Susie001

Oh, I love a story with a happy ending! Have a great time on your cruise :)

She's been in Sydney today, dropping off passengers, and was due to leave at 4.30 for Newcastle. No need for dry dock, she just needs a berth for 10 days. So she'll be back here sometime tonight or tomorrow, depending on how fast she's travelling. They're flying in experts from Finland to facilitate the repairs, apparently.

Thanks, Marion, I'll give that another go.

Hi, all.

Does anyone know of any World Journey blogs? I'm following a few people on HAL's Grand Voyage, and someone on the Pacific Princess world cruise. I thought I might go a little more upscale and see how the fancy people do it.

Thanks.

Thanks for the info...I attempted to send you a PM. Not sure it worked. If you don't see one, let me know I'll try again.

 

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I don't see it, but maybe shoot me an email: susie9701 @ icloud com

I'm sure you know how to make that work ;) Thank you!

Sorry, Harry! That chandelier-in-the-soup pic is definitely worth the subscription fees!

Hi Susie

That cruise sounds amazing! Which line is it? My cousins are looking at doing a similar trip in the opposite direction as their son and his family are in Australia and we're all in BC. In fact I was jumping on to say hi from Victoria (in case you need any local, biased, questionable advice [emoji6]).

 

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Hey, etoilefj,

It's with Royal on Explorer of the Seas. We jumped on a booking nearly two years ago now, for a price that works out at $98 AUD pppn! Best bargain ever, I reckon. :D Your cousins will have to move quickly on the October sailing this year, as Royal have changed things up, and Explorer is being moved to Asia next year. TransPacifics will be on Ovation from next year, and they're breaking it down into a 16 day cruise Sydney-Honolulu, with a second leg Honolulu-Vancouver (the infamous Jones Act), so with the reverse to come back. Way more pricey, there's no way we could do it.

We're only in Victoria for a really short time, afternoon and overnight, so what do you recommend? Also, we're not rush-rush people, slow and steady, that's us ;p

Sorry, Harry, don't want to hijack your report, that's such bad form! Did I mention I love your photos? I am such a terrible photographer myself, but I appreciate the art!

Hey, Harry,

Yeah, it's a blissful 23 nights of cruising. We leave Sydney and head to Noumea and Lifou in New Caledonia, then to Mystery Island in Vanuatu. Next is Suva and Lautoka in Fiji, then six sea days to Honolulu and Lahaina. And then it's over to Seattle, where we'll disembark and have a couple of days before heading to Victoria, BC, on the fast ferry for an overnighter. Next day onto another ferry to Vancouver from where we'll fly home after a couple more days. So excited!!

Hey, Harry,

I've been lurking, all the way from Australia, since you began your trip report. I've read your others, too, and really enjoy them. I plan to put some of your tips to use on our transPacific on Explorer in 73 days *does happy dance*

Thanks for the fabulous photos and the laughs! Cheers.

Yes, and I've found them to be great! I'm tall, so I customise the length of dresses. I'd recommend them :)

Well done, you! I wish my other half put this much thought and effort into packing! Actually, ANY effort would be welcome :rolleyes: Best of luck with the baby, I hope you have a cooperative traveller there :)

Here's the story of how this came about :)

Sydney has two cruise terminals, the major one, the Overseas Passenger Terminal on the eastern side of the Harbour Bridge, and White Bay Cruise Terminal, on the western side of the bridge. White Bay is limited in its usage because only smaller ships can reach it. Larger ships can't sail under the bridge. This is not normally an issue, as the cruise lines and the Harbour Authority coordinate schedules throughout the season.

This year, however, RCI brought Ovation here for the first time, and then extended her visit. This has meant that there have been a few turnarounds where both Ovation and Radiance have been in port, both only able to dock at the OPT. The solution has been to anchor Radiance at a buoy in the Harbour and transfer luggage by barge and passengers by large hired ferries (not ship's tenders).

An added complication has been that White Bay was already booked by another line, so the terminal building was unavailable to RCI. This meant passenger processing had to be done in a marquee, then passengers were bussed over to the terminal for customs clearance, then back to the marquee for boarding the ferries out to Radiance.

A number of my friends went through this process quite uneventfully, and rather enjoyed their precruise cruise. I think where the system fell down was with those passengers who chose to ignore the boarding times that were given, and not adhered to. Given the complexity of the system, it didn't take much to throw it out of whack, leading to some unhappy cruisers. That obviously occurred for disembarkation as well. Still, it wouldn't be a cruise if there weren't some complainers! :rolleyes:

Hey, Norris, very happy to see another review from you. Best wishes for success with your tech problems. Meanwhile, I'm waiting with bated breath for the next installment...

Cheers from the Aussie contingent.

No, Uncle Les, this won't help you.

The Coeliac Society is warning members that GluteGuard is not suitable for coeliacs.

I've seen several conflicting reports about this today, the first one not naming the product, which got my hopes up :( Having read several more articles, I'm back to being sad about cross contamination. Sigh. Aren't we lucky cruise lines are really good about getting the gf thing right?

And hooray for the edit function when you're a bit of a dill. More sigh.

Yes, exactly, Mr Gut.

Nothing worse than doing your best to be gluten free, and finding some oaf in the kitchen has contaminated your meal, so you've just eaten some awful GF thing (as some are) for no good reason! I always feel so cheated when that happens :(

*disclaimer: I have eaten some absolutely wonderful gf meals. There just seems to be a correlation between disappointing gf food and cross contamination :rolleyes: Go figure!

A third trial still underway, but looking promising. It would be so exciting to not have to worry about cross contamination! I don't want to count my chickens, but talk about a happy pill for we coeliacs! :D

I wear a stinger suit all the time. In winter months it gives you a little extra warmth. In summer, it means I don't have to lather myself with sunscreen. I burn very easily, so SPF 50 protection that doesn't wash off is very welcome :)

Huzzah! A new review from Norris, and although I'm late to the party, it's not done yet. Winning!

Thank you, your reviews are excellent, both for entertainment value and for information. Cheers!

So far (3 cruises, 2 booked) we've never had a balcony, but most of our cruising involves sitting somewhere on a deck watching the ocean go by. I find the majority of people are interested in activities, which tend to be concentrated in various areas, and you can always find a quiet spot somewhere away from the crowd. When cruisers tell you that you can do as much or as little as you want to, it's true!

Hey, TT81,

P&O have an Access All Areas tour which covers all the interesting places :) It doesn't run on all cruises, it depends on cruise length, I think. You have to sign up quickly because places are limited. The cost is around $150.

Cheers!

That looks brilliant! Definitely need a blog or two for some vicarious world cruising! ;)

No, you only need your passport :)

Raina,

What an amazing journey you're sharing with us! Such beautiful photos. Thank you :) Looking forward to the next update.

Uncle Les, I fell in love with Chex cereal. Comes in lots of varieties, cinnamon (my favourite), honey nut, rice, corn, chocolate...delicious! It's similar to Kelloggs Crispix, but Crispix is not GF :(

I should add that it's GF to US standards, so 20ppm, as opposed to our 3. However, I've eaten GF-labelled food in the States, Europe and the UK, and not had a problem, so I tend not to worry about the different standards.

I'm a coeliac, too, and I always travel with GF food. As long as it's prepackaged food in its original packaging, and you declare it, you should have no problems. I came back from the US with 6 boxes of the best GF breakfast cereal ever, and Customs just waved me through :D

So I've never sailed RCI, and I'm an Aussie so the likelihood of a Caribbean cruise is pretty low, but your review is one of the best I've read. Love the way you and your gorgeous girl embrace life!

I also want to congratulate you on your drinking effort. We have complimentary premium drinks packages on our next cruise (in 5weeks, 4days) and I reckon you've given me a target to aim for! Thanks for the fun read, Cathi :)