arxcards

I still fold them in 1/3rds across and half lengthways which I have done twice for Solstice. All the info is still visible and fits snug into the same holder.

It is usually calm in the morning, but they make a call based on the expected weather during the afternoon. No point tendering everyone off if it becomes unsafe to get them back.

The sizes are pretty generic, even though some are marketing them per cruise line. All of the online cruise tags print out on A4 paper and fold in the same way.

I had given it the same thought, as Bay of Islands was the final NZ port before returning to Australia. They can also debark you in any suitable port if they feel you need extra medical treatment that can only be provided ashore.

The latest kids menu I have seen from 2021 didn't have the Love Boat Volcano on it, replaced by a banana sundae. Surely they could still make them by request if you have the premier package 😉

They are currently scheduled to still go into Melbourne for 8pm till 11pm. I would only presume they have pre-booked provisions, some passengers embarking/disembarking, or immigration has been pre-arranged for Melbourne.

Oops - I missed a page

Or they are sussing out a reopening of Ouvea, in case Lelepa doesn't pan out.

For the next cruise, I don't believe so - it will be a domestic cruise which doesn't require zero count when it returns to Melbourne on 9th January. If you are doing NZ from Adelaide, which returns to Adelaide on 24th January, yes the same will apply. Using Melbourne & Adelaide as alternate departure ports makes it a bit more complex. For anyone from Adelaide on the current cruise and disembarking in Adelaide on Thursday (and 22/1), yes they need to be off the ship, which might be a pain but can be treated as a port day with a free shuttle and OBC than wouldn't normally be offered. Going by the letter, it is $25 each OBC.

A strange route, but I think it was just for some protected cruising for new years celebrations. The seas are a bit bumpier than usual along the usual route. They are heading to Mystery Island now.

Yes, printed out at work, folded into holder and attached to bag. Most of the lines used to have those sticky back tags when they mailed out your travel docs. Twice we had to go hunting for bags that didn't make it to cabin because of a torn-off tag (one of these was on Rhapsody).

I am used to reading bad grammar, so didn't even spot the ambiguity.

No, these Hough kits are still available at Coles.

Yes, the staple or tape can be a pain. We have used clear holders like these for many years. Most of the online stores like ebay, amazon or etsy have them. Ours were a freebie from our T/A of the day and have lasted well over a dozen cruises. They are even more secure than the sticky backed ones that Graham mentioned.

For Noumea, the park at Anse Vata if you are going to the beach there, and Coconut Square (Place des Cocotiers) which is a couple of blocks walk into town from the Cruise Terminal building.

I suspect they have been left a bit late. Sometimes they do site updates on the weekends, in the dead of night (US time). As mentioned, they have assistance at bag drop, and they have a folio of all passengers, so you don't even need to memorise your cabin number. They will fill out tags for you and attach to your bags.

They were the good days.

It makes sense, and is something all of the Carnival brands ask for here. In a photo, it is to provide "supporting evidence" for your self testing RAT. It identifies: - The RAT was taken within 24hrs of boarding - It is identified as your RAT, not someone else's - It shows the test result - It identifies as your test photo, not an image found on the web Govt protocols only require you to say you have taken the appropriate RAT and tested negative and you should be asked to confirm that at check-in. You may be asked to show your test photo, but unlikely. Seems many are disappointed that they don't want to see their photo. I will add, having the passport/wife's phone lock screen for time & date/test strip arranged for the photo is easy enough, but avoid using the tests you get at Coles where you are also trying to point a blue light torch while taking the photo.

Viking Orion is currently getting her butt scraped.

Note: Melbourne arrival & departure times for 2nd Jan are now 11am & 11pm. Delayed, but still on the shipping schedule. I suspect whatever cleaning to be somewhere off the SA coast tomorrow morning.

My new favourite - caramel crème without the brule.

I can only think there has been a lack of inspections until recently. Most of these ships spent a year or more languishing at tropical anchorages prior to returning to cruising. Some had a drydock that gave them a clean and freshly painted anti-fouling hull, while many did not. I wouldn't expect there to be an issue with Carnival Luminosa, Pacific Adventure/Encounter or any other ships that had a drydock during the shutdown, but there were many that are now overdue. Wasn't this one picked up on an earlier thread? After an inspection in Tauranga, they had a modified itinerary that involved them heading for Wellington, then Cook Straight and direct to somewhere near Adelaide for hull cleaning. I don't believe they were refused entry into Hobart, and it was skipped to allow them time to get to SA, get the hull cleaned, then hopefully arrive back to Melbourne on schedule on 2nd January. The Melbourne call would also be in doubt due to time constraints, and that would become the 5th missed port if that happens. She is still heading toward Adelaide, so the cleaning mustn't have happened yet.

There are plenty of cruises that don't call at Eden. Vote with your feet.

For personal protection, yes. Even then, they offer no protection while eating and drinking in a shared environment when those around are also unmasked to eat and drink. At those times, you are still reliant on a low number of infections being present. Your 2nd point in itself is why masks aren't effective in controlling overall numbers. Others will wear them in a way that matches their own level of risk without concern to those around them. We both caught it on the final day or two of an 11 night no-mask required cruise. Without knowing for sure how we caught it, I suspect at our favourite bar, and a mask required cruise would have made little difference. A required test for those on the previous cruise doing a B2B could have made a difference - should have happened, but didn't. A required test on day 2 or 3 would have made a difference - that didn't happen, as this was prior to the 800 case cruise. Either of those would have reduced the probability of us interacting with covid positive passengers. Whatever the ships do, we realise we caught it from an individual, not the ship.

For NSW, Royal's ships have not been showing as tier 2 even without masks, so they would appear to be keeping covid under control as much as the ships that require masks to be worn. I would agree that while infection numbers are low (tier 1), masks don't make a lot of difference to overall numbers and that is why NSW no longer mandates them on cruise ships. Still, that is based on known infections and ships can't react to those they don't know about. Length of cruise is still a key decider though, and I don't know if they designed it that way, but most of Royal's recent cruises have been 11 days and under. Noordam has just reported as tier 2 at around 12 days, so lets see how Ovation compares at the end of their current 12 nighter.