Ozwoody

My experience doing a Qld Coast cruise from Brisbane not a lot of coverage. As Geoff says be careful you don't have roaming on, very expensive. We use our phone as our wi-fi link when in port for our tablet, works fine, ship internet these days is getting to expensive, and on local cruises its only a day or two to the next port mostly. We can live with out it that long.😁 Others may need to take some Valium with them.🤣

Seems, it may depend on the cruise I expect, we did a half world on the Emerald in 2016, sister ship to Ruby. Did not have any trouble in either dinning area, Buffet, or International. Did not find the ship overly crowded even in the Crooners bar area. Still prefer the smaller ships though.

A taxi from the BICT to the International Airport is about 20 mins drive time, the ship would be totally disembarked I would think no later than 11am, you will have a long wait between if your flights at 6pm. May need to drop bags of at the airport, and use the Air train to and from the city to kill time.

Definitely, take your bags direct to the bag check-in, then look to see when the check-in counter opens. usually around 11:30am to 12pm, then see if you can check in early, don't know for QM2, but always have got on early with Princess. Regards

I don't know if there is more emphasis on later boarding times, that may be, but in my experience cruise lines have always tried to schedule people to mid-late afternoon, to spread check in, out over a greater span to reduce crowding at the terminal. I have always ignored the time slot I was given (usually around 2pm or so) and turned up early. Initially because we had to leave our hotel accommodation by 10am, so went straight to the port to drop of bags, then found we could check in straight away, and did.😊 later we found, we could always find an excuse that we "had to be dropped of early".😁 Always seemed to be able to be on board for 11-11:30 lunch.😋

Unfortunately no, evidently Carnival has advised that a number of their ships across their brands, are being revised, Princess has indicated they are relooking at the WC2024 and an announcement is expected soon. Its a bit of a blow for them, be a very tight fiddle re-routing the cruise up the west coast of Africa. I think it will not only knock out Asia ports, but most if not all Med ports. Be interesting what they come up with.

Hi Julie Did you get the live up and running? Is there a link?

That a good idea, they scrape their bottoms clean each time they dock, NZ would be pleased.

Hi Evon Thank you excellent review I was impressed with the blow-up mattresses idea, good thinking. Mock cream seems everywhere these days, hate it, its too sweet, and does not taste quite right does it. Good to hear the you can still carry a bottle on at each port, and that the Princess production shows are still great shows. Disappointing that the entertainers are not great, but we noticed even pre Covid that the standard had declined over the last years. Thanks again for your great post.

Different tastes are interesting, on our two cruises on P&O, our group tended to like Angelo's over all, but really enjoyed the dragon Lady, we too found the Waterfront a little hit and miss, but not bad, just little things not to our taste. I guess the fact that I like Asian food gets me off to a good start, if your a little so so with Asian food, it may not be to your taste. But initially try all three, then make up your mind which you prefer. I found the concept of the Pantry Buffet intriguing at first, but was not a fan at the end, others loved it. Try them all, make up your own mind.

Good point Geoff. Den, P&O is different to Princess for example, in that all the MDR's serve the same menu meals, where on P&O the three MDR's all serve a different cuisine choice. Waterfront - Modern Australian Angelo's - Italian and Dragon Lady - Asian I agree with Geoff, I favoured the latter two, but recycling through all three is a good idea, at least at first. You will be able to change things at any time you feel you prefer a change, just by advising the dinning room staff at any of the MDR's.

When you get to your cabin, you will find a sheet listing what dinning you have been assigned, it may or may not be what you requested on the app. On the sheet it will tell you which dinning room to go to to make any changes you wish, from what's on the sheet. Do this first thing after you find your assignments if you don't like them, it can get very busy at the dinning room. However my experience was that the later sittings where less popular, but that may have been just the cruise I was on. Have fun Regards John

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You haven't cleaned your cookies list have you? Used a different machine? Been a bad boy Geoff and mentioned they who cant be spoken off?😁 Have you tried logging out and re logging in? ps: no I haven't been getting that.

Haven't had any CC pop-ups, what do they say?

My dog and our cat were great mates, so yes I too hope their happy together in another place.

I agree some of the items brought in look well past being repaired, then when it goes back to the owners they look almost brand new, in some cases they look better than they would have looked new. They are definitely artisans in every sense.

Yes have watched it often, would love the workshop apron the lead craftsman wears. Been looking around for some where to buy the really heavy canvas to make one. But these days, no one seems to use it, only the light weight camping stuff.

Oh so right Jean, its like musical talent, some just inspire with their gift. I have the musical talent of a lead bell, if I sing, I have to convince the police I was not torturing a cat.😆 ps I do have some talents, for instance I often tell Hil I'm being logical. Did I mention however I'm not very good at tact?

Some peoples handwork skills are amazing, I've watched many videos of craftsmen/women, making things that leave me in awe. Recently watch a Japanese craftsman build a small temple about 8 metres square and tall with pagoda style roof, all with hand tools, no metal work, not even nails, no glue, every joint was shaped to interlock and self support.

When you mentioned Barb's reaction to you appreciating some ones work, it struck a cord. As a Fire Engineer, when I walk into buildings, I can't help looking up to see how the fire systems have been installed. Hil says stop looking up people are wondering what's up there. Especially if I try to point out something to her.😄

Yep Geoff, its a bit of a mystery with how CC will treat an upload, I've had excel files upload, and all can download them, then next one says not available to access. I'm not sure whether its a CC thing, or a software thing, or a setting in the software, that acts differently depending on the angle of the wind that day.😁

Wow, I think you do.

My tool box is my work shop, I quietly built it up over the years under the guise of renovating the house. In some cases I had to use devious means, for example, I really wanted a particular tool that could cut wood, metal, trim flat with the floor, and sand things, called a multi tool. Their expensive so was wary of telling Hil I wanted it, so when she asked what she could do to help, I set her to sanding in tight spots around the windows, when she was finding it time consuming and difficult, I offered to get her a sanding tool to help her. (Yes I feel guilty, BUT I have my multi-sander!🤭).

I'm a little fuzzy as to exactly what a patternmaker is, am i right in thinking they make a complete replica of a metal item, but out of wood? What happens then? is it used to make a mould?