2022cruisey

Used the spa cabin on the Splendor in July. Fabulous and would book it again every time.

I would prefer we all pick up at the port. It takes hardly any time and the post is so unreliable that it will cause lots of problems with missing medallions.

The Australian government experienced a great disaster with the Ruby Princess. It does not want this to happen again. They will remove the vaccination requirement when they see fit, not because others have removed it.

The test is required by state law - the NSW government has regulated it.

In July we disembarked the ship at 9am, collected luggage, had a coffee in an outdoor cafe at Circular Quay, caught the train to the airport and were in the Qantas Lounge by 10.30am. Our flight to Melbourne was at 2.30pm so we had hours to wait but we didn’t want to stuff around with luggage storage or drag our suitcases around.

You also must be vaccinated. If you are not, or do not have a valid exemption, you will be refused boarding to come to Australia.

These changes are very annoying if you travel with kids, or a 3rd and 4th passenger in the same cabin. All of these extra charges need to be shown upfront prior to booking and shouldn’t be able to be retrospectively included. I travel with my 14yo as a 3rd guest - this could mean a lot of extra money for casual food as we only have plus for the two of us.

The list was not what we got - no bar soap, one scrub per cabin despite asking the question, no priority spa appointments. However I still think the thermal spa area was worth it.

I was a bit disappointed in the steward. The cleaning and supplies were sub standard.

On Splendor there was no Elemis bar soap.

The only deal we had this month in a spa cabin was the 20/30/40% off treatments. They also rang on the last sea day to offer $50 off a treatment but I’m unsure if that was because I was in a spa cabin or had spent a lot of money in the spa. Unfortunately my 18yo took the call and told me about it at 8pm that night, which was too late to do anything about it. Also there is no special welcome ritual, as previously advertised. The Elemis products in the cabin are just the shower gel and combined shampoo/conditioner, no extra soap or anything. The present is a tub of body scrub with two loofahs per cabin, not a scrub each.

If you are departing from Sydney there is a pharmacy at Central Quay station (near the Overseas Passenger Terminal) that has a big sign advertising covid testing for travellers.

The ANZ FF Black definitely covers cruising. They will also email you with a certificate that you can show if you are going to New Caledonia.

If you do the spa tour and get a ticket in the raffle you might win a massage. You also get deals regularly.

Grinchmas in July was not really very Christmassy. There was one main meal on one day in the MDR that was supposed to be a Christmas meal. No Christmas desserts or theme for meals. There were decorations and an ugly jumper theme, a reading of the book and that was about it. Not much for a 9 day cruise.

Especially if you have early dinner, then go to the show and a comedian, you need your supper.

That’s great. When we were recently on Splendor, I really missed the ability to get something to eat that wasn’t pizza later on. If they had something like the International Cafe on Princess, even better. There were thousands of people wandering around after the food outlets had closed and the wait for pizza was long.

At Airlie Beach the crocodile safari is excellent. It includes pick up, drop off, lunch and afternoon tea. We booked through Princess though, so it may only be available for your date through the cruise company. https://crocodilesafari.com.au/whitsundays-crocodile-tour/

Just as an aside, the Princess Medallion serves as a tracking device - you can track where it is at all times on the ship. Not helpful for you for this trip though.

I think your statement is slightly misleading - the price itself doesn’t change due to the exchange rate e.g. it is still $6000 US. It is the exchange rate that has changed so that $6000 is now worth $8733 Aus. If the exchange rate went up, it would be less. This is one of the dangers with booking in other currencies.

The South Pacific is sparsely populated and they are not wealthy countries. They do not have the medical facilities available for large scale outbreaks so need to take precautions to ensure they are not lumbered with unwell passengers. That is one of the reasons they are making sure everyone has insurance to cover them so I’ll people can be evacuated to bigger countries like NZ or Australia. Don’t disparage them for trying to protect their people and economy.

Those prices are ridiculous.

If you read the cruise requirements documents above, it is not that clear. It states that all cruises arriving or departing have to meet the requirements. Different to air.

Another source for all Australian ports. For clarity, you must be fully vaccinated and have a negative RAT before boarding a cruise ship leaving from any Australian port. This has not changed so whilst you can enter Australia via a flight without vaccination or testing, you must have both of those to go on a cruise. https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/cdna-national-guidelines-for-cruising-in-australia

All cruises departing Australia require this - it is cruise protocols issued by the government. https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/travel/cruising-rules/cruise-factsheet Nothing to do with individual cruise lines.