OzKiwiJJ

Just now, NSWP said:

lyle i do not have credit card, just anz visa debit, use it here and used it overseas in atm and purchases, no problems. being old school i always carry a couple of hundred cash.

 

sorry for typing, but last week had a big fall and smashed left shoulder and arm.am left handed. was in hosp and a lot of pain.

Oh no! I'm really sorry to hear that, Les. Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery with no lingering after-effects. Take care, mate. 😘

17 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Yes, I have noticed this too with many of the places I frequent use to be fee free now have little signs saying they have fees. One bakery I have been going to for years always paid card and my last visit they put up a little sign saying 1.5% fee for CC and Debits. 

A lot of small businesses took a financial hit when most people stopped paying in cash during Covid so I can understand why they have added the charge. I don't like it though. 

Just now, Bowm54 said:

The $279 fare appears to be the lie flat sleeper with meals included. Which is not terribly bad, however the scheduled arrival only a few hours before the ships departure put me off taking the train.

The standard fare is a lot cheaper.

 

We did Brisbane to Cairns many years ago when they still operated Queenslander Class on the trains - pullman sleeper cabins, lounge/bar carriage, dining carriage. It was great, similar to the Indian Pacific but only 30 hours. I can't remember what it cost but it wasn't cheap.

Although they now only have sleeper seats if you like train travel it would be worth doing once.

Just now, Blackduck59 said:

Nice photos with the last one showing a faint 2nd rainbow 🌈 

Oddly enough that wasn't noticeable by eye. It's also in the first picture if you look closely.

Just now, arxcards said:

They certainly have. We have even had our entry processed at sea between the fiords and Hobart. Back in the BC days, some judgements were made on Ruby being assessed as low risk, but now borderforce stick to the rules.

The problem with doing passport control at sea is that two Border Force officers were committed to only that one task and therefore were out of action for several days. With more ships doing the NZ /Australia runs they needed those people available to process more than one ship in that time frame. Our last cruise with onboard processing was in 2017. In 2019 the passport processing was done in Hobart.

Our afternoon in the Sanctuary was cut short by a passing squall but just before we left there was a gorgeous rainbow right off the stern of the ship.

I've never seen a rainbow that close before.

Just now, Cbtours said:

Thats earlier than we make it. So do you mix it up for breakfast? MDR and buffet? 

It depends on what we're doing each day. Today they were collecting passports for the Mauritius stop so we had to get back to our cabin by 9am but usually on sea days we have breakfast in the MDR unless we sleep in too late. On ports days we often have to go to the buffet if we're doing an early excursion.

Just now, Cbtours said:

I’m impressed Julie, were you up there at 6am 😁

Not me! We got up there about 8am.

Just now, MicCanberra said:

A blue whale sighting would be more exciting but then you wouldn't see one of them in the buffet.

I hope not! 🤣

There was a rare sighting of the elusive Greater Red Twinings E.B. in the buffet this morning. 🤣

We're into day 2 of the crossing to Mauritius. It's still cool but just warm enough to have our first day in the Sanctuary.

We've noticed the Bordeaux MDR has been a lot quieter after 7pm over the last three nights. Prior to that it was chocka at that time, and Good Spirits is quieter too. The early show times may account for the pattern change or maybe people have just found their ideal evening routines. 

We've been doing morning trivia and progressive trivia with mixed success but we're having fun. 

Afternoon tea has just arrived so bye for now!

Just now, MicCanberra said:

Yep, I suppose better pours only really works when you are drinking spirits and are paying as you go. When on a package, who cares.

You're just as likely to get better pours if you get to know the bartender well - as we did on Royal Princess in 2017. We ended up having predinner drinks most nights, along with a couple of our dinner companions, at the small Princess Live bar. The bartender must have liked us as he started free-pouring the spirits when making cocktails. His Captain's Bounty cocktail, which has four types of rum (usually a half nip of each) was lethal! 🤣

Just now, reedprincess said:

Keep in mind also, the Sun and Star have "copied" other lines in that every other cabin alternates bed by door, bed by window/balcony. The deck plan at the website tells you for each cabin...

 

 

 

 

Consequently the cabin is narrower where the sofa is. I means they can squeeze more cabins in per deck.

However I believe they are now considered a non-native invasive species in NZ as they are invading habitats of native birds. Very sad as they are so pretty and they are a legume so nitrogen-fixing in soil. At one stage they were planted in cleared forestry sections to improve the soil before replanting.

Just now, colourbird said:

 

I understand what you are saying, but it still doesn't make sense to me. If we want one of those cabins for the 11 nighter all they have to do is let us select one and it becomes unavailable for the shorter cruises. 

Then you haven't understood the situation. 

Cabins A,B,C,D get allocated to the 11 nighter.

Cabins E,F,G,H get allocated to the split itinerary.

That's what the booking system gets told and the software isn't designed to allow willy nilly selections between those cabin groups, it would be too chaotic to program. 

It might be possible to do it though a Princess Vacation Planner or a big and very good TA, who have the knowledge/ability to manually over-ride the booking system. 

It isn't anything new. I vaguely recall tickets being required at a port or two way back. They were probably shuttle bus ports. 

We've rarely had a problem choosing a cabin in a location that suits us. We've only had to settle for a guarantee cabin once on Princess, for a last minute booking, and even then we ended up exactly where I thought we would. Even our upgrade bid for our current cruise put us in our favourite location. Am I just lucky? Maybe. We prefer cabins around the mid-levels, with cabin decks above and below. We prefer mid-aft but are happy with any location that is not too far forward. 

Just now, SinbadThePorter said:

I missed that turn because we were inside doing trivia. At least we won. 😇

It was probably more impressive watching it than it would have been doing it.

Congrats on winning trivia. We're doing OK on Coral but with just two of us we don't have much hope of winning against the bigger teams. We're also doing progressive trivia and the trivia host for that is just plain evil, in a nice way of course.🤣

Explorer looked quite impressive doing the 180° turn before heading out.

Bon voyage!

I think it was more to spread out the flow of people outside the terminal. Pacific Explorer was also in port, doing a changeover by the number of passengers arriving with suitcases as we were heading out for the day. It was a bit chaotic. The disembarkation groups on Coral moved fairly quickly so it wasn't a big issue.

You really don't need to tip the waiters on Australian cruises, especially not American-style tipping of a token amount every time you see them. However if you do get a waiter that is especially good it would be better to remember their name and mention them in the post-cruise survey.

If you really want to tip then $20 at the end of the cruise is always appreciated but not necessary.

Just now, SinbadThePorter said:

I'm onboard Explorer right now in Fremantle about to cast off.

 

Weather is sunny, if a bit cool. The ship is looking surprisingly good. Coral Princess is tied up next door. 

 

The food is unsurprisingly poor, so far.

We're on Coral parked right next to you  😊

The food on Coral has been excellent.

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

I am a pretty big guy and several years ago we decided if we couldn't afford at least Premium Economy we couldn't afford the trip. For others they would prefer to save that money for something else. We will be getting serious about booking our down under flight sometime in June. Right now we are leaning towards Qantas Premium Economy, with a direct flight Vancouver to Sydney. If we can get a good deal we may upgrade to Business class. That flight will be in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. We decided to eliminate the return flight by cruising home.

Check what deals the cruise line is offering for your flight. Sometimes it can work out cheaper than booking direct with the airline. For example we got a business class fare Sydney to Auckland on Qatar, which codeshares with Qantas, at only a little more than Qantas wanted for an economy seat on the same flight. The Qantas business class fare for that flight was several hundred dollars more.

We're just passing to the north of Rottnest Island heading east, directly into Fremantle Port.