SinbadThePorter

Wow. That's a great deal. Was it a one off? We are on the next cruise in a vista suite. It would save us having to bring our own soft drink.

There are two Princess cruises out of Sydney in August and September to the Conflict Islands that have got me flummoxed. I can't see how they are going to take place. Or if they do, I can't see what would replace the Conflicts.

I'll go against the grain here and say stick with the cruises. Land trips are very good, but when you are in an unfamiliar country they can be tiring and troublesome. Especially compared with the care free travel on board a cruise ship. There is no way that everything can be seen of anything. So we are always going to get a truncated view of any place we visit. The perspective from a cruise ship is limited, but it's still worthwhile. You are on vacation. Do you really want to have to worry about connecting flights and local road rules? My advice is to maximise your time here with as many cruises as you can fit in. The way not to feel short changed is not to worry about the things you aren't seeing, but to focus on all the great things you are seeing. I was going to add a little joke about how experiencing New Zealand culture is something that New Zealanders also aspire to, but that would be rude. 😎

Would a call to Princess work?

With a strong Westerly like we have you can sometimes get away with sneaking down close along the coast to Jervis Bay.

It really holds back P&O in my opinion. If they would just spend a little more on provender and take a little more care in the galley, they would be far less like a budget cruise line.

Princess have a "Seas the Day" sale on until the 16th June. Inside fares per person: $299, Oct 8th, 3 day Sydney/Eden/Sydney Cruise $299, Jan 24th, 3 day Adelaide/KI/Melbourne $1499, Dec 8th, 13 day Sydney/Fiji/Sydney $1499, Jan 16th, 13 day Sydney/NZ/Auckland

"Public Wi-Fi will be available at the cruise terminal."

I always thought Angelo's was the best dining option on P&O. The food is the main reason I moved on from P&O. I had no real problem with anything else they did.

BYO lollies.

There is a major redevelopment project underway in Northshore and Portside. The entire riverfront from the Bretts Wharf Ferry to the Northshore Ferry is going to be rebuilt in the lead up to the Olympics. They haven't released anything about it, but I imagine that it will include the Portside dock.

One of the common types of power points used by the Chinese is the same as ours. So Majestic had them from the start. They tend to use it upside down, but it's electrically and physically the same.

For me the cruise season always starts when the first Alaska ship gets back from her TransPacific. This year that's October 22nd, 2022.

I think it was Legend of the Seas.

I went down for a look. It was cold and miserable, but there was a smell of anticipation in the air. Or else it was the next door neighbours. 😱

There was a multi-million dollar road upgrade in 2020. If you ask me where the money went I'd guess at the Cayman Islands, because you can't see it in the road. 😉 Although the problem is more likely to be road damage due to heavy vehicles, exacerbated by the roads being a built on a swamp.

The recent visit by Pacific Explorer is probably as close as we'll get. The Premier and the Lord Mayor were there. There was a band and the parking was free. 🙂

I'm in that photo. 😀

The new cruise terminal is where it is mainly because it is on the last bit of riverside land available, and it was available because nobody else wanted it. 🤑 What cheeses me off somewhat is that you aren't even allowed to walk into the terminal. I agree that it seems extremely unlikely that a small boat jetty will be built there. 😒 That said, I'm very happy we have it. 😁

I went out to the terminal for a look. Pacific Explorer is looking spic and span. The terminal is looking good too. Parking was free today.

If you need to do it, it can be done. Earliest flight I have caught from Sydney Domestic after walking off in the first batch from a cruise was 10:00am. You would need to add at least another hour to that for International.

That depends on whether the ship is doing one last NZ cruise before heading across the Pacific. If that's the case then the NZ stops are rolled into the TransPacific. It's been known in both directions. It's more usual to make stops only in Auckland and maybe Bay of Islands in NZ, but the other cruises with more NZ ports do exist.

At the Sydney end, March is definitely warmer than October. Across the Pacific there isn't really enough difference to matter. October is maybe a little drier in the South Pacific. The ocean is probably a little warmer in March.

It was really free time limited internet. It was a real pain to have to count those login minutes and be very careful to logout properly. Even when you logged out properly, the system sometimes didn't recognize it and then you'd have to argue with the Internet Cafe guy over getting those minutes back. 😠 Give me 50% off unlimited internet any day of the week.

Since there is no way to know how much of the money actually goes to wages, the cruise lines should just call it a service charge.