Alex282

Apparently the Carnival Spirit is headed to Morton Island not far off Brisbane instead of Noumea. Unsure of other details at this stage.

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My in-laws are on Carnival Spirit right now. They already have had one change of itinerary right after departing, and now another one from Cook. I'm very interested to see what happens!

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Hi everyone!

I'm headed back to Wellington early next year again and while I love the city and know it well I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on where to go to see the cruise ships coming and going. I have seen a few from a couple of different vantage points over the years but if anyone has any special gems of places they'd recommend, I'd be all ears!

Hope everyone has a good holiday season!

I was looking last night on the RCI website at their deck plans for the refurbished Voyager OTS and it is showing that the ship won't actually have Giovanni's Table until around April next year. Is it actually being added during the dry dock next month, or will it not be available until when the website says? Seems a little strange that they won't be adding it at a time when they're doing all the other work.

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My wife and I had cabin 7172 on the Radiance, the corner cabin on the port side of deck 7. We had read a couple of times of noise and vibration from the ship's propellers and also the deck below with the Colony Club, but if there was any it doesn't hold any particular memories after 6 months.

The rooms are a fair distance from the centrum, but this gave us a good chance to walk off dinner or work up an appetite.

The balcony was lovely and did wrap around, though it did get a little tight towards the sides. With a bit of nimble manouvering we could get to the very edge. I understand they're much more roomy the higher decks you go.

We hit the tail-end of a cyclone on the second night. We spent most of the night having drinks with friends who were travelling with us in the Colony Club, directly below the cabin. The rain was really battering the windows and the ship was definitely moving a lot, but it was no better or worse there than anywhere else. Our friends had a room midships lower down and when we walked them back to their cabin, the ship was still heaving about but it didn't feel any different to what was happening in our cabin.

The only negative regarding that cyclone was that the balcony began to flood. You wouldn't have wanted to go outside anyhow, but that's when the fun really starts and the rain came to us. A large amount of water got into the door frame and crept under the door itself, and while it was interesting at first watching it splash from one side of the door to the other on the outside as the ship moved, it began coming in at a pretty fast rate fairly quickly. Nothing to ruin the evening, but the cleaners came up pretty quickly with a fan to dry it as we put towels down. A bit noisy, but not to worry as we grabbed our jackets and went back down for another few drinks.

I too have never seen them open. I just chalk it up to "it's too expensive" to fix, maintain etc. Much like I have never seen the revolving bar move on any of the Radiance ships. It functions without the movement, so why spend the money for parts to fix it. Neither of these affect my cruise either way, so I could care less.

While the roof didn't open (so far as I saw), I can say that the revolving bar was certainly moving on the Radiance in February this year. It didn't make anything taste any better or add anything extra to the room, but the rotating was absolutely commented on by a lot of people we spoke to while we were watching it.

Can't wait to begin seeing updates to the ship. We'll be aboard in February, so I'm very excited to see everything fresh and new!

Chatting to one of the bartenders about mid way through our trip on Radiance earlier this year, he told us that on the first night of the 11-night cruise two men were banned from alcohol consumption after overdoing it more than just a little bit. He did stress to us, as he poured our next drink, that it wasn't unusual for people to be banned from imbibing, but not usually that early into the trip.

When did the WJ on Radiance start opening at 11:00pm for late night snacks :confused::confused:

Not sure when specifically, but it did at least one night on our cruise in February. We only wandered by and didn't go in, but people were in there grabbing a few things. It was also mentioned in our Cruise Compass that it would be open again around this time.

The Windjammer closed at 9pm for dinner on the Radiance, but opened again at 11pm for 'late night snacks'. It, along with the Park Cafe and the Boardwalk Doghouse stayed open until between midnight and 1am from then.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. It was nothing more than an 'I wonder if...' situation that, if 'if' was doable, we would do.

And yes, the QM2, when docked at the OPT we went in backwards. I suppose it all depends upon which side the entrance to the ship is, as not all are set out symmetrically.

Those ferries don't mess about once they pull away from the wharf at Circular Quay. If you caught a ferry that left at the same time the cruise ship was expected to depart the ferry would probably be half way to Manly by the time the cruise ship rounded the Opera House. The big ships take a while to get moving I think.

 

I would say that you'd have a better chance of getting a good look at the cruise ship if you were coming back from Manly. It would be very hard to work out the timing going in the same direction

I figured that'd be the case. We've done the trip many times before but never really had a need to time it, so we never gave it a thought. Just a thought, at least.

Just a quick question I was pondering over today; how easy is it to catch the Manly Ferry and sail along side a cruise ship leaving Sydney Harbour? It would be easier finding on the return trip to Circular Quay I dare say, but that would mean cutting our evening a little short at the bar we all like across the harbour. We were planning on sailing out around the same time as the Rhapsody of the Seas on February 1st, both leaving Circular Quay around 1830. Would it be better leaving a half hour earlier/later to catch it, or would/could it catch up with us?

I managed to deactivate mine within 30 minutes of being on board. One crew member said it was probably to do with my iPhone and recommended the card and phone be kept separate, but for the rest of the cruise the new card and phone were kept in the same pocket.

Either a Tom Collins or Whiskey Sour