Astro Flyer

☕️😋 They finally caught up with Celebrity…is it still made from concentrate or have they added the filtered coffee machines that use ground coffee like on the Royal-class ships.

For another issue about the combinability of SOBC & MOBC on a future cruise my TA even got misinformation from their Partner Support section who are there to help TAs. Princess does a poor job keeping their reps updated & it took several calls for her to eventually receive accurate information.

So do all us now get the cheapest rates…Casino? 🤔 That’s not happening but by increasing fares closer to sailing there might be more free or greatly reduced fares for gamblers to fill all cabins. As I recall RCI tried something similar within the past couple of years but think that failed.

You & I are on Discovery’s TSE cruise in April 2024 & had my SOBC issued shortly after booking the cruise in August 2022. That has been my experience since Princess began requiring payment to pre-book tours several years ago to use SOBC as a payment. Outside of North America such as for Australians have read posts that a within 90 day application timeframe is enforced.

For me the first clue that made me doubt the chat’s accuracy was providing the wrong effective date of September 2022…it was on 6/29/23 so doubt if that chat rep was a reliable source.

I don’t know the answer but here’s the currency used based on my Cruise Personalizer & Medallion app. At the current exchange rate, the AUD amount is about 1/3 less than in USD….$500 AUD is only $318 USD. AUD: OBC, tours, specialty dinner-$47/$53 USD: Tips (prepaying) Currently there is no Onboard Services pricing…it’s frustrating that Princess provides conflicting info about how the Oz cruises finances are managed.

We circumnavigate Australia in March 2025 and hopefully by then will have answers from those who booked in the US & are sailing exclusively within Oz instead of the conflicting info Princess provides. Whatever way it’s done would just like to know what we’ll experience to help with making our plans.

Searching online the cost varies from $53-$63 (plus tax) so at $79 (plus tip) the markup is comparatively reasonable. 🍷

Maybe you’re feeling some of the affects of the first north swell of the season from a massive storm dropping down from the Aleutian Islands. 🌊🏄‍♂️ “The National Weather Service says the first large, northwest swell of the season is expected to build rapidly on Tuesday and peak from late Tuesday through Wednesday. Surf is expected to build Tuesday to 25 to 35 feet along north-facing shores, and 18 to 24 feet along west-facing shores”.

Bob…happy to know that you & Holli are enjoying your hard earned retirement. It’s very disappointing that you won’t be going to Maui docking in Kahului…the island’s economy is taking a hard hit & needs tourism to recover. NCL’s Pride of America stopped Maui visits for several weeks but have resumed stops to help the local economy. That’s sad that Princess continues to avoid Maui & to not help with the island’s economic recovery. Buon Viaggio!

And those circumnavigation cruises on Princess quickly sellout. In early April 2023 we immediately booked the March 2025 around Oz as soon as it was available. Within about a month there was little to no availability and when there was availability it was at a considerably higher cruise fare.

I use a TA who also received the upsell offer in addition to me & my wife.

You should be okay at that time from MDR...you could check Google Maps on Monday at that time to get an idea about how long it'll take. For me, the 60+ miles to SP takes about 90 minutes on a weekday (60 minutes on a weekend). Checking this morning the delay was from the Valley southbound on the 405 until Mulholland but the remainder of the way it was 'green' so the approximately 25 mile drive from MDR shouldn't be too bad...maybe 30+ minutes using the HOV lane? We have an 1100-1130 check-in time slot & will leave home accordingly. Have a good flight.

I was pleasantly surprised to get the upgrade which would have cost $350/pp. Everything has been waitlisted for months but if someone is interested today there's a PH-2 available...$3,099/pp for the 7 day CA Coastal cruise on Regatta. We're eagerly looking forward to our first O cruise although being on a weekday instead of a weekend it'll take longer to drive to/from the port.

As you might remember, we're on your Regatta cruise on 9/27 & received the same upsell email at 0831 this morning...from a G-gty to a concierge veranda for $300/pp. We opted to not accept their offer because being our first O cruise we won't be in our cabin often. For us the bottle of bubbly, laundry service, expanded room service menu, access to the Spa Terrace and a logo tote bag were not worth the extra $600 for us. Shortly thereafter our TA contacted us that we were upgraded to a Category D (outside porthole) cabin for free. Being on deck 3 closer to midship also benefits my wife's tendency to feel the motion of the ocean.

Yes…as I previously posted I immediately booked our 3/17/25 cruise on the one day early elite booking day…ages ago. The author has not returned to define fall 2025…Downunder or in Canada where they live.

In 18 months we’re sailing Crown 28 days around Australia and there better be new mattresses in all cabins. Princess is aware of the bad mattresses on the Crown which is the only ship I’ve read about having awful luxury mattresses. Many years ago the steward tried putting serving trays under the mattress to minimize the cratered mattress which didn’t help.

Our mid March 2025 cruise around Oz was available to book on 4/4/23…maybe around September of 2023 for October 2025?

This has been repeatedly posted for several months on the Crown…awful & sorry that you had to experience it. 😟

Thanks for all of the cabin photos…I keep reading about the R-class showers being so small but it appears it’s about the same size as Princess ships below minisuites.

Will let you know although having a G category GTY that’s what we’re expecting…your CC name does look familiar from a past Princess cruise.

There’s a Live From Regatta where you might get an answer to your question…we board after you & would also be interested in an answer.

And it has a larger balcony than the standard 9’x4’ balconies.

This would be my choice…more midship lower deck for a more stable location, steps away from the forward elevator and cabins above & below to not have any public decks that could create noise issues.

One thing I’ve found with short notice deals is that airfare can add significantly to the total cost…seen airfares that were double & triple of the cruise fare.