mr walker

Likely there is another passenger complaining "what are these charges on my account - I never did any bl%$dy washing" 🙂 Say "thankyou" Sparky!!

good advice already given by other posters. I recall reading of a case a few years ago where a NZ man who had been living in Australia, was detained by NZ authorities upon arrival in NZ on a cruise due to an outstanding matter in NZ. I remember his wife had the difficult/awkward decision of what to do - leave the ship with him or cruise on, on her own. It may have been that she didn't even know of the outstanding matter. Best to sort out ahead of time if you can - as posted above it may even have expired by now.

That's great - hope you have a good catch-up. We will expect to see a photo 🙂

Would be good if one works for you - go all in & go for the Rockstar experience 😊

My Dad (born 1930) grew up in Western Sydney & during his whole life, he and many of his contempories, always used the term port to describe the 'bag' they carried their belongings in when travelling. Of course, the port they had was maybe well less than half the size of the suitcases of today & no wheels, more like an oversized old fashioned school case. I just mentioned this discussion with Tracey and she said her grandmother always used the word port also. Dad also liked a drop of the other port 🙂

Not too sure about influencers etc, but there was a recent documentary series filmed on the Virgin Scarlet Lady cruiseship operating out of Florida, which I viewed as very pro-Virgin. Ship looked great & there was red everywhere! It was mostly focused on party, party, party, for the 'sailors' as they refer to passengers as. There was a particular emphasis on special hosts for the high paying sailors who they referred to as 'rockstars' who's every wish was granted. I'm not sure that based on that, Virgin will be a good fit for us.

When I was in school, I still recall a teacher tried to 'justify' the spelling variances with the oft-repeated phrase "it's the exception that proves the rule". 50+ years later the explanation makes no more sense today than it did then!!!

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

Double post

We did a GOR trip when in Melb on Melb Cup cruise in 2015. Our tour guide told us that there was never 12, as you wrote, & that the organisers of the 1956 Olympics made up the '12 Apostles' as it sounded good & they were desperate to have some tourist attractions to attract people to come to Melb for the games.

We live at Penrith, just near the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The tour we would suggest is with: www.bluemountainstours.com.au It is owned by Graham Chapman, known far & wide as Chapo, who's somewhat of a local legend in the Penrith/Blue Mountains area. I am positive he will arrange a tour you will long remember.

Any work on any terminal in any location would be at least 2 elections away, so any announcement now by the current incumbents is not of much consequence.

A service personnel mate of mine, now retired, told me years ago that the defence dept will never give up their prime spot there. He called them the chair polishers, all after a spot of the prime location to serve out the rest of their career.

Spoke today with my colleague from work who was onboard, 2 decks below the fire. They had gone to bed at 12:30am to be awaken at 3:30am & were held at muster station until around 5:30. They decided not to go back to bed & kicked on. Seems no investigation is necessary 😮as the experts on board have already spread the word. It is widely reported onboard that the fire started from a cigarette in the bed when the person fell asleep. They then opened the balcony door to try and stop the fire, which caused the fire to erupt. Anyway, who knows what happened? My colleague advises that her partner on the cruise, on his first ever cruise, has categorically ruled out ever going on another cruise 🙂

Well, that explains it all for now. I guess the slots will open up at some point. Bit disappointing for those who have had bookings cancelled or wanting to get reservations in place ahead of time. Hobbiton is definitely worth a visit for anyone with any interest in The Hobbit or LOTR. Anyone going to Wellington should consider visiting the Weta workshops also.

Yes I looked up the company we did the Hobbiton trip from Tauranga previously (Zealandia) & showing no tours at all, not just on your date but any date?? Even Hobbiton site is showing nothing about tours from Tauranga. No idea on what’s happening. Our niece lives in Tauranga. I’ll ask her if she knows anything - maybe she’ll drive you 😁

Yes, the airport Novotel, just across the street from the Int terminal is very convenient but has become expensive as just a bed-for-the-night deal. When it first opened it was quite cheap & I often stayed there pre early morning flight, rather than get up super early & drive to airport in the morning. For a one-off I suggest it is a good option. You can even take your luggage over & check-in at Int terminal & then come back to hotel for breakfast before heading off (not for OP in this case who will be going to Domestic terminal).

Yes, I was wondering what CYC were going to do with no 'smaller' RC ships for 24-25 season.

Edit: doubled up!

We had no knowledge of loyalty schemes etc when we booked our first cruise in 2011 & had chosen RC based purely on the itinerary, and expectation that this would possibly be our only cruise - a special event for our 30th anniversary. The next two cruises came as music charter cruises which were coincidentally on RC ships. I guess we just liked the RC product and booked a couple more, never expecting to climb the C&A ladder. We then did in 2014 34N B2B2B on Rhapsody (Alaska, Hawaii, Pacific) & almost by accident we were in sight of Diamond. In between our 15 RC cruises we have also done 2 Carnival & 1 Princess (& even a 4N Yasawa Is cruise in Fiji) & enjoyed them all. Our next 3 cruises are P&O, RC (music charter) & Princess. Our first option going forward is likely to be RC but we will choose based on itinerary & price as we find them.

Yes, not something that interested me _ I watched the footy 🙂

Our experience as well. Good system that suits us

Happy birthday for Tuesday Les from Tracey & I - it will be Tracey's birthday on Thursday! Enjoy your dinner with your family & take care mate. Hope to get down your way soon & catch up with you if you are up to it. Cheers

News reports today are that the two people in the incidents (medical & overboard) were unrelated and not known to each other. So, looks as if the Chinese whispers, famous onboard ships, strike again.

Oops - I see that I got that all mixed up! Getting old I guess 🙂 Of course nowadays a large pizza is the size of the old medium.