Nebr.cruiser

I had read those complaints too, but so far, knock on wood, no problems for me. If I decide they are getting too old I will do the pods and dryer sheets too.

I bought a bunch of those Purex sheets when I heard they were being discontnued, probably enough to last the rest of my life. On longer trips we do a combo of some sink washing (mostly underwear) and using the laundromat; one great thing about Princess cruses. For hand washing, I just use whatever soap is available in the cabin, wring out very welland roll up in a hand towel for a while. Then they dry very quickly on the line in the shower. i

My college age granddaughter is working at a very upscale restaurant, mostly bussing table and some other duties. Tips are shared, I do not know how the percentages are figured however, for example, do waiters get more, etc.? She receives her share of the tips every two weeks and averages about $28 per hour with her base pay and tips. I'm sure not all restaurants do this, but it is pretty common.

So excited and grateful for all the tips!

We've noticed dead or almost dead reefs several places that used to be good. Captain Cook Bay on the Big Island--spectacular in the 70's, very little life in about 2005. Buck Island (Virgin Islands) was pretty good in the 90's. About 4 years ago, mostly dead. The best snorkeling we've had lately--ok pre-Covid--has been in Roatan. We, which means I, will do as much research as possible in hope of decent snorkeling. It's a sad state of affairs, and probably won't be getting better.

It should be fine unless something crazy happens. Our last flight out of Rome was about that time and we had plenty of time. Of course right now Covid tests, etc. might have to factored in.

We usually tip the room steward about $20 pp if they do a good job. Normally we don't eat at the same table or have the same waiter every night, but if we do have the same quite often and they are good, we will tip $20 or so to the waiter and assistant waiter at the end of the cruise. We always leave the auto tips on.

Oh shoot--going there, hopefully, next year. I'd love recommendations of which port to do a reef tour from.

Thank you! I'm already starting to take notes and look at possible tour ideas--might be a little early!

That looks amazing--what port is that from? We usually do independent tours. Booking today a round-trip from Sydney 12 night to NZ and an 11 day Sydney to Port Douglas roundtrip before the New Zealand cruise, on Princess. We'll have 5 days between the cruises and 3-4 days after the NZ cruise to tour in Australia.

We've actually thought about just what you are suggesting, although not doing a driving trip in New Zealand. I guess we are opting for the 'easier' choice, given our age (77) and of course driving on the 'wrong' side of the road--it was a little challenging in England and that was a few years ago! The sea days on the NZ cruise aren't too bad and we are both seasoned sailors and seldom if ever get seasick. But I know that can be a challenging crossing. And the two cruises just happen to work really well as to timing. We are planning on the Red Center after the last cruise, which gets back March 23, due to heat.

We ended up finding two cruises--one on Princess to Port Douglas and back and one on RCI to New Zealand. There are 5 days between the cruises for other touring and we are staying a few days after as well. Since we were able to use FF miles to fly to Australia, it makes it all (kind of) affordable. Thanks for the advice every one! The Noordam cruise had a great itinerary but we couldn't make it work out schedule-wise.

Thank you so much everyone. We are just about to book two cruises; an 11 day from Sydney up to Port Douglas and a 12 day Sydney to New Zealand round trip. We have 5 days between the cruises and could stay longer after the New Zealand cruise if we want to go to the Red Center in March rather than February. We were able to get premium economy using our miles and even have miles left over. All the cruises are refundable up to final payment and we have decent balcony cabins. In the coming months we will do more research to see how to spend our time on the extra days we have, but we shuold have plenty of time for that. We may miss Melbourne/Tasmania, and other places but we realize we can't do everything, at least in our budget and time frame. Hoping this all comes off and nothing dire happens to close cruising/traveling down again!

We made no reservations on our Discovery cruise--we really don't even want to be locked into a certain time. We always went to the first show, then on to the dining room and never had much of a wait--maybe 5 minutes once. Our only (very funny) glitch was that there are 3 in our party and one poor confused person couldn't fined a 'table for three'. She had to be told just to seat us at a table for four.😂 We don't care if we have the same table or servers, but if you do, I guess reservations make sense, although I'm not sure they helped on many cruises due to the Medallion not working right at times. If you want to eat early, probably try to reserve. Whenever we walked near a dining room early, there was a big crowd/line.

Sad that that may be true.

Thanks everyone. At this time it looks like the Noordam cruise isn't going to work because of timing. We have enjoyed every cruise on every line we have tried so I am sure we would have been fine. Now looking at a Princess for the Great Barrier Reef and RCI for New Zealand as they fit our dates better. We are trying 'to do it all' (of course we know we can't see all of Australia in a month:) and hope to also go to the Red Center, in between or after cruises. But you never know! We loved the HAL itinerary, which included Melbourne and Tasmania as well as New Zealand. Slight negative that wasn't round trip Sydney.

We would be cruising from Australia to New Zealand. 14 nights. This is pretty port intensive so probably the ship/line doesn't matter as much. We generally cruise Princess, Celebrity or NCL, mostly Princess. The entertainment seemed really lacking on the Oosterdam, but for this cruise may not be that important.

Any advice for cruising HAL to New Zealand--on the Noordam. We've only done one HA cruise and weren't too impressed but willing to try again.

Yep--without all that would anyone like it?

Our prime rib was on the Discovery March 27 Mexican Riviera cruise--the inaugural. We knew there would be glitches, which there were, but buying decent beef should not be a glitch!

Sorry, duplicate. We realize weather or other conditions may make cruising the sounds iffy--just have to hope for the best!

I didn't try the escargot this time--I usually do--don't know why I didn't.

Good advice and I did wonder about the jellyfish season. but, unfortunately, I don't think we can be gone from March to May! I'm beginning to wonder if we can do 'everything' we want to do in one trip! But I am making some progress with plans. Do you think it is possible to find a tour to the Red Center once in Sydney, without booking ahead? We'd only need three days or so. I'm finding it difficult to find one online that works for us but was wondering if such things can be arranged once in Australia.

We are planning to cruise to New Zealand next year--anytime from late January into March and are looking at different cruise lines. They all seem to show a different itinerary as to ports. Most do cruising the Fiords. Some also show cruising the Bay of Islands. We don't particularly care which ship or departure port. Budget matters since we also want to spend 2-3 weeks touring Australia. What are the must see ports? We want to see as much as possible, of course, mostly interested in scenic beauty and I really want to go to Hobbit Town. I've noticed some of the shorter cruises leave out Tauranga, Napier, Wellington. And some leave out Aukland. Most seem to have Dunedin and Christ Church. Some have Picton. We will probably only do this once, so don't want to miss anything truly spectacular.

We are starting to plan a long cruise and land vacation in Australia and New Zealand for 2023, probably in February, although the dates are flexible. I know that things can change and there are no guarantees, but what is the status of Covid protocols in those areas now? Masking requirements? Testing on arrival or before? Testing after a cruise and before or during a land tour? Before flying home? We will probably only make this journey once and want to see as much as possible, probably spending a month or so. Any advice appreciated. Also as budget-friendly as possible. (I know prices are high in this part of the world.) Our must sees include the Red Center and much of the Great Barrier Reef area, as well as a cruise to NZ. We are experienced travelers but arranging all this is daunting.