Plant

We are seeking help on what food item can be brought through security at the airport. We see many suggestions but need someone who has recently traveled to help with what is going on today. We will be going out of Miami and would like to bring some snacks, etc. we saw the empty water bottle idea and will do that but not real sure about food items such as a sandwich, cookies etc. Thanks.

Right now you can take food on the flight to Australia, but as has been said, you should eat it or throw it away before you land. I can't think of anything I'd need that would justify the time and hassle of the extra customs "food check".

BTW, if you're flying Qantas, they'll feed you very often :). We were offered food every 45 minutes or so all through our 14 hour flight!

P.S. Remember, Australia has Tim-Tams :D for snacking!

Princess has both 110v and 240v in the cabin, but I'd still get a US to AUS adapter. We needed one for the hotel and would have used it on the ship, too.

Most (not all!) things are now rated for both 110v and 240v, but you need to read the fine print to be sure. It's usually on the electronic item (or the package if you still have it). The only thing we found that wouldn't work on 240v was DH's beard trimmer. Our Kindle's, camera's, and his regular shaver worked on both.

I bought two adapter's for less than $10.00 on Amazon.

I am so sorry you missed NZ,.:(

If Princess had played it straight right from the start it would have been much better for so many more people,yourself included. The ship had limped around Australia, NZ and south asia for several months missing ports on nearly every cruise before they sorted the issue out. Very disappointing for so many.

Oh Fern. I am so sorry to read this. You did heaps of research in the Aus/NZ port of call area. :( I remember your posts! Please come back & have another attempt in the future. I can only imagine how disappointed you must be.

P.S.(I DID have the right adapter for our electronics :))!

I hope we'll be able to visit Australia again,

I know she had to be fixed, but we were very disappointed that it was decided that we'd have to miss our New Zealand cruise to do so :(.

The cruise credit is wonderful, but it still doesn't make up for missing NZ.

We loved our time in Australia (Sydney and Brisbane), but didn't get to enjoy New Zealand. We took a harbor tour in Sydney and saw the Sea Princess in dry dock at the military wharf. I told the tour guy's "if you see her here NEXT week, we'll be very unhappy and heading home :(", and we were.

I hope she's fixed now and will be good for the next cruise's.

Fern

Wash your hands and keep them away from your face.

This is the best advice for anyone who ventures outside of their home! Thanks, T!

Do these mythical places exist? I'd really like to find a place that offers this! I've not yet booked our flights but need to figure this out ASAP.

 

We'd really like to avoid dropping even more money on transport if we're able to, y'know?

 

I called Crown Pointe and they said they don't offer either. Called a Holiday Inn in Long Beach that does airport and LB port but won't even talk to me about going the extra mile and a half to LA, even for a small charge. Won't even consider it. Weird. anyone find the hidden holy grail of accommodations?

 

I know the Super Shuttle is about 17 pp from LAX, but that adds up!

 

Thanks, cruisers! :D

Other's have explained the distance issue, so I'll just say what we've done.

We've used Super Shuttle a couple of times and have been very happy with them. We've seen part's of LA we might not have ever seen :), but for $17.00 pp, it was worth it!!

We'll be using them again in the fall.

Have a great cruise,

When travelling people should - Halve their luggage and double their money.:D

Yes, it's an OLD quote, but it's SO true!!

We have used and like SuperShuttle:

http://www.supershuttle.com/

We'll be using them again in the fall.

On the two other threads you have started on this topic a number of people, including myself, have provided several different solutions to your problem.

 

To refresh your memory http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2058070

 

You are unlikely to find anything more than what has already been suggested.

 

Buy a dual voltage international powerboard from Amazon, and a US to Australia adaptor.

 

BTW there is no such thing as a power bar in Australia, they are PowerBOARDS.

Thank you for the link. I do have some memory problems, so I probably forgot what you posted earlier. I'm sorry to ask the same question again :(.

Thanks again for your help,

I've been searching for this info (which should be easy to find!) for a while :(. All we need is a power bar that will plug into an Aussie hotel socket and have 110 outlet's to charge our "stuff". I don't know why it's been so difficult to find :confused:?

If you have a link to what we need on eBay or Amazon, please let me know!

Thanks so much,

We are doing a Full transit on Island Princess from east to west in late Oct.

My GP was concerned that we should have vaccinations for Typhoid, Hepatitis A & malaria but asked me to find out from experienced cruisers whether this is actually required or advised for a trip where you are ship-based & only in the Ports for a matter of hours each stop.

Our ports of call are Aruba, Cartagena, Puntarenas, San Juan del Sur & Cabo San Lucas.

Thanks in advance

Hello! We've done this cruise several times and never needed any vaccinations. I would suggest that you have a Tetanus shot every 10 years, no matter where you are.

We also eat and drink at the "major" restaurant's and bar's in each of the ports. You can depend on them to have "safe" food and water (or they wouldn't be in business long!). Just use common sense.

Have a wonderful cruise! Island is our favorite ship :) !

Us, too!

Thanks everyone! I think we'll just buy a couple of 220/240 V adapter's. If that doesn't work we'll just do without our electronics :eek: until we can charge them on the ship using the 110 option.

Y'all are so helpful, I'm sure we're going to have a great week in Sydney and Brisbane between cruise's :)!

What time is the ship scheduled to arrive?

On the cruise I looked at (maybe not the OP's cruise) the ship arrives in Whittier at 12:30 AM, but I don't think anyone will be let off until the ship is cleared at a reasonable hour.

I'd say that there's no way you could make that flight! You'd need to be at the airport in Anchorage at 8:10 AM, to be there 2 hours before your flight. You possibly won't even be off the ship by then! From what I can find it's 65 miles from Whittier to Anchorage.

If it's the least expensive flight out of Anchorage that day, you probably can't make it.

JMHO,

As I understand it, from another thread Plant initiated last month, they have a number of devices, including phones and Kindles, that they will need to charge. Many hotels only provide one easily accessed power point for guest use. We have started using a travel powerboard with 2 USB ports and 2 regular sockets when travelling. It makes life much easier.

 

Plant obviously didn't take note of the replies to last month's thread. There were several good recommendations there, and a note on the voltage used in Australia.

 

Perhaps Plant thought that those of us that replied to the thread last month weren't "real" Aussies :rolleyes:

 

It really isn't hard to research and figure out travel chargers, especially when advice is given. It only took me a minute or two to find the powerboards on Amazon.

I'm sorry that you felt that I wasn't paying attention to the "Real Aussies":(. I asked the questions on several board's and had many (many!) answer's!

Some of us live a sheltered life. We have no idea that our electronic device's won't work in another area, country, community... .

To me, the answer's I get from "any" place I'm not familiar with are like "gold" :)! ,

I'm looking forward to our Australia/New Zealand cruise and appreciate any advice and/or opinions.

If YOU come to the US and Arkansas, we'll be more than happy to greet you!

Yes, it's a weird question. I've tried to find a power bar on Amazon that's rated 280V for Australia (we'd use adapter's to charge our stuff from the US, 150V), but there don't seem to be any :confused:. I've even "pretended" to be from Australia, but no luck :(... . We'll only be in Australia for a week between cruise's, but need to charge things during that time.

If you're a "real" Aussie :rolleyes:, I'd appreciate your help!

It really shouldn't be this difficult to use electricity!

Thanks so much,

We've used Super Shuttle a couple of times and will use them again on our next cruise. We do the least expensive option. We may have to make a couple of round's in the airport and may have to see part's of LA we've never seen (a good thing!) .

We pay the shared shuttle price, $17.00 pp from LAX to our Long Beach Hotel. If you're in a hurry, this is NOT the option for you! If you are easy going and laid back and want to see some of LA, it might be great for you :)!

Have a wonderful cruise,

Okay, so here I am thinking I was ahead of the game...list made, shopping almost done and then it occur to me today most of the pants that I bought to take on my Caribbean cruise are jeans. I am not one for wearing shorts etc. So now I am wondering does anyone else wear jeans on a cruise to the Caribbean or am I going to look stupid? Some are light weight others normal. I know what someone else thinks should not matter but......also, do most people lock their luggage or leave it unlocked ?

I also am very comfortable in jean's, but it's HOT in the Caribbean! You'll learn after many cruise's, that what you wear (except to the dining room, maybe) is not important to other people. You can wear short's or what I like, skort's, and stay cool and comfortable. This is especially important to me as a "fluffy" lady :) !

We lock our luggage with TSA lock's. If the cruise line want's to see what we brought, we'll be happy to open our luggage for them. There are just too many people between home and getting on the ship to leave luggage unlocked, IMO.

Has anyone used the "confidential" rate recently? I'm thinking we may need to book a less expensive hotel.

Thanks,

We always send our request after final payment. We've used our brokerage statement with almost everything blacked out, and we've also used our Proxy Vote form. We've never had a problem.

This "perk" is voted on every year by the shareholder's and, so far, has been renewed every year.

They DO have to approve and accept it, if you send in the appropriate documentation.

Prone to motion sickness and you put them on a ship ??? If they were afraid of heights, would you have them look down from a glass elevator in a sky scraper?

 

You need to cancel before you ruin their lives and they resent you forever as parents for putting them thru this hellish experience.

I MAY be wrong, but I think this is sarcasm! It's so hard to tell when you can't really "talk" to the person!

Anyway, I agree with other poster's, let (or maybe, make) them try out the Kid's Club, at least once.

I've heard SO many parent's say that they have to "drag" the kid's out, just for dinner, that I think it's a great place :)!

JMHO,

If I'm reading correctly, you're staying in "Hotel B" the night before your cruise-booked "Hotel A"? You'll be going from "Hotel B" back to the airport for a Princess Transfer from there to "Hotel A"?

If that's right, there's no reason to report "Hotel B" to Princess. You'll be treated as if you flew in the same day of your reservation at "Hotel A".

We've done this many times, and as long as you're at the airport for your Princess Transfer they don't care where you were before :)!

Have a wonderful cruise!

LOL. It also means I really really hate being the navigator and having no idea where we are going and trying to wing it from a moving vehicle. And I'm not fast enough with the map apps to find something before we've gone far enough that I have to find a different location and try to figure out the new directions, especially on the small screen! Navigation issues are one of those hot buttons that can get ugly when we travel and I really try to avoid any hiccups if possible!! Hubby is already talking about using GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas before we go to Long Beach and I'm like saving 15 cents a gallon on gas can not possibly be worth the risk of getting turned around in an unfamiliar place!!!

 

Another question looking at the maps at the port: if you try to find a spot in the parking lot and it's full, is there any way to get back to the garage?

JMHO, but I think you're suffering from too much info overload :eek:! My suggestion is that you try to relax and go back to the day of the paper map.

I wouldn't worry about gas price's at all. Look at a paper map. See where you need to go from your house to the port. Save that map! Ignore the "savings" that show up.

JMHO, again,

Hi Lynda, we've used Super Shuttle and have been very happy with them. We're not in a hurry and have seen part's of LA that we'll never see again :eek:! Seriously, check their option's. If you have to stop once or twice it still might be worth not paying the big $$$ for a limo, etc.!

Have a wonderful cruise,