lissie

Columbus Motor Inn Columbus Inn, San Francisco – Updated 2023 Prices (booking.com) - we stayed there 5 nights prior to our cruise. Its an older style motel - huge rooms - tidy and dated. The brilliant bit is the location - there is literally a bus stop at the door and we got the local transit pass so we could pop up to Little italy for dinner - its a longish walk to the port and fisherman's wharf - but a very short uber drive. And its on the flat 🙂 ETA - you're a kiwi - its a not really like a Kiwi motel - no cooking facilities or fridge from memory. It does have parking underneath (which is very unusual in SF and you totally don't need a car) - hence the name.

I don't know about Japan - but last year on too long cruises there was buses provided by almost all ports (only exceptions were the Middle East) - either nominal cost or free. Or you didn't need anything special because the port was inthe middle of town

I think you mis-understood me. I assumed that an upgrade was a change to a better location? Your comment suggested that it might be something different? I book insides so an obstructed view would definitely be an upgrade!

What else would you expect of an upgrade?

I think what you're missing is that you are not buying in the USA. We had the same experience in NZ (they price in A$ for us) - it was a complete no-brainer to NOT buy the HIA promo. We bought on a black friday sale so yes our deposit is not refundable - but it was also trivial - about US$30 for the 2 of us.

I saw that rip-off practice on Cunard. We did a 13 hour excursion in Egypt and they were heavily promoting glass water bottles - too heavy to carry around the sights. We had water bottles with us and of course as soon as we got on the bus they started out handing cold water which was available on demand all day - for free.

We did this last year. I got a yellow fever vaccination many years ago (it's for life) but I wasn't even aware that it's an endemic disease in Panama. Its mosquito born though - and you won't get many bites as the ship is mainly moving. I got the odd one - and dug out the DEET - good insect repellent is never a bad thing to pack. There is a chance that you may need to prove vaccination status when entering other countries. I got the vaccine originally because I had no desire to get a disease which would mean I couldn't drink again! Or maybe that was hepatitis - its was a while ago. Yellow Fever | Disease Directory | Travelers' Health | CDC

There is a port that charges more for water than Cunard - where is this ?

Not true as far as cruise ships are concerned - every cruise line here have very similar requirements: ie. # (includes all Australia and New Zealand voyages) All guests regardless of age are required to take a self-administered Lateral Flow Test within 24 hours OR a PCR test within 48 hours of embarkation. Plusif you are going to Japan you'll need a booster as well as a test. This is not about the cruise line - its about the countries.

I don't even own 7 pieces of luggage not to mention the clothing to fill it!

yes they were definitely doing the cocktail classes last year on QE. I don't recall any champagne classes though. The cocktail classes were about $50 pp

Google maps - doesn't matter what the language is it will tell you where you are and whether or not your're going in the right direction.

Thank you so much for this detail. We are hoping to do Japan next year have 2 cruises booked one ex Sydney to Yokohama and then 10 days later a round trip to Taiwan and the southern Islands. I'm planning on doing something very similar to what you are doing for the 10 days in between. I wasn't going to bring our large bags with us though would love to know if you notice any thing about luggage storage at yokohama.

I really hpoe it does - the other term used for "tender" is "life boat"

She's also due in August on our return from Iceland - so I'm watching what happens with interest. I know no port is guaranteed but I don't care which ship it is - we book based on itinerary pretty much soley. I thought the Bar Harbour limits were not coming into effect until 2024 - this says that the 2023 schedule will be honoured Bar Harbor Cruise Ship Plans for 2023 (wdea.am) It does appear that there ae no visits until early May - this is the official list PortCall.com

Just saw this which is current and maybe of some help International eSIM Comparison: Which Is Best for Travel in 2023? (toomanyadapters.com)

Is your phone unlocked? If not you are stuck with roaming. What phone do you have? If you have an eSim capable phone (just google your phone) then consider eSims. I've not used them yet - but I am for an upcoming trip to Canada and the USA. The USA is a bloody nightmare in terms of getting a physical SIM so the eSim is far easier. Download the app, buy a plan - its cheap ie. US$4.50 for 1GB /7 days in the USA follow the instruction, should just connect when you turn your phone on after you land. There's a bunch of companies but Airalo gets good reports and seems pretty cheap. Do you need access to your Australian phone number/text (some banks will text you if you use a card overseas)? Its a huge pain. I train people to contact me using whatsapp/messenger whatever. I use Skype to call a landline (there's a charge but its minimal). If you have a new iPhone with dual sim capability then you can use your Australian SIM for calls/text and use the eSim for data.

Haha I was thinking the opposite - I can imagine if I'd cruised with my 18 yo nephew a couple of years ago he'd have been the one justifying we both got a drink's package!

This is our experience too - we did 20 nights with only 4 ports - 2 of which were in the Middle East where we couldn't buy booze - so basically we only carried on about 10 or so various bottles at the start. We spent a total of US$800 on board - so about $40 /day for 2. Drank what we want - I'm the first to admit I've slowed down but I do lke cocktails - so it was 1/2 cocktails a night sometimes a beer or cider at lunch. Sometimes a glass of wine at dinner. A couple of coffees. Sometimes a mocktail if one of us didn't feel like drinking. 20 years ago we would have drunk twice as much - and it will still not have been close to being value for money. Maybe its different on different lines - but a perfect pour gin or a cocktail has a kick - they are hand-mixed they don't use pre-made mixes and water them down with excessive ice

Exactly this. We love cocktails and we love the commodore club special cocktails and the perfect pour gins in the midships bar. None of these are under $12 . We also like wine and its a very limited selection to be had by the glass - we buy by the bottle (they will keep the bottle if you dont finish it). For night caps - my partner brings his own whiskey on board. We also bring our own wines on board to either drink in our stateroom or pay the $25 corkage to drink in the restaurant. We don't get the package its too restrictive. If he drank as much coffee as I do we'd buy the coffee only option.

That's different - plenty/most countries get their immigration to board prior to arrival and do the paperwork prior to arrival . I suppose the problem with trans-Atlantics is that its 7 days. Australia fly officers to join in PNG or Indonesia to do clearance before arrival. My first "visit" to the USA was in the middle of the 80s when I flew Continental from Australia to Vancouver with a change of plane in Honolulu - had to do the whole thing how long are you staying in USA interview - to which the answer was - about 3 hours. So they've never had air-side tranist unlike every other country I've been to .

I think people forget that these packages are put together to make the cruise line money - not to save passengers money!

I can't imagine it will change. USA has never had transit facilities at airports - you always have to pass immigration even if all you are doing is getting on another flight to another country. The zeroing thing on arrival at the first USA port is the the cruise version of that .

This is how it works almost all the time - ships don't sit at wharves costing port fees and not making money

Probably a country requirement rather than a cruise line requirement - we had to do it in SF last year as per CDC rules at the time. Whether or not home tests are acceptable will come down to the actual rules - what have HAL said?