Sparky74

6 hours ago, gbenjo said:

Too true…….so many switch the brain off when going on cruise. 😁

14 hours ago, gbenjo said:

Why?  The same process but over a longer period of time..staggered check in times adhered to and a bit   of common sense and flexibility shown   by “ everybody” and I don't se a problem.

Common sense ain’t that common!

Auntie is on the Oceania Riviera, happily spending my inheritance. 

On 7/30/2023 at 4:05 PM, Aus Traveller said:

...In my defence I will mention that I am on a ship near Iceland. The internet is unbelieveably slow so I didn't check that I had the name of the company correct before posting the comment.

What ship are you sailing on? Auntie is sailing in that part of the world at the moment. 

I’m not confident that we would have got our recent 4 night P&O cruise if I hadn’t been vigilant in watching for availability even though we were waitlisted for all grades of cabin. I pounced on it s soon as I saw availability, less than a fortnight before embarkation. It certainly makes you wonder what is the use of the waitlist system. 

50 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I read that Carnival in USA is not permitting pax on mobility scooters off at ports.

We only had one port on this cruise, Airlie Beach, which is a tender port. DW could have attempted it with crutches but common sense prevailed and she remained on the ship while I went ashore, mainly to do a recky for our land-based family holiday next year. (Auntie is turning 80!)

One wonders if they’d run afoul of anti discrimination laws if that tried that here. 🤔

2 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

Interesting find Sparky - I had a quick look at their website - as a private business it looks like non-QLD residents may be able to use their services as well.

We currently reside in NSW and had no issues hiring from them. 

This is how I rearranged the beds in our (obstructed) oceanview cabin on the Pacific Encounter. DW could back the scooter through the door and straight back to “park” it between the bed and the wall. The bed blocked access to the fridge but we didn’t need to use the fridge anyway.

DW had foot reconstruction surgery in April and in June we sailed 10 nights on the Pacific Encounter out of Brisbane and didn’t get off at any of the ports. We'll see PNG another time. Yes, we ARE mad, but I think that was determined last year. 🤣

Last Tuesday we boarded the Pacific Encounter again for another 4 nights out of Brisbane as we had credits with a sail by date of early October. I did manage to tender ashore at Airlie Beach but DW remained onboard and yesterday we debarked in Brisbane and drove home. 
 

Th week prior to the cruise I had a touch of sciatica and knew I wouldn’t be able to push DW in a wheelchair this time. So on the Friday, only 4 days before we sailed, I rang Qld Rehab. I spoke with Yvette who couldn’t have been more helpful. For only $75 I hired an electric mobility scooter. I wish we had gotten one for the previous cruise also.
 

This time we were not in an accessible cabin which made showering a bit a challenge for DW. Once I removed the armrests from the scooter it easily fitted through the doorway into the cabin. We had requested the beds to be seperate and they were but I rearranged them and DW learnt how to reverse the scooter into the room and park it between the bed and the wall.

I hope that she’s fully recovered before we cruise again; I only have a few days of holiday left this year so I can’t see us boarding a ship again until next year, but I wouldn’t hesitate to hire a scooter from Qld Rehab again. 
 

https://www.qldrehab.com.au/contactqldrehab

We are both still way younger than 70 but have found that an annual multi-trip policy works out cheaper for us. We tend to take two cruises a year. We took out our current CoverMore policy before cruising Alaska last year. The premium was painful because, you know, America and their health system, and we wanted to be covered for a helicopter flight onto a glacier which was cancelled due to the weather anyway! 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Even with all the things that "went wrong" on our "Are We Mad" trip we didn’t need to make a claim. You do, however, need to be aware of what length of trip you are covered for. We were covered for a maximum of a 45 day trip but the insurance salesperson told us as long as we returned to our home or place of business, it would be a new trip, even if we left again immediately. So, we came home for one night and set off again. 😁
All up we have taken six cruises since we’ve taken out our current policy. 😱 No wonder friends and colleagues think we’re ALWAYS cruising. 
Our annual policy covers us if we’re more than 200km from home for any reason. It’s worth looking into. YMMV

She recently hit the dock (or a buoy?) in San Fransisco which resulted in hull damage and several days delay in sailing to Alaska. I think passengers were offered a 75% refund and 75% credit and could stay on the ship. I think it eventually sailed to Alaska with limited port stops. I’d take that deal. 😁

2 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

So glad you managed to get a cabin. Explorer? Did you mean Encounter?

 

We sailed on Encounter at the end of May and it didn't appear they were strictly adhering to the assigned boarding times. Because we don't trust the Highway from Gold Coast (traffic delays) we always leave with plenty of time up our sleeves and arrived about 50 minutes early (and prepared to wait). To our surprise, Staff at the Brisbane Terminal sent us straight through and it is not as though the terminal wasn't busy. Heaps of passengers waiting to be processed. So, if you are prepared to wait, take the chance and arrive early and see what happens.

Yes. Encounter, not Explorer. 🤦‍♂️
They waved us through the door as soon as we approached, at about 12:30. By 2pm we’d had lunch and I was making our dinner reservations. 
Boarding was quick and easy probably because;

1. DW is on a mobility scooter for this cruise so we skipped the lines but she had to have physical pay down at security. 
2. There was no immigration/passport control as this is a domestic cruise (4 nights: Brisbane-Airlie Beach-Brisbane). I always think that “Boarder Force” sounds like a B grade superhero so I say the words in a booming announcers voice. “BOARDER FORCE!” 🤣

Now to unpack. I’ll be back online on Saturday. TTFN

We made it to Brisbane!

Same motel as last time, and same room! Accessible shower with a seat for DW. 

We board the Pacific Explorer in the morning. No accessible cabin this time but our TA has requested a shower chair. 
We do have a couple of jobs to do in the morning including picking up a hired electric mobility scooter for DW.

Our boarding time isn’t until 2pm. 😱 How strictly do they regulate that in Brisbane?

54 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Yes, that's what I believe also.   I knew I had seen it somewhere 'official', not just a comment on CC.

 

I'll write a trip report after my Pacific islands cruise ends. My first time on Carnival. I'm trying all the more affordable cruise lines out. Have already been warned about Splendor's eye popping decor.

"Eye popping" a polite way to describe it. 
I reckon the interior designer was an absolute genius if they convinced someone to pay them for that decor. 🤣🤣😁

We cruised once on P&O pre COVID and were unimpressed by Dragon Lady. After an ill-fated attempt last October, we had 10 nights on the Pacific Encounter last month. Whilst I prefer Angelo's, DW would name Dragon Lady as her favourite of the three restaurants. I did enjoy the Pork Belly with Watermelon, a pairing I would never thought to combine. The Sweet and Sour Pork was also very good although quite different to how I've encountered the dish before. 
 

All three included (ie "free") restaurants have a limited rotating menu. I’d recommend dining at each of them. JMHO 

4 minutes ago, JJK2008 said:

OK going to ask for more opinions. My DW and I will be spending about 6 weeks in Australia in October and November with a two-week NZ cruise in the middle of our Oz adventures. Our plan is to see as much as possible in the time we have. We're planning fly/drive combinations to various places in Oz and are in the process of booking our domestic flights. We've read all the bad things about Jetstar. We came across Rex Airlines which will have flights on one of the city-to-city legs we were looking at. We know nothing about Rex Airlines. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks, in advance.

 

John

Rex is a smaller airline servicing regional airports with smaller planes. The name, Rex, is an abbreviation of "Regional Express". 
 

I don’t fly very often but I can’t recall having any major issues with them. ANY airline can have flights delayed or cancelled and bags will sometimes go astray, that's the nature of travel.

I've flown with Jetstar too and been happy with them. YMMV

I always avoided avoided TigerAir but that’s a bid academic as I don’t think they exist anymore. 

When applying for the Australian one make sure you use the offical Australian government app or website. The website will end in .gov.au

There are a number of third party websites that will charge you significantly more. 

QANTAS (NB the spelling - it stands for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Service) is Australia's national airline. It has a good reputation. 

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

There were still quite a few large tables in use for open seating for breakfast & lunch, as well as the "high chair" stools & tables in the middle. That was the go for Explorer last year, but I wonder if P&O has rethought how the layout works for Encounter & Adventure. We do prefer small table stuff for breakfast & dinner, but usually share at lunch. Main point is that we often skip the first course, and are twiddling our thumbs for 30 to 40 mins while others at the table are eating their entrees. At least with those rows of very adjacent tables, you can be served out of sequence with those around you.

I’m an early bird but DW is a late riser, especially on holidays, so she usually goes to the buffet for breakfast a couple of hours after I’ve had mine in the dining room. I always ask for a shared table at breakfast as I want someone to talk to. This wasn’t a problem on our cruise on the Pacific Encounter last month. 

18 hours ago, arxcards said:

It goes in reverse for us. I have looked at a relocation cruise to LA, train across to NY, then a transatlantic to Southampton. It is just too long, considering we are gearing-up for a UK holiday and cruise home from Dover. We both still work, and it is just the one crap day to fly there.

 

That drugging comment might work. A decent dose of phenergan each might just do the trick.

I find it very difficult to sleep on planes although I must admit we fly economy. 
 

in 2015 we flew to the UK and I took 25mg of Phernergan with no result. On the return journey I took 50mg and still didn’t sleep. 🤷‍♂️

It’s single digit day. We sail next week! 😱😁

4 hours ago, Essence08 said:

Anyway - Home safe and sound…

4 hours ago, Essence08 said:

Does your question pertain to a specific cruiseline?

I understand that Carnival Corporation (Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, P&O) have recently changed their rules and you can no longer combine military OBC and shareholder OBC. 

37 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

Some people are hard to be polite to, I think I won't bother.

I'm yet to meet a Canadian I dint like. Happy Canada Day for tomorrow.