Onboard grand Princess 21st of December till 22nd of January

[RobinBancs]

Melbournes public transport is great!  We used the free shuttle to get to Eureka Tower and then the teams out to Docklands for the day. Got out to ArtVo with the kids and spent the day at Docklands. Easy tram back for free and made it on to one of the very last free shuttles back out to Station Pier.

 

My least favourite part of being in transit is just how busy the terminal is and having to mix in with the newbies to the ship. It’s like negotiating a path through horizon court on a sea day at 9:30am.

 

I think that when Grand stopped at Adelaide, there were two gangways, one for new embarkation and the other for cruisers in transit. Wish it was like that here!

[RobinBancs]

Some feedback from our 10 year old referencing the water slides he can see.  “How come Golden Princess got such good upgrades after we’ve already been on it?”

 

I daren’t mention that they are racing slides or he’ll really lose it!

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, RobinBancs said:

Some feedback from our 10 year old referencing the water slides he can see.  “How come Golden Princess got such good upgrades after we’ve already been on it?”

 

I daren’t mention that they are racing slides or he’ll really lose it!

Tell him about the downgrades - no free ice cream 😁

[RobinBancs]

32 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Tell him about the downgrades - no free ice cream 😁

They have been told and we’re horrified

[RobinBancs]

Tonight’s menu is the easiest one to select from of all. It’s Gravlax and Ribs and daylight for second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RobinBancs]

The Crème Brûlée is bigger in Michaelangelo. Raspberry sorbet to cleanse the palette helps!

 

 

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, RobinBancs said:

The Crème Brûlée is bigger in Michaelangelo. Raspberry sorbet to cleanse the palette helps!

 

 

Looks yum.

Don't they all come from the same galley for all three dining rooms?

[RobinBancs]

4 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Looks yum.

Don't they all come from the same galley for all three dining rooms?

Not sure. They changed the size last week for us here and @yes!yes!yes!posted a picture on the same night that looked smaller. Michaelangelo is on deck 5 and the others are on deck 6

[RobinBancs]

@Jean C  I have more kids program outlines

 

Treehouse (3-7 yo)

 

Lodge (8-12)

 

[Jean C]

9 hours ago, RobinBancs said:

@Jean C  I have more kids program outlines

 

Treehouse (3-7 yo)

 

Lodge (8-12)

 

Thanks so much, the kids are excited about the programme, the crafts, the movies etc so I appreciate you posting them. The youngest one (7) said she didn't want to go as "Kids Club is for babies" but I think it's just a bit of resistance to the unknown. Mum said that was fine, she would just have to hang out with. We'll put her in for a couple of hours and check how she is - she'll be fine. Fingers crossed she can go to the 8-12 club as they'll all be able to talk about the same experience together 🤞

[yes!yes!yes!]

12 hours ago, RobinBancs said:

Tonight’s menu is the easiest one to select from of all. It’s Gravlax and Ribs and daylight for second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beef short ribs are so good

[yes!yes!yes!]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

Looks yum.

Don't they all come from the same galley for all three dining rooms?

Quite a few dishes came plated differently . I think it's all the same kitchen

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Quite a few dishes came plated differently . I think it's all the same kitchen

I think it is that way. We did an ultimate ship tour on Diamond some years back, and it had one big galley with an escalator, and it supplied the meals for all three dining rooms. 

 

Interesting they change up the dishes. If they are doing the creme in big batches, they might not have enough of the same dishes to go around, and alternate batches between the different dishes.

[RobinBancs]

The ship got a whole lot busier and noisier since we stopped in at Melbourne and got the newbies on ship.  Short cruise clientele are here for a fun time, not a long time 😂

 

I hope they enjoy their time aboard and in Adelaide and KI!

[RobinBancs]

5 hours ago, Jean C said:

Thanks so much, the kids are excited about the programme, the crafts, the movies etc so I appreciate you posting them. The youngest one (7) said she didn't want to go as "Kids Club is for babies" but I think it's just a bit of resistance to the unknown. Mum said that was fine, she would just have to hang out with. We'll put her in for a couple of hours and check how she is - she'll be fine. Fingers crossed she can go to the 8-12 club as they'll all be able to talk about the same experience together 🤞

 

For sure. Having said that, there has been some jealousy going the other way with our two.

[RobinBancs]

4 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

The beef short ribs are so good

Hope you’re home safe and sound in Perth. Thank you for kicking this thread off not helped so much precruise!

[NSWP]

Yesyesyes, thanks so much for your posts and pics.

[RobinBancs]

Last nights menu was a repeat formal night menu. Not a fan of the last night being a formal night and the mess it creates for packing, but with the allocation of Sea Days, it had to happen for someone (MEL or ADL pax).

 

 

 

[RobinBancs]

Debarking from Adelaide was stress inducing but that’s probably because of the added tension of getting DW off to work and having two young kids as my deckhands.  In itself, it wasn’t actually that hard.

 

ABF process was quick and easy. We had declarations to make in relation to feeding farm animals at a wildlife park which fit the category of “least concern.”  Andrew’s airport staff were clearly visible at the exit and seamless transition to the bus.

 

We had $850 of onboard credit between the 4 of us over 19 days and were scrounging for ways to use it all at the end. A couple of formal photos at the end used it all up.

 

Not sure I want to step on the scales when I get back in the house. 

[RobinBancs]

On 1/23/2023 at 5:03 AM, Jean C said:

Thanks so much, the kids are excited about the programme, the crafts, the movies etc so I appreciate you posting them. The youngest one (7) said she didn't want to go as "Kids Club is for babies" but I think it's just a bit of resistance to the unknown. Mum said that was fine, she would just have to hang out with. We'll put her in for a couple of hours and check how she is - she'll be fine. Fingers crossed she can go to the 8-12 club as they'll all be able to talk about the same experience together 🤞

I have some advice on kids in the Tree House (3-7). Bring something to store their treasures in through the cruise. They will bring back lots of paper and little trinkets that they make throughout the cruise. A flat file for paper and an empty pencil case for miscellaneous items would be ideal. Fluffy toys are much easier to deal with. You know the sessions because it refers to a Whale and Eagle in the programme. If you’re doing a long cruise, they finished with a surprising larger and adorable husky (I think it’s a husky) on night 13!

 

If Anya is on Grand still when you go, she is an absolute treasure and understood our 7yo so well. Tell her that “Mr Charming” from Adelaide said hi and I’m sure she’ll know who it is 😂. We already miss her!

[yes!yes!yes!]

10 hours ago, RobinBancs said:

Debarking from Adelaide was stress inducing but that’s probably because of the added tension of getting DW off to work and having two young kids as my deckhands.  In itself, it wasn’t actually that hard.

 

ABF process was quick and easy. We had declarations to make in relation to feeding farm animals at a wildlife park which fit the category of “least concern.”  Andrew’s airport staff were clearly visible at the exit and seamless transition to the bus.

 

We had $850 of onboard credit between the 4 of us over 19 days and were scrounging for ways to use it all at the end. A couple of formal photos at the end used it all up.

 

Not sure I want to step on the scales when I get back in the house. 

I put on 5kgs over 33 nights.

Easy come, easy go

[Jean C]

11 hours ago, RobinBancs said:

I have some advice on kids in the Tree House (3-7). Bring something to store their treasures in through the cruise. They will bring back lots of paper and little trinkets that they make throughout the cruise. A flat file for paper and an empty pencil case for miscellaneous items would be ideal. Fluffy toys are much easier to deal with. You know the sessions because it refers to a Whale and Eagle in the programme. If you’re doing a long cruise, they finished with a surprising larger and adorable husky (I think it’s a husky) on night 13!

 

If Anya is on Grand still when you go, she is an absolute treasure and understood our 7yo so well. Tell her that “Mr Charming” from Adelaide said hi and I’m sure she’ll know who it is 😂. We already miss her!

Thanks so much for the tips, we'll take what you suggest. We cruise for 7 days, with 3 port days, so it should all be manageable 🙂

[yes!yes!yes!]

Wow, been home over a week. I feel like I need another holiday.

I don't think I mentioned the cruise director and his staff much in my posts. So I thought I would share my thoughts on them.

Aaron the cruise director was good, quite witty. He did a few really crass jokes referring to his sexuality which got a few groans from the audience. In general he was pleasant.

Shreta was the stand out of all his crew, she was funny in a quieter way and would have a go at anything when they couldn't get volunteers from the audience. She was well liked among all the cruisers I spoke with.

Robbie was great fun, he did a lot of the music trivias and came across really genuine like Shreta.

Yuki (the first 2 cruises) and Will (last cruise) were both Japanese and I'm guessing they were training them up for the Diamond Princess when it starts out of Japan soon. To be honest, we couldn't understand barely anything they said and Yuki drove us nuts with the way she constantly danced totally out of time. The young south African girl, I'm sorry I don't remember her name, think it was Kayla, was okay. She was the dj too. 

Lucy sang a couple of songs really well on the Christmas eve show, but she constantly mentioned how all the music in the trivias, gameshows etc were before her time. Referencing how old all us passengers were. My mum didn't like her much and we got the vibe that she didn't get on that well with the other cruise director crew.

 

[hammo]

Love your candour and the entire post . Thanks again  

Sadly Out of love with RCCL over what should be a minor issue re accessing the Next Cruise Credit we purchased on the cruise following your debarkation -  and given we are trying to book another cruisenow  have had some tension trying to use it and some very surly unproffessional converstaion getting assistance from RCCL . Disappointing . Back to Celebrity , Princess , NCL , anyone really , we just love to Cruise , but not if we feel a little scammed.