Relaxing Robbies

Exactly what we plan to do in a few weeks time. Definitely doable and much cheaper. You will need NZ cash to pay for the public bus if you use that, not credit card.

We saw them at the terminal on boarding day, spoke to their rep about availability, and then made an online booking for an appropriate shuttle time for the day of our disembarkation.

We got a Conn Xion transfer from BICT to the airport a few weeks ago. It was very efficient and we were quite happy. I think it was $40 for 2 people.

Princess have Majestic Princess 7/11/23 cruise to Fiji 13 nights available for a bargain price for guarantee cabins. Interior $1198, Balcony $1598. Good price if you can travel next week. I have put a hold on a balcony cabin and need to check out the required travel insurance for New Caladonia before I commit and pay.

From the case ruling 506 To the extent that any hindsight reasoning applies here, it is permissible given that information known at the time of trial is to be taken into account in considering whether services were fit for purpose at the time they were supplied. In the weeks and months following the cruise, a lot more was learnt about the virus, its modes of transmission, steps that should be taken to guard against its transmission (eg, far more rigorous screening, physical distancing and masks), and the drastic measures of social control that would be implemented. The legislator put the risk of such matters becoming known only after the relevant services were provided at the door of the service provider, not the consumer. In that sense, the purpose and result guarantees are a little like statutory warrantees of merchantable quality allocating the risk of latent defects to the vendor – to the extent that it could not have been known at the time of the cruise that the services were inadequate to keep the passengers safe from coronavirus, the services were latently defective for which the supplier is liable under the statutory guarantees. Thus, even if there was no negligence by the respondents in their provision of the services, by the statutory provisions they bore the risk of the services not being reasonably fit or not being of the requisite nature and quality.

I guess it’s like companies that made products including things like asbestos. They may not have known they were harmful at the time, but they are still responsible for the harm caused.

One of the things that interested me when I read the judgement was the judge talking about what was required in this case. Facts about covid that were certainly not known at the time, but were known at the time of the hearing of the case were relevant and able to be considered in determining whether the cruise was fit for purpose. Apparently that is how the relevant law works.

We cruised this month and did not eat from either, but the Ol Fashioned BBQ was aft between the buffet area and Serenity on the port side. The seafood was one of the stations in the buffet area at certain times of the day. I think it was also on the port side.

Maybe that explains why Princess have increased the number of sea days from 3 to 4 this year travelling from Melbourne to Auckland. They never seemed to have trouble making the trip in 3 days in previous years.

Not sure about 8th March, but we were definitely temperature checked before embarking CarnivalSpirit on 14th March in Melbourne. My son initially registered high by the scanner and had to undergo further temperature checking before being allowed to board.

There was one Aussie outlet at the desk and USBs by the bed.

I also received the email today for my November cruise booked in May. I think it applies to those on standard fare booked anytime and those on plus fare booked prior to 14 December 2022. It can be read either way. Is the $25 credit per person or per stateroom? Hopefully per person if it is designed to cover the Ocean Now activation fee.

I just read the whole judgement linked above by Perfectly Perth. My take on that was the judge did not find contributory negligence by people boarding because they knew less about the risks than Princess did, and Princess was sending communications reassuring people that Princess was doing everything possible to keep them safe and healthy. The reason she was only awarded the medical costs was that her assessed degree of injury was only 8% of maximum, or 12% if she did indeed have long covid. That was under the threshold required to be awarded any other damages. I wonder how that will play out with the other litigants involved in the class action by Shine lawyers. Will be interesting to see what Princess does.

Cyclone Lola hit northern Vanuatu as a Category 5 cyclone today.Thoughts to the poor Vanuatu people who are still recovering from last year’s bad cyclones. This is very early for this cyclone to hit and is pre the normal season. Carnival Luminosa was supposed to be visiting New Caledonia and Mystery Island, Vanuatu this week. Their itinerary was altered to go back to Cairns and Port Douglas where they had visited last week. At least some of those Americans doing multiple b2b cruises will have the chance to visit the reef after our visit to Port Douglas last week was cancelled due to bad sea conditions.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-25/nsw-ruby-princess-passengers-win-class-action-carnival/103018412 The ABC’s reporting of the case above gives more details. Small payout to the lead plaintiff, who had mild covid herself.

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/10/25/ruby-princess-negligent-covid-cruise?ahe=3ca0b4482c1f86ed9a9d84ac9b192c2f24a774ff615badb93653e68d8bbd1669&utm_medium=email&lr_hash=&acid=2560360&utm_source=Adestra&utm_campaign=PM Extra - 20231025 In a ruling that surprises me, the Federal Court has found Princess negligent re the Ruby Princess Cruise. Justice Angus Stewart found the cruise company knew or ought to have known about the heightened risk of COVID-19 infection on the vessel. He said the company owed Karpik a duty to take reasonable care for her health and safety, including the risk of harm from the virus. “To proceed with the cruise carried a significant risk of a coronavirus outbreak, with possible disastrous consequences, yet they proceeded regardless,” he said on Wednesday. “The respondents were therefore negligent and in breach of their duty of care.” Stewart also found Carnival had misled passengers with claims it was “reasonably safe” to embark on the cruise despite the heightened risk of contracting COVID on board.

It is great that they are going to provide free shuttles into Christchurch because last year the public bus service into Christchurch was completely swamped and locals were seriously affected. However I think that it is a strange decision to stop all access to Lyttleton unless you catch the shuttle into Christchurch and then the public bus for 20 or 30 minutes back out to the town, then vice versa on return. Surely there should just be a drop off point in the town for those who want to stay local and just have a look around the town. The locals must really, really hate the ships. I guess Port Chalmers will be watching with interest, because they have the same problem with their local bus service being overwhelmed on cruise ship days.

I recently applied for my late November and early December cruises to the benefits@princesscruises.com.au email address. I did not receive an automated reply, but the credits were applied about 10 days later.

I bought my shares through Stake (hellostake.com) a few years ago. Quite easy and no ongoing fees to worry about. Monthly holding report available online a few days after the end of the month.

No FCDs on Carnival. Just look regularly for deals on their website using your VIFP number.

Princess FCDs are still $100 each. You can buy them onboard and then use them immediately or else you have 1 year to make a booking and apply them. This used to be a 2 year period, but changed earlier this year to 1 year. Benefits of FCD is that is the total deposit - much lower than often required, and you get extra onboard credit depending on the type of cabin booked and length of cruise. Sorry, but don’t have the amounts to hand at the moment.

All good since boarding. We are enjoying mixing with all the Americans onboard and encouraging them to try vegemite. We haven’t seen Cassidy Rae yet but someone mentioned to me this morning that she is very good. I do remember she did a gig over facebook for the cruise crowd during covid lockdowns and I enjoyed it.

We have booked a couple of Grand Princess cruises out of Melbourne in obstructed oceanview cabins for $110-$120 per night with some onboard credit and specialty dining thrown in. We much prefer to have some view out the window, and carefully chose cabins with some view between the lifeboats outside.

We had first boarding allocation of 11.30am and priority. We were onboard about 1pm. Apparently boarder security also had internet issues, so approx 1.5 hours delay.

Currently onboard. 600 back to back American passengers who had to pack up all their luggage, take it through border control/customs and reboard before we finally got to embark.