Over from NZ

We used this company and did the ultimate tour. It was brilliant! https://www.rocktoursgibraltar.com/packages/ultimate-tour

However, if you're short on time to fit in the Gin tasting.. they have shorter tours. 

12 minutes ago, No Sea Legs! said:

Thinking logistics.

Second night- a sea day and the first formal night.

We prefer to eat early (6.30).

Can anyone tell me how the first formal night is organised and what we might expect.

Is it an extra special menu for the evening?

Is it a lot of standing around and waiting for something to happen that we are not invited to as we not Ruby, Platinum or Elite cruisers? 

Thanks in advance.

Don't over think it. There will be some people that don their glad-rags and suits and go to dinner. Some will turn up to the MDR in shorts and T-shirts. The photographers will try their hardest to get the dressed up to have their photo taken. There might be something "special" on the menu.. but most won't know. There will be a few "Elites" rattling their jewelry.. but mostly it's a bit of a meh night. Knock your self out if you love dressing up and preening.. otherwise it's really just like any night 🙂 

10 hours ago, Gwendy said:

I have cruised with 8 different cruise lines.  P&O a poor relative in recent times, with its bogan demographic.  However I still loved to cruise with them, cheap, great crew, can drive to port, I just do my own thing watch the ocean go by and enjoy the ports.

It's ironic; because out of Australia.. the bogans are on P&O.. their parents on Carnival and their Grandparents are on Princess. Once the young bogans get old, they transition through the lines haha. Same class of people.. just different ages 🙂 

This is the key to it - "However, given the strategic reality of the South Pacific's small population and significantly higher operating and regulatory costs, we're adjusting our approach," he said.

That's coded for - Down under is a small market and not as profitable. Add to that, NZ is becoming problematic for them and other regulatory issues.. and Aus is the backwater where they want to squeeze a better return out of with less ships. Expect fewer options and increased fares I would think. 

On 6/2/2024 at 3:07 AM, Host CJSKIDS said:

Formal nights are only for the MDR and you will see many around the ship and at specialty dining dressed how they would on casual nights.  Some people also dress for dinner and then go back and change back back to casual after eating. Others stay in their "formal wear" the entire night.  You will see various ideas on what formal is these days.

 

You will find Caribbean sailings to be much more casual in dress than European sailings.  Many will be dressed just ike they are for casual nights and then there will be some in suits.  On the Caribbean sailings I personally see very few tuxes. 

 

You can have a drink at any bar you wish dressed casually.  Again, there is not a dress code suggestion for anywhere other than the MDR. 

 

You will find that this is a touchy subject on these boards so be prepared to read so many differing opinions!

 

 

That's interesting that Caribbean is more casual than Europe. 6 formal nights last year in the Mediterranean.. shorts and t-shirts were acceptable at all of them in the MDR. So it must be anything goes in the Caribbean! 

No damage reported and no tsunami. Luckily it was very deep and a long way off Vila. 

5 hours ago, Kay S said:

Well, it's been awhile, but the all the lobster I have eaten on Princess in the last 10 years or so has been small, dry and tasteless.  Maybe they have improved?

I second that. Small, dry and tasteless sums it up. 

3 hours ago, xyankee said:

Trying to determine how much cash to bring on my cruise. Can cash for use in the casino, on both table games and slot machines, be charged to my on board account? Something tells me the answer is no but wanted to check here before I decide.

The answer is - Yes, you can charge your gambling to your onboard account. 

On 5/21/2024 at 10:18 AM, Dididi said:

 

Hi!  Below is the advice I posted on another thread.  We visited Tonga on P&O Australia's Pacific Explorer last August.  No whale watching tours were offered by the ship.  The snorkeling and diving tours were canceled because the tide was all the way out.

 

Nuku'alofa: You can get a taxi to take you to the same places as the ship's tours: the palm tree with two tree tops; the blow holes (very impressive!), and the caves (my friends really liked them, not my thing).  You can walk to the Palace from the pier.  It's pretty but, as one of the Indian waiters said, it's a bungalow, not a "real" palace.  Our walk around town took us to the city market where we saw produce and other items (lots of woven mats) for locals.  I wasn't looking for souvenirs, but the stands near the pier offered good deals on locally made items.  I ended up buying a baroque pearl pendant, a large one, not perfect but very pretty, for about $80NZD.  

 

On another thread I read that university students will set up a table near the souvenir stands at the pier where they'll offer walking tours.  So that's another option.

 

Vava'u: Long but beautiful tender ride to the port.  We took a cultural demonstration (cooking, mat weaving, dancing, kava drinking (optional)) and beach tour with the ship.  We also visited a vanilla farm. Fewer transport options in Vava'u and the town near the pier is considerably smaller than Nuku'alofa (and it's along the main thoroughfare, parallel to the water, so it's not as walkable as Nuku'alofa). I drank coconut water in both Tongan ports so was very happy.  We saw pigs "fishing" in the shallows and lots of feisty chickens.  Most houses in the villages we drove by had new water tanks (supplied by the government after the volcano eruption). Saw lots of solar panels too.  There were souvenirs for sale at the pier but the choices were better at Nuku'alofa.  

 

Because of the long tender ride to/from Vava'u, I would recommend a ship tour if you want to do something more than a short walk in town along the main road. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Thank you! Really appreciated! 

As others have said.. taxis are plentiful and inexpensive to/from the airport/port. Singapore is very small.. but so much to do! Most Hotels are central and the MRT is an exceptional and easy way to get around the city. Stay at least 2 nights if you can. 

Any suggestions on excursions etc?

Just now, doghog said:

If you say so. Not our thing to talk number of cruises, cabins or tier levels, politics, religion and Cruise Critic. 😂

Exactly! 😁

On 5/11/2024 at 2:10 AM, doghog said:

We've never experienced any of that with Celebrity, RC or Princess with the people we speak with. Thanks for the heads up as I'll try and avoid you at the next CC HH as I don't want to hear you try to outdo others. Cheers...🍻😂

Cheers. I avoid those events.. so we won't bump into each other lol. I can't comment on Celebrity or RC.. but on Princess it's rife. Who cares how many times you've cruised. 😁🤣

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I agree, it may only be 1 or 1.25% for most credit cards or 3% for Amex, but it is an annoyance. It is a merchant fee just like company tax and such,it should be built in.

Originally started in businesses where cash was king and credit cards were not. Now nearly every business does it, even when cash was never really used and actually discouraged.

Yep. Yet you can go to the supermarket where they work on low margin, high turnover.. and they don't charge an extra cent if you use your c/card. Obviously the c/card companies are having their wicked-way with some retailers charging them up to 3% when they can charge the big retailers next to nothing. Time they were taken to task as a near-monopoly. 😁

1 hour ago, doghog said:

Different strokes...🤪

1 hour ago, doghog said:

Different strokes...🤪

Yep lol. I reckon it would as cringey as anything haha. All the noters trying to out-do each other as to who's more "elite" haha. But if that's your thing.. 🤣

7 hours ago, doghog said:

A dedicated lounge that is open all the time for Platinum and Elite members. Model it after the Diamond Lounge, now called the Crown Lounge on RC ships. 

Now that's something I would avoid!!! 😛

1 minute ago, Galesa said:

I think they've already got that covered. Gotta feel sorry for US visitors who keep being told Australia and NZ don't tip when every restaurant and cafe bill has a space for "Gratuity".

Yes, but you can (and should) ignore that on the eft-pos machine when it pops up. 

Yep, we're seeing it occur more frequently in the tourist hop-spots.. where the eft-pos machines are asking you if you wish to add a tip. The answer we want to give is - "hell no, do I sound like an American?". I think the poster above was right onto it though - the simple explanation that should be given to US visitors.. is just don't do it! If you want to offload your money - just buy more. Eat out more, upgrade whatever you're doing.. do extra excursions. I.e. spend more.. but don't tip a cent. Excellent service is what's expected for the base fare. 

A wrap-around promenade! Turn up the volume a bit on the MUTS for movies. Ditch smoking indoors (it's 2024 for goodness sake!). Make sure to include the Irish Bar! 

And while we're designing the ultimate Princess ship - can we chuck in a suggestion for the itinerary. Spend more time in the ports! This nonsense of 6-8 hours in a port and then slowly cruising to the next annoys me. Give us longer in each port.. or heck, even overnights in the ports! 🙂 

On 5/8/2024 at 10:16 AM, Kristelle said:

JJK2008, thank you. I have often thought the same.

Encouraging people to tip starts the slippery slope to expected tipping.

Life in general, not specific to cruise ships

 

At most, if anything - round up taxis and pizza deliveries to nearest round number - ie $47:50 - make it $50. Keep the change sort of thing.

 

and if somebody really does exceptional service, not just does their usual job - publicly say so - on Trip advisor,their Facebook page, write letter to their management,send flowers to their workplace etc

 

 

 

 

Well the good thing is that next to nobody uses cash anymore.. so you don't even need to round the bill up. When they hand you the tap & go or the eftpos machine.. it's going to be $47.50. Maybe with the demise of cash.. we can kick this tipping nonsense to the curb 🙂 

Last year, we used these guys - 

https://www.ephesusshuttle.com/categories/kusadasi-to-ephesus?id=1

They were excellent. The tour guide was Melis. Highly recommend. We did it as a group of 4 and it was only USD$84 each.  

Mykonos is very walkable. We had on our list to see the Wind Mills, the old Harbour, Little Venice and the Bougainvillea and white-washed stone streets from the picture-cards.. and they're all in the same general area. 

3 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

Good old P&O, you see it all.😂

Out of Aussie; it's the same people on Princess.. just a generation older. 😂

On 3/15/2024 at 4:37 PM, LBlank1 said:

Is anyone doing the Sun Princess 7 Day Barcelona to Rome itinerary on June 1st? Starts in Barcelona, then Gilbaltar, Mariseille (Provence), Genoa, Florence/ Pisa (La Spezia), Rome. Two Sea Days. This will be our first cruise ever and our first time in Europe. We are new to this. Are these good ports? We are somewhat familiar with Barcelona, Florence, and Rome but not the other stops. I'd love some input. Thanks!

They're exceptional ports if you're willing to put the effort in! 🙂 We've been to them all twice. First time around we sold ourselves short in Marseille by not organising anything. Was our fault. Second time we went to the Palace of the Popes in Avignon and the Pont Du Gard. 

10 hours ago, mokiemokiemokie said:

Are the teen clubs free?  Can the kids come and go without parents signing them in or out?  Are they well attended or ghost towns?

 

We didn't take our teen when we did the Med (twice). However they were "ghost towns". Almost no kids/teens on the ship at all (May/June both times). I even took a pic to show him that he probably wouldn't have enjoyed it like he enjoyed the South Pacific cruises over holiday periods. 

Are you looking for best or cheapest? Taxi or Uber is by far the easiest.