arxcards

I will skip Port Macquarie. Not a good day to be on the M1

A truckie or Ned Kelly sounds good about now. I hope they are still open.

Yep, good olde dunnyfruit. Never one of my faves.

Us, or just you? 🤣

Mentioned earlier in thread, it isn't just Coral Princess. As this sort of stuff is rarely known to occur, I think it was someone from the rightfully officious NZ environment protection office calling out ships with overdue inspections, and those inspections have triggered this round of unscheduled cleaning. It is not like they all just gained these snails in recent weeks, more likely picked-up while these ships were all languishing at various anchorages around the world. The presence of snails in discharge pipes is also an indicator they would be present in other protected areas of the hull. Typical cruise line PR is to tell the truth such as snails in pipes, but not the full extent of the story. A bit of light background for these inspections https://commercialdiving.com.au/new-zealand-ship-mpi-inspections/

Yes, correct. It is perpendicular to shore, so jetty is the proper term.

Another of those oddities, as they should just have a BM on their badge - when used together, motorenwerke is a single word in their native lasnguage.

I think that secretly behind the scenes, cruise staff high five each other when they find ambiguous questions to ask, knowing it is going to lead to an argument over a bottle of ship champagne.

Trained dolphins with Go Pro's.

The Auckland passengers will still get their round cruise, albeit altered. Coral hasn't called anywhere yet, and first port will be Christchurch on Christmas Day and the rest of the original schedule will follow. In the end, it appears the place they could get this done was near Tauranga and that is what took them over to the East Coast. That leaves them missing the Fiords and Dunedin but the rest of the itinerary will remain in order including Auckland on 29th December.

For now. Shutting one of the pods down may have just been a precaution until the ABB techs could give it the once over in Sydney. Whichever, she is at proper cruising speed - good news!!

Good luck with the Fiords tomorrow, although it is a bonus that the ship doesn't have a crusty hull.

Yeah, Lifou should be no probs as P&O is getting there OK. Mystery Island had a Mystery wharf issue that was Mysteriously OK for P&O only a few days later. Fingers crossed for calm conditions. Alas, Noumea is likely to be 100% certain

I will watch for her cruising speed, and reckon I won't be alone.

Back a few months ago, any symptoms in the week leading up to boarding gave a yes answer on the survey that resulted in you not being able to board. That has since changed, and results in extra screening. As long as you have tested negative, you will still be allowed to board, but they might ask you to take extra precautions or isolate on the first night and take another test the next morning to be sure of your covid status - depending on the type and level of symptoms. Anyone with an allergy cough would not consider themselves to have covid like symptoms. On the survey, if you answer yes to the question about symptoms, you will have yellow lane status on the app. In the faq, the question about whether you need to complete a health questionaire .... Yes, you should complete your health questionnaire no later than 24 hours before you embark the ship, using the MedallionClass app. You’ll be asked to confirm your answers when arriving at the terminal. If you have any symptoms of illness, you will be separated from other embarking guests to undergo a secondary screening. Depending on the outcome of the screening, you and your travel party may be denied boarding. During a screening, our medical staff will need to verify your health questionnaire answers, or any corrections, and then consider whether to permit you to board. If you refuse to be tested or screened, or to follow COVID-19 protocols, you will be denied boarding and no refund or credit will be issued. The results of any COVID-19 tests, and information provided on the health declaration will be subject to the Princess Cruises Privacy Notice and shared only as needed with Princess personnel, third parties or local health authorities as part of screening and embarkation-related health protocols.

Specifically, no. But she has arrived on schedule this morning. There may be some news coming. Ovation still shows as 6:45 departure on Sydney Ports cruise page, but has disappeared from the daily movement page - suggesting that departure time could be up in the air.

Yes, from Brisbane a tour to Australia Zoo is around 90 minutes on the road each way. If calling in Sydney, Taronga Zoo is only a short ferry ride away from near the cruise passenger terminal. A much easier day than Australia Zoo, unless the lions are on the loose again.

Biscuits for breakfast would seem bad enough, but we do eat muffins/crumpets/bagels and I do see some similarities. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, well that is a whole other level.

That is the government requirement - attest to taking a covid test with a negative result. Princess do ask that you take a photo, but they only randomly check.

Yes, clear as mud. The Princess testing, as far as I can tell, is not being done for B2B but for screening all passengers on the 2nd sea day on their longer cruises. Just for Princess alone, there are 3 ships operating here and they all seem to be doing it their own way. There are also different responses from the various lines, depending on whether elevated levels of covid have already been confirmed while aboard. For the one occasion this occurred on Eclipse, Australian authorities required everyone aboard to be tested before arrival into Sydney. I would hope this has all settled down by the time you cruise on Eclipse. Covid numbers in Sydney are starting to decline, and that lowers the chance of passengers to embark with it.

I thought so too. Princess sense of humour had us visiting CHRISTchurch on CHRISTmas day some years ago. Turns out the city was nowhere near as dead as we thought it would be, and all the touristy stuff was available to book via the ship or independently.

For $3 difference, I would be happy to ask when booking, but not offended if they said no.

I am happy just to skip trivia on Majestic. For us, it isn't the drawcard it once was, and not a deal breaker when it comes to booking a cruise.

Potato soup, beef, and hopefully a nice crème brule please.