Bubbeh

On 9/20/2024 at 5:18 AM, Ozwoody said:

I don't mind sea days, in fact think their a vital part of cruising for us.

Sea days are my favourite, I have been know to stay on board rather than do a shore excursion in order to maximise my sea days.  

I'm hopping right on the Swans bandwagon.  Unfortunately, the Eagles have given us little to celebrate the last couple of years.  And they can't even decide on a coach at the moment, bring back yummy man Adam Simpson I say.

12 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Go Swans from Kentucky, sadly not on the TV here.

And we've been led to believe they're a civilised nation!  Crikey!!!

23 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

I keep reminding myself that you can't take it with you.

Since I retired, I have been really conscious of squandering the kid's/grandkid's inheritance.  This was until a friend who felt quite differently said to me one day that there is no inheritance until you're dead.  This simple statement changed my entire mindset, it's our money and we'll spend it as we like while making sure that there will always be enough for our care, if/when we can no longer look after ourselves, and also to provide for our disposal/funerals. 

@cruiser3775 is right.  If you try to get stuff on board that is not allowed you run the risk of it being removed.  All passengers should be aware of this and accept the likely confiscation of these items as just par for the course.  If you get away with it, well and good, if not just shrug your shoulders and say 'fair enough'.

My recommendation for what it's worth, the Amora on Jamison St - Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney | 5-Star Hotel in Sydney (amorahotels.com).  We've stayed here a number of times and really like it.  Not the cheapest option but, hey, life's too short to stay in cheap hotels.

On 8/13/2024 at 8:01 AM, cruiser3775 said:

Nah, that's not a safari suit. The ones I remember had short sleeves and lots of pockets with flaps, and were in pastel colours. Very James Bond!

 

 

My late father in law wore one of these for our wedding in 1984.  He always was a classy man!

On 7/30/2024 at 3:54 PM, cruiser3775 said:

I am tempted by a 17 days segment of the Cunard Queen Anne world cruise 2025, which has been re-routed away from the Red Sea, and now goes from Singapore to Cape Town.  The brand new ship looks great, though maybe a little bigger than I would prefer. 

My main worry is whether I would enjoy the formality of Cunard. I'm not a fan of dressing up, and don't own any formal evening clothes. I don't want to buy any either, but I can make an effort to find appropriate evening clothes. I have enjoyed HAL cruises, and put a high priority on food and wine, and have enjoyed some of the more upmarket entertainment on HAL.

I'm more worried that I will be out of place with the "typical" sophisticated Cunard cruiser.  Would appreciate comments from any Australian cruisers who have been on a Cunard cruise.

I share your concerns.  We're booked for a UK / Iceland cruise on the Queen Anne next August and I also do not like dressing up or formal events.  I'm a very casual person but I've been researching on the Cunard website and I see that they are not totally averse to the more casual guest.  Fortunately, we're on an organised tour and there will be a number of other Aussies travelling with us so I'm hopeful others will be in the same boat (if you'll pardon the pun).  It might just be the buffet for us or dinner in our cabin on the more formal nights.

Now I'm going to read the other responses so I can see what everyone says.

I'm a little devastated (if you can be a little devastated), Coral is my favorite ship with Cabin B232 being my favourite stateroom.  

On 9/17/2024 at 9:42 AM, arxcards said:

Not completely different, but off the beaten track. I am looking at picking a London hotel and think I have narrowed it to a handful of possibilities. Does anyone have a standout location or hotel from past experiences in London & the UK? I am not looking at cheap, quirky, trendy or luxury, but a good location, comfortable with a moderate price. A nice view would be a bonus. We are in via Heathrow and heading out to Southampton after a 6-night stint.

Whatever you do don't stay at Melia Whitehouse in London.  We stayed there in 2015 in a room too small to fit our suitcases in (I kid you not, we had to leave 2 in the corridor and climb over the rest to get the door open), right next to a service corridor where the banging and crashing all night of trolleys etc meant little sleep, not to mention the piped music into the service area and staff who decided we weren't the sort of guest they preferred (don't think they much cared for Australians as the rest of the guests were either upper crust poms or rich Arabs) and treated us like the poor relation and all of this for the gob-smacking cost of $830AUD per night!  My fault really, we'd have been better at a Holiday Inn or similar.  This hotel was booked by our TA and I obviously didn't read the Itinerary properly and probably thought that was the cost for our stay rather than per night.  

Trying not to sound like I'm whinging but, try living on this side of the country!  We get the very occasional cruise out of Fremantle (a chat with the Cruise Consultant on board last week advised that Princess had no planned cruises out of Freo for the foreseeable future) and this fills up within an hour or so and almost always does the same route eg, Singapore/Bali/Lombok and down the east coast to Sydney or, up to Broome/Exmouth/Geraldton and back.  If I lived in Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne I would consider myself blessed for the various options available to me without requiring flights and hotels.  Now please don't anyone get the sh*ts with me, I'm just trying to show that there are worse places to live for us cruise addicts.

Cooee!  Just back from a 10 day Coral Coast Cruise on the Coral Princess.  How wonderful is cruising, seriously!?  Ate too much, drank just the right amount and trivia'd twice a day.  Next cruise the Queen Anne out of Southampton in August next year and then the 2026 Princess World Cruise in 2026.  Not sure what will be more difficult, saving the money for these booked cruises or losing the weight I gained on the last one.  Hmmm........

Just now, ceeceeDee said:

Now, now Bubbeh. We ALL have something to offer! No need for one upmanship. 🤣 Or should that be 'personship'?? 🤦‍♀️

Well, let's be totally woke (a new word/concept my grandies have taught me) and use 'perchildship' - no overtly sexist language here.  😁

My suggestion would be a circumnavigation with an extension to Tassie, if possible.  From Oz it's only a quick trip across the ditch to New Zealand, now that's real treat!

6 hours ago, Jamietravelstheworld said:

Australia is a huge country and most of the tourism areas are on the southeast and east coasts.

It pays to keep in mind that quantity does not equal quality.  Give us a go over here on the best side.  😉

Yep, sure would be.  Of course if you're an adrenaline junkie such a tight time frame might be right up your alley but, I wouldn't risk it.

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

6 weeks?

That went so quick - feels like only yesterday. 😉

It's gonna be a bit of a 'blink and you'll miss it visit' , next Thursday we're cruising to Broome and back.  Only 10 days so barely worth packing for but, I'm sure I'll manage and may even be able to fill only 2 suitcases.  😁

Cooee!  I'm back from our trip to Shark Bay for 6 weeks.  Did anybody miss me?  Did anybody even notice that I was gone?  😪

32 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Change of undies & a stubby holder in a plastic shopping bag? 🙂 

And I'm accused of overpacking - sheesh!

6 minutes ago, Rassa said:

I don't like that with P&O, you have to pay first before you see your cabin choices.  These days I ring and ask for the cabin choices first, pick one over the phone and then book.   If they won't let me do it that way, I don't book.

The power of the consumer.  Not happy?  Walk, plenty more options.

On 7/16/2024 at 11:34 AM, Chiliburn said:

There are rumours they are going to drop the visa requirements for us .

 

 

https://thewest.com.au/travel/bali-visa-fees-to-go-c-15315764

I also heard that they're considering dropping the VISA requirement for a number of countries including Oz and NZ.  Back to the good old days.  I have no issue with paying the Tourist Tax, when we were there recently the improvements that have been made using this money were impressive.  

17 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Write a comment on cruise forums like this one and others like FB, write a review on review forums like Product Review, Trust Pilot and Trip Advisor. Keep it short and factual, but add enough detail without saying your name, that the company might be able to work out who you are, and get back to you.

This is a good strategy but, whatever you do, be factual avoiding emotional or pejorative language.  And never threaten to withdraw custom,  once you do that there's no reason to satisfy you.

19 hours ago, colourbird said:

I found that by calling P&O every day and wasting their time, you can get some service. One of the guys realised I had called up so many times and in total over 100 minutes, they finally relented.

My experience is that you have to be harder to ignore than to satisfy.  Works for me.

17 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

When I cruise with my husband he insisted on keep the mini bar as it is, but when I went on the World Cruise on my own, I was able to customize the selection. 🙂 The alcohol swapped to gin and the soft drinks swapped to tonic.

There are so many things I can say here but I don't know your husband and besides, from you other posts over time he seems like a good bloke.  What I did really want to do is commend you on your courage (not sure that's the right word but it's 6:31am and I have a head cold so my brain is a tad foggy) and fortitude to do a world cruise on your own.  There are times when I think that I would love to do that but then I think, who'd kiss my forehead and wish me sweet dreams each night. 

1 hour ago, Carol28 said:

Is that a possibility?  I read somewhere that the walk is through parking lots.  We'd be all in for the Rydges.  BUT, will a taxi pick us up if it's raining?  I don't think that's feasible.  What do you think?

Yes, it's very much feasible - see @MicCanberra's informative post #10 just below mine.  I doubt you'd be able to get a taxi to take you 50m even if it was teaming with rain.  Almost take longer to get your luggage and yourselves in than it would to drive there.  I am presuming that neither of you is disabled / wheelchair bound?