possum52

It's a date :D

 

Leigh--I hope you're feeling better soon.

 

Go Swans!

ML

Thanks ML, I feel much better this morning than when I went to bed at last night at half time of the game. Sorry about the Swans, both teams played very differently to what they did last week. As a Victorian, I'll be barracking for both the Cats and Tigers next weekend. will hopefully be at the G next Saturday afternoon to see the Tigers' game. My son, son in law and I are members of the Melbourne Cricket Club who run the MCG. We have our own reserve in the ground and as part of our membership are able to go to any game of football or cricket. For the Grand Final, the club conducts a ballot for those members who would like reserved seats (at a cost of course). My son and I have been successful the past three yeas but before that managed alternative years, It will be my luck that if/when my Bombers make a grand final, we won't be successful in the ballot. The alternative to reserved seats is to line up outside the MCC members' reserve at some ungodly hour (depending on who is playing) to get in and grab a seat.

Any way, it's next year for the Swans and Bombers.

Best wishes,

Leigh

Does anyone know how early we can drop off our bags at the Sydney port? We need to return a rental car to the airport by about 10 am to avoid being charged an extra day. We want to wander around Sydney a bit before boarding but can't get too far with suit cases.

Thanks

Barry

Barry,

You can usually drop your bags off at the OPT from about 8am.

Leigh

DH says we should go back and see more around Melbourne. Works for me :D And Leigh and I have date if we do! But I will keep posting and hope to meet up with some of you.

 

Thanks mate!

 

 

 

OK, I am 8000 miles away but this seems good??? Have my alarm set, just in case. Waiting anxiously for the game.

 

Go Swans!

ML

Good luck ML.Hope the Swans win for you. If you do get back down under, please visit Melbourne and we can have that drink I owe you!

Leigh

More rain.

 

Thunder.

Pouring in Carrum at moment. Sadly I won't be making the train trip into the G later as planned, as I have come home from work early with an extremely sore throat and cough. Woke with a headache which isn't too bad now but the throat is burning. quite weekend for me. My seat won't be wasted as my son in law is now able to use it.

Leigh

I think it should be a cracker, unfortunately the weather may make the game a bit sloppier. as they forecast possible showers.

Friday 15 September

Summary Min 9Max 17Shower or two developing.Possible rainfall: 1 to 6 mmChance of any rain: 60%

Melbourne area

Cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds northwesterly 20 to 30 km/h.

The forecast has just become worse Mic, it doesn't bode well for a good game.

Leigh

Friday 15 September

SummaryMin 10Max 17Showers increasing later.Possible rainfall: 5 to 15 mmChance of any rain: 80% Melbourne area

Cloudy. High (80%) chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds northwesterly 15 to 25 km/h turning west to southwesterly during the evening.

Thanks Mic and Leigh

 

I found live coverage of the game--in a bit more than an hour!! I will try and stay awake for the whole game but I'm old and it starts at midnight here :D

 

Maybe we can post during the game. I'll take my PC into the bedroom to check in with all of you.

 

I almost feel like I'm there. I wish I was :D Leigh--care to make a bet? Swans win, you owe me a beer; they lose, I owe you a beer? Great excuse to go back down under ;p

 

On a serious note, the game is opposite hurricane Irma coverage. Looks like a tough time for all our Florida friends. I wish them all the best. And this right after Houston; very tough. it does remind me of the cyclone that hit Australia when we were there (debbie?). So hard to watch, nothing we can do to stop it but a lot to help with the recovery.

 

Go Swans!!!

ML

Sorry ML, I didn't look at CC all afternoon. I think I owe you a very big beer! We have been watching the coverage of Irma, what a mess it has made through the Caribbean. It doesn't look good for Florida. I think I would have evacuated if possible but I guess many people don't have the means to do so.

Leigh

I dozed off a bit in the 4th but saw the end. What a win!

 

Go Swans!

ML

Congratulations ML! A great win by the Swans! Hope you have enjoyed the win. I'm a little disappointed but I think the result was not unexpected. Now for the Power v Eagles game.

Leigh

Happy Birthday ML, hope the Swans can give you a nice pressie tonight..

Ditto from me too except for the Swans bit! :D May the best team win! Have a great day ML

To combine this thread with the pie thread - I had a Herbert Adams vegetable pastie at the football last night. - very nice except I was covered with flaky pastry

Leigh

Crows won 84 (12.12) to 48 (6.12).

 

Damp weather made it a low scoring game, with lots of rushed behinds.

Just home from the 'G'. What a great win by the Tigers. It was fantastic being a neutral at the game. To see the excitement of the Tiger faithful was amazing, The train ride home was interesting to say the least. I was with my S I L and we decided to go to a bar in the MCC members' reserve and have a drink before trying to get to the station and braving the crowds It was a wise decision although still many people around and in fact our train was very crowded.

Now for the Swans and Bombers tomorrow - come on Bombers!

Leigh

Not sure if this should go under Princess thread or not but wondering about shore excursions booked thru them for a 10 night Queensland Coast cruise. We have a large OBC and would like to use this to book shore excursions while on our Australian cruise. However I seem to recall now that you have to prepay for excursions. If this is the case, for the excursions to Australia Zoo and Great Barrier Reef, would we still have a good chance of being able to book thru the cruise ship directly on day of boarding or would these potentially be sold out? I just don't want to miss out on seeing some of these attractions but at the same time have a large OBC which I would like to put to good use. As well if I have to prepay it would be in US funds which suck right now as we are from Canada. Our on board ship account and OBC will be in AUS dollars which is a much better exchange. Any advice would be appreciated.

We have OBC for our next cruise on Princess and were able to use it to pay for an excursion booked through our online cruise personaliser. So you should be able to use your OBC to prepay any excursions you want to book online.

Leigh

ML,

Our teams play each other in the elimination final. Unfortunately I don't have much faith in Essendon being able to beat the Swans but who knows what will happen on the day. I can only hope! I wish you good luck but I don't think the Swans will need it.

Leigh

They are the correct names for the islands/islets which are just a few kms from Noumea. If you google the names you can see on a map where they are situated. The lagoons of New Caledonia have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites for their unique eco systems.

Leigh

I have done self disembarkation plenty of times. What I do not know is how much luggage these people propose to take and if they think they are even capable of taking it off the ship by themselves and navigate the exits in the terminal.

 

I will tell you what I would bet my money on now. I would bet that they will miss the flight. I am certain of it. Self disembarkation will not help them.

Brisbane21, perhaps you should re read their original post as the OP stated that they always walk off with their luggage so I would guess they won't have too much luggage to do so at the OPT.

Leigh

Yeah, I hope they make it for your sake. Don't worry too much about a draw as they are very rare, even if there were three this year.

Thanks Mic. We will know which teams are in the 8 late on Sunday after all the games are finished. Hopefully no draws! Fingers crossed for my Bombers and my husband's Demons.

Leigh

Sorry to say but you haven't allowed for any draws. :p

Mic, it makes my head ache just to think about the above scenarios without a draw thrown in! :p

All I know is that Essendon have to win to ensure their spot in the 8.

Leigh

That was the case up til last year, but as said on that link, you can also buy "Opal single tickets." These are bought on the spot like traditional tickets were.

 

It comes down to how much you plan to use public transport, and where. If you're going to do lots of journeys it's convenient to buy the card so you don't need to buy a ticket each trip. But if you're not sure if you'll use it much (just the ferries were mentioned - hoho buses are now private and would need to be bought separately, not with Opal), just buying as you need means you don't have to put extra funds on the card that would then likely be lost when you leave (given the time and hassle to try to get them back).

Sorry, I forgot to mention the singe trip tickets. I couldn't find my Opal card after disembarking from the Voyager of the Seas in April and as we were catching the train to the airport I bought a single trip Opal ticket to get there. These tickets cost a little more than the Opal card fares.

Leigh

As another poster mentioned, If your ship is late into Sydney and misses the deadline to dock because of peak hour ferries, it will be after 9.30am I think before that can happen. It happened to us a few years ago but fortunately our ship was small enough to go under the Harbour bridge and we were able to dock at white Bay. We were still late but not as late as we would have been if we had to wait for the ferries.

Leigh

We are only in Sydney for 3 days, is it worth our while to buy Opal cards? We plan to ride the HOHO buses and travel on several ferry rides, Darling Harbour, to Manly and maybe the zoo. Can we save any money with a Opal card?

boards, if you are travelling on any public transport such as ferries, you will need an Opal card. There is more information in this link - https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/opal/about-opal/visitor-tickets

Enjoy your visit to Sydney.

Leigh

I'm assuming the Golden Princess will have their standard electrical outlets like we have in the USA. What about throughout Australia? Will I need an adapter? quote]

 

 

CSloan,

 

The Golden Princess has US electrical outlets. Australian outlets are very different and you will need an adapter. I hope you can see the attachment of the Australian outlet.

 

Leigh

You need a new travel agent! Most of the New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji port stops are tenders. Noumea, Port Vila, Luganville, and Suva are the only wharf ports.

And Lautoka in Fiji.

Leigh

Does anybody have any experience of claims from Insureandgo?[/quote

 

My husband had to have a procedure on his big toe after stubbing it when we were on Diamond Princess two years ago. We were insured with InsureandGo and the claim process was relatively easy, we were reimbursed within a couple of weeks.

 

We have insured with them since but haven't had to make another claim.

 

 

Leigh

Hi I am sailing on Voyager Of The seas in November and do not want my credit card to bear onboard expenses if it can be helped. Can you put American cash on your card when you get on board the ship?

Also If one is booked into first dining time in the MDR, and the ship sails at 630pm, how does that work with life boat muster drill thrown in?

=Sanjanjo;53696543]Hi I am sailing on Voyager Of The seas in November and do not want my credit card to bear onboard expenses if it can be helped. Can you put American cash on your card when you get on board the ship?

Also If one is booked into first dining time in the MDR, and the ship sails at 630pm, how does that work with life boat muster drill thrown in?

We were on Voyager of the Seas in March and a few weeks before we sailed I phoned Royal Caribbean's Sydney office (1800 754 500) and ordered and paid for on board credit to go on our on board account. The exchange rate at that time was $0.77 AUS, I am not sure how much the rate is at the moment considering the Aussie dollar is up. I paid using a debit card and there were no extra bank charges. We had a small amount of credit left after the cruise and it was put back on my debit card within a few days. A very easy way to pay your on board account.

Enjoy your cruise.

Leigh

Our extended family are cruising on the Golden Princess on 21st September. We aren't flying back to Brissy until 3pm, so we just wanted to spend the morning in Sydney city rather than at the airport. :D Thanks.

The Golden Princess docks at the OPT so the luggage storage facility suggested by DogLover would suit your needs perfectly, a 7 or 8 minute walk from the terminal.

Enjoy your cruise and your time in Sydney after the cruise.

Leigh

Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone can suggest what to do with our luggage in Sydney for 3 or 4 hours after disembarkation from our cruise in September? We would rather spend some time in the city rather than hanging around the airport! Cheers.

Which ship are you cruising on Brissy Rookie Cruiser?

Leigh

Nearly there with our decision on a cruise for Feb 2018 from Melbourne. On looking at various tours that we fancy ,steam train and wine tour ,then penguins at night would 4 days be sufficient to also include some city sight seeing ? We will be flying from the UK so will no doubt be exhausted after the long haul flight .

 

On completion of cruise we intend to fly to Perth and stay again for 4 days .

 

Would love some input as to whether this is too short a time in each City or change the no of days .

 

Any advice would be appreciated .

 

Scotslizzy

Scotslizzy, I think you could easily fit in what you want to do in Melbourne. The steam train (Puffing Billy) may easily be combined with a wine tour of the Yarra Valley. Do the penguins at Phillip Island on another day/evening. You could do some city sightseeing during the day before heading to Phillip Island. Just make sure you don't overdo it on your first day here. What cruise are you looking at?

Leigh