OzKiwiJJ

Yes, you get extra OBC if you book onboard. Here's the details: And these are the T&Cs:

Westerdam now has 30 passengers in isolation with 7 new cases today. I missed the report yesterday as we did the Bruny Island trip.

That's exactly how I felt. Much less stressful having Covid on a cruise ship than at home. However from what I've been reading it may depend on what ship you are on and how many cases they are dealing with. We were very lucky in that I caught while numbers were still quite low on Coral and recovered just as numbers peaked.

There are two types of shuttle buses from the Lyttelton cruise terminal. Free shuttle buses take you off the wharf to the Information Centre in Lyttelton. The Christchurch shuttle buses aren't free - $35 return. I think they would go straight to the tunnel from the wharf but may swing by the Lyttelton I.C. on the way back to pick up anyone waiting there.

The problem is you need to get the shuttle bus to get to the local bus stops (and the pub). 😱

It's the same on Holland America. One excellent and very popular group, Cantarè, did three shows which were all different. It's great if you've never seen that entertainer/group before but when they appear cruise after cruise it gets a bit boring. I wish the Carnival cruise lines would switch the entertainers between brands not just ships of one line.

The Captain of Westerdam is announcing the Covid figures daily - new cases that day plus those currently in isolation. I've been tracking the progress since the beginning of the cruise: In isolation (New cases) 21Dec - 0 passengers, 2 crew 22 Dec - 12 (12) passengers, 4 (2) crew 23 Dec - 15 (3) passengers, 4 crew 24 Dec - 17 (2) passengers, 5 (1) crew 25 Dec - 18 (1) passengers, 5 crew 26 Dec - 21 (1) passengers, 5 crew 27 Dec - 25 (4) passengers, 5 crew 28 Dec - 20 (3) passengers, 5 crew 29 Dec - 19 (5) passengers, 2 crew The isolation totals are tapering off as people recover but new cases seem to be increasing slightly.

The experts warned that the current boosters weren't as effective against Omicron variants several months ago. However they were recommended as they appeared to reduce the severity of the illness.

Yes, we had some leftover excursion credit so that helped.

Remind me on Saturday - we're doing a Bruny Island excursion tomorrow. It may be the same as Princess ie no extra OBC for booking onboard rather than just using an FCD, only whatever OBC is on offer with whatever the current promo is.

Usually you can get outside on upper decks though, especially most main pool areas where the sides are covered. Promenade decks tend to be low down in the ship and high winds and seas make them dangerous to go out on.

Lipton may be America' favourite tea but it originated in the UK.

I know I'm never going to get my favourite tea on a cruise ship. I use Dilmah Ceylon Supreme which I buy online direct from Dilmah. But I don't mind good English Breakfast as a substitute when travelling. Unfortunately Westerdam keeps running out of English Breakfast and, like Princess and Carnival, has Lipton as the nearest substitute. 🙁

Remember you can drop luggage off early then take the car to wherever you are going to park it. Disembarkation is a bit more of a problem as there isn't much seating outside the terminal where you can wait with bags while the car is being retrieved. Hmmmm - maybe I should consider renting out the spare space in our carport with a pick-up and return service. 🤣

I've seen Happy Hours mentioned in the daily programme. Usually at 4pm and today they are in all the bars. The Have It All package would be excellent value at half price. We've got it and it's good for everything but wine but only because they've run out of some of the wines I like that are within the price range. The internet is a bit slow at times too.

It has just the right amount of swell at the moment - around 2 metres. The perfect amount to rock me to sleep at night. I've slept like a log the last two nights. Lynette, your mother should see her GP and ask if Stemetil is suitable for her. That's what we use and we only need to take it when we start feeling nauseous (usually on tenders) or if the forecast is for very rough seas. It works very quickly too and may also help with the nausea from Tamoxifen. However it doesn't suit everyone.

Realistically Australia has very few ports considering the size of the country, especially deep water ports. So even small ports like Eden add variety to itineraries.

There is a section in the Princess Medallion app where you advise them of celebrations although sometimes they pick up birthdays from your booking DOB. That's not consistent though. I'm not sure about other cruise lines. We usually try to avoid the birthday fuss but when we booked the 3rd Sept cruise B2B with our previously booked 13th Sept cruise the blasted Medallion app linked the two cruises and promptly lost our speciality dining booking. So I had to go to Sabatinis on the first cruise to get them to book us a table on the second cruise and when doing that Rolf mentioned it was my birthday that day. I must admit they did it beautifully and made me feel very special.

We were careful without impacting our enjoyment. We wore KN95 masks when moving around the ship and in the theatres etc. We chose bars with well-spaced seating (although that didn't stop unmasked people standing next to us while talking to their friends nearby), and dined mostly in the MDR at tables for two (except the odd breakfast after we'd slept in later than intended). We went to morning trivia most days but always wore our masks. We washed our hands regularly and carried sanitizer to use after handling menus etc. On warm sea days we spent the afternoons in the Sanctuary, a Princess retreat area with well-spaced sun loungers and it's own pool.

Good point!

Thanks. It was a lovely song.

I hope she's not planning on taking it ashore at any ports.

Half way through our Westerdam cruise there are currently 20 passengers in isolation, down from 25 yesterday but with 3 new cases today. I think there are less than 1600 passengers on board. There are 5 crew members in isolation as well. A mandatory RAT test was done on day 3, with results reported immediately to cabin stewards. That resulted in 12 passengers testing positive and the have been a few new cases each day. The current variants of Omicron are far more contagious than the original Covid variants. The R0 factor is use to indicate how contagious a virus is. The original Covid was R0 factor of 2-3 meaning each person infected would then infect an average of 2-3 other people. The current variants have an R0 factor of 18.6! That's probably why people who never had it previously are now catching it. I caught it on our 5th cruise this year although we did nothing different from the previous four cruises. It was longer cruise and there was no mandatory testing early in the cruise. I caught it on day 14 and I believe numbers in isolation were still quite low at that time. A few days later mandatory tests were required for all passengers wishing to go ashore and the isolation numbers jumped significantly. Despite sharing a cabin with me during isolation Rolf never caught it.

If coming straight in from the Tasman Sea, ie with Milford Sound first, then the port side is best. If coming from the other direction then starboard. These sounds are quite complex and in both the ship goes between large islands and the mainland. Facing the mainland side allows you to see into some of the waterways joining the one the ship is in. However if you can find a spot where you can move from side to side then you'll get the best of both worlds.

Didn't Coral go to PNG recently? I wonder if that was when they picked up the snails but they weren't detected until recently. I hope none escaped the ship on 9 December - Fiordland waters might have been too cold for them though.