Aus Traveller

1 minute ago, Sparky74 said:

This morning there was a sponsored post on "antisocial media" advertising a P&O Flash Sale which ends on 31st May. 
However when I follow the link I’m informed that that ship has sailed and the sale is over. 
🤷‍♂️

I received an email this morning from a TA that included this 3-day P&O sale so it would appear that it is still available until the end of the month. I suggest you search with the First Cruise TA.

54 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

Having looked at the itineries the HAL cruise does go to more interesting places... but some of those islands may be quite small and and might only be accessable by tender boats?

The HAL cruise certainly goes to a lot of very interesting and very scenic places.

Re tender access - by my calculation, the Azamara option has five gender ports (Bali, Margaret R, Kangaroo Is, Eden and Bay of Islands) while the HAL option has six tender ports (Bay of Is, Dravuni, Inyeug (Mystery Is), Kiriwina, Conflict Is and Moreton). I hope I haven't missed any. 🙂

35 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

As far as cruiselines go, I would cruise Azamara over HAL, smaller ships, better service, more inclusions for the price, etc. Of course prices can vary dramatically depending on itinerary. Both normally have great itineraries, and this is the case here.

 

HAL

 

Azamara

Personally , I prefer the HAL itinerary as it has Australia,  NZ and numerous Island countries but internationals would most likely want a more comprehensive Australian and NZ cruise so Azamara is better for international.

thanks Mic for showing us the itineraries. This reinforces my preference for the HAL cruise, however obviously the OP will be guided by their personal preferences. The Azamara option has a lot of sea days.

In my opinion, the HAL itinerary sounds much more interesting.

3 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by ineptitude!

Yes - or as someone once said to me "If it is a choice between a conspiracy and a stuff-up, go for the stuff-up every time".

I don't think the person who gave the info is 'trying it on'. I'll bet it is simply inefficiency. In my experience with both Princess and P&O, you can phone three times and get different answers from different reps. I had this last year before I bought the internet package for the world cruise. It took four phone calls before I got a rep who quoted the price that people here on CC said they were paying. All the other reps wanted double the price. Yes - I emphasized that I was eligible for the 50% discount.

My advice to the person who was told that refundable OBC is used first, is to phone again.

1 hour ago, bazzaw said:

I worry a bit about the large Eastern Brown snake that has take up residence in my garden just outside our front door - you know the Eastern Brown supposedly the most deadly snake in the World 😞

I'd worry about him too. 🙂 Just keep your distance and one day soon he/she might decide to take up residence outside someone else's house. Alternatively, call a snake catcher to re-locate him.

Agree with the comments above. The policy that has been stated many times in the past is that non-refundable OBC is used first, then refundable. I suggest you chase up this refund that is due to you if you had refundable OBC in your account.

1 minute ago, Bubbeh said:

Recently we took (never again!) a P & O cruise and as there so often is there was a Q & A session.  One of the questions asked was why we don't see Australians as part of the general crew (bar / cabin attendants etc).  The answer was that the law in Australia concerning minimum wage prevents the line from employing us in 'lower level' (his words not mine) roles.  Australians must be paid a rate determined by their level of employment eg, casual / permanent and not be reliant of tips to supplement their wages.  Australians can be employed if they have dual nationality and seek employment under a different one eg, Colombian, Philippino etc. We have be special contractors (guest presenters and entertainers) and Officers including resident entertainers.

 

I thought that was very interesting as I'd wondered why myself.

The cruise lines certainly don't pay the stewards/bartenders the equivalent of  Australian hospitality casual rates. There are a lot of Aussies working on cruise ships based overseas mainly on cruise staff, as bartenders etc. They are supposed to report their overseas-earned income to the Aust Tax Office and pay tax, but the cruise lines don't make the tax deductions that Aussie employers do. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Aussies working overseas, 'forget' to report their income to the ATO.🙂

Just now, MicCanberra said:

I was saying we really don't know what or how crew are paid and why should we worry about it. The grats are included in the fare or they are not either way, don't stress about it.

I posted the info about crew remuneration so the OP wouldn't feel pressured to give additional tips to crew on cruises where the gratuities are included in the initial fare.🙂

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

So that implies P&O Australia pay their crew better than Princess, Celebrity, Royal, Azamara, Carnival, HAL, Norwegian. Le Ponant and the rest.

Not sure this claim can be verified.

Perhaps gratuities are just included in the fare, so we don't have to worry about it.

P&O Aust and Princess Aust pay their crew at a different (higher) rate on their Australian-based ships that are not part of their international tips pool. I am not talking about the competing cruise lines.

Both P&O and Princess announced the crew would be paid at a higher rate when they stopped the auto-gratuities. From memory his was 2009 for P&O and 1st May 2011 for Princess.

If (as you suggest) the crew are paid at the same low rate as on the 'overseas' ships how is their remuneration made up to a reasonable level without tips? Without their pay at a reasonable level, no-one would work on these Aussie-based ships. They would only work on the ones where they get tips.  

52 minutes ago, tashaaa said:

You mean the tipping at the end of the cruise? 
as I tried to book a cruise there was prepaid gratuities listed as usual.

 

Both. Just ignore the prepaid gratuities.

Tips at the end of the cruise aren't expected, but you can tip if you wish. Crew on the Aussie based ships are paid a much higher salary than those on ships where tips are added to passengers' accounts.

... and you are not expected to pay tips to the stewards. This is included in your initial fare.

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

I know this question is going to be a bit like "how long is a piece of string" but thought I'd ask anyway. @arxcards and @gbenjo, you both give excellent advice on procedures, so you may have some general, albeit Antipodean, knowledge that could be helpful.

 

My query stems from a cruise Honolulu to NZ, originating in Canada, so Honolulu is both a port stop for those already on board and an embarkation day for those joining. Departure is 11pm. I intend to board in time for lunch, however my query is on behalf of another group. 

 

They have a private day trip organised for embarkation day, they can't take their luggage on the day trip so will be dropped back to their hotel around 6 or 6.30pm and taxi to the port, so won't get there until, say, 6.30 or 7pm.

 

What's the procedure with check-in staff, do they stay on duty until the last embarking passengers arrive for boarding, ie check-in, medallion issue etc? That's my query.  If you have any general insight on embarkation day procedure, in particular if there is usually a cut-off time to fit with employee shifts or the like, that would be helpful.

 

Many thanks  😊

 

As an aside, the passengers phoned Princess with this query and were told emphatically, even on double-checking, that boarding will be from 10.30pm (I'll pause a moment for general laughter), for an 11pm departure!  On that info, it looks like I'll be in for a very  l o n g  and hungry wait!

 

Maybe the person who said boarding would be from 10.30pm didn't know the difference between morning and afternoon. I would be confident that boarding would be from 10.30am, but I am concerned that the cut-off time could be earlier than 6.30pm or 7pm. That needs checking.

43 minutes ago, Jean C said:

I always drove a manual and only got an aitomatic a couple of years ago. I did this because a friend's elderly mother failed her driving test, which has to be done periodically after a certain age, for coasting to stops at traffic lights and the like, rather than going down through the gears. At least that's why she said she failed. Doing that myself (don't we all?), I figured it was time for me to get an automatic, to give myself a better chance of passing!

I wonder if your friend's mother misunderstood the reason she failed her driving test.🙂 When slowing down prior to stopping, a driver doesn't have to change down through the gears.

We have always had manual cars until we bought our latest one. We test-drove an automatic and loved it.

I have problems with my Bigpond address last year on the world cruise. The IT Manager said they always had problems with Bigpond. I had to switch to a gmail address and my son organised my Bigpond account so that all emails were forwarded to my gmail address.

35 minutes ago, Mycruiseobsession said:

I agree, I would be saying to Qantas that's not a suitable time please put me on later. They usually allow you to since it's their fault,

Agreed, but if the flight is the next day, I would ask QANTAS to pay for one night's accommodation.

I think Bubbeh's suggestion of trying to get QANTAS to pay for one night's hotel accommodation for you is an excellent idea. Then you can switch to a flight the next day and end your holiday without stress. You would also be able to have a quick look around Sydney. Worth trying. If you don't ask you don't get! 🙂

50 minutes ago, Elorac123 said:

Agree just checked mine and Iam a week short of 6 months on our New Guinea cruise later this year.

Cheers Carole

You will need a new passport. ☹️ PNG requires visitors to have 6 months validity from the date they leave PNG.

44 minutes ago, Corinne288 said:

I am sure since you have experienced them too, you can imagine how frustrating it is when people insinuate you are lying or that your bites are X, Y, Z despite having sought onboard medical attention. Been a horrible experience and even worse when you try and speak up and find yourself ridiculed online. I don't mean by you or anyone here, but news articles, fb forums. It's very sad that people would rather tear apart a fellow cruiser than actually believe a cruise line has an issue and is covering it up. They have far more to lose than I do. They don't want this to be public. Deny Deny Deny is their reaction to the problem unfortunately.  I am not the only person and this will be aired tomorrow night. 

I have to agree that to experience a bed bug 'incident' is disgusting - much more than anyone who hasn't experienced it would think.

I don't think anyone here thought for a moment that you are lying. 

15 minutes ago, Corinne288 said:

Well you are wrong.

 

I am not a liar. Thank you

Apologies. I am sorry you holiday was spoilt with this experience.

I did not mean to imply you are a liar. I said "if they are invisible, they could also have been mythical". Bed buts aren't invisible.

I had a terrible experience with them and, as I mentioned, had hundreds of bites that became large areas of inflamation on both arms and both legs. The itching was incredible and was only partially relieved with antihistamine and cream (cortisone cream I think).

18 minutes ago, Corinne288 said:

Also thank you to Jean who actually highlighted most of the points I made. 

 

To the lady who believes I had sea lice ? I haven't been in the sea since I moved to Australia in 2022. I have a fear of it. So I guess that covers that possible theory. 

 

I still have the bites on my body which is also common with bed bugs for weeks after. I am not here to convince you. I was here to raise some awareness. Take my experience and ignore it, ridicule me, that's OK. Others will take notice and take steps to avoid a similar situation happen to them.

 

Thanks. 

 

Good night 

I mentioned sea lice. I did not mean to imply that you had been in the sea or had been bitten by sea lice. I mentioned this because this is what happened on a cruise several years ago - sea lice bites initially mistaken to be from bed bugs.

I also mentioned sea lice because it is difficult to know what caused the bites. I initially thought my itchy spots were from mosquito bites. It was only after I had hundreds of bites and my husband who was sleeping in another bed in the room had no 'mosquito' bites (and said there were no mosquitoes), that we considered bed bugs. And that was what it was.

1 hour ago, Wanderers2 said:

The passport office can say that but so many countries insist on 6 months validity to be able to travel there.

The Passport Office was talking about re-entry into Australia not what some other countries require.

28 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

It irks me that you need 6 month’s validity on your passport to travel. In effect a passport lasts 9.5 years not 10 years. 

Some countries (including Vanuatu and Fiji) require there to be 6 month's validity on passports. Australia does not for Australian passport holders. The Aust passport is valid until the day of expiry. NZ requires three month's validity for Australian passport holders. 

I came across this NZ cruise situation for my daughter a few years ago. Her passport only had 4 or 5 months left when the cruise was due to end and the travel agent insisted she had to get a new passport. I made enquiries with the Aust Passport Office and the answer was "An Australian passport is valid until the day of expiry".

39 minutes ago, mr walker said:

I’ve often heard that the reason that seemingly all Sth Pacific islands cruises call to Noumea is that it is a fueling point for the ships. Is this true? Does the ships not carry enough fuel for 7/8/9 days round trip from Sydney?

 

I haven't seen the ships re-fuelling while they are in Noumea and doubt very much that they get fuel there. I am also doubtful about the comment that ships that call at any New Caledonian port have to call into Noumea. I noticed a few P&O future itineraries that call at Lifou but not Noumea so obviously that is OK.