OzKiwiJJ

And thank you for starting this thread off. I'll be adding to it regularly. 😊

I'm actually more concerned with reaching Fremantle on time than the actual crossing. We're meeting up with friends for lunch. We missed catching up with them last time we were in Fremantle as we were stuck in isolation as I had Covid.

It's going to be an interesting run across to Fremantle. We have 4 days 15.25 hours to get there by the scheduled arrival time, including getting in and out of the harbours. It's 2140 nautical miles between the two ports. If Coral sustains a steady 20 knots it will take 4 days 11 hours. We are crossing two of Australia's most notorious seas - Bass Strait and the Great Australian Bight. Hopefully the weather and sea gods will be kind to us but if not I've got a good supply of seasickness meds!

Coral isn't going to Brisbane. That port stop was cancelled. The NZ world cruisers embark in Auckland tomorrow, 26th April. Sat 27th April - Bay of Islands Sun 28th April - At Sea Mon 29th Apr - At Sea Tue 30th April - the rest of us, including the Brisbane contingent, embark in Sydney and off we go!

Taronga Zoo, Sydney.

The problem is that modern technology no longer counts internet by minutes. I much prefer being able to book a Plus fare with drinks and internet covered (even though the wines are rubbish). I don't have to worry about keeping track of the minutes I've used and even with needing to buy wines by the bottle to get a decent selection it still works out cheaper (just) than not having Plus.

But it was very slow. It was a challenge when you had to restrict yourself to 10-15 minutes a day on a long cruise.

I'd been checking a 2025 Princess cruise I wanted for a couple of months for a balcony cabin but nothing showed up online. Just on the off chance I rang my PVP, expecting to be put on a waitlist but she miraculously found me a cabin.A very nice cabin in fact. I'm very happy about that.

I'm fairly certain you're stuck with whatever the fare is when the cabin becomes available.

Birkenhead Point is in the opposite direction to the airport and is not easy to get to by public transport. You'd be better to store your bags at Circular Quay / Rocks (there are a few options available there) then use the light rail to go to the Queen Victoria Building stop which is closest to the main shops in Sydney. Then go back to Circular Quay, pick up your bags, and get the train to the airport.

Of course! Where pizza originated. That is the entrance to Da Michele, one of the oldest pizzeria in Naples, and ranked as one of the best in the world - it was indeed excellent. People queue for an hour or more to get in at peak times. The menu is very simple, just two choices, both very traditional.

It was amazing the first year Majestic came to Australia. Very authentic Chinese, with dishes from all around China not just Cantonese.

Not Pisa either. Head south.

Not Venice.

Not Rome but, yes, they are waiting for a table to have pizza.

Right country, wrong city. Not a sandwich.

They have great sales though, especially the warehouse sales.

Where is this and what are these people queuing up for?

We did that in 2019. It was great fun.

Usually the waiters do but sometimes they forget when taking the order but then mention it when serving the drink.

By the way "Outbid" doesn't necessarily mean you really have been out-bid. I got the Outbid email for our upcoming Coral world cruise. I just ignored it as we weren't prepared to raise our bid. Four days later I got the new cabin.

Bora Bora

Marks and Spencer have really cool reversable belts - black one side, brown the other. Very useful for travel.

Hmmmm! Two mentions of "cards" versus one of "medallion" and you decide that it's a medallion discussion. 🙄 Oh! Should we have mentioned those weird little slug things that Virgin uses? Are they classed as "cards" or "medallions". They open doors but don't seem to do much else.

Make that two backpacks! The stuff I had earmarked for one backpack didn't fit!