molliemoo

Great review and pictures Pam. It was lovely to relive some of the places we visited and the people we met and the food that we ate! Regards, Lorri

Hi evryone,

We got back from a Mediterranean cruise at the end of November. I'd also been concerned about visas, especially for Turkey (we stayed overnight in Istanbul,and stopped 1 day in Kusa Dasi), as our US travel agent told us we would need one. I decided it was better to be safe than sorry and got one online (similar process to the US ESTA). It cost $60 each from memory. As it turned out, no visas were required in any country we visited during our 4 week cruise. No regrets about getting the visa though, it saved me stressing!

Mollie

Thanks everyone for your kind responses. The latest cruise with Mum was hard work I must admit, but I had plenty of fun as well. I perhaps should have planned a cruise a bit further out from Christmas though - I've had to hit the ground running on returning home!

As for travel insurance, Mum is physically extremely well, so had no trouble getting insurance though Mum does complain about the cost, and can't see why her insurance costs so much more than mine!

Good luck to everyone out there facing similar issues - it's a long hard road ahead!

Mollie

Interesting thread. I am sailing at the moment with my mother who is showing early signs of dementia. She is physically very well, but at the drop of a hat can become totally confused and disoriented. I booked this cruise knowing full well that I would have to be with her constantly, and am very happy to do so, given how much she has given to her children in her lifetime. She loves to cruise, and I don't know how long she will be able to, so for now, we will take it as it comes. I don't believe the problem lies with the cruise line!

I love how this thread just keeps going and going!! Keep up the good work guys - if we keep making enough noise surely something will change!

I think Australians are being treated like fools, expected to know nothing of the wider world, and happy to accept whatever is thrown our way!

Rust bucket ancient tubs, outrageous prices, bullying threats about the safety of booking overseas and possibly being denied boarding!

Reminds me of what Dame Nellie Melba apparently told a singer about to visit Australia to perform - "Sing 'em muck! It's all they can understand!"

I just noticed something very interesting when I went to my preferred US travel agent's site. One of the Google choices when I entered the name of the company was "(insert name of US travel agency here!!) Scam", something that I had never seen before when googling this agency.

Curious, I had a look, and it led to a US consumer affairs site, with various complaints about this company. The thing that startled me most were 2 very large adverts for an AUSTRALIAN cruise booking agency at the top of the page.

I have to say that I have had nothing but great service from this US agency, and am quite happy that there will be no problems with our US booked cruise later this year.

I would have to wonder why an Australian TA would feel the need to advertise on this site - more scaremongering perhaps!! It's certainly not tempting me to book with them!

Lorraine

We booked and deposited a cruise through a big US travel agency at the end of October. We will pay approx half price, saving over $6,000 compared to the cheapest on line fare I could find in Australia. Normally I'm a fierce "buy local" supporter, but this is a serious saving, and I bet the price difference wouldn't go into the local travel agent's coffers, but straight to Princess. I cannot see how Princess can justify such a huge price discrepancy. The Australian dollar would have to fall to around 25c for the Aust/US prices to be similar. I suspect Australians are being ripped off!

According to an email from my US TA, as of 13/11/09 Princess has now restricted all US based agents from booking international clients on Princess sailings, but will honour current bookings and rates.