arxcards

There are some gorgeous spots that are best seen by helicopter. We had planned to do the Hawaiian one, but covid said no. During our previous visit, we had already stretched the budget. Some of our best holiday memories are from helicopters. Vegas night flight Whitsundays Sydney Harbour, the day P&O had their 5 ships in the harbour Canmore (just out of the national park at Banff), anyone visiting the Rockies is in awe of the icy peaks seen from the road or rail. The helicopter is 3D, with peaks beyond peaks beyond peaks. All I can say Irene, a Glacier chopper will be well worth stepping outside the box for.

Essentially, it is still free wifi, but only WLAN (wireless local area network), that will connect to the ship's network, but not to external internet.

If the level of cases reported by the ship exceeded NSW's threshold (code orange), that would have happened. It didn't, so they haven't.

Possibly. More likely they have gone to register their kids to find the 5% list was already full. I know a family who went to register their kids for a Christmas holiday cruise they had booked before the shutdown, which was cancelled/rebooked a couple of times. Even though they did that back in May, the 5% list was already filled. They chose a refund vs getting their kids vaxxed - their choice.

Unlike her grandson, the heir apparent, who flies them.

You don't need internet to run it. The app connects with wifi intranet.

They have been communicating the protocols since day dot, and for whatever reason, those passengers haven't followed the instructions given. The same has happened on Princess and P&O - and will do for all of the other lines for the foreseeable future. 5% of passengers can be unvaccinated. This can be anyone over 12 with a valid medical exemption, or any child under 12. In either case, you need to register this with the cruise line so that you are counted in the 5%. If that 5% is already full, they will reschedule or refund your cruise. If you arrive at the pier oblivious to any of this, you are denied boarding.

For Princess, you need a wifi capable device to connect the app to the ship features, but you don't need internet. In a sense, the wifi is connecting you to the ship, while paying for the internet extends your connection from the ship to satellite to shore so you can access your emails, messenger, websites etc.

Helicopters are awesome for ultimate sightseeing, and some of our best travel memories. As long as it is affordable, we suss these out for most of our trips now.

Yes, they are mad!!

If you are logged on and doing stuff on the personaliser, the chat link is a bit more obvious, otherwise I probably wouldn't have known about it myself.

Via FB, no. That link would also connect to the US call centre, and their operating hours. I have successfully used the chat function from Princess.com. The chat link is on the bottom edge of the screen, and will also show when they are offline.

Coming through the little barrier islands is indeed beautiful, especially after 3 days at sea, and nice scenery for much of the way. Most of our Noumea visits have been on the larger ships that dock at the container wharf, and the final part of the greeting is from an ugly nickel smelter and a wharf full of containers.

Then and now for Carnival in Australia

Some cool pics of this morning via P&O Australia

Correction - as her arrival was meant to be at noon anyway, Majestic was just a couple of hours late. Carnival Luminosa in the Suez Canal.

Or take on a corporate sponsor and call her Carnival Splenda, the no calorie alternative.

In addition to above, Dora the Explorer (a kids educational cartoon), is also the godmother of Pacific Explorer.

If you have the time, the self serve laundries are much more economical than having them laundered/dry cleaned/pressed by the ship laundry. Been so long since we used a P&O self-serve, so don't know how much it costs per load. It has never been an expensive exercise. Being on a 3 nighter, the laundries should be pretty quiet.

At this stage, no, but Royal is lobbying for a trial date or two prior to the 1st December opening of Vanuatu's ports.

It seems they are recycling the same ones, which is funny in itself.

Yes. The answer is yes and yes. Possible they may choose to overnight in Cairns instead of going to Port Douglas, for at least some of her cruises. They can still support tours and day visits to Port Douglas via the wharf in Cairns.

Good point. We just assume the islands are closed to cruise ships, but it may well be that the ship has done a risk assessment, and decided not to call in the current climate due to such things as limited medical or agency support.

Stills from Splendor's wet welcome.

Looks like it is my civil duty to plug that 3 night gap.