losfp

Well that was suboptimal. I bought my $400 ticket, drove down on the friday, drove back on sunday. Geelong played basically the perfect game of footy. Zero bad disposals. Clinical, precise, intense. It was unbelievable to watch live. They would have carved up any team that day. We were just unfortunate to get in the way of a team absolutely primed for the game. Swans could only play as well as Geelong allowed, and, spoiler alert, that meant not very well at all. We were simply outclassed from the start and overawed by the situation. A few did their level best - Chad Warner, Robbie fox, James Rowbottom, Luke Parker... but some days you just turn up hoping for the best and learning that you are a long way off the standard required. I am optimistic for the future though. We went in a year or two ahead of schedule IMO. We were on average 1cm shorter, 2kg lighter, 3 years younger and 50 games less experienced than the Cats. It would have needed a phenomenal performance to beat them. This group has the talent and the time to challenge for a few years to come. Of course to top it off, afterwards I had to go and buy premiership merch for my wife. Such is life.

JAYSUS. I don't think I've hugged so many complete strangers at the SCG since the night Nick Davis kicked 4 last quarter goals to win us a semi-final against Geelong in 2005. Though today that comes with an added risk of COVID. Oh well, it would have been worth it. Collingwood brought a great game - they almost pulled it off too, and I think we were lucky to escape with the win. Still, all you need is to be one point in front when the siren goes, and we got that. Now to the fun of organising next week. My team in a grand final with my wife (and her family)'s team. Yaaaayyyyyyyy

I had it on in the background while getting the kids ready for school. Underwhelming presentation, but it's always really hard to translate the energy in those outdoor events to a video. The new ship looks nice, but I don't love the move to bigger and bigger ships. Our favourite Princess cruises have been on the smaller ships - Star and Diamond. I wonder if this is to differentiate them from HAL, which is otherwise a similar-ish line under the Carnival umbrella. If that's the case, I may look to a different line like HAL for our planned 2027 Alaska trip (IMO the smaller ships shine in that destination).

They put on a lot more than opera though. In the last few months I have seen Six and Fangirls, and tomorrow I'm going to see Phantom of the Opera, which is more musical theatre than opera. But more to the point, I believe OP is talking about the Handa Opera production of Madama Butterfly, which is NOT at the Opera House, rather it's on the harbour at Mrs Macquaries Point. I've never seen the appeal of those productions - they are open to the weather, and the lighting and sound would obviously be affected by the surroundings. https://opera.org.au/productions/madama-butterfly-on-sydney-harbour/ The SOH website is a bit hazy on other performances around that time... You could look a bit closer to that time, or you could, as other people have mentioned, do a tour. https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/content/soh/visit-us/tours-and-experiences/guided-tours.html/ A few years back we did a backstage tour that was excellent. It looks like they're not currently offering that one, probably due to COVID protocols. So maybe a harbour cruise and an opera house tour would suit. If you want to take in a show and not fussy whether it's at the Opera House specifically, check the other theatres. I know that Hairspray is playing at that time at the Lyric Theatre at The Star casino in Pyrmont and Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat is playing at the Capitol Theatre in Haymarket.

Oasis? I can't see it. Firstly they'd have to send it the long way around as they won't fit into either of the canals (I think?). More importantly, there's too many ports here that can't accommodate Oasis ships - either the dock is too small or requires tendering. They won't send a ship if there's no itinerary to sell. I still think DCL will do well with this inaugural season - there's enough Disney mad people who have never cruised before, who don't know or even care that you can book a better cruise for less money, who will book up the sailings. I was hoping for better itineraries, but it was not to be. Maybe in future years when they have had time to schedule in desirable ports etc. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on it and enjoy the other cruises I have booked in 2023.

I don't trust the built-in USB ports anyway. There's no easy way to know what power they provide, if it's enough for fast charging etc... and they tend to break easily. Good in an emergency, but I prefer to use my own multi-port USB charger anyway - something for frequent travellers to think about.

From what I can find, it appears that if you are enrolled in crown and anchor, you automatically join royale when you're gaming onboard. Not sure on the details though, I do not generally gamble in casinos.

I'll jump in here and see if I can provide some insight. Almost more than any other line, DCL instills serious loyalty. They do theming better than any other line that I've cruised on. They own all the IP all the way through so the theming is consistent, coherent and done to an exacting standard. The way they do MDRs is really great - they have a set number of themed restaurants (on Fantasy there were three) and you cycle through all of them along with your servers. The onboard entertainment is top notch as you would expect. The ships don't have casinos and they provide free unlimited sodas so it's really family friendly. I found the food to be excellent, and our meal at Remy is perhaps the best meal I've ever had in my life. We were lucky enough to stop at Castaway Cay in the Bahamas, and it is superb. I hate the beach, but I loved Castaway Cay. The shopping on board is stuffed full of DCL and Disney exclusives and DCL customers love that stuff (there's a fair overlap between people who sail DCL and people who tour disney parks... and we LOVE that disney merch in a way that people don't rush to the shops to buy P&O merch for example haha). All else being equal with itineraries and price, I would love to sail Disney for the rest of my life. But. All else is NOT equal with itineraries and price.....

We did a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on Disney Fantasy in 2015 and that felt like a good amount of time to split between the ship and the destinations. Never liked the short cruises. I would still prefer to do a Disney Park if I want that full-on Disney experience (I mean... my profile pic was taken at Disneyland). DCL is nice, but it's a cruise that's nicely themed as opposed to a full Disney experience IMO.

urgh. I typed a response and then I think it disappeared. I am not even sure who they are aiming for as a target audience. Disney fans who haven't cruised before? Cruise fans who like Disney? From what I'm seeing online, the Disney fans are very excited, the cruise fans not so much.

It's like you're shocked that we get sent an older ship. How unprecedented 😄 😄 More choice for families is a great thing. We sailed on Disney Fantasy in 2015 and loved it, however we have not been back on DCL since then because of pricing... and it looks like that will not change in a hurry. I would love to go on more DCL cruises, but not for that price, and not for uninspiring 2-4 night cruises. I suspect this will be very popular with Disney fanatics who aren't particularly cruise-savvy, so they will easily sell out the sailings IMO. I just hope that they come back in future years with longer cruises that are better value.

I think the smart money is on a Geelong vs Sydney grand final. But you'd be mad to count Collingwood out. You don't finish 4th by accident, and they have made it a habit to be just good enough to get the win this season. I feel Sydney is still favoured in that prelim, but it's far from a sure thing. I'm more confident picking Geelong to beat Brisbane.

It also depends a bit on what price you can get the package. We were lucky enough for our upcoming cruise on Majestic to snare the plus package for $30pppd. Considering it includes wifi, I thought this was spectacular value. We've never bothered taking the package because we would be lucky to drink 1-2 alcoholic beverages a day. But we will easily make up the difference in soft drink and coffees, and can try a cocktail a day or something. We are also booked for our first RCI cruises in Oct 2023. The prices for their packages in comparison are... eye-opening.

We sailed on her in 2018 out of Sydney and from memory we had a single AU socket in the room. The rest were US and EU

I use a combination of cube plug adapters with USB ports, and a multi-port USB charger. I like the Anker chargers you can buy on amazon - they have between 3-8 ports, depending on which model you buy and they will happily charge multiple devices at once. They use a standard figure-8 power cable so you can use an alternate cable with a different plug, or use a plug adapter on the cable you get with the charger.

I guess it depends on your appetite for arguing 🙂 Since our 2020 Diamond Princess cruise in Asia (to be fair... due to covid, that was the last cruise we took), we have taken no power boards. I don't really care if it's "right", I simply couldn't be bothered arguing with poorly trained security staff. I just pack a multi port USB charger, and multiple single plug adapters, and it suits me fine.

I think either is fine. From memory we happily used our adapters on Majestic, Star and Diamond princess and ours have the ground pin.

Yeah as per my post further up.. I have one but I don't bring it on cruises as I couldn't be bothered arguing with semi-trained security personnel!! My guess is that they're basically instructed to not allow anything that has a cord - so cube adapters are ok, but power boards are not. Probably someone who knows what they're doing on the ship can overrule, but it all depends on whether you could be bothered arguing.....

I have the Aldi one as well, and I take that if I'm travelling overseas, but not on a cruise. As others have said, technically they are compliant as they are not surge protected but it always comes down to security personnel on the day and I couldn't be bothered arguing with them. For cruises, I pack a LOT of US and EU plug adapters, and I have a USB charger that has 6 charging ports on it so we only need the one charger for all the devices. For our next cruise to NZ in Jan I also bought a cube adapter thing that has got 4 USB charging ports AND converts US/EU/AU/Asia plugs. If it works well, I'll buy another one and bring both to our next scheduled cruises in Europe in Oct 2023. The one I bought: https://amzn.asia/d/09GAuUB

Yep, Collingwood just couldn't keep up the pressure. This is something that Sydney did really well against Melbourne so we will see. The funny thing is that even if Sydney and Geelong qualify for the grannie, there's sort of no recent head-to-head form to analyse. They won't have met since round 3 (Buddy's 1000th goal), and both teams have evolved a LOT since then.

Brisbane will not play the Swans unless they somehow beat Melbourne and then Geelong. I don't see it happening. My guess is Collingwood travel up to the SCG for a rematch of our recent classic match. It will be a tough game. I would think that the top 4 will face off in the prelims, so Geelong vs Melbourne and Sydney vs Collingwood. My bet is Geelong vs Sydney in the Grand Final, which will be just swell because Geelong are my wife (and her parents) team. Before the finals series I was tipping Geelong to be premiers this year and I haven't seen anything that would make me change my mind - they are a class above when they get going. Having said that, IMO any of the top 4 has a legitimate claim and could win it if they just happen to be better on the day. So my tips are: Melbourne def Brisbane Collingwood def Fremantle Geelong def Melbourne Sydney def Collingwood Geelong def Sydney I'd love to be wrong about that last one though of course 😉

He didn't even get suspended, just a fine. Very very lucky. But to be fair, even though it was a late hit, it was on the chest, not the head, so I get that ruling.

Swans win by 22 points, and qualify for a preliminary final at the SCG in 2 weeks. Massive massive result for the club. We're a bit ahead on where I thought we would be at the start of the season, so that's great. I still think Geelong will be a bit too strong this year.. but who knows? Melbourne have to do it the hard way now, hosting Brisbane at home, before meeting the winner of Geelong vs Collingwood.

Swans v Pies was a ripper game. Massive crowd too, around 44k. I believe the second largest ever home & away crowd at the SCG (I was at the last one too, if I recall it was around 46k against Geelong in 1997/8). Massive atmosphere, it felt like a final. I attended a 20-year member function before the game, and by the time I got in, the members reserve was already packed. I ended up sitting right in the front of the Noble stand. I got literally a front row seat to Buddy's great 4th quarter goal. Very composed performance against a pretty good side - we're building nicely now and if we hold our nerve next week against St Kilda, we're looking good for 2nd, which means we would be able to just camp out at the SCG until the grand final - an ideal run for a contender.

I'm pretty sure netball is right up there in terms of team sport participation in Australia. Don't think it's number one (football for sure) though. (I spend most winter saturdays at Blacktown netball courts)