Where is MicCanberra ?

[mrs and mrs]

Had my coffee card, all I wanted was a cappo or latte, that wasn't burnt and actually tasted of coffee.

On Dawn it was awesome, here it was downright appalling.

Was so bad I started drinking tea, mmmh now I quite like my tea, so am looking forward to grabbing my English and irish breakfast and hopping up to Knitters and Knatters.

Truth be known the Knits and Knats are probably the coolest kids on the block.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Grrrr! I'd be annoyed about that too. The coffee was OK on the Hong Kong cruise, I've had better but it wasn't bad. Edit actually I avoid the milky coffees on ships. I can't stand the taste of oversteamed UHT milk.

 

I agree with you about the coffee on Dawn. Even though it doesn't have an IC it had awesome coffee.

 

Sun was decent.

Edited November 12, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[mrs and mrs]

Yes and we were warned about excess luggage,as we ended up 40 kgs over,and that's after posting off 15 kgs in Darwin.

Try getting on a Rex flight with 90 kilos of luggage.

Tellin ya things are going to change.:eek:

[LC1950]

Great review Mrs and Mrs, and thank you for your honesty. Mmmm sounds like a typical repo to me. Staff being trained, disgruntled passengers because they are not treated like little tin gods and the usual abuse of smokers (although smoking in designated areas). Oh yes, and of course the 'kennel' cough and no "noro". LOL and I'm not going to go into the rudeness of some passengers - manure happens, right?

 

I did the repo from Oz to China last April and found some similar issues but it was a repo cruise, not a 'normal' cruise. I made allowances and had a great trip. The weather was great, the seas were calm, I didn't starve - what's not to love? And let's not get into the dreadful coffee! I found double shot short blacks to be not too bad though.

 

Glad that you made it safely home and look forward to reading your *cough* alcohol prices info. Oh dear LC, did you mention alcohol? :eek:

[OzKiwiJJ]

Hmmm. Sounds like it might be better doing a repo from Australia at the end of the season like we did, rather than at the start of the season. Even though it means having to fly home afterwards. :eek: We had an excellent cruise overall on our Golden repo.

[mrs and mrs]

yep all very lovable, still princess cheerleaders.

We just learnt so much, about how to take a different cruise.

Cant leave it at that, got to get to the islands in feb ,and really give the AIBP, another run for its money.

Didn't do AIBP,this time, but it actually worked out the same, almost.

[mrs and mrs]

Hmmm. Sounds like it might be better doing a repo from Australia at the end of the season like we did, rather than at the start of the season. Even though it means having to fly home afterwards. :eek: We had an excellent cruise overall on our Golden repo.

 

Apparently, the golden was not treated well in Asia.

The crew also seemed shell-shocked, with many crew changes all the way to Bali.

Fresh faces everyday was unsettling to crew and passengers, as everyone gets used to each-other, suddenly they are gone.

Key personal were left on board, but stewards and bar-keeps seemed to turn over at an alarming rate.

Was quite bemused when I ordered a wine one day and the steward came back with an empty wine glass, and gave it to me.

He was very nervous, so we coached him through it.

He got quite the run around for a few days, but in the end was nominated by us all for consummate host a got a great tip as did all the Neptune bar people.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Apparently, the golden was not treated well in Asia.

 

That's odd as it's not the first season she's spent up in Asia - or is it? But you'd think Princess would have all the wrinkles ironed out by now anyway. :eek: :confused:

Edited November 12, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[Beanb41]

Grrrr! I'd be annoyed about that too. The coffee was OK on the Hong Kong cruise, I've had better but it wasn't bad. Edit actually I avoid the milky coffees on ships. I can't stand the taste of oversteamed UHT milk.

 

I agree with you about the coffee on Dawn. Even though it doesn't have an IC it had awesome coffee.

 

Sun was decent.

 

Celebrity used Fresh milk on our recent cruise Sydney to Singapore. That said so called Fresh milk seems to last about 2 years in the fridge now that all the milk fat and other good bits have been removed and sold to China for baby formula

[OzKiwiJJ]

Celebrity used Fresh milk on our recent cruise Sydney to Singapore. That said so called Fresh milk seems to last about 2 years in the fridge now that all the milk fat and other good bits have been removed and sold to China for baby formula

 

Maybe I'll risk having a latte on our next Celebrity cruise then. I tried lattes on our first Princess cruise but they definitely used UHT milk, plus they didn't seem to get the ratio of milk to coffee right - I like a regular (often called small) latte where the coffee isn't swamped by the milk. The smallest size on Princess seemed to be very large.

[GUT2407]

Only been on Celebrity once, so far. The milk was definitely UHT in the cafe.

[mrs and mrs]

So how is Mr Gut, keeping control of the peasants, no uprisings or dissention in the ranks I guess

[Beanb41]

Only been on Celebrity once, so far. The milk was definitely UHT in the cafe.

 

UHT milk in Australia must now come in plastic containers

[jayde43]

Mrs & Mrs thanks for the interesting and entertaining read. Definitely wont be doing one of those repo cruises. As a newbie I take on board all the help i can get... :)

[OzKiwiJJ]

Mrs & Mrs thanks for the interesting and entertaining read. Definitely wont be doing one of those repo cruises. As a newbie I take on board all the help i can get... :)

 

Not all repositioning cruises are like that, jayde43. We did the Sydney to Hong Kong one on Golden earlier this year and couldn't really fault it. Great service, great entertainment, good food, and lots of sea days to relax.

[mrs and mrs]

LOL, right-on.

 

In retrospect, lets try and put some positives into this, its easy to knock, but after a couple days, will try and grab some goodness, remembering we paid a bargain basement price, to visit some far flung destinations, that some only dream about.

Embarkation.

Quite a circus, but ok considering that some didn't arrive until half an hour from sail-away.

Lost buses of people driving around the container port ,instead of the cruise port.

 

This was quite scary considering that it took some 7 hours to arrive, when it was meant to take 3.(fog ,pollution, accidents, grid-locked roads. When you pay good money, you surely expect the drivers to know where they are going. Cross-country ,thru alley ways, off beat villages, dirt-tracks. We were slightly put at ease, seeing princess buses doing the same, but not much, when you tell the driver to stick with those buses, and alas off every-one goes in different directions . Saw 2 horrible accidents. At least our driver was careful.

 

 

Ship.

Odd, took some getting used to, not a deal-breaker.

 

Ok, when your used to the Sun, Sea and Dawn, its like walking out of a small shop into a huge dept store. As I said not a deal-breaker. In retrospect the ship is beautiful.

 

Tours.

Long, queues, waiting, travel times, lots of walking, waiting, in sweltering heat.

 

The logistics off organising 2500 people to go on tours, must be mind-boggling, but the tours themselves constantly ran out of time, where your time was reduced at places. The plus was, you were guaranteed, to get back to the ship. The buses were always new, well air- conditioned, and comfortable. The tour guides were, informative, friendly, but absolutely scared that they would lose some-one. We had one stuff-up, were we missed part of a tour, which was annoying, but in the end, didn't matter as all we missed was queues and crowds.

 

Food

M.D.R

Great if you like having 3 to 4 courses stuffed into you over half an hour.

Quality as the boss sad, not bad, medium.(what ever that means)

 

Probably more like 3/4 hour ,but was stilled rushed.(annoying).I actually asked one night if they could make it quicker as my soup hadn't quite made my stomach yet, so they did. The sarcasm went straight over their heads, but were pleasant and friendly. I'm still out on the quality, but hey one doesn't get the option to eat in a restaurant every-night . Im still giving it the tick of approval. Annoying little things, like 4 same salads ordered and 4 different salads arrive, all missing something.

 

Buffet

At times fantastic, at times ordinary.

If you like under-cooked red meat that is still mooing this is for you

If I see another breaded prawn again ill scream, or any sort of prawn.

Curries awesome.

Rock hard eggs, english bacon only once and the rest was good old deep-fried American bacon.

Heaps of butter and rolls, mdr and buffet

Pastas that were screaming for a sauce.

The Tasmanian Barramundi was interesting.(sorry from where)

All in all wasn't to hard to find something.

 

Still very good, but lacking in green cooked vegetables, with , zucchini, beans being the standard fair.

Rock-hard Bok-Choy, Rock-hard asparagus, and broccoli non-existent.

But was easy enough to find and put together a meal.

I guess I'm being a bit picky

 

International Café.

What a great concept, sure takes the pressure off room service.

Watch for Diabetes Australia to set up a booth, as people gorge themselves on iced doughnuts and cakes.

Coffee gets its own section, further down

 

Really is a wonderful concept, where else can you get 24 hr food, at no extra cost.

 

Crew.

This must surely have been a training exercise for the AUS summer.

All friendly, BUT,

 

As above. We don't pay a lot of money, for our steward to remind us daily how tired he was, etc, etc. We also don't expect the poor cleaning to be paid off with plenty of chocolate.

We don't enter a bar and ask for a mud-sling, to be told, that they don't know how to make one.

I'm not used to being told that, when ordering a $100 bottle of wine, that its a long way to walk, to get it.(sorry round the cnr/Bernini to vines).

Not used to being asked to return our glasses from the dining room to vines.

BUT all friendly, never rude.

Staff Highlights.(always name the good, never the ordinary)

Mostly bar and steward staff.

Micheal, Donabel, Diego, Qi-Wen, Nickola, Rogie, Polly,(1st cruise, wonderful young man from India).Ji-Aing (1st cruise from china, you'll get there son, LOL )

Mariana, our 2nd asst cruise director(lovely and good at her job, now off to Sea Princess.

 

Ship

In need of some maintenance, but not a deal-breaker.

Carpet being replaced through-out.

Main pool down for 4 days at hottest part of voyage.

Sanctuary, no-one ever there.

Sky-walkers, you'll need a packed lunch, just to find it and get there.

At night, Skywalkers is loud and dark, take a torch and a ship guide, will be helpful at 2 am

Pool Towels plentiful, new and fluffy.

Lounger hogs, everywhere, aggressive, possessive, you need to be up early, to beat these fanatics.

Lift rushers, would put a giants line backer to shame.

Queue jumpers, masters at their craft, adept, no-shame and will up anyone for the rent who object.

As above.

Oh did we mention rude people, will bump, push, shove you, judge you, talk about you, stare at you, no manners what so ever. Clique little pathetic groups everywhere.

We saw and spoke to Blue carders who were absolutely lost and disillusioned at their treatment by these Elitests.

This was balanced out by some wonderful, wonderful people. Mainly younger people in the 50/65 age group. Anyone seeing a thread here.

We have said it before, cruising is changing and so are the people, it seems some don't get it and hang on to their ever diminishing world.

 

Entertainment.

Ok if you have nothing else to do, or like listening to the same sets day after day.

A good sail-away one night, dancers and crew were awesome.

If tired head to the Sleep-house bar were a crew member will surely direct you to your cabin at one in the morning.

Ordinary shows, Knitters and Knatters was looking good.

 

In hind-sight, there was always something to do, but seemed fractured daily, with shows being cancelled, venues being changed, but all in all was ok.

 

Vines Bar.

Our fav place, grab a wine and the tapas and sushi are awesome.

 

yep, our new go to venue.

Cheers Horlicks and Peter.

 

COFFEE.

So bad ,so, very, very bad, even the coffee syrup in the buffet was the winner.

Oh did I mention that the coffee was bad.

 

Man,i cant even say anything good about this crap.

One plus grab a coffee card, dont use it up and you can get free brewed coffee with-it.

To Karen at the international café, good job babe under trying circumstances.

 

Cabin

Inside was awesome, smallish shower, but very good with heaps of hanging space.

 

Yep loved it.

Loved being invited for drinks and Hor-derves, in the suite next-door, wow isn't that the life .Loved being thanked by the 2 surrounding suites for being great neighbours to which the compliment was returned.Not sure what they expected (lol)

 

Fixed vs Anytime.

Huh seemed no difference, we had fixed, which we changed the time, which appeared to be anytime, which was actually fixed at a anytime time, which everyone seemed clueless to what we actually had.

Never saw anyone waiting after 7.00pm,in fact the dining rooms were about half full.

Formals, nice to see 99.9 % dressed to code.

Suggestion ,just do anytime, grab a drink at vines and stroll through at the buzzer time, to which we never saw a buzzer handed out.

 

Bizarre, but worked out and we learnt.

 

El Capataino

Very good and informative with midday announcements.

Hotel manager

always around, pretty cool actually, Cheers Francesco, or how ever you spell it.

 

Smokers vs non-smokers.

Hilarious at times ,until one woman smoker was assaulted in her area for smoking.

 

Ridiculous, where nons would deliberately day after day walk through the smoking area flailing their arms about and covering their face.(this after standing on street cnrs in the most polluted cities in the world).Got to the point where some smokers would wait in advance for the daily walk-through and done surgical masks and flail their arms about over the really bad, cheap perfume that was being worn by the nons.

Just a little hint, if your covering your nose, you are still breathing through your mouth.

Ended up being the best comedy act in town, until the nons toned it down, but to keep every-one on their toes, one would never know where these people would pop-up.

 

In summary

2 medical evacuations at sea(1 chopper,1 police launch)

About 6 evacuated in port

Several evicted for fighting.(rumoured to be a pensioner fight)

Fisticuffs over undies I guess

Lots of ambulances in ports.

Heard of one passenger throwing omelettes at the chef in buffet, screaming that they were not good enough.

The Beijing bark was every-where, affecting lots and lots of people.

Fairly understandably when you visit some of the most polluted cities in the world.

Almost everyone coughing and being ill for a couple to three days, only to half recover and have it return.

No NORO every-one very good at hand sanitising in food areas.

 

This wont go down as our best cruise, but was enjoyable.

Just lots of shell-shocked, sad, people.

 

Will post alcohol prices as soon as we find camera.

 

More good stuff ,the pizzas, pies, hot-dogs, chips, ice-cream, all free, and plentiful.

Big rushes at these events after tours and hungry people came back on board, which left the m.d.r and buffet emptyish for that night.

 

Photos.

Great deals $149 for all photos on board, which we missed but got the $199 deal .Awesome value, we ended up with 72 photos average $2.70 pic. Port arrival pics, formal, casual, dining,everything Outstanding.

Didn't do a spec restaurant,

Cheers Samatha from Reflections or whatever you call it.

 

So not the greatest cruise, but still good.

We jumped to Platinum, during this cruise.

Some may ask why this means so much.

To us it means that we can help new Blueys and show them that there are experienced cruisers, who will help, wont judge. Wont embarrass them or try and strong arm them, into feeling inferior.

We have experienced the goodness and help of many Elites,(and there are many of them), we also have experienced and witnessed appalling behaviour from some as well.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The priority boarding and free internet with Platinum is also good. ;) We managed to eke out our free internet over the whole of the 20 night cruise.

[Aussieflyer]

I didn't know "three names" was on that cruise :eek:

 

Tut tut :)

[mrs and mrs]

Well ya heard it here first MicCanberra is back, just hasent posted here yet.

Yahhhh.:)

Edited November 14, 2016 by mrs and mrs

[GUT2407]

The priority boarding and free internet with Platinum is also good. ;) We managed to eke out our free internet over the whole of the 20 night cruise.

 

Yep I managed to drag mine out over 34 days, about 10 minutes a day at sea and then check more detail when in port.

[chesterbear]

Well ya heard it here first MicCanberra is back, just hasent posted here yet.

 

Yahhhh.:)

 

 

I just saw he posted first on a different thread. Hmmph this thread was in his honour so he should have posted here first!! [emoji6][emoji51][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mrs and mrs]

I just saw he posted first on a different thread. Hmmph this thread was in his honour so he should have posted here first!! [emoji6][emoji51][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

OMG, that's what he meant when he said keep them in suspense, and I've blown it.

Sorry Mic.:)

[MicCanberra]

LOL, what a fascinating thread and all because you missed my constant posting. I am embarrassed but then that passed quickly.

 

Love these forums.:D

[MicCanberra]

I just saw he posted first on a different thread. Hmmph this thread was in his honour so he should have posted here first!! [emoji6][emoji51][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I wasn't aware of this thread but went through the rollcalls I am involved in and also a subscribed thread. Once I had done that I discovered this thread and lo and behold I am back once more.

[MicCanberra]

I am a little worried re our Mic - MicCanberra, he has not been on CC since 27/10 and I don't think he is cruising. Where are yoooooooooo Mic ?

 

Rest easy, I am back now Uncle Les, thanks for your concern.:D

 

So lovely that you all missed me, we had a lovely time in Vietnam and Cambodia, which was very busy so the little Golden cruise was great for a recovery.:D