Live from the 2020 Grand World Voyage

[cat shepard]

Hope your travels go smoothly, Kathi. 

[MamaFej]

4 hours ago, Stratheden said:

I doubt they will be in a hotel.  I believe it will be ship to airport.  Nobody can stay anywhere else but the ship.  This was announced today by the Premier of Western Australia.

 

Oh, dear. That announcement came after they had their arrangements made. Their flight isn't for another couple of days. 

 

I imagine many people are in the same situation, as the ship was not expected to arrive in Perth until the 22nd. The change to today only happened a couple of days ago.

 

Thank you for the information.

[Vict0riann]

This has been posted on the "other" GWV thread, "Stow Away with Bill & Mary Ann..."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-20/wa-coronavirus-cases-jump-as-cruise-ship-lockdown-announced/12075846

"WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced any non-Australians who arrived at WA ports on cruise ships would be prevented from disembarking." ...... ""Those people will be required to stay on the ship until arrangements have been made for them to be privately transported to the airport to fly to their home country."

 

[rafinmd]

3 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

This has been posted on the "other" GWV thread, "Stow Away with Bill & Mary Ann..."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-20/wa-coronavirus-cases-jump-as-cruise-ship-lockdown-announced/12075846

"WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced any non-Australians who arrived at WA ports on cruise ships would be prevented from disembarking." ...... ""Those people will be required to stay on the ship until arrangements have been made for them to be privately transported to the airport to fly to their home country."

 

I experienced that on my return from Perth.  I had to overnight in Sydney and on my flight today there was a passenger from Celebrity Solstice.  She had to choose between a direct transfer to the airport or a 14 day quarantine.

 

Kathi, are you on Qantas?

 

 Roy 

[Copper10-8]

2 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

I experienced that on my return from Perth.  I had to overnight in Sydney and on my flight today there was a passenger from Celebrity Solstice.  She had to choose between a direct transfer to the airport or a 14 day quarantine.

 

Kathi, are you on Qantas?

 

 Roy 

 

Still in Sydney Roy? Btw, what's flight time between Perth and Syd? Five hrs?

[rafinmd]

9 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Still in Sydney Roy? Btw, what's flight time between Perth and Syd? Five hrs?

I think 4 hours.  I’m at DFW, should get home around 2am,

 

Roy

[Copper10-8]

17 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

I think 4 hours.  I’m at DFW, should get home around 2am,

 

Roy

 

Excellent! Safe last leg! Stay safe at home!

[cranethie]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Still in Sydney Roy? Btw, what's flight time between Perth and Syd? Five hrs?

Four if you're lucky and have a tail wind - more like 4.5 hrs - could even stretch to 5.

Getting from Sydney domestic to international is not easy - requires a bus trip round the tarmac.

Avoid it if you can 🙂 

[rafinmd]

17 minutes ago, cranethie said:

Four if you're lucky and have a tail wind - more like 4.5 hrs - could even stretch to 5.

Getting from Sydney domestic to international is not easy - requires a bus trip round the tarmac.

Avoid it if you can 🙂 

Those buses stop running at 9, before I had my bags.  For me the transfer was a taxi to a hotel, and hotel shuttle back to the international terminal the next morning.  I hope Kathi at least gets her bags checked through to Richmond.

 

Roy

[Rowsby]

Amsterdam going in to Fremantle right now........and webcam link.....

 

https://www.fremantleports.com.au/the-port/harbourcams/harbourcam-1

 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Rowsby

[mame42]

5 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I think 4 hours.  I’m at DFW, should get home around 2am,

 

Roy

How are things at DFW?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Roy -- hope you have arrived home safely by now.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the picture Rowsby.

[AD5ZA]

We arrived Fremantle about 7:00 AM and the expected disembarkation at 11:00 turned out to be more like 3:30 for the first wave ashore. The second group was supposed to depart at 10:00-10:30 PM but was forced off the at 6:00-6:30 PM. 

 

Many folks made made hotel reservations in anticipation of next day flights up to 1:00 PM. Australia refused to allow that so hotels bookings canceled. Those passengers were going to be required to leave the ship anyway and go to the airport.  Later the government relented and said OK you can stay overnight. Now nobody had hotel reservations. 

 

Got the picture? It's a cluster. Been like that for over a week. 

 

I am am supposed to leave the ship tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM My flight is at 2:00 PM. Hope tomorrow is different and goes as planned.

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the update.

Good luck to everyone.

[cat shepard]

13 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Those buses stop running at 9, before I had my bags.  For me the transfer was a taxi to a hotel, and hotel shuttle back to the international terminal the next morning.  I hope Kathi at least gets her bags checked through to Richmond.

 

Roy

Saw your post that you arrived home safely. I am glad your ordeal is over.   Welcome home!

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, AD5ZA said:

We arrived Fremantle about 7:00 AM and the expected disembarkation at 11:00 turned out to be more like 3:30 for the first wave ashore. The second group was supposed to depart at 10:00-10:30 PM but was forced off the at 6:00-6:30 PM. 

 

Many folks made made hotel reservations in anticipation of next day flights up to 1:00 PM. Australia refused to allow that so hotels bookings canceled. Those passengers were going to be required to leave the ship anyway and go to the airport.  Later the government relented and said OK you can stay overnight. Now nobody had hotel reservations. 

 

Got the picture? It's a cluster. Been like that for over a week. 

 

I am am supposed to leave the ship tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM My flight is at 2:00 PM. Hope tomorrow is different and goes as planned.

 

Safe travels.

[Krazy Kruizers]

2 hours ago, AD5ZA said:

We arrived Fremantle about 7:00 AM and the expected disembarkation at 11:00 turned out to be more like 3:30 for the first wave ashore. The second group was supposed to depart at 10:00-10:30 PM but was forced off the at 6:00-6:30 PM. 

 

Many folks made made hotel reservations in anticipation of next day flights up to 1:00 PM. Australia refused to allow that so hotels bookings canceled. Those passengers were going to be required to leave the ship anyway and go to the airport.  Later the government relented and said OK you can stay overnight. Now nobody had hotel reservations. 

 

Got the picture? It's a cluster. Been like that for over a week. 

 

I am am supposed to leave the ship tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM My flight is at 2:00 PM. Hope tomorrow is different and goes as planned.

 

 

Hope all goes well with your flights tomorrow.

 

People who post on here are sitting by the pool at a hotel -- they fly home on Monday.  So not everyone cancelled their hotels.

[zonap]

Family who's been on the GWV safely got to Perth airport and onboard their flight.  Fingers crossed they get back home safely. 😷

[Scrapnana]

Luckily, my Qantas flight to Sydney is at 11 pm so I have plenty of time to get off the ship.  I also have five hours from arrival in Sydney until my flight to DFW so changing terminals should not be a challenge.  Qantas has my booking as Perth to Richmond, so my bags should be transferred to the other plane (hopefully!).  I have some friends who are booked on an early morning flight to Sydney and only have an hour to change terminals.

[Scrapnana]

March 21, 2020

 

Fremantle, Australia

 

I woke up just after 8 and we were pulling up to the pier.  We managed to make up the time lost with the medical emergency yesterday.  Also in port are two other ships that were doing world cruises – Pacific Princess and Seabourn Sojourn.  Rumor has it that some people are being allowed to sail back to the states on Pacific Princess.

 

It was a very strange day because there were very few scheduled activities.  A few of us went to the Crow’s Nest and worked on our knitting/crocheting.  Bonnie stopped by to say good-bye because she was getting off – or at least planning to.  The original plan was that people could disembark starting at 11 am.  By the time Sherita and I left for lunch at noon, the time had been pushed back. 

 

After lunch I worked on throwing some more last minute items into my suitcases.  Anyone ever notice how things seem to materialize out of nowhere when you think you are done packing?  I also wrote thank you notes to some of the wonderful crew that have been so helpful.

 

I then walked out onto deck 3 and ran into Sherita and her friend Karen sitting in deck chairs.  I stopped to talk to them and saw Judy (Lee) walking down the Promenade deck.  I hadn’t seen her in two days so we all chatted for some time.  An announcement was made that the Australian authorities were prohibiting people getting off the ship and going to a hotel.  You had to go directly to the airport even if you flight was almost 24 hours away once you got off the ship.

 

Finally, at around 3:15, it was announced that the authorities were ready to start processing those passengers getting off today.  I went over to the starboard side so I could wave good-bye to Marilyn and Rodney since I had not bumped into them today.  There was yet another holdup and the first passenger did not step off the ship until 3:35.  I was able to speak to Marilyn and Rodney as they were disembarking.  After watching a few more people leave (there were not lots because originally we were not going to arrive until tomorrow so most people did not have flights today).

 

There was an afternoon trivia so I went to the Crow’s Nest and got a Coke and knitted for a while.  The captain came on again to say that the Australian officials had changed their minds and you could stay in a hotel before your flight.

 

Debby, Rick, John (from the “We Don’t Need Google” team), and I played together.  We had 14.5 correct out of 18 and the winners had 16.5.

 

1.What are the names of the King and Queen of the Netherlands?

2.What is the largest animal to build a nest?

3.What part of the plane gives the bumpiest ride?

4.TAP is the national airline of which country?

5.Arachibutyphobia is the fear of – rain, peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, jay-walking?

6.Which celestial body appeared just in time to be a good luck charm for William the Conqueror?

7.Black swans are native to which continent?

8.How many seconds are there in an NBA shot clock?

 

Another announcement was made that an evening immigration period was cancelled and if your flight was before 1 pm on Sunday, you had to be off the ship by 6 pm.  (By that point, people were groaning every time an announcement started.)

 

I went to a last visit to “my deck” after trivia and then returned to my cabin to pack the things that had materialized since I left and did some knitting.

 

The dining room was ¾ empty.  We talked to Billy who said he was not sure if or when he would be sent home.  The ship will head to Durban, South Africa to get provisions and refuel before heading back to the US.  Depending on when the provisions reach Durban, it may be 30-40 days before the ship gets to the US.

 

I stopped by the Piano Bar and listened to the piano player (she got on in Sydney and I can’t remember her name).  Her set was over after a couple of songs and I returned to my cabin to get my bags ready to set out before midnight.  Sherita stopped by to say good-bye as I was putting my bags out.

 

As it stands now, immigration for those with flights tomorrow will be between 8 and 11. 

 

Trivia

1.Willem-Alexander and Maxima

2.gorilla

3.tail

4.Portugal

5.peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth

6.Halley’s Comet

7.Australia

8.24

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[rafinmd]

7 minutes ago, Scrapnana said:

Luckily, my Qantas flight to Sydney is at 11 pm so I have plenty of time to get off the ship.  I also have five hours from arrival in Sydney until my flight to DFW so changing terminals should not be a challenge.  Qantas has my booking as Perth to Richmond, so my bags should be transferred to the other plane (hopefully!).  I have some friends who are booked on an early morning flight to Sydney and only have an hour to change terminals.

In Dallas you will need to collect your bags and carry them through customs and give them to a bag drop just outside the customs hall.  Fortunately, there are ample luggage trolleys to make it worthwhile.  I don't know what your connection is to Richmond, but mine was 90 minutes and I missed it by a mile.  There will be an area (just before immigration or just before the bag carousel, I don't remember which) where a bunch of new boarding passes will be taped to the window (by city, then with passenger name) if your connection won't work.

If the Qantas flight is full, expect the baggage carousel to be a zoo, if you have time you might want to wait a bit before trying to get your bags.

 

Roy

[Vict0riann]

Good luck with your travels, Kathi, and happy you made it  home, Roy!

Edited March 21, 2020 by Vict0riann

[Scrapnana]

Just now, rafinmd said:

In Dallas you will need to collect your bags and carry them through customs and give them to a bag drop just outside the customs hall.  Fortunately, there are ample luggage trolleys to make it worthwhile.  I don't know what your connection is to Richmond, but mine was 90 minutes and I missed it by a mile.  There will be an area (just before immigration or just before the bag carousel, I don't remember which) where a bunch of new boarding passes will be taped to the window (by city, then with passenger name) if your connection won't work.

If the Qantas flight is full, expect the baggage carousel to be a zoo, if you have time you might want to wait a bit before trying to get your bags.

 

Roy

Just noticed you have a new picture! 

 

I have about 5 hours from my arrival and departure at DFW.  At first I was really dreading the long time between flights but now I think it is a good thing.  

 

So glad you are home safe, Roy!

[seagarsmoker]

Good luck with your flights and thank you for the wonderful updates!