joejoe 59

21 hours ago, stki said:

daily Grants are included  on RCL if cruising in OZ, but it is USD on board . Also 18% grats  on drinks, unless you have the beverage package

 

Tanya

There isn't 18% added to drinks on Australian & New zealand sailings they are already factored into the price. The price you see at the bar is the price you pay. We didn't have a drink package & got off Quantum on Monday. A glass of wine was 9.00 US dollars a bottle of the same wine was 31 US dollars. I mainly bought by the bottle & you could take it with you.

Cocktails of the day were $12 US.

We had US currency so very easy to follow your onboard account. 

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Chili will understand us going OT, and we are in speculation season. I like the grand ships, but if you get a chance to try a short one on Coral, it is a really comfy ship.

 

I wonder if Royal has finally decided what ships will be where beyond 23/24?

See, back on topic 😂

Geoff when would we know what rcl ships will be here.

Also do you know if rcl fcd are worth it?

42 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

There are a couple of threads here with up-to-date prices. Unfortunately, Princess prices are high, but not as high as some other cruise lines. P&O Aust has lower prices. We cruise a fair bit on Princess, but we take our own wine and pay the $15 corkage.

Is it still $15 corkage do you know? I will be going back to taking wine onboard as I'm not willing to pay the new price. 

15 hours ago, Nang said:

The bio hazard is apparently growing well on Explorer's hull ....

 

P&O have just advised via email that the hull needs a partial clean before we are allowed into NZ, anywhere in NZ it seems. The clean is hoped to occur during our transit from Adelaide to NZ, weather permitting. If it can't be done there will further changes to the itinerary. We may end up having an Aussie port only cruise or an all sea days cruise. We can, if we wish, cancel now and get 100% credit.

 

We will be embracing the uncertainty of this mystery cruise and not jumping off.

Great attitude.  Good luck, enjoy your cruise wherever you go.

15 hours ago, arxcards said:

Dirty bum ships have also been skipping Bay of Islands. The ports are less restrictive, as they are unlikely to prevent dirty cargo ships that link their trade with the world. Most ports are already contending with urban runoff and are hardly pristine.

We are supposed to enter Bay of Islands at the end of March on Quantum it will be interesting to see if we make it🤞

I bought a ship tour basically to get us of the ship in a timely manner, at least it will be refunded if we don't make it.

21 hours ago, Nang said:

Just been advised by P&O that the Explorer will not be sailing into the NZ fjords next week. No real surprise although my hopes were raised when friends who have just completed an all at sea comedy cruise advised they had an unscheduled stop at Kangaroo Island for hull cleaning.

 

Getting $50 OBC per person as compensation.

They've had plenty of time to get the hull cleaned  before the cruise,  it's not like they didn't know the itinerary. So if they don't go to the sounds is it OK to drag their dirty butt around New Zealand?

Could someone explain if the wellness check is something that's booked separately to your check in time please. We have an 11.30 check in time.

We sail on Quantum to NZ next week.

I wonder how heavily it will be policed, we cruise next week & haven't received any information regarding this.

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I presume you mean first week of April? We did an NZ cruise at that time of year in 2019 and had very little rain but I wouldn't even try to predict that for your cruise. The weather has been weird this year so anything could happen. 

Or it's a really long cruise😁

1 hour ago, kent05 said:

We disembarked P&O Pacific Explorer recently. Attached are photos of what we found behind the curtains in our room. The holes in the wall, possible vermin debris and towel animal had been there a long time. 

The matter was reported to management, but this is appalling in COVID recovery times.

This looks terrible,  could it be water damaged? Not that that's an excuse. 

On our Encounter cruise we found our cabin very clean & was done twice a day.

Great news for Napier. Hopefully cruise ship passengers spend up big in Napier, we plan to on the 20th.

21 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The Premium Dessert list. I wonder how many people will actually try these once let alone have two a day.

 

 

I wonder how many would buy them if they don't have the package 🤔 

20 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

The $15 corkage appears at item 24 Alcohol and Gambling in the Passage Contract for a cruise I booked this month. Those Terms and Conditions were updated in December 2022. Item 2 says that a legally binding agreement on these terms and conditions becomes effective when they receive the first payment for the cruise eg deposit. I don’t see how they can increase the corkage charge for any currently booked cruises. They had better not try, or I will be having a big argument with them on March 16.  

 

I purchased the Plus Package for my 4 cruises since covid, but the latest price increase is too much for the amount of alcohol I think it is sensible to consume daily. The new wine prices are too high for very ordinary wines, so I will be taking my own and paying the corkage.  I might add the soda package to cover mocktails if the new price is reasonable.  I do not drink coffee.

Oops double post

20 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

The $15 corkage appears at item 24 Alcohol and Gambling in the Passage Contract for a cruise I booked this month. Those Terms and Conditions were updated in December 2022. Item 2 says that a legally binding agreement on these terms and conditions becomes effective when they receive the first payment for the cruise eg deposit. I don’t see how they can increase the corkage charge for any currently booked cruises. They had better not try, or I will be having a big argument with them on March 16.  

 

I purchased the Plus Package for my 4 cruises since covid, but the latest price increase is too much for the amount of alcohol I think it is sensible to consume daily. The new wine prices are too high for very ordinary wines, so I will be taking my own and paying the corkage.  I might add the soda package to cover mocktails if the new price is reasonable.  I do not drink coffee.

Out of our next 4 booked cruises only one is with Princess & that isn't until next January.  We paid $30 for our plus fare on Princess for next year.  I pity the poor staff having such a long time to have to put up with the price differences on the new & old packages.

In future I won't bother with the package. On my biggest day I've only managed 2 wines & 2 cocktails & I was merry ( lightweight I know😁) don't drink juice, can't & don't want to eat their stupid icecream offerings & get plenty of exercise taking the stairs & doing laps on deck.

I'll be happy to pay corkage on future cruises.

20 hours ago, thebaehrs said:

@colourbird , @MicCanberra - if we swapped to a shorter cruise at the present sale fare, it would be the same price for actually a better cabin.
 

The real issue is that it’s not a good time of year for us. We’d have to carve time off work, and go from work to cruise right back to work. And surely be thinking about work the whole trip. So my wife has talked me out of it. 
 

I just really love what I’m seeing from the Celebrity ships. Hopefully in a few years. On the plus side, this week I managed to get 2% knocked off my home loan by doing the Barefoot and ringing the bank. Should help with the cruise fund. At least till we get the next ten rate hikes. 
 

Are there any savvy folks out there talking about how to make cruising happen on a tight budget?

We always take on the Moccona cappuccino satchels as the coffee out of the machines is horrible, plenty of hot water to be had. There is iced water & glasses at every bar to help yourself. You are allowed to take on cans of soft drink or non alcohol beer. I take on a Brita water bottle to fill in my cabin, the water is drinkable I just don't like to. If you like chips, nuts or lollies take them with you as why pay ship prices for them unless you have to.

Crazy pricing on the wines 🍷 

Does anyone know if the $15 corkage has gone up please. 

Looks good. I'm hoping they have improved the air-conditioning, it was just about non existent on our October cruise. 

On 2/24/2023 at 1:18 PM, arxcards said:

Thanks Les.

Smooth embark. Check-in open at 11ish, a short pause in the embarkation area, then on at 11:30ish. Couple of drinks, pizzeria lunch, mustered and settled in by 12:30. Time to kick back and ride some waves.

 

The old version of the packages has the Bar staff confused with the new version already. Some of the $16 cocktails are now $18, so have gone up to match the new package cap.

Enjoy your cruise Geoff.

Could you put up some of the new drinks menus please?

4 hours ago, By The Bay said:

Here is a cheapie for the "Crow Eaters".

New Zealand Departing Adelaide

Monday 13th March 2023 14 Nights Pacific Explorer Twin From $550 pp Quad From $500 pp

I saw this price yesterday,  obviously they can’t fill the ship in Adelaide.

We cruised Pacific Encounter in October, we had no trouble getting a table for 2 at any meal time in the mdr but in saying that you are pretty close to others around you. Had the same experience on Princess. 

20 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

The port may be OK, but the whole area is deeply stressed. They say that power may not be restored to many properties for two weeks, there are more than 2000 people in the emergency accommodation in Napier, and roads are very damaged.  I don't think they need a few thousand cruisers descending on them at the moment.

Yes I realise that now. It's why my next post refers to us doing a magical mystery tour.

34 minutes ago, helkatred said:

But of course we do haha!  It is absolutely awful that the tourism industry is going to be so badly affected just as it was picking up again.  I have wanted to see Napier's art deco architecture for years, so very disappointed; we will just have to make another trip next year!  Wondering where we will go instead, though......... 

Yes we could both be on another magical mystery tour. 4 of our 6 ports are all on the east coast of the north island. 

4 minutes ago, helkatred said:

So are we, on the Noordam.  Blast!

We are there on Quantum on the 20th of March. I can't see why they wouldn't go there still as I don't think the waterfront was destroyed.  Now if you have a tour booked that could be a problem. 

On 2/16/2023 at 2:02 PM, Chiliburn said:

Cheryl, I only shoot one blogger down on this site  - and - he -loves - it  ,  LOL

 

But I think Royal has shot it’s self in the foot with Quantum in Brisbane,they can’t fill it.

Lower population, ugly port ,bad transport,pore accommodation and I was talking to a agent the other day and apparently there is healh concerns with the new terminal. She said there’s been a lot of complaints about flies and smells from the sewage plant.

How good is that for a sail away.

 

Melbourne has a bigger population to draw from and has a lot going for it than Brisbane 

More direct international flights,a cosmopolitan city and is good to cruise NZ .

Those last 3 things Americans love , easy transport,cultural and  a NZ cruise.

 

 

We are about to do our 3rd cruise out of the new Port in Brisbane, haven't noticed the  smell on embarkation maybe to excited but have crossing the car park on return.

Yes Rcl are having trouble filling the ship but there are 3 other ships all doing similar itinerarys to compete with,  And a  lot of people just aren't willing to cruise yet because of covid fears.

Princess in Melbourne has had trouble filling their ship, their cruises have been a bargain over summer so doubt they could fill Quantum. What they should do is multi port embarkation especially for southern itinerarys.

Hello,  I have booked my time dining on RC for the NZ cruise , I don't remember being given a choice of dining room & can't see that I have to be at one or the other.