3littlepigs

Very happy to have finally received our refund. Took 109 days. Australians are definitely not getting the same priority as others. 
We definitely won’t be taking them up on the pay in full on booking offer again. 

On 7/13/2020 at 7:49 AM, MarleyNZ said:

Advice from TA will received refund without deduction in our bank account tomorrow🍾🥂

Had my day count incorrect previously, worse than I thought!

Cancelled 25 March = 110 days ...

Phew.

Congratulations! We are still waiting on our refund. We are up to 58 days and TA was told a lot longer to wait when she followed up yesterday. 
We were on the HKG to SYD cruise leaving 10 Oct this year. I looked on the site tonight and am shocked to see they are still selling that cruise. They have a snowball’s hope in hell of bringing a ship anywhere near Australia in October. It’s very disappointing to see that they are taking money from customers for a cruise that will not happen.

Our Europe Cruise departure was 30 March this year, the first trip if the year for them on that route. Scenic cancelled 2 weeks before, and we requested a refund through our agent even though they were offering 125% FCC. Scenic called the agent about a month ago to ask then to check again whether we wanted a refund or the credit and were told refund. About 2 weeks ago the agent had them on the phone and asked why other refunds had come through but not ours and was told they didn’t really know but it was being processed. We have 2 trips booked with Scenic next June but if they don’t get our refund sorted soon we will cancel and look elsewhere. There is absolutely no reason that our refund should still be outstanding. 

If you don’t want to post your details you can fax and have a response in 24 hours. 

I fax from the local PO because my business gave up faxing years ago. I am hoping they make it into the 21st Century soon!

Thank you! 

We are staying in Yokohama so all good. Nice to get a little extra shopping done before we sail. 

Anyone who has cruised from Yokohama on HAL Know whether you can disembark after you have checked in and boarded? Ship doesn’t sail until 11pm but checkin starts at 1pm so we are wondering if you can get off and wander around before sail away time. Obviously have to be onboard for the safety drill but there are some great places that would be nice to walk around after dark.

On 8/21/2019 at 11:35 PM, Shawnino said:

If you are over 60 please consult your family doctor and perhaps a properly qualified immunologist before deciding to get this vaccine.

We lost a top researcher this year to the YF vaccine:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/11/top-cancer-scientist-prof-martin-gore-dies-after-rare-reaction-to-yellow-fever-vaccination

 

As someone who must travel unvaccinated, I depend on "the herd" being vaccinated for my own immunity, but I do hope everyone is careful and makes a very informed decision. 

One of my closest friends is a Family Doctor and recommended my husband and I both got the yellow fever vaccine before we are 60 for this reason. We had to explain to our new Dr (we have move to a rural area) and he didn’t want to do it, wanted to wait until we were going somewhere we had to have it...until he looked up the latest research and was more than happy to do it while our risk was low. 

We paid the retail price of the vaccine in Australia (around US$80) but our health fund reimbursed all but about US$30. 

We book a Neptune a suite so have unlimited laundry. We always write cold wash or ask for items to be dry cleaned. I have only ever had one issue and that was a ladies dress that was supposed to look crinkled that I asked not to be ironed. They must have worked super hard to iron it because it’s been flat ever since. I just laugh...it’s like a completely different dress now but still a favourite!

Its a fantastic service and makes packing much easier, especially if you are on a long trip.

I love the Corner aft for the size of the balcony. I once read a description of the movement of the ship there as “a dog wagging its tail” it does move a bit differently but, in my opinion, is WAY better than a forward cabin. We usually book a Neptune GTY but have never lucked out and been allocated a Corner aft on a GTY booking, I think they are just too popular!

My kids always look forward to a supply of Perky Nanas when we go to NZ. Had heaps of trouble finding them last year! We were worried they had stopped making them!

RCCL do look after their suite guests. The concierge lounge is nice with the cocktails in the evening, quite like a club lounge in a hotel. They also had reserved seats in the theatre and deck chairs for suite guests. When we went they didn’t have a separate suite restaurant and we weren’t keen on the food. The new restaurant would be a big improvement. It’s hard to beat a Celebrity Suite if you can get one at the right price. They really look after their suite guests. An alternative may be an aqua class cabin on Celebrity which has a separate restaurant and access to the thermal suite which she may enjoy.

Hi,taking into consideration where you live and having been to the Rockies and Alaska if I were you I would stay in the north island.

The South is beautiful but we thought it was a mini Rockies in places.

Cheers Carole

100% agree!

The north offers the Maori Cultural experiences and the geothermal wonders...there is nothing like bubbling mud and geysers! The south is gorgeous and my favourite but that’s because of the mountains and fiords which you are very familiar with.

Definitely contact RCCL special needs dept.

We were in Noumea last Sunday and noticed some of The HOHO buses were wheelchair accessible, others weren’t so you could get around but would have to wait for an accessible bus.

Update from Lautoka today.

Several local vendors selling tours on the wharf. Most are pushing the Nadi/SLeeping Giant/Drive around town tours. My husband was looking at snorkeling and was offered Beachcomber Island with transfers to Vuda Marina by minibus then boat to Beachcomber. Morning tea, lunch and non motorised water sports included for F$95 then F$90 by the next vendor...so prices are definitely negotiable.

There is a FREE shuttle bus service provided by the Tappoo shopping centre which takes you right into the middle of town. If you are just going for a wander around town and wanting to look at the shops it’s a great option. The shopping mall is in the heart of town, very clean, air conditioned, has bathrooms and eating and drinking options. We had been to Fiji many times so wandered around the town then saw a new release movie at the very nice cinema for less than A$5. If we were up for it we could have enjoyed a beer or wine from the cinema bar while we watched the movie.

We were in Noumea last Sunday. Basically everything in town is shut. Morning market is open until noon. Casino supermarket across from cruise terminal until.12.30. Not sure even they would be open on Easter Monday. I recommend you ask on TripAdvisor Noumea forum and a local can tell you. HOHO bus ticket was A$12 or $24 with Duck Island water taxi when bought from cruise terminal in town. Free Internet access was limited to 5 minutes at cruise terminal or 2 hours at park in town. Just sit anywhere shady in the park and you should get access. You need to have your mobile phone so you can receive a txt to get access.

We were in Vila a few days ago. We like taking the water taxi to town from the ship. This time the water taxis were offering to take you to beaches off the harbour for a swim and pick u up and bring you back to town or the ship rides seemed to be $5 each pretty much anywhere in the Harbour. Other people negotiated longer hires of the water taxi to poodle around and do some small boat siteseeing. I don’t know the price but wouldn’t be outrageous.

Thanks. We can drop off luggage and wander on from there and come back later to board.

Just wondering if we are still able to leave the ship after embarkation at the OPT.

Himself was hoping to have lunch then nip off and see his workmates before the final all aboard. We have done that in the past but I thought the rules had changed and once you are on you are on.

If not, what time would be the earliest he could drop luggage? Sailing is Noordam this week.

Thanks

He should talk to his Pharmacist who would be able to research his options as to number of takeaway doses allowed and border control procedures.

Thanks!

For us it’s about the huge discount on buying at home, usually at least 40%. I was hoping to tell my girls what was likely to be available but they will have to wait until I can get a message back to them from a port as to what’s available now. They will get a second chance later in the year when we are back onboard.

Its a couple of years since we were on a HAL ship. I remember they used to have Clinique and, I think, Estée Lauder in the onboard shops.

Can anyone help me with what brands are currently available?

Thanks

I’m at a loss as to how another passengers choice of clothing can spoil someone’s holiday, it’s not as if they were stark naked!

We usually do everything electronically but we had the TA send us our upcoming South Pacific cruise docs because we don’t have access to print at the moment. A big leather look conference binder/clipboard arrived from the wholesaler via the TA, complete with plain blue lanyards, boarding passes with the wrong dining info on them ( it had been fixed a couple of weeks before) and luggage tags with no cabin number (Gty cabin) did have a full itinerary. As nice as it was to get something in the post that wasn’t a bill, we will probably try to stay with emailed docs in the future rather than add so much to landfill!

Let's think about it in another way. Pretend you have booked airfare to a specific destination because you have somewhere you need to be. You have bought the tickets at a set price and you are happy. Now they are offering you a refund of $1000 if you pay before June. Do you take it? If you are hesitating, what's holding you back? Certain itineraries (Canada/New England) don't really tend to come down in price before final payment, so you will need to add that to the equation.

This is a great way of looking at your dilemma. We are used to buying air tickets, paying when we buy them and accepting there is a penalty (losing all or some of the airfare) if we cancel. The idea of a non refundable cruise or cruise deposit is new to us. We should look at it in the same way as the airfare. Given that nobody should travel without adequate travel insurance (which includes cancellation costs if you buy it where I live...maybe other places are different) then if you are intending to travel unless something unforeseen happens then it’s worth considering the non refundable trip. Without knowing what % of the total cost the saving represents or what the average cost that particular style of cruise ends up, it’s hard to know whether $1000 is a good saving or not.

We have just booked a non refundable deposit cruise ( a bit different but similar idea) for September because it was a saving of over $2000 per person, there are few cabins left in the grade we booked, it’s a once a year itinerary and involves an expensive one way airfare, so we figure it’s a good deal. If it had been a couple of hundred dollars on a cruise that runs regularly we probably wouldn’t have bothered.

So don’t be scared of the non refundable idea, just weigh up whether the level of savings works for you...and make sure you have good travel insurance :D

We have booked the Vancouver to Sydney route this year because my husband loves to shop in North America and will fill the cabin with his purchases...we couldn’t afford the luggage on a flight!