newfarmers

On 9/24/2023 at 4:18 AM, Envelope21 said:

Greetings. We are on this cruise, as well as the two cruises before (March 17 to Caledonia and March 24 Arlie beach.) We are from the US and decided to do the 4-day back-to-back for a couple of reasons. One, in case of bad weather, we'll have two chances for the the Arlie Beach Great Barrier Reef snorkel excursion; and 2) we will be leaving on two Royal Caribbean cruises starting April 3.

 

As a local Brisbaner, any thoughts on getting to Lone Pine Koala while we are in town? The river boat ride to the park sounds really nice, but the time frame of getting to boarding location of the boat don't work out very well with getting on and off Luminosa.

 

We will be flying into Brisbane 2 days early, but we're pretty sure we'll need some time to rest immediately after arrival, after flying over from the states. Have you been to Lone Pine and what is your opinion?

Haven’t logged on for a very long time. Timewise I’d say you’d be pushing it by ferry. You might be able to Uber there and back but it would be super expensive. I went when I was a kid, over 50 years ago, so can’t give you a valid review. I’d go just for the river cruise if you can do it on your ‘middle’ day.

Thanks for the cabin number overlay. It helped us choose. We've booked a ltd view sea terrace 10366 on Resilient Lady. It'll be fun looking up at the bridge, maybe fun looking down from the bridge.

Way away but our first Carnival cruise. Had booked NYE 2020 but of course that didn't happen. Booked a four nighter over Easter 2024 to use that $900 OBC!!

AusKiwiJJ - we only boarded in Hobart so night two was last night. The ship had a huge drydock during the year - completely gutted one of the main restaurants - so everything looks brand new, but it did before in any case :) I'll be posting a blog on travelpod for this one as well.

Correct Aussieflyer :)

They are going to be down that way for a while and cruise around the Ross sea

We should be passing the Balleny Islands on Thursday. The sun is out but it's very windy.

The anchor was retrieved on Sunday night.

A salvage tug had located the anchor, and a significant length of chain, but couldn't dislodge the anchor from the bay floor. We sailed from Hobart a little bit early and arrived in the bay off Port Arthur at about 9pm. They re-attached the broken chain to the anchorless chain and successfully retrieved it. We sailed from Port Arthur at close to 12.30am.

newfarmers

On top of what everyone has said... Get as small notes as possible, even if you have to go to multiple places. Large notes are very problematic. I got currency at a couple of holes in the wall in the Queen St mall in Brisbane. You'll love your cruise. We did. My review of our Pacific Eden PNG cruise has just been published, including pictures.

Dropped anchor a little while back. Beautiful day here. It was glorious at Kitava yesterday. Having a wonderful time. Priority tender tickets are excellent. Just wait down at the entrance to final steps and are the first people on the next tender. Talking about tenders, they are the worst, most disorganized tender crews I've ever encountered. Painfully slow getting you lashed to ship or jetty. Funny nearly. Food good. Portions at Dragon Lady and Angelo's seem even smaller than on Aria in Jan although that's hardly a bad thing!! Weird night at Salt. Arrived and it was obvious they weren't expecting us. I looked down at table list and we were apparently already there!! It threw them completely. Service was very disorganised and my medium rare rib was well done. Sent straight back but my table mates were finished by the time the second, slightly under done steak arrived. Then more veg and mash arrived even though I'd said none needed. The rest of the food was fantastic. I'll write a full review when we're home. Fingers crossed we make it to Conflict tomorrow.

Pete

Thanks Adele

Just back from my dr who insisted I have Hep A and Typhoid injections and Malaria tablets. So $160 and a sore arm later.

Thought I better go and ask her as one friend's doctor has told her she needs them all and another said she needed nothing.

Wow! We are from the nothing school.

I started a/the roll call when we first booked but we had another holiday in between and dropped off. I can't even see it now.

We had people on our recent trip in Peru who got quite sick from the malaria tablets. We just made, and will make, sure we have repellent on.

Two weeks today we'll be onboard kicking back in our splurge suite :)

Pete, Jo and Al

Hi! we got just got off Pacific Eden last weekend and paid $79 for the unlimited package (7 night cruise) as we wanted to Facetime our two young children. The unlimited package is normally $99.

 

We bought a VIP Photo package (can't remember exact name but it is well advertised on the ship) which was $29.95 and included the 2 embarkation photos printed as well as a digital copy on a P&O USB, $20 off Scenes DVD and $20 off unlimited internet. This meant we actually paid only $79 for unlimited internet and as we always get embarkation photos and Scenes DVD, we thought this was good value. Of course if you have no intention of buying embarkation photos or the Scenes DVD this may not be as economical!

 

We could not connect in our cabin though had no trouble connecting in all the public areas of the ship that we tried.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Adele.

That's super helpful. Thanks Adele

We're sailing on Eden in a couple of weeks and sadly my partner will have to work most of the time. It'll all be managed by email so we'd like to conform that new internet pricing has been introduced.

We have found the following -

On longer sailings of five days or more, the aforementioned Bronze social media plan also applies for the same price, however the structure changes for higher tiers. For more general internet access to browse websites or download email, guests can purchase blocks of megabytes starting from $19 for 100MB, $39 for 250MB or $69 for 500MB, each valid for one device. Guests have up until the end of their cruise to consume the purchased blocks.

At the top of the tree, a Platinum package is also available for cruises longer than five days, with full and unlimited access, with no download limits for the entire cruise priced at $99, again for one device. This same package can be purchased at $20 per day for users who may require heavy for short periods of up to a day at a time.

Can anyone confirm the above pricing structure on Eden, and P&O Oz in general?

Hi,

We just got back from PNG cruise out of Cairns on Pacific Eden. We stayed in a suite.

There is priority for embarking & disembarking but nothing for the tenders that we were told about. We got water in the room but big bottles only so heavy to take on shore with us. The afternoon tea was nice & it changed each day but the coffee & hot water were in plastic jugs and not hot. Breakfast was able to be ordered but the menu didn't change & except for the day we had to be ready for an 8am tender it was much better eating in The waterfront restaurant.

The big surprise was that the laundry is included in the suite! we found out on day 4 of 7.

There is no priority booking for any of the restaurants, I think only the penthouse has that.

We had cocktails & canapes on the Meet the Captain night - a lovely little event on the Oasis pool deck, also the champagne in the fridge on arrival was a lovely one and was drunk on the balcony with a lovely view leaving Cairns.

Apart from the big room, the great sized balcony and above inclusions there didn't seem to be any other acknowledgement that we were in a suite.

it was a lovey sized ship for a 7 day cruise.

Hope this helps

We're doing the same two weeks on Saturday, also in a suite. can't wait.

Thank you, newfarmers! I enjoyed reading your blog posts about your past trips, particularly your weeks aboard The World in French Polynesia.

 

A couple of years ago I read that it was possible to rent studios for a limited time aboard The World, but can no longer find an option for this. Do you know if there are still some private owners who do this, perhaps through an exclusive booking agent?

Hi again Susan

No, only possible through being a member of Exclusive Resorts as far as I am aware.

Our second extended trip last year was to Greenland and it was as amazing as our first trip on The World.

Now where to go next year :)

Peter

Hi Susan

The World is in St Petersburg until June 14, Helsinki 15-16, Turku 17-18, Stockholm 19-22, Visby 23-24, Ronne 26, Copenhagen 27-29, Kristiansand 30-1 then off to the UK

Nf

I promised myself that after we'd booked I wouldn't look at any of the sale emails from P&O but human nature is what it is...

We paid what at the time seemed an ok price for our October PNG cruise from Cairns but in today's latest 24 hour sale our cabin is a whopping $1300 (in total) cheaper! And because each of these 24 hour sales is full payment required, there's no chance of cancelling and rebooking.

To top it off Qantas has a sale on top of a sale and our booked and paid for flights are now $80 each return cheaper.

Repeat to self - do not book early, do not check prices after booking, do not book early, do not check prices after booking

Two of us wish to share a tour of Gibraltar with up to six others from the ship on May 26. The tour is run by Inside Out Tours and can be 2.5 hours for a total price of GBP280 OR 3.5 hours for GBP400

Hi

This is the wrong board for this post. You need to post this to either the P&O OK board, or the Oriana roll call for your specific cruise

pete

When I reviewed our Oz Day cruise on Aria, I said despite the issues with the noise, we would definitely give Aria, or Eden, another go.

So with the FCC we accepted from P&O as compensation, we took the plunge during yesterday's 24 hour sale and booked the seven day PNG Islands cruise on Pacific Eden and splurged on a suite. With the credit it worked out the same as a balcony for the three of us. This time I was very careful to choose a cabin not under/over any potential loud music - from deck 10 that'd be the stage up on the lido :)

Now for the questions. We'll be three so we'd like to know how comfortable the sofa bed is. For those who have been in a suite did you enjoy it? We're thinking the priority tender access will be a plus on this cruise. How does this work?

Hurry up the next six months!

Thank you very much for your review. My wife and I are going on the eden tomorrow from Adelaide to Melbourne on a 4 day cruise.

 

This will be our first cruise so we are looking forward to it.

 

One question though, we are tossing up whether to go cash on the card or credit card. The problem with credit cards is the 1 percent or so charged and the pre-authorisations. What do people think are the best ways to go?

 

I take it they don't include the drink packages on the smaller cruises? I saw your cocktail lists which were fantastic but roughly what prices were the beers?

 

Once again thank you for your review!!!

 

Regards

Deathwalker

Only you can decide which is better.

We very rarely ever use cash and pay for prett much everything with credit card no matter how cheap. We pay our bill off every month. For us the 1%+ charged (we use an Amex so it's never only 1%!) is completely offset by the Qantas frequent flyer points we collect. We then use the points for flights and points upgrades.

We booked our Aria cruise through Qantas cruises so got points for the full cost of the booking, points for paying with the credit card then points for what we spent onboard. Win, win, win.

People would seriously reconsider a cruise due to where the lifeboat drill was held?

I just saw an ad for them and they say free wifi on board. $1 not bad. Don't forget to take a shower before you get off.

We were shown the shower by one of our flight attendants as were getting off the Emirates A380 we flew to Auckland on. If only we could afford first on Emirates! We did enjoy the sit down bar that was available to business and first passengers. Emirates is apparently removing the showers from some of their A380s. Not sure of the reason.

Report # 77 Phuket, Thailand March 17, 2016 Thursday Partly cloudy & 90 degrees 46 Pictures Part #1 of 2

 

An elephant safari for 6 hours gave the folks a chance to learn about the beasts and have a 30 minute ride on one. Lunch was included, like on the other longer tours, for the price of $160.

 

We simply go and enjoy , walking as much as we can……doing it while we still can.

Sad that HAL is still offering tours that include elephant rides. Most responsible tour operators ceased this in the last couple of years.

Love the last comment Mary Ann. This afternoon I am going under the knife to have the big toes on both 'de-barnacled' and then fused so that I can keep walking. Three months on Friday we fly to South America where WILL be walking the Inca Trail :)

Love the blog. So envious of you both. One day, hopefully.

Thanks you again Pete for more amazing posts. My readings today took me back to our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam a couple of years ago.

Pete

I read your comments about 9134, which we had booked for our PNG cruise. Have now changed to 9070. It appears to be in a better location - here's hoping anyway.

If we only help one cruiser have a better time we will be happy. I'll be interested to hear how you enjoy your PNG cruise. We will more than likely use our FCC to book a PNG or Solomons cruise.

Cheers

Pete and Al

I think Viking Ocean also include shore excursions, plus drinks with meals, tips etc so not far from all inclusive.

I was reading a Silversea review in the paper today and was surprised to read that they have two pay restaurants on board. I thought that they were all inclusive.

We both completed the survey and then I send a letter of complaint about the noise in the cabin. Last week P&O contacted me and offered compensation. Slightly less cash than I had asked for and considerably more FCC. As I said, we actually really liked Aria, so we have taken the FCC and look forward to sailing out of Brisbane, or maybe Cairns, on Aria or Eden in the next 12 months.

To us it is sad that you avoid the street food.

We've eaten some amazing food on our many and varied travels. I remember the first time we were in Hoi An. We were on Legend of the Seas. By the time we eventually got to Hoi An (we were stiffed by the private guide we'd booked but that's another story) we were starving and jumped at the first street stall we got to. We gobbled down a number of bits and pieces on sticks that had been grilling.

The couple who had shared the cab with us were horrified.

When we returned to Vietnam a couple of years ago we went on a two week food tour and were encouraged to try everything.

But of course, each to his and her own :)

LOVING THE TRIP REPORT!! It's always interesting to read someone else's perspective and i'm enjoying comparing your's Pete with Mary-Ann and Bill's.