Chiliburn

It seems you can’t use your on board credit in the cruise planner anymore . Has anyone had that experience?

I am thinking about travelling along the coast, it’s a full day in and out of the fiords and true the top deck does give the best. In between fiords you can view the coast from your balcony ,that’s if it’s on the land side ,you can’t if it’s on the ocean side.

I’d be on the right hand side or starboard for the Fiordlands to be out your door.

There are a few ports that can accommodate an Oasis class. The biggest problem would be embarking 6,000 + passengers . I think the only real terminal would be Brisbane. It be limited to a few ports of call such as Sydney,Hobart ,Eden? , Picton Tauranga,Auckland (container terminal) and Noumea .

I was just talking to some friends that did a MSC cruise from Dubai to Barcelona. I have heard some bad reviews but They said never again,Food was worse than P&O ,staff where total pigs and drinks were mostly in cans or bottles served straight from the shelves warm ,no ice.Also very little entertainment.

I suppose,as you say Brisbane isn’t selling very well and I suppose the sewage plant wouldn’t be at its full ambiance before then . But it would be nice if we had a cameo by Anthem or even a Oasis for a couple of months. Some nice repositioning cruises there ?

That’s a bit of a late start to the season,1st December. There might be another ship to make a cameo to fill in ?

The original comment was about $US onboard. If I buy anything like shore excursions , I buy before the cruise which would be in $AU. But the ship excursions are pretty expensive so I don’t bother much. I do get free drinks and sometimes have a OBC but excluding that I don’t think I have ever had a bill more than $300 ever when I got home. I don’t know why people panic about the foreign currency onboard

My last cruise for 12 nights was $US41 Quiet often I come back with a couple hundred dollars

It can’t be long and also TUI have a ship doing a couple of turns, it’s one of RCG ships. It’s a bit of a long shot but there now seems to be strong evidence Utopia will be home porting in Cape Canaveral mid next year. It could bump an Oasis ,possibly Wonder to Asia ?

I would like to tell you Manila but it wouldn’t be true. I looks like Port Canaveral to me.

@springaussie It looks like Celebrity Solstice is doing a few turn arounds in Hong Kong. https://www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk/schedule/2024-2/

They have a solo lunch and all the people I met were over 40-50 but each night they had a singles get together at a bar and there were some about your age.

I was looking at that December cruise ,it’s an overnight in Cairns but I just couldn’t get anyone motivated. Then all of a sudden it almost filled up and the price jumped.So I give up, it’s hard to organise people. A overnight in Cairns is pretty good.

Which ones are on Cheryl? Im on the one to Kangaroo island and the Melbourne/Hobart at the end of January

We used to get the price drop match during the pandemic but there’s been a few big changes over the last couple of months. I don’t know if we still have that luxury anymore, I could find out if you want. Over the last season prices have been pretty stable,I thought. They haven’t fluctuated as in the past. From my experience prices go up as the ship fills, so it’s best to get in early .

Has anyone had experience in buying the drinks packaged lately,being D or D +. The diamond drinks are enough for me but which is the best discount? You can get a pretty good discount on a bottle of wine and then you use a voucher when buying it. A bottle of wine for $22 isn’t to bad.

Over on the blog there’s a couple of people say that they have been told Anthem’s going to Singapore. No hard facts just just hear say. I think it’s bound for the Pacific somewhere,probably for Singapore to replace Spectrum. It would be nice if it went to Los Angeles and we got Navigator, wishful thinking .

I don’t know what brand they are but they are pretty good. My sweetheart used them as the ship water has some salt in it and her regular shampoo didn’t foam up so good. Spa junior is a nice cabin ,in my opinion the best value on Royal Caribbean.

Wire brush and Detol was the old thing

It looks like Utopia is off to the Caribbean,so much for the rumour it could end up in Asia/pacific. Note ; Michael Bailey at the interview. https://thenassauguardian.com/new-royal-caribbean-ship-will-feature-all-bahamas-itinerary/

I do it all the time ,it’s good to have something for the middle of the night. Actually if you have the drinks package they sometimes want you to open it .

I usually go on Royal Caribbean and the have single cabins called Solo studio cabins. They are a bit smaller than the twin occupancy and have a bit less cupboard space but have a King bed.

As someone said ,Royal Caribbean is the Caribbean,a repetition Caribbean mass market brand, A McDonalds brand of the cruise industry .Go anywhere and you get the same thing. And I think that’s what they are aiming for in Australia ,unfortunately. Nothing different just the same thing.

I like the big ships but 2 the same are pretty repetitive,give us something different. Brilliance is selling like hotcakes for next season, I can’t understand why they don’t even bring Voyager back in 24-25.