sewgood

I'm enjoying reading about your tours but really feel for the poor lady who broke her leg at the beginning of the world cruise. The gardens by the bay are wonderful and are a cool way to get out of the heat. You surprised me by the sulphur-crested cockatoo I wonder if had been a pet or got blown off course.

Really easy to walk to as it is a very very wide pavement and flat all the way. Enjoy the view of the Opera House and the ferries as you walk along. We often wheel our suitcases up to the train station after the cruise. The train station is just near the light rail. As the light rail terminates at Circular Quay you have plenty of time to get your suitcase on the tram and get your pick of seats. It will be the cheapest method to get to your hostel. With the light rail you can use a credit card with a chip to tap on or buy an Opal card maybe at the train station (sorry I don't live in Sydney). A rail/ferry/light rail /bus pass is cheap to buy and a great way to get around the city. You can use your pass to catch the ferry all the way over to Manly which is a wonderful way to see the harbour. There are also a lot of walks to do around circular Quay which cost nothing. The Botanic gardens are great to stroll through as well as the historic rocks area.

I have brought back food on a few occasions, sometimes some strawberries if they are difficult to get onboard or a local treat such as really good croissants from Luna in Melbourne. Though I wouldn't be able to take these things off the ship of course. I haven't had any difficulty getting them onboard and the crew bring back crispy creme doughnuts etc all the time on Australian cruises. Things may be different in Japan, just ask the right crew before you leave the ship what you can bring back on board.

Did anybody on the cruise notice any locals come down to view the ship while it was docked in NY or for the sail away? It did seem to create a little bit of a buzz her being there.

Well the Coral docking in Manhattan certainly excited a few New Yorkers who cruise Princess. They were asking on a few of the Youtube cruise channels if Princess were now going to use this dock and not the Red Hook one for the New England cruises. They didn't know why a princess ship moored there. I will be interested to see where the Crown docks on her WC in 2025. I would think that Princess would try to use the more central wharf of Manhattan.

Glad to hear you are home safely. I hope you don't have too much housework awaiting you.😮And your husband did the dishes while you were away, just kidding. I did my first solo cruise this year for 14 days and enjoyed having the whole room to myself. I did miss my husband at meal times but otherwise I filled in the day quite well. How did you go sailing solo for so long and would you do it again?

This is great to hear as we are presently working out what tours to do for next year's WC and it has three stops in Iceland. Sounds like you had a marvellous time and the entertainment was a little more interesting than our normal cruises from Australia with different entertainers to what we usually get year after year here on our cookie cutter cruises. Looking forward to your tour reviews when you have the time to post. If you are still in NY have fun and a safe flight home.

Thanks Aus Traveller, this is really useful information for those of us who have overseas cruises booked. Overall how did you enjoy your cruise? How was the entertainment ? What was your most enjoyable port of call ?

We did this too before covid and were very happy with the service. The staff even bowed to the bus as it left the airport.

This happened to me as well, there was another Australian poster on the Princess board who started a thread on this. He very kindly shared how he got the SHOBC in post #33. I also have my shares through Commsec and only get the statements every three months so I will try what he did. I have never had any problem before getting the SHOBC with Princess, HAL or P&O. The next cruise I book will be on HAL or P&O.

Good work, sounds a lot easier than what I'm doing.👍 I'll let my Princess vacation planner know as well. 😊

I put in an order today to buy some more shares to try to get a statement dated later than the 30th of June. It will take two working days to clear, I'll let you know if that works to get a new statement with my name and address.

Unfortunately the flight costs for a cruise early in October have proven difficult to find a cheap airfare. We leave Honolulu on the 2nd of Oct on a cheap cruise and had to pay over $1000 each for flights as we are flying in the Australian school holiday period. I think this is the reason for the increased fight costs. On the positive side it forced us to shop around and we will be trying Hawaiian Airlines for the first time. So looking forward to that.

Thanks BlerkOne I will give it a try.

I am on the Royal from Honolulu on the 2nd of Oct and I too have had my application rejected. With the exact same wording as you. My last statement is from the end of June and no further statements will be available until the end of September which will be too late to submit. I contacted my broker Comsec and here is a bit of (maybe) relevant information from a rather long winded reply. This does mean that until the point in time when we can allow clients to opt-in for the eStatements, you will continue to receive CHESS statements via post in the month following any movement of units on your CommSec account. So what I will do today is buy a few CCL shares ( to make a movement of units as they said in the email) and see if get a new statement at the end of the month. Hopefully it will appear online in my account and I can send a copy of that in time for the now increased deadline of 4 weeks before the cruise. Princess Australia has definitely changed things for the shareholder's OBC and are really making it hard to get. I've never had any trouble like this before.

Not needed for NZ but be aware you are not covered medically on the ship if you need their services. Medicare doesn't even cover you in Australian waters.

Below is a section of the paperwork that we printed out to take with us from our credit card insurance (by Allianz Global Assistance) that we used for our cruise in June to New Caledonia. I have underlined the relevant section. This paperwork was checked at boarding and surprised me how much it was scrutinized. It passed but it was a bit worrying so I understand your concerns. Just look for the wording, covers covid-19 and cruising in what they email you after taking out the insurance. If it doesn't mention it, hey it was free so no harm done, but you will have to try somewhere else. Best of luck and have a great cruise. 😊 Eligibility for Cover while Cruising and for Epidemic/Pandemic (such as COVID-19) Cover Under this group policy, the eligible traveller/s listed below have access to International Travel Insurance which includes epidemic/pandemic (such as COVID-19) coverage and cover while cruising including while aboard a foreign registered cruise vessel in Australian territorial waters.

I think the only way we will know is from fellow CC members in the following weeks who sail in full suites on ships where the new changes have been implemented.

As for the Coral it looks like they will let it finish the world cruise before implementing the new charges. The WC had started before the new announcement.

It was our favourite port in the pacific. A mix of historic buildings, art galleries and beautiful scenery. Terribly sad to see the amount of houses and businesses destroyed in the town. My heart goes out to the people there to not only lose their houses but to see their beautiful old town centre burnt to the ground. It was with a little bit of disbelief when I heard the news yesterday morning thinking that there was not much vegetation outside of town to burn but just goes to show nowhere is safe from fire given certain conditions. We were to go back there in October on the Royal Princess on her way to Australia but will no doubt have an itinerary change now.

In the buffet on the Majestic I asked the waiters for a tray to take 2 plates of food down to my elderly parents and they got one from the clean up service area. It was not a problem, I would hope you could ask the waiters who clear the tables on the Caribbean as well and get one off them.

I thought they had Alfredo's but I checked the deck plan and it isn't there. You're right they don't have any casual dining so too bad for the passengers looking to have their two included casual dining experiences on the plus plan and even worst for those who paid for the more expensive package.

Have a look at https://www.whatsinport.com/Le-Havre.htm it will tell you how to connect to the Honfleur tours run by Bee le Harve if that is the one you are doing.

I think that the old Sun Class ships (Sea, Sun and Dawn) use to use the Manhattan terminal for the world cruise. They were smaller ships than the grand and Royal class. Perhaps it has to do with the ship size as to what Princess ships call into Manhattan pier on a port day. I see that Coral Princess is booked in on the 16/17th of August. Thanks for the above link, it gives plenty of bus numbers for getting to Central station from the pier. Very handy for the WC passengers from down under. 🙂

It was free on my last Princess cruise in March for me. Sounds like there has been a change or is going to be one. Last time I went there all I paid for were the drinks. It will be interesting to see what I have to pay for at Alfredo's on my next cruise. I wonder in the following years if I will have to pay for a cheese and tomato toasted croissant at the International Café. 🤔 I'm not being serious, just kidding.