cruiseaholic78

I know they are expensive but has anyone looked at Oceania or Azamara ( preferably the latter for some night life!) for cruising Australia? Happy Planning Rosalyn

One of our most memorable cruises was with the Eurodam in 2019 round trip San Diego to Hawaii and Polynesian Islands. A precruise dinner and various Happy hours, dinners and excursions sealed the deal and we made friends for life. The fotos were taken on an excursion to Fakarava with snorkeling and a BBQ, a day in paradise. We scrubbed up pretty well for the last one.

To me the offer of a rijsttafel looked pretty pathetic ( I’m glad you enjoyed it though) we tried it on N. Statendam in Tamarind and were so dissatisfied at their offering. I was actually looking forward to trying the Canaletto Asian dinners on our Westerdam tour in October, might have to reconsider. One would have thought with all the Indonesian crew they could have done a better job. Here some fotos of what we consider a typical Indonesian rijsttafel. Love Hanks and Cruisemom42 posts will use some of your tips for our trip.

Have fun on your remaining days on board and your arrival in Rotterdam. Our Dutch newspaper had a special about the HAL and I thought you might be interested, I have included the text, maybe sailing Dutchy can translate (see you on Westerdam in October/November) Ann I am still proudly wearing the CC Badge your daughter made for our Copenhagen - Boston cruise. On our last Azamara cruise I was the only person wearing one so everyone presumed I was the Organizer! Rosalyn

The OBC you want to spend on board for extra excursions and dining can be booked from the cabin on your TV. Lounge on the bed choose your accounts and book, no queuing necessary. Happy planning Rosalyn

The park leads to the Playa de Espana which is incredible, the (free) Military Museum there is also worth a visit. My lunch tip is The Terrace cafe overlooking the city and the river it doesn’t get much better than that!

Another suggestion regardless of which suitcase size you choose, do cross pack. In other words make sure that some of each others clothing (if possible) is in each suitcase, in case one gets lots you will all have some clothes. Another tip is to join your roll call, there will be tips and chats from your fellow cruisers, pls see “find your roll call above” as we don’t know which ship you will be on so we can’t provide the correct link. Rosalyn

Just a general tip regarding using OBC in the shop, do not wait until the end of your cruise if you have quite a bit to spend. For some reason they don’t stock nearly enough larger sizes (for men at least) and on our port intensive cruise people were looking round desperately trying to spend their OBC! We managed it by being a bit earlier and DH looks great today wearing his 7diamonds shirt. Rosalyn

I wouldn’t have a problem with that as long as they provide a cruise to go with it!

I hate to admit it but the same thing happened to us ! We were on a sort of freeway and saw signs to the airport, our driver took a left and took us through back streets with roadworks and traffic lights and we also ended up paying €35 ( no tip given) We laughed it off as lesson learned, ask before the trip what it would cost and take a photo of his registration number. There was a meter but he kept his arm along the back of the seat so we couldn’t see it properly. Rosalyn

We have just arrived home after the same fantastic cruise. It took us nearly as long to drive from Schiphol to our home as it did to fly from Lisbon to Amsterdam drove straight into so many traffic jams! It was our first time with Azamara since 2018 and I think it would be fair to say that it was definitely as good as we remembered if not better. Rosalyn

A similar thing happened on our 35 day circumnavigation of Australia in December 2022 as may have been mentioned previously. People were waiting in the lounges for their excursions being informed by private tour operators that they were cancelled. Oceania knew about this the day before! Attached is an article dated 7th January in which an Oceania spokesperson said that the vessel would be missing two ports and was on her way to Philip Island. They KNEW at least on 7th (it might have been submitted earlier) that we would not be going so why did they not inform us until the morning of the 8th? I did reach out to the author of the article asking when he had received the information but as he has not replied I presume “he is protecting his sourse” https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/queen-elizabeth-fourth-ship-to-fall-foul-of-new-zealands-environmental-laws/ There were quite a few newbies on our cruise and many said that it would be their last, we all understand that **** happens but Oceania should not think not informing us is ok. Especially in this wifi day and age when everything can be checked so easily.

For anyone staying longer or wanting a serviced apartment we used the Meriton suites Sussex street, join and you get a discount. After more than a week traveling before embarkation we were glad to be able to use our washer an dryer and take clean clothes on our cruise. Also recommend Andersons for Blue mountains trip pre cruise. Happy planning Rosalyn

This might help for the transfer for Haneda https://tokyo-haneda.com/en/access/travel_between_terminals/index.html Have you filled out both Quarantine procedures (fast track) and Disembarkation Card for Foreigner on the visit Japan web, we did and had Q codes for both and we were able to pass through immigration/customs very quickly. It took a while but was worth it, there were people every 5 meters or so telling us where to go. Happy travels Rosalyn

Another option you might consider is to book an hotel room(s) for part of the day, great for relaxing before (changing) your return flight. I used this option in Sydney Australia when our flight didn’t leave until 21:30 and we chose an airport hotel with a pool. Happy planning Rosalyn https://www.dayuse.com/s/seattle?selectedAddress=Seattle&sluggableAddress=Seattle&placeId=eyJsYXQiOjQ3LjYyMDI1LCJsbmciOi0xMjIuMzUwNjksInQiOjEsInAiOiJjdXN0b20ifQ%3D%3D%2B55e93668612277f791b0521788a8363f&checkinDate=2023-03-29&isPoolIncluded=true&ne_lng=-119.457369&ne_lat=48.870206&sw_lng=-125.238273&sw_lat=46.339679

Do pop over and join us on the roll call, we are a friendly bunch. Rosalyn

I have no idea about the insides but here is a pretty nice photo of the outside. Rosalyn

Personally I would not choose Viator as I prefer booking directly with the operator and cutting out the middle man. On our cruise we and quite a few others used Andersons pre cruise and were extremely pleased with the results. It is a long day but we saw so much and taking the ferry up the river to Sydney at the end was “icing on the cake” https://andersonstours.com.au/ Happy planning Rosalyn

Is the Mariner early booking bonus of $400 (for the 28 days) per cabin also applicable? It is already including a lot of extras but it is always worth checking.I was too late for that on a previous booking but ended up with a welcome back bonus of $150 each. Happy planning Rosalyn

If you look at the link from James Suckling with the PG menu there are many many other wines available by the glass all within the SBP limits. I couldn’t copy paste just the list but here is an example of the whites. (I only drink white and luckily my favorite is included phew!) Rosalyn PLU # 1308 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling, Columbia Valley, 10 40 Washington State 1309 Danzante Pinot Grigio, Delle Venezie, Italy 11 44 1310 Pian di Remole Bianco, Tuscany, Italy 10 40 1311 Caliterra Sauvignon Blanc Reserva, Valle de Casablanca, Chile 9 36 Laurenz V. Gruner “Singing” Veltliner, Niederösterreich, 12 48 Austria 1313 Chateau St Michelle Mimi Chardonnay, Washington State 11 44 1314 Simi Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, California 11 44 1364 Clos du Bois Chardonnay, North Coast, California 11 44 1365 Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 12 48 1368 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 18 77 1306 Pascal Jolivet Sauvage, Sancerre, France 19 81 1361 Grgich Hills Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California 21 95 1312 1364 Cakebread Chardonnay Reserve, Carneros, Napa Valley, California 25 115

When booking our Westerdam cruise (28 days Tokyo Singapore) the cabin we wanted was not available for the whole trip. Looking at booking two cruises of 14 days it was, so contacted T.A. and after an extra phone call it was booked, so its always worth checking if wanting a B2B.

Maybe too late but whatever you (and anyone else) decide do choose a different color than black. So many black bags at airport or cruise terminal, we have turquoise ones that we can see at a distance, just in “case” we also put a luggage band around them. Rosalyn

I started out as so many here giving my own advice about my experience booking directly or via the cruiseline saying how both had increased so much within a month. Based on your own findings I now have the opportunity to change my flights if they become cheaper. If for any reason we have to cancel I will get my money back, otherwise with KLM I would only be able to change them and pay any difference, and the only refund would be for taxes. By the way our flights are now €15013 non refundable €16011 refundable, more expensive than the cruise!

Flyertalker and Zach 1213, I was referring to my second case Amsterdam-Tokyo Singapore-Amsterdam and as said after our previous very long flights/layovers (Amsterdam Tokyo Sydney/ Sydney Tokyo Amsterdam)we would try to fly as direct as possible. As KLM are the only ones flying both directly we chose them as being our “only option” I know KLM do not fly to Australia and that there are no non stops available. Refundable flights were about €700 more for both of us and I thought this was (comparatively) cheap for the peace of mind. That said time will tell and I will definitely post if our flights do go down in price.

I stand corrected, now I know the expression is buckets, in our case the first flights were not refundable only changeable. In the second case we did indeed book refundable, will follow them to see if they ever become cheaper but I don’t think from 13000 to below 7300 is likely to happen. In this case our only option was KLM, after our last flights from Sydney with long waits between flights we said only direct if possible.