lyndarra

We only recently started cruising, 3 years now and have done 6, starting another (Alaska) in less than 2 weeks. In that time fares don't seem to us to have increased to any great extent. If this is the case generally, then that could indicate that even with the Oz $ slipping, we are still getting good fares. Any competetive price cutting by the cruise lines could be balanced by our falling dollar.

Does anyone else see it that way?

BTW I would not be too alarmed by the falling $ and I wouldn't expect it to go below 70 against the US any time soon.

With so many cruise lines now coming down to our part of the southern hemisphere could we expect to get cheaper fares as the competition hots up?

Likewise. We booked our Aug 2015 Alaska X cruise tour while on Celebrity Panama cruise in April. We could see that the Oz $ was heading south. Just after that we we loaded our wallet cards with USD & CAD. At this stage I reckon we're in front. We also got free gratuities so that's another we don't have to worry about.

I would take a sunhat, and a warm hat, scarf and gloves - the lower part of NZ could still be very chilly in November, especially as Milford Sound etc is scenic cruising so you'll have some wind to factor in. A decent rain jacket is also a good idea, and a warm layer. I'll be taking all of that on my NZ Christmas cruise - which will probably guarantee it will be pleasantly warm :D

We cruised foirdland Nov last year. Although it was a partly cloudy partly sunny day it was still very cool/chilly on deck. It was long pants, jacket and beany for me. You're more likely to get rain so if you want to go out on deck cover up with rain gear or be prepared to get wet. Frankly I think the best time to see it is when its rainy but not foggy. Beautiful waterfalls off the cliffs and, if the wind is up, you may see waterfalls going upwards not down.

here's a quote from Wikipedia.

"Alcohol rubs kill many different kinds of bacteria, including antibiotic resistant bacteria and TB bacteria. 90% alcohol rubs also have high virucidal activity against many different kinds of viruses (but are highly flammable), including enveloped viruses such as the flu virus, the common cold virus, and HIV, though is notably ineffective against the rabies virus.[14][15][16] Alcohol rub sanitizers are not very effective against Norovirus (winter vomiting virus) unless they are combined with benzalkonium chloride in a hand sanitizer."

So, does the sanitiser the ships use contain benzalkonium chloride? If not they're next to useless against noro but I suppose it makes people feel good that they're doing something.

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We use Virgin Velocity Global Wallet. Have used it in UK & US without problem. It's debit card which we can choose from up to 10 currencies (but you can only use 5 per card). There is a small ATM fee for cash withdrawals, which we never make anyway. No loading fees. We take cash with us for tips and small incidentals but use the Wallet for purchases just as we would at home using tap & go or PIN and, in some cases, sign. We also use it for on board purchases and tours. Check it out. There is a report on these cards in Choice magazine dec 2014/jan 2015.

Couple of things.

 

Which hotels, I think George Street is a bit noisy, and is also a long street so t is hard to know just where you will be.

 

Yep both near public transport all the CBD is pretty close to public transport.

 

Blue mountains you can get a train or a tour from the city.

 

Hunter Vineyards aren't very good by public transport, you would really need either a tour or a car. You can train to Newcastle and then join a booked tour.

 

Each of those would be a fairly full day.

 

I believe that the wildlife park at Darling Harbour (a walk from the CBD) isn't bad, but I've never been there. Also you could get a ferry to Taronga Zoo, a nice trip a nice day out and unless things have changed you can at least get up close to some 'roos

The Hunter Valley is a Mecca for wine tasting. It's about a 2.5hr drive up the freeway if you are considering a rental car. Or this link could offer an alternative for organised tours. http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/hunter/hunter-valley/pokolbin/tours

sound great thanks for the advice.

The harbour bridge climb is very popular. You need to book in advance.

Don't stay on board at Mystery Island. We've been twice and enjoyed for its beauty and relaxed atmosphere. The walk around the island is very easy and is flat all the way. There are also little toilets just off the track here and there, something to bear in mind for us oldies. Local markets are set up only on cruise days. It's a great place to relax. And, if you are into geocaching, there are two to be found on the island.

For something a little different when in Aukland. Grab a ferry over to Devonport where you can do a Segway tour with http://www.magicbroomsticktours.co.nz/

We've done it twice and it's great fun. It's better to pre book if you don't want miss out. We're in our 60s so don't think its just for the youg'uns.

I don't know the policies of the various cruise lines, but the currency exchange places I've used will not take coins. A pile of $1 and $2 Australian coins might be worthless if you're trying to exchange to USD (well, hopefully an Australian money exchanger would take them). Found out the hard way when we tried to purchase a tour in Noumea, they had prices in AUD but would not take coins. Neither would the currency converter biz.

 

Anyways, that's one case where a $ is not always a $.

The reason for not taking coins is the banks. They eventually have to repatriate the currency and this is too expensive if it is heavy coinage.

Celebrity doesn't have cocktail lists in their general bars around the ship so you can rock up and ask them to make any cocktail you like. In the specialty bars - Martini and Molecule - they have set menus.

We experienced that on a recent Celebrity cruise. However, we are at a disadvantage as we are not normally cocktail drinkers and did not have a clue as to what is available. I went to a (poolside) bar and asked for a list and it took the bartender a few minutes of rummaging under the bar to find one and then there wasn't much on it. On a Princess cruise last year they had cocktail lists which were great and you could browse through dozens of different cocktails to find something you may like. Much better in our book.

Cruising Syd to Auk on the Noordam one way. 14 day cruise. Cruise Melford and have 4 ports on the South Is before having 4 ports on the North.

We plan on renting a car in auk for 10 days to do a land portion too. Our ports are: Mel,Hobart,Milford,Dunedin,Christchurch,wellington,picton,Napier,Tauranga. Auk

 

Our dilema is how to divide these days up. We plan on doing some larger excursions on the south Island to see as much as we can while there. Would it be okay to spend the whole time on the north island ? Just to give you an idea of us we are seniors who have had our time of adrenaline and physical challenges. We will not be trecking or rafting or bungee jumping! We have an interest in Morai culture, beautiful views, waves and water, wine, charming small towns. We live near mts,so while loving them, we are very familiar with alpine

Views and activities. I do want to see sheep, fields and occasional art displays or local markets.

 

Any help appreciated. We do not mind driving, but wonder if the up and back would be redundant and perhaps costly for ferries etc. we know yours is a large country, and donot want to wear ourselves out just to say we saw it all. Far better to enjoy a few 2or3 nights in select areas. We plan on bed and breakfasts for accommodation.

 

Need to book soon,so please reply if you can.

For your drive component I would recommend you consider using a Kruse GPS activated commentary. Its like having a tour guide in your car. We used one a few years ago and it made the driving so much more enjoyable.

It is an electronic device that stores commentaries about the places you drive through and is activated by GPS signals. It has history, folklore, maori legends, special geographical features and more.

You hire the device and it is delivered to to where you pick up your rental. When you finish your trip you drop the device into a prepaid envelope and mail it back.

Here's the link for more info. http://www.krusenz.com/

Love the Digital workshops on HAL with Microsoft Techsperts.

Celebrity now have i workshops for Apple users but they charge for it.

Have had a couple of Celebrity cruises with shows (can't really call them lectures) by science educator and naturalist Milos Radokovich; very entertaining and informative, never miss 'em.

I like to pass idle hours reading non fiction (mainly history) from ship libraries but on our last celebrity cruise on Infinity I went to the library to find the shelves bare, all the books had been removed for sanitizing! Trivia is always fun too. Not so bingo.

Another current thread states they are leaving Celebrity over the discontinuance of fresh squeezed OJ.

 

It made me wonder what would be the 'straw or straws' that would make me leave or at least try another cruise line. (We have tried other lines and like to sail Celebrity and Royal when price and itinerary are within a range that we can justify paying more based on our value proposition for Celebrity and Royal quality of products/services.)

 

With all the changes of late, my sense is that Celebrity and Royal would lose their value add with us when:

 

1) I feel there is a class system onboard. Have no problem of private facilities, etc. Just keep them out of 'in your face' locations. So for example, reserved seating in various public venues. So far this has NOT been a problem, but if a show creates overflow of attendees and there are vacant seats being held, that might help sway me. On last cruise, they released reserved seating about 10-15 minutes ahead of show time as I recall.

 

 

2) continued cutbacks in food quality/selection unless you pay more. In past have not had a problem with free/included coffee and charging for speciality coffees as an example. On last cruise, one table mate ordered upgraded steak in MDR and we compared steaks and was not too happy with my "free/included" steak with a side by side comparison.

 

3) raising prices to then include items I don't want. Many of the recent free perks were covered by price increases. Then, having tiers of packages and including only the base/basic in the 'free' perks and at least for me having to then pay more to get the upgraded package that had the drinks I wanted.

 

Above are my quick thoughts.

Celebrity still has fresh squeezed OJ so, whoever it was, should not jump ship yet.

OK, here's an update on using our Velocity Global Wallet card. We (wife and self) have just returned today from 2 week Panama canal cruise on Celebrity Infinity.

I had, initially, registered my Visa/Amex credit card but on embarkation I asked if I could change to the Velocity card which I had preloaded with US dollars. No problem sir.

We have a card each and also used them for land puchases. Don't have to worry about conversion fees anymore.

We have cruised both an equal number of times. We give the nod to Celebrity but they were/are very close. I think the food selection, variety and standard was slightly better on Celebrity. Service was equally good with both. We sailed the Volemdam from Sydney to Singapore as it had more port calls than Celebrity. The other thing you should look at at is any advantage with perks you may acquire by sticking with celeb.

Passenger age seemed to us to that HAL was maybe slightly older but on a recent Princess cruise we felt like teenagers (we're in our mid 60s).

Whichever you choose you wont be disappointed.

We have just arrived home after having completed the panama cruise on Infinity. There were about 30 fellows Aussies on board and, to my knowledge, none of them came down with illness. Contrary to some reports above I noted very little coughing or hacking. I was surprised at how little there was compeared to some other recent cruises we've done.

Also, as mentioned, the staff were working very hard at cleaning and sanitising but it should be remebered that hand sanitisers has little or no effect on noro as it is a virus not bacteria. Hand sanitising can be effective against e coli and other bacteria. Chlorine is effective against noro and a few days from the end of the cruise we returned to our cabin to find it smelling strongly of chlorine. We also observed all the cabin door handles being washed. Anyways, there was something making some people sick. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise.

Indeed David, the Australian/NZ Princess ships, Dawn/Sea/Sun - Floating Aged Care Facilities for sure and true, I have been on all three 'sisters.'

One our recent Sea Princess cuise we felt like the youngsters on board. We're in our mid sixties!:eek:

The problem with the travel card/cash card is because the card has to be "charged" with your money the cruise line has no way of knowing if you have one dollar or a million dollars in the account and you could spend heaps on the cruise and then not have enough to pay for it.

That's a good point. So it looks like credit card on board, travel card on land.

It looks like a credit card with name and numbers and PIN. It can be loaded up with various currencies and works like a debit card.

We used them in the UK last year for normal credit card transactions and ATM withdrawals in GBP. Was wondering if they are acceptable on cruise ships. I guess we can ask when bording as i believe we can make changes then. Just wondering if anyone has used one?

Forgot to mention its a Velocity Global Wallet card issued by Virgin but is not a credit card. You can only spend up to what you put on it.

In a few weeks we will be heading to Mexico for a couple of weeks and then cruising from Ft Lauderdale to San Diego via Panama canal.

We have Velocity Global Wallet cards loaded with US currency. Has anyone here used a "Gobal Wallet" type of card? Can they be used on board instead of usual credit cards. We'll taking our Amex cards as backups if needed.

A terminal near Wickham would be ideal. Using Carrington is too far out of the way, and right next to a coal loader. Ugh.

I didn't say the rail cuts the city I said it is a decisive issue. I am yet to hear a conversation on the issue that doesn't become to say the least heated.

 

Personally I cannot understand why they didn't just leave it in place, slow the trains down, remove the walls and fences to let pedestrians cross to the foreshore.

 

And if it had to be replaced by light rail use the same corridor instead of down the middle of Hunter Street which can already be a nightmare at certain times. They could even have let develops build over the line in some places if they really had to.

Couldn't agree more.

Building over the line is one way to utilise the space, if they must, they do it big time in Japan

I would envisage something sensible using the Sydney model where I can get off at Central and get straight onto a loop service to the Quay etc.

The only problem with developers is that governments, of all persuasions, have given them preferential treatment at times.

 

Now as for Newcastle rail line it's removal is also cutting the city in half, more divisive issue I don't think I have ever seen, and I've lived in the area all my life and work in the Newie CBD.

Not correct to say the city is cut in half by the rail line. The rail corridoor seperates the city CBD from the Newcastle harbour foreshore. I can see the argument for terminatng the heavy rail but it must be replaced with something that is convenient and efficient. This has not occured. The government wants to run a light rail up Hunter street (the main thoroughfare which will cause more conjestion) against expert advice (as shown by documents which have recently come to light) and has said that the existing corridor would be retained for open space. Yeh, right. And, why were local MPs caught out accepting "donations" from deveolpers?