arxcards

We booked a cab from Alcyone apartments in Portside for our August cruise. Another couple tried to pinch our cab, as it turns out, they had been dropped at Portside by a cab from the airport to the "cruise terminal". Maybe they had the same cab driver. We split the fare to BICT with them.

Barb loved her salmon dishes on our last Coral cruise.

On the serious side, they now request for you to take a photo of your test, next to your photo ID and a time stamp of some sort. I wonder if that is to weed out those positive that want to board anyway, or whether it really is to stop those who are actually negative but have changed their mind and want a credit instead of boarding???

Correct.

OK, back to the migration. Carnival Luminosa - through the Suez Canal, and in the Gulf of Aden en route to Dubai. Majestic Princess - has left Hawaii and on the way to Tahiti. 18 days to go. Celebrity Eclipse - more ports in her Transpacific, she is currently doing an overnight in Lahaina, Maui. It would be a great place for a late night if Mick Fleetwood is in residence at his restaurant. Ovation of the Seas - departed Vancouver on her Transpacific yesterday, although her first port was only to Seattle. She has departed Seattle in the past hour, and heading for Lahaina. The Alaskan season is now over, with the remaining ships heading south toward Vancouver or Seattle. This includes Quantum of the Seas, Norwegian Spirit, Noordam & Westerdam. Grand Princess is in San Diego. Queen Elizabeth has almost completed her European season, returning back to Barcelona tomorrow afternoon.

Looking deeper into this, there are some cracks that people could fall through. I haven't watched ACA to know if they specifically fell down one of those. I believe the protocols are well communicated, but there can be issues, because the 5% is not a fixed number. If the governments allowed them a nominal 5% based on the ships normal capacity, there would be more surety. - Some had already paid in full before the protocols were announced, due to past cancellations being rebooked. While there was the option to cancel/rebook again, people were holding out hope that the rules would change before their departure - Carnival Splendor. Lots of US passengers booked on the transpacific, and some for B2Bs afterwards. At the same time the restrictions were about to ease in the US, they announced the protocols for this cruise not only required vaccinations, but masks as well due to Australian protocols. How dare an Australian authority tell an American they need to wear a mask on the ship - this followed with a social media blow-up, mass cancellations, and the 5% number shrank at the same time. - There is a log jam of past bookings that have been loyally rebooked each time the cruise was cancelled during the shutdown. There are passengers that still can't get into the 5% on upcoming cruises, but don't want to cancel because of the goodwill OBC given for the past cancellations. There is a solution, and that is for a nominal maximum number of unvaccinated of around 5% vs having a floating 5%. For passenger/crew capacity of 3000, everyone is aware they can accept 150 unvaccinated kids/medical exemptions, then it is first in, waitlisted, or booking declined. We booked 31st May on Explorer a month before protocols were known, presuming something similar to the US. The 5% wasn't even a consideration then, so that flexibility can also turn out to be a flaw. Back early last year, we made a decision whether to be jabbed or not. Yes, I was concerned that I had older family members and work mates I didn't want to get sick, and also concerned for an asthmatic partner. We chatted it over and the casting vote went to cruising. We discussed that when cruising resumed they would likely have restrictions, including vaccination, and there was going to be nothing stopping us from resuming our cruising. I don't think I have any more foresight than others, but am certainly glad we are in the 95%. We paid the deposit on Celebrity Edge long before protocols were announced. The cruise doesn't happen till March 2024, and the protocols could well be gone by then. All the same, Celebrity have sent this via email, which requires us to acknowledge our vaccination status. That is all part of determining a 5% early, a year before anyone has to commit to a final payment.

Thanks. I looked up the Effy website this morning, and they do have some rather cool looking designs. I did notice there is lots of 14K gold compared to most jewellers, but they did have some pearls in their range. Swarovski is mostly cosmetic and plated, so not part of my plan.

Do we grab our tote bag and go knocking on cabin doors? Might be slim pickings now, with no pillow chocolates to collect.

That would be about my max price too.

@OzKiwiJJ I don't usually take a lot of notice of the jewellery shops, apart to have noticed they have some nice stuff, some exxxy stuff, and watches. Do they have any pearl earrings, pendants, necklaces under $1K? We have our 30th onboard next weekend, and I am thinking it would be a nice touch vs shopping at the local jewellers this week.

You are free to cancel, but would lose your deposit. The changes aren't considered as significant enough for them to offer a refund. Although unlikely, ask them or your T/A to confirm.

Christmas yes, to varying degrees. Halloween, not so much on the ships based here full time. We will be on Majestic Princess for Halloween, and don't know yet if there will be theme night for it and how immersive it will be.

Adventure. Explorer sailed out, and Adventure sailed in, crossing at Fort Denison. A few minutes ago, Carnival Splendor sailed out too.

Mare is because of the wharf, and why they have a more definite closure. But otherwise, yes.

Just leaving now. Heading to QLD, they are lucky not to lose an hour for daylight savings.

I have a friend or two onboard, and have seen pics of the conga line from the ship. Crazy!

And still in OPT, after a scheduled 4pm departure.

And I don't think they are offering refunds either. Time to get the texta out and draw another line on the RAT.

No, nothing like that. Yes, same staff, but different systems. It was due to a system problem, and potentially quite a funny one too.

Sad about the helicopter. You had me roped in and then, just like that, it was gone.

All these lovely responses, and you have your notifications turned off. I agree with those above, you look great. While they now call them "cocktail" or "Gatsby" nights, there is still the option of making an effort, and a large number of passengers still do.

Still better than Pacific Explorer's departure today. Their 3 ports has been changed to 3 days in Noumea.

Medallion boarding beats the heck out of whatever Carnival has been doing today - 2hr long queue snaking back to the railway station.

You can change individual bookings on the app.

They have been quoted on several threads here since late April, and social media groups have been agitated for that long as well. It was P&O, then Princess, and now its the Carnival crowd. Royal to follow soon. Yes, there is a vaccine acknowledgement as part of your booking T&Cs. Reading is optional prior to accepting.