bazzaw

Just wondering what ports (if any) in Japan require tendering? Anybody with experience of Japanese ports here??

I will tell you what was "good" - everything else was bad. Good was embarkation - really good actually!! A Production show called "Seven" - probably the best by far that we have even seen on any cruiseship. That leaves - food, clientelle, disembarkation, tendering procedures, addons, gym equipment serviceability, arrival in Noumea in a commercial non-navigable dockyard after 2PM including ticketing procedures for such, longest onboard queue ever known onboard a cruiseship (surely there could not ever have been a longer one anywhere anytime?)

I have many times come across people of the "I'll never cruise with P&O again " type - and I have always said in response, "we have always enjoyed our P&O AUS cruises over many years - Star, Sun, Dawn, Aria,Pearl". But after this weeks cruise to the islands on Encounter, I think I will be joining their ranks. My reasons really are manifold - too many to go into here. But overall, the experience was very bad - worse than any other cruiseship/cruiseline we have ever been on. If these large cruiseships are the way of the future, then it looks like we have no cruising future 😞

Plenty of people trying to kill themselves in other ways on our recent cruise- the level of extreme obesity and heavy alcohol consumption amongst "most??" of the passengers was astounding!!

Just got off P&O Pacific Explorer - with a FULL load of passengers with LOTs of children for 7 days -- Covid??? Never heard of it!!!

They should make a Detective show for TV based on you 🙂 Still, I don't use elevators on cruise ships so this new one will still be something of a challenge to me - and I will be 77 next Month.

Lucky Americans visiting Australia - $100AUD approximately equals $64.38 USD - and no tipping required here 🙂 Tell all your friends 🙂

21 decks? https://www.escape.com.au/sponsored/V787bCOTcuzjkgGirGma/the-shiny-new-sun-princess-proves-cruising-is-always-the-best-holiday/

Pacific Encounter out of Brisbane - just noticed that we have been booked for "Anytime" dining. What does this involve these days? I think I recall from years ago that you still had to turn up at the fixed early/late dining times??

No rampant Covid up here Les as far as I can make out - just spent the last 3 days with 40 members of our motohome group - camping in the Rosewood Showgrounds - minimum age was 65 and max age was 84 - no worries about Covid amongst any of them - we are all slowly dying of other things !!!

Simple -- just stop sailing with NCL until they realise that their remaining Covid paranoia is affecting them

How many shops etc have I seen that still have old Covid stuff in their windows.

Hmm - hence the saying "S*** happens!". That there is a bit of bad luck. I saw a really nice, near new BMW today - broken down on the side of the road.

Just got a reply to my email to them - yes, they do take CC's.

I have been their twice - but some years ago now pre-Covid. I go for the beer. Good beer from what I remember and completely different from the mostly Aussie lagers sold on "our" ships 😞 I think I used XPF last time - but this time we are only visiting one port in New Caledonia so can't be bothered getting any XPF

Yes - I did but no reply 😞

Does anybody know if this brewery/restaurant in Lemon Bay accepts VISA credit cards for payment??

Yes - I can only handle one can of it - but that seems to keep my thirst for an "adult drink" under control and hence I remain financially solvent - but wine at up to $20 a glass?? is a no-no for me.

Having done a lot of cruising all around the World, I have lost count of the number of very famous tourist places/cities that have ports which are hours by bus away. Rooting for new terminals in Sydney Harbour is somewhat akin to rooting for the return of Regional train services - it aint gunna happen!

I am not very fond of Guinness - so this is why I drink it on cruiseships . On the other hand , I am very /too fond of wine and that is why I dont tempt myself to drink it on cruiseships.

Just like everywhere else in the World - perhaps you shouldn't cruise? - or go on planes trains and automobiles or the footy or the shopping malls, etc, etc. After all, they told us that we can pass it onto others even if we are symptomatic - this of course means that anybody near you could have it at anytime. The only way to truly avoid it is to stay well clear of ALL people ALL of the time 😞

Yes - nice sardines and they were good - we just were "surprised" by it - apparently it was the big new thing at that time in flash restaurants 🙂 You can buy them in Coles https://www.coles.com.au/product/polastrini-sardines-olive-oil-100g-3328350?uztq=46abcbb7e16253b0cdc3e6c5bbe6a3f0&cid=col_cpc_Generic|ColesSupermarkets|PLA|Deli|Australia|Broad&s_kwcid=AL!12693!3!589249668178!!!u!1928458922806!&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7GnBhDXARIsAFLvH4kOpUPgAvbh_p5FcAM_o4fxPT_-MgVsKMmyuinDeqNJ2vej5svexfIaAvWnEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

YES!!!!! 🙂

We went to Luke Mangan ONCE - they served up a can of opened sardines for one course!!!!!!!!

Looks like no changes to P&O website so far.