Galesa

Thank you for your post JJK. I really don't have "a thing" against tipping and do often. I prefer how we do it here in Australia but respect that in North America tipping is considered differently. My particular beef is when people tip bar staff in particular, with the expectation the tip will endear them with the bar staff and as such will get preferential treatment at the expense of other non- tippers at the bar. I honestly feel that has no place on a cruise ship, with guests from around the world, that are unused to tipping as a normal and regular practice.

I actually saw a person sitting at the bar with dollar bills in front of her - this was a HAL cruise from Sydney to New Zealand and there were many Americans on board. Needless to say however, we had fabulous service from drinks waiters throughout the cruise- comfortably ignoring the "gratuity" space on the receipt that HAL insist you sign for every drink even with a package.

Got into a FB spat with someone (HAL forum so assuming North American) about tipping bar tenders for every drink stating it makes her cruise better. Aaargh! Anyway, I have nothing against tipping and leave tips for cabin staff. But the practice of rubbing the hands of a bartender in the expectation of favourable service I find patronising at best, crude at worst. This may be common practice in North American bars etc but on an international cruise ship with guests from all over the world, who pay a significant amount in crew appreciation plus 18% service charge for each drink, it has no place in my view.

About to follow the sun from Sydney to Johannesburg. 14.5 hours of daylight flying. Ugh! In PE this time but it's still awful.

I read the 250+ post re the Chilean visa. Wow. Some horror stories and stressed people regarding the process. One poster got her e visa in the Check in queue. Yikes. Thankfully there weren't any "I didn't get my visa in time" posts. Just wondering if getting a UK passport, which I qualify for, would be easier, lol.

Australia requires visas from a whole lot of countries that either offer visa on arrival or don't require visas for Australians. Very much an imbalance that "favours" Australia.

Australia's not good at reciprocaty so that probably explains it.

It's interesting too that UK and US citizens can travel to Chile visa free. Obviously we've no considered Chile important enough to negotiate Visa free travel. Or perhaps it's because Australia is not important enough in tourism terms.

Oh dear! Any reason why you can't start the process 9 months in advance?

As we can't PM thought I'd continue to ask some questions. First, we booked flights. We swore 2 years ago we'd never fly long haul economy again. Well that had to change! Qantas wanted 12.5k (for 2) return in PE ex Sydney. With 250k ff points it went down to 10.3. Incidentally up coming trip to Johannesburg is 5.5k PE with 150k points. So we booked economy for 5.5k. Grabbed the twin seats at the back. Yes not ideal but will put up with a lot not to be in the middle. Anyway the real point of my post: What Santiago, Iguazu and BA hotels would you recommend. Many TIA

Better not forget the Aerogard😄!

Ok everyone. Thanks heaps. Very informative. So if we go to Iguazu for 3 days. Return to BA, join the cruise and 20 odd days later depart from Santiago we should be OK to return without quarantine?

Further to my post on YF vaccination. It appears all of Brazil and Argentina are listed as YF countries. So, even if we didn't do the falls we still need the jab.

Interesting re YF jab. When discussing our upcoming trip to Victoria Falls with my GP, he advised there were side effect risks for me at 71 with the YF vaccine.

Thanks Rosie. Great tips. Have already checked Qantas and dates in February for our return dates aren't available yet. But yes, a stopover in Auckland would be much less desirable.

Thanks heaps Mic. Plan at this early stage is to fly to Santiago with a straight return (from Sydney). Stay maybe 2 days before heading to BA. Looking to do 2 nights Iguazu before joining cruise. I did think about going from Santiago to Iguazu then Iguazu to BA but there's not many flights from Santiago.

Hi Folks Put a deposit down on a 22 day South America Antarctic cruise with HAL, late January 2025. BA to Santiago. Just wondering if Aussies on the forum might have done this cruise; and any tips re flying to the cruise, excursions before, during and after, plus any other tips.

Debarked Auckland Thursday 22nd. Had to fill in NZ arrival card.

It was a mess in 2017. Still a record for us: 1 hour to check in then 2 hour line for security- for a 90 minute flight to EDI.

Currently on HAL. Australian fare purchase. Paid credit crew appreciation. Have their Have it All package. Everything you buy however is subject to plus 18%. While there's a lot to like about HAL compared to Princess the practice of billing you through your card AND then giving you a receipt you have to sign, is absolutely ridiculous. Besides slowing the service measurably, it has a space for "Additional tip". This is after there being an 18% service charge! I've already seen $1 bills on display. The cinic in me suspects this is the reason this archaic process continues. I am gleefully ignoring the additional tip "suggestion".

Yes. If using Telstra daily roaming plan which operates on a 24 hourly basis, you must remember to actively switch it off otherwise it will start again every 24 hours charging you another $10. Even flight mode or no service does not stop the 24 hourly charge. How do I know?

Thanks everyone for your responses. Bit late responding as life got in the way. So. When comparing a Princess cruise to a HAL cruise eg, the daily charge can make a considerable difference to the cruise price, applies v apples?

Hi Folks Really hoping not to open the "tipping" can of worms but have a question peculiar to HAL. Have cruised twice previously with HAL. Both outside Aus. In both instances: Alaska; and Norway, we willingly paid the daily crew appreciation charge. This was sold as a means of avoiding any uncomfortable situations around tipping; and that the funds are distributed among the crew in lieu of individual tipping. We thought this was a good idea and quite reasonable. Our recent experience with Princess from Australia resulted in us not "having too" tip anyone as gratuities were wrapped up in the fare we paid. Tipping of cabin staff eg, was completely voluntary and not necessarily expected. A fine idea also. We are now travelling again with HAL from Australia with an Australian fare structure. My question is, do we pay crew appreciation as a matter of course like we did in the US and Norway/Holland, or, like the Princess cruise, are gratuities wrapped up in the fare and there is no need to pay crew appreciation. Many TIA

I'd have to look it up but I would have thought it was reasonable for the insurer to ask for some supporting evidence that there was actual damage to the car which resulted in the car rental company withholding the excess.

I don't know but I had a very minor accident in the UK (hit a rock hidden in grass on a country lane) and put a scratch on the front underside of the rental. Company immediately took the whole excess of GBP2k, plus the security deposit of GBP250. I had 3rd party rental car insurance. To assess the claim they needed evidence of damage and repair. I suspect the damage was never repaired. After much to and froing between me and the car rental company including a number of international phone calls the insurance paid the claim. Took about 4 months to resolve. While the insurer paid the claim after I got as much evidence as the car rental company provided, it was a lesson in terms of the limits of 3rd party car rental insurance. The car rental company was Europcar BTW. This was 2019. I did have a not at fault accident in a Hertz rental in 2016. Was rear ended in a motoway traffic jam causing minor damage to the rear. Hertz had a damage assessment tool which assessed damage at GBP190. That's all they took from in terms of excess. The offending driver paid the damage and Hertz refunded me. Again took more than 2 months. Outside Australia I take out the full car rental insurance cover. Yep, it's a rip off but it's the only way to have true piece of mind IMHO.