OK all Booked!

[fishtaco]

But not sure P&O will live up to our past cruising expectations even Sad old modernized P&O?

I know it will be fantastic in the end because we are social by nature and  a  cruise to me goes well beyond ship size age and modern food choices!

The only reason I decided on this cruise was Home port to Home port and we are sick and tired of flying to and from destinations that take so much time and effort

Of the cruises we have done over the years the home to home  port Pacific Sun and Dawn have been the most stressful on memory. Lol

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, fishtaco said:

But not sure P&O will live up to our past cruising expectations even Sad old modernized P&O?

I know it will be fantastic in the end because we are social by nature and  a  cruise to me goes well beyond ship size age and modern food choices!

The only reason I decided on this cruise was Home port to Home port and we are sick and tired of flying to and from destinations that take so much time and effort

Of the cruises we have done over the years the home to home  port Pacific Sun and Dawn have been the most stressful on memory. Lol

Which cruise are you doing?

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, fishtaco said:

But not sure P&O will live up to our past cruising expectations even Sad old modernized P&O?

I know it will be fantastic in the end because we are social by nature and  a  cruise to me goes well beyond ship size age and modern food choices!

The only reason I decided on this cruise was Home port to Home port and we are sick and tired of flying to and from destinations that take so much time and effort

Of the cruises we have done over the years the home to home  port Pacific Sun and Dawn have been the most stressful on memory. Lol

They aren't sending many ships your way now. Back B.C. they were planning to send Emerald Princess for a decent season, and the 2024 season on Coral Princess has recently been halved.

[fishtaco]

7 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Which cruise are you doing?

12 night Indonesia 3rd April 24, We have done this cruise quite a few years ago on Pacific Sun.

[Ozwoody]

44 minutes ago, fishtaco said:

12 night Indonesia 3rd April 24, We have done this cruise quite a few years ago on Pacific Sun.

That looks a reasonably nice cruise, have you done Komodo Island before?

We went there in 2018, really enjoyed it.

 

Two days in Broome, that's a place my wife has on her wish list.

What's it like as a cruise stop over?

 

Regards

John

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

That looks a reasonably nice cruise, have you done Komodo Island before?

We went there in 2018, really enjoyed it.

 

Two days in Broome, that's a place my wife has on her wish list.

What's it like as a cruise stop over?

 

Regards

John

My daughter, who is currently driving around Australia in a camper van, loved Broome so much they recently extended their stay there.  I love Broome as it is unique. My daughter called it a frontier town!

[Ozwoody]

The round Australia Cruise, usually does a day stop there, I wonder whether that's enough or should I look at a air trip to give her a better visit there?

Would it be worth the cost and involved travel, to get there?

 

[MMDown Under]

3 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

The round Australia Cruise, usually does a day stop there, I wonder whether that's enough or should I look at a air trip to give her a better visit there?

Would it be worth the cost and involved travel, to get there?

 

Definitely spend longer at Broome, if possible, as it is well worth the cost.  My daughter recently extended her stay in Broome, as they enjoyed it so much.  It has the oldest outside movie theatre in the world from memory.  Dampier Peninsula, to the north east, is outstandingly beautiful.  We visited Beagle Bay Sacred Heart Church and stayed at Lombadina and Kooljaman at Cape Leveque, beautiful red cliffs, white beaches, and blue seas.  It is fascinating to watch the high tides receding.  Koolijaman closed and I don't know if it has reopened.  

[fishtaco]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

They aren't sending many ships your way now. Back B.C. they were planning to send Emerald Princess for a decent season, and the 2024 season on Coral Princess has recently been halved.

Pity we just dont have the population numbers but given the rise in post covid Asian air fares local cruises might become a more popular option in the future? I could see Broome and Darwin cruises being full almost all year.

[fishtaco]

7 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

That looks a reasonably nice cruise, have you done Komodo Island before?

We went there in 2018, really enjoyed it.

 

Two days in Broome, that's a place my wife has on her wish list.

What's it like as a cruise stop over?

 

Regards

John

we have been to Broome a few times and even on Cruises set for Vietnam and Singapore, I was flown up once for an SES search, man it can get hot and sticky! Yes we did the Komodo Island dragon tour, many on our cruise were pretty mad because you could only leave the ship if you had a pre booked ships tour, not sure if that's changed.

[fishtaco]

6 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

My daughter, who is currently driving around Australia in a camper van, loved Broome so much they recently extended their stay there.  I love Broome as it is unique. My daughter called it a frontier town!

Defiantly a frontier town lol

[Ozwoody]

15 minutes ago, fishtaco said:

we have been to Broome a few times and even on Cruises set for Vietnam and Singapore, I was flown up once for an SES search, man it can get hot and sticky! Yes we did the Komodo Island dragon tour, many on our cruise were pretty mad because you could only leave the ship if you had a pre booked ships tour, not sure if that's changed.

Thanks for info on Broome.

 

Yes Komodo you still need to have a booked excursion, either Ship or privately organised.

 

Have you checked what is the latest Indonesian requirements for visa entry?

Those on the 2023WC had a lot of chatter about their visa costs etc, haven't followed up on the outcome but may be worth checking latest.

They can be touchy re people having every thing just right.

 

Regards

John

 

[fishtaco]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Thanks for info on Broome.

 

Yes Komodo you still need to have a booked excursion, either Ship or privately organised.

 

Have you checked what is the latest Indonesian requirements for visa entry?

Those on the 2023WC had a lot of chatter about their visa costs etc, haven't followed up on the outcome but may be worth checking latest.

They can be touchy re people having every thing just right.

 

Regards

John

 

As far as I am aware Indonesia doesn't charge for Visa on arrival for Australians, even my last cruise to Indonesia all Aussies were refunded the visa cost charged by the CruiseLine minus a small fee for Emigration to be on the cruise prior to arriving, if I remember correctly Vietnam was a bit different though as they have no visa on arrival so cost was above normal for a special short time visa issued onboard by Viet Emigration. Some nationalities on a WC would not be eligible for free VOA in Indonesia. Anyway Its just one visa on this cruise so I have no problem wearing any costs.

[NSWP]

Exactly fishtaco, you pay a lot of monry for a cruise so a few dollars for a visa is a non event, in my opinion anyway. Above all enjoy.

[fishtaco]

12 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

The round Australia Cruise, usually does a day stop there, I wonder whether that's enough or should I look at a air trip to give her a better visit there?

Would it be worth the cost and involved travel, to get there?

 

One night is enough to see the entire Town Pearl lugger docks and the huge beach with enough time to visit Coles and the Pub lol But if you want to include a camel ride and Stairway you need a few days.

[Ozwoody]

5 hours ago, fishtaco said:

As far as I am aware Indonesia doesn't charge for Visa on arrival for Australians, even my last cruise to Indonesia all Aussies were refunded the visa cost charged by the CruiseLine minus a small fee for Emigration to be on the cruise prior to arriving, if I remember correctly Vietnam was a bit different though as they have no visa on arrival so cost was above normal for a special short time visa issued onboard by Viet Emigration. Some nationalities on a WC would not be eligible for free VOA in Indonesia. Anyway Its just one visa on this cruise so I have no problem wearing any costs.

Evidently it has changed this year.

 

The 2023WC has just been there and they were charged $60 USD by Princess, whether they got off the boat or not.

 

So I'm told anyway. Maybe P&O have included it in the fare? Hope so.

[Ozwoody]

59 minutes ago, fishtaco said:

One night is enough to see the entire Town Pearl lugger docks and the huge beach with enough time to visit Coles and the Pub lol But if you want to include a camel ride and Stairway you need a few days.

That doesn't make it sound very attractive for cruise port!😬

[Ozwoody]

I could just see Hil's face when I said we're going for a camel ride!!!!! 🤬

[fishtaco]

10 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Evidently it has changed this year.

 

The 2023WC has just been there and they were charged $60 USD by Princess, whether they got off the boat or not.

 

So I'm told anyway. Maybe P&O have included it in the fare? Hope so.

Yes I can see the visa charge  if the emigration have to get onboard before they reach Indonesia!

I am pretty sure we had to hand over our passports when embarking the ship for Vietnam and it took all that time to get everyone's passport checked and stamped by the Viet Emigration that must have been onboard at Freo? We all had to visit the emigration officials during the trip to be checked against our passports.

 

Our first stop is Komodo and they have no emigration there to be able to issue Visa on arrival for that many people so CruiseLine will have to pay for a bulk visitor visa I suppose?

 

Thanks for the info, it wont be a surprise payment now.  🙂

 

 

[arxcards]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:20 PM, fishtaco said:

Pity we just dont have the population numbers but given the rise in post covid Asian air fares local cruises might become a more popular option in the future? I could see Broome and Darwin cruises being full almost all year.

I don't have any foresight. It would be nice, but years away. A lot of the schedules are out through till the end of 2025, and the number of cruises is shrinking - for now.

[lyndarra]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:29 PM, fishtaco said:

we have been to Broome a few times and even on Cruises set for Vietnam and Singapore, I was flown up once for an SES search, man it can get hot and sticky! Yes we did the Komodo Island dragon tour, many on our cruise were pretty mad because you could only leave the ship if you had a pre booked ships tour, not sure if that's changed.

You must have a pre-booked tour to visit Komodo. It is strictly policed and the tour operators require government approval and registration. You cannot go ashore and wander around on your own. That's how it was as recent as January this year.

[mum and son]

On 6/17/2023 at 4:21 PM, fishtaco said:

As far as I am aware Indonesia doesn't charge for Visa on arrival for Australians, even my last cruise to Indonesia all Aussies were refunded the visa cost charged by the CruiseLine minus a small fee for Emigration to be on the cruise prior to arriving, if I remember correctly Vietnam was a bit different though as they have no visa on arrival so cost was above normal for a special short time visa issued onboard by Viet Emigration. Some nationalities on a WC would not be eligible for free VOA in Indonesia. Anyway Its just one visa on this cruise so I have no problem wearing any costs.

I recently travelled to Bali and you pay $50pp for a VOA. Would it be any different for a cruise? I love Komodo, we did a wonderful private tour that included the dragons, and a small boat cruise to Pink Beach, and were served the best lunch. To this day my family still talk about the "Pink Beach pineapple". Nothing has ever lived up to it!

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, mum and son said:

I recently travelled to Bali and you pay $50pp for a VOA. Would it be any different for a cruise? I love Komodo, we did a wonderful private tour that included the dragons, and a small boat cruise to Pink Beach, and were served the best lunch. To this day my family still talk about the "Pink Beach pineapple". Nothing has ever lived up to it!

The Pink Beach appeals to me more than the dragons  Can you just visit the beach on tour with lunch?

[mum and son]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

The Pink Beach appeals to me more than the dragons  Can you just visit the beach on tour with lunch?

To be honest, I'm not sure. There could definitely be private operators who may cater to your personal choice. I know our guide travelled a very long way to Komodo to host the tour. He told us it took a day or 2 in a very small boat, and he said a lot of the guides do the same when a ship visits so I guess they want to make a day of it and worth their while. We actually chose not to go ashore at Pink Beach and just enjoyed the boat we were on, dived and swam off the side, and ate lunch. It was a wonderful day for young and old alike!

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

The Pink Beach appeals to me more than the dragons  Can you just visit the beach on tour with lunch?

Pink beach is on a different part of Komodo. We booked a Komodo tour that included lunch on a boat as we motored to the island where we spent some time snorkeling. Equipment was provided the snorkeling was very good. I was very surprised to see a beautiful beche de mer. Surprised at its bright  blue  and also that it had not been eaten - yet!