Sydney24

On 4/28/2023 at 2:32 AM, ldtr said:

The policy that lowest price cabins in each meta class is now non refundable was confirmed by the head of on board sales on Regal, as well as others.  So that is pretty established.Have not gotten a clear word about the higher capacity deluxe balconies.

We also had that confirmed with our Princess cruise planner. We booked the 2025 world cruise and wanted a mini suite with a covered balcony. The only location with covered balconies are on deck 8 and are classified as entry level so we could not book. All other mini suites are totally uncovered on deck 9 so we had to book a deluxe balcony instead. It doesn’t make sense to restrict those so called entry level cabins to a paying customer who chooses that location.

11 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

For both Ripcord and North Star, some days/times were free and some you had to pay.  I think Ripcord was free on the first day as an enticement, but was pay all other days.  North Star was listed something like basic (free) and extended (pay), with the basic going up but not swinging out to the side. I think North Star was free while in port. 

 

I was able to book a free Ripcord session on day 1 using the Royal app right after we boarded.  The app told us to see Guest Services for a Ripcord pay session or any North Star session.  You can book at each activity's check-in desk or there's a desk in the Seaplex where we booked our free North Star session.  All other activities that I can think of can be booked on the app.  We didn't do bumper cars or roller skating, so I'm not positive that those can be booked on the app.

Thank you so much for the information. We are looking forward to our cruise on Ovation.

On 10/5/2022 at 8:54 AM, bobmacliberty said:

So…sea days. Lots of them. We generally are not big sea day fans.  We prefer going to ports and seeing/doing something. We are fortunate to live walking distance from the beach in Florida and belong to a club with a nice beach/pool/ocean clubhouse area with great food and drink. We can have a nice beach/pool day almost any time for most of the year. We don’t cruise for that type

of experience. I know that many people love sea days. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same. Our biggest concern about doing an ocean crossing is what we would do all day for many days in a row. 
 

So far, it’s been a little boring, but not as bad as we expected. Don’t get me wrong…there is a lot to do on the ship. Every morning is filled with various stretching/yoga/exercise type classes. We don’t do that on vacation (and barely do that enough at home). There are trivia events several times a day. We’ve done a few of those. They’re a good way to enjoy 30 minutes, but we can only

take so much trivia. There are constant health and fitness type seminars, design to sell spa services (IMO), constant jewelry seminars, designed to sell jewelry (IMO), and constant art seminars, designed to sell art (you guessed it…IMO). I’m sure many of these seminars are educational and not really just a sales pitch, but they haven’t really attracted us. There’s Bingo most days, which we might eventually try, but $50 for a bunch of bingo cards isn’t my kind of gambling. I’d rather go to a craps table, which we also haven’t yet done but likely will. 
 

We’ve gone to a couple of interesting lecture from a woman named Louis Riofrio. She’s an astrophysicist and former NASA scientist who lives on the Big Island. Her talks are an interesting mix of volcanoes, black holes, Hawaiian history, and things to do in Hawaii.
 

Yesterday, we went to a cake decorating contest between the Hotel Director and the F&B Director. Each had a passenger helping them. The F&B Director’s helper was a woman with some sort

of degree in cooking who has a catering business that specializes in cake decorating. 😳. The F&B Director took a more serious route and designed a pretty nice looking cake. The HD took a more comical route and designed a pretty outrageous looking cake. There was some fun interplay between the officers stealing each other’s toppings and the CD did a good job of narrating and keeping things funny. It was an enjoyable event. 
 

For the most part during the day, we’ve just relaxed and read our books. Micheline has several books loaded into her Nook, and I have the same for the Nook app on my iPad mini  (which makes for a great ebook). I just finished reading a good Brad Meltzer book called The Escape Artist, and started reading the latest Jack Reacher book called Better Off Dead. 
 

Evenings are filled with various shows, musical artists, and occasional passenger competitions. We’ve had no problem filling our evenings with fun activities. 
 

I can’t remember who asked, but Northstar has been running the entire cruise. Same for RipCord

by iFly. 

Hi I’m enjoying reading about your travels. We are new to RC and will be on Ovation in March 2023. Are you able to tell us what the booking system is for the NorthStar, Ripcord and the other activities onboard? We are cruising with friends who are very keen to try the indoor skydiving! Thanks. Anne

Sorry not sure where I picked up you were talking about dolphin deck! Any of the aft cabins on any deck are amazing!

There are only 4 cabins aft on dolphin deck on the Sun and any one would be fantastic. We didn't end up in the caribe minisuite on the Dawn as we were offered an upswell to a full suite next door. One of the best cabins we have been in so far. I am sure you will enjoy it! Please let me know what cabin you get. Anne

Would anyone have any photos of the aft mini suites on Sun Princess?

 

 

 

Google hasn't been very fruitful unfortunately - nor has a search of CC :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Thanks in advance :)

Which cruise are you looking at.? Sometimes the Aft suites are classified as mini-suites. We booked C747 once on the Dawn as it is very large with a huge balcony. All of the mini-suites on this ship are equivalent to suites on the other ships with a full living area, bedroom and separate bathroom and toilet.

Our first ever cruise was in the Coral through the Panama Canal. We had E724 and couldn't fault it. Lovely big covered balcony with 4 chairs. There was also a door nearby that takes you to the deck at the back of the ship. We spent a bit of time there going through the canal.

Hi I used

 

info@princesscruises.com.au

 

and got a reply immediately very good service

 

Just curious why Sydney 24 when you hail from Melbourne?

Thanks for that. We have just moved from Sydney to Melbourne for work. It is not likely to be permanent so I am holding onto my Sydney24 name!

Yes here in Australia they will accept e-mails also and the turnover is very fast usually about less than 2 hours

Hi would you be able to share the email address you use? I faxed my details weeks ago but haven't seen anything in my account yet. Thanks

We have just booked an aft balcony on Dolphin deck on the Regal. This is a larger balcony and is partially covered.

We used Alla tours last year and they were fantastic. We had a group of 6 who met on CC before the cruise. We went to local restaurants and stayed in SPB to eat at a local place in the evening.

We have done it a few times and the waiter stays with you throughout while the assistant runs back and forth to the galley. No need to tip during the meal.

Thanks for your quick reply and assistance Cindy. I did see these but wondered whether there had been any changes since 2010. It seems strange to maintain a cabin as accessible but not be able to use it as one. Doesn't seem to help any passengers. Thanks again. Anne

Has anyone been in these mini-suites recently? We have booked D736 for a Japan cruise but am now worried by comments in some older posts that there is no sofa in these mini-suites. We liked this suite for the extra large balcony. I understand the configuration is different with the beds not converting to a queen and the bathroom set up as accessible which we can handle but we do like to have a sofa in the lounge area. The last review I can see is dated 2009.

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Anne

Thanks for posting this. We are a group of 19 traveling on the Golden in 3 weeks and this will come in very handy!

We have just returned from a Sapphire Princess cruise to Vietnam and Cambodia. As long as you were travelling on an Australian passport then Princess arranged the visas for each country. We had to hand over our passports at the start of the cruise and completed a number of landing cards during the cruise distributed and collected by our cabin steward. I assume all the cruise lines do likewise. We did have some instructions on our cruise confirmation. Anne

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Thanks for your response. I tried to email Jenny but the email bounced back! I am in Australia and the contact I have is a local one. The Meet and Greet has been organised through Princess for a while now and the only other thing I wanted to do was print personalised invitations. I have managed to get some information but will just take blank invitations with me and complete once on board. No time left to worry about it! Almost ready to leave. Thanks again to all who replied to my query. Anne

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Thanks Stu. My Princess contact told me she couldn't give me their names for privacy reasons! Anne

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Thanks for that. Anne

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Hi, I am organising a Meet & Greet for the 27 November 2014 sailing out of Singapore. I would like to invite some of the officers but can't find details other than the Circle Host, Maitre d', Hotel GM and Cruise Director. Has anyone been on board recently and would have a Patter that would give me some of the other officers details including the Captain? I have tried asking Princess but didn't get a response. Thanks for any help you can give. Anne

Thank you for posting. Yes, some officers seem invisible to us. Do you have the name of Maitre D' from a Patter? Hope your cruise was relaxing, even if the key personnel were out of sight!

We are sailing in a few weeks. The Maitre'D is Pasquale Marino. He was on the Royal during our June cruise to the Baltics. Anne

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Great information. Thanks. Anne

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

$29 per person is the cost of the transfer based on our cruise in October. Anne

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

David a few to add for us

4th October 2014 Dawn Princess 3 day Sydney-Melbourne

23rd October 2014 Celebrity Solstice 3 day Sydney short cruise (trying a new cruise line)

22nd March 2015 Dawn Princess 2 day Melbourne to Sydney

18th June 2015 Sun Princess 2 day Brisbane to Sydney

Just a few weekend breaks!

Thanks

Anne

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Received an email from Princess, Captains Circle department. Then some people did some sleuthing to get the info which pictures were picked and where they are displayed.

 

 

 

Theo

Hi are you able to let us know where we can see all of the photos and where they are located on the ship? I had a photo on the Royal and know there was a site that told you where to look for your photo. I would love to see the photos selected for the Regal. Thanks. Anne.

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app