Australia cruises Dawn Princess

[t60]

Have any UK cruisers taken any cruises in Australia on the Dawn. What was the ship like, Is the Princess product the same as we expect from USA and UK cruises, if it is different, how? What about onboard stuff, entertainment etc, Cruise Directors, formal nights. I know one difference is they do not have anytime dining

 

Sandy in Spain

[soccerref]

We did the Sydney to Perth Northern Explorer cruise on Sun Princess last August and had a great time.

 

The cruise experience was very similar to our other Princess cruises but with an OZ twist.

 

The entertainment had mainly Australian guest entertainers so we didn’t understand some of the references and jokes but that happens when we cruise out of the states too. The cruise director was British (from Stoke-on-Trent ....about a mile from our house so we had a running joke with him when he left his Stoke City mug visible on the morning TV programme.......we are Port Vale supporters!).

 

We prefer ‘anytime’ dining but were fine with the traditional. A lot of the Oz passenger used the buffet so the dining room wasn’t crowded.

 

There were plenty of the usual activities: trivia, dance classes etc

 

They showed Oz rules football on the MUTS screen in the day.

 

We don’t drink alcohol so can’t comment about the prices.

 

Australians do not pay gratuities.......apparently it is included in the price of their holiday......but other nationalities have the usual charges applied to the shipboard account!

 

Do be aware that Australia is extremely expensive for food and gifts. We had 2 small black coffees and 2 muffins in a small cafe in Broome and it cost the equivalent of £21!!!!!!

 

I would highly recommend that you either book your flights through Princess or have a few days in your embarkation port beforehand. I say this because we had a major problem with our Emirates flight from Manchester to Sydney and instead of having 3 nights in Sydney we ended up staying 1 night in Manchester and 2 nights in Dubai. It would have meant missing the cruise and trying to catch up with the ship later had we not had this pre-cruise extension.

 

If there is anything else I can help with, don’t hesitate to ask.

[t60]

We did the Sydney to Perth Northern Explorer cruise on Sun Princess last August and had a great time.

 

The cruise experience was very similar to our other Princess cruises but with an OZ twist.

 

The entertainment had mainly Australian guest entertainers so we didn’t understand some of the references and jokes but that happens when we cruise out of the states too. The cruise director was British (from Stoke-on-Trent ....about a mile from our house so we had a running joke with him when he left his Stoke City mug visible on the morning TV programme.......we are Port Vale supporters!).

 

We prefer ‘anytime’ dining but were fine with the traditional. A lot of the Oz passenger used the buffet so the dining room wasn’t crowded.

 

There were plenty of the usual activities: trivia, dance classes etc

 

They showed Oz rules football on the MUTS screen in the day.

 

We don’t drink alcohol so can’t comment about the prices.

 

Australians do not pay gratuities.......apparently it is included in the price of their holiday......but other nationalities have the usual charges applied to the shipboard account!

 

Do be aware that Australia is extremely expensive for food and gifts. We had 2 small black coffees and 2 muffins in a small cafe in Broome and it cost the equivalent of £21!!!!!!

 

I would highly recommend that you either book your flights through Princess or have a few days in your embarkation port beforehand. I say this because we had a major problem with our Emirates flight from Manchester to Sydney and instead of having 3 nights in Sydney we ended up staying 1 night in Manchester and 2 nights in Dubai. It would have meant missing the cruise and trying to catch up with the ship later had we not had this pre-cruise extension.

 

If there is anything else I can help with, don’t hesitate to ask.

 

Thanks Soccerref for the information. We have been to Sydney to pick up a cruise before, but that came back to LA. Good tip about travelling early, we always do this and plan to have a few days in Sydney before we board (this will mean we some of the things we didn´t have time to see last time) I agree about prices, we thought Sydney was expensive.

On your cruise did you arrange your own excursions, if soplease can you let me have some info please, or did you use Princess?

Just one more thing (at the moment) was everything on board charged in US or AUS dollars?

Thanks

Sandy in Spain

[jannandjohn]

Do be aware that Australia is extremely expensive for food and gifts. We had 2 small black coffees and 2 muffins in a small cafe in Broome and it cost the equivalent of £21!!!!!!

.

 

Well thats absolute rubbish!!?..unless you went to a very upmarket boutique type coffee shop, which you would have chosen ..21 pounds is equivalent to 33 Aus dollars..even upmarket I cant imagine you would be charged almost 17 Aus each, for a coffee and muffin.

We buy coffee and muffins everyday, and have never paid more than Aus 15 dollars..for the two of us...in fact plenty of coffee shops charge much less..

Coffee is usually always around the 3 to 4 dollar limit...for a MUG of cappucino , latte, flat white or black.

[soccerref]

Hi Sandy,

I’m glad the info was helpful. We did Brisbane on our own, taking the river bus from the cruise terminal to the centre and then the local bus out to the Koala Sanctuary....it was great, easy to do as there was a very helpful lady at the terminal tourist booth who explained it all, and relatively inexpensive.

 

We did ship’s tours in Townsville, Port Douglas, Darwin and Bali. I have some mobility problems whereas my DH loves trekking, bird watching etc so we did separate tours and I felt safer doing the ship’s ones.

 

I did a tour organised by the local tourist board in Broom and my DH just walked around.

 

I’m almost certain that our on board charges were in Aus $.

 

Hi Jann and John,

I’m sorry if I offended you but we really did pay $30Aus which at $1.39 = £1 was £21 and it was just in an ordinary cafe part way down the main street in Broome. I have the receipt to prove it.

 

We had a wonderful time in Australia and found the people extremely friendly and helpful but we did find things expensive compared to where we live in the UK. I bought a baby’s T-shirt (the cheapest I could find in Fremantle) and that cost me $17 which is over £12. I would never expect to pay more than £5 at home. I also love to visit local supermarkets wherever we travel to buy something ‘local’ to take home. I inevitably compare prices with those at home and found virtually everything in Coles to be much more expensive than our local Tesco store.

 

Best regards SR

[t60]

Hi Sandy,snip...I also love to visit local supermarkets wherever we travel to buy something ‘local’ to take home. I inevitably compare prices with those at home and found virtually everything in Coles to be much more expensive than our local Tesco store.

 

Best regards SR

 

Thanks SR, Boxes of TimTams for us from the local stores

Sandy in Spain