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8 hours ago, Happily@Sea said:

 

They will close for the muster drill and NOT reopen afterward. So be sure to take that into account. Muster drill is usually around 3 pm local ship time.

 

1 hour ago, KroozNut said:

 

Muster Drill time depends on the individual ship's departure time, and is typically about 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure.

Thanks - I had asked for an earlier boarding time and got 1pm. Ship departs 6pm, I do remember last doing it as we were just leaving the pier - took longer due to some people *eventually* turning up.

A quick question from my son ... very important for him🤣

Will the Dive-In be open for lunch on embarkation day?

Usually find the ship internet pretty hopeless, just wondering whether buying a SIM card to use it as a hotspot would work instead?

We will be there in January 2020 on the Noordam.

Does this apply to repositioning cruises ending in Australia as well?

Can I also assume that grats are not included if booking thru an overseas TA, or broker???

I can remember Coles New World too, didn't think I was that old either!

OP - personally I wouldn't travel all the way to Costco for a service - the trip there & back will take too much time, and is seriously out of the way. I can recommend either Bloom Hearing at Wynyard (a few blocks from the OPT at Circular Quay), or Precision Hearing at Darlinghurst (train trip and about 15 mins walking; or a taxi fare <A$20 from CQ).

You would need to contact them to find out if they can service your aids, and what the costs might be. Personally I've never had a big issue - worst I had is a tubing issue, fixed with a walk in visit to an audiologist.

If either of them can't do the brand I would contact the manufacturer to see who can service them in the CBD.

Anyone going on the Holland Volendam from Singapore to Hong Kong? Would like to team up with people to do site seeing at various ports, not through teh cruise liner. First time on this forum.

Yes there are a few of us, check out the Roll Call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51832392#post51832392

(if that doesn't work, look for the heading ROLL CALLS on the main board).

There are a few private tours being organised, with contact details available on the roll call - seems quite a few on the roll call are doing the immediately previous cruise (B2B - back to back) and so are not contactable now, although the tour operator should still be contactable.

I think we are planning on doing mostly the ship tours, but have organised our own thing in Koh Samui and Ho Chi Minh City, and will take it easy in Nha Trang & just go into town.

On our cruise we are going to a few ports where the shore excursions include temple visits. The descriptions of the excursions say to enter the temples you can't wear shorts or skirts, shoulders must be covered etc.

I think it will be too hot to wear long clothes all day; do you think these places may have covering garments available to borrow for visitors to wear?

Is there any need to book the ship's own tours before getting on the ship?

Once on board we usually go straight to the excursion desk. This will be for an Asia cruise.

This is more of a "What the?" type question.

Why are the main courses at dinner called 'Entrees"????

We will be in Vietnam in January, the ShoreEx brochure has 2 tours that seem to be the same, but the second one gets lunch on the 'junk', and an extra 1.5-2hours (not sure, the brochure shows an upside down '?').

The first tour is marked AFAR (not the second) - what would that mean in the context of tours?

I can't remember - our last cruise we gave the kids no ability to charge items on their room card.

At what point to we do this - online, at check-in, or on board?

Can you limit their ability to certain things eg let them buy drinks but can't buy in the shops? Or set a $ amount they can spend, whether in total or per day?

... things not wanted on the set choices to end up with a reasonable breakfast. ...

The evening door-hanger breakfast menu is still on your bed nightly.

Is the evening door hanger breakfast menu different to the room service menu? I thought the door hanger one was gone.

1. If there's an asterisk after the wine name, the wine is SBP eligible on the base, non-upgraded SBP.
   

I'm confused - can't see any asterisks, even though there's a few under $8?

EDIT - Nevermind, I found the second post!

But the poster in question may wish to get the answer in writing, to cover themselves when they get on board the ship, if the diffuser thing is confiscated for whatever reason.

I am curious which oils have these wondrous powers?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7344

Well, he does say you can write n your preferences, but doesn't say they will be met! :rolleyes:

At least they still have club sandwiches!

You can take the kids to eat in the Lido, then bring them to Club HAL

Oh good, thanks - any idea what hours Club Hal runs in the evening?

Apparently we are told when our PG dinner will be, under the E4 deal, is that just the date or the time as well?

I think I asked on this thread about whether you can still take kids to dinner in PG gratis, and the answer was 'No'.

So what do we do with the kids that dinner time? I can't remember if there's a kids club dinner (maybe that was Carnival?).

Also with the signature beverage package what wines are likely to be available in PG with that - just the usual wine list?

Are you a passenger or a tour guide?

Maybe you should post in the Roll Call for that cruise as we can't tell what dates you are referring to?

IMO - Champagne Bay & Mare - just go to the beach.

The others - do a tour.

Lautoka is just a commercial port - we did a day trip out to an island - maybe Bounty? There's nothing there except shade, toilet & lunch - but you can snorkel, swim, and they have light watercraft & a glass bottom boat tour. Was a nice day out! Can't remember other tour options there. A friend got a taxi to Denarau for USD$50 and used resort facilities - not really my style.

Suva - not my favourite place, but it's 20+ years since I've been there on Fairstar! I remember them trying to flog these sword sticks at the port ... It's the capital, so you might want to go out of town. We did something like a cultural centre tour, but it was a dinner thing.

Vila - lots of tour options here, there are markets near the port if you like that sort of thing, bit of a hike into town but you could get a taxi.

I think any of Lautoka/Suva/Vila would be fine for local operated tours.

I agree, the airport tax really makes the train to pricey and inconvenient compared to a cab except at certain times of the day.

Travellers should be aware that morning peak hour (from airport stations, about 7.30/7.45-9.00am) is not a good time to catch the airport train to the city - worse on Mondays!

Return trips (City to airport) are much better even in peak hour.

Saturday mornings are not good to catch a taxi to the airport, there have been extended traffic delays every week around the international terminal for months now.

Unfortunately the pricing structure for Airport station access does make it far more expensive than it should be, especially if you have two or more travellers. We are on the same train line as the airport, but we get a taxi there (2A + 2C) - say $40 compared to over $60 for train. That same train line continues to Circular Quay (near OPT) - another 6 stations - we do get the train there for about $12 total.

Oh just make sure you take smaller $A notes for use on the islands - say max $20 denomination - but aim for lots of $5 notes! Not coins.

I didn't worry about local currency. IoP and Mare they take $A, and in Noumea I used a credit card. For the short time you are in each place you can avoid the need for local currency.

I have a vague recollection that Lime taxis have child seats - not sure if it's all of them? Their phone number is at least easy - 13 LIME.

Do we know what people actually complained about re DD? I would guess that it was related to wait times or an inability to access to the desired venue?

If you have been disappointed by the removal of DD, perhaps you should ask for compensation?