arxcards

Yes, just the way it does by paying up front.

Not even close. The boutique/6 star ships are still small in the 20 - 40,000 GRT range, 5 or 6 star, and 2 to 3 times the price of HAL. Amsterdam was just under 63,000. Most of the boutique ships are half the size of Amsterdam, yet the Vista class HAL ships are less than 20% larger than her. Noor, Ooster, Zuider, Wester all look, taste, smell like Dam ships, The size of them is more similar to Amsterdam than what every other Dam line has, If anything HAL passengers are the most affected demo to have deserted cruising because of that Dam covid, not because of the size of the ship. As for which one I would follow on a world cruise - none, unless we have friends aboard. Then it wouldn't matter which ship.

I got what you meant. Much like a footlong that is barely 11 inches these days.

All good, but it doesn't go directly to the crew. The money is taken out of your account as a service charge, so the condescending bit just isn't there. I prefer it our way too, but having the service charges done separately would never turn me off cruising. After all, it was the norm when we started cruising.

Yes, I prefer it that way too, but what's the difference? Because they are included in the fare, the upfront fare is more expensive. It works better for the cruise lines to have those service charges included at the time of booking and is not about Australian laws. In general, Australian's are renown for having their service charges removed at the service desk during the cruise, and that is no longer possible when it is part of the fare.

I have the Bing version on my work PC. No way they would be getting my number either.

Only when they are stuck to one, like MSC Opera

A Uniworld river cruise boat would make for an interesting world cruise. It is certainly smaller. P&O UK usually have a world cruise ship. Another of the "windy" ships, nominally the same size as her 3 sisters that have cruised here and manage to fit under the harbour bridge - Oosterdam, Westerdam, Nordam. Definitely bigger than the old Amsterdam, but smaller than Nieuw Amsterdam.

Try it, I think it would. This morning I asked it to come up with a Harry Potter sequel where Harry & Ron become partners. Not much of a plot, but it did put a plausible storyline together.

Sorry, I can't relate this back to your initial question - especially seeing most of those listed aren't doing world cruises. Many of those options would suggest they don't want to do world cruises anymore, and nothing to do with the size of HAL ships. Some of the ships on the list are monsters compared to HAL.

Also possible the couple of years of the covid pause broke their stride of confidence in cruising, and they just don't feel like doing WCs at present.

Kona, Hawaii tomorrow.

The news cycle is being driven by FB & Instagram, so they are as accurate as each other. I have friends aboard. They have heard things but are not about to share speculative comments with media that are hanging on to social media accounts to fill the lack of any official announcements.

No, they were duplicated posts. There were comments on the one that resided here that aren't on the Royal Caribbean thread.

I don't believe they have gone anywhere. HAL is still HAL The old large is the new medium.

The same topic/poster as the removed thread is active on the Royal Caribbean board. Strange it vanished here.

Indeed

As the most recent covid thread mentioning protocols, this is as good as any. Until a few days ago, we were booked on Splendor at the end of July. As tempting as Grinchmas in July sounded, we decided to cancel the cruise in lieu of better itineraries down the track. I received an email from Carnival last week around attesting of vaxx status. From their email, it looks like the current protocols for vaccination and pre-embark testing are going to continue until at least the end of August, or at least Carnival Australia has cleared the way for that possibility.

95% of Sydney's hotels can be booked for Feb 2024. Most hotels around the world are loaded into the various booking sites between 11 and 12 months ahead, and some can be booked even further in advance. International flights - well yes, they start to become available 11 months out, but they too would now be available for Feb 2024 - Qantas flights can be booked through till the end of March, and April will be available next week when we hit May.

You won't be able to use the rollator in & out of the tenders, but you can get assistance from the crew. I recall the walk from the tender wharf up into Penneshaw, KI might have been a bit steep, but not too bad to the staging area for tours. Getting around the decks with a scooter will be fine. The only concern I have is the width of the scooter vs a standard cabin door (58cm), and whether you are better suited to having a wheelchair accessible cabin with a much wider door and more swing room. https://www.princess.com/html/global/book/ships/deck-plans/ap-accessible-route-text.html

I haven't looked at Tilbury, and am just aware it is in the Thames and some ships won't fit, so there will be less options. The old Pacific Dawn (Ambience) is based there. That is the limit of my knowledge. Seriously though, the UK cruisers on their board are often friendly, and would know a thing or two about cruising from Tilbury. We are now booked to cruise from Dover in 2025, and it is fun to look at things to do and hotels to stay at before the cruise. I am doing a fair bit of homework, and chatGPT could give me a 2nd opinion. For my 1st draft I just map it out, then ask questions to refine everything. I figure most people are the same when it comes to planning a holiday. Thinking back a dozen or so years, there was a "Mr T" who added cruises to his signature that he never did. When challenged, he provided a cruise review which included images. Turns out they were sourced from other peoples blogs, easily found via google. With things getting so sophisticated now, even the gibberish from his fake cruises could start to look credible. 😂

Last time we stayed there, people were complaining about the cruise ship that was blocking their view of the opera house. 😂

We go taxi from outside Central's main entrance. Not much dearer, and easy as. For return, we book White Bay to Central transfers on the ship as some days the taxi queues are long. These are usually for around 9:15 disembark, so makes for a relaxed morning, but not suitable if you are in a hurry to get home.

Not essential, but much easier - so I would suggest yes, you will need it. Assigned dining is one reason. If you want an early boarding slot, that would be a second reason. You can do both your and your husband's check-in on one phone. Just one step at a time, and we have our our version of a topic here that would be 50 pages max 😉 There is some variation to the way check-in looks here vs overseas, due to vaccine and pre-test requirements.

Context please? Ship, country. Someone used to steal our Princess chocolates from our pillows. I thought it was a major mystery, then one night I caught my wife in the act.