PinkJellyBaby

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Hot and humid by the islands as well.

Sounding good to me 😉 better than here any day.... see you all soon. 🙂

14 hours ago, Hunter69 said:

The other thing; to remember it get's very hot in Sydney here in January.   34" yesterday 32" today. That's pretty average. so loose summer clothing for sail-out & sunscreen... You will love sailing out of the world's greatest harbour...

Nearly freezing here, so that's is only a good thing.  Already got my factor 50 sunscreen.....  Hat and loose clothing.......... they only get a look in when I am on holiday lol.  Get ready Australia here we come lolol.... sorry guys, just had to do it. 🙂  Have a wonderful Christmas and new year. A&J

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I suppose the main point is if you want to dress up, you can and will not be the only one but may be in the minority. If you don't want to get too dressed up it will still be fine, as well. Most people do dress up just not in formal wear if you know what I mean.

Yes I know what you mean.  I have never been on a cruise where people look like hobo's lolol.  It will be fun, we are looking forward to it.  Just got to get this pesky Christmas out the way first :). lol

7 minutes ago, magpie9 said:

I will be on RC ovation next week to NZ so will let you know what they were wearing. 

I hope you have a wonderful time. We will be leaving the UK on 9th January, so I will look forward to hearing all of your fun time on the Ovation. 🙂

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

You may well find many more dressing up on Princess than on Royal (at least that has been my experience), especially when considering the two itineraries, a NZ cruise on either line would attract more Tuxes than a South Pacific purely due to weather and the cruise passenger demographic. 

So RCI is even more laid back, that's interesting to know.  I am looking forward to this cruise to experience the difference.  It's sad though as I also want to spend time in Australia, but it looks like we are only going to get 4 weeks there.  But I shall enjoy each and every one of them. Regards A&J

30 minutes ago, magpie9 said:

Log on to your cruise planner and they will tell you how many formal nights there will be. They are always on at sea days, as too tired after shore days.

I live in the bush and wear old farm clothes at home so for cruising I relish the opportunity to dress up. I always wear a long dress for formal night and curl my hair. A chance to wear my good jewels. My friend wears his cufflinks a bow tie and a dinner jacket. Its funnto takebsome nice photos around the ship on formals. 

 I dress up every night for dinner but normal nights some nice slacks and blouse or skirt are acceptable .

I once got told to leave the buffet as I went from the pool with a towel around me. Oopps! Take a cover throw over for pool.

I forgot about the cruise planner, will have to go through that over the weekend. Yes I like the dressing up part, but I am too fat to wander around in a towel lolol...... so the other cruisers are safe there lol....

Many thanks A&J

11 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I have used a formal hire mob previously (on X  and Princess) but after the last time, the clothes were not in the best condition, so I bought my own. I did travel with it for a few times, but as formal nights on X were scrapped, and Princess and Royal have loosened their formal night enforcement policies, we have reverted to only bringing the tux on cruises out of Australia (unless there are many formal nights). i.e Cunard has formal night every 3rd night, and you need a jacket every night. The HAL cruise we are doing will have 6 formal nights. 

Yes the Cruise lines do vary.  We do a lot of our cruises on P&O in the Caribbean, and they are very particular about formal night.  On Britannia, Azura, Ventura, Arcadia, Oriana if you are not in Tux you don't go in to the main areas, you stay on the top decks with the can't be bothered's lolol.... and I like that.  It's nice to dress up on holiday :).  But then we went with Princess, and the formal nights were there, but most people didn't bother with Tuxes they just wore suits which I thought was a shame.  We are going on the Majestic Princess to New Zealand in January, before the RCI trip to the South Pacific in February. So we can see how RCI do it.

Many thanks for the help, it is good to know these things. 🙂  Regards A&J

13 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I had my power board confiscated and my luggage didn't arrive to my cabin until after dinner as a result.   

I will make sure that it is packed in my small suitcase with the things that don't matter so much in it.

Thanks for that A&J

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Make sure your power bank doesn't have a surge protector or they will hold it for the cruise.

Thank you for that, good to know.

Regards A&J

15 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

There’s plenty of free coffee or a Starbucks in the promenade but who has the energy first thing in the morning.

You can get coffee and a bread roll from room service in the morning for free but otherwise room service is $8.

if you get a suite there’s a coffee machine in the cabin.

HE WILL LOOK GOOD IN THE TUX

I remember a older fellow had a white tuxedo and he wore it every night during happy hour,he looked like a million dollars.

It got some stains on it after 10 days. 

$8, they can forget that lol. Plus we don't want to be confined to cabin.  Getting up and out is the way to go.

Tuxedo it is then, we are only flying across the world, so one more thing in our suitcases wont hurt us hehehehe, oh yes with the shirts, bow ties cummerbunds and cuff links lol.

I have seen white Tuxedo's and they do look very dapper, however, my other half would be so worries if it got a little dirt on it.  His black one will do. 🙂

Best regards A&J

3 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

The power points in the cabin need USA & Euro adaptors.  I usually take both.  Explorer of the Seas is a lovely ship.  You will enjoy.  RCI have drink packages which you can book online before the cruise.  There is no laundry on the ship although there is a laundry service if needed. 

We always take a couple of universal adapters just in case.  We always take a 4 or 6 bank extension to so that all our phones, tablets camera batteries can be charged at the same time whilst we are in the cabin, then we can unplug and make safe before we go out.  The drinks package sounds a good idea too.  We always get them on the Princess cruises, and they really save a fortune.  Glad to here RCI do the same thing.  Many thanks A&J

28 minutes ago, megsie said:

Make sure you see the Ice Show, it’s very good.

And you don’t need to take your life jacket to the safety drill.

I used to love Ice Skating, so I will definitely go to see that. Yes i am glad they have dropped carrying the lifejacket around for the drill I always felt like I was going to fall over the straps lol.....  Many thanks A&J

55 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I bring my Tux for cruises out of destinations where I don't have to fly, other than that dark jacket.

Good idea.  we are flying from the UK, so we will have to work out if we want to lug it around.  We have the baggage allowance, but we plan on travelling around Australia also, and it's just like moving house all the time with four huge suitcases lol.  Dark suit may well be just the job lol.  Many thanks.  A&J

Hi Chillburn,  What no coffee lol.  Now that is golden information.  We will definitely come prepared for that.  And bring the tux, he doesn't get enough opportunity to wear it, so we will bring it.

Thank you so much.

A&J

Excellent, many thanks for that.  Just what we are looking for.  Much appreciated.

Angie & Jeremy

Although we have cruised a few times before, this year we are going with Royal Caribbean for the first time.

The ship we are going on is Explorer of the Seas around the South Pacific.  Can our fellow cruisers give us any tips on Royal Caribbean in general.  I.E. do they have formal nights, and how formal are they for example smart suit or tuxedo? 

Is there anything we should look out for, or pack to be prepared for.  Each cruise company runs a bit differently and I was hoping to get idea's that might help us prepare to get the best out of the cruise.

Many thanks

Angela & Jeremy

Hi Cathaana,

Excellent, we will have a look there too.  We should be making some choices this weekend.  Many thanks.

Angie & Jeremy

Hi GUT2407, that is good to know too.  It will help us until we get our Opal card.  Many thanks. A&J

Hi SinbadThePorter.

Thank you for that, it's much appreciated.  I am getting a lot of good ideas now.  We will be in Brisbane for about 7 to 10 days, so that will give us some good things to look at.

Many thanks

Angie & Jeremy

Thank you so much whimsy7, that is very useful information.  We will be using a lot of transport while we are there.  We may hire a car when we get back from our first cruise to go upto Brisbane, but a car in Sydney, I guess is as useful as a car in London lol.....  nowhere to park :).

Thank you for your help.  much appreciated.

Angie & Jeremy

Wow Globaliser, Thank you.

That is fantastic, we are in Sydney for a couple of weeks before our Cruise.  One to get over the jet lag and secondly to have a good look around.

That link will give us everything we need to know, it's excellent.

Thank you so much.

Best regards

Angela and Jeremy 🙂  Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. 🙂

Thank you for that Losnab, that is really helpful,  We will definitely looking to this as obviously we just have to go to Bondi 🙂 it's got to be done.  We don't expect to see much of the wildlife so we do want to go to a zoo whilst we are there, I am told Australia Zoo is the one to go to, but I haven't researched that yet.

Thank you for your help.

A&J

Thank you, I am still getting to terms with how this all works, I will read through the main forum.

Regards

A&J

Hi Everyone,

My partner Jeremy and I are flying out to Australia from the UK for the first, (and considering my age probably last) time.  As it is a big thing for us we want to see and do as much as we can, whilst we are there. 

We could really use help on area's to stay before the cruise, we are on a budget so the flash big hotels are out, but reasonable priced locations would be good.  We may even look at Air B&B.

Also, we are arriving on the 11th of January, so we have a little while to get over our jet lag :), what places are a must to see apart from the obvious ones.  The Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Blue Mountains, etc.  Also can anyone suggest some good tour companies that we can research here before we come over.

We are seeing New Zealand and some of the South Pacific Islands which I expect will be wonderful too, but we have two cruises which will take care of the accommodation and hopefully the tours.

When we get back from New Zealand in mid February, we will be going up to Brisbane for a week or so, and we will need some help with accommodation & tour suggestions there too.  I hope some of you can help.

We are getting very excited now, looking forward to our cruise and maybe meeting some of you all.

Best regards Angela and Jeremy

We're staying at the Embassy Suites on SE 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale. They have a nice evening reception with drinks and snacks and an included breakfast.

It's close to the port in Ft. Lauderdale and you can get a cab or uber or rent a car.

How did you plan to get from Miami Airport to Ft. Lauderdale?

Hi Susan and Chuck,

Many thanks for your reply.

We are going to hire a car at some point, but probably not immediately we land as we will be so tired after a long flight and been up for overy 24 hours. I have driven stateside quite a few times, but it's been 9 years since my last trip, so driving on the right is a bit challenging for the first day or so.

So any suggestions for either a taxi or transfer from Miami Int' to Fort Lauderdale would also be useful.

Many thanks again, I hope you all enjoy your next cruises as much as we hope to enjoy ours.

Happy thanksgiving and Happy Holidays.

PinkJellyBaby (Angie)