Westaussie

1 hour ago, Witchymob said:

Hi West Aussie,

  Don't care where it goes as suffering cruise withdrawal as no cruises last year now they have stopped coming here in winter.

Same here!!  Next cruise not till end October.  Have been in some rough seas around the world (including typhoon out of HK) but I don't need to go looking to be bounced around.  Broome is lovely at the time of these cruises so I think Coral Coast is looking good.

1 minute ago, possum52 said:

No way would I sail across the Blight during winter! 😀

 

Leigh

Sadly that has been my thinking but for us the full circumnavigation is so rare from Fremantle.  Can't believe the West is so spoiled for choice but maybe the Coral Coast cruises may be more attractive.

Any thoughts on cruising southern Australia in winter?  We've sailed across to Sydney three times in summer and the Bight has been relatively calm and the cities warm and dry.

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

It has just gone back to Watch and Act which is good and it seems the Southern Suburbs may have a bit of a reprieve for now. Tharwa is still in trouble and the Orroral fire is about to merge with the second one  (Mt Clear range) which is a little further south, this is the one threatening Michelago, Williamsdale and Royalla. 

Stay safe Mic.  We used to live in Farrer I believe not far from you (before that Garran & Campbell)  Still have several friends there who are ready to leave if need be.

12 minutes ago, NSWP said:

You might even be a TV star yourself !!

Cameraman did turn camera towards us in Crooners Bar - hope it's edited out!

We were on Sun Princess last year to Broome and she and her crew were on board so will enjoy see that one!

4 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Me too, but if they are sending her to Alaska she needs to be there for the start of that season so leaving Sydney mid-May would be too late. I think it takes close to a month for the transPacific repositioning.

Yes, we did the repo cruise on Golden this year and left mid April.

6 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I reckon the North Americans jumped up and down and said we want our Sapphire back.   Having been on her for a month last year in Europe, I understand why, great ship.  The grand class Princess ships are my favourite.

Like those ships too, together with a good itinerary and making it b2b is disappointing.  Wish they had made their changes after the cruise returned to Sydney.

Received email from Princess during the week about this but it's still showing on my Personalizer and still able to book excursions!  It was a good itinerary and at a better time of year for PNG weatherwise.  Included Champagne Bay which we love.  Also booked b2b with the cruise before from Freo to Sydney which is still listed so I wonder where Sapphire is going after Sydney?  Second time this has happened as Princess cancelled a South American cruise we were booked on a few years ago.  Oh well, back to the drawing board!

On 9/27/2019 at 4:08 AM, Baynanno1 said:

While others "down under" may have received this survey, we did not.

We are familiar with the hotel groups mentioned by marinaro44 and always book our own.

Received it a few hours ago and filled it in.  Pretty straight forward.

We were on this cruise with you having started in Venice.  We did the wine tour in Gozo and had a very good Maltese guy and the tasting on a covered terrace atop a hill was very pleasant and cool.

Did you not get the two chocolate covered cake squares each night?  Ours had often dried out by the time we got to our cabin!  On past cruises we have asked for them not to be delivered.  Very enjoyable three weeks on Pursuit.

10 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Hopefully they will be back at San Basilio soon. Absolutely the best position for strolling into Venice. 

Totally agree with you.  We board Pursuit 6th July and with night on board in Venice hope it will be back at San Basilio.  Have used Marittima twice before and the People Mover has very long queues particularly in the morning (several thousand people disembarking some very large ships)  Second time we were on a cruise from Barcelona to Athens we didn't wait to use it and walked the distance.  Don't think I would enjoy that area at night either, so I'm not sure what Azamara means about it being more convenient.

16 hours ago, Busy Mum said:

Thank you David - I also hope this gorgeous weather continues and calm seas join us along the way! 🙂

 

Vicki.

Was a beautiful day yesterday friends of ours came up from Wellington.  looking forward to boarding and like you all the way to Vancouver fly to Toronto to visit family  ( better than flying both ways )

22 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Perhaps they were getting some of the things fixed. Or they needed a deep clean which would have delayed everything.

They've just left now three hours late.  Think they were boarding normal time but on FB it was chaos according to someone - which sounds unusual for OPT.  Maybe the captain found the key!

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

. As for maintenance, perhaps they are cutting back now it is sold.

Hope not - we're boarding in Auckland to Vancouver.  Have been watching the Sydney webcams, it's almost 2 hours late leaving and still sitting there. 

5 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

We have been checking hotels in Auckland for an upcoming visit. Several Novotel brand hotels have an inexpensive add on for early arrival or late departure. Found the option when starting a booking and it came up as an option. I hate sitting in hotel lobbies after a long flight, but feeling too tired to walk around. This will be a good option for us and less than the cost of the previous night add on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, agree Novotel is great that way and have used them in London and US but it's hard to find many other hotels with the reduced day rate unless they are very close to airports. 

There is another alternative but it will cost money - book hotel for the night prior to your arrival then you can get straight to your room, lie down for a few hours then shower and head out on your adventure!  We have done this several times after those long flights to US or Europe.  There won't be much open at 6.30 a.m. Some hotels have 'day rates'

8 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Thanks for prompt reply.  Just thinking about Azamara as an alternative.  

I have seen all types of alcohol issues on ships, from the fight in the disco to the group who started their day with bloody Mary’s for breakfast, no food and the ones with the all included all inclusive package who had to get their money’s worth.

Sailed 30 cruises, with 7 different lines, so pretty much seen all types of behaviour.

Have sailed seven times with Azamara and have never seen anyone drunk.  I know what you're getting at - definitely none of that 'bogan' behavior!

15 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

I am watching too. Azamara is coming in now,  

The old grainy pictures were better!  Looks like a good excuse for a trip down to Freo for a close up look if they've opened the new viewing platform yet, old area closed for years because of security.  They've been spending millions upgrading the terminal but I couldn't see any changes when we sailed from there eight weeks ago.

24 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Yes ..great views of Fremantle , but not of the cruise ships at the terminal . Not having much luck with the time lapse , seems rather clunky and hap hazard. The sail in should  be OK as long  ..... as they are watched live.

And therefore keeping an eye on Marine Traffic - which is what I'm doing and Quest is not far off. 

7 hours ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

I liked there old cameras, but it will be interesting to see what we can do with these new cams

Agree,  these two give lovely views of Fremantle, I would prefer close-ups of the ships even when zoomed in it's hard to see what it (AidaAura) is.  Camera on the other side of harbour would be good.  At 8.00 WST today my favourite ship Azamara Quest is scheduled to arrive, best view will be well before it reaches the terminal ... two ships in Freo today!

11 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

See post #10.

Thanks.  Looks like each ship has it's own interpretations!!  Well, I'll find out for myself next year.

Is there a time limit (e.g Princess to end of year)?  I still have some punches left on card purchased this month, the back has Radiance, voyage and cabin number written on it, makes me wonder that I can use it again?

Thanks Jenny and Baynanno1 - great help

Have another two cruises on Azamara next year and looking at excursions I would like to find out what time/s they are without having to make a mock booking of the excursion and then cancelling. Have to do this for every excursion listed in a particular port - is there a more straightforward way of finding the times?!