arxcards

Here is the other piece of the puzzle. Larger ships have been unable to dock, restricted by the size of the shipping channel. This is already in hand, as they are doubling the width of the channel. https://www.dts.qld.gov.au/news/latest/2023/tourism-boost-as-cruise-line-giant-adds-townsville-to-itinerary-for-2025

Townsville is upgrading their cruise terminal to cater for larger ships. There is no mention of the wharf capacity, which I believed to be too small for most of our homeported ships. Townsville is showing in some P&O and Princess itineraries, with no mention of a water shuttle. Great news, especially for those QLD coastal itineraries that are full of tender stops. https://www.townsville-port.com.au/quayside-terminal-transformation/

I had thought the terminal would only handle the smaller ships. I recall it was designed in the days of Pacific Sun/Star, yet Brisbane had already scored Pacific Dawn by the time it was completed, and she was too large to dock there. But good news - last month they announced an upgrade to the Quayside terminal. Really, this is awesome for an itinerary that is loaded with tender stops. https://www.townsville-port.com.au/quayside-terminal-transformation/

Yes, P&O's two ships have returned, and Carnival Splendor will be back in Sydney on Tuesday. All ships dropped Lifou & Noumea from their itineraries. For Carnival, it would seem that Luganville will be substituted for the Noumea stops, and for many months to come. P&O itineraries are a bit more varied and the itineraries will have different alternates to suit. Something official would be nice, but I expect our current ships will be out of Noumea until at least the start of cruise season (Oct). Even if the unrest dies down, the uncertainty will linger for a while. Lifou could be a bit different, as they don't have an expat population to fight against, but cruise ships won't return until they can assure passenger safety. Next affected departures: Adventure departs today for Fiji, with Noumea as the first scheduled port. Port Vila is a logical replacement. Splendor - 11th June Encounter - 22nd June Explorer - 8th July

@Bubbeh I find it annoying at times, as I use ampersat for other things when I type.

It is largely the same the world over. Different lines share the terminals, which are staffed via the shipping agent by sub-contractors. When the cruise line advises check-in times, the terminal is appropriately staffed for those hours, including luggage drop, check-in staff & customs. I agree 100%, someone who cruises out of Honolulu regularly will be best able to advise on how the terminal operates. Late departures are common in Honolulu.

I noticed these itineraries were available online yesterday, but I had forgotten to check for a couple of days prior. Now that we have locked in our rather unique cabin, I thought I would share. How close were the guesstimate itineraries above? 10/10 The 21st & 24th December itineraries are also available as a combined 14 night Sydney to Brisbane cruise, which would offer similar ports to the original Syd-Syd cruise. Alas, there is heaps of cabins available, so there must have been plenty of existing passengers jumping over to Discovery Princess or cancelling. Syd-Brisbane-Noumea-Lautoka-Suva-Dravuni-Brisbane. All those in bold have swapped over from Grand to Crown with the same itinerary. These are still unavailable for booking yet until they have sorted the current swap-over passengers. The 2 x NZ itineraries are yet to be uploaded. 10th March - Airlie-Townsville-Yorkeys-Port Douglas-Willis 18th March - Newy-Syd I am curious that Diamond Princess docks in Cairns in 2024/25, yet Crown Princess is at Yorkeys in 2025/26. The QLD itineraries also show Townsville as being berthed, and that surprises me.

Our drinks have a higher ticket price than the US, but as mentioned, the bar/menu price is the total price.

Sandfly bites aren't fun. I had a few encounters when I was young, one of the downsides of getting around with a yabby pump. My nan's remedy seemed to work - Sunlight liquid on the bites. It certainly took away the sting.

I gather Conflict Islands is still on your schedule? Enjoy your cruise. Post whatever you like, including nice pics.

Just updating my packing list for P&O + Antihistamine cream +

Pun of the week. 🤣

Sounds like an awesome time in port. Thanks for sharing your experience and those fantastic photos.

I can't offer much detail. Our Honolulu departures have been late night, and midnight departures are common. Yes, general information for the day in port is 7am till 11pm, so 10:30pm would be the all aboard time. We board much earlier, so I can't be certain of how long the terminal is staffed. Normally there will be some staff to handle the later arrivals, but I can be nowhere near sure about that. I would agree with the earlier comment, and wonder if it is possible to drop luggage early and pick-up their tour from the wharf instead of the hotel. I guess that would mean they would be carting their carry-on around on their tour. Alternatively, they could use @Jean C as their luggage mule and have a carefree day. 😁

I believe that cruises departing Vancouver are handled as two separate B2B cruises. Those doing the full trip can essentially treat Honolulu as a day in port, but are doing it as "transit" passengers. Princess sell it both as two separate cruises and as a full crossing.

The bedbugs can't afford to cruise on Royal at present. No pizza is free - It is included as part of your fare or it isn't.

There is a big bad bedbug story on ACA tonight.

Thanks for all the great photos and words that have brought back many happy memories for me - the gardens, pickle boats, Barb's, Tim Horton's, harbour seals and some great walks between them.

I love the Pickle Boats.

That is a strange place to keep a pastie. 🤔

I had a sensational beef, cheese & bacon servo pie for breakfast this morning - you have to get in early before the crust dries out. It appeared to be a local Newcastle area pie from Thompsons bakery at Charlestown.

Enough bad news circulating without searching out more of it. I am happy to stick to viewing bad news on a need-to-know basis. Much more fun searching for new McMop memes today.

There are known issues with sending emails to Bigpond addresses. This has been going on to some degree for over 6 months. It is complicated, but in short, Bigpond is rejecting the emails with their SPAM settings.on their servers. Cunard can adjust their settings to overcome this, if they choose to. Otherwise, just use a hotmail or gmail address for your Cunard emails.

Plenty of news here on the Oz brothers and their US friend. Another cautionary tale. When we were last in San Diego, it was a day-to-day proposition on whether it was safe to cross the border and go to Tijuana. Travel can come with plenty of adventure, not always positive.

Some of the cruise lines run a "cheapish" bus shuttle around to a beach just a few km away. Kudos also to those who market the alternate names for Inyeug and West Molle Islands.