Dulcibella

Room service will deliver a jug of hot water ....

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My question is.Will the fruit on board be local from Australia ? Or does Princess supply ship with all the food including fruit from USA?

In Australia Princess buys from Australian suppliers. Depending on the season they may supply oranges from the US just as we can buy them in the supermarkets depending on the season.

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Yes. We ordered oatmeal for breakfast (room service) successfully on Golden Princess earlier this month.

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For my cruises I always knock up a currency conversion chart for Vanuatu Vatu and New Caledonia French Pacific Franc, here is a chart I did today, its pretty simple IE: 100 Vatu = Aus $1.32

 

 

Many thanks :) I would not have remembered to do that and I am sure I will find your chart useful

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This is obviously referring to Aussie cc charges.

It is my understanding that when Mastercard and Visa were first introduced into Australia in the terms and conditions for merchants they were not allowed to pass on the merchant fee which was a percentage of the transaction amount and that percentage depended on the amount of cc payments the merchant put through the system per annum. Somewhere the rule about not passing on the changes has been changed or Mastercard and Visa now turn a blind eye to it. For some merchants the fee can be about 0.3% yet they are charging the customer far more. This is happening with the airlines in particular and politicians have been talking for a long time about stopping this but as usual with politicians, talks cheap.

Yes the Reserve Bank rules changed and they have been refined again in 2016 http://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-card-payments-regulation/q-and-a/card-payments-regulation-qa-conclusions-paper.html

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My travel agent contacted Princess and no Princess said nothing could be offered to our booking :(

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On the two Princess cruises we have been on there have been bridge and 500 card games just after lunch as a get together. On the first cruise cards were supplied. On the second cruise we had to bring our own but found people to play with. On the second cruise the gathering was in Sabatinis.

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The tour company we used in Akaroa was https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g285727-d7261631-Reviews-EcoSEAker-Akaroa_Canterbury_Region_South_Island.html and we would recommend. We organised in advance but not through the ship.

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We have cruised to New Zealand twice and been to Tasmania but not by ship. In all the New Zealand ports you mentioned you could do a lot of sightseeing by walking from the boat or from where the shuttle bus dropped you off. We enjoyed taking the ferry to Russell Island in the Bay of Islands. In Dunedin people speak highly of the train tour to the gorge. We visited the gardens at Lanarch castle. Walking around Napier was delightful admiring the Art Deco architecture. In Hobart many people visit the gallery at MONA but I really like the Tasmanian Art Gallery and Museum in the centre of town - walking distance. Wellington take the funicular up the escarpment and walk back down through the botanic gardens. You can have morning tea on the way. Te Papa museum is marvellous and just enjoy the waterfront. Akaroa last time we went on a tour to see the dolphins. It was lovely on the water. Otherwise the town is nice to walk around.

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We will be there too on a Sunday and we're thinking of visiting the botanic gardens and the aquarium.

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Are both parents travelling ? otherwise you might need some documentation from the other parent allowing travel.

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We are going on a cruise in February with friends. We have a suite booked and paid for. Our friends decided to go for a mini suite. Today they have been offered an upsell from the mini suite to a suite at effectively a $4,500 discount. Will Princess give us any sort of a discount or perks if we draw this discount to their attention?

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Thanks for this post - I have just written my travel agent about the sale and whether it would affect our quote. She hasn't been proactive in contacting us :( We booked with future cruise credits so I assume if there is a better deal then she can revise our costing.

You can have multiple cabins on one account if that helps.

 

 

 

Can't transfer as such that I know of.

On Golden Princess over this last Christmas / new year, my account was joint with the 2 cabins I had paid for for my children. The end account was net of the OBC for all 3 cabins.

Ye gods, Hush Puppies? I wear them on my feet, are they edible?

In my view they were not :)

On Princess the Port Lecturer is an Enrichment Lecturer who is on a contract for a few months. They are there to help you do your your own thing and are totally separate from the Shore Excursions Office. Over the last few years "Shopping Hosts" have been introduced. The first time we saw one was 15 years ago in the Caribbean. They talk about where to shop in port and also might highlight things for sale on board. When passengers buy from the recommended shops in the ports, a percentage of the purchase price goes to the cruiseline and another percentage goes personally to the shopping host. The shops involved in the scheme, pay to be in it. When we have shopped in the Caribbean we go to shops not in the scheme where the prices are around 20% lower. On one cruise, one of the photographers was telling us he wanted to work for the company who runs the shopping host scheme because the hosts make really serious money. They might in the Caribbean, but I can't see it happening with the Aus/NZ ports.

 

The person on Celebrity who was mentioned might have been a Shopping Host, not a port lecturer. The presentation could have been promoted as a port lecture, or as a port shopping lecture.:)

The port lecturer on Golden princess over Christmas was excellent. He was definitely telling you what to see in port independent of the tours. He showed maps, talked about the distances and time involved to see different things. Even for places I had been several times before he had interesting, new and worthwhile things to say.

There was also a shopping guide with some Princess guarantee. The shops were listed in the port guide with a map. There may have been an associated talk but it wasn't something that interested me. There were a couple of shops per port.

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

We board on Friday & look forward to also trying the Crown Grill! What was the cover charge per person. I note on the website it's US$25 but what's the charge when on board charges are in Aus$?

Thanks Gail

The cover charge was $Au25. We had vouchers from our travel agent :) so it was free.

We booked on the first day for the first night and has no trouble getting a table. Later on in the cruise though it was booked out. At the very least make your reservation early.

We were on the Golden Princess over Christmas. They allocated places by drawing names. We got no priority because we were in a full suite. We missed out :(

If they get more than 12 people to sign up, my understanding is they do a drawing to select who gets to go. I have also heard that those in a full suite, get priority. We did it on a 7-day Alaskan cruise with 12 people. We signed up on an 11-day Panama Canal cruise, and there was not enough to form the tour. They did however, get everyone who signed up together the last day and took us for a tour of the bridge & meet the captain. We thought that was nice of them since they didn't have to do that. I believe there was six of us.

 

They list the UST in the patter, however in looking back at the patter from the Coral, it's not a very good description nor does it mention the bag of gifts. I could see that those who know nothing about it, probably would not jump at spending $150 for a tour, just based on what it says.

From the patter in 2/2014: Princess Cruises Ultimate Ship Tour - Go behind the scenes of the Coral Princess. Cost of the tour is $150 per person. Space is limited. Sign up at the Passenger Services Desk.

We wanted to do the tour on the Golden but it was allocated by lottery and we missed out. So the sign up was not first come first served.

In Adelaide (actually probably any city) I am a great fan of the art gallery. We like Glenelg and the beach and had excellent tapas down there. You can get there by tram.

In Melbourne have you climbed the shrine? There are great views and it is easily reached by tram down St Kilda Road. I am going to recommend the gallery again. If I just had a short time I would go to the NGV at Fed square and maybe look at the Joseph Brown collection on level 2, very special excellent examples of Australian art. Or pay a visit to Brack's Collins Street 5pm and take pleasure in holidaying from the rat race. At the NGV international on St Kilda Road I think you haven't got time for the blockbuster Warol Ai Weiwei but there is an exhibition called Blue: alchemy of a colour which has lots of work from around the world in different media, eg textiles, pottery ...

We like having brunch by the river next to Princes Bridge below Fed square and across from the rowing sheds. Good coffee and eggs.

Have lots of fun.

We were on the same Golden Princess cruise and I think my views align with the original post. Lots of good things but the food was a disappointment compared to our one and only previous cruise on Sea Princess a few years ago. I appreciate it is difficult to feed so many people but ... I too was very unimpressed with the Curtis Stone pork belly.

We ate at the Crab Shack and I did not like the hush puppies, the prawns were ok when the batter was removed, the bisque or was it chowder (the soup) was not good, I had a much better seafood soup in the cafe of Te Papa (museum at Wellington), and the crab was luke warm.

On the other hand we had excellent food at the Crown Grill.

We hired a car in Tauranga. It was not too expensive in my view. We drove ourselves to Rotorua. Other places such as Auckland and Wellington we made our own way about, mostly by foot. We found no need for organised tours.

It is worth having an idea of what you would like to do with your day by doing some research. There is limited time and you must get back to the ship punctually.

I think it was really easy to eat properly. There were plenty of choices including good choices with lots of fruit and salad and vegetables. I think it was easier to eat properly than at home.

Our experience of Princess over Christmas New Year was that you could only bring wine on when embarking initially. If you had bought wine in New Zealand, for example as a souvenir, it would have been taken by security and held for you until the voyage ended. Bags were xrayed when boarding at each port. At embarkation the X-ray picked up our wine and we were directed to a table to declare it. There were no problems but you might like to check the rules and be aware they are enforced :)

I have completed more of my blog from 21 - 27th December.

 

 

 

If it amazing how much time it takes.

 

 

 

The next installment will cover 28th December to 3 January (hopefully)!

Thank you for writing. Brings it back. The magician was terrific.