IMSYDNEYAUS

Royal have said that the Ultimate World Cruise full voyage was 70% sold in the first week open for sale.  The Royal Suite gone at USD 760,000.00 and the average balcony at USD 75,000.00 all on nonrefundable deposits.  Good on them.  Can’t see the sectors becoming available any time soon.  And we can’t even do a cruise to nowhere!

It will certainly be interesting to watch.  Basically RCI has no experience with long duration cruises except for the repositioning voyages.  Their business model, crew training etc is based on weekly turnaround, port intensive cruises.  Even the sectors are at least twice if not three times their current longest cruises.  It took them a while to settle into the longer, more sea days cruises out of Sydney.  World cruisers have a completely different mindset as to what they want to get out of a world cruise experience as do the crew.  Fascinating!

Well that was a surprising e-mail to receive.  274 nights, 7 continents aboard Serenade of the Seas starting December 2023 ending September 2024!  With an incredible itinerary, it will take a couple of hours to take it all in.  A surprise indeed!

As I said, it raises many questions.  Crew transfer, sounds the most plausible transferring crew from Asia to other Carnival Corp brands in Europe.  As they have just ‘Australianised’ Star Princess it’s not a product or brand that is well known to non Australian / New Zealand markets.

Pacific Encounter has left Singapore Outer Anchorage overnight (Fr 23 Jul 21) bound for the Suez Canal and eventually Cyprus.  Raises many questions!

Pacific Encounter has left Singapore Outer Anchorage overnight (Fr 23 Jul 21) bound for the Suez Canal and eventually Cyprus.  Raises many questions!

As it’s not her ship, it must have been a man!

Azamara has announced that her new name will be revealed very shortly.  There are three options that they are considering and Azamara's descriptions are below.  Her sisters are Azamara Quest, Azamara Journey and Azamara Pursuit.  My pick ... Azamara Discovery.

Azamara Onward
Onward means going ahead in space or time. It evokes feelings of resilience, positivity, and the endless possibilities of the future. Azamara Onward is a name that shows how far we've come, and how we are continuing towards the next chapter of our journey.

Azamara Forth
Forth describes pushing forward in time or moving into view. It is also a homophone, alluding to the fourth sister ship of our fleet. Azamara Forth is a clever name that elicits the excitement of sailing forth together into a future of new encounters and fresh perspectives.

Azamara Discovery
Discovery means found or found out about for the first time. Aboard the Azamara Discovery it means an experience like never before. Whether you’re exploring the ship or diving deeper into an ancient culture, you’ll discover as much about the world around you as you will about yourself.

As a general rule the closer you are to the harbour the more you are going to pay.  There are many good hotels / self catering apartments in the centre and southern part of the city with easy access to public transport to Circular Quay.  Be sure to include a day trip across the harbour over to Manly on the iconic Manly Ferry with a walk to Shelley Beach and fish and chips by the ocean.  Sydney is a spectacular city, I’m sure you will love her.

This is a true ocean crossing so be prepared for anything.  Have crossed a few times and can be very calm with just a gentle swell or certainly a little more challenging.  As Chiliburn says entering Fiordland can be a challenge at any time of the season.  I’ve been lucky with six out of six but have spoken with others whilst on board and it could be their first successful entry after two or three other attempts on other cruises.  It is a magnificent part of the world and if you are doing the fiords north to south be sure to get a port side cabin or south to north starboard side.

Another sad morning.  Just been advised that our cruise to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in March 2022 is cancelled as Pacific Princess has been sold to an undisclosed buyer.  As Oceania and Azamara have her sisters, let’s hope she finds a new home rather than a beach somewhere, though I doubt it, unfortunately.

I have sailed on both Celebrity and Princess.  Agree with many of the previous posters points of comparison i.e. Princess has small theatres, the standard of food in general is not as good, shower curtains, and, on Majestic Princess, the wi-fi worked inside the cabin but not out on the balcony.  These are all, in my opinion quite minor, though still annoying,  differences.  However, what I think makes a real difference on Celebrity ships overall, is the high visibility of the officers and senior management throughout the ship.  In my experience on Princess, they are nowhere to be seen and if they are, quite brusk.  On Celebrity I have seen them dining in the Oceanview and, more importantly, the Captain makes it known that he and his senior officers will be in Cafe al Bacio at a certain time during the morning.  To me, this leads to a much higher general standard of the ship and her crew.

That’s what it looks like but according to Marine Traffic it’s scheduled to arrive at an Unknown Destination 30 Dec.  Alang is, sort of, just up the coast and across the bay.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  At least she can let her hair down for a little while ... fair winds and following seas.

I have an Eclipse sailing booked for Nov 21 on the old pricing structure.  Checked availability and under the new 'Always Included' for the same cruise and cabin category the price for two (02) people has increased by almost AUD 4,000.00 in total.  Sad, but with pricing like that this will definitely be our last Celebrity Cruise.

That’s the one ... enjoy!

Capt Kate, Bug and her husband are currently all on leave at home in Las Vegas.  She just had her hair up for the APEX welcoming ceremony shots.  She now has her own vlog ‘How I Sea It’ which is very good.  Check out the planning of the Celebrity APEX welcome dance episode - brilliant.

During the week Sea Princess was handed over to new owners, a new Chinese cruise start up - Sanya International Cruise Development Co.  She will be renamed Charming.  This now solves the puzzle of what was happening to Sea and Sun as we had earlier been advised that Sun Princess will be operated for the Japanese NGO Peach Boat sailing as Pacific World.  Guess it's good news that they have both been given a new life and not heading to the scrap yards.

During the week Sea Princess was handed over to new owners, a new Chinese cruise start up - Sanya International Cruise Development Co.  She will be renamed Charming.  This now solves the puzzle of what was happening to Sea and Sun as we had earlier been advised that Sun Princess will be operated for the Japanese NGO Peach Boat sailing as Pacific World.  Guess it's good news that they have both been given a new life and not heading to the scrap yards.

Interesting news this morning that Celebrity Cruises is going "Always Included" meaning all cruises, excluding Galapagos, will include Service Charges, the Classic Beverage Package and 'surf' WiFi.  Options to upgrade to Premium Beverage Package and additional shore ex and OBC are available.  Interesting move.  As a non-drinker it doesn't really worry me as it now includes the specialty coffees, smoothies etc and it will mean a more relaxed atmosphere on board without the crew having to constantly promote the various packages and on board offers!  Obviously the pricing will increase however they are still, in my mind, the best of the contemporary premium lines.

It's now confirmed.  From Seatrade Cruise News ... "The Court Marshall in Mumbai has awarded former Jalesh Cruises' Karnika to NKD Maritime for recycling at an undisclosed price, after failing to meet its reserve price for trading.  The vessel, which is still anchored in Mumbai, will now move to Alang, India."  Sad.

According to Cruise Harbour News, neither she nor her crew have been treated well these past few weeks ...

The cruise ship Karnika, which until recently was owned by the now bankrupt Jalesh Cruises, has been sold for scrapping in Alang, India, after its future has been in doubt in recent weeks, Cruise & Harbour News understands.

The ship is located off Mumbai - according to an on board report, without any electricity, after being practically abandoned by Jalesh, which was forced to close its doors due to the global situation in which we live. With 245 meters long by 32 wide, and 70 thousand tons of gross tonnage, the Karnika is part of a class of two, to which the current Pacific Dawn also belongs, which was originally destined for Sitmar, that went bankrupt during its construction, and so the vessel was delivered to Princess. Karnika can be recognized as the former Pacific Jewel, Ocean Village Two, AIDABlu (1), A'Rosa Blu and Crown Princess.

The agreement will be carried out by the cash-buyer NKD Maritime, who has purchased it for an estimated value of just over US $5 million, and thus, it will be the first to be beached in Alang for dismantling, since the economic crisis in the cruise industry has started to take several cruise ships to Aliaga, Turkey. Its beaching is expected, for now, later this year. In it's final years of his career, Karnika was dedicated, precisely, to an innovative operation in the Indian market.

The former Pacific Jewel, currently sailing as the Karnika For Jalesh Cruises in India, is reported to have been sold for scrapping on the beach at Alang, also in India.  My last cruise on her As Pacific Jewel was the incredible P&O five ship meeting off Sydney.  Sad news.

Another sorry memo this morning from Princess Cruises ... surely it won't belong until Royal Caribbean International announce the same.

"Due to the uncertainty about when travel restrictions might be lifted, Princess Cruises is extending its pause in cruise operations departing from Australia through 31 May, 2021 which includes all cruises throughout Australia and New Zealand"

G’day so,ton saint.  Great post but you may consider posting under the Australia and New Zealand thread as you will probably get many more responses.

They were revolutionary ships in their design with Southern Cross going on to a lengthy career however Northern Star had major problems with her engines which shortened her career drastically.

G’day Erin, great to hear you are planning an adventure down under!

Jilltoons started a similar post on this post a week os so back ‘Which Australia cruise’.  There has been some great responses with detailed descriptions of the various ports and conditions in the South Pacific.  I suggest you have a read through that to start with and come back to here should you have any more questions.

With regards to accommodation in either Sydney or Brisbane, let us know what budget range you have in mind as the dream and the reality can be quite different.