cathaana

I've been using Wise for years and never had a problem. I'll check out Upbank though. Never hurts to have a backup card. 😄

Happy to message you with details. Doesn't seem to be enabled currently.

Prices were VERY reasonable 1.5 years ago. We booked through a German travel agency and received a pretty nice onboard credit which covered all our drink costs. There are a few FB groups dedicated to E2 (e.g. MS Europa 2 (neue Gruppe) - a German group but they are happy to help out English speakers) so you might find an up-to-date wine list there.

Hapag Lloyd has several expedition ships and pretty cool itineraries. Obviously, the pool wouldn't be big.

I've been using Cashrewards for years. Never booked a cruise via their site but sometimes other travel such booking.com.

I have often seen the lines for pre-paid tickets be as long as the normal queues. You'll probably be fine either way.

Lived in Surfers for a couple of years and in Brisbane for about a decade. As with everything, all areas have upsides and downsides and it really depends on what you want. But I don't think you can really go wrong with any of them. We like to stay at Currumbin Sands when going to the Gold Coast or the JW Marriott if we want more of a hotel vibe. Rumba Beach when at the Sunshine Coast. In Brisbane we like the Emporium.

HL's Europa 2 has entry-level cabins with bath tubs. Food is quite good. Your price-point should work as well, even with drinks being extra. Enrichment might be a bit limited in English but it's certainly there.

Are you talking about Hapag Lloyd? Their ships are not all inclusive when it comes to drinks (but the mini-bar is (at least on the Europa 2, plus alcohol at the parties/special occasions).

On our E2 cruise, the whole crew spoke English. There were actually a few who didn't speak German (or barely any) and always used English. The lectures were in German but available in English on TV. Not sure whether they ever did live English lectures. There are a few extensive reviews in the Luxury Cruise sub-forum. I can't remember seeing one for the expedition ships though - also waiting on Gary there. 😄

The Luxury Cruise sub-forum has quite a bit of discussion of HL. Probably best to go there.

Great review, thanks. Good to hear that the food is still great on the Europa. Since the Europa 2 had pretty good food but not as outstanding as were we used to from the Europa, I was wondering whether it was still as good. While the Europa 2 is certainly the better choice when cruising with children, we do miss the more specialised cruises offered on the original.

Yeah, Serenissima was barely Italian. Couldn't complain about the Vitello Tonnato and the Osso Bucco was quite nice but the pasta dishes were fairly average. The desserts were very good though, especially the almond ice cream. I didn't try Tarragon but did Elements twice which I thought was pretty decent with the Indian dishes being very good. I really would like to try some other luxury lines with a reputation for good food but since none of them cater to families, I am kind of stuck with the Europa 2. Which is perfectly fine but somehow they only have cruises that work for us tim-e and location-wise every two or three years. :D

There is a bus that goes to the BICT but it doesn't run very often. Best to get a taxi or share an Uber with some other people going. It takes about 40 minutes.

I have only tried Celebrity and RCCL's version and found neither to be very good. Certainly not luxury. But obviously still better than being in a normal cabin.