Chiliburn

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

Also, most people use statistics as a drunk uses a lamp post - for support rather than illumination 🤔

Some of my best friends are drunks but they aren’t really illuminating.

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, Kingscote isn't a great town for tourist day stops but it's a good base if you're staying on the island for a few days, especially if you're going to do the big drive down to Seal Bay, the Flinders Chase National Park and the Admiral's Arch.

I think the best way to see it would be with a caravan for a week but you could see the same thing in hundreds of places across Australia .

13 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

That what I did last time.But we going again in October but this time I'm going to book an excurision. 

I was pretty unimpressed with Kangaroo island,maybe I didn’t do the right things.

I got the ship bus into the main town which was like any rural town in Australia.

The town of Kingscote was about a hour by a school bus and the town was in decline. Buildings were boarded up with limited service like hundreds of country towns.

People I talked to went to Pennshaw pub and they loved . 

5 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

First time I did a road trip in Europe and I am driving on those 120km freeway I noticed none of the cars around me have visible smoke blowing out of their exhaust😯. I've since had more driving experience around Europe so I know it is not all equal when it come car emissions but still they do seem overall much further ahead and it is sad to realise that cars that don't meet those higher standards get dumped on us🙁. 

Off Road in Australia don’t have any emission standards to comply to.

Thats like farm tractors,earth moving machines and marine.

In the U.S. and Europe a lot have to comply to some standards like particulate collectors or Add blue.

We are behind.

2 hours ago, ShazM said:

I wonder if the transpacific is going to happen then

The transpacific is still on sale,so you would think so.

I’d just catch the tender and walk up to the pub .

Brilliance transpacific is still on sale so it looks like it’s going to be fixed locally.

It must be a big job though.

5 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We got off her on Tuesday, after 46 nights.  At that time all was well.  Really feeling for those on board.  We met many who had booked to stayed on board until Vancouver. It sounds like they’ll be bumped off for 9 nights. Wondering if they’ll give up and fly back or attempt to stay on land that long.  Lodging and food isn't cheap in Sydney but maybe an Airbnb where you could do some light cooking would work. Disembarking late at night sounds awful so hoping they allow people to stay on board until the following morning at least. 

Apparently they dock at 8:00 pm and there’s another ship booked for the next morning. It will be dark and they all have to get off 

Not the most glamorous situation.

 Chatting with a friend onboard and she said the next 2 cruises have been cancelled.

16 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Sad to hear. 

I hope they can get it fixed quickly so that it doesn't roll on to more cruises.

Geoff,I’m thinking those Rhino Beatles?.

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

What is the news Phil?

Brilliance will return to Sydney on Tuesday night, dock at OPT after Coral Princess departs to disembark passengers, then depart for Newcastle in the wee hours. I have been hearing rumours of drydock repairs in Singapore, but I can't see anything booked beyond Newcastle. For the repairs to be completed in Newcastle, they won't be needing a drydock and just need the timely arrival of techo's and or parts to have her back in Sydney on 4th April for the following cruise.

My friend on board said the next two cruises are cancelled,so it might be serious.

14 minutes ago, arxcards said:

What is the news Phil?

Brilliance will return to Sydney on Tuesday night, dock at OPT after Coral Princess departs to disembark passengers, then depart for Newcastle in the wee hours. I have been hearing rumours of drydock repairs in Singapore, but I can't see anything booked beyond Newcastle. For the repairs to be completed in Newcastle, they won't be needing a drydock and just need the timely arrival of techo's and or parts to have her back in Sydney on 4th April for the following cruise.

I haven’t heard anything only a rumour of steering problems and they can’t run one engine but that’s unknown.

If they go to Singapore ,that’s the transpacific gone out the window.

You are going to love this one !!

Its only resent and this is what the cruise lines are up against.

I think it was put together by Rod and his mates ,what did he call cruise ships?  Floating disease infested garbage cans .

3 hours ago, fairywren said:

Yes we just got the email from RC. 100% refund and 50% FCC.          Not sure what we will do yet, as we are on the next cruise too. 

Fly to Sydney and grab a car for a week 

3 minutes ago, fairywren said:

Well I hope they can fix it before we get on her next Saturday.....😟

It’s running on one engine, there’s going to be some unhappy people onboard.

I have friends onboard and it was a pretty good itinerary and all they got to see was lifou .    

Apparently Brilliance has engine problems and is limping back to Sydney .

11 minutes ago, springaussie said:

That’s a great question. I have been thinking about it Chilli.

Would going to Los Angeles be an option to replace Quantum while she goes to Alaska?
I can’t see Voyager staying in Oz during the Winter. 
 

LA could be a possibility it’s getting pretty old though. I don’t think it would be very popular there or Singapore.

@springaussie

Nobody seems be asking where Voyager goes after Brisbane season.

The only place I can think is ,here year  round ,Dubai or a long shot would be Tokyo.

43 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

There are rumours both are heading to Australia but I don't know if there's any truth to them.

Anthem has the season booked in Sydney and Voyager in Brisbane Port schedules.

Ovation is off to Shanghai/ Hong Kong according to Hong Kong cruise society.

24 minutes ago, sciencewonk said:

Fuel efficiency is getting better with newer cruise ships, but the ships are getting larger, which requires more fuel, and it wouldn't surprise me if the net effect is close to zero.  The shipping industry needs to accelerate the improvements on fuel efficiency and emission standards.

 

That being said, when I moved to Australia from the US I was shocked by the lack of emission standards here in NSW.  I'm getting tired of driving behind cars and utes spewing noxious smoke.  And with the increasing popularity of American-sized pick up trucks, things are only going to get worse.  Why do we have to import the worst of the US?

 

(slightly off-topic rant over)

I think we at Euro 5 which is behind the developed world. I think we are going to jump to Euro 8 or something in the new year.

But for off road or at sea we are at nothing.

2 hours ago, fairywren said:

You might want to check that again. I've just spoken to someone who got a $1300 reduction on their cruise. Booked directly with RCI.

I called Royal Caribbean and it sounded like he was overseas somewhere. He said they still have price protection. I asked ,is that in Australia and he got a bit vague and said yes.

I had a bit of a scratch around on the internet and this what I found. 
It looks to me it’s within a couple of days of booking only,a cooling off period.

4 hours ago, springaussie said:

10 December 2025 is the repositioning in Yorkeys Knob.

They must still plan to bring Voyager through the Suez Canal.
I thought they might bring it around the bottom of Africa and straight to Perth.

We should find out in a few weeks.

1 hour ago, fairywren said:

You might want to check that again. I've just spoken to someone who got a $1300 reduction on their cruise. Booked directly with RCI.

OK ,that’s interesting ,was it an old booking? This is a new booking.

My agent is one of the biggest cruise specialists in Australia,it might be via RCI only . I might call Royal Caribbean.

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/how-a-loyal-royal-caribbean-cruiser-beat-the-complexities-of-cruise-with-confidence/

On 3/18/2024 at 7:25 PM, springaussie said:

The Q Ships website has changed the “Voyager” Port Douglas visits to Yorkeys Knob! 

 

What date was that Glen ?

I find it hard to work that website out ,is it the reposition?

2nd week in April I believe