Yaya_in_Oz

Not Ireland but in Europe

I thought I was in Hyrule at first🤣. No such luck but it was pretty good anyway.

Miners Memorial, Broken Hill.

June 6 at sea. I was informed by letter my immigration time was 7.30 am! Seriously. I haven't been up that early in days. Apparently some people got 12.30 pm. Not sure how they worked it out but it only took a few minutes. No lines at that time. The ports will be coming thick and fast now. Very chilly today so I might need some warmer clothing tomorrow when I venture over to Spike Island. I've been to Cobh twice before and the surrounding area by land travel so its time I went over there.

June 5 at sea. Had a medivac this evening. A short while after asking people, particularly after on the Port side to stay off the open decks and off their balconies, the Captain in a terse tone told the people on the Port side "to go back to their rooms, shut their balcony doors, Now!" Some people, at best, were acting like school kids wanting to take pictures of the helicopter and see what was going on. They weren't asked to shut the curtains. You would think common sense would prevail as anything could be thrown around and why would you make a difficult situation, more difficult. I'm on the Starboard side so didn't hear anything.

June 4 , I took the ships excursion for a walk through the medina and a visit to the museum, refreshment stop at the Intercontinental hotel and then a visit to St Andrews Anglican Church. I had been to Tangier years ago, the vendors were no where near as pushy as before or perhaps now I'm much older they know I don't want to hoard junk! and don't bother. A few postcards and a fridge magnet are my regular souvenir staples, You can walk through the medina yourself but I was so thankful for the guide's helper as there are a lot of steps and no rails to hang onto so he took my arm in places to stop me falling head first onto concrete! Very warm day.

On June 2, I went on the ships excursion to Mogan with a brief stop at Maspalomas dunes. You can't walk on the dunes as they are protected and roped off but some people do 🙄. In Mogan I enjoyed wandering around and taking pics of whitewashed buildings with hanging bougainvillea. I could have chosen an excursion with more substance but I'd been to Gran Canaria before, Our departure was delayed 2h as the divers were still down cleaning the hull.

I too got the e-mail reconfirming my trips on the Explorer (Melb-Freo-Exmouth) Jan/Feb 2025. So yes, another once, never to be repeated cruise. It doesn't mention where the Explorer is going after it sails out of Australian waters....perhaps off the edge of the Earth. I just assume that Melbourne won't have any cruise ships home-porting there. But who knows. The cruise lines seem to be chopping and changing things around at a rapid rate of knots with less than a years notice. Anything is possible. If I want a short break, as I'll need to go to the airport anyway, I may as well just go for a week to a Pacific island. I do have family in Brisbane so could cruise from there now and again but on Carnival? I feel a headache coming on 🙃. I'm just so glad I got to do all these great cruises in the past year before all these adverse (to me) changes come in.

This is the Port info we were given, a bit light on for info for some of them, but the destination expert Luka does go into more detail in his talks which are available on the TV to refer to. He's also available to answer questions each day. I must say his photos are a cut above other experts, probably a cut above most people and I look at them and think "oh, I must go there". I have only been to 2 of the actual ports before but have been to just over half of the places on land travel. A couple of recent patters.

I did plan to get off in Walvis Bay but.... In Cape Verde, I actually managed 20K steps. with no ill effects the next day. That was good for me as I usually do about 15-17K steps when in port. So I haven't atrophied at sea 😄 I know I could walk round and round the Promenade deck or go in the Gym but thats not for me. Too much of a chore. I've included a few pics of my walkaround and one from Mount Verde when I went on the island drive.

I was watching the ceremony which started around noon. Even if you'd stayed in bed I think they'd give you are certificate. Those watching still participate by calling out 'guilty' ra ra etc. We actually crossed the Equator around 7am. This photo was taken at 6:48 am at 0.03 degrees S, so near enough. I was too busy with selfies after that🤣. I know, how old am I! .....And breakfast at 0.01 degrees N at 7 am.

Well, a line of 10 sea days in a row is about to come to an end, which is a record for me. Its been OK. I've made use of my balcony. Did some of the activities, talks and shows. I have my laptop with its user friendly screen and plenty of programs to entertain and have been working through the destinations and read a 400 pp book. All good. I just got back some laundry this morning thats been on the go for 8 days. Apparently, there are 801 of us that as the FCCord put 'don't know where the laundry is' so we probably all put it out at once. One couple told me they pack a collapsible bucket in case they do laundry. Never heard of it. Apparently you get them in Aldi. I say bring on the ports. I tend to go for half day excursions so I can get in about half a day of wander time, my favourite. Included are the last 2 day Patters and the certificate they present you with for Crossing the Equator. I hope to get a matching one on the Diamond in a couple of months.

After leaving Walvis Bay around 7pm we went a short distance to an anchor point and the bunkering took place there, a short distance from the wharf. Apparently, the Walvis Bay authority would not allow any bunkering while the ship was alongside the wharf during the day. I think they did do some bunkering in Cape Town as well but I was off the ship and also on the mountainside so didn't notice but it makes sense as they ship had come all the way from Mauritius. Bunkering would have been done while ship was at the terminal as we didn't stop anywhere.

We are pretty much sailing in a straight line from Walvis Bay to Cape Verde. Smooth seas and great sunny weather. The Officer on the Bridge in his daily midday update yesterday said we would be crossing the prime meridian at 5.15 pm later in the day. We are still about 5 degrees S so we won't be anywhere near Null Island. Thanks for the info, I'd never heard of it before.

I've absolutely no idea why this image appears upside down or how to fix it. I'm half way through the sea days so I got the Internet today for $23 as a plat/elite for the day. Quite reasonable considering they wanted $750 for the cruise. I don't have a package and certainly not worth it for just checking e-mails. I have been impressed with the number of activities offered on a small ship. Dare I post a patter or two. They may be upside down. Also very happy that they have ABC24 as a channel (as well as Sky 🙃) and BBC News among others. I like to be kept informed while away but its a bit to get used to watching Afternoon Briefing, Planet America and so on at 8 am! All the previous Destination Guides that have been presented are available for viewing also. The only thing I saw or heard in Walvis Bay was the bunker boat whirring till all hours of the morning. Fortunately I'd been through Namibia before. The Captain said Walvis Bay was not up to the standard required for a cruise ship.

I didn't bother with a private transfer. I had read to just take an authorised taxi from the airport. The attendant at the carousel must of thought I'd fall over if I tried to retrieve my bag so she grabbed it and then wheeled it to the authorised taxi man who wheeled it around the airport to their booth where they gave me the price of 450 Rand (about $40) and then to the taxi. I stayed at the Pullman in the CBD as I had read it was a nice hotel used by cruise passengers. It was $184 compared to $5-600 they were wanting for a waterfront hotel at my time of booking which was fairly last minute. Nice hotel, large rooms, pool. They had a shuttle every hour to the waterfront which you had to book in advance (about 1/2hr). The shuttle drops you off about 5-7 min walk on the flat from the cruise terminal. On the day the shuttle bus driver just took me around there although they don't have too. Oh, the advantages of being an old lady😄. This pic is from my balcony on the ship and you can see the hotel with that pyramid thing on top (right of centre) so not far.

I embarked Cape Town yesterday. I arrived at about 11.30 and my bag was taken by a porter. With the ship delayed I guess I waited about 2 hours to start checking in. Supposedly the terminal is new but there is only about 80 seats for people waiting. Ok but I wouldn’t want 2000 arriving at once. Most still had their suitcases which were later taken. Then a long line of new crew got on and so on. Finally we got to check in but only 5 at a time as that is all the staff they had. Inside the check in area was packed with people as all the staff had to come down and go through immigration and then get back on the ship. After getting the medallion there was a small waiting area with maybe about 30 seats and I didn’t wait there long before being called to the ship. This part only took a few minutes from entry to exit. Once at the gangway this couple said where did you get the medallion 😱. Someone took them and showed them and then announcements were made for people to check in first before heading to the ship! I think the staff were a bit confused as guests who were already on the ship were returning for the day and somehow a few made it to the gangway without checking in. It all worked out in the end I think. Cape Town is a great place to visit. I’ve been here before for a week so had done a lot of tours already. It’s nice to be aboard. Had the best time in economy with a spare seat next to me the whole way, 30+ hours! 2h in line to get through immigration at the CPT airport only 2, sometimes 3 officers for hundreds of people and planes kept landing. Landslide people very nice to me! So all good. Sat night the Waterfront was pumping, it was great. Anyway, I don’t have Internet so if anything of excitement happens I’ll post in port. It’s 11 am and the Mountain is still covered in fog.

Yes, this was what I didn't quite understand. I thought skimming pretty much happened anywhere and just so long as you take as much care as possible, thats all you can do.

Thanks, I hadn't seen that article. Having been before I'll mainly being hanging around the waterfront which has a security presence anyway. I just use the tap and go as I think its safer than putting your card in a machine and manage my settings not allowing certain transactions and keep the amount transacted low. If I suddenly see something expensive I can increase those limits if I want to purchase it but first I have a dialogue with myself about buying more stuff when I have way too much stuff already! 😆

Prices have certainly gone up a lot in the last year. I would normally pay around $300 solo per day for interior or ov obs. Around $480, forget it. Japan is flavour of the month in travel destinations so no doubt the ship will be full even at those prices. I'll look for Drop and Go fares (not always cheap) or go see some more grain silos.

Whats the problem with using a CC in Cape Town? I hadn't heard of anything. I usually tap and go and never let the card out of my sight. I got a great eyecatching fridge magnet last time I was in Cape town. It says 466/64, Nelson Mandela's prison number.

I've often wondered how they work out who goes where when there are number of ships in port. I doubt it would be to save money on port fees as the alternative to docking at the cruise port seems to be more trouble than its worth. I'm surprised the Captain didn't relay the reason for the last minute change at Darwin. I assume it was last minute as the transport into the City was poorly organised and sounds like it was half the way to Katherine. Thanks for the heads up, if it happened somewhere like Darwin where I've been a number of times I would stay on the ship, if not I'd book a shore excursion to actually see something and minimise wait times.

Thanks again @OzKiwiJJ. Blue skies can be deceptive. I'm following you all on the bridge cam and map 🙂

Thanks. I do have the paperwork but they just give a final price not an itemised list of excursions. The ones I've paid for are listed in my travel summary so I've printed that off too. If Princess are aware of it hopefully it will be sorted out by the time I board. Its more the principle of it. You shouldn't be asked for more money once you've paid in full.

These are plus fares. Standard fares are a lot cheaper and a still showing 7K for a solo balcony, I assume "E" grade which is what I paid 3 weeks ago. All up with cruise, airfare, transfers, a night at the Pullman pre cruise it comes in under 10K solo so I'm more than happy with that and I got $250 OBC. I've just added these details as there maybe people reading the thread and considering it. I certainly won't be mentioning it once on board, 🤐 Having said that, its a great itinerary. Some sea days at the beginning to get over any jet lag then lots of ports. I wouldn't book a cruise because its cheap, eg. I couldn't cope with all those sea days going across to CPT on the first leg, even though it was also a bargain. I've also paid more than I thought was reasonable for a cruise because I really wanted to go to those places.