Cbtours

Just now, Womble99 said:

Afaik a domestic cruise was one that didn't require a passport to travel ie did not visit any other countries (Willis Is doesn't count 🤣)

But if you hit medivac etc that doesn’t get covered hence we’ve always insure cruises

18 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

What is classified as a 'domestic' cruise? Would this be a cruise (for instance) on the Murray River? Would a cruise on an international ship from Sydney to Hobart and return be classified as international or domestic? Previously the advice is that international coverage would be required for the Sydney-Hobart-Sydney cruise.

Well you state you’re going in a cruise inc domestic with say covermore and one cover and they load the excess then. But more sure about annual

2 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

Last week I booked an INTERIOR cabin on DECK 5 for a Comedy Cruise on Pacific Encounter and can you believe that I ticked the box "no to upgrade". Knowing my luck I'd get "upgraded" to one of those cabins that they've stuck those awful bunk beds in. When it was Star Princess they were Twin Cabins, but when P&O took ownership they stuck in bunk beds to some cabins. So I'd prefer a Deck 5 Inside cabin than one of those. Eewwwww. 

Good to see you still managing to fit cruises in Cilla 🥰

4 minutes ago, arxcards said:

That is a sweet upgrade.

The fairy has never scattered upgrade glitter on any of my bookings. Not even a move to an identical cabin in a different location. It got to the stage that friends would go well out of their way to message me about their recent visit from the upgrade fairy. It used to erk me a bit, but I made my piece with it 10 or so years back. Just as well, as I think the wand has run out of glitter, and the fairy has retired with a voluntary redundancy package.

I never tick the box giving permission to offer me one lol. I’ve carefully picked my cabin and don’t want to be disappointed. That being said if they offered me balcony and above for an inside I’d be happy 😊 

1 hour ago, diverdon48371 said:

We will be disembarking from the grand princess, and we have a 11:40 pm flight. I know princess offers an excursion that includes the hop on hop off bus, and also send your luggage to the airport (around $144pp). Does anyone of a service that will send your luggage to the airport without buying the excursion thru princess?

 

Thank You

 

Don 

We used pan pacific at the port. (The bell boys look after it.) we had stayed prior to cruise, so it was only $5 per case, instead of $10. Our flight was 10pm. We headed out to the airport via light rail once we knew the airport lounge was open and had dinner there (around 6pm).

2 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Its time to get off, probably just as well before I become institutionalised 😄. The time has gone so quickly. I feel blessed that I was able to do a WC segment, ordinarily beyond my financial means. Its very laid back with lots to do. I went to almost all the shows and entertainers at least once. They were all very good having worked in West End, Vegas, Broadway etc. as well as some folkloric groups. I usually went at 9 pm when it was not quite so packed so I missed the show that was shut down. Apparently someone was not as expected, Don't know what happened there. Never heard of it happening before.

 

I also watched the Destination Expert videos at least twice. It was handy that most of them were on the TV already when I embarked at Cape Town. I also bought the Internet for $23 a day for 4 or 5 days so I could also do research on the ports among other things and of course today to check in and print my boarding passes. Most of the ports in Europe had free wi-fi in port or nearby which was well utilised by passengers. So its hard to say how many had packages. I did bring on a few bottles of wine in Cobh but the alcohol person was MIA so the security staff just waived me through and said 'enjoy' as it was only wine not spirits.

 

They certainly put it on for the folks leaving today with a great buffet luncheon then an invitation to a variety show put on by the resident entertainers. Both the CD and her deputy sang. They were very good. I'm not used to CD's singing! We also got a Thankyou cake delivered to our room. At the end Team members came from all over the place to the sounds of "Simply the Best". I really enjoyed it all and they gave everyone a free champagne or whatever you wanted before the show. A nice touch.

Now Captain Perra is getting off, the Production Cast is getting off, my steward is getting off and then joining the Sun in a few months and between 500 and 700 of us are getting off depending on who you talk to but ship pretty much full after Dover.

No, I did not eat any cake but I couldn't say no to sushi and raw fish!

 

I fly to Singapore on an A380 and then have to codeshare on Q on a Airbus 330 I think but I've bought an aisle seat so I'll be right. Besides Sing- Melb is positively local. Then I'm off on the Diamond again on Sep 4 to defrost after the Melb winter.

 

I wish everyone continuing and those joining a great onward cruise and look forward to reading any updates.

 

A few pics of my last day aboard.

Thanks for a great report. A WC segment is about the only way we could do it so it’s been interesting reading your perspectives. 🥰

5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It certainly does. I'll try to do a summary of the rest of the trip to date in a couple of days time.

 

I caught the cough that was going around the ship just as we arrived at Gran Canaria. Luckily the symptoms didn't ramp up until we were heading back to the ship after our half day excursion. I stayed in the cabin that evening and the whole of the next day and, thank goodness, felt well enough to do our Tangier excursion (wearing a mask) although it knocked me back a bit so I haven't felt like posting much. Luckily I was fully over it by the time we reached Belgium as the last couple of weeks have been full on. 

Glad you’re well again 🥰

6 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's exactly half way through the cruise for us. We've collected a lot of fridge magnets!

 

I’ve been watching for updates 😁 halfway wow! It goes so quick

Just now, Sallyandtex said:

Thankyou!

Any preference Crown or Royal?

We like a promenade walk for exercise

Actually have not been in either of those yet. We always stuck to the smaller ones, dawn, sun, ruby, coral, then went on the Grand. We always said we wouldn’t want bigger, but chose the majestic for Alaskan cruise last year. Loved it. Now we’re planning to cruise in the sky after our UK trip next June.

23 minutes ago, Sallyandtex said:

Hi, We had to cancel a HAL cruise to Japan for this year due to illness.

Looking closer to home things have gone up in price dramatically, and the ships don't seem to do many Sydney round trips.

We liked the size and feel of Westerdam,  but we would have to get a flight 1 way to or from Auckland.

Friends gave warned us of the uncomfortable beds and bad food, and crowds on Princess ships that are large.(crown and royal seem to be the ones that go to NZ)

Is this unfounded?

Princess have more offerings Sydney return.

P.s not wanting fabulous shows but like trivia and other smaller crowd activities 

We would try out of school holidays like end of Jan or February or March.

Thanks

We have had 21 cruises with princess and only one with another line. We live princess and have had no complaints with beds, food or crowds including our first ever cruise was Princess cruise at Christmas which we absolutely loved and it got us hooked for life 😁

26 minutes ago, Womble99 said:

Does Qantas do cruise coverage? Last time I tried running a quote through them there was no mention of cruise coverage in their pds and no option to select it when quoting a policy?

 

Given their great phone service for flights I wasn't keen to check by phone so they missed my business.

Yes def cover cruises. Very helpful when I ph to double check. It’s def in PDS under reference to “transport” and I’ve double checked again no we taking annual again and it is def auto covered.

9 minutes ago, Galesa said:

The thing is, that many of the alternate, (to covermore) TI companies do not cover pre-existing conditions. We have Westpac CC TI and it doesn't cover PECs, even relatively minor ones (like Breast Cancer when in remission for more than 10 years). So this means we have to get additional TI. Covermore seems to be the only one that provides broad cover for a range of PECs, at a cost of course.

I did notice when researching for this years TI that what was always covered in the list of 40 odd conditions (like acne and bunions!!!!) that high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes were always covered ( as long as there were no complications such as heart conditions, that condition was long standing, managed etc). These appear to have both disappeared from the accepted list and now are on the non accepted list and incur a huge jump on some companies list!

4 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

Glad to hear that your daughter is OK, Irene. I’m sure there was lots of prayer in addition to the chemo and surgery. 
 

We're hoping to rely on the complimentary Westpac insurance for our next few cruises but I need to delve into the T&Cs. It’s good to hear some positive feedback on it. 

Believe you me there was much prayer! Whatever the results, we know Gods keeping power ❤️

Just now, Sparky74 said:

The trouble with insurance is that you don’t know how good it is until you have to make a claim. 

True! I had to make first one ever last year when we had to change all our travel plans due to my daughter being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (side note after gruelling chemo and major surgery she is all clear🙏🏻).

I had westpac complimentary cc insurance and Frank had an annual policy with Qantas. Both paid out in full within 10 days 🥰

9 hours ago, cruisine21 said:

This was someone’s travel insurance issue on the Osteoporosis support page I’m on.

 

Ok, so I have just had a recent experience with this.
I was doing Everest Base Camp Trek so chose Covermore as the had an Adventure Plus add on which covered EBC. I also disclosed my pre-existing OP with 1-2 breaks within 5 years (their criteria).
Unfortunately I had a slip coming down from a hill and broke my ankle in 3 places requiring heli-vac to Kathmandu where I underwent immediate surgery.
And there started a week of stress dealing with Covermore - or more specifically their Emergency Assist (which is a sub-contract to Covermore). They were terrible - not calling back when they said they would, not returning emails. I was then told they would need to contact my GPs for medical history however there was a delay in this. Meanwhile I had to book and pay for my own business class ticket home without any offer of assistance (until I told them I had done it). The delay either obtaining my medical history continued (with my friends at home doing the chasing) as they had sent requests to incomplete email addresses. 6 days later, and in the day I was now booked to fly home, I received confirmation that they would cover my $21,000 hospital bill. I can’t tell you how much stress I experienced over that time.
Since getting back, I completed my claim via their portal and uploaded supporting documentation. I then received an email from them enquiring as to whether I needed assistance with my claim as presumably they hadn’t received it. Rang to follow up and was told they couldn’t see any documentation uploaded. Had to redo. Then sent an email reply to explain it was resubmitted. Never received reply or acknowledgment but did receive payment within approx 4 weeks from 2nd submission. Although I believe they have underpaid me by $300 which I have followed up by email but have received no reply..   🙄

I understand why they wanted my medical history - they obviously need to verify that my disclosure was truthful.  But their handling of my situation has been very much less than satisfactory.

Long story short, would I go with Covermore again given they were prob most expensive? NO!

And as a byline - I had to undergo the surgery again once I arrived home (6 weeks ago) and the surgeon stated that he saw no sign of osteoporosis in my ankle. It was just a trauma injury that could happen to anyone. May well increase the cost of my next cover tho 😞

Glad it worked out 🥺

Just now, mattR said:

What does concession fare mean?

 

For us, we are over 65 and have a pension concession card. I’m not sure if other concession cards offer same discount.

1 minute ago, sultan_sfo said:

 

I wish I had seen your post earlier.

 

Our 2022 RTW was cancelled and Princess transferred 2022 booking to 2024 which was supposed to go thru Suez Canal. But Princess had to change the 2024 Itin to Perth to Cape Town. So Princess gave us 15% of our fare as Future Credit refund.  And then 2025 Itin was also changed Perth to Cape Town and Princess gave us another 25% + Premiere Package if we.booked 2025 Perth to Cape Town. So many of us are now booked on 2025 RTW @40 % off and Premier Package. The reason i am giving these details is to encourage you to keep checking the 2026 RTW Itin and fares. Right now RTW 2026 fares are high assuming Suez Itin.

Thanks! I will def check, as checking is currently a daily requirement in my day 🤣

3 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

That's not even remotely true. Every country does not require your passport to be valid for 6 months after your return date...some require three months and some only require your passport to be valid during the time of your stay. The number of countries requiring 6 months validity is in the minority of countries...particularly if you're a US citizen.

The OP didn't state which country's passport they're carrying but if they're a US citizen Canada only requires a passport valid for your time there and the US permits reentry into the country through the passport's expiration date. If the OP is a Canadian citizen to enter the US their passport only has to be valid for the length of their stay.

 

However, some cruise lines and airlines impose a blanket six month requirement because it eliminates the need to keep track of the various individual country rules.

My bad sorry.

I obviously don’t know too many countries 😩 I thought it was a standard requirement 

5 hours ago, doghog said:

Returning from an Alaskan cruise on 20 September 2024 on the Celebrity Edge. Are there porters as you disembark to schlep your luggage thru customs? Are there taxis waiting to take you to the Vancouver airport? 

 

Our Passports expire 25 Jan 2025. Will our Passports still be valid for our 13 thru 20 September Alaskan cruise? The cruise leaves from Seattle and returns to Vancouver? 

Every country I know needs your passport to be valid for 6 months after your return date so you will definitely need to renew.

if you need assistance with your luggage re mobility issues the ships porters assist. I’m not sure they do otherwise. There are plenty of taxis and set price. 

1 hour ago, cleobella said:

I'm just wondering if  there a shuttle bus that runs from the airport to cruise port in Vancouver and vis versa? If so, can you pay when you board the shuttle or bus, using a bank card or credit card? Does anyone know a current price for a taxi from the airport to the port?  Also, does anyone know if the Pan Pacific Hotel still has luggage storage near the cruise port exit? 

The skytrain is Super efficient, buy your ticket as you leaving the airport is cheapest way. Yes pay with credit card.
 

Our first time to Vancouver last year we were unsure and after long flight from Australia, we just took a taxi to the pan pacific where we were staying for 5 days before boarding our RT cruise .

taxi is set price (at the time ours was $38) worked out by zones. If you google you will see how much today.

yes pan stores your luggage. Was $10 per piece, or for us $5 piece cos we stayed there.

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Coz I will sleep till at least 8am if I didn't have it. 

I would love to do that! I never set an alarm in my whole working life cos I’m rarely awake after 6am. But at the other end of the day I’m a wipeout lol I’m the literal morning person.

2 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Coming home isn't an option for us. I am now doing some homework towards getting a credit card with travel insurance included. Hopefully I will find a decent option in time to pay for flights and 2nd deposit for our 1/2 world. By the time I pay for the required portion of the travel, those 1% card fees and annual fees will go a long way toward paying for a policy

 

Single trip insurance for 75 days is almost double the price of an annual policy with a 45-day trip limit.

My insurance is westpac credit card complimentary and have never had a problem. Actually only claimed once but paid out within 10 days and very pleasant to deal with .

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

My bladder usually gets me up around 4:30-5am. Occasionally I manage to nod off again but mostly that’s the end of my sleep. But if I sit in the lounge mid afternoon… 😴💤

 

For our "Are We Mad" trip we took out insurance through CoverMore as we were doing a helicopter flight in Alaska. If you read my half a review, you know that the helicopter flight was cancelled. 🤷‍♂️ (Maybe I should try to finish that review one day.)

Under the terms of the annual multi-trip policy we had purchased, we were able to do a longer trip because we returned home in the middle of it. If we returned to our home or place of business that ended a "trip" and we could start another one immediately! As it was we stayed at home for one night before commencing our next journey. 
 

YMMV

Unfortunately we can’t nip home in the middle from UK 😁

covermore is one of the top of the list in research though.

”Are we mad” was one of the most entertaining reports! Yes please continue 🤣🤣

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

My inspiration is a 4:10am alarm, followed by turning on a pre-dawn light bulb to prevent tripping over in the dark.

And you have a 4.10am alarm for ????

Just now, ceeceeDee said:

Yes, it's the same time here in sunny Queensland. I also have a resident Labrador tapping her paw to go for her morning run. I can almost hear her muttering 'Mum's on the computer AGAIN! Sigh'. 🙄

 

I'm not quite at the research future cruises stage as our limited time off has been used with our forthcoming cruise. However, early 2026 is looking good.😂

Our next trips are to family! South Africa at Christmas so Frank can be home for Christmas ❤️ then approx sometime UK summer (if we can gauge which week that will be 🤣🤣🤣) to see my family. Well cruise “something” after our visit before heading home.