Astro Flyer

The new Caymus Winemakers Dinner is $140/pp however the original version on Royal-class ships in a Wine Cellar area of a dining room still shows available at a $5 increase…$45. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/food-and-dining/dining-options.pdf Lumiere (Ring of Lights on Royal-class ships): $130 per person with wine $115 per person without Regular CT on other ships in a dining room: $110 per person with wine $100 per person without

No extra charge

After our 2025 around Oz cruise ending in Brisbane we fly to Auckland to cruise 22 days to LA and the OBC is in USD. In 2009 we sailed Sydney to LA and OBC was in USD although things could have changed.

While I do not have direct experiences about other cruise lines’ procedures, based on answers I received on the OZ/NZ board other cruise lines do not follow the Princess procedure. Thus apparently the Princess procedure is not required by Oz law but appears to be how Princess saves money by significantly reducing the value of OBC which I also feel is unfair. I don’t have any package that includes tips & to prepay them it’d be their standard $16/day/pp (obstructed OV cabin). When using the AUD devalued OBC & onboard charging tips in AUD equivalent to $16 USD your $1 USD is converted to $1.45 AUD…$23.48 AUD per person per day. Hopefully someone will either confirm or will correct the procedure my research has revealed.

Here’s what my 28 day Around Australia cruise in 2025 shows for tips when booked from the US. 1) $448/pp = $16/day/pp in USD 2) OBC is in AUD & converting $16 to AUD that is $23.48 AUD at the current exchange rate. I’ve been asking on the OZ/NZ board about experiences & the consensus has been my tips will be charged in AUD equivalent to $16…$23.48 AUD. My $750 OBC everywhere else in the world except in Australia where it’s $750 AUD converts to only $511.21 in USD…about a 1/3 reduction in value. Reducing my OBC by 1/3 and charging tips in AUD equivalent to $16 further reduces the value of my OBC when cruising in Oz.

We cruised for our 50th anniversary which Princess knew about…only celebration was a small cake if requested in a dining room which we didn’t request.

I’ve enjoyed that several times when it was served at our Michael Mondavi Winemakers Dinners. 😋🍷

Would you know if bridge activity is videoed? Or is it like on airliners with only a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in addition to a Flight Data Recorder (FDR)?

As I recall recently reading the no charge afternoon tea in a dining room is now only offered on sea days? Maybe it’s the same thing for the Royal Afternoon Tea on those 4 ships? We rarely have the elite afternoon tea in our cabin because it’s too much food before our 6:00 dinner. My wife occasionally goes to the buffet for those few items as a light snack.

It is also shown on their current dining PDF as available on Enchanted, Regal, Royal & Sky so apparently they are offering Royal Afternoon Tea again. Hopefully someone with recent experiences on these ships will confirm or deny it’s current availability. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/food-and-dining/dining-options.pdf

I saw it on the Royal’s earlier cruises but not since then on any of the Royal-class ships (Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Discovery) we’ve sailed.

You’re welcome…Based on the different Cruise Contract statements it’s unlimited when boarding in Aus although how policies are enforced can vary with shoreside personnel who are not Princess employees.

There is a Passage Contract from Australia & for a few Asian countries and there’s another Passage Contract from most other places which you can read here. https://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/ In Australia there isn’t a limit stated on non-alcoholic drinks brought onboard unlike most other ports having these limitations (both are listed in Section 5). Guests are also prohibited from bringing water, sodas and other non-alcoholic beverages on board that are packaged in bottles. A small quantity of non-alcoholic beverages (i.e., sparkling water, sodas, juice, milk) packaged in cans or cartons may be brought on board on embarkation day, only if carried on in Guests’ hand luggage (not in checked luggage). A small quantity is considered a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans/cartons of 12 ounces each or less per person. Guests will be asked to discard open beverages in plastic containers prior to boarding. In March 2025 we’re sailing Brisbane roundtrip around Australia & looking forward to some pre-cruise time for our first visit to your city. 😊

Thanks for sharing…congratulations on such a big decrease in your cruise fare! 🤑 Losing the $250 SOBC and the amount of your booking OBC for the $1,600 fare reduction works. 😊

I was on the Royal’s inaugural TA in 2013 shortly after the ship’s maiden voyage and also had a presentation by one of the main architects of the Royal’s design. When asked about why the center stairs above deck 7 were not finished for passenger use he stated that CCL CEO & Chairman Micky Arison refused to pay for cost overruns. The stairways were available for passengers to use in emergencies but not having carpeting & paneling they were not available for routine use by passengers. After pushback by passengers the stairs were eventually finished for passenger usage. Our speaker understood why passengers were upset & provided the reason why they were unavailable & apparently he was either replaced by your speaker or he was told to promote the company line.

You can see the pricing on the Medallion app under MedallionNet & this shows my amount for a 10 day cruise with the P&E discount…$7.50/day single device; $20/day four devices. Same price pre-cruise or onboard.

Checking my future cruises all have the water package available…$7.08 for 12) 500 ml bottles. Our future cruises included a 28 day around Australia cruise and an Auckland to LA transpacific cruise…both in Spring 2025. Our Spring 2024 cruise roundtrip LA also has the bottled water package. As I recall reading in previous discussions it’s not available in OZ/NZ and with your cruise sailing sooner maybe that is more accurate than mine in 2025.

The temperature being at 84° was something new in our balcony cabin with the blackout drapes closed upon boarding Discovery’s inaugural cruise. 😉 We abandoned our cabin for cool public spaces & after dinner the temperature returned to normal for the remainder of our 14 days onboard.

Thanks for confirming my presumption…our current $800 SBC is part of a booking promotion & thus would be lost switching to SM. By switching to SM we’d lose $800 of SBC in addition to the extra $1,000 cruise fare increase for our 15 day cruise (all amounts used are per couple). The $1,000 fare increase & $1,000 tours credit are a push. Losing our current $800 SBC to get their beer/wine/champagne at lunch & dinner plan (and maybe a 2nd WiFi connection) would be equivalent to paying $53/day/couple instead of what I’m seeing in my reservation at $79.90/day/couple. We’ll continue to crunch our numbers & read about others experiences but for us it appears SM would be a push if we wanted the tour credit & drink package which is unlikely for us & would stay with our cruise only booking & $800 SBC…thanks for sharing your insights.

By clicking the above link it takes you to this offer’s webpage. There you will see the following (this is a screenshot) that displays links to see qualifying cruises based on regions.

Thanks…found the price for the House Select package for our cruises before & after 10/1…$39.95/pp/day (tip included). Without reading this entire thread has anyone lost their existing complimentary SBC when booking SM? My guess is that would be lost when switching to SM. That’s another consideration when deciding if SM is cost effective for me or not.

The only thing on Discovery’s inaugural cruise was a certificate and not much in the gift shop to purchase either. The center of the Medallion was white with the SeaWitch the color of the Captain’s Circle level although those have been on the first season on other ships.

As you know, we’re in the same situation & sail after you in April…hopefully you’ll have no issues receiving both in your name onboard. 🤞 We’ve applied in her name but SOBC has been issued to me because my name was first on the reservation. Since learning about these changes, we had our TA switch us on a just booked cruise which was issued to her. I’m waiting to learn about onboard experiences after 9/12 to see if I need to email the SOBC section to put it in her name or if we’ll need to reapply after listing her name first.

My 15 day November 2024 “cruise only” price would increase by $500/pp. (no airfare, interior guarantee) with $1,000/cabin for tours and the beer/wine/champagne at lunch & dinner plan. If we wanted $1,000 of tours then that drink plan would be free so it’d be a better deal. We have our first O cruise in September and SM is not an option…is that drink package currently $30/day/person? Doubt if we’d spend $1,000 on tours on our 2024 cruise but if we did SM would currently be beneficial to us.