nnps

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

16 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

You don't get fined for not voting, only for not checking your name off.

Generally I agree with much of the sentiment and banter but I do feel that our compulsory voting has helped us not go down the road to ruin like some of the crazy decisions made in other countries in the past decade. I'm thinking of the Brexit debacle and the election of a dubious character in the US of A.

13 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

Our friends, both in early 70s, had same issue after joining us for 7 day cruise to Noumea earlier this year. They had picked up a very low price Luminosa but then got the sting re insurance requirements. After a lot of research, they found the least expensive meeting the requirements was Allianz. So maybe worth a quote.  Whether they chose to cover all their pre-existing ailments I'm not sure.

My ANZ Credit Card has been worth it's weight in gold for it's free covid and cruise insurance this past year.  I know, that once retired, it's hard to successfully apply for new credit card, but I wonder if any banks have Debit Cards that include insurance. Someone once told me they had one, with small monthly fee, but I can't remember the details.

My NAB Platinum Visa Debit card has free travel insurance. It costs $10 a month and you have to spend at least $500 on trips through their card. Unfortunately medical cover cuts out at 76 and you can't cover pre-existing conditions. 

5 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 came into effect on the 1st January 2011.

 

The ACCC initiated action in Federal Court against Jetstar and Virgin for "price dripping" in 2014, successfully fining Virgin in 2016 and Jetstar in 2017.

 

The cruise lines removed gratuities between 2010 and 2016.

 

The two timelines are highly coincident, so it's no wonder people make the assumption that they are related. I tend to think that the 2010 Act and subsequent legal actions informed the decision to remove gratuities, even if it wasn't the only factor. Of course that is only my opinion.

 

What the legislation definitely did do was remove the option of separate mandatory gratuities, which were not included in the advertised fare, for the cruise lines. If Australians prior to 2010 were removing grats and the cruise lines wanted in future to require grats, then their only legal option was to advertise cruise fares which included grats.

 

Those lines that do not include grats in their fares are required to ensure that the grats are removable. Otherwise they are in breach of consumer law.

Remember when airlines, I think Tiger was the main one, would sell you your ticket for a flight but you then had to buy a seat separately. Of course they couldn't actually make you buy a seat because the plane couldn't have taken off if you were not sitting. Strange days.

Yes, it is nearing the end of a 17 day cruise from Perth to Sydney via Darwin etc. Worryingly, that level 2 was designated on Friday and it doesn't dock until tomorrow so it's likely to get worse.

Reminds me of the old joke about first prize being one day in Noumea and second prize being two days. I rarely go ashore there.

Go to "Personal Information & Documents" then scroll down past "required Information"  to "Suggested" Click on "Arrivals" and you should be able to see your choices.

The bottom line is that Australian consumer law (not sure about NZ) says that the price advertised is the price you pay. Bits like GST, gratuities, sales tax etc can't be added later. 

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

I am not aware of any success coming from deleting and re-installing the app. Most of the issues stem from the data that sits on Princess servers, so nothing changes by re-installing.

 

The PCP's can refer it to have it sorted. We have had cruises that wouldn't add to the app and they were resolved via their online chat, which is more of a helpdesk person than a booking person.

My app previously would never let me get to the screen to choose boarding time, everything else was fine, green all the way.  I deleted and re-installed it and it now works fine.

I'd delete the app and re-install it. Most of the info will still be there.

48 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

Not so.  Under the Open Skies agreement signed in 2000 between NZ and Aus, the domestic markets were supposed to be opened to both countries.  NZ allowed Qantas, Jetstar etc to operate domestically but Aus refused to reciprocate.  Then, Air NZ tried to get into the market by buying Ansett which was a lemon and nearly drove them bust (big mistake!)

yeh and then they wouldn't honour their Ansett staff's redundancy entitlements when they went under.

I notice that there's another new lookalike on the board 

5 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I see that, but I was preferring to keep a low profile. My anonymity is now blown!

 

I had a shock last night when I saw a post that I thought was under my name, but I knew I hadn't posted it. Then I looked more closely, and saw it is a new person on CC. BTW, the admin won't get them to change their user name.

They actually have an extra "l"   so Austravelller. I did notice it when they first posted.

12 hours ago, arxcards said:

If one thinks they have caught something and their partner hasn't, the partner provides for both strips. It is still better than a total honour system, provided the issued test strips look distinctive enough not to be replaced by a "here's one I prepared earlier" sample.

 

PS: and there is also the possibility of barely tickling your nose with the swab.

If you barely tickle your nose, I feel that the C for Control line won't show up and the test is invalid.

32 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I don't know exactly. There are less than 1600 passengers onboard at the moment and I've heard that 500 or so are disembarking in Sydney so 1000 or so are doing the B2B. I have also heard that the ship is fully booked for the Sydney to Singapore cruise.

 

I think we're still below Tier 2 level ... just. Of course those that tested positive at the start of the cruise have now recovered and are no longer in isolation so that's keeping the current total down. We've had around 60 people test positive during the voyage - I can't work out the exact number as I missed the stats on Friday as we were off the ship.

Majestic Princess and Westerdam both on Tier 1, updated today.

1 hour ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Nothing on the menu is additional charge.

I noticed the asterisk. Maybe it is because you can choose how you want those two dishes cooked, medium , rare etc. Or maybe they can be modified for fussy eaters. Not sure. I will try and remember to ask

From memory, I believe the asterisk might refer to a generic warning about the dangers of eating undercooked seafood, perhaps even meats.

My guess would be that to enter the waters of the National Park they had to have had a cleaning within a certain time frame and that this had been overlooked. 

12 hours ago, RobinBancs said:

I'm a teacher and can tick 4 of those boxes in the last four weeks of school 🙂

 

No bath bombs from my students though!

List them on your tax return? 😉

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Did you have to pay ahead on your credit card or will the cost of the specialty dinner come off your OBC?

No it came out of my account almost instantaneously. (and I had some OBC)

Most cruise lines seem quite happy to have a photo of a self-administered test. Mine wasn't even looked at when i checked in.

11 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

I can only imagine the angst of shopping, going out etc, on a budget in some parts of USA. And come time to pay my carefully calculated spend is blown but state taxes, plus tips.

 

I have been in the position where a calculator was a shopping tool, or a visit to Pizza Hut for one of the kids birthdays was preceded by “only one Pizza and jug of drink between us”. But imagine then discovering that my carefully calculated sales tax and tip were out, by even just a couple of cents.

 

Even worse is who to tip, you must tip a barista but don’t tip at a McDonalds. Why?

 

Tip a hairdresser but not your mechanic.

Or your teacher. (I'm a retired teacher).

13 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Currently it is $US32, but the app can't tell the difference and you can pre-book via the app for $AU32pp. Once aboard, the menu pricing is $40.

 

PS: That was the last time I looked. Drink packages are going up, so maybe these as well. I already have ours booked for Feb & November.

I booked with the app recently and had the money deducted, $A28, almost straight away, so it is a bargain. If they charge the higher price and you don't like it, you can cancel and get your money back.

11 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Your comment that 'we pay the gratuities in our fares as that is Australian law' is not correct. This is proved by the timing of the introduction of GST (when this tax had to be included in the sales price) and the removal of auto-gratuities from Australian cruises. GST was introduced in July 2000 (when the 'sales tax' had to be included in the final price). The first cruise line to include gratuities in their fares was P&O Aust in 2008, followed by Princess on 1st May 2009. RCL followed later, but not all cruises out of Australia have the tips included in the fare.

While it may not be technically correct, in essence it is. the ACCC advises that businesses must "

• Businesses must display a total price that includes taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees." The price you pay is the complete and final price. Anything else is optional. Yes this did start back when GST was introduced, to stop the practice of adding "extras" such as GST, taxes, fees. From what I can read of the law, it is unequivocal, the final total at the bottom of the invoice is what you have to pay. All the rest is voluntary. I have had "gratuities" (God I hate that word) put onto my bill and had them removed at the desk with no issue on princess in Japan and NCL in Europe. Gratuities as they are now structured are simply a way of the cruise line paying their staff  by covert means. (I also have issues with the number of cruises I see advertised in the U.S. where gratuities are included in the fare as an incentive.. they're going to pay the staff the gratuities themselves? really?) To me the whole issue is smoke and mirrors.

yep, gotta hate the tipping.

35 minutes ago, P&T said:

Bit put off with P&O Aust policies on what may be brought on board.

 

Last time I was on Princess (pre covid) I saw people bringing on slabs of drinking water and soft drink and a couple bottles of wine which seemed to be all OK.

 

I see from details on my next cruise on P&O Aust, seems they don't allow any alcohol at all to be brought on board (unless you want it confiscated for the duration) and no liquids in a plastic container, even water.

You can only take a small number of canned soft drinks, no bottles. I am guessing that they feel many people would substitute alcohol for the original drinks.