Aus Traveller

Most of the time, the ship is too far from shore to see anything interesting, or indeed, the shore at all. At times, the shoreline is a distant line on the horizon. There are a few places where there is a fair bit to see. In NZ I enjoy the Fiordland day. In the one to two hours between the fiords, the ship is close enough to land for passengers to enjoy lovely scenery. In North Queensland waters, sometimes the ships are within the Barrier Reef (rather than the shipping lane outside the reef) and there are areas of lovely islands and sandbars.

I thought when they extended the OPT a few years ago, the terminal was supposed to be able to handle two ships, although two at turn-around day would be a bit difficult.

P&O and Princess.

Distilled water is available free for people with CPAP machines. However, the person has to register in the Medical section before boarding.

I believe that Princess also supplies distilled water free of charge to use with CPAP machines. You must pre-order it on the medical area of your Cruise Personalizer or Medallion app.

I think when the cruise company tried Cairns as a turn-around port and it wasn't successful, they would be reluctant to try again.

P&O has tried basing a ship in Cairns, but they ended up having to heavily discount the fares. Maybe people were reluctant to book because of the cost and bother of flying to Cairns.

The Star Princess is now the Pacific Encounter. When the fire broke out in 2006, they nearly 'lost' the ship.

Would have been good to catch up. 😢

What date in September is your cruise? We are booked on 16th September.

On Princess, the Medallion app registers who is in the cabin when the safety video is playing. On one cruise I went off to do something while my husband was in the cabin watching the video. The system registered that I hadn't been in the cabin while it was playing.

It's the same on P&O. However, whether or not you actually watch the video ......

Unfortunately the pdf isn't viewable.

In my opinion, Seal Bay, Admirals Arch and Remarkable Rocks are the highlights of Kangaroo Island.

With our P&O cruises, I up-loaded everything that was required onto the VeriFly app (after a lot of difficulty I might add!). At check-in we had to show paper copies of our vaccination status. Apparently the check-in staff do not have access to the VeriFly information. On board we never use our phone so we did not use the app at all. When you get to your cabin there will be a letter that lists the dining bookings that they have (kindly) made for you. You can change these, but it is better to do it as soon as you get to your cabin, otherwise the time slot you want in your preferred restaurant might not be available. Forget what happened last year - menus rotating every three days in the Waterfront. We were on a ten-night cruise in April/May. The menus (breakfast, lunch and dinner) stayed the same, but with one item changed in what was listed as "Crew Favourites". I think the menus were shown outside the restaurant, but if you want a popular time, you wouldn't be able to get in without having a booking. If you want to dine late (around 8pm) you shouldn't have any problem. We didn't go to Dragon Lady, but in Angelos, the menu stayed the same from what I could see with our three visits. I don't think you would have a problem requesting a table for two most of the time.

I agree that Princess definitely should not be advertising a cruise that they have had to cancel. However, I don't believe it is that they are deliberately taking money for a cruise they know won't happen - it is simply a mistake. Princess can be so inefficient. We have experienced it many, many times, too many to mention.

In North America, I think there are more 5th wheelers than caravans.

It depends what the pre-existing medical conditions are. Those that are covered are listed very clearly. If someone is unsure, they can phone and check .

I have to confess I didn't try to use the P&O app on board. It was useless up to that point anyway. 😁

The key point about VeriFly is that is for use by P&O before the cruise, presumably to confirm that the required percentage of passengers have been fully vaccinated.. The information was not available to the check-in staff. They asked us to verify that we had tested negative on a RAT and they looked at the hard copy of our vaccination certificates. That's why I didn't bother too much for our cruise a few weeks ago. I do not think you will be able to message friends using the P&O app.

The apps aren't to save us time, they are designed to save staff time whether at check in or on board (the latter is with Princess).

I had all sorts of problems with the VeriFly app for our P&O cruises last year. For our cruise at the end of April, I decided to do what I could on the app, but if there was a problem I would leave it and just turn up at the terminal. That worked.

There are a few car rental companies near the port of Tauranga (actually at Mt Manganui). I suggest you do a google search. The company we have used a few times no longer has a depot in Tauranga - probably a victim of the lack of customers during the pandemic. All the best.

We use the complimentary travel insurance attached to our ANZ Platinum credit card. It covers cruises that are booked before the person's 81st birthday. We have to use the card for at least $250 of the travel cost. Other banks have similar products. Others on this site will be able to recommend travel insurance policies that you can purchase. Whatever type of insurance you consider, check what pre-existing medical conditions they will cover.

'Port Out, Starboard HOME' was an acronym for the better side of the ship for Brits going to the Middle East in the days before ships were airconditioned. Doesn't apply these days. 😁