Aus Traveller

Pre-COVID we received a cheque for refundable OBC, but after our recent cruises, we received an email asking for our bank account details for the money to be paid into. This is in Australia, but I don't know if this system is now working in the US.

I am sorry, but the reason you give is wrong. On some cruises operating out of Australia, auto gratuities are added to the passenger's on-board account. Our consumer laws don't have anything to do with it. On goods sold in Australia, any sales taxes etc have to be included in the advertised sale price, but the gratuity is not a tax. The vast majority of Australian-based cruises have an international port to enable the ship to sell duty free. This also means that GST does not have to be added to the cruise fare. Another point is that GST was introduced in July 2000 but for years after that all the cruise lines charged an auto-gratuity. P&O were the first to combine it in the fare (2009) followed by Princess in May 2011. They were followed years later by RCL. These companies were NOT operating in breach of Australian laws for all those years. P&O and Princess both announced they were incorporating the gratuity in the base fare because tipping is not part of the Australian culture. If it was the law, they would have said so and they would have done it many years earlier. When we booked a Celebrity cruise, we had to pay the gratuities up front, but not as part of the fare. It was a separate amount. We were told that it was because Australians don't tip.

I am pretty sure that the auto gratuities will apply to your cruise. As far as I know, HAL also charges gratuities on cruises out of Australian ports. Princess, P&O and Carnival (part of the same group) have gratuities included on cruises from Australian ports that also return to Aussie ports. You might also find that a gratuity is added to the cost of drinks purchased on your cruise.

We had tissues on the Pacific Encounter in January. I can't remember if we had face washers.

Julie's post that mentioned 'free internet minutes as Elites' was in 2019.🙂

I don't know for sure, but my guess is that yours would be OK. We have kits with different brand names on them and the kits given to us on a Princess cruise were different again. I have not seen anywhere that we have to use a particular one.

We find that having a general light makes scanning or photographing something easier. That way there isn't a flare on the document (or maybe photograph) being copied.

The age limit for travel insurance (whether credit card insurance or the sort you pay for) varies. With ANZ Platinum Visa insurance (through Allianz), the cut-off is for trips booked before the person's 81st birthday.

Of course. You may not realise that late last year I researched this matter and produced a spread sheet comparing all the credit card insurance policies.🙂 My previous post was in response to your comment that people should be 'wary of credit card insurance'. With any insurance, a person definitely should read the pds explaining the terms and conditions - asking for trouble if they don't. On the Sea Princess we met a man whose wife was medivaced by helicopter and their travel insurance had fine print that said it didn't apply to travel on cruise ships. It wasn't free credit card insurance. 🙂

Yes, don't I know it! We are self-funded retirees with income, but even so it wasn't easy. Copies of the relevant documents proving assets/income had to be sent a few times before the correct department in the bank had them. After that happened, the card was approved but it took around two months.

I have to repeat what Barry said earlier - that terms and conditions that apply in the USA are not relevant here. This thread was initiated by John who lives in Australia and who was enquiring about insurance for an Australian-based cruise. Please don't throw in restrictions that apply in another country, restrictions that might make someone who reads this unnecessarily concerned. The factors that you mention don't apply here. All the best. 🙂

Because of the distances involved, I suggest you forget cruising. You could fly into Sydney, stay a few days, fly to Cairns (to see the Great Barrier Reef) and stay a few days. Then fly to Uluru for a couple of days. On this plan, you could fly to Hobart and stay a few days. In Tasmania the distances aren't great so you could see a fair bit in a few days. The drawback with flying is that you do spend time in airports and in the air, but it enables you to get from one part of this vast country to another in a few hours.

I don't know why you warned that people should be wary of credit card insurance. As with any travel insurance, you should check the terms and conditions. The main difference between credit card insurance and a policy you purchase, is the cost of it. No initial cost (except a small credit card fee), but there is an excess to pay when you claim. There are variations between different cards such as the amount to be paid for on the card and the age limit. We have relied on the credit card for decades and have saved countless thousands of dollars by not paying premiums. I have the impression from some people that they feel the credit card insurance is 'too good to be true' so they think there has to be a catch to it. If there is, we haven't encountered in in the several decades we have relied on it. Once when we had to make a sizeable claim, there was no problem getting our claim paid. Our son had a claim for $9,000 for hospitalization in Germany paid with no problems whatsoever.

Our last P&O cruise pre-COVID was January 2020 and the first one post-COVID was August 2022. We both felt that P&O has moved a bit up-market since they re-started cruising.

The buffet is open for dinner. From memory it closes at 11pm. In the Pacific Encounter balcony cabins, there is one 240 volt Aussie socket. We use a double adaptor to give us two points. We had bookings for the Waterfront Restaurant as well as Angelos and Dragon Lady. Food in the MDR is quite good. Angelos was superb both in decor and food/service, but the menu doesn't change every night. It changes half-way through a seven night cruise. We didn't go to Dragon Lady as we aren't very fond of Asian food. I have heard the comment that it is very dark and when people can't read the menu, they are given a torch! We bought a bottle of wine every evening and were pleased that it was more than $10 a bottle cheaper than a similar wine on Princess. Of course, you probably know that you can't take your own wine onto P&O ships.

The title of each document still has the word 'Unavailable' underneath. ☹️

That's what it shows for me also. 🙂

I agree. It is doable. I suggest that the OP should opt for self-disembark (the first passengers off the ship, probably 7.30 to 8am). I suggest getting a taxi from the cruise terminal to the airport. This would take around 30 minutes. Check in for the Uluru flight would probably close at 9.30am.

No. The Pacific Encounter was the Star Princess.🙂

You can take as much wine as you can carry (or wheel on). The cost of corkage was still AUD$15 per bottle a couple of weeks ago. You are allowed one bottle per person without the corkage charge. When you pay the corkage they put a sticker on the bottle. You can then take them to the dining room where they are treated the same as if you bought them on board. 😁 I'm not game to try checking in a case of wine with the checked luggage because Princess' terms state that the wine has to be taken on in hand luggage. I did check on our last cruise if we could take additional wine on at intermediate ports of calls. the answer was "Yes - one free but you have to pay corkage on any more than that".

There are a couple of threads here with up-to-date prices. Unfortunately, Princess prices are high, but not as high as some other cruise lines. P&O Aust has lower prices. We cruise a fair bit on Princess, but we take our own wine and pay the $15 corkage.

Congratulations on your 50th and what a way to celebrate it! We are a few years ahead of you but we didn't celebrate our 50th on a cruise. It was at our daughter's home with all our family.

Ahh yes. You are quite correct. Sorry. However I am sure you looked great for that yearbook photo. 😁

I think you looked better in your white dinner jacket. 😁

Try Carnival to see if they will allow you to make the swap. If not, try another solution. Check with the Aust on-line TA you mention to ensure that you will be allowed to swap to another cruise. If they confirm you can, then switch your booking from Carnival to that TA. After that do the cruise swap you want.