valantine80

We cruised into Cape Town in February a number of years ago, stayed overnight aboard ship and then we had another couple of days there. No trouble with fog but strong winds can lead to closure of the cable car to Table Mountain.

5 hours ago, Hamwen3839 said:

Question about recent experience  of need for Yellow Fever vaccination OR Exemption letter. We are cruising November 2024 West Coast of Africa ending in Capetown .Advice is conflicting but some countries say they require proof of YF vaccination OR Exemption letter .Due to our age apparently Vaccination is not recommended.

Wondering what procedure was for anyone who has recently done similar cruise .

I read this as asking re requirements for YF vaccinations for entry to countries down the West Coast of Africa, not for re entry to Australia.

2 hours ago, icat2000 said:

And Te Papa is free No need to go on ship tour. Take the shuttle to the second stop and it basically across the road from the stop.

 

Same with Cable car. Get off at first stop and buy your tickets.

The only shuttle stop in Wellington is now near the Parliament building. They no longer drop off near Te Papa which is a shame.

We were on Radiance of the Seas in 2015 when four passengers missed mid day departure from Reykjavik, Iceland. Next stop Harwich, England.

5 minutes ago, George Barclay said:

I assume the mini bar is not complimentary?

The supplied mini bar is complimentary for Elite passengers on Princess.

4 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Oddly enough people manage quite well on Princess. The Promenade deck on the Grand class ships doesn't go right around the ship. To get across the bow you have to go up an uncovered stairway then down another on the other side. A lot of people, including me after I slipped and nearly fell going down, just turn around on the Promenade deck and go back the other way. I've never seen any issues with that  at least in our region. Maybe Aus/NZ Princess cruisers are more flexible and polite.🤔😄

 Previously some Princess ships would have a directional arrow on the wall on the Promenade deck. I usually walk anticlockwise and have been told I am going the wrong way.

52 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Did you just ask room steward or did you have to ph room service?

When we were on Coral in Jan, called room service to swap out mini bar. Can have a mix of a dozen soft drinks, water, beer. They will explain the choices available.

You might get more response by asking this question on the Australia and New Zealand Cruisers forum.

11 minutes ago, Galesa said:

Interesting re YF jab. When discussing our upcoming trip to Victoria Falls with my GP, he advised there were side effect risks for me at 71 with the YF vaccine.

YF jab is not really recommended for those over 70. We did this trip in 2019, travelled to Iguazu and did the falls on both sides, staying in Iguazu. We did not have YF vaccinations. Read up on the rules as from what I can see you only need to be vaccinated if you have been in a Yellow Fever area six days before arriving and have stayed overnight or longer. We had no problems on return to Australia.

You might need to consider three nights at Iguazu. One day to travel there and one day to do each of the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. I think it would be a bit rushed to both sides on the same day.

10 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I had an identical thing but unfortunately I signed for it .

They put the responsibility back on me saying I accepted it. 
I had to pay for two more retun flights. Never again will I deal with the captain ,most of them are just kids .

That was very unfortunate. That is one reason I don't engage in small talk while they are doing transactions. In our case  there was no direct flight from Bejing so they had to pay for us to stay overnight in Kuala Lumpur.

I agree with you about the captain.

7 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Your trip will be too far south for cyclones to be an issue. Melbourne can be hot at that time of year, but it will be a dry heat. NZ will be cool, even cold in the south, to comfortably warm in Auckland. Sydney can be hot (low 30s Celsius) but it wouldn't be terribly humid.

You can never say never. The area around Napier and Hawkes bay in the North Island was severely affected by cyclone Gabrielle in Feb 2023. Certainly not a regular occurrence.

51 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

Went to a shopfront TA today - and organised with them to book a cruise around Japan - plus flights to and from Brisbane. Gave her our brand new Passports with our details. She sends me texts on my phone for me to peruse and approve - and also gets me to sign the docs in many places. I am very careful that all the dates and times of flights, etc are correct. BUT - when I get home I peruse all the paperwork I have been given and find that for the cruise my wife's given names of Christine Angela are correct , but on the flights she is named as Angela Christine!!  I rang them immediately and of course could not talk to here ( on lunch) but I have not heard from her as yet. I can see on the paperwork that for these flights name changes are not permitted 😞 

We had a similar problem, though slightly different, several years ago when we booked a cruise to China and return flights through a large travel agency. They actually booked our return flights before we left Australia. Luckily I picked it up that night and was fortunate that we hadn't signed anything so we were clear. I think because the agency did so much business that the airline waived any penalty otherwise the agent would have been out of pocket.

On Coral in January Salty Dog was in Bayou restaurant.

Chairs on Promenade deck are wooden slats, comfortable enough. Loungers are not padded. 

No longer any coffee packages available. Not sure about zero alcohol package.

Have just done New Zealand cruise on Coral Princess.

No problems getting on a shuttle at Lyttleton. no charge.

The shuttle to Wellington is also free but as previously mentioned the only stop is now at Lambton Quay, near the Beehive or Parliament building.

3 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Oops, you are of course correct.  I will now take myself to the naughty corner and remind myself of the value of proofreading before clicking the post button

Don't we all need to do that at times.

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

On our 14-day cruise that ended, we saw only two little tables outside cabin doors. This could be from COVID, RSV or (less likely) Noro.

On same cruise Deck8 aft, saw 4 cabins with tables outside just in the section from library back. One had table outside for several days, disappeared for a coupls of days and was back again.

On 1/23/2024 at 7:45 PM, Gwendy said:

Eftpos Electronic Funds Statement Point Of Sale

Think that is Electronic Funds Transfer  at Point Of Sale.

Just off fourteen days on Coral  Princess. We were masks all the time but very few others. However numbers grew a little as time went on and last few days most of workers at Guest Services were wearing them.

Yes. Stop is at Norwich Quay at the bottom of main street and down the hill from i-site, visitor info centre.

On 1/19/2024 at 7:23 PM, MicCanberra said:

The Lotus is adults only and apart from them allowing it to get far to hot in the area, I found it great, we were often the only ones there.

Currently on Coral and there is nothing to suggest it is adults only.

The free ice cream (mostly ice, little cream) is in this area so there are often kids around as well as at table tennis tables.

2 hours ago, yarramar said:

According to the literature the vaccine only helps to lessen any symptoms you may have, not prevent catching it. If you test positive, it is just common decency that you isolate until a negative test is conducted.

Thank you. I do appreciate that is the right thing to do and did say I would isolate if necessary.

Will isolate if needs be. Had latest covid vaccination last week so fingers crossed it does the job. A frien who recently cruised on Coral was miffed that she had to isolate while obviously unwell people w continued to enjoy their freedom.

Good idea, gives you more chance of getting to MDR for lunch which we are hoping to do for the first time.