ivanp91

4 hours ago, Pushka said:

There is freedom to exit Australia just not enter it now. We can't stop people leaving Australia at all.

Only for foreign nationals. Australian citizens can only leave under extraordinary/compassionate circumstances, and DFAT is turning people away at the airport if they don't fall under the limited scope of these new rules. I know the discussion was related to the US tourists that tested positive, but people may misinterpret your comment as meaning everyone can leave of their own free will.

1 hour ago, dillpickle48 said:

Comments from onboard suggest that some had 15 or 16 pieces of luggage.

This doesn't surprise me. I work at the airport and there have been a lot of passengers from the ships pass through in the last several days, some with a LOT of luggage. One in particular paid $6,000 AUD in excess baggage fees!!!

7 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

 

They are likely to be empty

QM2 has a very small number of passengers on board, but only those that have health concerns with flying.

Costa Deliziosa on the other hand was (to my surprise) most certainly NOT empty when leaving Freo. Not only the people on the upper and promenade decks, but also the many people on stateroom balconies:

1 hour ago, Trevor Fountain said:

By the time this is over we may not have any cruise lines left.

How long do you think a business can survive without customers?

I think, worst case scenario and this drags out for months on end, the larger cruise lines will survive but with major reductions in their fleet sizes. Maybe even downsizing and consolidation of the various brands that fall under the likes of Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Intl. The only one I can see coming through without much damage is Disney, purely based on the near bottomless pockets of their parent corporation (in saying that, I believe it is drastically going to mess up their future fleet plans).

Thanks for the heads up! It was an hour-long drive one way, but I couldn't pass up a chance to see so many ships at once, especially QM2!

Costa Deliziosa's decks were packed as she pulled away, QM2 seemed to be transferring off the last of her passengers just prior. Also saw Seven Seas Mariner sitting off the coast.

There's also another thread about it posted here in the Aussie/NZ section:

Yeah, that's fraud.

Requesting a chargeback when by all means the other party did everything they were entitled to at the time is not playing fair.

4 hours ago, Docker123 said:

The Jones Act bans boarding in one US port and disembarking in another, without a foreign stop.

 

You mean the Passenger Vessel Services Act.

The Jones Act is similar but covers the shipping of goods between ports. That the Jones Act covers passenger cruising is a common misconception. I'm trying my best to push people into citing the right one 😉 

3 hours ago, avalon007 said:

(unless US suspends Jones law)

I know I'm being picky, but what you mean is the Passenger Vessel Services Act. People tend to incorrectly cite the Jones Act, usually thinking they are the same thing or that the Jones Act encompasses the rules of the PVSA, but they are not and do not.

9 hours ago, NSWP said:

No ships, but is the website off line for 60 days? Surely not !!!

In regards to the travel/transportation industry, "offline" can mean "not in service" or "not currently part of an active fleet".

Carnival is offering the same, I just got the same email regarding my upcoming cruise on the Splendor.

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Yes I just heard of one airline on the news but didn't catch the name.  Fly ?

 

Flybe has been living on borrowed time for some time now, I'm sure people will be linking it to coronavirus, but as someone who works in the industry I can say that Brexit had more of an impact on their demise than this pandemic has.

I'll just add a little recommendation, you will be fine in 99.9% of instances, but make sure to ask the taxi drivers if their card machine is working before beginning your journey. I've had co-workers stung with this a few times and have had to quickly run to get cash on the completion of their ride, so even if it seems like a silly thing to ask I always make sure to do so.

27th April - Carnival Splendor - 10-night South Pacific

Thanks! 🙂 

4 hours ago, subaru94 said:

Wow, people get sick, talk about over the top with all this banning from entering ports, they have Influenca A not the plague, no offence to anyone, we were on a ship 3 years ago where passengers who got on ship were found to have Influenca A, at next port of call they were thrown off ship and made to find their own way home, no banning ships from port, letting them move around with everyone on island and plane heading home.  Where is this world coming too, rant over.

It's influenza, not influenca. 

20 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Spectrum is even newer than Ovation.

But Spectrum wasn't scheduled to sail from Australia, it was the result of circumstance. Apples and oranges.

One of the Australian passengers that tested positive has passed away. They had been amongst the evacuees that were flown to Darwin, and had returned back to Perth a week and a half ago:

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/australia-records-first-coronavirus-fatality-as-man-dies-in-perth-hospital-20200301-p545r1.html

8 minutes ago, Elorac123 said:

Lol ! Your lucky to get a refund,I spent 2 hours and 45 minutes waiting to be told it would cost me $400 per person to cancel a fare that cost $395.

Thanks Qantas

It sounds like you had saver fares, which attract higher cancellation fees and are standard across the board regardless of how much the fare itself is. As ridiculous as it sounds, those are the conditions you agree to when booking the fare.

7 hours ago, bazzaw said:

as always it is impossible to contact them in any way!!!

Whenever I've had to contact Qantas I have never found it "impossible". Call centre or Facebook Messenger usually works a charm for me, especially the latter as it means not having to wait on the phone and I can go and do other things while waiting for a reply. Sounds more like the contact options you have don't suit you.

3 hours ago, peter1956 said:

No you don't have to pay anything because it physically left the country 😀

This is actually untrue. Upon re-entry, any item that has had the GST refunded is dutiable if it causes the person to exceed their $900 allowance of purchased goods being brought into the country.

In other words, if you have an item that cost you $500 (after TRS), that is $500 towards your $900 limit upon re-entering Australia. If your item was a laptop that cost $2000, you are already well over your allowance and legally should be declaring it on your customs card upon re-entry. Whether it's policed or not is another matter, but do you really want to be the person getting caught out?

EDIT: The posts above mine explain this perfectly.

6 hours ago, cheznandy said:

Splendour

 

This is the pedant in me coming out, but it's Carnival Splendor, not Carnival Splendour. Every ounce of me wants to spell it with a 'u' as well, but as it's a proper noun (ie. the given name of the ship), the spelling that is on the side of her applies.

(And I mean this as a general observation rather than picking on you in particular... I just can't help myself with these things!! 🤪)

7 hours ago, ANagy said:

My parents have been on many cruises worldwide.  Always with Princess.  Once on a month-long trip around the world.  Blah blah blah.

Yeah, you already made your own thread about this. No need to hijack someone else's.

On 2/11/2020 at 7:12 AM, sunbrookgal said:

Ok, Plan B. you have a ship with close to 4000 isolated from the rest of the world. Right now when I go to the official web page I get Drinks, Wi-Fi & Gratuities included. Sorry but and however. Its time to let all informed. Princess please,,, No I am not dissing you. I am clear your lack or response to the Aisa issues needs a focus you are not doing today. Your operation is not at issue. Your team back at corporate, safe from the drama seems lacking of compassion. Probably me. However,, wake up ,,,, You can do better. Marketing Team saying nothing is your position? Ok,, Thanks,,, 🙂 

I think Princess is better off not taking advice from someone who has such difficulty forming a cohesive statement.

11 minutes ago, Minoushka said:

Apparently more pax have tested positive ..so does that mean an extra 14 days confinement ??

how does one differentiate with the dreaded cruise cough or cold and this virus ...how many of us leave a ship and come home with it ?

can crew members still clean cabins ?

ifi were confine to my cabin I.d be going nuts the only ones who might not be so badly off are balcony people who are allowed outdoors 

 

Practically all of this has been answered in the previous pages. Other members shouldn't have to waste their time clogging up the thread with the same responses because a few people can't be bothered reading.

On 1/17/2020 at 1:13 PM, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Entertainment is in the eye of the beholder, but don't Carnival and RCI also partake of the Quest? It's almost a nautical tradition.

Even Disney, the most conservative of cruise lines when it comes to "adult entertainment", does the Quest on their ships! Certainly not as risque as the other lines (the worst I've seen is men needing a woman's bra), but it's still 18+

I'll be honest, I had never heard of Jane McDonald before watching this and only happened to catch it by chance by seeing it on the guide 10 minutes before it started. I didn't mind her presentation style.

What I kind of did mind was the bits that were edited unnecessarily - when she got on the tour bus in Sydney, she said there was only a matter of hours until her ship left. When she got off the bus at the Opera House, it was very clearly a Carnival ship docked at the Overseas terminal. By the time her ship was going under the bridge, Carnival had magically transformed into a RCCL Voyager class.