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Delay to start of Trans-Tasman bubble


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4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Like the cruise lines the airlines want to keep the cold hard cash to stay afloat or stay in the air. That is why air credits and cruise credits are raining down like confetti. Would not suit me either, I would want what I paid them returned in real money.

Les - We had to wait over 6 months before we got $36,000 back from Cunard and "the1st" TA last year - the only good thing about the drama was that I did not choose to rollover our cash into FCC. If I was religious , I would Thank God!! for that. I felt like I was in a race with the Bankruptcy Court  as to who would get our money - me or them!!!! I wouldn't even consider booking anything and throwing cash onto the poker table more than about 1 week before the event right now . Tourist official said last week to make sure BEFORE you book a half price airfare in Australia that you can secure a hotel room at your destination - apparently hotels are short of staff and are not able to open all their rooms and hence room availability is very tight.

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1 hour ago, bazzaw said:

Les - We had to wait over 6 months before we got $36,000 back from Cunard and "the1st" TA last year - the only good thing about the drama was that I did not choose to rollover our cash into FCC. If I was religious , I would Thank God!! for that. I felt like I was in a race with the Bankruptcy Court  as to who would get our money - me or them!!!! I wouldn't even consider booking anything and throwing cash onto the poker table more than about 1 week before the event right now . Tourist official said last week to make sure BEFORE you book a half price airfare in Australia that you can secure a hotel room at your destination - apparently hotels are short of staff and are not able to open all their rooms and hence room availability is very tight.

  • I tend to agree with several of your thoughts.
  • I managed to book the half price fares at 0005 hours on the 1st of April - for 2 return to Darwin for early June. We have the benefit of our daughter living in Darwin so no problems with the accommodation, however it is usually a nightmare up there for the grey nomads if not already booked anywhere due to it being the dry season and the peak tourist time. Also the best time to be there however we do love the wet up there also.
  • If I had paid out $36,000 I would have made sure I got it back - most of my cruises where just deposits using Future Cruise Deposits so I let them stay and collecting fcc, I just keep rebooking as they get cancelled. My TA has appreciated me doing that and she is happy to help me. We couldn't afford to lose that much.
  • One cruise I had paid final payment on - the other big Cruise TA I was using hadn't sent my final payment to Princess, so after a month I got my money back, but not credit - I will not use that company again as I was so peeved they hadn't paid it to Princess. At the time I had thought of leaving the $4000 there for the extra credit - I am probably an optimist.
  • We had 80 days booked overseas, I got all my travel insurance back (took 8 months for one lot but fought and got it), I have airfares in credit but I am sure once travel comes back we will use, our Princess cruises are in FCC, all overseas hotels where cancelled at no cost, for some reason I booked them as fully refundable - not something I usually do. The only other thing I still have in credit is a hotel close to Sydney airport but we will probably use it before we fly to Darwin.
  • I have kept a list of where things are at with all our credits and refunds just so I can keep up with it all.
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We also booked the "half price" tickets to Darwin.  Original plan was Broome but decided WA was too iffy and heard that accommodation is scarce and service subpar due to shortage of staff there.

Happy to take credits on flight if need be. All accommodation needs to be canx 48hrs prior for full refund.  Can live with that.  Car hire sorted.

At least car hire is available. 

 

The car hire situation in Tassie is dire right now.

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6 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

We also booked the "half price" tickets to Darwin.  Original plan was Broome but decided WA was too iffy and heard that accommodation is scarce and service subpar due to shortage of staff there.

Happy to take credits on flight if need be. All accommodation needs to be canx 48hrs prior for full refund.  Can live with that.  Car hire sorted.

At least car hire is available. 

The car hire situation in Tassie is dire right now.

Good luck.  I booked a ticket from Brisbane to Darwin on fully refundable points when the borders first opened.  NT closed the border, so no trip to Darwin.  Agree WA is too uncertain at present.  

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1 hour ago, Docker123 said:


I wonder whether this bubble will allow Aussies to be eligible for the Russian expedition ship sailing around NZ.

 

Perhaps, if they are permitted to mix with Kiwis, why not on the ship?  But then the Australian Govt may want a quarantine as foreigners working on the ship.

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10 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

We also booked the "half price" tickets to Darwin.  Original plan was Broome but decided WA was too iffy and heard that accommodation is scarce and service subpar due to shortage of staff there.

Happy to take credits on flight if need be. All accommodation needs to be canx 48hrs prior for full refund.  Can live with that.  Car hire sorted.

At least car hire is available. 

 

The car hire situation in Tassie is dire right now.

That is what my son daid, he goes to Hobart from Sydney once a month as he is Director of Mawson Foundation - Mawsons Hut Museum on Hobart Waterfront. Often has problems getting a hire car, so he does just does taxis.  When tourism dropped off in Tasmania, the rental car companies moved much of their fleet back to the mainland.

 

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2 hours ago, NSWP said:

That is what my son daid, he goes to Hobart from Sydney once a month as he is Director of Mawson Foundation - Mawsons Hut Museum on Hobart Waterfront. Often has problems getting a hire car, so he does just does taxis.  When tourism dropped off in Tasmania, the rental car companies moved much of their fleet back to the mainland.

 

We researched going to Alice Springs this month and car hire is a problem there also. 

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5 hours ago, Docker123 said:


I wonder whether this bubble will allow Aussies to be eligible for the Russian expedition ship sailing around NZ.

 

It's just finished it's season - but they've bought another smaller ship which is doing trips around the Marlborough Sounds. And yes I can't see why  you couldn't do it - once you are legally in the country no one is checking your passport! https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/blog/introducing-heritage-explorer/

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4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Perhaps, if they are permitted to mix with Kiwis, why not on the ship?  But then the Australian Govt may want a quarantine as foreigners working on the ship.

The Australian government would be sh*t out of luck on that - the "foreigners" on that ship have been here since November - there are foreigners  working all over in NZ from  farms to hospitals - you may or maynot mix with them 

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2 hours ago, lissie said:

The Australian government would be sh*t out of luck on that - the "foreigners" on that ship have been here since November - there are foreigners  working all over in NZ from  farms to hospitals - you may or maynot mix with them 

Good labour source then. I think seasonal workers have been barred from Straya, not 100% sure.

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12 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

I think I remember hearing we let in some Vanuatuans🤔. It wouldn't be a lot of people though. 

Yes and people from East Timor. It is an official programme with people going in to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.  Some stay longer because they cant get home.

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This is an interesting piece from one of the Govt's immunisation and health advisors.  It points a way forward for opening the border when mass vaccination is finally a reality in this country.

 

https://theconversation.com/vaccination-alone-will-not-provide-full-protection-when-borders-open-nz-will-still-be-managing-covid-19-158414

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1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

This is an interesting piece from one of the Govt's immunisation and health advisors.  It points a way forward for opening the border when mass vaccination is finally a reality in this country.

 

https://theconversation.com/vaccination-alone-will-not-provide-full-protection-when-borders-open-nz-will-still-be-managing-covid-19-158414

Thanks for the link.

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2 hours ago, onlyslightlymad said:

This is an interesting piece from one of the Govt's immunisation and health advisors.  It points a way forward for opening the border when mass vaccination is finally a reality in this country.

 

https://theconversation.com/vaccination-alone-will-not-provide-full-protection-when-borders-open-nz-will-still-be-managing-covid-19-158414

Thanks for the very interesting well written article. 

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The cruise lines may have a better chance of operating some NZ-only cruise loops, with Australians flying over for them, than to get the Australian federal government plus relevant state governments to agree on a restart of trans-Tasman bubble cruises 

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23 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The cruise lines may have a better chance of operating some NZ-only cruise loops, with Australians flying over for them, than to get the Australian federal government plus relevant state governments to agree on a restart of trans-Tasman bubble cruises 

I thought something similar re our January cruise.  Celebrity may do a Carnival and change the itinerary to Aus only.  Then we could fly over, take the cruise, fly home.  IF Aus lets any cruise ships in.  Lots of ifs , buts and maybes though.

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38 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I thought something similar re our January cruise.  Celebrity may do a Carnival and change the itinerary to Aus only.  Then we could fly over, take the cruise, fly home.  IF Aus lets any cruise ships in.  Lots of ifs , buts and maybes though.

I think that may be my next cruise venture, fly Syd to Auckland, board a ship and cruise back to Syd. I might be on Celebrity Eclipse with Lyle and Lynne, lol.

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17 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I thought something similar re our January cruise.  Celebrity may do a Carnival and change the itinerary to Aus only.  Then we could fly over, take the cruise, fly home.  IF Aus lets any cruise ships in.  Lots of ifs , buts and maybes though.

In NZ you only have one government to convince and possibly more pressure from some of the ports.

 

In Australia first you have to get past the federal government who think cruising is a luxury, only for the wealthy, and ordinary Australians shoudn't be spending their money on such things, especially retirees. 🙄 I doubt any of them have ever been near a cruise ship.

 

Then you have to get past the relevant state governments:

- If you want to cruise from Sydney forget it. The NSW government isn't going to let cruise ships back in a hurry after their Ruby Princess stuff-up.

- Brisbane (Queensland) might be a starter. They've got a brand new cruise terminal sitting there unused.

- Melbourne (Victoria) probably won't want to risk it. They've had too many serious lockdowns already.

- Tasmania has already knocked back some expedition ships from operating out of Hobart but it might depend on how many tourism dollars they used to make from port visits. They could be more like some of the NZ ports.

- The other states/territories weren't big cruise ports in the past. Fremantle only did a limited number of cruises regularly. South Australia even less. Darwin (Northern Territory) has already made its stance clear regarding ships with over 100 combined passengers and crew.

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23 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

In NZ you only have one government to convince and possibly more pressure from some of the ports.

 

In Australia first you have to get past the federal government who think cruising is a luxury, only for the wealthy, and ordinary Australians shoudn't be spending their money on such things, especially retirees. 🙄 I doubt any of them have ever been near a cruise ship.

 

Then you have to get past the relevant state governments:

- If you want to cruise from Sydney forget it. The NSW government isn't going to let cruise ships back in a hurry after their Ruby Princess stuff-up.

- Brisbane (Queensland) might be a starter. They've got a brand new cruise terminal sitting there unused.

- Melbourne (Victoria) probably won't want to risk it. They've had too many serious lockdowns already.

- Tasmania has already knocked back some expedition ships from operating out of Hobart but it might depend on how many tourism dollars they used to make from port visits. They could be more like some of the NZ ports.

- The other states/territories weren't big cruise ports in the past. Fremantle only did a limited number of cruises regularly. South Australia even less. Darwin (Northern Territory) has already made its stance clear regarding ships with over 100 combined passengers and crew.

One advantage of Brisbane is the new port is away from the city at the mouth of the river.  

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