT tipping as it sets a bad precedent. For some reason Americans seem to have difficulty with accepting this and will "force" the issue by tipping anyway because it makes them feel good. From our experience, this behavior is really frowned upon by the locals and not appreciated. The old saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans" applies. But PLEASE do your own research and decide for yourselves what is right for you. I hope some Aussies & Kiwis will chime in here and advise if this is accurate or not. Thanks. Stay Safe. John

My DW and I always scour the "fine print" and have saved ourselves many headaches over the years. We know not everybody does this. Here's a tidbit of info that may or may not help. This info is tucked away in the "Terms and Conditions" for the Plus and Premier Cruise Packages. The packages identify "crew appreciation" as one of the perks of the package. However, you'll find in the fine print that "crew appreciation" is already included in the cruise price for ALL passengers. Here's the fine print..."Although Crew Appreciation is listed as part of the Princess Plus package, on Australia and New Zealand voyages Crew Appreciation is already included in the cruise fare and therefore all guests, regardless of whether they book the Princess Plus package, will receive Crew Appreciation and no substitution or refund will be provided for such part of the package." So, you get "crew appreciation" built into ANY "Australia and New Zealand voyages Crew Appreciation is already included in the cruise fare." Verify it for yourself and then decide.

Thank You for the info. I'm familiar with Ned Kelly. Actually, a distant relative. Seriously, not a joke. We're most likely going to adjust our schedule, add time and visit Canberra. It would be a waste to be that close and not go. Thanks again.

From the reading we've done, Jetstar does not seem like a good choice even with the lower prices. Last minute cancellation seems to be a common complaint. Good info.

As you can see, the folks on this thread are AWESOME!!!! Look how fast they responded to you with suggestions. Great to get the advice firsthand from locals. Pre-covid we had a trip planned with RCCL. Unfortunately, they are not offering that itinerary now, so that is how we ended up with Princess. It's not exactly what we had booked before on RCCL but it's close. Both Sinbad & lyndarra make an excellent point concerning the time you have. It's a long trip, so for us, we want to make the most of every day. Fortunately, we're retired, so time isn't a factor. Hope you get lots of tips, suggestion, advice. Most likely, the local's info will be far better than anything I can offer. But in that light, we're more than willing to share what we have learned to this point. Trip Advisor Forums are also a great resource. Welcome.

Welcome. My DW and I are booked this coming November for a New Zealand cruise that leaves from Sydney. Like many we had this plan pre-covid, but the virus stopped all our plans. So, we're back at it again. Neither of us has been to New Zealand and travelling that far seemed like a waste not to do just Australia and not visit New Zealand. We considered trying to do a land tour of New Zealand but couldn't find anything that did both the north & south islands in a way that satisfied us. Trying to do it on our own also seemed impractical. So, our two-week cruise is on Princess (never done Princess before) and covers both islands. Not exactly what we would choose but gives us an overall of the country with a number of port stops. We will spend time in Oz both before and after our New Zealand cruise with plans to travel extensively. This thread of Australia & New Zealand Cruisers has hundreds of pages of outstanding information if you're willing to take the time to sift through them. Plus, lots of Aussies and Kiwis on here posting and offering tips, info, answering questions and willing to help. We have found it invaluable so far. Check it out. Stay Safe & Healthy. Good Luck.

Awesome!!!! Thank You all for the input. We're going to work our schedule to spend a day there. Thanks again.

Asking an opinion (I may regret this) Australia's Capital is Canberra. Simply put, is it worth the visit??? Tourist sites to Australia hardly mention it, and even ones that do, only suggest 2 days visit. Yes, it has the Parliament buildings, the lake and the War Museum (which does catch my interest) is it worth the diversion??? We're in Sydney for several days and it seems to be only about a 3 hour drive. Thanks in advance for all your thoughts.

Possum52 I have seen your posts on a number of threads here on CC. You do a great job of providing insight and information. Thank You for taking the time and putting forth the effort. We appreciate it. John

Thank You to all of you who have replied. Your advice is invaluable. Fortunately, we have lots of time and options. Now that said, we do have specific ideas of what we want to see and where to visit, but we're flexible and will adjust our timetable and locations accordingly. The absolute worst case if flights from Cairns or Brisbane become an issue, is we adjust our timetable and drive. Certainly not our first choice but doable. Bu from reading all your comments, it doesn't appear that flights from those locations will be an issue. But if we had planned on going to Melbourne for example, we had no idea about the Melbourne Cup and would have been caught by surprise. Who knows what dilemma could have arisen in that case. Thank You all again. Greatly appreciate the advice and suggestions. John

Thank You. We are looking at options. We will be in the Cairns area before the Melbourne Cup takes place (November 6, 2023). Our plan is to fly back to Sydney on November 1, 2023, overnight in Sydney and then our cruise leaves on the 2nd. We already have a hotel booked for the night of the first so the only issue will be if flights back to Sydney become an issue. We have options such as trying to book a flight from Brisbane rather than Cairns. Worst case is we adjust our schedule timewise and drive back to Sydney. That would be a little inconvenient but may actually be a good choice. We'd get to see more of the country. Thanks for your help. Greatly appreciated. John

Just heard about the Melbourne Cup being held on November 6th. It is billed as the event that "shuts down the nation." Our cruise leaves from Sydney on November 2nd. Our tentative plan right now is to fly from Cairns to Sydney on November 1st, overnight in a hotel and then sail on November 2nd. We already have a hotel booked in Sydney for the night of November 1st but have not booked flights yet. From what I've read, the Melbourne Cup being of such magnitude in Australian the availability of flights may be limited, and prices will be much higher. Is it really necessary to book flights this far in advance because of this event???? We may have to alter our plans a bit as to where we will be by certain dates in case flying back to Sydney is not an option and we can drive the route. Sorry to say but we never heard of the Melbourne Cup.

Interestingly, Little Fish apparently had never heard the word before and had to look it up. After reading Little Fish's comment I did look it up on Google. A Google search in the US revealed nothing derogatory. If you specifically search the word as Australian slang, then you will get a description of a derogatory nature. So, I'm guessing the word is not widely known or used or perhaps both. In any case, I'm glad it was clarified as my intent would never be to offend.

Thank You for the clarification.

There is a word I learned from the Aussies we met on the river cruise. The word was "creamy" and if I am correct it referred to the native population of Australia. I'm not trying to be rude. I don't even know if this an accurate term or is even used in that manner.

Song Come To Australia by Scared Weird Little Guys says it all....😆😆

Thank You....we're studying hard...I love the link.😆🤣😄

Thank You. I'm getting an education. This is great.😆😂🤣

OK, I have to ask.....what is a "crow-eater" and what are "durries"??????🤔🤔🤔

OK, I'm completely lost on those terms...."rollie" "dogs breakfast" "crikey"....HELP???? You got me on these...😄😆🤣

We hope to use every minute of our time in OZ. This is my first time, but my DW has been there before. Neither of us has been to New Zealand. My DW is hard at work planning our trip. Truly, she is better than any travel agent could be. Flight time for us will be about 24 hours. So, including stops, layovers, to/from airport that is a Loooong travel time. We're going to break-up the trip with stops in Hawaii for a few days in each direction. We will land in Sydney and spend several days seeing the sights. Next, we fly to the Gold Coast and spend time in the Surfers Paradise area. We have friends who live here and will visit with them if all goes well. From here we plan to rent a car and drive along the coast to the Sunshine Coast, with a stop in Brisbane. Eventually arriving in Mooloolaba. We have friends here and will visit with them. We'll go back to Brisbane drop the car off and fly to Cairns. Rent another car and spend some time seeing Cairns. Then head to Port Douglas for all the tourist stuff. After we've had our fill it's back to Cairns drop off the rental car and fly to Sydney. That will be November 1, 2023. Our cruise leaves from Sydney on November 2nd. Thats 2 weeks around New Zealand. At the end of the cruise, we're back in Sydney. Next up, we fly to Melbourne, rent a car and spend several days here. We do have friends here as well. Hit the road towards Port Cambell stopping along the way. Then it's a long drive eventually ending up in Adelaide. Do more tourist stuff. Drop the car off and fly back to Sydney, then back to Hawaii for several more days, then home. In all the trip will be 8 weeks. Once in a lifetime. So, any suggestions people have on our course of action, Please chime in. Thanks, in advance. Stay Safe & Healthy all. John

With all the new words being presented here, I'm going to have to revise my Aussie Lingo List. Thank You all for your contributions. We have several months to study, so we'll be experts by the time we get to OZ. 🤣😆😁.

Ah yes, Canadians leading you astray. Not a surprise, they have a habit of doing that, particularly when it comes to alcohol...LOL. Alcohol prices in Canada are very expensive compared to the US. For example, a 24 can case of beer in the US can be bought in Walmart for $20 +/-. That same 24 can case, same brand of beer in Canada would be $55+/-. Bottles of wine in the US bought for $8-$10 would be $30-$35 in Canada Even with the exchange rate, the price in Canada is more than double the US price. Actually, everything in Canada is very expensive compared to the US. So, when the Canadians come to Florida for the winter months, they drink themselves into oblivion. There is a get together at someone's house several times a week. And yes, my DW and I are usually in attendance. We all live in two closed, sister communities that abut each other with private roads. Our roads interconnect so once inside either community you can go back and forth between the two. They are golf communities, and everyone owns a golf cart, so once home we all drive golf carts to each other's homes. It removes the worry/risk about drinking and driving. It is technically illegal in Florida to drive drunk even in a golf cart, but because the communities are closed, the police never come in unless called. These communities are very, very common in Florida. Now we have had some (not many, Fortunately) of our dear Maple Leaf (Canadians) friends who have consumed a wee bit too much and have driven their golf cart off the road and hit a tree or ended up in one of the lakes. One dear friend who along with a fellow Canadian was "racing" their golf carts and took a corner a little too fast, lost control of the golf cart and was ejected. Lots of road rash and a separated shoulder, but he was numb and couldn't feel it. No serious injuries but some good stories and "What a dumbASS" comments to riminess about. Stay safe. John