SinbadThePorter

We were in Hobart yesterday. The hoho bus is outside the Information Centre on the corner of Davey and Elizabeth Streets. I would guess it's about 1 km from the ship. There were tour booths set up around the corner from there.

Prepare for the worst, be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen.

Do you mean February next year? Expect the unexpected. If you are asking, can it be rough, the answer is yes. 3 to 4 meter seas are not unusual, but neither are smooth seas.

No, but you do need a Qld Seniors card and to send in this form.

You can catch the bus from outside the Qantas domestic terminal to Mascot station. Then the train to Circular Quay. It saves money and also lets you shop at the Mascot Woolworths before boarding.

It's unlimited, or rather only limited by available bandwidth. The speed mostly depends on the satellite constellation in use at the time. Princess used to use MEO satellites and speed was good. Lately they seem to have mostly been using GEO satellites, and speeds have been poor and pings worse. I have used vpns and travel routers on Princess in the past without problems. On the router you would need to configure a captive portal pass through.

This should show them.

You have to consider the original source for this story. This is the same mob, who during worst of the pandemic would come out with a story every couple of months about how the new cruise terminal was a $150 million white elephant. Now that the terminal is up and running, they manufacture a story about how the surrounding area is not pretty enough. It's almost enough to make you think that they have an agenda.

We very rarely do ship excursions. One of the problems (apart from the outrageous prices) is that you never know if the weather is going to make a booked excursion into a misery. So we prefer when possible to get any excursions on the day. In Port Chalmers we picked up up an excursion at the tourist office at the dock. It was to Lanarch Castle plus a short cruise out the mouth of the bay around the albatross preserve. It was excellent, especially the cruise. From Lyttleton we went into Christchurch and on the way back took the gondola, which was OK. In Wellington we took the cable car up to the botanic gardens and then back down. Then walked to Te Papa and afterwards just wandered the city shopping for a while before catching the shuttle back. You can walk back from the botanic gardens to the CBD, but it's a lot quicker and easier to get a return ticket on the cable car. Te Papa is excellent. At Napier we took our umbrellas and walked around town until it got too miserable and went back to the ship. I imagine the town looks much better when the sun is out. In Tauranga, we went to see what excursions were going. We got as far as the excursion booths, but the weather was so miserable we gave up on the idea. Very cold horizontal rain, almost lost the umbrellas to it. In Auckland it was foggy and drizzly. Walked around the city for a bit before giving up.

I may be wrong in this, but I was under the impression that if you achieved status in the combined P&O UK and Princess loyalty schemes before the schemes were demerged several years ago, that your status on Princess remained. Perhaps that is the "courtesy". Even now, cruises on P&O Australia count toward Captains Circle on Princess.

The cruise was on the Coral Princess. Brisbane to NZ return, 5th Dec to 19th Dec. Unbeknown to us we went with a dirty bottom! Luckily nobody noticed. The weather at Milford was as good as you can expect. The weather across the South Island was far better than expected. The North Island weather (apart from Wellington) was disappointing, but not surprising. I'm never unhappy on a cruise. I always say if you can't take the rough with the smooth, don't go! If NZ had perfect weather, they'd have to call it Queensland. 😁

If you get a sunny day in Milford Sound you will be one of the few. We cruised to NZ last month and it was cold and wet in Milford. In Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington it was sunny and warm. In Napier, Tauranga and Auckland it was various varieties of windy and wet. The NZ cruise before that in Feb 2018 it was very cold and cloudy but dry in Milford. Cold and wet in Dunedin, sunny and warm in Akaroa and Tauranga, and cloudy in Auckland. Which is to say, it could be anything. As far as balconies go, you need to decide how much you enjoy looking at the sea, because that is what you'll be looking at 95% of the time. Personally, I always try to get a balcony just for that reason.

All else being equal, always Princess over P&O. Only do P&O if the price is right and/or the itinerary is special.

You don't have to go into the CBD for shopping. The DFO is much closer and cheaper to get to. Once you are at the DFO there is even a free shuttle bus to the airport.

If you want some views, they can be had on the top decks. To the south is Cleveland and Wellington Point. To the east is Moreton Bay and Tangalooma. To the north is Redcliffe and the Glasshouse Mountains. To the west is the Brisbane River, the Gateway Bridge and the CBD. We just got back from NZ last month and I'd have to say that Brisbane port, for all its faults, compares favourably with Wellington, Lyttleton and Napier ports. Not every port can be the OPT.

Not an answer to your question, but here are the obstructed views, if you haven't already seen them.

I finally got through and the prices looked the same as ever for me. They must be special prices for special people. 😁

Those Carnival cruises must be going quick, I can't even access the web page to look at them. It just timeouts.

As far as dining goes, I would recommend skipping the MDR and alternating between Angelos and Dragon Lady. Book as far ahead as you can and do it in person at the reservation desk in front of Angelos (I think).

For me on the HAL home page there is a chat option at the very top. When I click it says "Unable to connect chat session: There are no agents available to answer your chat at this time." I don't know if that is a time zone thing or whether they don't have any agents at all. I think that the answer to your question would have to come from HAL.

Neither were Qantas, Virgin or Rex when they dipped into taxpayer pockets. But you are right, it won't happen.

Things would get interesting if they let Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines fly domestically.

The castle and the boat trip were one excursion. I can't recall the name, but it was from the Visitor Center next to the dock.

Akaroa is nice, but I don't think it's worth that long a trip. The view from the top of the cable car at Lyttelton is worth seeing if it's a clear day. We were in Port Chalmers last month. We did a private tour of Lanarch Castle, including a boat trip out from the mouth of the bay to see the wildlife. The house is interesting, the gardens pretty and the view from the top outstanding. However, the boat trip was the highlight. In Wellington we took the cable car up to the Botanic Garden. The trouble with it is that unless you know your plants, one garden looks much like another. It's a long walk back so I'd recommend getting a return ticket on the cable car. That way you can spend more time at Te Papa.

It's just Sky News being Sky News. If there isn't a story for them to negatively spin about the Qld govt, they'll just make one up. The cruise terminal is next to a sewage plant, because that was the last bit of suitable river frontage available. The area is/was an industrial wasteland. The nearest residential suburb is 6km away at Pinkenba Village. Nobody lives near the terminal, and I suspect that nobody has for decades at least. By the way, who is putting on this supposed pressure? In the report there's no name, no organisation, no nothing. Rubbish news from a rubbish source.