OzKiwiJJ

Who are you renting the car through? Most of the rental car companies have city depots as well as the airport one so you might like to investigate that option. We've stayed at the Oaks Melbourne on Lonsdale Suites a couple of times. Although they are on the north-eastern edge of the CBD they are just down the road from a tram stop which is within the free zone. There is a small supermarket next door and it's a short walk to Chinatown. If you get a City View apartment you'll get great views from one of the higher floors. They are very comfortable spacious apartments. I use last minute dot com to book accommodation these days.

I'm sure that won't be far off. They'll wait until the furore about the internet price increase dies down then they'll announce yet another version of Plus and Premier.

We've had alcohol taken off us a few times on cruises, sometimes on ship's tours, others just from shopping. It's inconsistent cruise line to cruise line, and on different ships of the same cruise line. I suspect the ones that allow you to bring it on after a winery excursion probably allow everyone to take wine to their cabins in that port.

I was glad we hadn't ordered sushi or sashimi as it probably would have been packed in the same bag as the hot items and may not have been edible under those conditions after an hour.

I got the impression that Cunard would be making a decision before the ship departs tonight and I think there would be options for those passengers who chose not to do the new itinerary. I didn't actually see the letter, we just got a quick summary of it from the couple who were staying onboard. I'm not sure if they got the letter late last night or early this morning. One article I read this morning mentioned there was a possibility of the cyclone turning south after making landfall, or that it might turn south before that and run down the coast. It seems to be a bit unpredictable. Given that I think Cunard have done the best thing possible in putting together a decent alternate itinerary that keeps well away from the cyclone zone.

We weren't on an excursion when we bought the gin and liqueurs, just pottering around Salamanca markets. Cunard didn't even have an alcohol checkpoint like most other ships we've been on did.

We gave up using UberEats when we ordered Japanese once. It was ready, due to be picked up, then changed back to waiting for pickup, then the driver delivered something else in the opposite direction to our place the finally delivered ours - stone cold, and some of the things weren't suitable to reheat in the microwave.

I was pleasantly surprised that Cunard didn't even blink when we brought cider, wine, gin and liqueurs on to the ship at our Burnie and Hobart stops.

It was too early to make changes last week for the next QE cruise that starts today. This morning a couple we sat next to for meals received a letter outlining an alternative itinerary to replace the current Queensland one. The ship may abandon Queensland altogether and visit Melbourne, Adelaide, Port Lincoln and Eden instead. At the time we disembarked the itinerary change hadn't been confirmed. Very disappointing for those who have come from overseas to see the GBR but weather related changes are just one of the risks when cruising.

We use Uber in Australia regularly, and have used it in Auckland. We haven't tried Lyft.

We've met some people on our Cunard cruise who are staying on for the next cruise which is a Queensland itinerary. They are waiting to hear what changes there will be. Back to Tassie?

Strandbags also have some very good online sales. We picked up an extra suitcase for our upcoming world cruise, half price!

Yes.it.is! I love visiting Melbourne but Station Pier needs a serious upgrade. And if there are any delays in boarding, as happened the time we did a Melbourne/SA/Sydney cruise, they need to at least let passengers through the gate so they can get some shelter from the rain, and to drop off bags before they get soaked.

And you may not know which one until the last minute. That was the case when we visited Ho Chi Minh City on Regent last year.

Do you know the ports your cruise is stopping at?

We had that after NZ cruises in 2015 and 2017 but they stopped that in 2019. We had to do passport checks in Hobart that year. I heard a rumour that they didn't have enough "Border Force" officers to allow them to spend three days on a cruise ship any more.

Quite a few people wandered in to take photos from the aft corners of the Sanctuary but they were usually quiet and didn't stay long. On one of the cruises we had one of those social influencers and her photographer ( who may have been her partner). We first saw them on an excursion to Whitehaven Beach. I wondered why these people were taking a hugh backpack on a day excursion. She had numerous changes of swimwear, and even wigs, and spent most of her time at the beach changing clothes and being photographed with various props. A few days later they turned up at the Sanctuary where she spent about an hour going through the whole change clothes and pose scenario again. We were across the other side of the Sanctuary so they weren't near us.

I noticed they've changed the goat cheese souffle from an appetiser to a main course. I think I saw that on Diamond late last year. I was to busy enjoying the extra Japanese specials to take much notice of it though. Cunard had the goat cheese souffle the other night. It was served a bit differently to Princess, and I think it was a bit bigger, but just as delicious.

On the Round Australia cruise I think they gave up trying to keep people out if the Sanctuary during the Kimberley scenic cruising, especially while the ship was doing the 360s, but it wasn't too bad. The worst incursers were the fitness walkers who just barged through the Sanctuary, usually talking loudly to each other as they went, then had to backtrack because the gate on the port side was locked. Some people are either just oblivious to signs or totally self-entitled.

Yes, we did one end of June then four from 3rd of Sept onwards with a couple of short breaks (four days and three days). I do remember on one of the cruises, 3rd Sept I think, there was a lady who sat by the pool most days. She didn't have a lounger. One of the stewards said she had been given special permission to use the pool. Maybe that was your friend? Other people on that cruise were turned away when they tried to use the pool.

That's a shame, the goulash soup has always been one of my favourites. Speaking of favourites, I'm not seeing as many of the dishes I've always loved on the menus you've been posting. This is not a good sight for the world cruise on Coral! 🤔😱

It did initially when Plus was $40 or $50 but now it's not good value for money given the crap wines. Also oddly enough it's even less value for money for Elites/Platinums because of the discount they get on internet. So at the current $65 rate Elites/Platinums have to have $55 worth of drinks to break even whereas the remainder of passengers only have to drink $45 worth - and that makes it worthwhile for those who don't drink alcohol to break even with the package. We've completely given up on the wines by the glass. As well as most of them being very poor quality there just isn't enough variety to suit us. Now I just budget to buy a bottle per day. At least the 25% discount makes them more affordable. We've having a wonderful time trying all sorts of great wines on Cunard - wines we rarely see in Australia.

Princess are becoming expensive while at the same time cutting quality. Princess regulars may start defecting to the luxury lines as they will become better value for money. The Cunard cruise we're on is relatively expensive compared to Princess club class mini-suite prices but the selection and quality of meals, the service, and the little extra touches like complimentary bottled water in the cabins make it worth it. Oh, and you get chocolates at night, a notepad and pen, and personalised stationary. However the chocolates are just as bad as the Princess ones used to be.

When were you on Coral? We had the same Sanctuary stewards on all five cruises we did in 2022 and they definitely did not allow non-Sanctuary guests to use the pool. And that makes sense as it's so tiny that it wouldn't even fit everyone who had paid for the Sanctuary if they all decided to have a dip at the same time.

We were on one cruise, possibly the over-crowded Ruby Princess cruise we did in 2019, where a very noisy bunch discovered the Lotus Spa Pool. I'm not sure what happened but after the one day of loud shrieks and laughter, and quite a few four-lettered words shouted, they didn't come back again