Live From – Crown Princess 26 Oct Round Australia Cruise

[Ozwoody]

 

Hi I thought it would be interesting to log a live review of our cruise on the Crown Princess as we travelled.

 

A sort of travel log/evaluation of the Ship; Ports; and Our Cruise.

 

This cruise was a replacement for cancelling our 2024 World Cruise due to our concern with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as a large part of that cruise was in the Baltics, and then the unrest in the Middle East (later as it turned out to be a full out war and closing of the Suez Canal).

We were very reluctant to cancel but unfortunately things did not look good, and we made the hard decision.

 

So, we could call this is our “Compensation Cruise”.😁

 

As I write this, we are 3 days out from leaving for Sydney on Friday, with the cruise boarding on Saturday 26^th.

 

To say we’re excited is definitely a considerable understatement.😂

For several reasons:

1              This has been a busy year, we have included in it, a long road trip through three states over three weeks to visit our kids, we have seven between us.

2              Then just to make life interesting we decided we needed to down size our home of six bedrooms, and multiple living areas.

                This meant the going through the whole house upgrading, patching, and sprucing up more areas than I envisioned when we made the decision

                and of coarse the decluttering and culling, so it has been non stop work since.

3              Oh, and then the most important reason for excitement in taking this cruise, is   

                We Love To Cruise….

 

We have done a Circumnavigation of Australia previously in 2012 on the Sun Princess, which was also in the Oct-Nov period, and absolutely loved it, so this one is a little nostalgic as well.

 

Currently we’re in the packing and tidying up the things that must be taken care of before we go.

You know all the mundane things like paying the bills, prepaying some bills, setting up timer light times, mowing and trimming lawns, making a list of all the things that need turning off before we leave.

SHMO is ensuring: any burglars who break in, won’t find any dust or dirt anywhere, freshening up our cruise clothing (That I do truly appreciate), and organising her sister to come water her plants while we’re away, and a multitude of other things as a mere male, would never have thought off (also truly appreciated).

 

As we’re flying to our embarkation port, packing is taking a lot more planning than my normal, throw a bag on the bed and stuff it full of everything I think I could use, then throw another on the bed and fill it with more stuff, then any other stuff I think well that could be useful too into smaller bags.

Yes, I’m afraid some people would call me an OVER PACKER, however I like to think of it as “Being Prepared”. But I’m not the only one here of being guilty.

 

This time we’re limited to 1 large & 1 carry-on each, with a max weight of 24kg & 10kg respectively.

THIS is proving to be challenging!!!

 

I’m basic folding and rolling, Hil is carefully folding and smoothing. In her words “It’s a male female thing”!

I have learnt from many years’ experiences; it is best leave her to her packing on her own.

I have never come to terms with having to try on everything two or three times before it’s selected for packing?

I guest it’s just one of those “male female things”. I put it down to the same phenomena as the number of shoes?

Ahh and therein lies a trauma for her, how is a woman going to cope without a separate shoe bag?

 

But we’re progressing and all will be fine.

 

3 days to go…..

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:42 PM by Ozwoody

[MicCanberra]

Good luck with packing. I look forward to the live from.

[ceeceeDee]

Actually, I was going to send you a 'congratulations, your count down to the cruise is now in single digits' John, but you beat me to it!!! Good luck with organising the mundane things (those pesky bills). Wishing you and Hilary a super fabulous time. I'll look forward to your 'live blog' not only so I can cruise vicariously, but also to get your impression of Crown as we are booked on her in what feels like the far distant future 😀

Edited Sunday at 10:54 PM by ceeceeDee

[CDaze71]

Good luck with the packing, I'm in a similar situation. I'm a notorious over packer and flying back Jetstar. And even though our Royal Princess cruise is only 14 nights, we will be land travelling afterwards for Christmas and away for 27 nights. So I will struggle with one checked in bag and one carry-on. Plus wintery clothes for NZ and summery clothes for Christmas travel. 

 

Can I ask for some investigating please? Drinks prices. Even though I'm on Royal, surely things can't be that different. Are you going to the Elite Lounge? Could you please take a photo of the cocktails on offer in there as they're usually a bit cheaper ? Re my post about being on Standard Fare I'll be buying as I go. Thanks. 

[Cbtours]

53 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

 

Hi I thought it would be interesting to log a live review of our cruise on the Crown Princess as we travelled.

 

A sort of travel log/evaluation of the Ship; Ports; and Our Cruise.

 

This cruise was a replacement for cancelling our 2024 World Cruise due to our concern with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as a large part of that cruise was in the Baltics, and then the unrest in the Middle East (later as it turned out to be a full out war and closing of the Suez Canal).

We were very reluctant to cancel but unfortunately things did not look good, and we made the hard decision.

 

So, we could call this is our “Compensation Cruise”.😁

 

As I write this, we are 3 days out from leaving for Sydney on Friday, with the cruise boarding on Saturday 26^th.

 

To say we’re excited is definitely a considerable understatement.😂

For several reasons:

1              This has been a busy year, we have included in it, a long road trip through three states over three weeks to visit our kids, we have seven between us.

2              Then just to make life interesting we decided we needed to down size our home of six bedrooms, and multiple living areas.

                This meant the going through the whole house upgrading, patching, and sprucing up more areas than I envisioned when we made the decision

                and of coarse the decluttering and culling, so it has been non stop work since.

3              Oh, and then the most important reason for excitement in taking this cruise, is   

                We Love To Cruise….

 

We have done a Circumnavigation of Australia previously in 2012 on the Sun Princess, which was also in the Oct-Nov period, and absolutely loved it, so this one is a little nostalgic as well.

 

Currently we’re in the packing and tidying up the things that must be taken care of before we go.

You know all the mundane things like paying the bills, prepaying some bills, setting up timer light times, mowing and trimming lawns, making a list of all the things that need turning off before we leave.

SHMO is ensuring: any burglars who break in, won’t find any dust or dirt anywhere, freshening up our cruise clothing (That I do truly appreciate), and organising her sister to come water her plants while we’re away, and a multitude of other things as a mere male, would never have thought off (also truly appreciated).

 

As we’re flying to our embarkation port, packing is taking a lot more planning than my normal, throw a bag on the bed and stuff it full of everything I think I could use, then throw another on the bed and fill it with more stuff, then any other stuff I think well that could be useful too into smaller bags.

Yes, I’m afraid some people would call me an OVER PACKER, however I like to think of it as “Being Prepared”. But I’m not the only one here of being guilty.

 

This time we’re limited to 1 large & 1 carry-on each, with a max weight of 24kg & 10kg respectively.

THIS is proving to be challenging!!!

 

I’m basic folding and rolling, Hil is carefully folding and smoothing. In her words “It’s a male female thing”!

I have learnt from many years’ experiences; it is best leave her to her packing on her own.

I have never come to terms with having to try on everything two or three times before it’s selected for packing?

I guest it’s just one of those “male female things”. I put it down to the same phenomena as the number of shoes?

Ahh and therein lies a trauma for her, how is a woman going to cope without a separate shoe bag?

 

But we’re progressing and all will be fine.

 

3 days to go…..

 

 

 

Looking fwd to reviews 😁

maybe it is a male female thing for packing. When Frank and I got married 16 years ago and were doing our first trip (to South Africa 2 weeks after our wedding), we both packed our cases! Frank looked at his case, then mine. This is divine order he said looking at his case, and “that” is divine chaos 🤣🤣🤣.

 

recently he’s been converted! He looked at my case with all my packing cubes, and asked me to get him done for our next trip 🤣🤣🤣

 

[Ozwoody]

2 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

Good luck with the packing, I'm in a similar situation. I'm a notorious over packer and flying back Jetstar. And even though our Royal Princess cruise is only 14 nights, we will be land travelling afterwards for Christmas and away for 27 nights. So I will struggle with one checked in bag and one carry-on. Plus wintery clothes for NZ and summery clothes for Christmas travel. 

 

Can I ask for some investigating please? Drinks prices. Even though I'm on Royal, surely things can't be that different. Are you going to the Elite Lounge? Could you please take a photo of the cocktails on offer in there as they're usually a bit cheaper ? Re my post about being on Standard Fare I'll be buying as I go. Thanks. 

 

Yes packing for air travel is always a challenge, when I cruise more that 14 days I always pack 14 days of the small stuff, undies, socks, etc.

And at least 7 days of everything else.🙄

 

Also yes, taking copies of all drink prices I can is on my list of things to do.

I'm sure there is a lot of people who don't take the Plus package, and like me have found it hard to find any info on non alcohol drinks.😡

 

Regards

John

 

[CDaze71]

Thank you John that'd be great. 

Yeah I'm thinking of packing like I'm on a 7 dayer. I'll handwash smalls as I go and send off to the free laundry the basics like shirts and shorts etc. 

[Relaxing Robbies]

Looking forward to reading about your cruise on the Crown. We will be boarding when you disembark. I am interested in the power point situation. Could you please advise if they have installed an Aussie point in the cabins and also if there are any USBs.

Enjoy your cruise.

[Jean C]

11 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Looking forward to reading about your cruise on the Crown. We will be boarding when you disembark. I am interested in the power point situation. Could you please advise if they have installed an Aussie point in the cabins and also if there are any USBs.

Enjoy your cruise.

Me too, I have family cruising on Crown next year and they'll want to know about USB ports in particular, as well as power outlets.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS, I hope you thoroughly enjoy your long-awaited and well deserved cruise and, in case you have that dreaded sensor light outside the bathroom, perhaps add cover up tape to your packing load 💡🙂

Edited Monday at 12:27 AM by Jean C

[Cbtours]

33 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

Thank you John that'd be great. 

Yeah I'm thinking of packing like I'm on a 7 dayer. I'll handwash smalls as I go and send off to the free laundry the basics like shirts and shorts etc. 

we've never had a problem with laundry items. And we don't collect laundry til we have enough, but put it through every day no matter how few items. We only ever travel with one medium size suitcase and not even a full carry on. I take a decent size handbag but do carry a tote that is in its own pack which is hugely useful for the stuff that seems to accumulate by end of trip. Hence coming home we probably have that as a carry on. This works no matter how long our trip of where too. Have a great trip.

[Ozwoody]

46 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Looking forward to reading about your cruise on the Crown. We will be boarding when you disembark. I am interested in the power point situation. Could you please advise if they have installed an Aussie point in the cabins and also if there are any USBs.

Enjoy your cruise.

Yep will be looking at that too for Jean,

[Ozwoody]

35 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Me too, I have family cruising on Crown next year and they'll want to know about USB ports in particular, as well as power outlets.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS, I hope you thoroughly enjoy your long-awaited and well deserved cruise and, in case you have that dreaded sensor light outside the bathroom, perhaps add cover up tape to your packing load 💡🙂

I notice that on one of your previous post, and thought that was a great tip because its one of my bug bears as well.😁

[Ozwoody]

26 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

we've never had a problem with laundry items. And we don't collect laundry til we have enough, but put it through every day no matter how few items. We only ever travel with one medium size suitcase and not even a full carry on. I take a decent size handbag but do carry a tote that is in its own pack which is hugely useful for the stuff that seems to accumulate by end of trip. Hence coming home we probably have that as a carry on. This works no matter how long our trip of where too. Have a great trip.

Yes we always pack a tote folded up in the bottom of one of our bags for the same reason.

[Muffinz]

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

Me too, I have family cruising on Crown next year and they'll want to know about USB ports in particular, as well as power outlets.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS, I hope you thoroughly enjoy your long-awaited and well deserved cruise and, in case you have that dreaded sensor light outside the bathroom, perhaps add cover up tape to your packing load 💡🙂

someone said in the Princess forum that they have 240v NZ / AUS plugs in the rooms for the summer when they are 'down under' and someone else said a while ago there is a USB on each nightstand by the bed

[Muffinz]

I'll be following this with interest as we are on Crown in December - mainly interested in what time the theatre shows are. We've made dinner reservations for 7:20pm - based on the shows being 7:30pm and 9:30pm, but if the late show is 9pm we will have to modify / change our dinner reservations

[arxcards]

Imagine the challenge of luggage limits without Elite laundry. That turns into into packing for 10 days with regular rotation through the laundry.

 

I am keen to read how Crown is perceived. She will be our largest Princess year-round ship, and Coral is a hard act to follow. We have loved cruising on a few of her sister ships, and I would imagine Crown will be similar, but there are always differences too.

 

Above all, kick back and enjoy your long awaited compo at sea.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

 

Yes packing for air travel is always a challenge, when I cruise more that 14 days I always pack 14 days of the small stuff, undies, socks, etc.

And at least 7 days of everything else.🙄

 

Also yes, taking copies of all drink prices I can is on my list of things to do.

I'm sure there is a lot of people who don't take the Plus package, and like me have found it hard to find any info on non alcohol drinks.😡

 

Regards

John

 

The best way to check the drinks prices, especially non-alcoholic ones, is on the app once you're onboard. Drinks menus seem to be hard to find these days and even when you do find one it doesn't always list non-alcoholic drinks. However screenshotting the prices off the app is a pain!

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Imagine the challenge of luggage limits without Elite laundry. That turns into into packing for 10 days with regular rotation through the laundry.

 

I am keen to read how Crown is perceived. She will be our largest Princess year-round ship, and Coral is a hard act to follow. We have loved cruising on a few of her sister ships, and I would imagine Crown will be similar, but there are always differences too.

 

Above all, kick back and enjoy your long awaited compo at sea.

It's even hard with Elite laundry if there are a lot if Elites onboard which is common on the longer cruises. Turnaround was 4 days on the world cruise. Luckily we knew in advance to expect that so packed accordingly. 

[arxcards]

20 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

someone said in the Princess forum that they have 240v NZ / AUS plugs in the rooms for the summer when they are 'down under' and someone else said a while ago there is a USB on each nightstand by the bed

They do, although Royal doesn't have any - yet. Princess website specifies all Aussie based cruises will have an AU220 and a US120 outlet. Crown will be based here for two years, so there will certainly be an AU socket added, if not already fitted on the crossing.

 

Crown scored USBs in bedside lamps when they had their last drydock in Portland a year or two back. Already we have found these USB lamps to be unreliable on other Princess ships - some work, some don't.

Edited Monday at 01:59 AM by arxcards

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's even hard with Elite laundry if there are a lot if Elites onboard which is common on the longer cruises. Turnaround was 4 days on the world cruise. Luckily we knew in advance to expect that so packed accordingly. 

That's why we now pack for 10 days instead of 7. Four to 5 days dirty or in the laundry still leaves 5 days in the cabin wardrobe.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, arxcards said:

That's why we now pack for 10 days instead of 7. Four to 5 days dirty or in the laundry still leaves 5 days in the cabin wardrobe.

But on some cruises you have to pack warm weather clothes and cold weather clothes. Layering works for some things but I can't wear jeans in hot weather so need alternatives. Anyway I got it pretty right on the world cruise, everything I took got worn except my fleece - I was sick during the Iceland stops so didn't go ashore there. 

[Muffinz]

11 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's even hard with Elite laundry if there are a lot if Elites onboard which is common on the longer cruises. Turnaround was 4 days on the world cruise. Luckily we knew in advance to expect that so packed accordingly. 

on our 2018 cruise on Celebrity Solstice I took some large plastic pegs that had a loop around the top and I could loop them around the rail on the back of the chairs on the balcony. It was easy to wash out our smalls and hang them out on the balcony to dry in the Queensland sun

I think I took about 14 pairs of undies and didn't wear half of them because I was able to wash and dry them regularly

from what I understand Princess ships have a pull out clothes line in the shower - not sure how good they will be though

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

on our 2018 cruise on Celebrity Solstice I took some large plastic pegs that had a loop around the top and I could loop them around the rail on the back of the chairs on the balcony. It was easy to wash out our smalls and hang them out on the balcony to dry in the Queensland sun

I think I took about 14 pairs of undies and didn't wear half of them because I was able to wash and dry them regularly

from what I understand Princess ships have a pull out clothes line in the shower - not sure how good they will be though

The shower clothes lines are good for a couple of items at a time - we use it after rinsing out swimsuits usually. 

[ceeceeDee]

8 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

on our 2018 cruise on Celebrity Solstice I took some large plastic pegs that had a loop around the top and I could loop them around the rail on the back of the chairs on the balcony. It was easy to wash out our smalls and hang them out on the balcony to dry in the Queensland sun

I think I took about 14 pairs of undies and didn't wear half of them because I was able to wash and dry them regularly

from what I understand Princess ships have a pull out clothes line in the shower - not sure how good they will be though

As I've said elsewhere, a bar of Sunlight soap and the bathroom sink........ Smalls, t shirts, cotton dresses and shorts et al. The pull out clothes line has always worked for me.

[ceeceeDee]

4 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The shower clothes lines are good for a couple of items at a time - we use it after rinsing out swimsuits usually. 

If there's a shower curtain, hanging items on a coat hanger from the curtain rail also works.

Edited Monday at 02:32 AM by ceeceeDee