Blue Elephant

I was on a cruise in NZ late January/early February. It is indeed true that everything imaginable can be paid with a card in NZ and Australia now, even a single cup of coffee. The one thing that we did need cash for  was buying home made garments such as wooden beanies, blankets and jumpers from the shore excursions to sheep farms. We had about $40 NZ from a previous visit to NZ, but the beanie I wanted was $50 NZ.

However, your problem would probably be what you would do if you had that sort of money left after your cruise, with no intention of visiting NZ again for many years.

We have just returned from a cruise on Carnival Splendor (Dec 5 to Dec 15 2022). The management of Covid risks seemed to be optimal. We were required to have our international vaccination certificate, plus a negative RAT test performed in the 24 hours before the cruise.

THEN, at 9 am after the first night of the cruise, we were required to do another RAT test. Masks were required for indoor areas and crowded outdoor areas, unless eating or drinking. There was no obvious Covid on board, but I would be interested to hear whether some passengers were identified by the RAT test after the first night on board. There was certainly no offical mention of people on board being active Covid cases.

You have mentioned Ovation of the Seas and you have also mentioned that you want activities for your kids. But you haven’t mentioned how old your kids are. I am thinking if they are mid primary school upwards, the activities on Ovation of the Seas will keep them happy. There were Dodgem cars, skydiving simulation, Flowrider (a simulated surfing pool) and of course multiple swimming pools. I am not sure whether Ovation has a rock climbing wall, but it is a pretty common feature. There is no ice skating rink on Ovation (but there are on some of the other Royal Caribbean ships).

The dining room food is good quality (but not 3 hats). However, you will feel like you have been out to dinner every night of the cruise.

We cruised on Ovation from Honolulu back to Sydney late last year and had a great time. We have also cruised on Emerald Princess, Golden Princess, Allure of the Seas, Legend of the Seas, Vision of the Seas and the Carnival Spirit. I would cruise on any of them again. We have no loyalty to any cruise company and are driven by the destinations.

There is the possibility of encountering drunk and obnoxious people on any cruise. But you are more likely to encounter them if you are up in the bar very late at night. There are people put off virtually every cruise for bad behaviour, but the cruise companies are usually quite discrete about it and you are unlikely to be aware of it. I would not let that worry you and I certainly could not attribute that behaviour to the clients of any particular company.

So ... my recommendation for your needs is the Ovation of the Seas, mainly for the entertainment value for your children (and for you if some of those activities appeal to the big kid in you).

We are spending a week in Cornwall and a week in Devon in Later July/early August, before heading off to Amsterdam for a cruise. We are Australian, so drive on the left side of the road. I am thinking we would like to hire a car for Cornwall and Devon, but the idea of driving out from Heathrow does not appeal. So, starting the car hire somewhere out in Devon, like Exeter. We will be located in Sidmouth for the second week (lodgings at Otterton) so would like to finish the car hire somewhere round there. And then have about two nights in London before catching the Eurostar from St Pancras to Amsterdam.

Does anyone have suggestions for the easiest way for two jet lagged Australians to do this?

Princess and MSC have cruises starting in St Petersburg in 2020.

I always thought that the X-raying of baggage and the once over by the sniffer dogs happened behind the scenes.

I don’t think passsengers we’re made  fully aware of the severity of the weather conditions crossing the Tasman. The barometric pressure dropped to similar lows for a Category 1. Likewise the wind speeds were up there in that range. 

I think the captain managed the situation very skllfully without unduly alarming passengers. My husband was calculating the max speed the ship could go and the distance to be covered. I think he predicted that we would have to arrive late about 36 hours before we were due to arrive.

There was no disembarkation questionnaire used for this cruise, which caused some of the problems. A questionnaire could have allowed prioritisation of those who had flight to catch.

We were in no hurry to disembark, and by the time we left, any problems were largely sorted out.

I asked my pharmacist when they stopped making Avomine. She recommended Allersoothe 25. It is highly effective as an anti nausea drug. I take it on a regular basis because another medication has a side effect of nausea. It also comes in the lower strength Allersoothe 10.

I will be doing the Ovation transPacific cruise in just over a month. I intend to try and find the US medication Bonine  while I am in Hawaii. I am still convinced it is the most effective medication for nausea.

You may find that you pass through Customs quicker if you have things to declare. I think some years ago I read of people declaring just to take advantage of the shorter queues.

In 2013, I returned from Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy. He had stayed at a hotel in Stresa where the owner had a pet rooster that I had been patting. So I answered yes to the question about farm animals. They let me through without further questions, but seemed a bit grumpy. I wonder if it was because of people making spurious declarations to have a quicker passage.

MicCanberra, I am interested in this cruise you are looking at from Milan to Mauritius. I presume cruise starts from Genoa or Savona as Milan is inland. We usually fly in to Milan, which is a very manageable airport.

At this stage we have booked to cruise back from Civitavecchia to Singapore on the Regal Princess in October 2020.

We cruised on the Costa Magica in May 2017 from Savona to Amsterdam. It was extremely Port intensive and a good price, so we figured we would take a chance.

We were delighted with the cruise. My husband is vegetarian and he found the food was excellent for his needs. They took the MDR menu through a tour of the various Italian regions and catered for the omnivores just as well as the herbivores.

They took the safety aspects of the muster drill VERY seriously. You don your life jacket for the walk down the fire stairs and there is no fiddling with electronic devices or cameras during muster drill.

They handled the multilingual passenger load very well. Our ship excursion in Tangier’s, Morocco was English/GErman and was led by a local with excellent knowledge of both languages as well as Arabic. Our Mont St Michel excursion was English/Spanish , again led by someone with all 3 languages under control.

We would cruise with Costa again in a heartbeat and we often look to see what Costa has on offer. Btw, we speak reasonable Italian and have travelled a lot in Italy, but we would have been fine with only English. Prices in the shops on board were extremely reasonable - not out to make every buck they could.

My one irritation with the Costa Magica was the design of the ship where you have parts of floors blocked off for things like the Casino. Seemed more finicky in that respect than any other cruise ship.

Hi David

Can you add:

11 September 2019  Island Princess.        Alaska Sampler                  5 nights

20 September 2019 Ovation of the Seas  Vancouver to Honolulu.        10 nights

17 October 2020.      Regal Princess.        Civitavecchia to Singapore   28 nights

Thank you

Bronwyn

20 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Great work, You will be so new, another cruise would be needed to recover.

Given that we have four cruises booked at the moment, we couldn’t afford another cruise. Had to ditch the proposed river cruise to Basel in favour of this one.

We have succumbed to temptation and booked Civitavecchia to Singapore on the Regal Princess for October 2020. Given that this will be a 28 day cruise, we will come back newer than we have ever been before.

Likewise for us, it is the balance on the card that makes us hesitant.

We are thinking about the Civitavecchia to Singapore leg in October 2020. Fits in well with a return from Europe trip. Husband has a fear of flying, so this would fit his agenda. However, the TA I contacted informed me that most of the balcony cabins were booked. 

I wonder what what will Happen?

Am I right in thinking that, every so often, Carnival will offer a “kids sail free” sale? I presume this would be when there are already two full price adults. 

This would knock a few things off the bucket list, all at once. Only thing I would really miss is that it doesn’t include Bora Bora and Moorea.

Vision of the Seas is a wonderful ship. The light comes into the atrium from above and makes for a very happy feeling.

While I don’t think I can help you much with which cruise to choose (I’m in Australia) here is a very useful website that will show you where and when all sorts of cruises happen. http://Www.cruisetimetables.com.

Not quite the same ... but. We had gaps in our European itinerary in 2017 and we found a Costa cruise that started and finished on just the right dates. It moved us from the Italian Riviera to Amsterdam, just as we wanted. Went around the coast of France, Spain, Portugal and ended in Amsterdam.

We had heard horror stories about Costa, but we decided that we would give it a go because it was a Port Intensive cruise and the ship was merely a floating hotel.

We thoroughly enjoyed Costa and will book with Costa again. So, I would say, take a risk if the price is right.

This is not an el cheapo post .... as yet. I was looking up the prices for the Celebrity Solstice cruise from Honolulu to Sydney on 1 October 2018.

 

How did you know how many unsold balconies there were please?

 

I love cruising so much that I looked it up on a website and counted the number of balconies I could choose in each price category.

You can also order hot water from room service.

Do you have to pay for the hot water? We have a little hand press espresso make called a Nanopresso and want to make our own in the morning.

No. Not familiar with Mg for muscle cramps. Will check it out. And also consider, as you mentioned, other rubs or sprays

Magnesium tablets are quite commonly taken for muscle cramps in Australia. The Cenovis brand is very reasonably priced and they make multivitamins as well that are available in both pharmacies and supermarkets.

I am wondering whether what you are describing is part of “Restless Legs Syndrome”. If it is this, there are other more specialised treatments available that will help with sleep. I have recently started treatment.

My pharmacist sold me “Allersoothe” tablets. Same ingredient. They work for nausea quite well. I have been taking a medication that causes nausea and the Allersoothe has done the trick for me.

This came from a Canberra pharmacist.