mr walker

It's always great when tablemates agree to take turns, either by rotating thru or just a 'no-one can seat in the same seat until they have sat in all the others' approach. On a large table (8-10) it also helps everyone to spend time with everyone else.

Sounds like a definite possibility. I was once on a transpacific flight and clearance was delayed as some 'treatment' was past the specified date. The flight crew came thru the cabin spaying aerosol cans of something 😦

Great thing to do. The company I worked with & recently retired from have been donating to Buy a Bale for several years now in support of the farmers. The donation is on behalf of our staff & our customers. Even though I'm retired, the company have asked me to arrange again this year - I still do some contract work for them. It is my job for today!

Hope you and Rolf have a great cruise - enjoy!!

Cheers Chilli - Merry Christmas!

Hi Chilli, I'm interested in this also. For our March Ovation NZ cruise we have quite a nice amount of OBC that I can't see us spending too much of as we are not likely to take ship tours or pay for specialty dining etc, and, with our 8 C&A drinks between us, our drinks bill won't use up the credit. So apart from maybe the extended version of North Star we won't spend too much, and it seems a waste to just spend for the sake of using up the credit. Did you do North Star? Random question - did you notice if they had a darts board in the pub onboard? Maybe you were busy keeping you distance from the Chinese ladies or the cougars 😦 Cheers

Most people recognise that, yes, the revenue from your fare will end up at the cruise company, but what has that to do with the point? What we are discussing is the TA commission they receive from the total payment for handling the booking & how that's better to be received by a local TA than an OS one as it keeps Aussie businesses (many of which are small ones) afloat & provides employment and business for other local businesses. If most of your cruises were not sold in Australia then of course there was no opportunity to use a local TA, so your point is moot.

Give an Aussie your business & keep people in jobs. Note: I am not a TA nor affiliated in any way with one.

Whoever wrote the updated story on this that I read just now, clearly thinks this was an on-purpose rather than an accident as they listed suicide service contact details at the end of the piece.

It was terrible news to wake up to. As you know Les, our son is in the force, which always makes it even rawer for us. So young & with their whole lives to live.RIP to those gunned down & our wishes to their families & friends & their colleagues. And today just around the corner from our home, former commissioner Tony Lauer’s funeral was held, so a huge turnout of the boys & girls in blue. Hope you are doing alright mate

Comedy is, I think, the hardest of all forms of entertainment, as people have so many different tastes & senses of humour. We look forward to hearing the live music of the orchestra in March!

The 'Broadway style' production shows remain in place for several years, so repeat cruising will mean they will be the same year on year. The fly-in entertainers will rotate around from ship to ship & it is luck of the draw who you may get on any particular cruise & the in-house bands/entertainers are there for months. We did B2B2B for 34N at one time & saw some of the same entertainment, including the fly-in performers, who, at times join for the end of 1 cruise & say on for the next one. Sometimes we would see them more than once and other times not. We saw a magician and then went to his show again on the next cruise to try and work out how he did some of the tricks 🙂 On that trip they had a 'special' show where the two stars of the production show did a one-off show together where they sang - one of them had been on Idol or similar. We mostly enjoy the entertainment & the fact that RC have a live orchestra rather than canned music like some other lines - we hope this is still the case post- Covid.

Sorry to read of your problems. Best wishes for a quick recovery & that you are both good to go soon.

yes I was thinking I wouldn't want to buy carpet by the metre from buchhalm 🙂

I saw it on 9 news early morning - 1,500. By the time of news update later on, the subject was not even mentioned

Thinking of you Les. Best wishes mate - we’re hoping you are on the mend soon, we can catch up again soon. please keep us all updated when you can, and keep posting on here as many of us look forward to your input! cheers

Yes, that's the way I think they are proposing - just for day visitors on the ship port day. I have been to Brisbane many times, mostly for business & a couple of times for NRL games. Brisbane is not much of a city as a tourist destination - visitors to SE QLD go to GC or Sunny Coast. We have had a few port days there with no inclination to go into CBD. One time it was Melb Cup day & we caught a taxi to a local RSL club and enjoyed a lovely Melb Cup afternoon. Other times we just stayed onboard. On one cruise where we were at Portside, we planned to stay onboard, but found out that everyone had to disembark for customs clearance & no-one could re-board until zero count. As we were off the ship, we decided to take a ride on the rivercat. We enjoyed a lovely cruise doing a full loop and back to ship - maybe an option under this proposal?

Good luck with it all mate. Cheers Neil & Tracey

Thanks for that. Cheers

Hey Chilli, keep calm & enjoy your cruise😁 I’m here in Penrith & the wind is blowing the dogs off their chains 😳 while you’re there cooling your heels, can you just let me know the price of a Crownie onboard. I saw a price list from Quantum & it had Crownies & VB both US$8.25 ??? stay safe from the two sisters 😁

There was a report recently in the media that TV 'celebrity' Scott Cam & his wife got into a Sydney taxi & the driver gave them a 'quote' & refused to turn on the meter. Cam said they had some "words" & they got out of the taxi & then got an uber to the same place and it was significantly cheaper than the taxi driver's quote. Also recently there were reports that ride share services such as uber would have a NSW govt surcharge added to each fare to be used as compensation for taxi plate owners for their loss of 'plate value' as taxis lost business to other options 😦 Maybe the taxi industry need to clean up their act.

So sorry to hear that Stu. Condolences to you.

We used our CBA cc insurance a number of times for OS travel, including cruises. We were able to download a certificate for the insurance to show as required

Our 11-Mar departure cruise to NZ on Ovation doesn't visit Wellington, so I can't see a price for this on that sailing, but that price is CRAZY!!! (even though it's less than the one OP posted).

No Chilli, haven’t been to that one - will have to check it out. Western Sydney is the Centre of excellence of Australia, well at least in sport mate - panthers back to back NRL winners & Aussie captain in cricket, and from RL World Cup Mt Druitt is capital of Samoa 🇼🇸 as they make the final 😁🍻