jspqld

I am all for the bigger ships coming here more often. I love the modern options & wow factors they offer. First of all we need to see a new Mega Terminal built at Luggage Point behind the Airport in Brisbane Asap. This will mean bigger ships can conveniently do south pacific cruises in a 7 day turnaround which would suit many who can't take long periods off work. At the same time we need a whole lot of smaller Caribbean style docks built along the Qld coast whereby even the largest of ships can tie up at a pier for a short day trip. I'm just talking about cheap & cheerful concrete piers like the type you would see being used daily at ports in the Caribbean like Cozumel or Grand Turk. This would really open up tourism for Qld, not only for Aussies but for many International visitors wanting to see famous Australian beaches & wildlife & southern/northern Great barrier reef & so on.

We just disembarked it today. The 5 ships concert & fireworks in Sydney Harbour was amazing. The ship itself has some cool highlights. A lot of people will love this ship. Personally it's a bit too small & old for us, but we still had an enjoyable short cruise.

I have found that most cruise lines have great spa specials in the second half of the cruise, especially the last port days. Sometimes you can get a massage, facial, etc for $99 that may have originally cost say $225 a few days prior.

That's great. When we sailed sister ship Legend, we booked a last minute guarantee balcony at a good price & got a premium balcony on Deck 5 starboard. We were stoked, the cabin was huge & the largest we have ever stayed in.

Singapore airport is one of the worlds greatest airports. There is so much to see & do, & that includes landside of customs. There are places to eat, etc on the Depatures level & there are also many popular options like starbucks & the like on the arrivals level. There is free wifi also. You may have to go between the 3 terminals to find what suits you. If you do choose to leave the airport early, there will not be much open anywhere as like most Asian cities, Singapore shops/places of interest start opening between 10-11am & stay open till 10-11pm at night.

I'm so confused. :-)

I want to be able to relax and enjoy myself and not stress about getting off to a big bill at the end of my cruise.

I don't think a drinks package may suit you. The package down form the top does not include coffees so they would be extra & if you took the top one you probably still wouldn't be drinking enough. Also if you do take one you need to drink a certain amount each day to make it worth your while. I'm not saying don't buy one but do your maths first. If you buy it pre cruise you will be looking at buying if for each day of the cruise. You can buy it on board anytime up until the last 4 days of the cruise.

So for eg, top package $90 Aud per day x10 day cruise = $900. So if you think you would easily spend $900 on drinks in that time then yes go for it, if you think that is way beyond your budget then No.

Thanks for the reviews & pics of the new cabins. I'll be sailing in one of those soon. cheers

Sorry I forgot about Ovation, when I was on the Quantum I heard one of the officers say that they were looking at ways of using the technology on all future ships so I assumed Harmony might get it too.

Hong Kong, We stayed overnight at the new Kai Tak terminal on the Quantum. Taxi will by far be the most easiest option in either direction, however make sure you leave the terminal with a business card or map showing where it is, because not all taxi drivers speak English & not all of them have travelled out there as yet, as this happened to us on one of the return journey's.

Singapore, Taxi's are also pretty good here. There is a MRT station close by to Marina terminal, but I would say it is a very long walk & probably not doable if you have mobility issues as I have.

They are a plastic band in the shape of a watch that you wear & can use instead of your cruise card. We had them on the Quantum. I think they are also on the Anthem & will be on the Harmony.

We could see most of the bridge from our room but not the actual OPT. Not sure about other rooms.

I have sailed the Quantum & loved it. Food maybe wasn't as good overall but it was more than ok. Would definitely sail on it again.

We've done the Marriot & it worked perfect for us. Flat. easy 5 minute walk to the OPT. Also you can book a room that has great views of the Bridge which will be a bonus.

As an Australian, there is some truth to the original post. Some Australians really do enjoy a drink to the point of passing out. Having said that, Cruises departing from Australia now are meant to adhere to the same Responsible service of Alcohol laws as seen on Mainland Australia. This means Bartenders are not meant to free pour drinks & should keep an eye on passengers who might have had enough.

Also most of the more drunken type aussies you may have heard about are more likely to cruise on the local brand of P&O &/or on cheaper shorter cruises attracting a younger crowd.

You will generally find that cruising on any of the other brands &/or on longer cruises will be no different to cruising anywhere else in the world.

I have only done Petra as an independent tour while travelling through Jordan. I would imagine that you would get to see the highlights of Petra on a Ship Exc which would be enough & I would imagine you would see the Monastery, but you won't see all of it. The area of Petra covers many hectares, we spent more than half a day there & didn't see it all. To speed up time a little you might be able to hire one of the horse drawn carriages if you get any spare time. This might allow you to squeeze in a few more sights within the complex. It's an amazing place. you will love it.

My fav hotel in Singapore so far, would be the Conrad. It looks great, the service is excellent, one of the best buffet breakfasts I've ever seen & not too far from the cruise terminal.

We did our first Carnival Australia cruise last year after having done previous cruises with Carnival overseas. At checkin in Sydney we received our normal Gold cards & received points as normal & so on.

In fact on our cruise, Gold was the highest status of any passenger so the whole 15 of or so that were gold got treated like royalty which was very nice of the crew on board.

I have to agree Dutch!!! We have no issues at all with the MSC offices here in the United States. Any calls are always returned, any private messages via Facebook are always answered so perhaps the issue is not with MSC but with the regional offices themselves.

My issue was not the problem of contacting MSC. That was the easy part & in the process of trying to get the problem fixed they even contacted me. The issue was that they had a problem with their online Booking portal that added an extra amount after I booked & paid for it & rather than fix it for me, they only offered to refund part of this extra amount. They agreed that I should not be charged the extra amount in the first place, but their CFO decided that I should wear most of this extra cost & not them. I disagreed & didn't think their problem should become mine.

I don't really mean to put anyone off cruising with MSC. My point is more just to make people aware & to double, even triple check their booking process with them, preferably by phone, so you don't get caught being ripped off like I was & end up paying much more for something than what you agreed too.

My one cruise with them a few years ago was great. It's just that as mentioned above their shoreside customer service is terrible & as a result I felt like I was getting ripped off. Msc could clearly see their mistake in my booking & yet chose to do nothing about it. Rather than thank me for bringing this problem to their attention, they decided to not refund the difference & didn't care less about trying to make things right by me. As a result it's left a sour taste with me & I personally may not ever cruise with them again, unless I come across some sort of deal in the far off future that is just too good to refuse! & even then I'll be booking via phone to save any stuff ups!

Anyhow, I've had my little rant & done my best to warn others. It's just a silly first world problem & is nothing in comparison to what I have been dealing with in fighting cancer over the last year or so. There are plenty of other Cruiselines & I'll take my business elsewhere.

In the initial email I got telling me about the new Voyagers cards, which unfortunately I deleted, I remember it mentioned I could get 20% off selected cruises by using the 5+15 link. Throughout the booking process & at the end of it, it gave me a Total figure due of which I accepted. It was after I paid for it that it changed the price. That is not right.

Regardless, my gripe with MSC which they could clearly see for themselves was that the Total price should not alter upwards for any unexplained reason within seconds of confirming your booking by payment. The extra cost of more than $200 was not for any hidden taxes or tips or fuel levies, etc. Nothing, & once again MSC had no explanation for this & admitted there was a problem. Yet all they offered was to knock off a $100. In my opinion they should have knocked off the entire extra amount or replaced with obc, etc. They could see there mistake, but still only wanted to fix half of it & expected me to pay for the rest of their mistake. I didn't cancel for the $100, but the for the sheer lack in professional judgement made by their managers in trying to resolve this issue. Between the cost of the cruise, along with all the extra's we would have purchased pre-cruise including drink packages, some excursions, spa visits, etc, this would have been a AUD$5000+ booking. That's a lot of money for us before flights & the rest.

Imagine you went into the supermarket to buy your groceries & at the end the total on the receipt/ docket said $250.00 but a glitch in the system read $300 on the cash register screen. The supermarket then turned to you and said "hey the total due is really $250 but seeing our register is showing $300, why don't you meet us half way in the middle and pay us $275". I don't anyone that would like to pay this extra unexplained $25 & that is exactly how I feel.

Very disappointed with MSC Customer Service from their Booking Office in Australia.

I have only done one MSC cruise in the past in the MED and it was fantastic. In recent times we have cruised with other lines as their cruises have been more convenient for us, re: price, itinerary, etc. Recently we have been thinking about a particular 11 day cruise with MSC for next year but cost has been an issue for us. Travelling from Oz, we have expensive flights to contend with & so on. On top of that I have been battling Cancer for the past year & not been able to work. So now I'm starting to feel better enough to think about a big Europe holiday for next year. We had to cancel one for this year as I needed surgery.

Anyway, last week I received an email with info about the new revamped Voyagers Club along with info about new specials available 5% + an extra 15% off selected cruises. To our delight the cruise we had our eye on was one of these cruises with the total of 20% off at the moment. You will only see the 20% come off the price if you are logged into the site & go to the 5% +15% off link.

So to our delight we decided to take advantage of the current advertised special & I proceeded to make the booking online. It gave me the total price due & I put in my particulars along with my credit card details. Suddenly, after I accepted the Booking, the system gave me a booking number, but for whatever reason added more than $200 to my total bill. I got a message flash up on the screen warning me of a ''rate change" & to call MSC for help, which I did. I wasn't rude to anyone on the phone in discussing this problem with them & they could not understand why this happened & told me there must be a glitch in their system. They even tried booking from their end & got the same price as me & the same problem. They said they will work it out & get back to me. Fair enough I thought.

Apparently I was wrong, I got a call back from them saying that yes there was a serious glitch in Their system that needed fixing, however they still expected & wanted me to pay for half of the allocated extra amount.

Of course I said No, that is not good enough. You can't just advertise one price & then charge me more just because there is a problem with your system. How is that my fault I asked?

I then had a senior manager call me & they still could not see the error of their ways & insist that if I wanted to keep my booking worth in the thousands, that I would need to pay a minimum extra $100 of the original $200 extra the system wanted to charge me, even though they (MSC) had absolutely no idea as to what or why the system was charging this extra amount in the first place. Once I again I wasn't rude, in fact I don't know how I kept my cool in fact, but I gave them plenty of options to go back & look at this & either remove the unknown extra amount or give it back to me in OBC or something but, No they made it clear that their decision was final. So I told them that on principal alone they would force me to cancel the cruise, & I did.

I've worked in customer service most of my life, for myself & for others. I understand that the customer is not always right, but you do your best to make things Right by the Customer, especially when the problem is Not their fault!

Shame on you MSC, I once spoke highly of you. Now Your silly decisions today have left a bitter taste & may have lost you a customer or two.

So please beware if booking online, maybe check the Total price with them by phone first!

Thanks so much for posting the pics. I already have one of these cabins booked for later this year & I have not managed to find much info. The room looks very nice. Parts of it remind me of the room we had on the Quantum, especially the tv & couch.

Sorry to all the ''chops'' lovers out there, but our recent experience at Chops on the Quantum was terrible. Maybe it was just a bad night when we attended but Seriously, it was the worst fee-paid for specialty restaurant we have ever been to on any cruise. We normally like to visit specialty restaurants on board & we in fact had booked Chops twice for our recent sailing. But after the first meal was so disappointing we cancelled the second booking & swapped it for Jamie's Italian which was far superior in every way.

First of all the lighting was so dim, you could barely see your partner across the table or the food. Secondly, the service was below average. It was polite, but not even up to normal Dining room standard & we were never made to feel special or welcome to be there spending extra money that we were. Thirdly, the food was quite bland & presentation was lacking. Our deserts seemed like they had just been slapped onto the plate like something from the buffet, not even a little garnish to make it look pretty. For a Steak place, our steaks were just ok. Once again, no melt in your mouth experience, that we have received on other Lines such as Celebrity or Carnival or even Costa.

Finally I don't want to sound petty but, we were given a nice table by the window, unfortunately we had a lovely view of the lifeboat!! Why would they design to place one of their best restaurants here. Most ships place them up high with lovely view of the water and so on.

hidden gem!

Just a thought. If you are departing from the OPT, check out the Marriot Circular Quay. We stayed there last year pre-cruise & I picked it as I have mobility issues.

Yes it may cost a little more, but even for me it was only a very short walk from the airport train station at Circular Quay & to the port. So, what you spend extra for staying at a nice hotel you save in transport costs & time!