dennisamor

FROM TASMANIA POLICE MEDIA OFFICE, OCT 19: A 46-year-old Queensland man has been charged with attempted murder after a family violence related incident on board a cruise ship now docked in Hobart. Police allege the man attempted to throw his partner overboard the Radiance of the Seas cruise ship following an altercation about 3.30am yesterday while the ship was underway. Police were called to the scene about 8.30am where the man was arrested.Following an investigation, the man was charged with attempted murder of his partner. The man has been detained and was appearing in the Hobart Magistrates Court.

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CRIKEY, where have we been for the last few weeks? According to the authorities we certainly haven't been in Australia. Maybe we were in Never Never Land. Or even sailed through the Bermuda Triangle without our knowledge. We have just learned - strangely via our Opal Card operators in NSW (we live in Queensland!) - that our concession cards are not working because immigration has logged us as being out of the country for more than six weeks. But that's not so ... we've been here all the time, even welcomed two visitors from the UK into our home for a few days. We were overseas for only TWO weeks. Frantic inquiries today revealed that Immigration somehow didn't clock us back into Australia after our recent two-week cruise from Singapore to Brisbane. Very strange seeing as how we had a face-to-face meeting with immigration officers onboard just before we hit the Australian mainland. Can't blame P&O ... but something needs to be done to stop this happening, particularly as Centrelink and Immigration told us it's not an unusual occurrence when people arrive in Oz on cruise ships. Luckily, it's the first time it has happened to us.  It might be a good idea for cruisers to check with Centrelink to ensure they have been registered back into Oz after their travels on the high seas.

While it's not compulsory, Centrelink advised us it's always best to let them know when you return particularly when flying overseas to board a cruise ship bound for Oz. We'll definitely be doing that in future.

CRIKEY, where have we been for the last few weeks? According to the authorities we certainly haven't been in Australia. Maybe we were in Never Never Land. Or even sailed through the Bermuda Triangle without our knowledge. We have just learned - strangely via our Opal Card operators in NSW (we live in Queensland!) - that our concession cards are not working because immigration has logged us as being out of the country for more than six weeks. But that's not so ... we've been here all the time, even welcomed two visitors from the UK into our home for a few days. We were overseas for only TWO weeks. Frantic inquiries today revealed that Immigration somehow didn't clock us back into Australia after our recent two-week cruise from Singapore to Brisbane. Very strange seeing as how we had a face-to-face meeting with immigration officers onboard just before we hit the Australian mainland. Can't blame P&O ... but something needs to be done to stop this happening, particularly as Centrelink and Immigration told us it's not an unusual occurrence when people arrive in Oz on cruise ships. Luckily, it's the first time it has happened to us. Maybe a quick check with Centrelink would be wise when returning to Oz on a cruise ship.

AUSSIE grey nomads have told how they survived two potentially deadly earthquakes which shook the Indonesian holiday island of Bali and their cruise liner as they sailed back to Australia. They had abandoned their caravans and motorhomes and swapped their lives on the road for a 14-night dream cruise from Singapore to Brisbane aboard P&O's Pacific Aria.

Full story: www.caravanningnews.com

AUSSIE grey nomads have told how they survived two potentially deadly earthquakes which shook the Indonesian holiday island of Bali and their cruise liner as they sailed back to Australia. They had abandoned their caravans and motorhomes and swapped their lives on the road for a 14-night dream cruise from Singapore to Brisbane aboard P&O's Pacific Aria.

Full story: www.caravanningnews.com

AUSSIE grey nomads have told how they survived two potentially deadly earthquakes which shook the Indonesian holiday island of Bali and their cruise liner as they sailed back to Australia. They had abandoned their caravans and motorhomes and swapped their lives on the road for a 14-night dream cruise from Singapore to Brisbane aboard P&O's Pacific Aria.

Full story: www.caravanningnews.com

MY posting was really meant as a funny designed to make people smile. Who really cares about my background ... but just for the record I have sailed on many cruise lines since the late 1960s including Russian, Greek, British (P&O and Cunard) and even the humble Fairstar out of Sydney. Oh, and yes I did know it was the Captain's Circle (but again, who cares). What I find is a great turn-off is still meeting passengers whose opening line is: "And how many cruises have you been on?" Who gives a s...!!!!!

BEING Elite members of Princess Cruises' loyalty club we get special privileges, such as having clothing laundered and pressed for free. Have been unpacking after our last cruise and had to laugh when I found this label stuck in my undies. Coincidence ... or laundry staff having a joke??!!

BEING Elite members of Princess Cruises' loyalty club we get special privileges, such as having clothing laundered and pressed for free. Have been unpacking after our last cruise and had to laugh when I found this label stuck in my undies. Coincidence ... or laundry staff having a joke??!!

WOULD you believe it!

Made a further booking with Princess for a cruise in November 2018 ... and the same thing has happened again :mad:

My personal information, including details of passport, address, phone numbers, relatives etc, have been given to a complete stranger with the same surname ... even though Princess assured us the problem had been fixed after the very same stuff-up following another recent booking.

Not happy Jan!!!!

Dennis.

THIS morning I received a telephone call from a complete stranger here in Australia.

And I was stunned to learn he had personal details about me and my wife at his fingertips!

It seems my booking for a Princess cruise out of Brisbane next year has been mixed up with another reservation from a couple with the same Christian and surname as ours.

I only discovered this when the other 'Amor' rang me this morning to say there had been a "monumental stuff-up" by either the booking agent (we both used same one) or Princess.

Checking with my online Cruise Personaliser, I discovered a mix of ours and the other Amor's personal information including relative's name, addresses and telephone numbers.

The worrying thing about this is that confidential details (on both bookings) about us have been compromised.

How could this happen?

I've spent much of this morning sorting out this shocking mistake ... and NOT ONCE has anyone offered an apology.

Any thoughts?

Our Bullet Train tour from QM2 in Shanghai turned into a 17-hour horrendous trip ... with just ONE meal during the whole time. Oh, and a few nut bars thrust at us by the guides when we complained of hunger pains as we raced from one point of interest to another!! At least Cunard reimbursed us with 50 percent of the tour cost :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Nice high-class resort with reasonable restaurant and swimming pool. Shame they have now introduced a daily visitors' fee but it's worth it. There is a free ferry to the island from behind the casino.

Have a nice day!

Dennis. :ship::ship:

Hi Womble,

What concerns me is the HIGH incidence of outbreaks on this particular ship! Surely it suggests more investigating.

Regards,

Dennis.

WE are booked to sail out of Brisbane on Sun Princess on September 10 and have major concerns over yet another outbreak of Norovirus on the ship ... the fourth or fifth since February this year.

We would argue that the high number of outbreaks strongly suggests that passengers are not always to blame, but that the ship has a major problem.

We have serious health fears about the ship and it has rather taken the shine off our holiday which we had been really looking forward to.

We have asked Princess very politely if it would would consider switching our planned cruise to another Princess ship or at least provide us with a credit for use on a future Princess cruise.

We were given a flat refusal ... in fact a man in what was obviously an overseas call centre was quite rude and abrupt. No compassion there!

They made it quite clear that we could cancel and lose all our money ... no alternative.

We would have expected better from Princess Cruises ... or are WE being unreasonable?

We are Elite members which proves OUR previous loyalty to the company.

Cruised from Hawaii to Sydney on Rhapsody's first ever voyage to Australia, and another to Vanuatu and the islands a few years ago. Absolutely fab.

But our recent 14-day cruise from Singapore to Sydney on Voyager turned into a shocker.

The original Royal Caribbean service seems to have thrown overboard!

Many indications of penny-pinching now and examples of 'couldn't care less' attitude from staff.

My Time Dining (even though booked 18 months in advance and again confirmed a couple of months ago) never eventuated and 10 hours of waiting for shuttles over three days were just two prime examples.

Promise after promise from Guest Services never materialised.

The captain summed it up nicely during his question and answer presentation on stage when he twice indicated that RI's shareholders had be kept happy. What about his passengers???

Would I cruise with RI again? I don't think so.

Dennis Amor.

18 percent gratuity ... even when you open your own cabin fridge and take out a drink. Don't know about you, but I reckon this is a blatant rip-off! Akin to squeezing every last cent out of you that RCI can get away with :mad:

My Time Dining? A complete shambles on our recent RCI cruise.

We booked MTD 18 months ago for Voyager's recent Singapore to Sydney repositioner ... and reconfirmed about three months before departure. Everything's fine, we were assured.

But it failed to eventuate after boarding ... unless we agreed to have dinner in the late evening (it would have been completed just before bedtime) or at 5.30 in the afternoon.

To compensate, we were allowed to enter the main dining room's first sitting up to 45 minutes late each evening ... with the accompanying frowns and stares of disapproval from other diners.

A very unpleasant experience!

Our other complaint involved tendering at three ports, where waiting time stretched for up to four-and-a-half hours.

There was almost a mutiny on board as hundreds of angry cruisers protested.

Our complaints were met, in my opinion, with utter contempt ... with the captain refusing to speak to guests when approached.

Shame on you Royal Caribbean. :mad::mad::mad:

We have just completed a 14-night cruise on Voyager from Singapore to Sydney ... and My Time Dining was a complete shambles. Even though the cruise was booked and MTD confirmed 18 months ago, it never eventuated.

We ended up being allowed to arrive up to 45 minutes late every night for First Sitting in the dining room ... with lots of unpleasant stares from other diners. Not a nice experience.

The alternative was dinner which would have been completed just before bedtime or in the late afternoon.

And with tendering at three ports turning into a disaster with up to a four-and-a-half hour wait, this cruise is certainly one to forget.

Shame on you Royal Caribbean for the way you handled complaints from us and many, many other passengers. :mad:

Dennis I'm considering booking one of these. I will subscribe here but if you wouldn't mind e-mailing me (my CC username @yahoo.com) I'd be very keen to hear your advice. Airfare is going to cost me more than the cruise so I want to be 'sure'.

Hi Mike,

Main complaints involve an apparent contempt for passengers. My main groans were over having to queue for a total of 10 hours for tenders over three days and being refused My Time Dining, even though the cruise had been booked for 18 months. Complaints to Passenger Services were met with promises that someone would get back to me ... nobody ever did, despite reminders. Bathroom toiletries were supplied only on request and there was no nightly bed turn down service ... definitely no bedtime chocolates on pillows. Horrendous price of drinks ... and 18 percent gratuities ... even on those you took out of your own cabin fridge. Constantly bombarded with sales pitches trying to get money out of you. Lots of other niggling things which really amounted to penny-pinching. But as the captain admitted at his stage presentation, one has to keep the "shareholders" happy. Seem to me Royal Caribbean has lost the plot ... surely it's the passengers it needs to keep happy!

Plenty of reasons Why I'll not be booking with Royal Caribbean again☹️️☹️️. Will explain why when I reach home after Voyager of Seas repositioning cruise from Singapore.

Can recommend Gateway. They also do a shuttle to the Grain Terminal (which takes the bigger ships) for an additional fee.

Dennis

We were on QM2 and didn't see Voyager. Can't remember any announcements over the onboard PA system :-(

Dennis Amor

Pushka,

That wasn't the point ... I was moaning about the fact we were given only ONE meal during the whole 17 hours, and that was four hours into the day trip. There were no other opportunities during the whole 17 hours to buy other food or drinks. We were all shepherded from one place to another at breakneck speed. Just imagine 17 hours with just one meal ... unbelievable BUT TRUE!

Being a diabetic, I had checked TWICE with the excursions desk before the trip and was assured there would be other stops for snacks and we would be able to buy them during a shopping stop. NO OTHER STOPS NOR SHOPPING OPPORTUNITIES. Repeat: Unbelievable BUT TRUE!

Dennis Amor