Aus Traveller

We like to share but on our P&O cruises last year they did not seat you with other passengers unless you were travelling with them. I found this a disadvantage because I like to go to the dining room for breakfast and lunch but my husband prefers the buffet for these meals. When I went into the dining room on my own, I was seated at a table on my own. I used to joke that I felt I was in the naughty corner, or "I should have brought as book". It made no difference. I felt this policy was COVID related. It might have changed recently.

I agree. The Melbourne Cup will have absolutely no effect on availability of flights from Cairns to Sydney a few days before the Cup. It would be a different matter if you wanted to fly into Melbourne a couple of days before the Cup. Cup Day is a public holiday in Victoria only, but beyond that it wouldn't be noticeable. Businesses and shops don't close, although I wouldn't telephone anyone around the time the race is run.

If the ship gets away promptly at 4pm, then by 4.30 you would have passed all the major sights in the Harbour. But, if the ship is delayed 20 or 30 minutes then you are in trouble. earlier I was trying to find out exactly when the curfew is for cruise ships in the harbour. It could be from 4.30 to 6pm, but I am not sure. I couldn't easily find an answer. Someone here might know. If you could find this out, you would know by what time the ship has to be out of the busy area of the harbour.

It can be at peak time. Check in and embarkation often starts a bit earlier than the advertised time (unless the ship has to be deep-cleaned because of COVID). People who can board early often get through check-in and on board in 15 minutes. However, your flight arrival time won't allow this. By the time you reach the terminal to check-in there will be a lot of people and queues will have built up.

If your flight was an hour or more earlier, I would say you would be OK. I'm an optimist, but I wouldn't book a spa appointment for 1.30 with the time of your flight.

If they specify 4pm, it will be close to that time. They can't delay too long after that because of the peak hour commuter ferry traffic on the harbour. If they miss their timeslot, they have to wait until 6.30 or so.

I agree with your comment. 3pm would be realistic but 1.30 is a bit early when you don't get off your plane until 11.30. Even if this is a domestic flight, I can't see you getting to check in until around 1pm. This is peak time for check in so it could take an hour.

After reading this story, I was appalled at what happened to that couple. If someone told me this story, I wouldn't be inclined to believe it, but it is clear that it is all true. Eventually with a lot of being going to bat for them, they have a FCC, but it would be hard to fully enjoy that cruise after what happened.

Although the Melbourne Cup stops the nation, the vast majority of people watch it on TV. I don't think it would affect the cost or availability of flights. It would probably be harder to get hotel accommodation in Melbourne over the relevant days, but otherwise I don't think it would affect your plans.

I can remember hearing that when I was a child. That was in Brisbane.

I have never heard that term, unless referred to cream in food. 🙂 P.S. After reading Little Fish's comment, maybe there is something I should look up on the internet. However, I wouldn't ever use a slang term that could offend.

If you don't like the hand-wash soap in a pump container, or the shower one, you can take you own cakes of soap.

Maybe it was supply issues at the time. We have been in three cruises on Pacific Encounter in the past nine months. We had tissues in our cabin in all of these.

I'm sorry to hear that you are unwell. Kind regards.🙂

We are going on the 10-night Pacific Encounter cruise to PNG on 25th April - $600 pp in an oceanview cabin. The TA got us an accessible one - not that we need it but the extra space is good and it is in an ideal location.

The Cook Strait can be diabolical.

It is possible that they ran out of tissues. We have one person who reported that they didn't have tissues on their P&O cruise and a few people who reported they did. I said we did, but I didn't say that this was on three separate cruises.

Enjoy your cruise on the Grand.🙂 t has been ten years since we were on that ship.

That doesn't make the fare $85 to $90. We have done that trip many times and the fare has been less than $60, even paying the airport fee.

The prices sound high for a taxi. I think he was conning you.☹️ I would have expected the fare from the OPT to Central to be less than $30. A website I looked at quotes the fare from the OPT to the airport as $45 - $50. I think that is a bit low. We have paid $55 to $58. You could research shuttle buses but we have found them less than reliable. I would much rather get a taxi. There are plenty of them.

When a cruise line charges gratuities on board (such as HAL and Cunard), it is obvious that they have not included this in the basic fare. We could argue that they should, but they don't. Gratuities are charged on board. Here is an explanation by Graham (Sinbad). If the pre-selected fee is avoidable, e.g. voluntary gratuities, then it doesn't need to be shown as part of the advertised total cost. So the only legally permissible gratuities in Australia are those folded into the total cruise cost, or those that can be removed at the discretion of the customer. Mandatory gratuities not shown as part of the total cruise cost at the time of purchase are not allowed. The companies that charge gratuities could argue that it is possible to remove these from the on-board account so they are not mandatory.

As a couple of other people explained, Holland America and Cunard do not include gratuities in the fare. It doesn't matter if they are purchased through an Australian TA or website. Gratuities are charged on board. I can't see what you mean about paying it twice. If it isn't in the fare, then the cruiseline can charge it on board. When the fare is structured that way, it isn't fair to the staff if passengers to take the gratuities off. The crew are paid reasonably, much better than a professional would be paid in their home country. Many of the stewards have university degrees, but they either can't get a job in their home country, or the pay isn't as good as they get working on a ship as a steward.

I am puzzled by the comment "I only saw that post that you made". My post said "we received an email asking for our bank account details for the money to be paid into". This wording was there and I didn't alter it. 🙂 BTW, the email was from the bank that was going to be transferring the money to our bank. I felt quite comfortable in giving the requested information.

With the Celebrity cruise I mentioned, I don't believe we could have had the gratuities refunded. We had to pay them up-front - the fare was quoted as 'X' plus gratuities of 'Y'. I don't think we could have asked for a refund when we were on board. The cruise was in 2013 and it was advertised and booked in Australia. As you say, it appears that it could have been contrary to the Act.

Why ask me if I am sure that this is the way Princess is doing it now (in Australia)? In my previous post, I said that we have received two refunds this way. BTW, by giving someone your BSB and your bank account number they do not have the ability to withdraw funds from your account. It would be more risky to quote your your credit card number for an on-line purchase.