ozziepost

We are boarding the Eden at Adelaide next month first time on the Eden and the first time we have picked up a ship in that port - would expect the embarkation process to be very smooth.

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David can please add us to the list we will be sailing on the Sea Princess North Western Explorer Sydney to Fremantle leaving Sydney on the 2nd September and arriving in Fremantle on the 19th.

Cheers.

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That's a lot of useful info that will help in planning our trip in September.

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We are doing the next northern explorer that leaves after yours on the sea princess on the 2nd Sept. With Brisbane Bretts wharf is a short walk from the Portside terminal where you can get the city cat into the city or alternatively we will just get the shuttle into the CBD.

Unsure what we will do in Cairns - for Alotau we will probably just get the shuttle to the festival site for a couple of hours and then get it back as far as the town centre and walk back to the ship.

I've got my eye on the Litchfield park ship excursion at Darwin but otherwise unsure what we will do there.

For Broome and Geraldton we will just go ashore and see what happens.

This trip has been on the bucket list for awhile and one we are looking forward to.

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Wellington and Auckland ports are within easy walking distance inti the town centres. Because Napier is a working port you are not allowed to walk to the gate instead a shuttle will be provided into the town centre. I'm not a hundred per cent certain about Tauranga as we have done ship excursions into the thermal areas from that port although I think the town centre is within walking distance from the wharf.

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Dear old Aunty Dawn I'll miss her each trip was like reading a great book that you didn't want to put down. We have done two 13 night NZ, 1 20 night PNG and the 26 night treasures of Asia cruise on the Dawn and loved them all.

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As a temporary measure while you are away would it be possible to use a compression garment instead. It might be worthwhile checking with your therapist to see what other options are available, good luck with this.

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I've done a few SP cruises in winter and regard it as an ideal time for me - warm enough to swim - less intense UV rays and unlike the summer months no blue bottles in the water.

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David I have just booked a short cruise the 6 night Adelaide to Fremantle on the Pacific Eden leaving Adelaide on the 3rd April.

We pack some Buderim ginger jubes or if we can't get these some crystallised ginger in case it gets bumpy and we have had a couple of those crossing the Tasman and the SP.

Not a bad idea though to have a chat to your GP and get something stronger just in case.

If you forget you can get something to settle the tum from one of the shops on board or you in a worst case scenario the doc on board will give you a Jab if you get really seasick.

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There should be some local tours available from the market near the tender jetty. A notice board with the tours content and the cost in AUD will be on display. I'm not sure about hiring a driver though.

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We did the British isles cruise cruise in August with Princess that included the Edinburgh military tattoo which was incidentally our first trip to the UK and loved it and rate this cruise as one of the best we have done.

We did a mixture of DIY and ship tours and felt the ship excursions we did were good value

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Understood you had to have done either 15 cruises or 151 cruise days to go elite our cruises with P&O Aust certainly count towards this total as they appear on our captains circle folder with Princess.

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I'm looking at a six night one out of Adelaide in April which is still a bit pricey going to wait and see if there are any sales or pack and go deals being offered for the trip I am keen on.

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We are just two days off going elite currently looking at a short P&O cruise which will count towards our captains circle membership with Princess so that the next Princess cruise we do will be as elite passengers. Looking forward to enjoying the perks elite status offers.

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We enjoyed Amedee also - opted for that in part because it was a public holiday in Noumea the day we were there. Was pretty expensive - thought the lunch was so-so, but we had an incredibly friendly and informative guide, our tour included a trip round the island on the ferry (the one that brings you across from Noumea) and glass bottom boat ride, and plenty of time for snorkeling - lots of fish, lots of sea turtles, just watch for sea snakes - love snakes, so wasn't bothered by them in the least, and they do say it's pretty hard to be bitten by one (combination of snakes being pretty small and non-aggressive) - but there are lots of them about!

We did the Amadee Island trip on one of our P&O cruises and despite the cost felt it was a great day out and worth every penny. We thought the glass bottom boat ride was fantastic until M noticed a sea snake on the boat and was about to jump overboard to get away from it when the skipper just flicked it overboard.

We have done the zodiac ride out to Duck island and never thought we would end up hooning around Noumea harbor in a boat driven by a crazy Frenchman which was a whole heap of fun and all too short.

When we visit Noumea now we just get off the ship as early as we can and catch the HOHO bus around to the Bai de Citrons for a swim.

IMO the only ship excursion worth doing at that port is the trip out to Amadee Island.

Enjoy your trip.

Gut2407 re your visit to Geelong you will be pleasantly surprised what my town has to offer. Currently the port is a tender port I'm not sure what tours are available through the ship normally volunteers meet the tenders and I expect some local tours will be put on.

When the time comes enjoy your visit.

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I used our Citibank plus card to withdraw cash and make purchases when we did our British isles cruise in August without any fees I was able to monitor the transactions through an App and am delighted with the product as the exchange rate I got for each transaction was close to the official rate.

I used a different card for my ship board account . I made sure I let both card providers know the dates of travel and the countries where the cards were likely to be used.

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From what we saw when we did the trip on the Aria early in the year P&O's policy regarding taking drinks on board is strictly policed. Other than 12 cans of soft drink loosely packed in carryon bags no drinks of any kind can be taken on board even personal drink bottles must be empty and these are checked.

On our only trip on the old PAC Sun In 2010 I was on one of the upper decks watching the tenders being bought back on board at MI. On this trip there were quite a few very senior intellectual handicapped adults. On the deck below me was one of these gents standing alongside one of the passengers who had both hands in plaster apparently from a fall.

The handicapped gent nudged the passenger alongside him and asked him if he could take a photo for him. I looked down on them in amazement as the chap with his hands in plaster took the camera off the handicapped gent and took a few shots for him before handing the camera back - indeed a touching moment.

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Crickey I don't think Cunard could handle us as passengers. We did finish up in the naughty corner when we rolled up to the MDR on a formal night in casual wear on our UK Princess cruise - well they did have "surf & turf" on the menu which we couldn't resist. The maitre d handled the situation with a great deal of flair to his credit.

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If you are a novice do what we do - pack a noodle in our bags these give us just enough buoyancy to go out into deeper water for some snorkelling and of course don't forget the reef shoes which can be purchased K mart BCF or Anaconda.

The noodles only cost a couple of bucks each and are easy to pack in your bags.

No I wouldn't book a domestic flight that leaves that early. I have been on ships that have been delayed for various reasons and Pax have missed their flights. It's a safer bet to book a flight that leaves around lunchtime or early afternoon.

To allow for any unforeseen circumstances we play it safe and fly in the night before and have a night post cruise in the port of disembarkation before flying home.

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It really depends on the ports visited sometimes it's easy to arrange local tours once you go ashore at other ports it can be more prudent to do ship tours.

If you can give us an idea of the itinerary you are looking at we will be able to comment further.

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I agree the lass had a cheek and I certainly challenged her in fact I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

From what I have heard that sort of occurrence is not uncommon if I have to use the laundry on board I won't leave the laundry until the job is done. There is no way would I leave any washing machine or drier I was using unattended.

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