Pushka

Twisties. Vegemite. And bring some hundreds and thousands to make fairy bread.

I suspect Australia only rejected them because NZ had raised attention to it.

That should be fine as the hull has been cleaned and it’s in a couple of weeks time.

Cleaning within 30 days of entry? Seems impossible to keep up this schedule for multiple entries especially if Australia won't allow it to be done in port. Requires a location to anchor offshore for 24 hours.

Only 41%. Bargain. A little more than the 25-33% others are reporting. 😒 This is what still shows in MVJ for May. Any change ? My payment still shows as zero so not being charged the extra. onboardbeveragemenu_oceans.pdf

We have a small boat. We decided not to apply the anti fouling paint as being a domestic boat, the application would need redoing on an annual basis to avoid growth. We ended up using a floating dry dock as the anti fouling used isn't exactly attractive and it was a new boat. We take it on trailers etc. Other boats didn't bother with either. Within a week we could see algal growth on the underneath of the floating pontoon. And then came the barnacles. Neither impacted on the float dock for the boat. The only good thing is that the fish love it and they have become a great source of food for the resident infant dolphin that resides in the marina below our apartment who lost its mum three months ago. Being moored in the water is like a magnet for fouling as per the floating pontoon. Active boats don't have the same problem. We had a kayak in the water for a month and ended up dragging it onto the dock as the deposits already made were like trying to remove cement. Viking Mars is about to approach New Zealand today. She is a new ship less than a year old. Never laid up for Covid. Hopefully ok. Orion was cleaned in international waters but just a short distance from Victor Harbor. Now the Regent is having the same thing done there. Guess they have experience now.

Ours in Australia added an extra 50% because of currency fluctuations. Went from $530 to $750.

Thankfully for Aussie and Brit cruisers they are. Perhaps because it is we don't have the usual tipping practices here. Of course our cruise prices are more expensive to accommodate this.

Mars is about to arrive into New Zealand so watch this space.

And now exactly the same has happened to Regent Explorer today. Refused entry at a port in NZ. And also coming to Adelaide for cleaning.

Why mention Adelaide? If NZ hadn't prevented the cruise from porting then Adelaide wasn't even on the itinerary.

Apparently the ship was cleaned by divers in Bali just recently. Marine algae grows very quickly but would have thought the anti fouling was up to the task.

Good to hear there is a positive then. Enjoy Sydney and hope you berth in the Harbour. The sail in is wonderful. But usually very early in the morning. Even if it's White Bay you will get to go under the Bridge.

Groan to be in that last group. Or even the first group. I guess Sydney doesn't want to process Immigration.

I wouldn't worry at all. It's a timely reminder for all cruise lines. Maybe NZ hasn't been checking recently and remember there was Covid - a gap of 3 years, so things have been slipped.

True. But we never do because we always do a significant detour to visit son in the UK and it gets too complicated.

Agree. Many US passengers onboard whose airfare isn't exactly inexpensive.

Drinks package just went up to $25 pp and gratuities.

Maybe we should be responding in the spirit of the traveller actually impacted here, which is @katlew who has been most gracious in the face of a rather difficult cruise.

We purchased the SS a few weeks ago, it was $520 AUD pp. I looked randomly last night and it's almost 50% more expensive, at $740 pp, due to the price increase and the fallen Aussie dollar. Phew.

They just started the scrape yesterday. They had to find specialist divers as it's being done in the open sea and you can't conjure that up esp at this time of the year. Looks like they are still there in SA. But moving now. https://viking.panomax.com/orion

The marble pavements get me frequently in Greece and I seem to slip randomly and not because of any undue activity. They are deadly. Id choose a demanding excursion as I'm fit and mobile but the marble is a different issue. I think Aussies only get credit card option so have copied the details down so I can do a quick copy and paste when my excursions open up next month. DV only.

I guess in the context of Covid wiping out cruises in our region for 3 years it's something that wasn't picked up properly.

I just heard this from a very disgruntled passenger on a FB group. I'm so sorry for you all, while compensation will be offered, going on trips like this involves so much planning and organisation for home, possibly work, airfares etc etc that a 'Free cruise' doesn't go far enough. Of course things happen but it seems that this is something that shouldn't have happened. Something has changed in NZ it seems.

I know that Celebrity can do this on their Edge and Beyond ships but surely not Viking?