cme2c

I've been in Noumea when a shopkeeper was saying "No Aussie! No Aussie! and only taking CPF. I have had no trouble getting local currency from currency exchange. This was pre COVID and I notice CPF and Vatu are no longer on their currency list. Local ATMs still work.

The Great Barrier Reef is, well a great barrier! Highest seas I've encountered were off the NSW North coast, hit by spray on the running track!. Other cruises have been like a millpond. The Bureau of Meteorology (bom.gov.au) has maps of expected swell.

38 minutes ago, arxcards said:

First impressions of arriving at the new terminal. Number one is that you ate there much quicker. The cruise lines will love the time it saves on the Noumea crossing, and the possible delays because of strong winds on the river.

 

I took a look out on deck, and I see a new terminal, an expansive parking area, planes landing into the airport, ships docked at the wharves opposite, plenty of mangroves, and the Gateway bridge in the distance.

 

It might be different on the road into Brisbane, but you would have to know there is a waste treatment plant there to include it in your impression.

 

Still, there is that preconceived notion that will long be raised by those that know the area.

 

More pictures later.

That looks nice! Better than dodging around containers!

I understand the Halloween reference but advertising cruising as "Frightfully fun" in the present environment? Is it just me or is that a little tone deaf? (I tried but couldn't embed a link for some reason)

We did Singapore-Sydney on Voyager ots Nov 2019. Smooth as silk. 

It will simply be impossible to maintain these rules (especially on social distancing) without cutting passenger numbers severely, let's say half. "Royal Amplified" is looking a bit silly. Dining room, buffet (if that even exists) and show capacity halved. Then you get to a port and all you can do is go on a guided tour. 

I don't think that's a business model.

Carnival said on June 18 they are going to "transition" six ships  from their fleet. Just sayin'.

The original ban was to 15/6 in my understanding, but now it's open ended.

Coincidentally, I was due to pay the balance on a July 31 Carnival Splendor cruise from Sydney on May 4th. I am getting my deposit back. I had reached out to the travel agent (the one that is closing) before the announcement and they were great, most helpful. 

5 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I agree totally. I find it incomprehensible that the passengers were allowed to disembark from the Ruby last week, when apparently there was checking when the previous cruise returned on the 8th March.

And yet Voyager Of The Seas went out again. A friend (who is fine) is in self isolation until April 1.

19 hours ago, Boristhecat said:

Carnival Spirit

Carnival Splendor

Radiance of the Seas

 

Just thought I would let you know that this is the view from Thirroul Beach NSW this afternoon.  A very unusual sight.  Not often that we see a cruise ship so close, let alone three of them.  They are classed as being at Port Kembla anchorage.  Thirroul is a northern suburb of Wollongong.  We’ll keep an eye out for more cruise ships and will keep you posted.

 

Voyager of the Seas should be there by now, with Ovation of the seas heading there very slowly. Should be a great sight from the Golden View lookout!

Now off Sydney Status says "Not Under Command"

Marine Traffic has Pacific Explorer off Millers Point, destination, drifting? Suppose she can join Queen Elizabeth Awaiting Orders!

So, what are the ships going to do while stuck at a dock or at anchor? Will they be shut down completely? Will there be minimal crew and power to keep systems going? If so, will they be forced to use "clean" fuel? Having particulate generators at White Bay, the OPT and Athol Buoy would not be too pleasant!

1 hour ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

The world has changed I am afraid . 
The great fear is what is coming .

 

Here's the thing. All these restrictions will not stop the virus. As we have seen, people may not know they have been in contact with an infected person, and the test for the virus is not 100% accurate. What the restrictions do is slow the spread down. 24 million Australians X 60% going to get the virus X 20% needing hospitalisation is about 2.9 million people. 

2.9 million people.

If that happened in 1 month... We have all seen the future dystopian movies, only this is a supercharged cold rather than a zombie apocalypse. Point is, the slower the virus passes from person to person, the better we are able to deal with it.

15 minutes ago, Sallyandtex said:

My relatives are going to the Pacific Islands in 2 weeks. Ex Sydney

Does anyone know if there are restrictions on ports for this region?

Its Ruby Princess , Mare, Lifou, Vila, Suva, Mystery Island. not sure if Isle of Pines is there too.

Lifou, Mare, Isle of Pines all off limits to cruise ships last I heard. Check with Princess and the smart traveller website has a page on pacific islands.   

We are on Carnival Splendor in July. Should we pack for snorkelling or snow?

There is another thread on this. I am not a diamond, but I was on the repositioning cruise Singapore-Sydney on Voyager ots last November. I met a few unhappy diamonds This is what happens when RCI turns public areas into cabins, 

7 hours ago, Pushka said:

Yes, port changes have happened and will happen to us. And so many of the fandoms were using that contract to tell disgruntled passengers that changing from Singapore to Dubai was no worse than that. They probably don’t even know where Dubai is. Or Singapore. 

Aren't they just places you change planes? :-), But seriously that's 6 extra hours going direct from Sydney. Not a joke. And as to boarding in Rome, it's only 3 hours by fast train from Milan...

1 hour ago, By The Bay said:

Following the cancellation of our P&O cruise from Singapore, I contacted my Westpac insurance company and was informed that we were not covered due to the COVID-19. They started they do not cover epidemics or pandemic. Has anyone found a credit card policy that covers COVID-19? If so, I will be looking for a change of banks.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

Suncorp do not cover epidemics and pandemics that have been declared as such by WHO. I have not been able to find such a declaration, even on WHOs website at 20/02/2020.

Here's the problem with tests. No test is 100% reliable. They can give a false positive, saying that someone has the disease when they do not, and false negative, saying the person doesn't have the disease when they do.

Warning, maths ahead!

Lets say there were 3000 uninfected people on the Diamond Princess, and 500 infected, none showing symptoms. Let us also assume the test is 95% reliable. These are just figures plucked out of the air to illustrate a point. Test them all, of the 3000 non infected, 2850 will test negative, 150 will test positive. Of the 500 infected, 475 will test positive and 25 negative.

Summing that up, 625 will be told they have the virus (but 150 don't) and 2875 will be told they don't have the virus (but 25 do). 

That's the scary part. It's no wonder USA and Australian governments are insisting on further quarantine. Even if the test is 99% reliable, that's still 5 people out there. I have no idea of the reliability of the test.

14 hours ago, dragonlord24601 said:

Incubation period of up to two weeks. Where were they all two weeks ago? At a massive party in the ships three deck atrium with a supply of free drinks, crowds, farewells and close physical contact. That explains the spike we will see in the coming days when all the passengers were grouped together in one large area with all those germs to spread. They probably all had contracted it by then.

I hope you are correct. If not, they either contracted it from being in the same cabin as an infected person, got it from contact with crew, got too close when they were let out for exercise or (and this is most worrying as well as extremely unlikely) contracted it via the air conditioning system. Imagine if they had all returned to their respective homes.  

12 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

That wasn't cancellations, just the cruise line rerouted the ship, so the new itinerary meant lots of vacancies.

OK, but surely Cunard could have flown passengers from Singapore to Perth. I'm sure they had plenty to fly the other way.

Some people must be worrried. Got an offer in my inbox QM2 Freo-Syd next week from $55/night!

Booked in July out of Sydney on Carnival Splendor. Was Noumea, Lifou, Isle Of Pines but now, I don't know. Going Noumea-New Zealand (as has been happening recently) in winter is not a prospect I welcome! Perhaps a Vanuatu or Fiji port will be substituted, idk. By then, the cruise lines will either have their act together or be out of business so I suspect we will know more by the time the balance is due in May.