Aus Traveller

All the best. 💔

Our Seniors card doesn't expire, but our Seniors Health Concession Card does. A new one is sent every year.

I thought that comment would result in a question.🙂 A rashie shirt is a long sleeve shirt made of a lycra type fabric designed for swimming. They are sometimes used by adults and very often by children.

You obviously enjoy cruising and being on the Coral Princess. 🙂

Wow! You are close to taking up residence on the Coral.

Other cruise lines suggest you do not book a flight before noon on the day of disembarkation. I don't know what Cunard suggest.

I suggest you check if the rapid antigen test (RAT) is 2-3 days before embarkation or within 24 hours. In accordance with their agreement with Aust state governments, other cruiselines require a RAT within 24 hours. I realise that you are referring to NZ and to NCL, but it could be worth checking exactly when they require the RAT to be done. On the cruises that have already happened since cruising re-started, the 'within 24 hours' has effectively been any time the previous day.

I don't believe they offered kippers for breakfast. 😁 Other than that omission, the food was very good, the staff were attentive and the wine was $10 a bottle less than on Princess.

Agreed. On our recently cruise on the Pacific Encounter, we felt P&O has moved up-market a bit compared with pre-COVID cruises.

We share one mobile phone. It had the required info for both of us and of course, I had paper copies of our vaccination certificates.

I was trying to be polite when I said P&O UK was 'a notch' above P&O Aust. 😁

Les would have driven anti-clockwise (if I can describe it as such). This is the Coral Coast where there are a few resorts that have take-away food shops.

We went to the mud baths on one visit to Lautoka. It is further along the road past the Orchid Garden. When we were there, these mud baths were quite charming. They were on private property with fairly basic facilities for changing/showering. In the 10 years or more since we were there, they could have been up-graded.

I can only tell you how it was when we boarded the Coral at the end of June. I showed the person outside the terminal building the QR code on our phone (we share a mobile) and we were able to enter. She didn't ask to see the QR code for each of us.

Why not? Good question. But it is a fact. P&O UK is a notch above P&O Aust.

A couple of times when we were in Lautoka, we got a local taxi to take us to the Orchid Garden. This was established by the actor, Raymond Burr. I don't know if it is still open. If the taxi driver is a Fijian, he night agree to take you to his village. This can be a special experience. In the main street of Lautoka there is a spectacular Hindu temple.

The info I read was that you could have a watch beside the test strip, but that wouldn't indicate which day the test was taken.

While vaccination/RAT tests/masks are part of the protocols agreed between the state governments and the cruise lines, we should all abide by these regulations.

It was Samoa that had the measles epidemic. Unfortunately it resulted from an incident a few years ago when some nurses were involved in some dodgy vaccination practices. I can't remember the exact details, but the end result was that parents were reluctant to have their children vaccinated. When measles arrived in Samoa a couple of years ago there was a devastating epidemic.

No. Definitely stay home. Hope you are better soon. 🙂

Maybe it is a nasty cold or flu and not COVID.

I didn't wear pearls at all until I started buying them probably 20 years ago. Now I have quite a collection. 😁

We were on an 'early cruise' - 26th June on the Coral Princess then a P&O one on 27th August. Most of the passengers wore masks on board as required and all the staff did. We quickly got used to wearing a mask. There was no indication of COVID on board. Only you can made the decision with regard to your wife's health.

I wandered into the Effy shop on the Coral Princess but I didn't intend to buy anything. When I admired some pieces, the sales assistant told me she could give me a better price. The price kept dropping, but I still didn't buy. 🙂 They don't specialise in pearls. I have a lot of pearls and have found that the best place to buy them is in Lombok - an excuse for another cruise when that area opens up. When you are shopping for pearls, be aware that the 'Majorica' brand are man-made 'beads' made to look like pearls.

Another alternative would be to use a credit card although it's possible that small stalls in the market mightn't have CC facilities.