Gerko

Sydney has three rideshares. Uber, Ola and Didi. uber has the most cars. Didi is the cheapest. All have easy to download and use apps.

Booked on both Grand and Virgin. No way I'll cruise on Disney. Their prices are horrendous. You can sail on Seabourn or Silversea for the same price or cheaper than Disney.

White Bay is a joke as far as getting there. Our Uber drove to a point where an officious lady said we had to turn around and go a different way. So we did this, drove around for another 5-10mins and came to a junction about 100m from where we were previously, with the lady still there turning cars around.. For whatever stupid reason cars aren't allowed to drive on that 100m bit of roadway.

If you'd used a travel agent you wouldn't be in this fix as we can put a hold on a cabin for around five days without requiring a deposit that gives you time to decide. We can also do multiple waitlists on different cabin categories. People who try to do it all themselves usually don't have either the knowledge or the booking tools that travel agents do, and you don't pay any more for that.

Gradi was a Melbourne thing and the name meant very little to people from other states. pizza is pizza, no matter what branding you give it and I've never had a pizza at sea as good as those I can get on land. I'll gab a free slice or two if its around but would never pay extra for a pizza at sea.

I still do P & O but only if the destinations are what I want but there is no doubt in my mind they are the lowest standard of any line cruising from Australia. They will never be my first (or second or third) choice We've done Adventure and Encounter in the last six months. The food in the MDR  has just become basic pubgrub, i.e. almost everything is deep fried and comes with chips. Almost impossible to get a decent piece of meat or some vegetables. Basics like a burger which are free on Carnival are charged for on P & O. The not-a-buffet The Pantry is awash with unsupervised kids running everywhere. But the Blue Room is one of my favourite venues at sea and the staff there are always lovely. Can't even say you get what you pay for as Carnival is usually cheaper but better. Just wish Princess would keep a ship here over the winter months.

It appears Princess wants the majority of people to be on either Plus or Premier Plus, as they're giving more to the packages but adding more charges to people who don't take the packages. I still think Plus is the best value at sea though, given its nearly half the price of RCCL or Celebrity and they don't even include coffee.

Does anyone have an email address for Crown Grill on Grand & Royal? I have emails for F555 on Carnival ships and this makes things easy when you're trying to get one table for people who are on multiple booking numbers. Can't book through the app as this makes you pay and we all have complimentary specialty dinner as part of our packages.

Your heading is Cutbacks, but this appears to be a list of things you'd like, not things that have been cut back on, or am I reading it wrongly?

I just did a comparison and whilst it may now be called Bayou Cafe, the menu is almost identical to the old Sterling Steakhouse. They've changed the name but not the menu, which is a shame.

That is terrific. Thank you very much!

Does anyone know if the menu on Australian cruises on Coral Princess is similar to the sample menu on the Princess website?

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/Onboard_Experience/Bayou-Cafe-Menu-Sample.pdf

Just seems this is a very American menu and a lot of the meal ingredients wouldn't be available in Australia. I've got two Coral cruises coming up and deciding whether to prebook for Sabatini's or Bayou.

The travel advice on PNG is mostly aimed at people flying into Pt Moresby and the other big towns. The places the cruises go to are pretty safe.

So is moet the only drink served?

Princess have changed our ship from Royal to Sapphire and in doing so moved our minisuite to D222 which is directly opposite the entrance to the self service laundramatte. On sailings long past there was always noise from these as pax decided to wash their dirties late in the evening after a night in the bar. My wife tells me that now they close these rooms down early to stop that but I'm not convinced. Given I've paid extra for the minisuite I have no desire to be kept awake by the spin dryer going nearby. Has anyone got knowledge they can advise me with?

Under the new medallion system it seems I can request whichever dining room I want. AS I'll be booking for the same one for the entire cruise, is one of the three dining rooms considered the nicest, particularly for a table of two?

Splendor is not terribly well designed and you'll keep running into roadblocks trying to get from A to B, but I guess you'll find your way around after a few days. Wine works out at about $9.50 - 12.50 a glass, but you might like to buy a bottle and carry it around as bar service on Carnival isn't great due to very limited table service, and often insufficient bar staff. Serving wine, the staff first pour it into a measuring bottle and then into your glass, and at least at one bar they only had one measuring bottle. If you're going to try their specialty steakhouse, go on the first night as they throw in a bottle of wine. Without that, it's dubious value at $55 a head. The Buffet is not like The Pantry on P & O but a more traditional buffet where people move along each food area pushing their tray. Plenty of food and good choices but invariably never warm enough. I would recommend using the main dining room as I think the menus on Carnival are much better than P & O. The shows are generally good and the main showroom is very well designed. Generally speaking, Carnival is a bit too lively for me and Splendor has a eccentric decor you'll either love or hate, but I'm probably a bit older and I'm sure you'll have a great time.

On 7/4/2019 at 11:35 AM, Fortunate2 said:

 Our SS Sales Agent handled it for us and we were re-stocked daily for the 10 day voyage.  Your TA or SS Sales Rep can pass your requests on to the right individuals or, if you prefer, I believe I read that you can email them  directly to SpecialServices@silversea.com. 

Thanks for listing the email address. I sent them an email and was responded to within 24hrs with a confirmation that my requests would be waiting for me.

56 minutes ago, mitz18 said:

 

How is the PH in March?

Still the most expensive in Sydney. Usually over A$1000 a night. Would suggest as alternatives to consider the Harbourside Marriott or the Quay West Suites.

17 minutes ago, Emoliash said:

I'm tempted to do a short cruise but my annual leave is in the negative in the moment so not sure work would be thrilled. I would be interested in going on a cruise aimed at the Asian market. I would particularly interested in the food.

They are doing three 2nt sailings from Brisbane to Sydney that all depart on Fri and arrive on Sunday so that might fit with your work schedule

8 hours ago, Emoliash said:

I will be keen to hear what you think of the ship. 

The ship, at least as SuperStar Virgo, was very nice so I expect the decor will be even nicer. I'll be very interested to see what they do in the dining rooms because, as SSV they didn't have a menu to choose from. Every night was a set multi-course menu and if you didn't like the Chicken Feet you just pushed that aside and waited for the next course to arrive. And as they still have the same two dining rooms, one Western and one Oriental, I wonder if they'll still have the set menus. But she'll be here in a couple of weeks and I'm not sailing until end-Nov so I dare say there'll be some very detailed comments about her in these pages very quickly 

I am booked on this ship in Nov but certainly a bit apprehensive about it, having sailed on her from Manila last Dec/Jan when she was still SuperStar Virgo. My problem is that she has been designed for Asian passengers and Aussies are totally different. For example, they had the Captains Welcome Cocktail Party first night and the drinks were solely water or juice. On NYE my wife and I were the only people in the bar, apart from the band. They've done an expensive refit on her, but as best as I can tell most of the money went building The Palace, an area most of us won't see. The dining areas seem remarkably unchanged.

The company has already said they expected most of the passengers to be inbound Asians and are surprised how many locals have booked. Because of this I'm convinced they won't be equipped to handle Aussie drinkers. It seems they only have two bars, both on the pool deck, plus a function room they're going to use for shows. Plus a few portable drink stations selling beer and bubbly, again on the pool deck. I don't believe there is a single bar on the lower public area decks, only cafes and ice cream stations. How they are going to cope each evening when 1500 thirsty Aussies descend on staff who are used to serving a few soft drinks, demanding their beers, cocktails and mixed drinks is an issue.

I fear the first couple of sailings could be very problematic. I hope I'm wrong and they've done all their homework on cruising from Australian ports.

7 hours ago, shipsmail said:

 

Gerko, thanks for your tips concerning transfer to White Bay. I‘ll check this out later in the year. We will stay for NYE at the Park Hyatt for a few days. So we may be able to see the MUSE coming in that morning from our room. Of course CQ would be even nicer, as from our hotel we could walk to this terminal. Any tips for NYE or the days around it?

See you on board maybe.

 

Must be costing you an arm and a leg to stay at the PH over NYE as its our most expensive hotel  at the best of times. A short walk from your hotel are the steps up on to the Bridge walkway. Walk north 100m until you reach the first stone pylon where you can pay around $10 to go inside. There's a small museum dedicated to the building of the bridge and a wonderful lookout point at the top. IMO much better value than taking the Bridgeclimb at ten times the price. Then keep walking across the Bridge and you'll see on your left the laughing clown faced entrance to Luna Park, a historic amusement park with free entry. Have a coffee or bite at one of the nearby Kirribilli cafes and then take the ferry back across to Circular Quay. A great way to spend half a day with minimal cost.

Another favourite of mine across the other side of CQ on Philip st is the Museum of Police & Justice, with displays going through the darker side of Sydney's history. Or nearby to the PH is the Susannah Place Museum. A group of four terrace houses from 1844  that were the homes of normal working class people and which somehow managed to survive virtually unaltered for 150 years until they were saved from demolishion and turned into a museum.

On 8/26/2019 at 11:00 PM, shipsmail said:

We will be also on  this cruise after NYE in Sydney. I have seen that the cruise will start at White Bay Terminal and not at the terminal close to the Opera, which would have been a short walk from our hotel. Very sad.

Sadly, because their smaller size allows them to get under the Harbour Bridge, the premium ship get shuffled off to White Bay whilst the mass market megaships get the OPT in the heart of the city. We saw Europa 2, the worlds highest rated ship, sitting forlornly at White Bay. We residents of Sydney dislike White Bay as much as anyone. It was a cheapskate effort by the state government who allowed all the good sites east of the Bridge to be sold as marinas for their megarich mates and their speedboats and yachts. The only good part for visitors is you do get to sail under the Bridge.

If your hotel is in the city, they usually put on a ferry from Circular Quay to White Bay, but you'd need to check if its put on for Silversea. Otherwise it really has to be either a taxi or Uber and I'd guess at maybe $25 oneway. My wife and I are on this cruise. We've done multiple cruises on Crystal and Cunard but really looking forward to our first on Silversea.

15 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

It just says a Sun Class so not necessarily the Sun herself. Interestingly says it is in Germany, someone indicated (on book of faces) that Pacific Explorer was going. I Guess it’s wait and see.

It actually says Design - Sun Princess, so that's why I assumed it is that specific ship.