thistledoo

Following along with interest. Can you go into the current changeover process in Vancouver - we'll be in the same situation next year (same cabin on the B2B).

We asked about this last month, but was told it has been discontinued.

The space taken up by the Art Auction people isn't right - for displays and especially the closing off of lounges for the auctions.

From Princess today - Our 33-night B2B Emerald Princess South America February 2019 is cancelled. Star Princess will be doing some Sth America runs, with the new itineraries not yet finalised. They have promised to work with us to help find a suitable alternative once this happens.

Thanks, I wasn't looking hard enough! Can you tell me what does NCF stand for in the last column?

Thankyou very much. Is there a $US price schedule available yet for South America similar to the Asian one?

My thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu. That country seems to get more than their fair share of cyclones. It is a surprise so late in the cyclone season.

 

Good news that it is not heading to NZ, like the last one. Interesting that the next NZ weather event is expected to be from a complex trough south of Adelaide.

Weatherzone shows models are in general agreement it is heading towards NZ as a low.

http://forum.weatherzone.com.au/ubbthreads.php/topics/1422939/TC_Donna_threatening_New_Caled#Post1422939

Make booking conditions and promos the same worldwide.

We chose to do a private tour that had been arranged by JDighton (Jeff). Jeff arranged two 20 passenger van's with 10 people on each bus. Was a fantastic day and a great group to travel with.

Thanks. Sounds similar to the tour we are on later in the year.

Petra was amazing to visit. It is one of those wonders of the world that a single picture can barely capture the beauty and grandeur of the site. The weather was very mild at about 75 F. The sun was very intense so a good sun block is highly recommended.

 

We had a delightful surprise after out visit with a late Lunch (4:00 PM). We were hosted at the University of Jordan Petra Architectural and Heritage facility. It was the first time they had hosted a visit and were the perfect hosts and wonderful lunch.

Love the Petra pictures. Did you take a ship or private tour to Petra?

I can't say for Splendour but this is not true for Legend. We actually booked a cruise early last May (whilst onboard Ovation) which should have taken place next month on Legend. Within a few weeks of booking the cruise was showing sold out and after a number of emails and denials that the ship had been sold - and despite seeing an announcement in late May that it would be sold to Tui - we finally received a letter confirming the sale at the beginning of June. The ship was recently handed over to Tui, so that's less than a year from the sale announcement to the handover.

We were also booked on B2Bs on the Legend when it was sold. We are now booked on similar B2B cruises in October on the Constellation and will be mightily ticked off if they also don't go ahead, although at six months out we should be pretty right.

Read on a blog that they are having problems with a diesel generator.

Guess not for Aussie cards... no matter what I tried.. :)

I emailed them asking why we couldn't get the same offer. Got the normal "thanks for your email......,will let marketing peole know of your enquiry....."

Same company, same cruiseline - think we should get the same. Is it available anywhere else outside the US?

I noticed NCL has the same offer, but not here.

I know that Princess won't let Aussies book through a US TA but Celebrity, Cunard and HAL do as examples. Agree with Aus Traveller about that scare tactic.

Yes you can. Not encouraged, but confirmed by the Future Cruise Consultant on our last cruise. We received quotes from a US TA, saying they were allowed to book, but added a $US100 surcharge to the quote.

We didn't book with them in the end, the price we got here was similar. Good to get comparisons though, and we will continue to get other prices for cruises not originating or ending in Australia.

DH and I hired motor scooters in Bali. I have a motorcycle licence. He does not.

 

The company hiring out scooters arranged for him to have a driving test (by police) on the spot and he was issued with a licence. So, in one instance at least, the folk in Bali were taking the proper precautions.

The news report said the lady did not have an Australian motorcycle licence. The report also said The General Exclusions clause in the Allianz Insurance Basic policy states: "This applies even if you are not required by law to hold a licence in the country."

Wonder if this is just an Allianz thing? Isn't Allianz behind a lot of credit card insurance?

This is a very sad story of an Australian lady left uninsured in a Thai hospital. Apparently she was riding a motorcycle without holding an Australian motorcycle licence which voided her travel insurance.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-27/injured-australian-woman-dawn-weldon--stuck-in-thai-hospital/8218036

I did the same cruise in early December - it was fine. You should have warmer weather than we did so that means the pools will be good and if you choose to use the Sanctuary it won't be a howling gale like it was for us. The only two really annoying things for me were 1) the art auctions which took up the Explorer's Lounge and the area outside it on several days and 2) the IC was always busy and we never got a chance to sit and have coffee there. As well they had loud entertainment in the area so people would sit on for hours to watch it.

Otherwise meals were good, the entertainment was certainly better than I anticipated and we had a lovely time.

Go with an open mind and you'll enjoy it and besides you have extra perks being in a full suite so that will make it great. :)

We were on the Beijing cruise and the same two issues with the art auctions and the crowding around the IC and atrium. Plus we both got sick twice which had us disembarking thinking we didn't ever want to do another cruise again.

However that lasted all of two weeks and now we have another three cruises booked this year. All cruises are good, just some better than others. Once the cruising bug hits..........

I sincerly hope they have learnt something from the reports on the cruise over and then the xmas cruise, I do hope it goes very well for you, we have decided that after experriencing Voyager, Diamond Princess and now Ovation the best way to avoid disapointment is to simply not get on ANY cruise ANY brand ship that is home based in China or has been "refurbished" for the chinese market and keep to those ships that still do the world or USA sailings where "western everything" is fully understood and more important the number 1 priority if you get my drift, if they want their ships for the Chinese market that bad then let them have them so to speak....the wear and tear on this ship already can be seen as with the other 2 I have mentioned so that is our rule from here on in:)

We did the Golden Princess repo from Beijing to Sydney in October - we will never do a cruise originating there again. We will consider one to Asia from an Australian port but only at the end of our summer season.

We have Classic package for next Tuesday's cruise, so no problem. I was wondering about buying a wine package on first cruise to drink in BLU during 2nd cruise where we have no beverage package. Anyone ever done that? I know on a previous cruise we did not drink all of our bottles of wine and they gave them to us the last night to pack to bring home to enjoy. Our favorite wine can't be purchased anywhere in our area so that was a treat. I tried special ordering but no luck. I guess Celebrity buys it all for their ships. Since we are Elite+ not having a drink package is ok and we do have coupons for discounts on our wine in BLU but was just looking for the most economical way to deal with dinner wine.

I know this topic is a bit old, but I would also like to know about unused wine in the dining room on the first leg of a B2B. We have the same cabin, do they check the fridges in the cabin. Thinking we'd like to hang on to our two bottles brought onboard to use on the second leg when we don't have a package?

Recently booked 2 x celebrity cruises for Mediterranean in 2018 and grats are automatically included in the price and no price increase from what was previously advertised prior to announcement. I had to ring Celebrity about something and they advised if you booked the cruise via Celebrity Australia or an Australian TA grats were included in the price no matter where you were cruising to / from. We had a "perks" deal and what was offered as the four perks were; Drink package / $150 OBC / Internet / $150 OBC. As there were 4 perks advertised in my deal to chose from they had to remove grats as one of the perks and in lieu of this they are offering extra OBC as a choice.

I personally think this is a good deal, then as an Aussie who is not used to automatically tipping I don't have to worry about it.:D

I checked our bookings for Celebrity later in the year and gratuities are not included in our fares. It only applied for bookings made after 16 December. I have copied the text below from the Australian terms and conditions page:

"For bookings created prior to 11 December 2016, if you have not pre-paid the service charge at time of booking, Celebrity Cruises will add a daily service charge amount of US$13.50 (US$14.00 for Concierge/Aqua Class and US$17.00 for suite guests) to each guest’s onboard SeaPass℠ account. If you wish to have these removed, please contact the Guest Services Desk onboard.

For bookings created from 12 December 2016 onwards for cruises departing 15 January 2017 onwards, onboard service charges for stateroom attendants and dining room staff are included in your voyage fare."

I am pretty sure it is MSC, but I think they do loyalty programme matching.

have the time - and would LOVE TO DO THIS- now just need to 'find' how to grab this deal ~~~

 

(and have to arrange NZ mate to catch up in Tauranga - about an hour from Te Ahora)

It's on the RC website, go into cabin selection and you will see the cheaper prices.

There are some great deals out there but it appears RCI 5 day Boxing day sale doesn't have any of them. The sale that is not a sale.:(

Combination of the falling $A and included gratuities? Maybe cruises are selling well enough not to heavily discount fares. Which is sad for those cruisers sweating off on a last minute bargain.

We did a 12-dayer on the Radiance last year to the islands. We just loved the ship and hardly saw any of the supposed 500 children on board.

4pm Friday. She is overnighting. Guess they need 2 days to restock and refuel.;)

Thanks. Will set up a reminder and try to watch it on the webcam.