Sparky74

We’re sailing out of Brisbane on Quantum OTS next week. Does anyone have any idea if masks will be required on the ship?

There is no public transport available at the BICT. There should be taxis available to Uber is probably cheaper. Oh, and the first part of the ride won’t be particularly scenic. Having said all of that, Celebrity MAY organise shuttle buses into the city seeing as the Soltice is calling there for the day. 🤷‍♂️

This what I use too. I have a RCI branded one and one from X as well as a couple of generic ones.

We don’t know what the future might hold. I remember a lady who wouldn’t fly. Then she married an itinerant preacher with an international ministry…

One and only? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before!

20 days until we board Quantum of the Seas. 😁

I didn’t write this poem; I found it online. Australians are a funny lot, you'll often hear one curse, How things have started badly, and they'll probably get worse, The weather’s dry, the sun's so hot it's stolen all the water, The Government has never done the things we think they oughta'. But if we hear a tourist say his home is much more grand, They had better be prepared to make a very solid stand. For although we Aussies may complain at what's become our lot, When someone knocks this country, we defend with all we've got. We may criticize some teenage brat, may even wish them failure, But we stand behind them cheering when they're playing for Australia. Because, if this is home to you, the country of your birth, Then you back the native player to beat anyone on Earth. When the cricket bats are swinging or when someone scores a try, When a home grown horse has won the cup and made the owner cry, When some Paralympics athlete hits the front and sets the pace, You'll hear "Aussie Aussie Aussie" as the crowd goes off their face. And although we like to take a break in overseas locations, If you take the time to question this nomadic population, They will tell you without blinking that wherever they may roam, The best part of the journey was the last bit, ....coming home. For the sun was never brighter on the beach at Waikiki, Than it is on all the sandy shores Australia has to see, The water never purer nor the air as fresh and clear, The people never friendlier than those that we have here. If you venture to the outback where grass is scarce as snow, As you swelter you may wonder what it was that made you go, But just look at the locals who have lived there since their birth, And I know you will not find a better class of folk on earth. All across this wide brown country from the Cape to Hobart town, There are people who will help you when you find the chips are down, And if someone should abuse you, and does it just because, Then that person's not Australian, and that person never was. So when you feel disgruntled just remember this rendition, And never blame the country for the acts of politicians, Look up and count your blessings when you see our flag unfurled, And be grateful that you live in the best country in the world.

Seen online.

I can’t even download the app as my iOS is too old. 🤷‍♂️

We visited Hong Kong Disneyland what seems a lifetime ago in 2010. They would take Visa but not MasterCard or maybe it was the other way around. 🤷‍♂️ Fortunately I had both cards with me. I think I also had American Express back in those days. This was also the trip when we took our very first cruise, 4 nights on Legend of the Seas. Next month we’re doing cruise number 23. 😱😁

We have Citi Bank debit cards. No fees but you don’t earn any interest. Transfer Aussie dollars into the account and spend it as Euro, US dollars, UK pounds, pesos, rupiah, whatever. When you get home, transfer the balance back to your normal account, leaving a few dollars in Citi Bank to keep it active. Simples!

We’ve sailed from BICT twice and have never had an issue getting parking. Admittedly I did prebook it both times. With 33 days until we cruise out of Pinkenbar again, I’ve just booked parking at the terminal with no issues whatsoever.

And once again it’s time for… P&O's 48 hour Flash Sale!

After something of an hiatus, I’m back on CC. As I predicted, I ran out of steam with my almost live review. 🤦‍♂️ If anyone is interested, I'll have a go at reporting on the rest of the trip. Meanwhile, it’s 41 days until our next cruise! 😁

We asked our room steward if he could drop off a copy each night but this was very hit and miss. (They’ve also reduced servicing the rooms to only once a day.) I managed to pick up a copy from Guess Services from about 5am, I didn’t try earlier than that.

You don’t HAVE to use the app. You can just turn up at the restaurant for breakfast. The will bring you a paper menu in the dining room IF you ask for it. They no longer produce the "Fun Times" but a double sided A4 sheet of "What's Happening" is available from Guess Services as well as some bars and cafes upon request. During our recent transpacific on the Carnival Splendor there was a big push for passengers to use the app but some of us (myself included) resisted. My phone was in Australia! About halfway through the cruise the app stopped working so everyone had to resort to paper. 😁

I’m not sure how DW would feel about seperate cabins. She might appreciate it depending on my snoring. She insists that SHE only snores if there’s someone else in the room!

If we didn’t already have a cruise booked for February I’d be booking this one. It leaves on my birthday and we NEVER cruise on my birthday because it’s in the school holidays. But we only have 4 weeks of holiday next year and we don’t want to take it all in the first couple of months of the year. We'll need a break later on I’m sure!

So do you become younger if your seniors' card expires?

Whilst P&O Australia has positioned themselves as an entry level cruise line, from our recent experience they have risen in my estimation. I take back what I’ve previously said about it standing for Poor & 'Orrible.

Actually, from our recent experience P&O has a better class of ship, better food, and better service than Carnival.

It is what it is. 🤷‍♂️ They reckon that there are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots. Better safe than sorry.

Not Brisbane! We have just boarded the Pacific Encounter and are about to sail way. We also cruised in and out of Brisbane on the Coral Princess in June/July. I can just imagine international visitors staying in a nice hotel in downtown BrisVegus for a few days. They call a taxi or Uber to go to the cruise terminal. Surely they’d begin to wonder if their driver had nefarious intentions as they travel through an industrial wasteland. And to cap it all off, the shiny new terminal is right beside the sewerage treatment works.

Part 9 The Great Alaskan Disappointment A few years ago DW revealed that a helicopter flight was on her bucket list. This was news to me! So for Christmas 2019 I presented her with a toy helicopter with a note saying that we’d go on a helicopter flight in Alaska. At that stage we had planned a trip to the USA for 2020, little knowing that some batty person in Wuhan had already unwittingly unleashed a disease that would bring international travel to a grinding halt and send the entire world into lockdown within a few months. When we booked this cruise I was delighted to discover that HAL offered several excursions in Juneau which included helicopter flights. I decided on "Dog Sledding on Medenhall Glacier by Helicopter" and paid for this separately from my "slush fund". Let me explain. DW and I have joint bank accounts: everyday, savings, credit card, and a fee free debit card for international travel and online transactions. We also each hold individual accounts with small balances funded by our tax returns and returns on our small personal investments. We refer to these individual accounts as our "slush funds". Are we mad? As I’d given DW the promise of a helicopter flight for Christmas 2019, I felt it only right to pay for this excursion out of my slush fund rather than from our join savings. We were really looking forward to this excursion and I fully expected it to be the highlight of our 8 week trip. It had caused a few issues when shopping for travel insurance and my travel agent was surprised to discover that the policies she was able to on-sell had an exclusion for dogsledding, even though it was a ship's excursion. I eventually found a policy that would cover us and felt my Scottish blood congealing in my veins as I paid the hefty premium but I realise that if the worst should happen, I’d never be able to pay a US hospital bill. During our pre-cruise shopping expedition we had looked for merino wool socks to wear under the glacier boots that were to be provided. But if they think I’m paying over $50 for a pair of socks that I’m probably going to wear once then they’re madder than I am! DW's sister-in-law came to the rescue and sent us some mohair socks produced by the firm she works for. Three pairs each, actually! And so, with the ship docked at Juneau, we dress for our helicopter flight to the glacier and dog sledding. I don my 100% cotton red unionsuit and wonder why I don’t wear it during winter at home as it’s so warm and comfortable. Over this I place a T shirt emblazoned with the words, "I have no cruise control - it’s like the book themselves" which I tuck into a pair of hiking pants. Over this goes a zippered sleeveless fleece which is covered with my heavy showerproof jacket with hood. In my childhood we would have referred to this as a "Parka" but that term seems to have fallen out of usage. My jacket is olive green, almost khaki. Of course, I'm shod with a pair (not all 3 pairs) of mohair socks under my shoes and I have a pair of heavy winter gloves purchased from the op shop and carried in my suitcase from Australia. This fetching ensemble is topped off with a hat. But not my trusty black derby style Akubra which has shielded me from sun, rain, sleet, and snow as I’ve travelled around the world. The one that I thought I’d lost when we were in the taxi from SeaTac Airport to our crummy motel. No! I’ve deserted my trusty companion in favour of a hunting cap, lined with faux fur, sourced from my favourite shop, the op shop! It sports the Quicksilver brand across the back and a label in the lining informs me that whilst, like most of our consumer goods, it was manufactured in China, it was designed in Australia. DW is attired in a similar, although not identical, fashion. I will show her the courtesy of not discussing her underwear online but suffice it to say that she does not own a red unionsuit, nor one of any other colour (or should I say color?) for that matter. And so we head ashore dressed in our multiple layers, unanimously instructed by the multiple online guides I had consulted. The theory is that not only do multiple layers provide great insulation but one can also remove or add layers as necessary, the Alaskan weather being somewhat changeable and unpredictable. What the online sources neglected to mention was that if two overweight (technically we're "obese" according to our BMIs but at least we are not morbid about it) middle aged people dress in multiple layers, they can no longer walk! So we waddle off the ship and make our way to the designated meeting spot, in plenty of time. Sure enough, there we find a lady holding a sign for "Dog Sledding on Medenhall Glacier by Helicopter". We waddled over to her and after finding our names on her list she deals a bitter blow. The excursion has been cancelled due to the weather. I immediately slump into despondency. I don’t slump physically, my many layers of clothing prevent that from happening but they cannot buoy my spirits. (And as much as I try to embrace Americanisms, I insist that "buoy" is pronounced the same as "boy". I just cannot come at boo-ee.) I had flashbacks to our honeymoon, on the South Island of New Zealand, almost 13 years ago. Am I mad? No, well not in this instance. On our honeymoon I had also booked a helicopter flight onto a glacier and it was also cancelled due to the weather. We waddled over to where the Eurodam shore excursion team were and they said they had nothing else to offer us. They directed us to a row of booths operated by independent tour operators and we waddled over there. Here a silver-tongued salesman talks us into purchasing tickets for a whale-watching tour, even though we have a similar excursion booked for the following day. As there is some time before we have to meet for our tour, we waddle through some of the shops and purchase the obligatory fridge magnet, t shirt, and souvenir teaspoon before waddling to our meeting point. We were herded onto a bus and as we travelled to where the whale-watching boat was docked our driver gave a running commentary. At least I think that’s what he was doing. He was from Texas and judging by his accent he was from deep, deep, deep in the heart of Texas. Between his accent and the distortions the microphone I struggled to understand him. And by the time I worked out what he’d just said, he was halfway through the next sentence. And he just kept talking and talking and talking, without drawing breath. It was exhausting just listening to him and inevitably I nodded off but DW would wake me every time I started snoring. The whale-watching component of the tour was quite good although we spent more time whale-waiting then actually watching them. Nevertheless we spied several of these majestic creatures and even managed to capture their images with our cameras, and not just photos of patches of the ocean where a whale had been half a second ago. As we headed back to the shore, DW and I were comfortably seated in the cabin while three hearty souls remained on the open deck at the bow of the boat. Suddenly I jumped up and quickly waddled through the door onto the exposed forward deck. DW sighed and wondered, "What on Earth is he up to now." But I was on a gallant quest. I had noticed that one of the chaps out on the deck had neglected to zip his fly and I was concerned that the deck may not be the only thing exposed on that boat! As soon as I revealed his negligence, the man rectified the situation and thanked me for my kindness. I remained on the open deck for the rest of the journey to shore and was grateful for the protection offered by my many layers of clothing. I was rewarded with the sight of several bald eagles but although I continued to scan the shoreline I couldn’t spy a bear. Our tour included a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Centre which provided great displays and interesting information. We braved the freezing rain, again thankful for our many layers of clothing, as we took multiple photos of the glacier which we didn’t land on in a helicopter. Determined not to be "those people" we waddled back to the meeting place and boarded the bus. In this instance "those people" were a young couple with a toddler in a stroller. They were fortunate that another passenger on the bus realised they were not aboard and the bus driver turned back for them. It would have been a very long walk back into town! After waddling back onto the ship we shed our many layers of clothing but as we aren’t completely mad, and aren’t naturists, we dressed for dinner. Considering the lateness of the hour we headed to the buffet instead of the dining room. Upon returning to our cabin, DW and I donned our pajamas and were soon engaged in a duet of snores as we dreamt of what adventures tomorrow might bring.