Be careful of testing requirements!!

[Cbtours]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

$148 is too expensive. You should be able to get it for $60 for two. I am confident that the locals on her will come up with some good options for you.

I agree, just thinking through process, and depending how much will buying the rat test through chemists who obviously don’t let you take your own

[Aus Traveller]

UFS Pharmacies in Melbourne are doing supervised RATs. There are several pharmacies in Melbourne, but I didn't see any in other parts of Australia. One interesting point is the price. Pharmacies offering high prices at the moment might have to drop their prices as competition kicks in. Here is a clip from the UFS Pharmacy website:

 

If you’re travelling and need to take a Rapid Antigen Test under supervision, the pharmacists at Sturt Street UFS Pharmacy are available for this service during normal business hours! RATs are available to purchase in-store or you can bring your own. Cost for this service: $20 UFS members or $25 for non-member.

Bookings preferred – call us on 5331 9811 or book via this link and select Health Check

[NSWP]

43 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't think the announcement by the Q'ld government makes cruising any less attractive out of Brisbane. The announcement was that, if an infected passenger didn't live nearby where they could quarantine, they could go to the Wellcamp facility. There isn't much other option as the hotels previously used for quarantine are (or maybe will soon) not available for quarantine. The quarantine camp being built by the commonwealth government at Pinkenba won't be open for many months yet.

 

This announcement doesn't bother me. If we become infected on a cruiseship, we can drive home.

The quarantine barracks at Pinkenba would bevery  handy to the cruise terminal, forward thinking by the Qld Govt, lol. You are lucky you can drive home.

[CDaze71]

I'm local, and I'm working on the Supervised RATs locally. After Thursday when we hear what the protocols are, and exactly what tests are needed, I will be posting specifics here. Who knows, they may not even be accepting these Supervised RATs. They might decided to test us at the port. We'll see Thursday.

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

The quarantine barracks at Pinkenba would bevery  handy to the cruise terminal, forward thinking by the Qld Govt, lol. You are lucky you can drive home.

As you say, the commonwealth government Pinkenba quarantine facility could have been forward thinking.

[Cbtours]

1 minute ago, CDaze71 said:

I'm local, and I'm working on the Supervised RATs locally. After Thursday when we hear what the protocols are, and exactly what tests are needed, I will be posting specifics here. Who knows, they may not even be accepting these Supervised RATs. They might decided to test us at the port. We'll see Thursday.

Thanks for all your input 🥰

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, CDaze71 said:

I'm local, and I'm working on the Supervised RATs locally. After Thursday when we hear what the protocols are, and exactly what tests are needed, I will be posting specifics here. Who knows, they may not even be accepting these Supervised RATs. They might decided to test us at the port. We'll see Thursday.

I am not a betting person, but I would almost place a wager on supervised RATs being required. I think the logistics of doing testing at the port, and the danger of having infected people in the enclosed space, would make that unlikely. As you say, we will see. 🙂

[CDaze71]

When I said I was local, I meant very close the the BRISBANE Terminal local. I thought it was a post in my ROLL CALL Group lol. I can't post about the testing needs for early P&O cruises out of Sydney. Anyway, I will post about Local Brisbane places after I hear about Coral Princess on Thursday as I am on one of the early Coral Princess cruises. 

[Mareblu]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:48 AM, Aus Traveller said:

Cairns isn't part of an Indigenous community. There is an Aboriginal community at Mossman Gorge around 70km north.

Quite correct.  My brother and his family have lived in Cairns for decades.  Cairns is a large, spread-out city, and there certainly are indigenous people among its citizens, but I wouldn't describe it as an indigenous community.  

[possum52]

10 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

UFS Pharmacies in Melbourne are doing supervised RATs. There are several pharmacies in Melbourne, but I didn't see any in other parts of Australia. One interesting point is the price. Pharmacies offering high prices at the moment might have to drop their prices as competition kicks in. Here is a clip from the UFS Pharmacy website:

 

If you’re travelling and need to take a Rapid Antigen Test under supervision, the pharmacists at Sturt Street UFS Pharmacy are available for this service during normal business hours! RATs are available to purchase in-store or you can bring your own. Cost for this service: $20 UFS members or $25 for non-member.

Bookings preferred – call us on 5331 9811 or book via this link and select Health Check

There are UFS pharmacies in Coburg, Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Ballan, Gisborne, Ballarat and Beaufort - all to the north and west. There are none in the rest of Melbourne and Victoria.

[nermal9900]

I am in south australia but am wondering since I am doing a domestic cruise  how is the testing done before I go.Local test at say Walkley Heights or Elizabeth South or do I do what the international cruise people do and go to the sa pathology in town.

[Cbtours]

2 minutes ago, nermal9900 said:

I am in south australia but am wondering since I am doing a domestic cruise  how is the testing done before I go.Local test at say Walkley Heights or Elizabeth South or do I do what the international cruise people do and go to the sa pathology in town.

When are you cruising. We going from melb to Brisbane but getting there few days early so will find somewhere there. We’re However waiting on thursdays update to see if there are any changes to be announced.

[Beagle5]

I am on Majestic Princess now as I type this.

We did a remote supervised RAT at home in Melbourne on Friday morning at 7.30am. Our flight, MEL to LAX was at 9.30 that night.

It is a bit more expensive, but saves leaving home. The whole process took 25 minutes for 2 of us. The nurse waited on the zoom call until we confirmed receipt of the certificate with our negative results.

https://www.rapidantigensupervision.com.au/

 

Was accepted without question by Qantas at check in, and by the authorities at LA Port, San Pedro the next day.

 

You can use them wherever you are in the world, so long as you have internet, so I will do it again in Barcelona in June if we need a test to get on our Oceania cruise. Just need to take a couple of TgA approved RATs with us (we used the ones from Chemist Warehouse.)

P.S cruise summary so far: ship magnificent, ocean still blue, food dreadful, Americans still weird but fun.

[Cbtours]

4 hours ago, Beagle5 said:

I am on Majestic Princess now as I type this.

We did a remote supervised RAT at home in Melbourne on Friday morning at 7.30am. Our flight, MEL to LAX was at 9.30 that night.

It is a bit more expensive, but saves leaving home. The whole process took 25 minutes for 2 of us. The nurse waited on the zoom call until we confirmed receipt of the certificate with our negative results.

https://www.rapidantigensupervision.com.au/

 

Was accepted without question by Qantas at check in, and by the authorities at LA Port, San Pedro the next day.

 

You can use them wherever you are in the world, so long as you have internet, so I will do it again in Barcelona in June if we need a test to get on our Oceania cruise. Just need to take a couple of TgA approved RATs with us (we used the ones from Chemist Warehouse.)

P.S cruise summary so far: ship magnificent, ocean still blue, food dreadful, Americans still weird but fun.

Thanks. Good to hear update. What is dreadful about the food??? 

[lyndarra]

Surely unused quarantine facilities could be used to accommodate people left homeless by floods and fires?

Edited April 24, 2022 by lyndarra

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, Cbtours said:

Thanks. Good to hear update. What is dreadful about the food??? 

Probably not up to the usual Princess standard, I have done 18 cruises on Princess, various ships going back to 2004,  it was generally good. Perhaps the food budget has been cut or a sub standard culinary team.  The Princess Creme Brulee was always my favourite dessert on Princes, Lubbly Jubbly.

Edited April 25, 2022 by NSWP

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Probably not up to the usual Princess standard, I have done 18 cruises on Princess, various ships going back to 2004,  it was generally good. Perhaps the food budget has been cut or a sub standard culinary team.

.. or a not so experienced team in the kitchen.

[NSWP]

6 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

.. or a not so experienced team in the kitchen.

Spot on.  Sub Standard Culinary team, led by a sub standard Executive Chef.

Edited April 25, 2022 by NSWP

[OzKiwiJJ]

The quality of the MDR food, andvthe service, on Majestic was the worst we'd ever experienced on a Princess ship when we did a short Tasmania cruise on her in Nov 2018. I think she'd just come down from China for her first season here. ThecFrench restaurant was also poor, except for the desserts, but the Chinese restaurant was excellent.

 

The best overall MDR food we've had on Princess was on the 2019 Sea Princess Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. It was consistently very high quality and although some dishes were repeated during the 35 nights they changed the menus around so there was plenty of variety for the whole cruise.

[NSWP]

22 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The quality of the MDR food, andvthe service, on Majestic was the worst we'd ever experienced on a Princess ship when we did a short Tasmania cruise on her in Nov 2018. I think she'd just come down from China for her first season here. ThecFrench restaurant was also poor, except for the desserts, but the Chinese restaurant was excellent.

 

The best overall MDR food we've had on Princess was on the 2019 Sea Princess Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. It was consistently very high quality and although some dishes were repeated during the 35 nights they changed the menus around so there was plenty of variety for the whole cruise.

From memory Julie, Princess has a 14 day rotating menu. e.g. if you are on for 28 days you will get the same menu twice.

 

I hope for those you sailing on Coral Princess in the coming months, the tucker is to the normally high Princess standard.

Edited April 25, 2022 by NSWP

[Beagle5]

3 hours ago, Cbtours said:

What is dreadful about the food??? 

Dreadful might be too strong a word, we have only been on a day. Disappointing maybe.

We have only been on Princess once before years ago on Discovery around Japan.

 

Basically, most things so far have been bland and tasteless. Most things seem to have excessive sugar. The menus in the MDR have elaborate descriptions, but what is delivered is pretty basic. I had a a hazelnut soufflé last night that tasted of … nothing. Certainly not hazelnuts. Just sugar, with a very watery vanilla sauce. It’s like they have cut out the use of cream or any dairy in a lot of the deserts - we tried a few at International Cafe. 
The “ice cream” at swirls is better described as an ice confection. Like frozen chocolate syrup.

Our last cruise pre Covid was on Cunard and it is not up to that standard.

It’s not fair to compare it to Oceania as that is a different price point.

We only paid $1,260 each for a premium deluxe balcony cabin for 7 nights so we are not really complaining.

On the other hand my omelette this morning was quite good.

A bar waiter also told me that they are back to 100% passenger capacity, but only 80% staff levels, so that may have something to do with it.

But it’s great to be back at sea. San Francisco tomorrow.

[NSWP]

16 minutes ago, Beagle5 said:

Dreadful might be too strong a word, we have only been on a day. Disappointing maybe.

We have only been on Princess once before years ago on Discovery around Japan.

 

Basically, most things so far have been bland and tasteless. Most things seem to have excessive sugar. The menus in the MDR have elaborate descriptions, but what is delivered is pretty basic. I had a a hazelnut soufflé last night that tasted of … nothing. Certainly not hazelnuts. Just sugar, with a very watery vanilla sauce. It’s like they have cut out the use of cream or any dairy in a lot of the deserts - we tried a few at International Cafe. 
The “ice cream” at swirls is better described as an ice confection. Like frozen chocolate syrup.

Our last cruise pre Covid was on Cunard and it is not up to that standard.

It’s not fair to compare it to Oceania as that is a different price point.

We only paid $1,260 each for a premium deluxe balcony cabin for 7 nights so we are not really complaining.

On the other hand my omelette this morning was quite good.

A bar waiter also told me that they are back to 100% passenger capacity, but only 80% staff levels, so that may have something to do with it.

But it’s great to be back at sea. San Francisco tomorrow.

Are they still rationing the butter in the MDR, like 1 pat per person? (lol)

Edited April 25, 2022 by NSWP

[OzKiwiJJ]

38 minutes ago, NSWP said:

From memory Julie, Princess has a 14 day rotating menu. e.g. if you are on for 28 days you will get the same menu twice.

 

I hope for those you sailing on Coral Princess in the coming months, the tucker is to the normally high Princess standard.

They didn't do that on the 35 night cruise, the whole menu repeats were far more random and sometimes a familiar appetiser or main  would appear with other different options instead of the usual ones. It really was very, very good. 

 

I'm also hoping Coral is up to Sea Princess standard as we've got a couple of big cruises booked on her in 23 & 24.

 

It's such a pity you can't join us on the cruise out of Sydney in August but I do understand the reasons. Single fares are just too expensive sadly.

[Cbtours]

4 hours ago, Beagle5 said:

Dreadful might be too strong a word, we have only been on a day. Disappointing maybe.

We have only been on Princess once before years ago on Discovery around Japan.

 

Basically, most things so far have been bland and tasteless. Most things seem to have excessive sugar. The menus in the MDR have elaborate descriptions, but what is delivered is pretty basic. I had a a hazelnut soufflé last night that tasted of … nothing. Certainly not hazelnuts. Just sugar, with a very watery vanilla sauce. It’s like they have cut out the use of cream or any dairy in a lot of the deserts - we tried a few at International Cafe. 
The “ice cream” at swirls is better described as an ice confection. Like frozen chocolate syrup.

Our last cruise pre Covid was on Cunard and it is not up to that standard.

It’s not fair to compare it to Oceania as that is a different price point.

We only paid $1,260 each for a premium deluxe balcony cabin for 7 nights so we are not really complaining.

On the other hand my omelette this morning was quite good.

A bar waiter also told me that they are back to 100% passenger capacity, but only 80% staff levels, so that may have something to do with it.

But it’s great to be back at sea. San Francisco tomorrow.

Ok get you now. It will be interesting to see when we go in June. For me personally ANYTHING that I don’t personally have yo

prepare and then clean up is a treat 😂😂😂😂

[Beagle5]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Are they still rationing the butter in the MDR, like 1 pat per person?

Actually, I got 2 pats on the first night, so maybe I should be grateful!

 

Things are looking up though.

We rocked up to the Crowne Grill tonight at 8.30 without a reservation and asked if they could squeeze us in. After 15 minutes and a Glenkinchie on the rocks at the bar we were seated. Official specialty reservations are hard to come by as everyone has a complimentary voucher for one, but given the demographic like to dine at 5.30pm, our strategy worked. We are still on Melbourne time, so this was a late lunch for us.

 

Chalk and cheese with MDR. Great rib eye and partner had lobster. Would happily pay the $29 pp every night if they could produce this quality throughout the ship. We still have our official reservation at The French bistro later in the cruise to look forward to (I hope). Also the pizza joint, which is included, will be good for one night.

First formal night tonight - everyone having a good time. Great to see after the last two years of doom.