Sparky74

16 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Hahaha, aren't you one of the young spring chickens yourself? 🐔 

I have a significant birthday in January! 😱

The general consensus is that I was 50 when I was born. 
Old/young is all relative. 

6 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't want to apply for the OBC via an app. Today I emailed as usual.

Please report back how you get on. 😁

44 minutes ago, mum and son said:

Interesting question. There must be an alternative.

I dunno. On our trans-Pacific cruise last year Carnival really struggled to cope with the fact that I didn’t have a smart phone with me. They had work arounds (like paper menus and manually booking me to the MDR for breakfast) but the staff struggled to implement them. 🤷‍♂️

53 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Have you ever browsed an item on Harveys or JB only to see the same item drop into ads on Goggle & FB? 

DW and I don’t even need to browse. We just have a conversation in front of our devices and next thing we’re seeing ads for what we discussed. 😱

40 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

No but I notice when I put in a Coles online order it suggests every thing I ever bought at the supermarket.  Handy but I hate it.

Everyday Rewards (and presumably FlyBuys too) track your purchases. If you use the rewards card even once with a credit/debit card, then they track your purchases through that card too forevermore. I’m OK with that. I’m not on the cash only bandwagon.
 

2 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

Brings back memories of one of my last cruises BC.  Was on Carnival Spirit and it was just prior to shutdown in the March.  Everyone getting a bit paranoid about this new bug.  Rushing along to trivia and faced with the choice of hanging onto the handrails or not I decided not to and promptly tripped on the metal angle on the edge of the stairs and down I went…

This reminds me of a line from an old George Formby song entitled "Pleasure Cruise". 
Down the companionway, you fall ten times a day…

For the young people in this forum:

A companionway is a ladder or steep staircase between the decks of a ship.
George Formby was an English comedic singer-songwriter from the first half of the 20th Century who often accompanied himself on the banjolele.

A banjolele is…

oh never mind!

3 hours ago, Coral said:

If your cruise was in September - it would be cancelled (I didn't want to read the whole blog). Most dog sledding is done by then. I think Anchorage has a company that operates all summer but Juneau and Skagway are done by mid-August. Sadly - this is a well known issue.

 

I would go in May or June. I prefer May.

 

I just saw you can't go in May. Go in June. The earlier the season, the better chance for good weather (and snow on the glaciers).

Thank you for the advice. 
I found the itinerary from our 2022 Alaskan cruise. (See attached image) We sailed from Seattle on August 27th and we were in Juneau on August 29th. 
One of the comments I made at the time was that we didn’t seem to have very long in each port. The 2025 Princess 14 day itineraries have much longer port days. 😁

One of the things I like about cruising is getting away from my phone and the Internet. 🤷‍♂️

18 hours ago, kayehall said:

Thank you so much!!!  My husband wants to take the cheapest one but I want to see  what's out there.  This will probably be our only trip to Alaska and I want to make the most of it!!!

Never say never! We cruised Alaska last year and we’re so impressed that we’re seriously considering returning in 2025. And we live in Australia! 😱

On 11/2/2023 at 9:07 AM, Ozwoody said:

Has anyone seen this?

https://www.stockperks.com/carnivalcorp

 

Has anyone downloaded the app, and tried it out?

 

Sounds like it could make things smoother?????

 

Regards

John

On 11/2/2023 at 9:17 AM, arxcards said:

Hmm,

Might let some others be guinea pigs for that. I would want to be sure before I handed my booking info and share profile over to a 3rd party.

 

Let me know how it goes.

Just in case anyone has missed it, @mum and son has started a new thread relating her good experience using the StockPerk app to access shareholder OBC 

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

It depends on the cruise length, $50 for less than 7 days, $100 for 7 -14 days and $250 for those more than 14 days. It is in USD for cruises overseas and AUD for home cruises. Sometimes pounds for British cruises.

55 minutes ago, mum and son said:

This Eligible list includes:

Carnival

Costa

HAL

P&O Australia

Princess

Seabourn

 

It looks like it would cope with multiple bookings because Princess is in both my Eligible and Redeemed lists. In the Eligible list I can click on Princess and go through the Redeem Perk process again, for another cruise.

Excellent! I’ll have to try it out. 

That’s good to know.
Can you remember if P&O Australia was included in the Carnival brands listed? 

I also wonder if the system copes with you having multiple bookings?

2 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

The current deal does not seem to include grats.  I see on their webpage that grats are US$20 per standard ocean/balcony cabin and more for the suites etc.  A bit pricey but you just have to allow for these on some lines.  I don't drink and couldn't care about internet so I might just have to wait for a different offer.  Current offer is a Black Friday thing.

Thanks for all the contributions.  Just what I need and I know you will all pass on good info.

Anytime I’ve looked at Norwegian they’ve seemed too pricey for me. Then again, we often sail in interior cabins anyway. 🤷‍♂️
 

The gratuities can be a bit of a trap for unwary Aussies as most of the lines include gratuities in the price when sailing out of Australia.

We got caught on this with our trans-Pacific on the Carnival Splendor last year. As we sailed from Seattle it was classified as a USA cruise so a daily gratuity was added to our account. Fortunately the cruise was as cheap as chips for start with.
 

We're currently considering a return to Alaska for 2025 but I’m factoring in the added expense of gratuities. 😁

4 hours ago, Cbtours said:

Does this mean May is more expensive? May (when we went) cruised 6-20th return vancouver, has the least rainfall in my understanding. We had perfect sunny weather though I understand that was not norm. 😁🥰

Unfortunately May is a blackout period when we’re not allowed to take vacation. 

At this stage we’re looking at 14 night cruises out of Vancouver with Princess. This cruise typically has 2 calls at Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway; once on the way North to Anchorage and again on the way back South to Vancouver. With the Australian Dollar valued so low, every penny counts so I’m looking at the more affordable sail dates: June 7th, June 14th, June 21st, July 5th, July 19th, August 2nd, August 16th, or September 6th.

Are any of these dates MORE LIKELY to have better weather than others and thus more chance of the helicopter flying? Are any of these dates likely to be busier than others or all about the same? With everything else being equal, which date would you choose?

8 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Wow $330.  It might be worth your while to split your party up.  Or get a quote on line from a taxi maxi cab for such a short distance.  (I've walked it!)

Yes, I thought two taxis would be much cheaper. 

Is that per person?

4 hours ago, bazzaw said:

I am sure that the same psychedelic drug was used by the interior designer for both ships. 

20 minutes ago, Cazno2 said:

😆  Actually I do love it though, I had never seen anything like it in my life!  I am guessing Vegas is similar as I have never been there.

 

If it looked like the inside of a normal hotel I think I would be disappointed.

I reckon that the interior designer of the Splendor is an absolute genius. How on earth they convinced someone to pay money for their services is beyond me!

11 minutes ago, arxcards said:

That is very general. I am not a P&O fan and have put a line through them when they decided to add a $10 charge for eggs benny at breakfast this past year.

Whether I like it or not, people will still sail them, as not "everything" has an extra charge. They also have the goodwill of having the only ships sailing year-round from Brisbane.

 

P&O doesn't get deserted over the summer and Royal has enough trouble filling Quantum over those months, with several cruises discounted below their intended pricing. When they can make that profitable, they will consider extending the season.

 

I don't want to over-simplify it, but a short QLD pub test via some mates from Brisbane.

How much is it going to cost me per day? (Royal is dearer)

How much is a stubbie of XXXX going to cost me? (they won't cop paying over $10 per stubbie)

 

Only when Royal can win those questions, they are in the game for year-round out of Brisbane. Add in the sticking point for $US aboard, and that the majority of P&O passengers can survive without soft-serve & pizza.

We used to be loyal to Royal but that ship sailed years ago. 
We sailed on Quantum OTS earlier this year and while we enjoyed our 4 complimentary drinks each day and the MDR was good, we felt the buffet had gone down hill.
What really annoyed me was that they reduced servicing staterooms to once a day which is not the product we’d bought. When we booked and paid for the cruise, rooms were serviced twice a day. Then they changed it just before our cruise. Do I NEED my room done twice a day? No. In fact previously if we’d found out our room steward was planning on going ashore we’d tell them to skip our room that day. But it really annoyed me that they’d done a "bait and switch" on me. Also less stewards servicing more rooms but no reduction in the prepaid gratuities. 🤷‍♂️
Anyway, in spite of the ridiculous $10 charge for eggs Benedict and no soft serve, we’re tending to sail P&O rather than RCI at the moment for the following reasons in no particular order. Some of them are minor points but they all add up. 
1. P&O works out cheaper for us, even factoring in the extras and the complimentary drinks. We’re teetotallers and DW enjoys the occasional soft drink while I mostly stick to water but 
2. P&O offers year round sailings out of Brisbane which suits us at the moment. 
3. We also enjoy sailing with Princess and P&O cruises edge us closer to Elite status. We’re already Diamond on RCI; DiamondPlus seems a long way off and I'm not sure I'll live long enough to achieve Pinnacle. 
4. No laundromats on RCI. 
5. RCI charges in US dollars on board. 
6. No need to bring power adapters on P&O

7. Service on RCI seems to have deteriorated over recent years whereas it seems to me to have improved on P&O

JMHO YMMV

2 hours ago, yungyung said:

I will be so glad to be rid of Quantam. Too big. Voyager is a great ship and so is Brilliance, or Serenade, which didnt get here!. We need a ship that stays all year round in Brisbane. 2 days and youre in the tropics. PNG and other northern places are good for a start. Our winter is great for ships to visit tropics. No cyclones for a start. Ships go  off to Caribbean for our winter (their summer) and can be hit by cyclone after cyclone. Too many ships there, as in Alaska. Ive seen 7 ships in Vancouver on same day, and not much better in Alaskan ports!!!! Australians will fill ships in winter, as at present everyone goes, except P&O aust, and Carnival stays  for a short while out of Sydney. Nothing else here, and not many leave on the round world Princess cruise. Winter sunshine, calm seas, great for Aussie cruising.

I agree that Winter is the best time to visit the tropics. However the American mindset is that vacations happen in the Summer. Also, they send ships here in the USA off-season. Why would a cruiseline pull a vessel off a profitable market and bring it down under? The reality is that we just don’t have the population to compete year round with the North American market. JMHO

2 hours ago, fairywren said:

Voyager’s a nice ship but we need some different itineraries too.

I wonder if a smaller ship like Brilliance OTS has more flexibility and is able to dock at places the behemoths cannot. 
I guess there’s only so many places a ship can sail to from Brisbane (and return) in a reasonable timeframe. I would think that there’s a limited market for longer cruises. 

11 minutes ago, arxcards said:

It will be a good fit for Brisbane, even if it will seem like a downgrade. Also nice to have a different ship class than Sydney for a bit of choice. 

I think I’d prefer Brillance OTS in Brisbane but I'll take Voyager. 😁

2025/26 Australian Princess itineraries should be available the week after next, apparently. 

31 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

I recommend the Great Southern Hotel on George Street in the Haymarket.    The Great Southern is a large older hotel, with good clean rooms and modern bathrooms. Not fancy, but well priced by expensive Sydney standards. The light rail stop is right outside it.

George Street is where the light rail line runs down to the port. It is easy to use even with luggage, as there are no steps at the stops and an area just inside, where you can sit and hold your luggage. You can pay the fare using a credit card.

We’ve stayed there and would also recommend it. 

We sailed Alaska with HAL last year. We rugged up and ventured out to the bow on the scenic cruising days and had the added bonus of commentary and guidance from the onboard naturalist. There was plenty of opportunity to get to the rail and take great photos. 
Prior to going, the advice from every direction seemed to be that you MUST have a balcony for an Alaskan cruise. We enjoyed Alaska so much that we are hoping to return in 2025 and believe me, it’s a long way for us to come from Australia! But this time round we'll be booking an oceanview (or even interior 😱) cabin and putting the savings towards shore excursions. We found plenty of opportunity to view the scenery and wildlife from the public decks.
JMHO VMMV