mum and son

Welcome back to cruising! I've managed to fit in 5 cruises since resumption but all pretty basic trips from Brisbane, and only one upcoming. I'm looking forward to heading further afield at some point but probably still at least a year away for that 😩.

Hahaha. Imagine!

It's crazy, right? Paying for a poached egg, vs a scrambled or fried egg is a new low. I'm definitely light on for upcoming cruises but I like to take my elderly parents with me because cruising is one of the simple joys of their lives, so I'm stuck with options out of Brisbane while I'm still lucky enough to have them around 😇.

Not sure if this has been discussed on the forum yet (I've been absent for a bit) but P&O now charge for poached eggs... they are considered a specialty 😏. If you're lucky enough to have access to Byron Beach Club and therefore have access to Angelos for breakfast, your poached eggs and Eggs Benny are free! Wahoo. Also, MA category mini-suites will be granted all of M1 Byron Beach Club extras from July 1st. P&O don't appear to have announced this anywhere so I was able to snag a good deal in an MA category mini for August. Actually I've been trying to find and book a few MA category cruises before the deal is announced and the MA prices jump to M1 level. The MA minis are also located midship, which is better than the M1s which are forward. I know all TAs have received the detail and I did confirm with P&O before I paid.

This did almost happen to me once. My family flew to Singapore to board a cruise and the airline sent my bag around the world. I spent my entire Singapore time wearing borrowed clothes and fortunately my suitcase arrived the night before we were due to set sail, otherwise it would've been a hasty shopping trip then an insurance claim. Perhaps these cruisers didn't have insurance? Perhaps they didn't like the clothes in the onboard boutiques? I would have bought everything onboard and then fought it out with RCI. I would absolutely not miss going on deck and experiencing the Milford Sound because I didn't have a jumper. I'd love to know what RCI actually offered them, if they gave them OBC to buy clothes, then I'll make a judgement call about I who is being reasonable.

The story was embarrassing, especially for the couple involved. Obviously they're doing what they can to be awarded a free cruise. But if RCI didn't offer her to grab some clothes in their merchandise store it's pretty slack. She could've been up on deck enjoying Milford Sound while repping one of their snazzy tracksuits!

Same for me. I think others, maybe the casino users and big spenders, are getting multiple offers. I just got a one-off.

I used Qantas travel insurance last month for my parents who are in their late 80s. It covers a wide range of pre-existing conditions and I also added a couple more and I recall it was around $400. Some others were over $1000. You have the option to select South Pacific cruise as a destination, and then add New Calendonia and Vanuatu and it covers covid. There is some interesting wording in the PDS around needing to get approval from their authorised doctor before incurring costs (even in an emergency) and I haven't seen that tested anywhere. A phone call to them said that was butt-covering wording to prevent frivolous claims.

I used to have a US cruise travel agent who knew the system and worked around it. I have done a couple of Celebrity and an NCL cruise by booking that way but it was years ago. I felt more comfortable working through a knowledgeable agent. At the time I had to provide a US address but I had a friend there so it was ok. I think the agent could've helped with that too. I haven't booked that way since the AUD weakened against the USD because the benefit I was receiving evaporated.

Thanks so much. While my two January cruises would have been considered cheap by normal standards ($100pp/per day in a Suite) it IS nice to be offered some of these crackers. Who knows when we may next see cruises this cheap again so I was determined to grab one!?!

The Carnival deals are back out today with dates through to April. I was almost tempted to get onboard tomorrow for $97 with $250 OBC but, alas, I have to work. Sale code showing under my VIFP is QLF. Out of 5 family members who have sailed on the Luminosa since December, two of us had the QLF offer code. Neither of us spent even $1 in the casino onboard. Also some amazing Pacific and 10+ day NZ deals out of Sydney this time around too. I did book for the 2nd April, which was a little more costly due to it being school holidays and over Good Friday holiday etc, but my sister works in a school so the timing was perfect for us. We paid $370ish pp with $250 OBC pp in a balcony cabin for 7 days to the pacific islands. March dates were much cheaper. Solo cabins were the same price pp. FYI - I did receive a deal email today but it didn't show these super cheap offers, but it did prompt me to log into my account and the deals were quietly sitting in there waiting for me.

I didn't get an email but I logged in and the offer was there. I could get a balcony on either of the 2 sailings mentioned above for 7 nights for $187, solo cabin, including $500obc. My deal has disappeared now and is twice that price.

An uber will be cheaper than a taxi as long as there isn't a surge fare affecting pricing, otherwise taxi is not much more than 2 people on the airtrain.

While onboard all charges go onto your shipboard account via your cruise card. You don't have the option to pay as you go with cash or credit card. You can keep track of your onboard spending at all times.

It always seemed like a weird double up, but it may have alerted some cruisers to boarding requirements that they didn't bother checking before arriving at the port. I feel like there'll be a slight increase of "we didn't know we had to be vaccinated" people at check in...but I hope not.

I was on the Encounter in October. The menu in Dragon Lady was less than appealing, the actual food was even worse. Such a shame because I used to love the meals there. Angelo's was greatly improved on last time I had it pre-covid. The dining room was probably the best choice when I was onboard.

Did you have to disembark all luggage in between? Were yours both domestic? Same cabin?

@icat2000thanks for that info. Very helpful!

I boarded for my back to back today, so glad to hear you enjoyed yours. Did you use the thermal spa area at all? If so, was it crowded? I'm thinking of booking it for my second cruise. Food. What venues did you try? I generally stick to the MDR every night on cruises but is there anything else I need to try? I thought the MDR staff were excellent tonight. Any tips for secret spots for drinking my cup of tea onboard? Good shows that I must not miss?

I keep hearing tidbits about some cyclonic weather next week and have starting doing some research. I found this, which shows the South Pacific forecast on the evening we set sail from Brisbane (Sunday 8th), heading to Lifou first. I'll also be onboard for the 3 day cruise prior to this. Does anyone have any comments? I don't know if I'm reading it all correctly but looks like a cyclone or some kind of low to my uneducated eye. Would we head into that, or is it far enough away, and judging from modelling looks to be moving further east, not back towards Aus? Not that we can see the future but I'm just curious about the science. If we were setting sail today and that was the current weather map, does the ship head out there? While I feel sorry for new cruisers and families when itineraries change, it's not something that bothers me when I'm sailing from Aus. I've been to all of the islands before and I cruise for the holiday, not really the ports of call. I felt very differently when some turkey jumped overboard when I was sailing to Egypt and I nearly missed visiting Cairo, but I don't feel the same way about Noumea 😁. I'm also not concerned by rough seas (within reason) or poor weather. I'm just looking forward to getting away from work for a while. So, if it was today, would the cruise be affected... what do you think?

Not sure what cruise line but I thought we had to do all of those things AND make it a selfie. I have never written the date, always had the time and date visible on the other phone that was in the picture. I often see people have written the date on the actual RAT test. All variations I guess of what has been requested above but I would never risk being denied boarding so I would do exactly what they have asked.

I may be mad, but I seem to be noticing that a large % of people I know who have recently contracted covid have never had it before. My entire family cruised in December on Luminosa (ages from 30 - 89) and none of them got it. All have had it before. I have 2 upcoming Luminosa cruises and am active on a number of the fb groups and there is little talk of covid and, again, a lot of those who have mentioned getting it onboard seem to be first time spicy coughers... It doesn't answer your question in any way but just my general observation.

Oh, and if you choose Your Time dining that means you book on the Carnival Hub app when you're ready to head to dinner and you'll get a notification when your table is ready. Apparently it usually only takes 10-15mins. You have 10 mins to arrive after you get the notification.

I selected mine when I booked but if you log into your booking/account on a browser (not the app), at the top select BOOKING & ORDER DETAILS, scroll down to see your booking and you'll see your dining selection. There's also a button to Edit Dining. Remember to save before exiting the page if you change the dining selection.

Ok thanks Mic.