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SinbadThePorter

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About Me

  • Location
    Brisbane
  • Interests
    Cruising
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Princess
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    South Pacific

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  1. So do I now. I was once stopped and searched in customs on returning and to save space I had my medications in the foil strips they come in, but not in their original prescription boxes. I was told in no uncertain terms that this was inadequate and was asked to explain what each and every different pill was for. I was then told not to do it again.
  2. That's appropriate since the passengers operate on ethanol.
  3. Queensland Rail is not likely to setup a bus service just for the BICT. The buses are for use during track closures, stoppages and linking country towns. It would be impractical to have them unavailable for their actual purpose on cruise days. I don't understand this insistence that the BICT has to be another OPT, with the facilities that the OPT has. It would be much fairer to compare it to the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Or even more appropriately to the Grain Terminal wharf across the river. The OPT happens to be sited next to Circular Quay, the best public transport nexus in Sydney. Which was not built in order to service the OPT or even with the OPT in mind. The BICT is not and never will be the OPT. If someone wants to run a bus shuttle service to there, I'm sure that Port of Brisbane would oblige. In the meantime if I want to catch the public bus, I'll walk to it.
  4. What's going to affect the cruise industry first is various ports mandating on shore power. New York City has just done this, although the details are yet to be worked out. In a few years, ships that don't have on shore power capability are going to be limited in their choice of ports.
  5. The Brisbane bus and ferry network is owned and run by Brisbane City Council, not the rail service which is state owned.
  6. I've done that walk. It's not particularly difficult.
  7. If you didn't mind a flight back to Sydney, four days would be just enough for a drive to Brisbane up the Pacific Highway. I'd recommend Myall Lakes, Southwest Rocks, Dorrigo, Bundjalung National Park or Byron Bay as stops along the way, but there are a host of places along the coast worth a visit.
  8. Because that would take buses away from scheduled services at very irregular intervals. But the main reason that there is no public transport is that nobody thought to built a Circular Quay right next to it. There actually is a bus, the 303. Which goes from the corner of Main Beach Road and Marine Road (which is the road that leads to the Cruise Terminal) to Doomben train station via Portside. It takes about 30 minutes. It leaves Myrtletown (the suburb of the Cruise Terminal) at 6:50am, 7:19am, 7:57am and 8:27am Monday to Friday. It's about a 20 min walk from the Cruise Terminal to the bus stop. You aren't actually supposed to walk out, but nobody seems to care. I've done it several times. Getting back is trickier as the bus only starts afternoon runs from about 3pm.
  9. Maybe you didn't see it because you're Platinum. Nowadays rewards go to new passengers not loyal ones. 🤑
  10. Woolworths do sell magnetic hooks, but in the CBD they only have cut down Metro stores which may or may not have stock. If they don't have any, Officeworks in Hunter St and Pitt St are sure to.
  11. If you want it, always book the price in hand rather than the one around the corner. You can always cancel and rebook later if you see it cheaper.
  12. I'll give the optimistic answer. If the ship arrives on time. If you can disembark by 7:30am. If you can get to Circular Quay station with all your luggage by 8:00am. You will get to Sydney Airport International train station before 8:30am. Then you can check luggage, pass security and find your lounge, probably before 9:30am. Then you pull out your book and have a read for 2 hours. The choice (as with the risk) is yours.
  13. Princess need to hire away Virgin's bathroom designer. The bathroom was smaller, yet the shower cubical was so much better than on Coral. They just need to add a few shelves. My experience with the restaurants was that you could almost guarantee a walk in seat at 5:30. Even if not, they would generally tell you they will try to fit you in later.
  14. It is an absolutely ridiculous setup. In that picture the bed vertical to the wall has the head next to the feet of the person in the bed parallel to the wall. If that person has their feet out from under the covers, it's a bit confronting to turn over in the middle of the night to have someone's toes in your face. The original singles configuration was for the heads to be next to each other, but that puts heads even closer together than the double bed setup, so what's the point? The best option I think is to have the feet end of both beds next to each other. The downside of that is that there is no headrest on either bed to stop your pillows from falling to the floor in the middle of the night. It's a fine example of Virgin doing boneheaded stupid things because they desperately want to be seen as outre. When it comes to beds, give me function over form any day of the week.
  15. That side unit on the bed is for turning the double bed into two singles in a L shape. It's a ridiculous concept and Virgin lost a lot of brownie points with me over it.
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