bigdavefc

To my knowledge, the only beer excluded from the Deluxe beverage package is Chimay Blue 750ml.

I dont think that is available on Australian sailings. The drinks package in Australia covers all beers with the exception of the large fosters can.

Available beers include...

Bud Lite

Budweiser

Coors light

Michelob ultra

Miller lite and a few other imports

As well as Aussie beers....

XXXX (gold I think)

Vb

Tooheys new

Pure blonde

Hahn Premium

And crownies.

These are all included in the drinks package. The Fosters is a 750ml can and is $9.5us and falls outside the price range covered by the package.

Come over to the Australia & New Zealand cruisers section. There is a bit more knowledge there to help you that is specific to the Australian market.

I believe its all beers except the Fosters Oil Can (Which IMO is no great loss)

Remember New Caledonia is a French speaking country and some Taxi drivers only speak French.

Get the Hop on Hop off bus. They give you a map and you have the freedom to explore as much as you want. Its available from the ferry building and is quite affordable (Price doesn't come immediately to mind).

There are Hop on Hop off buses In Auckland, Dunedin & Wellington (A google search will find them easy enough), these will allow you to explore these fantastic cities without breaking the bank.

I

if you have smaller kids, go Voyager. Otherwise pick whichever is cheapest

Your Duty Free will be sent to your cabin on the last night of the cruise so you cannot send it home. If you buy Duty Free let's say wine at a port of call Security will take it and add to your Duty Free purchases. All other Duty Free is to be declared on disembarkation don't get caught out because if you do and go over an allowance they can make you pay duty on all of your Duty Free purchases.

Duty Free does not just include the alcohol that gets delivered to your room. I am not a smoker but I do know of some smokers that are seriously seeing if they can find a loop hole and use Australia post to send it to themselves from some of the Aussie ports. I do not know if it is feasible but It did get me wondering, If there is no customs declarations until you reach Sydney, what is to stop people of trying to get stuff off the ship early?

We are sailing from Singapore to Sydney next year, stopping at various Asian ports as well as Darwin, Port Douglas & Gladstone. My question is this... Do you go through the same Customs checks when you dock in Sydney, or is it done in Darwin (or any, or all of the other ports of call)? Will it slow us down when visiting the Aussie ports and whats to stop people taking duty free off the ship and posting it home before they arrive in Sydney?

Looking forward to the next installment

There are places that you can sit and see outside. There is an area on the port side of the Ice skating rink that is good. Also a few seats in The Tavern or The Schooner Bar on deck 4. There is also a nice under cover area (so out of the elements) in the Solarium which is nice to sit and watch the world go by.

Send us Vista or Breeze and you can borrow Spirit for 6 months ;)

hehe

With Disney owning so many of the kids entertainment franchises, I would imagine Carnival wouldn't have a lot to choose from. In saying that, the kids I have seen on-board seem to really enjoy the Dr Seuss themed things.

The $1 deposit normally works that you have to pay the remaining deposit by a certain time (normally 190 days out). We have booked several cruises through this Travel company using reduced deposits and never had an issue and we have not had to leave an imprint of our credit card to secure our booking.

I just had a debate with someone who was upset that some places in Noumea do not take Australian dollars. Their argument was "by not taking $Aud they are missing out on the tourist dollar and making my visit less enjoyable because I can't spend my money". Now I may be in the minority here but I never expect anyone to take $Aud while I am overseas. If they choose to then thats great and its up to them but I always take some local currency with me wherever I travel. I have had several debates with people that say "its easier for me, or I am on holiday I should be able to spend my money" but I just don't get it. If someone came into almost any store in Australia and tried to pay with foreign currency, they would be turned away...so why do we expect things to be different when we are overseas?

if you can hang out for 12months the Carnival Spirit is doing a 19 night Syd Singapore in may 2018 and returning in june 2018 ATM its a good pice

Booked that cruise yesterday...Balcony and $800 OBC for well under $6k & $1 deposit. It's a long way off but looking forward to it.

With the Aussie $ slowly on the rise and being around 77c us (tipped to go as high as the low 80's), can anyone please tell me what the current rate is if you with to purchase OBC for a Royal Caribbean cruise? It use to be worthwhile, I got 77c when our dollar was down around the 70c mark but wasn't sure if the current rate had changed.

I can never understand why people get so worked up over dress codes. As long as every one is decent (No A$$ out of their pants, Plumbers crack, etc) I personally could not care less what other people wore. We make an effort because that's what we choose to do but If someone else doesn't that is up to them. Personally I would like to see formal/elegant nights limited to once per cruise, it makes the evening more special in my opinion.

On our recent cruise on Legend, the girl on the table next to us had her 9th birthday. The mother purchased a cake from Cherry on Top but the waiters also brought her out a small white cake with multi coloured polka-dots. They made her a hat out of a clean napkin and they all sang to her. She loved our waiters and she was so happy, it was a nice touch.

If it is that important you could always sail on Spirit or Legend out of Australia. Legal drinking age is 18, on board and in port ;)

Two of the nicest places for lunch with very good food and obviously wine are Wither Hills and Alan Scott. Contact Kerry at BubblyGrape to set up a tour for you. You really don't want to try to visit more than four or five wineries in one day.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I second the recommendation for Bubbly Grape. We did a tour Wine Tour with them last December and it was the highlight of our trip.

This is the review I posted on Tripadvisor...

Bubbly Grape Wine Tours provided our group with a tailor made tour of the Marlborough wine region that can only be described as magnificent. Without a doubt it was the highlight of our recent NZ cruise. We dealt with Kerry who tailored our itinerary so we could see the wineries we particularly wanted to see and she was very accommodating and a delight to deal with.

We initially booked 2 buses but we had a few cancellations as some people had to pull out of the cruise at relatively short notice but Kerry was very understanding and worked with us and we eventually had 1 bus exclusive to our group of 8. The price was extremely reasonable, the bus spacious and modern, and our guide was fantastic (my aunt thought he was also very yummy and wanted to take him home with us but that's a whole other story).

We sailed in to Picton and we were met by Jonathan who was our tour guide for the day. Jonathan is an amazing guide...very helpful, relaxed and has a great sense of humour. Throughout the day he would work with us to ensure we got to see and do everything that we had asked for and then would go that extra mile to make our winery tour special. From volunteering to be our group photographer, to altering the planned itinerary to allow us to do a few extra things like souvenir shop, nothing was too much for him to do.

Our first stop was Wither Hills winery where Bubbly Grape had arranged a private tasting of some of Wither Hills amazing wines. Afterwards Jonathan volunteered to take a few photos of our group outside the Wither Hills complex.

Next it was on to Cloudy Bay winery, where Bubbly Grape had organised a tasting in the barrel room. The smell was amazing and so too was the wine. Again Jonathan offered to take some group pics (as well as a couple of selfies...lol) of us amongst the vines.

Our third stop was Hunters winery. This is a smaller winery with an on site artist. Jonathon introduced us to the artist and we got to see him paint and see some of his work. Then it was off to a small tasting room to sample some more wine.

After all this wonderful wine it was time for some lunch. Jonathan took us to Dodson Street Beer Garden and cafe. They had approx. 27 beers and ciders on tap and we made it our mission to taste as many of them as we could. You could order a pizza and a tasting tray of 5 beers for $20 and I found that excellent value. Others in the group raved about the pork knuckle. Who would have thought that you would find traditional (and tasty) German food, wonderful pizzas and a huge array of beers in the middle of such amazing wine country.

After lunch Jonathon arranged an extra stop so we could purchase souvenirs and then it was on to Giesens Winery. We mainly were exploring the sauvignon blanc but don't dismiss the other varieties, I really enjoyed the Traminer riesling at Giesens.

Our last stop of the day was at the Makana chocolate shop. It's a small boutique chocolate factory and shop that sells some amazing sweet delights. Our favourite was a chocolate covered macadamia brittle. It wasn't cheap chocolate but it was definitely top quality. Jonathon surprised us all with a little gift of a chocolate truffle each , it was a nice gesture and shows how Bubbly Grape goes that extra mile.

Jonathan then dropped us back to Picton with enough time for us to do a little more shopping and return back to our ship.

We definitely recommend Bubbly Grape wine tours if you are ever in the Picton/Blenheim area. They do more than drive you around the Marlborough wineries, they ensure that you will have an amazing time doing it.

Thank you so much Kerry and Jonathan.

Dave & Jackie Phillips

If you are after a tour company for the Marlborough wine area check out Bubbly Grape Wine Tours they are amazing. Have a look at my review on TripAdvisor https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/1170272?m=19905

There is a travel and cruise expo on the weekend after next and i wondered if anyone has ever booked through one of these? Do you get a better deal through these expos and are they worth attending?

Hi Guys and Gals,

Can anyone please tell me if there is much to do around the town of Luganville (Especially things that are not water sport related)? My wife has limited mobility due to a foot ulcer that we had hoped would be healed before we left but unfortunately it isnt healing like we had hoped. She can not do a lot of walking and needs to keep it dry so we won't be doing a lot of swimming. I have sorted some things out for Noumea & Vila but I don't know what we are going to do when we visit Luganville.

I personally don't understand how or why people would rather stay on the ship than go ashore and explore, to me that's the whole point in going on a cruise. Sure you may get people who are difficult to deal with but that is life, it can happen in port, on board or at home. My philosophy is treat people politely and with respect. More often than not you get it in return and that applies no matter where you are.

We are sailing on Carnival Legend in December and will be in Port Vila on a Sunday. Does anyone know if most things will be open or closed? I am hoping the duty free stores are open but it would be a shame if we missed out on seeing a lot of the other things due to them being closed