lissie

Can you explain further? I was on that cruise - the port was cancelled before we left Barcelona - we got a letter 8 September (cruise departed 10 October) In light of the current geopolitical situation in Sri Lanka, we have amended the itinerary for your voyage and shall no longer be calling at Colombo. After a careful review of the options, as a replacement, we’re pleased to say we’ve secured an additional berth in Singapore on 29 October 2022. This means you will now be able to enjoy an overnight call in this cosmopolitan port. I personally was annoyed as I wanted to do the Colombo stop - I knew there had been issues earlier in the year - but I also know that they had been resolved, had never really involved tourists anyways, and the warnings about travel to Sri Lanka had been lifted certainly by the UK and NZ governments . Certainly tourists were visiting again by the time Cunard cancelled.

Certainly, no tuxes required! I saw that they had upgraded the ships, the ship we went on only took around 60 pax . Its expedition style not traditional cruising. So no angst about what you wear except for us they provided gum boots (you had to provide shoe size) and for colder trips they provide warm jackets. Meals are provided are good but I don't recall what they were LOL! They are pretty physical - you need to get on and off the boat and into zodiacs most days. I found them more structured than traditional cruising - because you had one shot to get on the boat and go (for us the whole group could be accommodated at the same time in the zodiacs - not sure how that works with larger boats). 6am call for the penguins for example. The bar was a self-serve honour system (write your name in the book) . The company is a small-family owned company - who I had to talk to a fair bit because of the uncertainities of getting insurance in the middle of a pandemic (we cruised in 2021) - very helpful and responsive- just remember the time zone if you are outside NZ

Over 2 cruises this year we boarded with whiskey, wine, lemoncello, brandy at various places both on embarkation (in checked luggage) and hand luggage plus extras from shore excursions. None of it needs declaring and there is no issue- except if your bank makes a really good clunk on placing it on the belt the staff may offer you congratulations on your upcoming good trip!

Where on earth can you get a jacket for $40 - please provide the link! We looked hard in Barcelona - up to 300 euros - nothing anywhere near his size. And op shops which would be around that price at home - don't really work because again they are all smaller sizes We also spend considerably more than a few thousand dollars for a cruise! And this lady does not spend a good bit of cash on a new dress. I got lots of comments on my lovely formal night outfits - one was a $15 top from a chain store the other included a shrug I made myself from a cheapo sari.

I must admit I've never paid for speciality dining - is it a big thing on HAL? I wouldn't normally pay for wifi on the ship - I'd make do with an onshore connection particularly on this cruise as its almost all shore days. The $300 shorex we'd definitely use. But not sure we'd get the value out of the rest of it. Can you buy wifi by the day as you need it ? Just come off a sea intensive trip on Cunard (the prices are higher - gin cocktails around $12/13) and our total spend was US$40/day for 2 pax ie $20pp. On shore days I rarely manage more than one drink at night - and obviously wouldn't need the wifi those days. I'm off to find availablity of celllular services in Greenland, Iceland and the Canadian Maritimes!

Oh I could fit everything I pack in that bag - I'm very good at rolling stuff! I'm fine with paying for laundry its more I don't want some items mechanically dried would be the issue - though we could hand wash them, I just hate doing it

You are looking at this from a UK point of view. The reality is that its rare for a man to wear formal jacket in Australia - many, many of them don't own one. Even in NZ where the weather is a lot milder - my partner would never wear a suite jacket except at a funeral

Sorry but almost all of our time was in hot areas - the air con struggles in places. And yes it could be cold in areas and uncomfortably cold in others all at the same time. The issues cut in over 30C

Really? We thought the QE had their procedures sorted by our most recent cruise - so long as you have masking up front for the first part of the cruise and then require masking on tours you reduce the chance of a big outbreak on board . It all depends how waning immunity goes over the next few months. To me a nightmare is being isolated in my cabin and ill

Thank you so much this is very helpful! With only 8 sea days I doubt that we will come close to spending that much on booze. I have the figures from our Cunard cruises so I can work it out. I assume the bar prices are all plus 15% gratuities? If so the prices are comparable - and we've never bought a package on Cunard (they ae $69! but do allow you to carry on anything for cabin consumption). Its a very cool itinerary - and most of the other lines doing it are v. expensive e.g. Silversea!

This has nothing to do with my current account. The debit card I use is Wise I believe Revolut is similar in the UK? Its not connected to my bank in anyway wise.com I can spend no more from it than I fund it by I fund it from my current account - and I put as much money in as I'm comfortable loosing - I can add more funds at any time and they are available with 2 hours or 2 days (over the weekend in NZ). So it certainly doesn't start with my trip budget in it! Are you confusing bank issued eftpos cards? These I never take out of the country - every debit card I've ever used overseas is a Visa or Mastercard . I could use my debit Visa from my bank to directly access my account - but I don't - they charge the same crazy percentage on top of the exchange rate 2.2% at the moment .

How much luggage do you take on board? I am fine with long skirts (I don't wear stockings), but my partner needed to take on formal shoes, plus a 2nd jacket (on top of his dark suit) - would have made the weight limit very difficult - those things are bulky and heavy. For women its pretty easy to dress to whatever standard - but the dress code is really about men - and their clothing is expensive, hot and heavy - none of which will find favour in some countries. I can't think of any circumstance that a man would wear a sports jacket in Australia outside of the most formal clubs in Sydney or Melbourne, and Melboune Cup Day (a big horse race),and maybe (but probably not ) a wedding.

Well I would point out that the dance classes were absolutely packed - all the tables were pushed back so people could dance on the carpet. There was no shortage of interest - there just was no danceable music at the right time of day. The recorded music at 6pm where a couple of us were effectively doing a floor show scared beginners off - I saw them come, look and move on. Plus of course 50% of the pax were at early dinner

Don't cruise to Australia then LOL! I think the dress code strongly reflects the passenger mix. Voyages that are mainly UK and European - and more importantly where not everyone has had to fly in with a maximum of 23kg of luggage - are more formal. Also its always more formal in cooler climates - even the British eventually got rid of the tpo hat and tails and invented the safari suit in India and Africa! The most important dress code all the cruises I did was wearing a mask - I think it was right that staff focussed on that enforcement area (and they did). I see that this a requirement for the next cruise starting in Australia - so I doubt this requirement is going away for this summer in Au/NZ anytime soon. Hence the summer will be quite casual. I;d love to get my man a "well tailored pinstriped navy suite" - in fact we spent some time trying to find something that would at least fit him (he'd lost weight) in Barcelona before our second cruise this year. Absolutely nothing for a size 50 man could we find, in any colour or price point.

I'm not on board - I got off on the 30 in Singapore . We wore masks for about the first 9 days ex Barcelona - and I know they reintroduced the rule after Singapore not sure for how long. The reality is that you should be expecting to wear masks indoors and if you don't have to be be pleasantly surprised. Covid hasn't gone away - but countries like Australia have stopped testing, so you may think it has! For cruises longer than 7 days basically an outbreak has the potential to take out not just some passengers but also put huge pressure on all guest services and even the bridge crew. They just can't just call in a temp agency for extra staff! 7 days seem to be the point where the outbreak starts to get out of control just as passengers leave - meaning the ship doesn't have a problem

I'm new to HAL. Im considering a 25 day cruise next summer on the Zaandam (ex-Boston to Canada, Greenland, Iceland). There are 2 fares: Have it all 3 SHORE EXCURSIONS (up to US$300 per guest) DRINKS wine, beer, cocktails, specialty coffee and soda. plus, service charges are on us SPECIALTY DINING EXPERIENCE WI-FI Best price 50% non-refundable deposit The price difference is about US$1200 pp. What I can't find is the price for these items to compare. Which drinks package is included? What is its normal cost? How many speciality dining is included and whats the normal cost Whats the normal cost for wifi? Some additional questions as I've only sailed Cunard in the past. I see plastic bottles are banned - I assume you can bring on polycarbonate or stainless-steel water bottles. I'm not a huge water drinker but do like to have something with me particularly on shore excursions. I'm perfectly OK with tap water - its the ban on containers which has me confused Is it right that there are no guest laundries on board? What is the cost of laundry? As this is a cold weather cruise a lot of my clothes will be merino - these obviously can't go in a dryer - is there an option for wash only/no drying? Or do you end up just hand washing these? With the total ban of bringing on alcohol is there a mini-bar service? (we will be inside or ocean view) - we like a late night drink sometimes in the cabin.

Its more like 2.5% for my CC v a currency conversion card - plus they don't automatically alert me when the card is used - so its far less secure

I did and will continue to do so. I get a much better exchange rate using my debit card rather than my credit card. Plus this year I'd had the luck to buy some US$ in advance on my multicurrency card so saved even more as the us$ increased in value against my own currency. I use a Wise visa debit card and there was no double charging - the preauthorisation amount was periodically updated to reflect our spend - and transferred to a "spent" amount when Cunard said the bill would be settled both at the end of a sector and the end of the voyage. I use a card issued by wise (wise.com) not a bank - I suspect that is the issue. Though I did have a hotel take a hold on this debit card and take a few days to remove the amount after we checked out. I think that was confused because the account was settled by a different card. I've also had cause to do charge back against a merchant which i used the card with - that was handled exactly like a charge back for a credit card - I had 6 months to dispute the amount

While I had one holding charge whose amount was increased to reflect my on-board spend - and then converted to spent amount when the account was settled - also Cunard

Don't live in the USA - there zero difference between debit/credit card fraud protection in most of the world outside of the US

I suspect this is the way the bank is handling it not the way Cunard is charging it.

That's not how it worked with my NZ-issued wise.com debit card. I suspect this is a bank issue rather than a Cunard/Carnival problem

Are you really sure - I think this is an urban myth. I have a debit card and a credit card - they are both Visa cards -so the rules of Visa applies. whether I'm using the bank's credit or my own funds is irrelevant. I just came back from 3.5 months overseas and pretty much used my debit card exclusively because the rate is better and the card controls much better (I get a notification as soon as the card is used and can cancel the card in the app). i researched this extensively.

That would work on my debit/credit cards - the $2000 would go from held to spent - the $500 would always be available This is from my experience on QE this year - because I found it very hard to find a definitive answer to this question

I've done 2 long voyages on QE this year. I was nervous using my debit card for on-board transactions because of the hold situation - but in fact it was perfect. Cunard put a hold of $1 pre-boarding and every few days updated the amount - still a hold. At the end of sectors (we were informed on board) - they converted that hold to charged - I never had more money committed to them than what I owed. We also were able to pay with some excess US$ cash we had, and to swap my partner's card in for one of our accounts when my funds ran low.