onlyslightlymad

On 11/24/2023 at 3:02 PM, lyndarra said:

Shingles is a late in life infection as a result of having had chicken pox as a kid. I had a mild dose (shingles) about four years ago - I was lucky, it can be extremely painful. My GP said I should still get the vaccine as it could return but I had to wait about six months after the shingles to get the vaccine.

Not always late in life.  My daughter had shingles at five months of age (which is unusually young).  A couple of years later my son had shingles at 8 years old.  When you have shingles, you can give people chicken pox if they haven't had it before.

On 11/6/2023 at 3:50 PM, Tedferg said:

Could not agree more, just making the point that it is sometimes hard to know what is expected. As stated earlier, I went with the expectation that tips were NOT expected. But receipts with Tip Suggestion and Tip Jars at cash registers mad me say Hmmm.

I own a restaurant in NZ.  We have a tip jar.  Tips are not expected but sometimes customers will put extra cash or change in there.  Some businesses use the money towards a staff function at Christmastime or split the cash once a year.  To be honest, tipping is a curse, I don't encourage it.

Here's the best ship tour I've watched so far.  I know this is Scarlet lady but I think all the ships are the same.

I haven't cruised since the start of 2020 and I'm booked on three next year!  I can't wait!

We had a cruise credit to use up.  We had been booked on the maiden voyage out of Melbourne this year but life got in the way.  Actually, I was wrong, they are not both out of Brisbane.  My husband booked them while I was at work.

It's a four night Sydney-Newcastle-Mooloolaba-Brisbane followed by a seven night Brisbane-Port Douglas-Cairns-Brisbane 

I'm looking forward to giving Virgin a go but I am also an early to bed early to rise person.

Apparently, restaurants, shows, and fitness classes have to booked on the app as soon as possible or you can miss out.

We just booked for next season, December 2024.  Two B2Bs out of Brisbane,

On 11/23/2023 at 7:46 PM, getting older slowly said:

will be at the mount     on tuesday 5th of dec on the Grand so not many sleeps now..

 

cheers Don        now with a single malt

I'll take your photo 🙂

Here's a better pic.  Grand Princess taken from Pilot Bay

In NZ, it really depends on the port.  I've taken Ubers in Auckland and Christchurch - they are fine.  They have had some issues in Dunedin, with cars masquerading as Ubers when they are not.  My daughter lives there and she is not keen on Uber there.  

Be careful in downtown Auckland, there have been multiple instances reported in the paper of cars which look like they belong to taxi companies (with a lighted taxi sign on top etc) but who are not affiliated with any taxi company.  They have taken tourists for a ride both literally and metaphorically.  They pick up tourists (and locals) and charge exorbitant rates for short distances.  There is no taxi company to complain to, so they generally get away with it.

When I'm travelling in Auckland I either use Uber or call a taxi using the app of a company I am familiar with.

I live in Tauranga and Uber here can be jolly expensive.  I am more likely to use a taxi (which is also jolly expensive).  Not much competition in the market here.

On 11/11/2023 at 2:18 PM, Jean C said:

Hi, we might not get as much sunshine as you Aussies, but because the ozone hole is right above us, what sun we do have is pretty fierce so you burn pretty quickly and, as said above, you should also use UV protection on an overcast day 🙁

Actually the ozone hole is much smaller now. . The banning of CFCs worked.  It's amazing what we can do if we all pull together.  However, we still have the highest incidence of melanoma in the world.

6 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Nice to have access to it.  It looks tropical.  

Mostly natives and grasses.  It is nice and the dogs enjoy it.  We do have a semi-tropical garden, though.  I'll take a photo for you today (better than the last one).  Unfortunately, the plaster surface of our pool is deteriorating and it has gone a spectacular shade of vibrant green.  Something else to deal with before Christmas.

8 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Was this taken from your home?  Beautiful lush garden.

It's the reserve next door.  It is lovely though

Not actually the first ship of the season but I was greeted by the sight of Royal Princess in port today and thought I'd share.  I do apologise for the terrible photo, I should have taken it a bit closer and not waited till I got home.

It's such a beautiful day to be in port, though, so I thought I'd still share.

I was idling away pretending to book cruises online when this popped up.  Rather a lot for a ten night cruise up the Queensland coast on Cunard

17 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Just the accent.  You may need a interpreter!  

Oh c'mon the Aussie accent's not that bad.  I can mostly make it out just fine.

On 10/24/2023 at 7:10 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Thanks Marion. I'll look out for that one. 

 

We're using our upcoming Japan trip to try to idea of what quantity of consumables ( ie skin care products, shampoo etc) we'll need to take with us. We're away for a month on that trip so we should be able to get a very good idea of what we'll need for the world cruise. Sometimes it's hard to find the products you like when travelling, especially when you don't have many opportunites for shopping for essentials.

Have you been to Japan before Julie?  It is my favourite cruise so far.  I would definitely go again.

I loathe tipping.  I always leave the auto-gratuities on because, to me, that's just part of the cost of the cruise.  It's not like I have the option of fetching my own drinks and staff need to be paid.   I just wish it was part of the fare upfront and not some bogus add-on.  Just put the price up to the proper amount in the first place and don't play tricks.

Also, chasing people with an envelope of cash at the end of a cruise is very unpleasant and demeaning to me and the staff involved.  Just pay them properly in the first place, which shows them a lot more respect for the job they do.  As to getting 'better service', isn't that what I paid for in the first place?  If the cruise line wants to reward exceptional crew, then they should pay them a bonus or give them a promotion.

10 hours ago, onlyslightlymad said:

We were booked on Resilient Lady in December but had to cancel because of a change in work commitments. Happy to see that she is coming back for 2023/24 season so will try again.

I would like to try Disney but it's so expensive.  Actually, the prices on Celebrity have soared as well.  We are doing the Edge in February on a much deferred cruise (Covid), and I couldn't afford to book our room now.  The price has doubled.

I meant 24/25 season.  Whoops.

We were booked on Resilient Lady in December but had to cancel because of a change in work commitments. Happy to see that she is coming back for 2023/24 season so will try again.

I would like to try Disney but it's so expensive.  Actually, the prices on Celebrity have soared as well.  We are doing the Edge in February on a much deferred cruise (Covid), and I couldn't afford to book our room now.  The price has doubled.

Yes, much as I have mocked others, it came back to bite me.

In Hoi An, I had a blazer made at one of the bespoke stores.  They assured me it would be ready that afternoon.  It did not fit.  They assured me they could fix it straight away.  Nope.  Stress levels rose.  The family started hopping from foot to foot.  After some time, I pounced on the blazer as was and we went for it.

Our driver was informed we were in a hurry.  He overtook three buses at once in the Hai Van tunnel.  We thought we had arrived at our final day on this earth.

As we crested the rise we saw that our ship was still there, but getting ready to leave. Our tour guide asked if we would like to pull over for some photos with the ship in the distance.  We did not think this was a good idea and expressed our feelings vehemently.

We made it just before they lifted the gangplank and did, indeed, do the walk of shame.

Every time I wear that blazer, someone says "Is that the one?".  Nice jacket, though.

13 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Gratuities are added to U.S. pax accounts but are not required and one can opt out just by letting Guest Services know before the last day of the cruise.

I wouldn't want crew members to go without so I would never ask for tips to be removed, I would just much prefer that all service charges be included.  One less stress to worry about.

Okay, I bite.  You are scaring me.  One of the reasons I have booked Viking is because 'tips' are included.  Thank god.  Please don't tell me I'm wrong.

On 7/12/2023 at 5:31 PM, Jean C said:

They're no longer legal currency in NZ 🥴

Not quite true.  They have never been legal tender, but a bill of exchange (or iou note).  So, businesses have always been able to refuse to accept them and now the banks have stopped offering cheque books to customers.

On 5/31/2023 at 10:34 AM, Fieldofdreams said:

On our recent Australian/New Zealand cruise I was told by the Executive Chef and other officers the reason that is not as good is because they could only get New Zealand beef and not American imported beef. Not certain if that is correct, but several onboard shared the same information, regardless all four of us could not eat the steaks we were served. 

Um, I prefer NZ beef, being from NZ and all.  Not overly fond of American beef.  I guess it depends what one is used to.

21 hours ago, lissie said:

Ponant had real issues during  the pandemic - one of the companies who pretty much refused to refund money plus also tried to run a cruise to NZ when the borders were closed and thought they would get away with it (they didn't - inconveniencing those  who had booked). 

Yes, I do remember that.