OzKiwiJJ

Rolf enjoyed wearing formal wear even when he was working and wearing suits every day. And he was very fussy about what suits and ties he bought.

Yes, I couldn't think how it would have worked in practice. It's a pity as that would certainly speed things up. I did see the two gangways used when we embarked Ruby Princess in Dec 2019. They were checking cabin numbers and sending people to the appropriate gangway but that was a complete waste of time as the passenger cabin corridors were closed off at the lift foyers. It was a very full cruise - over 3500 passengers on a ship rated as 3080 lower berths - and it took a long time to get through passport control and security even with priority boarding so I couldn't see the point of using the two gangways.. But that's the only time I've seen it used but then we've only cruised on smaller ships since then.

It's such a lovely little song. Very special. Although it wasn't originally an NZ song but it became one and was well entrenched into NZ song repertoires when I was a kid. I may be wrong (because I was very young at the time) but I think I remember it being sung when the Lyttelton overnight ferries used to depart. Even though it was only a ferry there were always streamers and music. And, of course, when passenger liners departed it was sung.

Now is the Hour?

I don't think arxcards meant start embarking before disembarkation was complete. I read it as processing forward half and aft half passengers concurrently, in two separate areas, instead of them all passing through the same pinch points.

Close. 2012 I think, or maybe 2011. It came through the Yarra Valley late afternoon, 4pm or later. Luckily our family had just left to go back home and avoided the storm.

Yes, they're easy enough to pull off all right ... once you remember to check for them and actually find them. I'm sure they hide from me! 🤣

Yes, it was effectively same day service on Westerdam. Those little labels are quite scratchy if they are in the wrong place. I usually spend a couple of weeks after a cruise cursing them! 🤣

You shouldn't need one if you're only transiting within the airport terminal but would need one if you are intending to stop over for a day or so.

I've never had anything shrink from the ship's laundry. Most of the clothes we send in are underwear plus cotton and linen tops and pants. The HAL laundry service is excellent. They offer a laundry package that covers as much laundry as you like for the whole cruise. You should find the costs as an option to buy under your booking on their website. I think we paid about US$99 for the 14 night cruise. Very good value for money.

So sorry to hear you got hammered by the hailstorm, Lyndarra. I know what it's like to have a car smashed by hail - we were on holiday in the Yarra Valley one Christmas when a storm came through on Christmas Day. The place we were staying at didn't have a carport so we watched in horror while our car got hammered. Luckily we were able to get the windscreen replaced very quickly so we could drive home.

Rolf is the opposite. After cruising recommenced last year he bought a new dinner jacket - I knew I shouldn't have let him near the South Wharf outlet centre when we were stuck in Melbourne that time. 🤣 He's looking forward to doing a Cunard cruise in January. Hopefully he won't want to pack too many suits. Now he's been retired for several years he enjoys wearing a suit and one of his fancy ties occasionally.

The Indian Pacific and the Ghan have become very expensive these days. We did the Indian Pacific about 20 years ago and loved it. I really want to do the Ghan but ... I enjoyed the fast trains in Japan - you have to focus on the distant scenery though, anything else flashes past too quickly.

We did Brisbane to Cairns by train once. They still had the Queenslander Class pullman carriages then so it was lovely. The Queenslander Class had a lounge car and a dining car as well. It took about 30 hours from memory. Now I think they just have reclining airline-type seats and a buffet car.

Or decent deals on flights.

Was that in our winter?

Have a wonderful cruise, Jo & Gaz. I'll be following your blog carefully trying to pick up tips for the 2024 one.

And that is entirely possible as it can come on very quickly (overnight in my case) and tests don't always show positive before symptoms appear and even for a day or so after they do.

I wonder when those appeared? Admittedly I haven't looked for anything like that for a few years - when I started cruising in 2014 I read about the US ones but they were impossible to get here. Capsules were the only alternative.

The problem with round trips to SE Asia from the East Coast is the amount of time it takes to get there and back. Sydney to Darwin takes five days without any port stops, Brisbane to Darwin would be four days. So that means any round trip cruises would need to be 14 days or more, and they would need to break up the to/from Darwin sea days with one or two Queensland stops. Although I love lots of sea days there are a lot of people who don't. Basing a ship in Cairns during our winter would make it possible for some interesting itineraries without too many sea days and would probably be popular with people wanting a warm getaway from the winter chills.

I used to just chuck a capsule on top of the clothes with no problems.

I've never seen them for sale anywhere in Australia. I believe they used to be available from from Amazon some years ago. I've never used them though, I just take a small container with Omo capules in it.

I've never heard of that restriction. I always used Omo capsules. Easy to pack and they did the job. Now we're Elite we just send it to the ship's laundry but I still take a few Omo capsules, plus some hand wash liquid, in case I need to wash something too delicate to send to the laundry.

I believe it's gone up to $4 wash, $4 dry now. I'm not sure about the cost of laundry powder though - maybe $2. The machines use tokens which you get from a vending macine using your medallion and the cost is charged to your onboard account.

Their sizing stops at least one size less than I probably need unfortunately.