Aus Traveller

The key point is that in Melbourne, the travel card (MYKI) does not have to bought ahead.

That's out thinking also. We don't need the extra food, particularly as we like to have dinner fairly early.

Great. I'm glad to see that the same system still operates, rather than pre-purchase, as mentioned in the original post.

In Melbourne, pre-COVID, we were always able to buy the MYKI card in the cruise terminal after we arrived - not in advance. It was quite convenient.

I can recall that when we were connected to the land-based Telstra system, '4G' was showing in the far top right of the screen. We checked that because we wanted to phone one of our sons with a birthday message. I asked my husband what was shown when we were on the satellite system. He can't remember exactly, but says it was something like 'Ocean roaming'. (I didn't see this). He said he got a text message from Telstra to say that the call would be charged at 'X' amount per minute.

On our cruise on 26th June, the first boarding time-slot was available for several days from when it opened.

Disembarkation time was arranged when we were on board.

That would be correct. The price is per vehicle, not per person.

I suggest you try in a day or two.

The USA cell phone network is CDMA while the Australian system is GSM. Older phones from USA may not work on the Australian system. If the OP is thinking of using their present phone in Australia, they should check out its capabilities.

Ah! That's why there was confusion about the date. By the Bay is sailing on P&O Pacific Explorer but the previous post referred to the Coral Princess that leaves Sydney today.

I suspect that this trip is one of the 'small-group tours' that Princess sometimes has available. They are super expensive.

Take care using a mobile while on a cruiseship. When the ship is in port, the phone will usually connect to a land-based tower resulting in normal phone call rates. But when the ship is sailing, often (usually?) the phone connects to the ship's satellite system, resulting be a very high bill for the call. The type of connection is shown in the far upper right hand corner of the screen with a tiny symbol.

The amount you will lose will depend mainly on how far in advance you want to cancel.

You mention that the car rental place is near a railway station. If you can't find anywhere near the cruise terminal to leave the car, maybe you could consider asking the car rental company if you could park it in their yard. They are very likely to agree because they want to safeguard their cars. The downside is that you would have to get there before they close for the day.

We returned this morning from a seven day cruise on the Coral Princess. I would like to make some positive and some negative comments - 1. Although the cruise was in school holidays, we didn't see more than 30 or so children on board. Obviously there were many more than that, but they didn't cause any problems or disruptions. 2. Boarding was easy. We were in Group A (11 - 11.30am) and got to the terminal around 10.20. We were able to go straight in. Check-in and boarding were easy, but I feel that there were many more people there than the number supposed to be in Group A. No-one checked to see what group we were in. 3. We parked in Carpark 1 at the terminal. We were able to choose a spot where we felt we would get maximum shade. It was very close to the terminal. 4. We were told it was 750 m walk to the ship. I don't believe it. When the terminal opened I read that it was 375m. I feel that would be more accurate. 5. Although we had up-loaded everything that was required on the Medallion app, the check-in staff wanted to see our passports and vaccination certificates. No-one asked to see the photos of our RAT tests. 6. We had to wear masks in the terminal and while boarding. Masks had to be worn in the lifts and while walking into and out of the dining room. Remove mask when seated. Masks had to be worn in the Princess theatre, but they didn't seem to mandate masks in the Explorers Lounge or the Universe Lounge. 7. One of the best things I found on the ship was the speed of the lifts. We never encountered crowds waiting for a lift and very often I (or we) were in the lift alone. 8. Night-time shows were 8pm and 10pm. Trivia was usually 10 or 10.30am and also 4.30pm. 9. The comedian guest entertainer's show was so bad we regard it as the worst we have seen in all our cruising. Apparently during his second show he kept referring to his notes. Maybe he had down-loaded some jokes off the internet because he didn't have any in his first show. (Sorry to be brutally honest. BTW, we didn't walk out. We sat through the whole show.) 10. The two Buddy Holly tribute shows were good. 11. Three production shows. On the Bayou was superb. This is a new show and is held in the Universe Lounge that has revolving stages. Anyone wanting to go to the 8pm would be well advised to go early. Around 7.40 the CD announced that the lounge had standing room only. We went early for the 10pm show and got a seat at the front. The theatre was full before starting time. On the first formal night we had Encore. It was superb as usual. The last show was Motor City. I thought we had seen that one before, but either the staging or costumes were different, because it didn't seem too familiar. 12. Because of COVID, there was no cocktail party on the first formal night and no champagne waterfall. 13. At the Captains lunch for the most travelled passengers, the Captain didn't remove his mask and the officers didn't stay to host the passengers. They all left so the lunch was just for the passengers. 14. On the second formal night Captains Circle Party, once again the captain had a mask on when he posed for photos. I suppose this is because we are all asked to wear masks when we can't socially distance. 15. The way they run the anytime dining (Dine My Way) works very well. Some negatives - 1. Often the food wasn't hot. We didn't ever get hot chips until we sent the first lot back. 2. At dinner on the second formal night I usually order lobster followed by beef wellington, but there was no lobster shown on the menu. We then found that the lobster is there, disguised under the description 'king prawn and lobster'. A few people I spoke to were disappointed that they had missed the lobster. 3. Sometimes the inexperience of the waiters was evident. 4. No chocolates on the pillow at night. 😢 Maybe I should have put this one at the top of the list of negatives. 5. No disembarkation breakfast in the MDR. It was only available in the Horizon Court of the International Cafe.

Below is a spreadsheet showing the results of my research into complimentary credit card insurance. The analysis will give an indication of which credit cards might be worth following up on and reading the product disclosure statement. The information has been extracted from the pds from each of the banks, but anyone reading it should independently verify it by reading the pds. They are all available on the internet. Important information - 1. Only a few banks have no age limit for travel insurance. This is one of the key factors for us as my husband approaches his OBE (over bloody eighty). 2. Because of COVID, Macquarie Bank is not currently accepting applications for new credit card accounts. This will change in time. 3. Most of the banks do not cover COVID-related claims, but this is likely to change. 4. Some banks have a few different levels of credit card. I have given only a very general overview. 5. In some cases, a certain level of income is required to be eligible for a particular credit card. 6. I have not included items that all banks cover (or the limits) such as loss of luggage, lost/stolen property, hijacking, kidnapping. Check the pds for what is important to you. Please click on the spreadsheet to enlarge it. If anyone wants to print it out, they need only save it to their computer, then print. If preferred, I can email it.