Aussieflyer

Thinking of you - we were caught up in bushfires here in 2003 - truly frightening and you are right, conditions can change in a second. Hope you and yours all stay safe.

Sorry to hear things are not going well at the moment - hopefully there will be a time when treatment ends and you can feel better. It's a b@gger of a disease - hate it with a passion even though it has now been over 20 years since my treatment. Try to stay strong and soldier on. ♥️

I had to smile at your comment about buying pies for Ron. My father's name was Ron and he would say exactly the same thing (and meaning the same).

Good to know - is that P&O specifically?

I had a quick look at the P&O site (which I am sure you have done as well) and couldn't see anything - but as they prohibit taking on plastic/glass bottles (including water) I am wondering if this applies to medically required water as well and if so I would expect that distilled water is available for purchase on board. Can you find an email address at all or hopefully someone who has cruised specifically on P&O will post an answer.

Sorry to hear of the damage - certainly. not what you wanted just at this time (or any time, really). Hopefully you can get the main paperwork in etc and maybe your son will be able to help while you are away.

She and Prince Edward/Sophie are the only ones I have any time for - the rest of the royals can go jump in my opinion. Though I know quite a few people will disagree but that is to be expected so no problems.

I work on the principle that anything under $400 per night is OK these days (but we only stay in a limited number of hotels).

Yes, we are on Silver Muse. We were on her (similar itinerary) just before COVID and like her very much - nice and small but lots of eating options rather than a barn of a MDR like on some other ships. Our first cruise to NZ was on Celebrity and we have cruised with them quite a lot - haven't been on the newer ones like Edge but we liked Solstice and Infinity. We were on them before suites had their own restaurant. On Solstice we did Aqua a few times to use the Blu restaurant. Hope you have a great time down this part of the world.

Interestingly I just checked our Silversea cruise in early December and Hobbiton is still showing as a shorex from Tauranga - though that might change.

Thank you so much Fletcher and MrsF. I have really enjoyed reading along. I am glad (based on your comments on Cloud) we decided to cancel an expedition cruise on her leaving next month. We booked something closer to home on Muse for December. Interestingly we received a tome from SS yesterday which is showing Jeddah as a port stop in every itinerary transiting the Red Sea.

Oh dear, another wonderful advertisement for Australians. Please give them a wide berth and believe that we are not all like that!

To hear you are still breathing as you say is welcome news but I can empathise with the chemo tabs - can be quite debilitating. Hope things are bearable.

We didn't like her when we sailed on her as Dawn Princess back some years ago. She seemed very old then (I can still remember a pervasive sewerage smell in some areas). She put us off sailing Princess (although I have returned when a cruise appeals but MrAF is not interested).

I don't get it - my snip from the SS AU site shows that on a regular P2P it is 15% of the total cruise cost forfeited - so if the deposit is 25%, you will get in effect 10% of the cruise (and the deposit) cost back. I am not understanding the calculation that it is only 3.75% of the cruise cost you forfeit.

This is from the SS AU site. You may have different conditions

My reading is that the deposit forfeited is 15% of the total cruise cost (not of the deposit amount) - for usual P2P this is from the date of deposit until 151 days, for D2D this kicks the 15% kicks in at 150 days, before this, the deposit is refundable less $250 admin fee which becomes a FCC. P2P Prepaid I understand is non-refundable (though can be transferred to FCC? I am not sure on this as it is not very attractive for me to save only few $000 that on the extra 10% on offer with the restrictions.)

This is quite a common restriction in our part of the world on a number of different cruise lines. There are often sales for new bookings only so it's a bit of a gamble but "you pays your money and you takes your chances" as they say. Also it is common that if you cancel you will lose all the deposit. SS is not so bad.

It would also depend on which ship you are on - at Picton we were on Silversea and docked right in the town. A Princess ship in on the same day had to berth round in Shakespeare Bay and had to shuttle in. I visited the Edwin Fox - quite pleasant and also had coffee in town. DH had a kayaking ship excursion which he enjoyed. The Te Papa museum in Wellington is very good. We will be in Bluff in December - so can give some ideas after that. It seems to be a very small place and the ship has very few included excursions. A pity as Oban is much better and I am sad we are not docking there again.

I have done both the Drakes Passage and the Tasman (several times both directions) and certainly the Drakes Passage wins hands down for being rough. In terms of which direction has the rougher seas, both are much or a muchness and I have never noted any difference.

Late to the party Uncle Les but warmest wishes for your birthday. Hope you had a lovely night out (even though the food wasn't as good as under the previous owners). 75 is quite a milestone (though I am not far behind).

I think I would just be sucking up the NCL visa option - at least you know it is done and is correct and no hassles.

It will also depend on whether kec is travelling on an Australian passport. If not things might be very different.

We quite like Celebrity and have sailed on the line quite a bit. Edge is one of the newer ships in the line though haven't been on her. Our first cruise to NZ was on Celebrity Solstice. I hope you enjoy your trip.It can be quite cool in NZ especially. Last time we were there (late Dec) it was puffer jackets and thermals from about Christchurch south but then by the time we got to Burnie in Tas, it was back to T shirts. And it was too rough to get into the sounds so we missed them on that trip.

Australians ask this of ourselves frequently. I guess because we are willing to book the older ships (as that is all that is offered), cruise lines keep dumping them down here. Actually not all cruise lines. P&O Australia take many of the old ones and rebadge them, so the old Sky, Sea, Dawn, Golden Princess sail under the P&O flag (note this is a totally different company to the UK P&O and would be considered 3 star possibly). Some of the other lines are now sending newer (eg Virgin, Viking) ships here but as our mainstream cruising season is limited (October - March/April mostly), there are few options for us for all year sailing in the area. Carnival AU has a couple of ships here all year and also as noted above the P&O AU ones. Princess has Majestic which is not too old but also at times Grand, Sapphire and Diamond who are getting on a bit. Coral P is quite popular even though not new but is being deployed for world cruising at the moment. Silver Muse comes to do a summer season but it is generally one itinerary repeated several times so not much choice. Given the itinerary is really only NZ, for Australians the D2D option is grossly overpriced, even with included Business air. We are on Muse again in December, and we are calling to a few ports we haven't done before. But very disappointed Oban is not included this time. Silversea also does the Kimberly expeditions though I think the ship is Explorer which from memory is the old PA2 (which we went to the Arctic on in 2010).