kkinaus

16 hours ago, Happietraveller said:

Hi Karen.  Viking Sydney office were little or no help!  We used the agent they recommended CIBT for one visa…think it was Vietnam…at a hefty price when we did all the work and they just submitted it!  Had huge problems with Indonesian visas, to the point I decided we may jus5 hav3 to stay on the ship!  It was impossible.  BUT, when we joined the ship in Sydney, the first question they asked was name, second question ‘which visas do you have and which ones do you need help with?’  Seriously!  That easy!  Not sure about you joining in HK but can’t stress enough how helpful the Viking crew were.  Hopefully you will have the same experience.  Can I also give you a tip.  A lot of the cities are an hour or two away from the port.  So in some places we left the ship on the 2 day change over and took a hotel in the city.  Then we did smaller, private tours.  The best was Ho Chi Minh City.  Might sound a bit extravagant but we found a really funky hotel near the opera house and next to the markets.  It wasn’t expensive and included breakfast, and we had dinner there also.  We then did the Cu Chi tunnels with a small tour.  Was definitely the best part of our trip.  Good luck.

Thank you Happytraveller for your message. Will see how we go with the Visa's...Yes we are not sure we would get the same treatment in Hong kong that you got in Sydney. A good idea about staying over night in the city. Might have to do some more searching about hotels. Thank you again for responding...Karen 

On 6/25/2024 at 2:51 PM, Happietraveller said:

When I tried to do it on my iPad, it kept telling me my passport number was wrong!  Nope, that’s my passport number!  That’s when I gave up!

Hello Happytraveller. We are on Orion this coming October from Hong Kong to Sydney. We are at the point of applying for Visa's for the Asian countries on this cruise. Have seen some of your messages about applying for visas and would love to be in touch and find out more about your experiences and any hints you might have..We live in Forster and are not far away from you !!!

my email is

karenk_gz at hotmail dot com

Hope to hear back from you. Thanks Karen

Hi Sandi.

We are on the same cruise. 

Here is Sydney cruise ports website. check out page 10 for our arrival.

Sydney Cruise Schedule | Port Authority New South Wales (portauthoritynsw.com.au)

Karen 

Hi , we are also boarding in Hong kong but going through to Sydney.

I have found this on a website (whats in port) thought this might help us both.

Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Cruise Port (whatsinport.com)

Seeing we are a smaller ship we should be closer in to city.

Karen 

On 6/28/2020 at 1:29 AM, HOLIDAYREADER said:

I can only speak for our situation which is the opposite to the one you describe; the refund arrived at the TA last Monday over 100 days after Oceania cancelled the cruise, so the TA has had the money 6 days. They were supposed to be actioning payments on Friday which could take 3 days to hit our bank accounts. They have been slow and unhelpful and they may be delaying things OR it may just be too difficult to allocate all the payments in less than a week with minimum staff; either way we will find out on Monday. Oceania, on the other hand, didn't send us any details of the cruise being cancelled, didn't authorise our payment for over 100 days and then told us they had paid the TA when they hadn't sent them the money. From our own roll call, all the people from the States were posting that they were being paid in April and May and in fact most are not posting at all now because they've been paid. The only people posting are from the UK, Europe and Australia who are still waiting.

 Still waiting here in Australia... +1 Holidayreader….

42 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

You never know. While your itinerary is not in Southeast Asia, there may be a number of people that will choose not to cruise or fly at this time and there may well be cabins for upsell.

Maybe like a variation of what happened with Cuba cruises (although I know it's not the same).

Good luck.

+1

13 minutes ago, kaleighsgram said:

Twenty plus years ago, while teaching first grade, I picked up every germ that was in that classroom causing me to weaken my immune system. I was then referred to the doctors at Yale who gave me lots of good advice.  First and foremost was wash your hands. Keep your hands away from your face, especially eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, places where germs can enter the body.  It was stressed that washing your hands before using the bathroom was even more important than washing your hands afterwards. Use the first stall in a public restroom as it’s the least used, therefore less germs. And lastly, if I went out to a store or a gathering of friends, I was to wash my hair (he called it a germ magnet) before putting my  head on my pillow since most people roll over and their face lands on the very spot where the germs landed.  I still follow a lot of this advice, especially during flu season.  Good luck.  

Pat

Good advice, Thanks Pat.

Hi . We have just been on QE and QV had a cabin  6148 on Deck 6 port side. it was a good location close to lifts/stairs and not too far to get up to buffet and also down to dinning room...anywhere around there I would book again if available.

Hope this helps you.

On 7/19/2017 at 11:33 AM, cowgrrl said:

Referencing is fine. Thanks for asking.

 

Our cruise left from Kobe so we flew in & went straight to port. Afterwards we did stay in Tokyo for a few days. We rented an apartment and the guy we rented from has a shuttle option we took advantage of.

We really didn't do much in Yokohama except get on the bus & drive into Tokyo for a shore excursion. This was 2 cruises back to back & the second cruise round tripped from Tokyo so we picked up a lot of people there.

Hi Cowgrrl, hope you don't' mind me asking.... but we are looking for accommodation in either Tokyo or Yokahama  after a cruise. wondering if you could let me know some information about the apartment you rented in Tokyo. Please. Thanks Karen  karenk_gz@hotmail.com

50 minutes ago, naturelovergirl said:

Underwater

Good advice

I agree, Good advice...The Cunard VP is a terrible site to check anything compared to the Princess VP site. Princess VP shows everything you need to check and you know it is there before you leave .

Maybe Cunard can take a good look at the Princess site.

On 6/21/2019 at 10:36 PM, matamanoa said:

A quote from Mark Twain.  "

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbour.  Catch the trade winds in your sail.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover"

Just love your Mark Twain quote Barb.. I totally agree. We are looking forward to meeting up soon.  Karen 

We just concluded a TA cruise disembarking in Southampton. We used Woodford Cruise Connections for our pickup, a trip to Stonehenge, and delivery to the flat we rented in London. Our driver John was awesome and fun, and Cheryl in the office gave us great communication. We highly recommend them!

Good morning, just read your message and would appreciate any details of the flat your rented in London.

as will be there in London after our cruise next year.

Thanks in advance... Karen:D

Hi Guys we are traveling from Western Australia towards the end of July getting a National Express coach from Heathrow the day before we embark and staying in a Hotel ten minutes away from the ship. We do not like taking the chance of plane delays from Australia , we also found that cunard do not collect the day before. We have driven down on past occasions , however I want my husband to relax and enjoy our trip so we decided not to drive this time. You can reserve seats on the coach, we arrive at 6am Heathrow and get the coach at 9.45 at Southampton by 12.

So keep your fingers crossed that it all goes well. :-)

It can be booked on line for convenience I hope this may help!! :cool:

Hi, We are also from Australia and flying in next year, would love to know what hotel you are staying at in Southampton and thanks for the information about National Express coaches they sound like a good idea.

:)

Thanks Martin, really enjoying your blog. Chris and I joining the ship in Sydney and looking forward to sailing on QM2 for the first time. Maybe we will meet up on Deck 6-7 aft !!!

Karen

We are cruising NCL Jewel - Singapore to HK - leaving 10 March 2018

Hi holidayhelen,

Unfortunately we are on another cruise QM2 -Sydney to Singapore- leaving 9 March 2018.

Do you have contact details for this tour? This looks like it would suit us - we go in March 2018

 

Thank you very much

We are also interested and will be there on 27 March 2018, wonder if the same cruise?

karen

Hi everyone found this today ..

http://www.cruisepassenger.com.au/dawn-princess-to-join-the-po-fleet/

check it out..

I've booked a private tour for our party of four with Insider tour. Usual city tour in morning but special request for photo stop at church of saviour spilled blood. Then on to Hermitage. Lunch. Peterhof in afternoon. Sound about right!?

 

Gossy.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi Gossy,

Would love to know how your tour went with Insider tours??? I am thinking of them for our cruise next year.

Thanks...Karen

Ok, all! I am off the thread till the 11th of Oct. I will be happily cruising on the MSC Divina. So please be patient and I will fill requests when I return.

Would appreciate Paula, could you please send me a copy of the tour as well? Thanks! Karen

karenk_gz at hotmail dot com

Same here, cleaned out the reject shop in Officer Vic of all they had - 7 pkts supplying other travelling friends. Thanks so much to the person who suggested the reject shop. I emailed the manufacturer last night and received a reply today saying they are no longer available.

Anyone wanting them phone around as I had to phone quite a few stores to find any that had them in stock. The old saying let your fingers do the walking

Glad I was able to help..

Might go back and the get the extra ones I left behind in my Reject shop.

Karen:eek:

Thanks, Karen. I'll have to check out the Reject Shops near where I live to see whether they have it.

 

How strong is the Lavender fragrance?

No problems with the smell , the clothes don't smell when they are washed and they do pull apart into two, so found them easy to use for hand washing too.. Hope I have helped some people!!!!;)

I have just found some Dizolve sheets at the local "Reject shop" here in Canberra, and I haven't seen them in Woolworths for along time.They work very well...If you like the Lavender smell that is as thats all they come in..

Hope this helps...

Karen

Further research on the Tour Koh Samui website led me to their Tours for Cruise Ship Visitors that pick up right at our dock. After checking their rating on tripadvisor (excellent), we booked the "Semi-private Island Hopping and Snorkeling tour to Koh Taen for cruise ship visitors". Thank you so much for your recommendation, Sherry :D

Sorry my typing is really bad, hope you understood. Karen

Further research on the Tour Koh Samui website led me to their Tours for Cruise Ship Visitors that pick up right at our dock. After checking their rating on tripadvisor (excellent), we booked the "Semi-private Island Hopping and Snorkeling tour to Koh Taen for cruise ship visitors". Thank you so much for your recommendation, Sherry :D

Hi Sherry,

Wondering how your day tour wnet with Tours Kpohn Samui???

we are thinking of doing the sam tour with them in Jan 2015.

Hope to hear back from you. Karen

That reminds me Jo...... Did Garry get his back???????:D

I think he had some spares!!!! LOL