Cabansail

I just do not get the whole tipping culture. Would far prefer the staff to be paid properly in the first place.

We pre-paid the gratuities and considered that the fare. Having a suite the gratuities were higher anyway.

On RCI there were envelopes available for anyone you wanted to give some extra. Our steward was excellent so we put in some AU$ and then I realised I had some Indonesian cash left over and he was Indonesian, so put that in as well.

Wait staff in the MDR were fine but not more than expected. We did not drink on board so did not have anything to do with bar staff.

tl/dr Just go with the Pre-Paid Gratuities and only sling a bit extra is someone is exceptional.

Shhhhhh you cant say that or they might think we like 'em

I do like them. Have considered getting one as a pet if it was house trained. They make great watchdogs if they can do the Hakka.

the biggest problem is that the Kiwis really want to be like Aussies but know that they'll never rise to the occasion, they can't help it, it's just how it is.

I actually think that in many ways the Kiwi's have it better than us. They have retained some of the things we have have lost.

Have only been to UnZud twice but loved it there each time.

What is good for someone else may not suit you.

How do you intend to use the camera?

What will you be shooting?

What is your expectation of quality?

If you want Auto everything and a good size screen then maybe using the camera in your phone will satisfy most of your requirements. Some phones do have quite good inbuilt cameras now and it's one less thing to carry.

If it's Dame Edna

 

And

 

Sir Les

 

Why isn't it Sir Barry.

Because they are all different, real people of course.

I do think that Trump joke has gone on too long. It's about time that Sacha Baron Cohen took off that silly disguise and did the reveal.

We brought on two good bottles (RCI) and had them with two dinners.

There was a enough good wine at Chef's Table.

We had a couple of drinks with friend in Darwin.

On board we did not buy any other drinks. The packages were not good value and the prices of individual drinks was so high that we did not bother.

Still for the 16 days we had more drinks than we would have had at home.

Cruise Ships are very environmentally friendly - They run on Alcohol.

Sam is almost as funny as Trump.

However Sam is just an old football player and not a professional comedian.

Some people have told me that Trump is serious, but they also tried to tell me Dame Edna was a man :rolleyes:

Since posting that I have actually gone back and looked at all the Lambassador Australia Day ads that Sam Kekovich has made. Above is just the first and last one's.

There has been a lot of outrage from many Vegan groups. I do not mind vegan food but find that some vegans do seem to have a humour deficiency.

If you fancy a very small cruise ship when here drop me a line.

nthnsw (at) hotmail dot com

The Skycouch did not get a very good review here.

Good to see you have listened to Sam Kekovich

[YOUTUBE]ZtWVJikNnx4[/YOUTUBE]

Then there's the new one this year.

[YOUTUBE]6wboSW0GhIs[/YOUTUBE]

There are Shuttle Buses available. That is one service.

The 400 bus goes to both terminals. It runs from Bondi Junction to Burwood.

There used to be an Airport Bus but that was cancelled to push people to the train which is operated by Airport Link and the NSW Govt. The split is 15% - 85% in favour of the Govt.

Kilo Kilo Kilo is a White Supremacist Alert.

Sydney is probably the nicest Chinese city.

The Airport Train is a rip-off. It will cost you half as much as a taxi for one and the same for two. It is nowhere near as convenient.

I think the last time I was in Sydney and had to drop off a Motorhome then get to the airport by bus it was about $3.40. I helped a couple who were also going to fly out when we had to change buses at a railway station. They had done their homework and knew to avoid the train. It's a pity as I prefer trains but when Howard sold the airports they ceased to be a public utility and became a license to print money.

Close to AU$10 for a beer .... would taste way better if it were AU$25 though.

Underwater Apostles?

Must be only the boss who can walk on water.

Have the sausages for breakfast ..... doubt they have been anywhere near meat :)

It would be good if they were to double the drinks and package prices. Think of how low the fares could drop then.

It would still only take 5 drinks at their rates to justify the packages, so not much would change.

Our experience has been that they only allowed a certain number of people into the terminal and up the escalator at a time for check-in. This means that there are lines of unhappy people outside of the terminal waiting. Our last time there was in April of 2014, so I don't know if that has changed or not.

It's a traditional thing. We associate people on boats with being convicts. :D

Has anyone used a good driver to pick you up at the airport?

Where will you be going?

Many of the larger hotels will have courtesy bus which is included or for a reasonable fee.

Going into the city there is a bus which operates past the airport.

There is also an Airport Train but beware there is a fee for using the station.

When travelling for work I have caught a taxi.You can get a Uber ride too if you use that service.

Getting a private driver would probably be the most expensive option.

I have only been on one cruise and it was on Radiance. We went from Fremantle to Sydney last November.

I must say I was impressed with the ship but have nothing to compare it. There were signs of age and that is to be expected though the maintenance was very good.

The staff were excellent and found Steve Davis to be very interactive. I had a bit to do with him (I offered to do some lectures) and he was approachable and helpful. I do not have any experience of the bar staff as we did not use any of them on the cruise. They could not have been too slow judging by the number of drunks around the ship.

The food was better than expected considering the number of covers. You cannot compare dining in that situation to a smaller restaurant. Cannot remember anything which was poor and quite a few things excelled. We liked the Chef's Table and Izumi.

Maybe having a Junior Suite helped giving a good impression as we enjoyed having a large private space with a good balcony.

Overall we found the cruise better than we expected. Having said that it may well be a one off and be our only cruise too, but that has nothing to do with the Radiance.

does SYdney have the VAT tax refund type of thing?

Yes - It's called the TRS (Tourist Refund Scheme) If you are going to use it then get the App so it can be ready to claim before getting to the airport.

I think I missed something joining AirBnB????

What?? Where?

AirBnB is a site where you can seek accommodation from less traditional sources. There can be gems and bargains but you also do not have the safeguards of booking a known hotel. The link is the Australian site. Many offerings are a spare room in someone's house or you can get a flat while the owners are away. You have to read between the lines of the adverts too "An interest in alternative music and a vegan lifestyle" could be a warning sign.

Just saw this on my email. It could suit some here.

Pier one offer on Scoopon

I just don't see what the big fuss is.

The fuss is that they were stuffed about and things kept changing. It can cause some to lose confidence in the product.

The way I read it, the amount of the deposit wasn't the big issue.

I too found their pre-cruise service to be terrible. Each time I rang up you got a different story. It was like they just wanted to tell you anything to get you off the phone.

When we got on the ship it was much better, other than the things I was promised on the phone were not honoured on the ship. We found the crew to be hard working, professional and friendly. If there were not other issues I would probably be someone who would cruise regularly too. However it may well be a one off event for us.