Aus Traveller

The farewell from Tauranga was memorable. We were docked behind the Island Princess that's on its world cruise out of LA. We left first, and when we pulled out almost alongside the Island, the ship played the Love Boat theme on its horn. Passengers on both ships waved and hollered.

👍

The Coral Princess was due in Napier on Sunday 12th Feb. Captain Pears told the passengers that he had to decide that morning to cancel the port call into Napier. He said that with 'Gabby' chasing us, if we went in, we wouldn't be able to get out. I will prepare a longer review of the cruise. We just got home today and I am trying to catch up with emails etc, then un-pack. Laundry might have to wait a day or two.

We cruised on the Pacific Encounter twice last year, the last one in November. There were plenty of tables for two in the dining room. We prefer to share with others, but this wasn't an option. At that time, they were seating people only with their own travelling party. This may have changed in the last two months.

Currently with some cruiselines, it seems that the mask protocol varies depending on the number of infections. We were on the Coral Princess from the 16th January. Apparently there were quite a few infections on the previous cruise so our boarding was delayed while the crew carried out a deep clean of the ship. Everyone was asked to wear masks on the 16th-26th January cruise unless they were eating or drinking. When we all took a RAT test on the third day, only a handful of cases were detected. For our boarding today, we have been asked to wear masks for embarkation etc. We will see after we board if masks are required all the time.

When an Australian-based cruiseship calls into Mystery Island, Mare, Dravuni, or Port Vila, the only foreign currency tendered would be Aussie, not half a dozen different currencies. At market stalls in these ports, items are priced in AUD. I suggest that this implies that the stallholders are expecting to be paid in AUD. They don't go to a money changer (or 'local shylock'), they bank the AUD. Of course, they can only bank notes, not coins.

Thanks for providing the link to such comprehensive information.

At the start of the pandemic I found that the ear loops on my mask would get tangled with my hearing aids, causing the aids to fly off when I took the mask off. When I also wore glasses on occasions, the situation was even worse. I made a strap out of skin-coloured fabric with elastic and fastened at the back with a button/buttonhole to I don't have to pull it over my head. I have found it fantastic. I referred to it as my 'face mask extender' but my daughter calls it 'Mum's strap-on'. Somehow I think that term usually refers to something else.🙂 Recently I saw a couple of headwaiters on the Coral Princess with the 'earsavers' as shown in the link quoted by PerfectlyPerth.

Since May 2011, gratuities are included in all Princess cruises that originate and return to an Australian port if the fare is purchased in Aust or NZ. It doesn't matter whether or not you have the Plus package. The crew on Australian-based ships are paid at a higher rate than those on overseas ships and are not part of the tip pool that Princess operates. Crew will not expect a tip from you.

I agree with you. Use the test kits you have rather than buying new ones.

Two maxi taxis (or one maxi and one normal taxi) would probably cost around $110 and it would be door to door - no dragging luggage and trying to find their way around a strange city's rail system.

Agreed. No tip. It didn't even occur to me to say that because I wouldn't think of giving the supervisor a tip. 🙂 A small tip for the taxi driver is OK. We just round the fare up.

I can see why it's a good idea to buy local currency, but the difficulty is knowing how much we will need.

On dozens of visits to the Pacific Islands, we have always used AUD.

We haven't had a good experience with pre-booked shuttles. After pre-paying we have always ended up waiting a long time for the vehicle to arrive. Someone else might be able to suggest a good shuttle service. If they don't, I suggest you get what we call a maxi-taxi (a taxi van). You don't have to pre-book. After you collect you luggage go out to the taxi queue and ask the supervisor for a maxi taxi.

There has to be a legal explanation - either processing on board or that they were processed in Hobart as Julie suggested. I do not believe the previous comment that the passengers were 'sneaked out onto the Pier by way of a crew gangway on level 2, avoiding border security & quarantine'. Maybe it wasn't meant that way, but the post suggests that they were snuck past both Border Force and Australian Quarantine.

Your cruise was Sydney-NZ-Sydney yet you mention that Celebrity 'sneaked us out onto the Pier by way of a crew gangway avoiding border security and quarantine'. Is that correct? That you did not go through border security and Australian quarantine?? I would not have thought that is legal. If you didn't go through Border Force and have your return into Australia officially registered, you could have problems in the future. As far as the Aust government, including Centrelink, you would still be out of the country.

I think Lyndarra's comment was tongue-in-cheek.

Which ship? The ones we have been on have always changed their time to local time.

There was mention of trucks on the road to the BICT. We have been to the terminal for four cruises and didn't see any trucks on the road on any of those eight trips. Obviously there are some, but I don't think it would be a problem. We did see a stream of taxis and private cars .......

OK. Then the Mirimar boat could be OK. I suggest one way on the ferry and return by taxi. It might be a little bit more expensive, but it would give much more time at Lone Pine.

In my opinion, the difficulty in going to Lone Pine on the Mirimar ferry is the time the trip on the river takes, leaving a limited amount of time at Lone Pine unless you just go on the ferry one way. You would have the additional problems of what to do with your luggage. You would probably have to go to the city by taxi (allow around 45 minutes) at a cost of AUD$50+. Alternatively, you could go all the way to Lone Pine by taxi. I suspect that the staff there would be prepared to store your luggage while you are at Lone Pine. If you want to do this, you could email them to ask. This option wouldn't be practical if you go by the Mirimar ferry mainly because there are steep stairs from the river pontoon up to the koala sanctuary. I would not like to carry luggage up these stairs.

The protocols vary. On our recent Princess cruise everyone was required to wear a mask unless they were eating or drinking and all passengers had to undertake a RAT test on the morning of day 3. They were not relying on people reporting symptoms. When passengers were given the test strips, their names were marked off and marked off again when the steward saw the test result. The very small number of people who tested positive had to isolate. I was told that the crew take the test every three days.

That is what I am thinking. For my next couple of cruises, I depart and return to my home city, Brisbane. I can easily take the Brita filter jug. For travelling I plan to fill it with undies etc. so it wont get broken by rough handling of suitcases. I have bought some water-testing tablets ($3 for 10) that I plan to use after we board to determine the chlorine content of the unfiltered water, then again after filtration. This is just for peace of mine. For $3 it is certainly worth it.

Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂