Pacific Adventure dry dock:

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Golden Princess going in to dry dock in Trieste, Italy to be transformed into the Pacific Adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Princess going in to dry dock:
 

 

Thank You to Marjan Stropnik and Singapore Cruise Society for the photos!

 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Golden Princess aka Pacific Adventure currently in dry-dock in Trieste, Italy:

 

Thank You to gerbenmeinders and Singapore Cruise Society for the photos!

[Chiliburn]

[NSWP]

Golden was a great ship, did Around Cape Horn on her in 204, Buenos Aires to San Pedro (LA Harbour).

 

Skywalkers is great in the pram handle. P&O will probably turn  Skywalkers into a disco.

 

Great photos.

Edited August 28, 2021 by NSWP

[Kiwi_cruiser]

A sneak peek from P&O Australia of Pacific Adventure refurbishment:

 

 

 

[sewgood]

Thanks for the great photos!

I have a cruise booked on her for next year.

If it doesn't go ahead I'll have to reschedule.

After cruising on the Pacific Explorer I am interested to see what they do with this larger ex Princess ship.

We have booked a Byron Bay Club room to check out how this works and if it is worth the extra expense.

 

[Snoopkat]

We're also booked on the Pacific Adventure for March next year. Not sure if it will actually go ahead but hoping I'm wrong.

[sewgood]

5 hours ago, Snoopkat said:

We're also booked on the Pacific Adventure for March next year. Not sure if it will actually go ahead but hoping I'm wrong.

I had a phone call from P&O today explaining to me that in their discussions with the Government that there would be a requirement of vaccination certicates to be sent to the cruise line two weeks before the cruise. This could also include the booster shots if this became a requirement.

He also told me that there would be testing at the terminal and they are discussing with the government two different ways to do this.

When I asked him about when cruising could be back he said that cruising could be back soon (December was mentioned, ha ha I really don't think so) as the Government wants to get the tourism industry up and running again.  Of course this guy does work in sales and would say what the company told him to relate to clients but it does sound promising so you never know your March cruise might happen as long as it is a domestic cruise.

Last time I was speaking to him he seemed to think that June or July would be the first cruises back.

 

 

[Ondine]

I had a call on Friday from my P&O consultant who told me that we would need to be vaccinated but did not mention any of the testing etc.  I assumed that this was because of the CLIA conference where Stuart Mc from P&O mentioned vaccinations. Said he would keep me in the loop.  He also said that most of his friends (from the Philippines) have returned to cruising.  He seemed optimistic but I am not.  If you believe ScoMo then we will be allowed out at 80% with possible home quarantining after returning.  That should be fun.  Don't mention dealing with State Premiers even if the Feds open the 12 mile limit.  Premiers will control the ports.  They are saying that NSW and Vic will be in lockdown till October at least.  Gosh we cannot even go further than 5 kms from home.  Port Melb is about 7 kms from me.  My sister cannot even go over to Tassie to be with her daughter who is undergoing chemo.

 

We are booked on the NY cruise from Melb to NZ, all 12 family including the youngest who will be 10 so getting all fully vaccinated will be awkward.  Booked 21 months ago so just waiting to see what P&O do next.  Hope they make up their mind before final payment in October.

 

It seems that people from overseas don't really know how tied down we are.  Perhaps they don't realise what power the State Premiers have and how all are going their own way.  As I said our cruise is going to NZ and last time I looked that bubble had burst.  Chance of it going ahead ....1%.

 

Booster shots .... mmm last time I heard this mentioned think it was ScoMo who said they weren't looking at that at the moment.  December - which December.  I read that the new boss at CLIA who is from NLC I believe, thinks December will be ok.  He is new in the job.  However the boss from RCCL was scathing of the lack of progress being made with the govt.

 

If testing is to be done at the terminal then that would be good rather than trying to get it done elsewhere.  We will wait and see.

[sewgood]

The Australian Government purchased 25 million doses of Moderna, 10 million for this year and 15 million for booster jabs next year so there has been some planning for booster shots.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-09/moderna-vaccine-australia-approval-who-can-access/1003619

It will be interesting if cruising is only in your own state or maybe not so interesting depending on your state/territory

Let's see in NSW we can go to Eden, Newcastle, maybe a senic view of Jervis Bay, Woolongong and of course Sydney.

Good luck to those people in the ACT. Maybe they can cruise to the Yatch Club on Lake Burley Griffin. Just kidding.

[Snoopkat]

19 hours ago, sewgood said:

I had a phone call from P&O today explaining to me that in their discussions with the Government that there would be a requirement of vaccination certicates to be sent to the cruise line two weeks before the cruise. This could also include the booster shots if this became a requirement.

He also told me that there would be testing at the terminal and they are discussing with the government two different ways to do this.

When I asked him about when cruising could be back he said that cruising could be back soon (December was mentioned, ha ha I really don't think so) as the Government wants to get the tourism industry up and running again.  Of course this guy does work in sales and would say what the company told him to relate to clients but it does sound promising so you never know your March cruise might happen as long as it is a domestic cruise.

Last time I was speaking to him he seemed to think that June or July would be the first cruises back.

 

 

Thanks for the update. It's a domestic cruise taking us to Moreton Island but if the QLD border doesn't reopen, I would be happy to just cruise around NSW waters. Heck, at this rate, I would even settle for the ship going round and round the Opera House!

[Chiliburn]

19 hours ago, sewgood said:

The Australian Government purchased 25 million doses of Moderna, 10 million for this year and 15 million for booster jabs next year so there has been some planning for booster shots.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-09/moderna-vaccine-australia-approval-who-can-access/1003619

It will be interesting if cruising is only in your own state or maybe not so interesting depending on your state/territory

Let's see in NSW we can go to Eden, Newcastle, maybe a senic view of Jervis Bay, Woolongong and of course Sydney.

Good luck to those people in the ACT. Maybe they can cruise to the Yatch Club on Lake Burley Griffin. Just kidding.

 

1 hour ago, Snoopkat said:

Thanks for the update. It's a domestic cruise taking us to Moreton Island but if the QLD border doesn't reopen, I would be happy to just cruise around NSW waters. Heck, at this rate, I would even settle for the ship going round and round the Opera House!

A  scenic cruise around lord Howe and back to Sydney, possibly a stop in at Eden .

How would that be?

[Ondine]

APT came out with a few itineraries for MS Caledonian Sky doing state trips only but they have now pulled several of them.  The Victorian cruises were two, four night cruises this November going to Portland, The 10 Apostles, Philip Island and Tooradin (if memory serves me right) in Westernport Bay.  They have zodiacs so can do scenic cruising.  Small ship and pricey they gave up on Vic when the last lockdown occurred.  But I could dare to dream.

 

They are still advertising some for the other states who are not in lockdown only carrying around 100 passengers.

[sewgood]

45 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

A  scenic cruise around lord Howe and back to Sydney, possibly a stop in at Eden .

How would that be?

Good thinking outside the box.

Sounds great, I would go for a 5 day scenic cruise to Lord Howe.

Even better if they extented it by a couple of days to go to Eden.

A nice walk up to the Whale museum sounds nice.

[sewgood]

6 minutes ago, Ondine said:

.  The Victorian cruises were two, four night cruises this November going to Portland, The 10 Apostles, Philip Island and Tooradin (if memory serves me right) in Westernport Bay.  They have zodiacs so can do scenic cruising. 

 

Now I want to go and live in Victoria to do this cruise and I don't even know where Tooradin is.

But you are right sounds great until you look at the price.

[Rassa]

51 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

A  scenic cruise around lord Howe and back to Sydney, possibly a stop in at Eden .

How would that be?

That would be just fine with me.  Doubt NSW and Vic will close the border to each other with numbers (small I hope).   Dan said we open at 80%.

[Ondine]

Sorry this was the itinerary.  This is the address of the webpage.  https://www.aptouring.com.au/trips/australia/vic/xpcvm5/nov2021-nov2021  Some interesting trips if they go ahead.

 

[Chiliburn]

48 minutes ago, sewgood said:

Good thinking outside the box.

Sounds great, I would go for a 5 day scenic cruise to Lord Howe.

Even better if they extented it by a couple of days to go to Eden.

A nice walk up to the Whale museum sounds nice.

 

42 minutes ago, Rassa said:

That would be just fine with me.  Doubt NSW and Vic will close the border to each other with numbers (small I hope).   Dan said we open at 80%.

It’s 770 km from sydney to lord Howe ,they could do that in one sea day.

Spend half a day cruising around Lord Howe on the second day and be in Eden the next day about lunch and do a overnight.

[sewgood]

Now if your only allowed to cruise in NSW waters why do it in one day when you can take two?

It takes us a day to get to Sydney by car so we want a decent lenght cruise when we get there. 😁

 

[sewgood]

Ondine, I had a look at some of the places I didn't know on that trip and Port Fairy looks truely magical.

It's a very pretty place. It's a pity the big cruise ships can't call into some of the smaller places. I do understand the numbers would overwelm them and of course a bit sad that I can't afford round the $1000 a day (per person) for the small ship cruise.

Oh well there is always the driving holiday.

Nice to see some historic seaside villages in Victoria which I haven't heard of.

 

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

 

A  scenic cruise around lord Howe and back to Sydney, possibly a stop in at Eden .

How would that be?

 

I've never understood why there are cruises to nowhere out of Sydney, but not cruises around Lord Howe.

 

They would have to be some the most scenic islands in the South Pacific. Mt Gower drops 875m straight down to the ocean and then you have Balls Pyramid which looks like nothing you would ever expect to see.

 

Although you do have to avoid this.

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I've never understood why there are cruises to nowhere out of Sydney, but not cruises around Lord Howe.

 

They would have to be some the most scenic islands in the South Pacific. Mt Gower drops 875m straight down to the ocean and then you have Balls Pyramid which looks like nothing you would ever expect to see.

 

Although you do have to avoid this.

I can’t understand why it hasn’t been done before.

Unless the world heritage stops it from happening,but it couldn’t be any worse than ships going into fiordlands.

[possum52]

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

Ondine, I had a look at some of the places I didn't know on that trip and Port Fairy looks truely magical.

It's a very pretty place. It's a pity the big cruise ships can't call into some of the smaller places. I do understand the numbers would overwelm them and of course a bit sad that I can't afford round the $1000 a day (per person) for the small ship cruise.

Oh well there is always the driving holiday.

Nice to see some historic seaside villages in Victoria which I haven't heard of.

 

Port Fairy is a lovely place, it is a neighbouring town to where I grew up and also where my first job was when I left school. As a teenager I spent a fair bit of time there as I had a few school friends who lived in the town. When we visit my parents we try to fit a trip there for lunch at one of the great cafes. 

[sewgood]

49 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Port Fairy is a lovely place, it is a neighbouring town to where I grew up and also where my first job was when I left school. As a teenager I spent a fair bit of time there as I had a few school friends who lived in the town.

Oh wow, how lucky are you?

There seemed to be a lot of old historial buildings in the online photos.

Do you know why it is named Port Fairy? Do they have a fairy penguin colony? Or is it some other reason?

[possum52]

1 hour ago, sewgood said:

Oh wow, how lucky are you?

There seemed to be a lot of old historial buildings in the online photos.

Do you know why it is named Port Fairy? Do they have a fairy penguin colony? Or is it some other reason?

It was actually originally named Belfast and the river was named the Moyne which is also Irish. Evidently the surveyor who laid out the township was Irish. The historical buildings of which there are quite a few date from the 1840s when the town was settled. Evidently the harbour was named Port Fairy after a whaling boat called the 'Fairy' which sailed into the bay in the early 1800s. But the town wasn't named Port Fairy until the 1870s. My great grandmother and two of her siblings were born at Belfast before it became Port Fairy. It is a very popular place for summer holidays and has great music festivals.