Now for something completely different

[Blackduck59]

Well we are just about to pule the trigger on the cancel 2021 cruise and book the 14 day in mid January 2022 cruise. Apparently there is a new promotion coming out Thursday so holding off to see what that is. As of now the 14 day is just over $1,000.00 more with 1 less perk. Covid sucks.

[By The Bay]

Good luck with the new promotion. I hope you get a great deal. 🤞🤞

[NSWP]

5 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well we are just about to pule the trigger on the cancel 2021 cruise and book the 14 day in mid January 2022 cruise. Apparently there is a new promotion coming out Thursday so holding off to see what that is. As of now the 14 day is just over $1,000.00 more with 1 less perk. Covid sucks.

 Crikey Lyle you are doing more cancellations than i have had hot 🥵 dinners. Good luck with all. 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by NSWP

[ilikeanswers]

5 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well we are just about to pule the trigger on the cancel 2021 cruise and book the 14 day in mid January 2022 cruise. Apparently there is a new promotion coming out Thursday so holding off to see what that is. As of now the 14 day is just over $1,000.00 more with 1 less perk. Covid sucks.

 

You are braver than me😉. I would have given up and taken whatever refund they have. I hope your 2022 cruise works out 🤞. 

[NSWP]

7 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

You are braver than me😉. I would have given up and taken whatever refund they have. I hope your 2022 cruise works out 🤞. 

I agree, nothing like cash in the pocket, instead of playing russian roulette with the cruise companies who are desperate.

Edited August 12, 2020 by NSWP

[Blackduck59]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It is a pretty good deal, we get to keep the $500.00 (US) on board credit, the cruise is 3 days longer and adds Bay of Islands as well as Hobart to the itinerary. The new promotion added another perk so that is why we keep the OBC. This is a deluxe balcony not concierge class, it is in the same location 2 decks down. The cabin we had was not available 😕. We had a ridiculously low deposit from booking at future cruises while we were on board, I had to top that up today, it is fully refundable (assuming there is money in the pot to refund🥺) It's still not a huge amount so we'll risk it. The big thing now is to get the refund for the airfare and find out about the travel insurance.

[By The Bay]

3 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It is a pretty good deal, we get to keep the $500.00 (US) on board credit, the cruise is 3 days longer and adds Bay of Islands as well as Hobart to the itinerary. The new promotion added another perk so that is why we keep the OBC. This is a deluxe balcony not concierge class, it is in the same location 2 decks down. The cabin we had was not available 😕. We had a ridiculously low deposit from booking at future cruises while we were on board, I had to top that up today, it is fully refundable (assuming there is money in the pot to refund🥺) It's still not a huge amount so we'll risk it. The big thing now is to get the refund for the airfare and find out about the travel insurance.

Well done. The insurance cover is also a big concern of mine when thinking of future cruises.

[GUT2407]

7 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It is a pretty good deal, we get to keep the $500.00 (US) on board credit, the cruise is 3 days longer and adds Bay of Islands as well as Hobart to the itinerary. The new promotion added another perk so that is why we keep the OBC. This is a deluxe balcony not concierge class, it is in the same location 2 decks down. The cabin we had was not available 😕. We had a ridiculously low deposit from booking at future cruises while we were on board, I had to top that up today, it is fully refundable (assuming there is money in the pot to refund🥺) It's still not a huge amount so we'll risk it. The big thing now is to get the refund for the airfare and find out about the travel insurance.

Sounds like a pretty good outcome.

[Blackduck59]

It gives us something to look forward to, something to plan. The January 2021 cruise had just become a big question and source of too much stress. Now we can get back to the drawing board and make some plans. It looks like we will be driving from Sydney to Melbourne, that was the original plan before the fires so that is back on and we will revise the great ocean road and Melbourne area itinerary. Heck we have almost a year and a half to plan and I have lots of people who are so helpful with information.

[lyndarra]

37 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It is a pretty good deal, we get to keep the $500.00 (US) on board credit, the cruise is 3 days longer and adds Bay of Islands as well as Hobart to the itinerary. The new promotion added another perk so that is why we keep the OBC. This is a deluxe balcony not concierge class, it is in the same location 2 decks down. The cabin we had was not available 😕. We had a ridiculously low deposit from booking at future cruises while we were on board, I had to top that up today, it is fully refundable (assuming there is money in the pot to refund🥺) It's still not a huge amount so we'll risk it. The big thing now is to get the refund for the airfare and find out about the travel insurance.

Sounds like you got a good deal. You wont miss concierge "benefits"(?). We once had cheap deal that included concierge on Solstice. For what we got it would not be worth the cost if we had to pay extra for it, IMO.

Edited August 14, 2020 by lyndarra
typo

[NSWP]

37 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It is a pretty good deal, we get to keep the $500.00 (US) on board credit, the cruise is 3 days longer and adds Bay of Islands as well as Hobart to the itinerary. The new promotion added another perk so that is why we keep the OBC. This is a deluxe balcony not concierge class, it is in the same location 2 decks down. The cabin we had was not available 😕. We had a ridiculously low deposit from booking at future cruises while we were on board, I had to top that up today, it is fully refundable (assuming there is money in the pot to refund🥺) It's still not a huge amount so we'll risk it. The big thing now is to get the refund for the airfare and find out about the travel insurance.

We did Celebrity Solstice NZ run with a couple of neighbours about 7 years ago. We had a deluxe cabin right behind the bridge, bit bouncy because we were up real high and real forward, not too bad though. Best thing I liked about Solstice cabins was the bathrooms, no B shower curtain, a real door.

Edited August 14, 2020 by NSWP

[Blackduck59]

2 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Sounds like you got a good deal. You wont miss concierge "benefits"(?). We once had cheap deal that included concierge on Solstice. For what we got it'd would not be worth the cost if we had to pay extra for it, IMO.

 We took concierge originally because it was only about $100.00 more that deluxe veranda and we liked the preferred boarding. I suspect that boarding will be much more regimented in future ie: show up at this time. The concierge lunch on boarding day would have been nice but it would be $600.00 more for concierge on the rescheduled cruise.

[GUT2407]

6 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Sounds like you got a good deal. You wont miss concierge "benefits"(?). We once had cheap deal that included concierge on Solstice. For what we got it would not be worth the cost if we had to pay extra for it, IMO.

Yep the only time we sailed Concierge it was $10 less than a balcony, still not sure it was worth it.

[Blackduck59]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

We did Celebrity Solstice NZ run with a couple of neighbours about 7 years ago. We had a deluxe cabin right behind the bridge, bit bouncy but ok. Best thing I liked about Solstice cabins was the bathrooms, no B shower curtain, a real door.

The cabin we had originally was 9292 in concierge class, the new cabin is directly below it 2 decks down. These cabins on the "Hump" have angled balconies that are much bigger than a normal one.

[NSWP]

3 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

The cabin we had originally was 9292 in concierge class, the new cabin is directly below it 2 decks down. These cabins on the "Hump" have angled balconies that are much bigger than a normal one.

Yes the Hump cabins on the Solstice Class ships are popular.  Take your portable lawn mower with you Lyle, so you can assist re mowing of the lawn up top, near that stupid glass blowing set up.  I suppose it is still there.

Edited August 14, 2020 by NSWP

[lyndarra]

4 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Yep the only time we sailed Concierge it was $10 less than a balcony, still not sure it was worth it.

I was just thinking back on it and I seem to remember now it was $100 each for the whole 10 day Pacific Islands cruise in balcony cabin.

Edited August 14, 2020 by lyndarra
typo

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

I was just thinking back on it and I seem to remember now it was $100 each for the whole 10 day Pacific Islands cruise in balcony cabin.

There were some good deals when Solstice first came to this region, promotional fares.

[Blackduck59]

13 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Yes the Hump cabins on the Solstice Class ships are popular.  Take your portable lawn mower with you Lyle, so you can assist re mowing of the lawn up top, near that stupid glass blowing set up.  I suppose it is still there.

 

When we were on Eclipse in June 2019 they had change from a glass blowing show to glass blowing classes. The show I would have enjoyed...the classes, not so much. It is fascinating to watch a craftsman skilled at their trade working with confidence, it's another thing altogether to watch Marge from Pittsburgh trying not to get 3rd degree burns somewhere.

[Blackduck59]

Watching Kai Safari they are in Wellsford.

[Blackduck59]

Okay, the cruise is booked and the cabin with the large veranda is secured, now we have something to look forward to again🙂

Now the arduous task of cancelling stuff, the accommodations should be simple enough I did all that through booking.com and only 1 was paid for. The big one is the airfare that should be interesting😟

[Blackduck59]

So now I'm watching Kai Safari again, they are in Whangarei for this one. They were at the Fritter festival and those look tasty. Are fritters a "thing" in New Zealand like meat pies in Oz or poutine here? Also some guy doing "Black Garlic" this is a fermented product but I have no idea of the process they didn't show that part. They also visited grinning gecko cheese. Yhis show is interesting much of the narration is done in Maori (is that the correct term for the indigenous language of New Zealand) with sub titles. Now they are in Auckland. They are at Earthbound Honey.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Blackduck59

[ilikeanswers]

16 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Also some guy doing "Black Garlic" this is a fermented product but I have no idea of the process they didn't show that part. 

 

Black garlic is delicious. It is a sort of sweet molasses flavour a little smokey too. They sell it in Fruit and Veg shops in Australia but it is expensive. The last time I bought 1Tasmanian black garlic bulb it was $15🙄. 

[Russell21]

33 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So now I'm watching Kai Safari again, they are in Whangarei for this one. They were at the Fritter festival and those look tasty. Are fritters a "thing" in New Zealand like meat pies in Oz or poutine here? Also some guy doing "Black Garlic" this is a fermented product but I have no idea of the process they didn't show that part. They also visited grinning gecko cheese. Yhis show is interesting much of the narration is done in Maori (is that the correct term for the indigenous language of New Zealand) with sub titles. Now they are in Auckland. They are at Earthbound Honey.

Not sure about Fritters being a thing in NZ because the only fritters I've ever had in NZ were Whitebait Fritters. These are made at the time of the Whitebait run, hence the name, which is a little fish about 1 1/2" inches long fully grown. They are eaten guts and all. An Asian variation that I like is the fish is dried, then lightly pan toasted and eaten spread over boiled rice, tastier than it sounds.

[lyndarra]

10 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

Not sure about Fritters being a thing in NZ because the only fritters I've ever had in NZ were Whitebait Fritters. These are made at the time of the Whitebait run, hence the name, which is a little fish about 1 1/2" inches long fully grown. They are eaten guts and all. An Asian variation that I like is the fish is dried, then lightly pan toasted and eaten spread over boiled rice, tastier than it sounds.

I was thinking whitebait fritters too.  The fritters I've had were mixed with egg and fried flat on a BBQ plate then eaten hot between two slabs of bread with lots of real butter. The only time I'd had whitebait prior to this was many years ago at a local Italian restaurant, served cold in a salad.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Fritters have always been popular in NZ, at least when I lived there.

 

Whitebait fritters still remain the best way to eat whitebait as a fritter batter doesn't overpower the delicate whitebait flavour like straight eggs do. The trick is to slowly add the fritter batter to the whitebait until there is just sufficient to coat the fish and bind it together.

 

The humblest of NZ fritters is the potato fritter, known as potato scallops or potato cakes in Australia. 

 

Paua fritters are another Kiwi speciality and I've even seen mussel or oyster fritters in the past but never tried them.

 

Then there are classic corn fritters, popular for brunch.