Warning if your about to cruise on Coral.

[arxcards]

17 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I saw a post on FB today from someone who is on Coral now. He attended a presentation about "Living at Sea" and during the presentation it was mentioned that all crew members were out of isolation now. So the only cases onboard would be passengers.

That is great news for the affected crew, and also some kudos for being able to arrest further spread. Certainly not ideal to get such a large number of infected crew like that, so I hope there are some lessons learned as well. Augers well for 3 weeks time.

[MicCanberra]

11 hours ago, mr walker said:

and the rainbow jerseys

Lol, some hypocritical nit picking players on the north shore

[MicCanberra]

11 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I saw a post on FB today from someone who is on Coral now. He attended a presentation about "Living at Sea" and during the presentation it was mentioned that all crew members were out of isolation now. So the only cases onboard would be passengers.

Good news, I suppose there are other crew that could still be infected though as there are around 950 crew aboard

[NSWP]

11 hours ago, mr walker said:

and the rainbow jerseys

Load of snowflakes those Manly players, their contracts should have been terminated. Now they have changed their mnds and will wear them. Perhaps they are getting a 'wear the pride' uniform bonus $$$?

Edited July 28, 2022 by NSWP

[MicCanberra]

25 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Load of snowflakes those Manly players, their contracts should have been terminated. Now they have changed their mnds and will wear them. Perhaps they are getting a 'wear the pride' uniform bonus $$$?

Not sure if those 7 players actually played but Manly lost last night. If they were true to their beliefs, they wouldn't in any jersey of mixed threads, would have tattoos, wouldn't play (work) on sundays, etc.. cherry picking what they like to believe in.

[arxcards]

32 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Not sure if those 7 players actually played but Manly lost last night. If they were true to their beliefs, they wouldn't in any jersey of mixed threads, would have tattoos, wouldn't play (work) on sundays, etc.. cherry picking what they like to believe in.

Lets not forget the sports betting company emblazoned across the front of their shirts.

[Elorac123]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

If anything, the most disappointing aspect has been discussed here as well as being mentioned in some of the reviews - check your folio regularly, as there is likely to be charges there for drinks covered under the package, or for items already prepaid. Having to queue at the service desk for this is a failure, and something that would peev me more than any other issues mentioned.

 
I was overcharged three times on a three day cruise, each time I called them and it was fixed up immediately.

Did not intend to spend what little time I had onboard standing in a queue.

Cheers Carole

[Aus Traveller]

36 minutes ago, Elorac123 said:

 
I was overcharged three times on a three day cruise, each time I called them and it was fixed up immediately.

Did not intend to spend what little time I had onboard standing in a queue.

Cheers Carole

I waited in the queue because I wanted a print-out of our on-board account so I could follow the matter up if the amount charged was different. When I finally received it by email (around 10 days after we got home), the balance was the same, but I feel the emailed version was very set out very strangely. The debit balance wasn't the last item shown on the statement.

[arxcards]

55 minutes ago, Elorac123 said:

 
I was overcharged three times on a three day cruise, each time I called them and it was fixed up immediately.

Did not intend to spend what little time I had onboard standing in a queue.

Cheers Carole

The phone is a bit more convenient, as long as they don't have you listening to elevator music in a phone queue. The old system used to have issues with bad writing on chits or passengers quoting the wrong cabin number when ordering drinks resulting in drinks going onto the wrong folio. So while nothing new, we could count on one hand the amount of times we haven't been charged correctly. and it always seems to favour the ship.

 

All the same, they should get it right, especially with technology that should zero any erroneous charge if they try to apply one.

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The phone is a bit more convenient, as long as they don't have you listening to elevator music in a phone queue. The old system used to have issues with bad writing on chits or passengers quoting the wrong cabin number when ordering drinks resulting in drinks going onto the wrong folio. So while nothing new, we could count on one hand the amount of times we haven't been charged correctly. and it always seems to favour the ship.

 

All the same, they should get it right, especially with technology that should zero any erroneous charge if they try to apply one.

In the old system on Princess, drinks etc weren't charged against the cabin number, they were charged against the folio number. It was shown on the card whereas the cabin number wasn't for security purposes. That's why the waiter always wanted to see the card.

[arxcards]

15 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

In the old system on Princess, drinks etc weren't charged against the cabin number, they were charged against the folio number. It was shown on the card whereas the cabin number wasn't for security purposes. That's why the waiter always wanted to see the card.

Our issue of being charged to the wrong cabin was from Lotus Spa. When challenged, the chit was retrieved and found the cabin number was poorly written -that was the only one I can recall having on Princess. On other lines, we have had just a few double charges.

 

Wish they worked off a folio number in hotels. A few years ago, a visiting couple charged up a pizza and a few drinks to our hotel room. It took the duty manager to put two and two together and realise the hotel bar had been duped. He could recall them coming and going, and knew it wasn't us.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Elorac123 said:

 
I was overcharged three times on a three day cruise, each time I called them and it was fixed up immediately.

Did not intend to spend what little time I had onboard standing in a queue.

Cheers Carole

We had a few unexpected charges.  Most came from the dining where two glasses of wine had been ordered at one time and put onto one of our medallions and it didn't recognize that both of us had drinks packages. One charge was when a glass of wine, covered by the package, was charged as a bottle purchase. They were fixed quickly.

[NSWP]

40 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Our issue of being charged to the wrong cabin was from Lotus Spa. When challenged, the chit was retrieved and found the cabin number was poorly written -that was the only one I can recall having on Princess. On other lines, we have had just a few double charges.

 

Wish they worked off a folio number in hotels. A few years ago, a visiting couple charged up a pizza and a few drinks to our hotel room. It took the duty manager to put two and two together and realise the hotel bar had been duped. He could recall them coming and going, and knew it wasn't us.

Like they gave the bar/restaurant your room number, rather than theirs.  Would be easy to do that and get away with it unless it was room service, lol.

[arxcards]

24 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Like they gave the bar/restaurant your room number, rather than theirs.  Would be easy to do that and get away with it unless it was room service, lol.

Could be done. In this case though, they were identified as not staying in the hotel at all. Sneaky buggers.

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Could be done. In this case though, they were identified as not staying in the hotel at all. Sneaky buggers.

The pair probably did it very often, walk into a hotel and give a number and get away with it.  Takes me back to a shonky bloke I used to work with years ago, him and his wife were sort of trendoids, you know up themselves a trifle and their favourite entertainment was on a weekend head into one or two of the big flash hotels in Sydney where Americans and the like stayed. And in the bars and foyers, lounges intermingle with that type of guest, giving them recommendations where to visit, eat, etc and of course being shouted a few drinks. Of course many of the Americans loved to talk to Aussies even if some of it was BS, lol.

 

Bizarre sort of entertainment, but each to their own.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

Like they gave the bar/restaurant your room number, rather than theirs.  Would be easy to do that and get away with it unless it was room service, lol.

In every hotel I've stayed in you have to put your name as well as the room number on the tab and sign it.

[Jean C]

Okay, just off Coral and at Bris Airport - now for the good, the bad and the, well you know 😄

 

We had 900 and something passengers, so well under capacity. Staff everywhere, no problems there. Out of interest, yesterday we walked the whole of Caribe deck Portside and then Starboard side - just 3 covid tables outside cabin doors.

 

Ate at buffet first night and for breakfast and a couple of lunches. Main dining room for all other dinners. Dunno what people care complaining about, MDR food excellent and thought buffet was pretty good too.

 

First day had random drink on our account, removed straight away, but meant we needed to be in habit of checking it every day (screen checking folio on cabin down). Staff got so used to us that one day they removed 2 coffee purchases that we had made, before printing out our accounts, hehehe. They don't give final accounts, a/c is closed when you disembarke, so you are vulnerable to random charges that you can't check before disembarking.

 

Entertainment excellent, comedian Jeff Brown (I think) was hilarious, was on twice. Production show On the Bayou was so good that for the first time ever we went back to the second show 😊

 

Must go, checking in, more to follow ...

[ekka49]

19 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I saw a post on FB today from someone who is on Coral now. He attended a presentation about "Living at Sea" and during the presentation it was mentioned that all crew members were out of isolation now. So the only cases onboard would be passengers.

Good news week. Long may it last.

[Jean C]

Part 2 - long walk from terminal to ship, not a problem for us but a not so young lady, who should have known better, was wearing heels and started to struggle along the long airbridge. Might have been good if wheelchairs were parked periodically or staff were there to assist (maybe a firemans lift?).

 

Okay, delayed boarding, I've said all I need re that previously. I think everyone was a bit tired and flat, as lots of grizzling from passengers at compensation offered - 2 days of fare refunded for 2 missed cruise days, pro-rated according to what we paid, plus the princely sum of, wait for it - drumroll - are you ready? - $50 for incidental costs.

 

Disappointing enough but when the amount came through to our folio a/c the next day, we were grossly underpaid - we'd paid fare in NZ dollars and refund was in AUD. Even allowing for exchange rate difference, we were each about $50-$60 short, grrrr, Guest Services couldn't help, said we weren't the only ones to say that and to put in claim form after cruise. So that put another dampener on things, facing the prospect of battling with Princess. However, yesterday the $50-odd appeared on our accounts, being refunded taxes and Port charges, whew, no need to go into battle, can relax again (on lady full day)!

 

MDR staff excellent, we had same table each night with Henry and his offsider Peter - Henry a wonderfully entertaining character  Peter a quieter sort of guy. Our cabin steward was also a little shy and we didn't see him for a couple of days but cabin was serviced beautifully.

 

Cabin door handle very stiff and hard for weakling me to open at times. Lock on divider between our cabin balcony and next door's broken and had been wedged shut with MDR teaspoon. Came adrift one day, reported to maintenance but they never showed up. Next door re-wedged spoon to hold shut. Guess next occupants will report same problem too 🙁

 

Would I sail again with Princess after this experience? Dunno, will have to wait and see how I feel later. If cruise had all gone to plan and Mother Nature hadn't thrown a hisdy fit then definitely, once on board it was as good as we hoped.

 

PS, never got to afternoon tea but one day was walking past and I put a wee bit of cream on a plate to test it - it was fresh cream. Having said that, also saw staff with aerosol cans of cream on their trays, which I'd never seen before, so the artificial stuff is there.

 

Lots of mask wearing throughout, some sat bars etc with them off. A few wore them under their nostrils and even fewer wore none at all.

 

Hope something here is of interest or enlightenment 🥰

[Aussieflyer]

I board in 2 weeks so have been reading along with great interest. Thanks JeanC

[SinbadThePorter]

On board Coral right now. Quick boarding even with Yellow status. Beautiful day, just watching the sun as it sets over Moreton Bay.

 

Masking is a bit hit and miss.

[Jean C]

8 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

On board Coral right now. Quick boarding even with Yellow status. Beautiful day, just watching the sun as it sets over Moreton Bay.

 

Masking is a bit hit and miss.

Enjoy, and don't miss the On the Bayou show, it surpassed excellent 👍 

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the review.

[SinbadThePorter]

28 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Enjoy, and don't miss the On the Bayou show, it surpassed excellent 👍 

 

Do you need to book that show?

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Do you need to book that show?

You can't book shows on Princess. Get there early for a good seat.