joejoe 59

16 hours ago, valantine80 said:

Have received offers to bid for an upgrade on Royal twice this season. The first time we booked an interior with virtual balcony and bid minimal amount to upgrade to ocean view which was successful but we were then upgraded to balcony.

About what time frame out do they offer the bid to upgrade?

Do you need to sign up to get upgrade offers?

We have a virtual balcony on Quantum for March so any help with this would be appreciated. 

21 hours ago, NSWP said:

Re Cyclone Gabrielle, NZ weather forecasters are predicting it will hit North Island of NZ, Sunday/Monday.  Probably a few more ships in that area might try and miss it.  Pacfic Explorer and Arcadia are in the region early next week.

Coral Princess left Brisbane Monday for NZ so they could be in for some rough weather as well.

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

I just scored a great deal. 😁
10 nights to PNG on the Pacific Encounter out of Brisbane on 7th June 2023.

I've secured a mini suite for $2000. Total not per person! 😱

 

This was through an online cruise agent which I can’t name and I need to pay $90 to join their club to get this exclusive price, but still…

 

I just need to confirm with DW that these dates will work for us. 🤞

 

As always, YMMV. 

I just had a look at the website & can't see those prices. 

Also I didn't know you would have join their club, usually I just opt out when booking with them.

8 hours ago, arxcards said:

They should be able to skirt the worst of it.

I read elsewhere that they are only going to Noumea now...now that's something to look forward to😄

37 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

Barry's Rules of cruising in Australia - 1. Never sail north of Brisbane in Summer 2. never sail south of Brisbane in Winter 3. Never sail westwards across the Great Australian Bight ever!!!

I agree with you about heading north in summer. South east Queensland the last couple of weeks has been more then I can handle.

On 2/2/2023 at 10:35 PM, arxcards said:

I think they will be content to finish the season with a dirty bum. With the final NZ cruise skipping the fiords & BOI, that is probably something they will take care of in Singapore, as it looks like they have a couple of weeks in drydock there from 17th March.

We have Bay of Islands on our itinerary in March on Quantum I wonder if it has a dirty butt & won't be allowed in, we don't have the fiords.

34 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Should be an absolute bargain now they have added a possible cyclone to the itinerary.

 

Maybe they'll divert & go south instead, that's what I'd be hoping if I was cruising tomorrow.

18 hours ago, bazzaw said:

No - my explosive vomiting/diarrheal incident which lasted for several hours resulted in a major cleanup requirement by the "team" and then resulted in the Nurse giving me a RAT test followed by a PCR test the next day. No more tests required after those results. I was practically unconscious after this. 

Sound's bloody awful. We caught it on a Blue lagoon cruise in fiji last year, we did feel very unwell but nothing like your symptoms. We have cruised twice since & have another next month, fingers crossed we don't get it again. 

8 hours ago, bazzaw said:

I had a RAT test after I explosively covered the entire walls and floor of our bathroom with vomit 😞 

Sounds nasty 🤮

Did you give yourself the rat test because you brought some onboard with you & then reported your positive test?

8 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

That is what I am thinking. For my next couple of cruises, I depart and return to my home city, Brisbane. I can easily take the Brita filter jug. For travelling I plan to fill it with undies etc. so it wont get broken by rough handling of suitcases. I have bought some water-testing tablets ($3 for 10) that I plan to use after we board to determine the chlorine content of the unfiltered water, then again after filtration. This is just for peace of mine. For $3 it is certainly worth it.

That sounds like a great plan. 

17 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

From what I can find out, I think the water is filtered out of the Brita water bottle when a person drinks from the top. I prefer drinking from a glass when I can. When I am travelling, obviously I have to use a water bottle. I am thinking of buying a Brita filter jug and might use vitamin C powder as well. I will decant the filtered water into 500ml bottles for when I am out and about and even to take to the dining room. Alternatively, I can ask for a wedge of lemon in the dining room to add to my water glass. My problem with the water is so severe that I have to find a solution. After having disembarked last Thursday morning, I am still not back to normal. I found in the past it took at least four days.

I don't use the water bottle by sucking on the top. The water is filtered through the top but I just squeeze it into a plastic water bottle that I then carry around wherever with me & keep the brita bottle in my cabin refilled for when needed. 

I also have the jug for at home. I think this for a long cruise would be a great option,  just fill it with undies & sock in your suitcase😁  It really isn't that heavy when empty & once it's in your cabin happy gut happy you.

On 1/26/2023 at 5:26 PM, Aus Traveller said:

We were advised that boarding would be delayed by one hour. This was because the previous cruise had several cases of COVID. Needless to say, when we arrived at 12.45 for our 1pm embarkation, there were people everywhere. Embarkation was very slow.

 

I have booked on the world cruise and was pleased that there was a large group of world cruisers on this particular voyage. We were able to meet up and went to the MDR for lunch on our first sea day.

 

We had been allocated an accessible balcony cabin although we don't require one. It was fantastic to have the extra space and the large balcony, but the drainage of water from the shower was a problem. It flowed out under the door and wet the carpet in the cabin. I spent a lot of time with towels, trying to soak up the water by stomping on the towels. We heard a maintenance man on board telling our next door neighbour that all that type of cabin had that problem and that they 'couldn't do anything'. We were told to just use towels. My husband constructed a little dam wall using a trivia pencil and duct tape to close off the approx 3cm wide gap that allowed the water to flow out. The shower water was then diverted to where it should go. It wouldn't be difficult for the on-board engineers to glue a length of plastic of metal to divert the water. This is in an area where no-one would or even could walk.

 

Our first port of call was Sydney. The early morning sail-in was magical with the sun lighting up the tall buildings, and reflections in the still waters of the harbour completing the scene. I went for a long walk around the harbour. The next day (Thursday 19th - day 3) we all had to take a RAT test. I was reliably informed that only a handfull of cases were detected. I walked past all of the cabins on decks 12, 11 and 10 and saw indications of only one 'COVID cabin'. It was on deck 12. Someone mentioned that there were a few cabins quarantined off on deck 8.

 

After leaving Sydney, we had some extremely windy weather that meant we couldn't go out on the promenade deck. It was too windy to enjoy our balcony for a day or so.

 

By day 3 to 4, I found that the water was having a rather drastic effect on my innards so I reduced my intake of water in the dining room as well as from the tap in the cabin. I drank the bottles of water in the cabin, then the sparkling water, then the tonic water and was even considering drinking Coke, when I was able to get more bottled water. I had a live chat with a Princess rep today about the price of water on board and the answers seemed crazy. She said there would be bottles in the cabin to buy (there weren't), we could take on water but nothing larger than 750ml, it had to be factory sealed and was limited to one pp per day. For quite a while this Princess rep wouldn't give me any on-board prices and said I would have to speak to my Travel Agent. Eventually she told me that the water on board was $3 for a 500 ml bottle, but it could vary. I would need a few of these a day. I will find out more before our next cruise. In the chat she then informed me that I couldn't take food ashore. Duh!! I didn't need to know that.

 

Our Tassie ports were switched around because another ship was in Hobart when we were due to be there. One good result was that our visit to Hobart was on a Saturday - Salamanca Markets Day!! I walked to the markets, then looked at all of the couple of hundred stalls. I was very restrained in my purchasing. Back to the ship. The next day was Port Arthur where we went ashore by tender. I walked all around the site but I have to confess, because this was the second very active day in a row, I did consider getting a ride part of the way on one of the complimentary golf carts that ran constantly. Anyway, there wasn't one when I wanted it, so I continued on foot, even though my knees protested.

 

Our next day was scenic cruising off the Freycinet National Park. The ships can't go into Wineglass Bay, but the scenery was lovely.

 

We sailed back to Brisbane, arriving at the BICT on time on Thursday 26th Jan.

Your cruise sound's lovely. We have it booked for January next year but it includes Eden as well.

I also have trouble with the water, I bought myself a Brita water bottle for $16 at woolworths  & just decant into a plastic drink bottle, or into several bottles & keep them in the fridge for the day.

2 hours ago, Auscruisefam said:

I have a cruise booked in a few weeks. It will be our last until the mandates drop or at least most of them. Honestly I’m dreading the cruise,  I booked an ocean view no balcony. If I go into isolation I don’t know how I will cope. The room is small and no fresh air. I have only ever had balcony rooms and I only booked this cabin as a bet with my husband that I can actually cruise on the cheap. Obviously I can not. 
Also it’s on Luminosa, which I’ve had a few friends do and said it was absolutely crap. 
My husband is being positive and saying it’s an “adventure” meanwhile I’m completely freaking out. But it is 100% my fault for not thinking it through and trying to prove hubby wrong. 




 

Well if you think your cruise is going to be crap your expectations can't go any lower. Just imagine how good it's going to be when it's much better then your friends said & you're having a good time.

Do your best being covid safe even if others aren't.

Good luck🙂

1 hour ago, mum and son said:

It always seemed like a weird double up, but it may have alerted some cruisers to boarding requirements that they didn't bother checking before arriving at the port. I feel like there'll be a slight increase of "we didn't know we had to be vaccinated" people at check in...but I hope not.

 

We never bothered downloading it & never had a problem boarding p&o  There's no excuse for not knowing you need to be vaccinated, its one of the first questions you need to answer checking in online with P&O, Rcl & Princess. 

22 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Part of the problem in Brisbane is the cruiselines didn't advertise their cruises early enough.  Then, when they started cruising, they changed the itineraries, due to Covid.  I'd love to cruise again from Brisbane, but I have other plans booked until winter.  Then the ships will be gone north!

I think it might help if there were some different itineraries between the ships but they are all doing very similar. Hopefully that improves in the future...wishful thinking I know.

19 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Did my research today - Ovation & Quantum are sister ships, main difference is Quantum is 2 years older.  Curious as to why Quantum is struggling with bookings and Ovation is not -  Thoughts?

 

To the OP, enjoy your future cruise.

I think Brisbane is struggling to fill cruise ships at the moment because we have 4 ships running out of there & so many people still don't have the confidence yet to cruise...unless they are die-hard cruisers like us on here.

On 1/19/2023 at 4:08 PM, lucymorgan said:

Hi,  In case it is relevant to anyone, I just wanted to mention that a few months ago ago I started an Australian Gluten Free and Coeliac cruising group.   It is so far mostly about cruises from Oz but anyone is welcome to join (you will have to search for it and request to join).  The group is growing more rapidly than I expected.  We discuss the ways that the different cruise lines cater for those of us who cannot eat gluten.  In general, if advised in advance or on board, most cruiselines/ships do a pretty good job, in different ways.    Any info anyone wants to provide (web pages, personal experience etc) is welcome either here or there.  Cheers

I'm  a member already. 

I gave the info on Blue lagoon cruises.

It's a good site love all the food photos especially on Rcl as that is our next cruise. 

3 hours ago, lucymorgan said:

Because I cannot eat gluten, I took some pictures of the Encounter food.  Here are some examples 

 

I'm also strictly gluten free.  How good were those gf muffins😍

Also the mossaman beef curry in Dragon Lady, we went back twice for that.

Are some of you food pics from Luke's? Maybe I need to try that next time.

Loved your review thanks

22 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

I think it is 60  but their web page will tell you

So you don't need to be from nsw?

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Public transport (but not by train from the airport) using a Gold (Seniors) Opal Card. $2.50 daily cap no matter how far you go.

What age is the seniors Opal card, not sure we are quite old enough yet😁

2 hours ago, NSWP said:

Ask your cabin steward on day 1 to put a bucket of ice in cabin fridge daily,, then put your bottle in bucket. Call me peculiar but I put a couple of blocks of ice in my 🍷.and white wine.

Me too, my husband calls it my wine slurpy😁

On 1/13/2023 at 6:19 PM, Hogbay said:

Pay $2:50 to travel Sydney , cab cost $41 this morning ? Back BICT on Sun Lomanosa 

How do you travel Sydney for $2.50?

Last time we caught a taxi from the airport to Port it cost $65.00 & this was a long while ago, not sure what year but it was to hop on Aria for the 5 ship spectacular.

On 1/10/2023 at 12:09 PM, windsor26 said:

I believe room service started at $5 for a cup of tea and as we saw on the pool deck a burger is also about that and chips $3

 

When you embark go straight to the dining room where there will be people to take your week's reservations for time and restaurant choice which saves you going each day   You can cancel of course anytime you need to

 

The bottle of wine at $36 was in my opinion awful  it was like licking pennies  -urg ! -  The bar tender did let us try a sample before we purchased so we left it for another time an stayed with cider and shandy instead of wine for our cruise   The next price was quite high and did not look any better for us.

Dragon Lady has 2 menus and they change them after 3 days so remember that when you choose your days.

 

Have a great time   (you can take a few cans of soda on board (loose) in your carry on luggage

 

I love your description of the wine...

Like licking pennies 🤣 

I tried a few wines by the glass & they were bloody awful 😖 

By day 2 I would buy a bottle of Oyster Bay sav blanc from the dining room at lunch time, keep it cool until happy hour & take it wherever I went...happy days.

4 hours ago, sayaguru said:

I agree you may not want that.  But for me (and others I know who will choose Sydney over Brisbane) I have family and friends in Sydney. So I'm flying there anyway. I will do a cruise out of Sydney to coincide with that. 

I'm on the Gold Coast and if you don't want to drive or pay expensive shuttle it's a pain to get to the Brisbane terminal. 

I can see it's a nice excuse to go to Sydney if you have family there🥰  we don't. 

We have no option other then drive the 3hrs from home, we have no public transport at all to anywhere.

If you don't drive you go nowhere.