austromyrtus

it is very sad what has happened to sihanoukville. i enjoyed a holiday there back in 2007 as part of a cambodian land holiday before the cambodian government was lured into allowing the disastrous chinese casino investment & development. if this is your only visit to cambodia, i would urge you not to stay on the ship but rather to pay for a ship excursion into phnom penh which is really interesting culturally, historically & now a booming city - quite the very opposite of sihanoukville!

no need to walk from kanazawa station at all - just a short bus ride on the 800yen circle bus which leaves from kanazawa station & allows you to get off and on at: kenrokuen gardens; castle park; ninja house (great fun); geisha area & more. we went to all of these in one day using the bus. very enjoyable & low-cost day. http://www.hokutetsu.co.jp/en/en_round

just to give another perspective, we really enjoyed several cruises around japan on the diamond princess (admittedly pre-covid when cruises were cheaper) and we did not go on any excursions. perhaps it was helped by princess providing information & advice for travellers wanting to do their own thing. we always paid for the reasonably priced shuttles from the port and then went off on our own on local transport. for example in kanazawa they have a very reasonalbly priced day bus pass for 800yen which allows you to get off and on at the main sites without excessive walking. buses go every 15 minutes. we found similar options at other ports. http://www.hokutetsu.co.jp/en/en_round

we are on kangaroo island today - finally.. some blue sky & sunshine

not keen on the coffee on us ships, so wonder how much is a double espresso now please? we are elite on celebrity now so get free drinks between 5-7pm so that's a help.

wonder if you have had a sea day yet? if so, wondering who the guest lecturers are? (part of "beyond the podium presentations").

many thanks for the price re the eden restaurant menu kia ora. i hear the food is great but usd102 is quite expensive. we will be on the edge early april & already eden is quite heavily booked!

thanks for your review - i am interested to find out more about the eden restaurant if you get there. in particular the charge for the restaurant menu (as opposed to the tastimg menu which i think is usd102). thanks

many thanks for your very detailed & interesting report covering your overnight cruise port stay in naha. we enjoyed visiting naha on a diamond princess cruise but it was only a daytime stay. we are considering staying in naha for several days as part of a land-based trip to japan so welcome your recommendations re izakayas!

some background information... just back from the xmas/ny cruise on the edge which docked in lyttleton. we had a chance to talk to a bus driver. apparently many lyttleton local residents wanted to stop the cruise ship shuttles altogether (enjoyed being tourist-free during covid) but those who benefit like bus drivers, shops, cafes etc were keen to continue so there were negotiations to come up with a compromise. as a result the free shuttles are continuing but on a more restricted route to previously - only one drop off/pickup point - short walk up a bit of a steep hill to london st, the main shopping area.

yes i agree, including loss of hours for the allocated fantail tour guide.

as i have just booked a fantail tour for the end of december, this is of interest to me... i found this in the fantail cancellation policy which implies you get 80% back if the ship can't dock. A booking fee of 20% will be charged to cover some of our costs, should your ship be unable to dock due to bad weather

thanks for your suggestion. i contracted russ & while his tour does not include the albatross centre the day the edge is there, he was extremely helpful & gave me four other companies to contact.

celebrity edge will be in port chalmers on boxing day. have been to dunedin before & have always wanted to visit the royal albatross centre. it will be open that day. problem is how to get there? don't want to rent a car. celebrity has a tour which also goes to lanarch castle which i am not so interested in - 6 hrs - 1 place left - $355 aud!! we leave sydney 21 dec so not alot of time left to organise. i have emailed the albatross centre & am going to explore google possibilities but wondered if any folks on this forum may have suggestions/experience please?

a minisuite for an oceanview!! how lucky were you. we have a guaranteed oceanview booked on the celebrity edge xmas cruise. judt over two weeks until we sail & still waiting for it to be assigned. so one of the infinity balconies would be nice!!

yes, one of the things i really appreciate about princess. we were on rci brilliance of the seas recentlly where there was no info for independent travelers. thanks for your review.

hi cheznandy, wondering if you have heard any mention re whether after will be any changes to the itinerary for the next voyage given the news of cyclone damage in vanuatu? we board on sunday & are scheduled to go to luganville, vila, mystery island thurs-sat next week? thanks

thanks for the good news re the coffee. kettle in the room is a welcome surprise, as they were unavailable on our last princess & celebrity cruise.

thanks - great to hear boarding went well. we will be down there next sunday to join the brilliance for the south pacific cruise, so hope we have the same experience. we are looking forward to being a smaller rci ship - our very first cruise was on rhapsody of the seas way back in 2014 which we really enjoyed. wondering if you took wine on board? we plan to carry one bottle of red wine each. also wonder if you have set up a cash account? prefer to avoid credit card so will take usd cash - reckoning on usd500 to create the cash account for 2 people for the 10 days. have you tried the coffee yet? coffee was awful last time we were on rci back in 2016 so hoping it has improved! thanks & hope you really enjoy the voyage.

great news - many thanks - looking forward to it as considering booking a 2024 japan cruise.

wondering if you plan to do a thread for your upcoming japan diamond princess cruise?

if you like sweet wine, i suggest trying the japanese plum wine if it is available. it was served in the bars when we were on the diamond princess in 2019.

i recommend taking a ferry to nearby taketomi island. https://visitishigaki.com/yaeyama-islands/taketomi-island/ tickets can be purchased from the ferry terminal at the end of the wharf where the cruise ship tender boats go ashore in ishigaki (well this is the way it was when we went in 2019)

thanks. this is of interest to me as well having just turned 75 & booked a 13night south pacific cruise in december. hadn't got around to looking at insurance yet so this reminded me. just tried the qantas travel insurance website & got a quote for $299 ( no medical conditions).

hi ken, i am particularly interested in matsue. we went to sakaiminato on the dp in 2019 but there were no excursions which included matsue & i was unable to find a way to reach there by public transport within the time frame. so interested in any matsue-related info on your trip as we may include it in a future cruise. on another topic, has there been any mention of covid so far on your voyage? thanks for your updates.