Aussie Gal

46 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

We were booked in one of the aft facing mini suites on the Sun for next April but sadly it was not to be.  I was really looking forward to experiencing the almost suite like mini suites!

They were lovely.  We had an aft on the Sun returning back from Hong Kong this time last year.  We really enjoyed it though it was a different setup to the mini's on the side of the ship and not nearly as big though it had a long hall leading into it.

I will find a couple of photos and post them here.  The bathroom was identical to a full suite and the minis on the side.  The second lot of photos are of the side mini's, which are so much larger.

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Princess does indeed visit Mystery Island.  They will swap that port for Vila on some itineraries.  Ellie's virtual (and our real) cruise just went to Vila.  It does look lovely!

Thanks for the info.   We did a cruise last year in January on the Sun Princess - a lovely ship that has now been sold - which we loved as the mini suites are nearly as large as the full suites on the newer Princess ships. We went to the same ports as you did except we didn't visit Vila but instead went to Champagne Bay which was lovely but not quite as delightful as Mystery Island. 

Jennie

Here are my photos of Mystery Island which we visited in January, 2015 on Celebrity's Solstice which is a lovely ship. We have been on her twice and have enjoyed both experiences but like you mentioned Ellie, when boarding a Princess ship, you do feel you have come home! We did have fantastic weather on that cruise with sunshine every day but we didn't go as far as Fiji. Just to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Our mini suite was at the rear of the ship, our favourite place to be, though on Princess we have been lucky each time to have a Vista Suites on the corner aft. 

The sand on Mystery Island was just so soft and the water was so very clear and pristine. It is truly a Mystery Island and I am not sure if Princess visits there though Celebrity certainly does.   

I cannot believe that I have nearly come to the end of our wonderful adventure with you. I started on Page 1 on Monday and it is now Wednesday afternoon and I am on page 66.  It has been great to revisit Sydney - our 2nd home - and has filled in many hours which has helped to make the days go by quicker.  We are on the last 3 weeks of a very severe lockdown, I think it has been one of the most stringent in the world. Thankfully Covid cases in Victoria are coming down. 

I do have a question Ellie, and that is regarding your stay at the Crowne Plaza.  We have stayed there many times but in the older part where the passages to our room were out in the hot, open air.  I could see that your room ran off a carpeted hallway so I am presuming that you were in the newer part of the Crowne.  Also, how far away is the Jewel from the Crowne Plaza? You mentioned that you visited Jewel when you were at the airport on your way to Sydney where you saw a sign directing one to the Crowne.   At this stage, we are booked to visit Phuket in June next year all being well, - it was moved from June this year - and we always have a night at the airport after we have arrived from Melbourne before boarding our plane to Phuket and the same on the way home. We would love to visit the Jewel and we will have some time to make the visit. 

Thanks again for taking us along. We love the Pacific Islands and I have some great photos that we have taken over the years of 

Savu Savu, Lifou, Dravenu and Mystery Island.  By the way, Suva is always wet!  We have been there a number of times and that is one place where you can expect rain unfortunately. It is under a rain cloud from the surrounding mountains.  Once you drive a few kms away to the Coral Coast, the rain does stop and you get the sunny weather. Living the cruise life on the Majestic brought back so many memories of our times on board a ship,, our last being back in Jan/Feb this year.  We are booked on a cruise in 2022 and have our fingers crossed that there will be a vaccination by then. We usually cruise at least twice a year but unfortunately, that is not to be at the moment. 

Jennie

Ellie, I only discovered your wonderful blog yesterday when I decided to take a look at Cruise Critic after being away from it for quite awhile.  We are in our 11th week of total lockdown here in Melbourne, so your blog is a godsend for someone who is running out of ideas on how to fill in the day besides cooking and reading many books!   

Your writing is fantastic and your photos are incredible. I do feel I am with you on your fabulous journey down to our part of the world. So far I am only up to page 6, so I have a long way to go!

We always fly with Singapore airlines when we leave Australia and they are an excellent airline. Over the years we have flown Economy many times, then Premium Economy and now we have moved to Business which makes flying so much more enjoyable. 

We have been visiting Singapore since 1978 and have seen it develop into the modern city it is today. When we first visited with our small children, we were taken to the Raffles Hotel for a folkloric show.  The hotel then was quite rundown though you could see it had once been fabulous and outside its front door was the sea.  Now of course, the land in front goes for miles before it hits the water, such is the incredible land reclamation that started in Singapore in the 80's.  I think we have visited Singapore at least 36 times over the years and it has always been the safest place to visit. 

The hotels there are magnificent, our favourite being the Mandarin Oriental though we often stay at the Crowne Plaza at the airport as it is so convenient when flying. 

I am looking forward to the next part of your blog when you get to Sydney and then on to the ship, visiting the lovely South Pacific Islands where we have been so often. 

Thanks for helping to make our severe lockdown so enjoyable.  We have another 3 weeks to go before we can perhaps visit a hairdresser - you can imagine what we all look like after 3 months - a nail salon, a normal retail shop other than a supermarket, post office or bank, and perhaps to have a coffee sitting down outside instead of buying a take-away!  Hopefully before Christmas, we will be nearly back to normal though we have been told masks will be compulsory for a long time.

Jennie

46 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Hi Jennie

Have you looked at the Azamara Journey sailing for May 2022?  I think it's Singapore to Athens.  We had just about booked the one for 2021 when they cancelled all the itineraries in favor of shorter Greek sailings.  bah.  So we booked the Pacific Princess instead. We just have to see Petra before we're too old to know we're on a cruise LOL. I wonder if it will sail or even if we will be on it having had our vaccine.  Both big ifs!  We would be on the Journey except we have the Eclipse booked Honolulu to Vancouver May 4 2022.  However, we will be going nowhere if we don't have the vaccine

No I haven't taken a look so will do that.  I would like it a bit later in the year now in 2022 as we have just booked the Pacific for the 24 day cruise from Sydney to Tokyo in March, 2022.  I dearly would love to return to Japan as we do have unfinished business there which I have explained in the post above.  We too want to get to Europe before we are much older. This year has been a wasted year for us as Peter has turned 81 and I am now 79!!!!  Don't feel that age at all and am fit but who knows for how long.  We have been to Petra and to me it is probably the most exciting place I have visited and we have been to most of the "must sees" in this world.  I was just blown away after that long walk into it. I would have loved to have visited there again,  the itinerary on the Grand was fantastic especially as I wanted to revisit Malta which was another great place to visit. Where are you boarding the Pacific and what month?

Jennie

1 hour ago, dog said:

Jennie, I am talk g about a Future Cruise Credit- my money refunded as a voucher for a cancelled cruise. 
I think you are referring to Future Cruise Deposits which you buy on-board to use as a deposit. 

Silly me, I didn't realise that you received your payment for your cancelled cruise in F.C.C.'s.  We had that happen to us when we were on a Japan cruise back in 2014 on the Diamond and we hit two typhoons.  We had the choice of staying on board and going out to the Yellow Sea and wait out the typhoon or disembarking.  We stayed on board and we received our full fare back in F.C.C.'s which we thought was a wonderful gesture on behalf of Princess as they cannot control the weather.  We still had fun, great meals and good entertainment, we just missed out on some wonderful ports.

Jennie

3 hours ago, dog said:

I put a cruise on hold today for Dec. 2021. My FCC covers the cost of the cruise fare.

The additional amount I owe is a deposit of  $459, which is

due by this Tuesday, and this is the exact amount of the port taxes & fees.

 

Lost connection with agent, and have emailed asking why I am having to pay balance now.

What a great position you are in with the FCC covering the cost of the cruise.  Wish I had some that were worth quite a few dollars!  I didn't buy enough when we were on our cruise in early February this year. We had no idea that Covid would stop every type of travel in the months ahead.  We still cannot travel from home in Metropolitan Melbourne to regional Victoria, let alone the rest of Australia! 

Jennie

5 hours ago, TeaBag said:

We were also on this cruise Mar 23 2021 and you were the roll call starter).  I'm interested that you have your deposit back already.  No sign of ours and I;m not impressed as it was Princess' iniative to cancel this cruise to use the ship elsewhere.  The $15 OBD they gave us is an insult.  

 

Funny, we have booked the same itinerary (Singapore to Rome) on Pacific Princess but ours is 27 days so I guess we're not on the same sailing.  We don't have FCC's as we have not sailed with Princess for 20 years.  We paid $1080 CDN deposit for the Pacific.

 

 

We received the deposit back last weekend and the lass gave me my F.C.C. whilst I was on the phone to her. Our cruise on the Pacific isn't until March 2022 when we leave from Sydney and finish in Tokyo.  We are still looking for a similar cruise from Singapore to either Italy or the U.K. for 2022.  The World Cruise from Sydney to Sydney in 2022 on the Coral does have a 30 day segment from Dubai to Dover with some good ports in between. It is fully booked and being a World Cruise, to book a Club Class Mini which we normally have, works out at over $1000 a day for us, which is a lot to pay for Princess.  So we will just wait and see what is available when the new itineraries are published.  I must admit that the $15 F.C.C. was a huge insult considering Princess cancelled the cruise and so many people had made arrangements for Private Tours etc. We had our airfares to Singapore but used F.F. points though we did lose money as there was a cancellation fee. 

I gather your Princess Cruise is next year.  We aren't ready to cruise as yet, too risky visiting ports etc. and I doubt if we could get to Singapore anyway as our International Borders have been  closed since March and we have heard that probably they won't be open to some time next year. Even our Domestic Borders are closed between our States so we really cannot go anywhere at the moment.   We are all waiting on a good vaccine.

Jennie

56 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I prefer sailing out of Sydney Harbour, rather than sailing in. Coming in it is usually virtually dark, but for sailing out, it is light, or if it is evening, the city is fully lit including the Opera House.

 

I agree with the comment that Princess ships usually dock at the Overseas Passenger Terminal with their bow facing in.🙂

My apologies for stating that Princess always faces out to the harbour, I have looked at photos and she does dock with her bow facing in so book a Port cabin so that you can get the view. It is the other lines that back into the quay.  

I agree that coming and leaving Venice is spectacular and a wonderful experience but leaving Sydney on a summer's day is magical with all the yachts out and about on the harbour and with the Bridge and the Opera House right there, does make for a wonderful start of a cruise.

Jennie

15 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

 

Yes, I came to that conclusion. I had my Sea cruise cancelled on me and was told it might be months before the FCD I booked it with turned up in my account again to use, but that with cruises you cancel yourself there is an instant return of FCD back to account. I was worried about Princess cancelling my other cruise with them and effectively loosing that FCD too till they could get around to process them, so I just cancelled that cruise (don't like the odds of getting a Med cruise next April anyway) and they said the FCD would go back in account within a day. At least that gives me options again for rebooking if something does come up. Didn't really want to have to fork out full deposit.

 Princess cancelled a cruise on us for next March just over 3 weeks ago. . I had not only a sizable deposit on this cruise but also an FCC. After two weeks, I needed the FCC's to be used on a new booking so I phoned Princess and asked the lass when we might be getting our deposit returned and the F.C.C's put back into our "Bank" with Princess..  She immediately returned the F.C.C.'s whilst I was on the phone and the money was put back into my Amex account within a few days.  That only took just over two weeks for everything to be finalised. Good luck with yours. 

Jennie

The best way still is to have a $100 FCC, otherwise you will be paying out quite a bit.  It depends on the how long the cruise is and where it is going and on what ship.  We have paid out nearly $3000 deposit  for a Grand Cruise that was 38 days.  I love those F.C.C's and always try to have a few in reserve.  We have just booked a 24 day cruise on the Pacific Princess and our F.C.C.'s were our deposit ($100 each)

Jennie

We have sailed in and out of Sydney Harbour a number of times and each time it is very special. If you are on a larger ship, you will arrive or leave from Circular Quay and if so, book a cabin on your starboard side as that faces the Opera House. The ships usually tie up with the bow facing the way out.  If you happen to be on a smaller ship or there are more than one ship in Sydney at the same time, then you will go to White Bay which is at the back of the Harbour. That is where you sail under the Harbour Bridge on leaving and arriving back into Sydney.  Again that is also very exciting as going under the Bridge is very special. Even though I am not a Sydneysider being from Melbourne, I still think that Sydney has the best cruise harbour in the world and we have been to some of the best harbours including Hong Kong,  Rio, Auckland, Cape Town, Seward and Singapore.  Nothing beats leaving Sydney on a sunny day. 

Jennie

Our friends on the Amsterdam have just sent this:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-bz-coronavirus-stranding-elderly-cruisers-in-australia-20200318-shqkc2sbuneqbla5qklififcpq-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1HoUADEa0CWDvV41n8mHpH8_2jhjGBdcrvBraJrr9iXadMudyLy38B9Bw

Jennie

1 hour ago, LP Dad said:

 

I suggest you drop the shovel.

What do you mean by that!   I have never head of that expression so I presume you are being extremely rude.

My information was the latest from my friends who were asking me to try and help them find other flights out of our country. As well as suggesting returning back to the States via  Hawaii I even suggested catching Singapore airlines and flying directly from Singapore to New York or going via San Francisco.   The Delta flight was the one that was given to them by HAL as they are independent travellers.  By that date in April, our International airports here could be closed as our country is trying to contain the virus. Most of the infected people have picked it up from those who have been overseas.

2 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Just a heads up; That post your quoted above was directed at moi and rightfully so, since I provided bunk info on AC flts from LAX to Toronto. Hope you're doing well Aussie Girl and please stay safe down under!

Hi Copper, lovely to hear from you after all this time. I have been off the HAL boards for quite some time but when our friends were stuck in such a predicament down here I came over to see what was happening. I do feel for everyone on the Amsterdam and any other ship that is trying to dock so far from home. Of course if they would have been allowed to dock in Sydney or Melbourne, it would have been so much easier for everyone. Luckily, our friends are fit and well and at the moment are thinking of exploring more of Oz before heading back home on the flight they have booked on Delta though I am sure that if they could get an earlier flight, they would be home asap.

Jennie

6 hours ago, LP Dad said:

This is completely untrue. Air Canada has four flights per day LAX-YYZ (788,790,792,796) and WestJet has one (1101). They all departed and arrived yesterday as scheduled. Air Canada canceled one flight today. Obviously, things are changing, and some or all flights may be suspended going forward. I'm amazed that people want to chime in with information that is not only false but easily obtained with the smallest effort.

 

 

I was not chiming in with false information. In fact what I said was true. My friends on the Amsterdam had sent me an email with the information that LA would be closing and therefore they cannot leave Australia until April 15th on Delta Air. They are looking into my suggestion of flying to Hawaii but as the internet is so slow on the ship, they are sending my emails on to their TA in the States.  I certainly would not be putting incorrect information on this Board if I hadn't heard it from my friends who are in the same difficulty as Kindergirl's parents.

Jennie

Our friends on the Amsterdam have just sent out an SOS as they were booked to fly from Perth to Melbourne and then on to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, LA airport will now be closed so they are now trying to work out how to get to the East Cost of the U.S. I have suggested either flying to Canada and then try to get a flight home or hire a car or alternatively, fly to Hawaii and spend time there relaxing until the flights can be resumed to the States.  Any thoughts. They were hoping that HAL would put on some charter flights but unfortunately that is not going to happen.

Jennie

1 hour ago, patrickmoran said:

We leave next week for our cruise on the Ruby.  This will be our 4th Princess cruise in the last year so pretty familiar with P's standard MDR menus.  Anything unique on the menus for NZ? Thanks

We have been home from our 13 day cruise on the Golden Princess nearly 2 weeks now. We certainly didn't find anything different from normal in the menus.  Not very much in the way of lamb or beef.  If we hadn't of been in Club Class and had our wonderful Head Waiter cooking most nights, we would have been very disappointed with the food.

Jennie

1 hour ago, Coral said:

My most positive memories of cruising were on those ships!

We love both the Sun and Sea though our favourite is probably the Sun.  We love her wide Promenade Deck which goes right around the ship so that you can walk without having to go up and down stairs to get your miles in. We love the mini suites, both the normal ones facing out to sea as well as those at the aft, which are as big as the vista suites on the Golden except for the wider balcony.  We love the size of the ship, being under 2000 passengers is a huge plus and upstairs there are numerous areas to sit and enjoy the sunshine.

Even though she is getting old, she is in good condition. We were on her last September for 19 days and we couldn't fault our time on her.  The staff are wonderful and the food was excellent, far better than we have just had on the Golden Princess.

Jennie

If your cruise leaves or returns to one of the ports in Australia, then your gratuities are included. If it leaves from a port overseas and doesn't return back to Australia, then you pay gratuities and it is added each evening to your account.  Simple as that.

Jennie

11 hours ago, cbb said:

Jennie-  we're doing what i call the 5 "P"s --my way of attempting to remember them!  m Picchu, Patagonian Penguins & iguazu, Pandas, victoria falls & mana Pools, & nePal.  Convoluted yes, but i can repeat them easily! 

 

We did several of the others on ATW16 and there are many more opportunities for safaris this time.  Part of the fun of the Overlands with O, for us, are the amazing hotels we stay in.  We didn't anticipate that!

 

We have also received permission to leave the ship in Lome, Togo and are flying to Cape Town to stay for a week DIY.  We'll rejoin the ship there, spend the night, and then leave the next day for the Victoria Falls adventure. 

 

David and I keep telling people that we have to do these cruises and adventures while we still have the agility and stamina--we'll soon see if we still have both!!

You will love those Overlands.  Fortunately, we have been to most of them in our travels. Yes I agree with you, do it while you are young and able and certainly have the stamina.  I know that we are slowing down and we wouldn't be able to keep up with the schedule that you are doing on the Nepal/Bhutan trip. I just hope that most of those who have booked the Overlands are as fit and well as you and Dave. Nothing worse than having to wait for the slowest and running behind schedule. I must go in to the link you gave me and look at your other trips. It is certainly a great RTW cruise with so much to choose from.  We did a couple of Overlands with Oceania back in 2008 and they certainly know how to organize a great excursion.

Jennie

17 minutes ago, cbb said:

thanks everybody!  Pinotlover it was so nice meeting you.

 

Palakika--your Dr Dave doing well?  2 years ago we traveled south along the Wash and Oregon Coast and fell in love with its beauty!  Well done getting a new condo there!

 

Jennie--hope this works for you to see what we're doing in the Himalayas:  https://www.oceaniacruises.com/around-the-world-cruises/miami-to-san-francisco-INS200108H/hotels/overland/3/?sr=%2fcruise-finder%2f%23sailDates%3d2020|01%23destinations%3d180dayworld#land-program-102

Thanks so much Cynthia, it worked a treat.  How many of the Overland excursions are you going to do.  There are so many of them.  If you do them all you will be exhausted though if you haven't visited any of them before, it is so very tempting.

Jennie

Peter and I wish you and Dave a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year. We are spending Christmas with my sister and brother in law together with our son Rich and his friend.  On Boxing Day we are off to the MCG with our daughter Jane and the rest of the family to watch the Test (cricket) between Australia and New Zealand.  We will then go down to Red Hill a few days later and given them all our Chrissie gifts. 

The Overlands sound interesting. I think you mentioned you were going to the Himalayas.  Do you get to fly to Katmandu or somewhere similar?  Enjoy, look after yourselves and report back as we will be travelling with you through your photos and descriptions.

Jennie

10 hours ago, cbb said:

Thanks Jennie!  Are you home from Bali?

 

We're packing for ATW20 and Luggage Forward comes Dec 23 to ship 4 bags (2 each) to the ship.  Can't wait!!!

 

We hope to maintain the blog on our cruise.  I won't be writing on CC.

 

Thanks again.  Hope it is useful Roothy 123.  We love Australia!

 

 

 

Hi Cynthia,  we have been home from Bali and the cruise from Hong Kong to Sydney since October. We spent most of November up north in FNQ.  Two weeks at Palm Cove where we drove you all on Christmas Day and then a week at Port Douglas.  We had wonderful weather and loved every minute up there. We are now home getting ready for Christmas.  I am looking forward to reading your Blog when you finally leave.  I know you will both have a wonderful time. Am quite envious!

Jennie