OzKiwiJJ

Perhaps it's a bit random. It may depend on what day of the week it is and whether the bank can supply soneone to do the currency exchange

As long as it's open! Our cruise arrived in Alotau on a Sunday so very little was open. We loved the Volcano tour in Rabaul which first went to the observatory, then close to the most recent (at the time) volcano where there was a boiling stream running down to the beach. Then we stopped at a couple of other interesting places. It was excellent value for money and we had a great tour guide but it was luck of the draw like most Princess excursions.

We took a fair amount of Kina with us and some was used to swap for AUD with locals. The remainder we donated to school groups and entertainers at our last port call.

Good to hear everything is going well. Thanks for the update. I hope one of the Messina excursions is to Taormina. It's such a gorgeous place and the drive there and back was nice. It was only a half day excursion when we did it in 2017.

I've had a Barossa shiraz that is almost as elegant as a French one so it's not just climate related, it also depends on the winemaker. I often wonder what Australian reds would be like if that annoying wine critic, Robert Parker, hadn't sent most Australian winemakers down the big, jammy path. It was an easy option for them as producing the more refined French style wines would have taken more effort and expertise.

I think Australia to UK or Mediterranean repositioning is fairly rare these days. There might be a US world cruise heading up that way after visiting Australia but, again, it may go through here too early. Remember much of Europe is easy to get around by train so even if a suitable cruise doesn't go to the UK you can still get there without having to fly. There used to be overnight trains from Rome to Paris, then you can go Eurostar to London. Also look for any repositioning cruises coming down to Australia for our summer. That might work with using our world cruise to get up to Europe/UK. What about a trans-Atlantic to New York then cross the US by train and pick up a trans-Pacific cruise? I think all the possibilities would require a longer stay in the UK though.

I think it's also called shiraz in South Africa.

What you'd need is a late summer repositioning cruise to the UK and an Australian world cruise sector back, but the gap between those might be longer than six weeks. Next year's world cruise on Coral starts a month earlier than usual and the Dover - Sydney sector starts 25th June.

If the Canadian governments are anything like the Australian governments after our devastating 2019 fires then there will be a lot of talk but very little real action.

That's a lovely itinerary. Make sure you're up on deck when the ship goes through the Messina Strait, if you go through in the daytime. It was one of my favourite bits of our Med. cruise in 2017. And Stromboli is just before/after the strait depending on which way you're going. Before if you're coming from Civitaveccia.

Looks like they only use takeaway cups. It looks more of a kiosk than a cafe - no seating visible.

The person who posted the info is currently onboard Coral and had just heard the announcement about the delayed arrival. Very disappointing for those hoping to do the Petra excursion. For some it may very well be their only chance to go there. We'll be praying there are no similar issues next year as we'll only have one chance to go there.

I just spotted a post elsewhere saying the arrival at Aqaba will be later than scheduled. I hope those hoping to go to Petra will still be able to do their excursion. Apparently the engine problem is not fully resolved yet.

Lyle got a lot of good advice and feedback when he was planning one of his original trips that got cancelled by Covid. I think we'd pretty well planned his whole road trip for him!

Not necessarily. Westerdam last Christmas only went to Dusky and Milford Sounds. It didn't do the usual transit through Doubtful Sound for some reason. The original itinerary only showed Fiordland scenic cruising so I'm not sure if it was a last minute decision or not. The weather was perfect so that wasn't the cause.

Nice timing, Terry. I hope they put on a good show for you.

Wonderful. Enjoy!

Yes, we've tried a couple of different ones from that range. Must get some more.

Definitely pie weather! We had pies for lunch today too. We had some from our local bakery in the freezer. In the past they've been really good even after being frozen but the ones we had today seemed to have a layer of oil floating on top of the meat. Not nice! I guess we'll have to find a new source of pies.

I agree, and our local council voted against it but was in the minority. Luckily it doesn't affect us too much as most of the issues are during peak hours, but it is affecting those who have to travel into the city for work every weekday.

It is indeed lovely although there are some serious public transport issues at the moment. The previous state government privatised the bus services, signing contracts that don't penalise the private companies enough for cancelled or late services, and it has become a serious issue due to driver shortages.

There are so many factors that make up liveability for every individual person but they can probably be loosely grouped - young singles would have one set of criteria, young professional couples another, couples with kids yet another, then empty nesters, then seniors. We like our small part of Sydney. We bought there because it was handy for our jobs but it was a quiet suburb back then, almost boring. It's changed a lot in the past 25 years and is much more vibrant and interesting. It has a village feel but is close to two major shopping centres and the CBD.

Hopefully it will be a minor outbreak. I was in isolation for six days after I caught it last year. By then it had become a relatively major outbreak, affecting crew as well as passengers, so they closed one of the MDRs - I guess too many of the dining room crew were affected. So I guess that's a reasonable indication of how big the outbreak is. If only people who have symptoms would get tested, wear masks, and avoid contact with other passengers. It is highly likely that it is not "just a cold"! Having to spend a few days in isolation isn't the end of the world.

We did that in Singapore when we had an eight hour layover between flights. There is an airside hotel there with a pool so we spent the afternoon poolside then retired to our room for a short rest and showers.

Thanks, Jo. I was curious to hear what was happening about Covid as the timeframe is similar to when the outbreak on the Round Australia cruise ramped up last year. Hopefully the number of cases onboard now stays low and people make the effort not to share their viruses around if they do have symptoms.