Married15

18 hours ago, Aruba<3 said:

 

I also caught this add on for MAy 2020, TA said extra $630 but I’m still waiting for my invoice with added perks and total due (added Dec 12th, original booking made Dec 9th).  Person who cleared everything with Princess is not the person I am dealing with at this point, maybe they don’t know how to do it....If you don’t mind me asking, would you mind sharing the code?  

The codes are posted further back in this thread :-)

For drinks, wifi and grats $40pp per day Best3. For drinks & grats $30 BestDG. For Drinks, wifi $25 BestDW, for wifi and grats $25 Best2WG. Not sure how it works in Australia though. Good luck.

We recently visited Australia and New Zealand. Used our non exchange fee card everywhere. Some places showed the price in US currency, and our exchange rate was better using the VISA. 

I also called to "add" Best Sale Ever to my existing reservation. I was told by Princess that can not be done. After reading through threads on CC, I knew that it could. I told the rep the code to use and he was shocked that it worked. I guess that we all learn something new every day. For us, it added an extra $600 to the fare, however on a 10 day $300 would be gratuities so for $150pp or $15 per day we scored the drink package. That is a win in my book! Thank you Cruise Critic!

We are booked on a 10 day in the fall. I already had free wifi, however to add the drinks and gratutity would be an extra $300pp or $600 total. I figured gratuities would be approx $300, so for $150pp or $15 per day, we would have unlimited coffee, water, juices and cocktails. We went for it. Not saying that if another promo comes along where I will save a bundle, I won't switch, but for now I am happy. Kept all of my perks from the Anniversary sale as well.

I have sailed on both the Regal and the Majestic. I think the Regal was larger. On the Majestic, if you did not arrive to the theater more than 30 minutes before the show, you had trouble finding a seat. Plus, most shows began at 7:15, which made trying to have dinner before the show very rushed. 

We are just off of a 2 week Majestic cruise around New Zealand. For a non-Princess excursion, we went to the Symphony dining room on deck 5 shortly after the anchors went down and were always in the 2nd tender boat (the Princess excursions being the first). The tour groups generally know what time the ship arrives and adjust their tours accordingly. We were always early for our tours.

Happy Anniversary! We are just off the Majestic around New Zealand. We had a wonderful cruise, the ship was beautiful, clean, the crew attentive and the food in the dining room very good. There were 4 of us, all early 60s. I will say the demographics were a bit older than us (OK, a lot older), but that was fine. We enjoyed the entertainment, although the Princess Theater is rather small compared to other ships. We got there 30 minutes before show time to get a good seat. They generally had two shows per night, but we usually were back to the cabin by 9:00 or 9:30 to be up early to see sail in whatever port we were visiting the next day. 

We chose private excursions so I can't comment on Princess excursions. Most people dressed up for formal night (suits for men, dresses for women), we had 2 on a 13 days cruise. Men generally wore slacks and collared shirts to the dining room on nights other than formal. 

I generally like to hang out by the pool on a cruise, however, New Zealand was a bit cool for that. On sea days, there was plenty to keep us busy, but we had 5 sea days which was a bit too much when it was cool and rainy. Hopefully, your weather will be better than ours. Australia (Sydney) was very warm. We were there for 8 nights pre-cruise and it was sunny and in the 90's most days. Crossing the Tasmin Sea, both going to NZ and coming from NZ was very rough and windy. 

Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have. We highly recommend this cruise, and found NZ to be beautiful. 

We were told "no to go" pizza from Alfredo's. I said well, I can't eat this now, are you saying you would rather throw it out than let me take it. Answer was yes. That was on The Regal last summer.

I am confused as well. I have read that if you take ANY pills into the country, you have to declare them. You should have them in the original container with the prescription. You should make a list of the pills, prescription and OTC to hand to customs on arrival. Is this correct? We leave in two weeks. Our cruise begins in Australia and goes to NZ. I have read that you need to do the same for NZ, but since we are staying on the ship, do we still need this list?

Perfect, thank you. That is just what I was hoping to hear!

We have an upcoming Princess cruise out of Sydney. Our embarkment time is 4:30pm with a 6:45 sail away. Does anyone have any experience on arriving early to the ship? I have read that Princess will turn you away in Sydney if you are early. We have been on many cruises with many different lines (including Princess) and never been turned away for arriving early. Our check out time is 10:00am at our hotel and was hoping to board around noon.

Thank you in advance for advice.

Thank you for the heads up. I guess they do things a bit differently in Sydney.

Also, you could try checking in with the owner for a early check in. We are staying in Sydney as well, and I emailed the owner of the Airbnb and she said yes, we can check in at 8AM. One less thing to have to worry about.

We stayed at The Admiral last year prior to our Baltic cruise. We loved it, a beautiful hotel, a couple of blocks from Nyhavn, on the water, great breakfast, air conditioning. I am one of those that will pay a bit more for a nice hotel with a good location. This one wasn't the cheapest but it made for a memorable stay in Copenhagen.

We are taking a cruise out of Sydney in a couple of weeks and our boarding time is 4:30pm with a 6:45 sail away and a 5:30 dinner time. I have read (on CC) that they enforce the boarding times and will turn you away if you arrive sooner. Boarding begins at 12:30 according to my Princess paperwork. Should I adhere to that 4:30 boarding time or arrive sooner and take my chances. We are staying the previous night in Sydney, but check out is 10am. On all of our other cruises, we were given a boarding time but it was never enforced.

We are staying in an Airbnb. We arrive at 8am after a 22 hour flight. The Airbnb host said she will have our room ready when we arrive. 

5 minutes ago, Jezabel2924 said:

I am so glad to see your post!  We have the same cabins booked for the Regal when it starts in Australia.  Did you have the door opened between the cabin balconies?

Yes, we had the door open and it made for a extra HUGE balcony. We have these booked on the Majestic from Sydney as well. I love the location on the ship too. Makes getting to the pool and the buffet super easy. 

We we in L101 and L102 on the Regal. Loved these cabins! At no time were we restricted from using the balcony and in fact were out there everyday of our cruise. The only time we did not use it is the night the rain was pounding and the wind howling. Great spot for sail in and sail away. The balcony is HUGE and we had room service for dinner several nights out on the balcony. We loved it so much we booked the same cabins for our next cruise and honestly don't know if we can ever go back to a regular balcony. But please don't spread the word or these cabins will be too hard to get!

Did you pay $199 AUD? If so, that is $141 USD. I think I was confused seeing the different prices. Some were in AU and some US. I think I will book Blue Diamond as well.  Not only do they have great reviews, I like the fact their van is small.

I was just researching the same and came across a discount for Andersons via Expedia or Tripadvisor for their all inclusive tour. We won't be there until October, so if you are there before us please let me know which you choose and how you liked it.

We are doing this cruise in November, can't wait to hear about it!

We had cruised Carnival, Holland and Royal many times prior to last summer when we took our first Princess cruise. I agree with you, Princess is now my favorite. Much more relaxing, fewer children, no annoying speaker blasts in your cabin at all hours, great shows and surprisingly good food (even in the buffet). We are now loyal Princess cruisers. 

Lynne and Ed from Portland, Oregon will be on this cruise. Looking forward to visiting Australia and New Zealand. Who is cruising with us?

We will be there just after you, we arrive Oct 24, 2019 and our cruise leaves Nov 1.  We opted for Darling Harbor due to it's central location and walking distance to just about everything we need. One year from today we will be in Sydney!