essandjaybee

Our last couple of trips we have stayed at the Comfort Inn Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster Borough  a  2 minute walk from the Victoria Coach Station which is very handy for National Express Bus Co transfers from the airport and to Southampton if you are cruising,  pre-purchase online they have some great specials...   Plenty of shops and restaurants 2 mins from hotel...   The rooms are small, but that's pretty standard in London unless you want to pay the big bucks.....hotel was very clean.... lovely staff and continental breakfast was great.....   

Buckingham Palace is a leisurely 10-12 minute walk,  there's a great little pub behind the Palace, handy for the Royals to pop out the back gate and have a pint or 2😉 , ambiance and meals are great....    All the big attractions are handy, we walked everywhere.  If you don't want to walk the  Hop On Hop Off bus picks across from the Coach station. 

13 hours ago, js4rq said:

Exciting stuff!!!

 I am more than happy to wait until 2021 for an Oasis class ship out of Brisbane.....fingers crossed they go ahead... thanks for the info

The profile pages look great, sure I pressed the "not telling" but it doesn't matter if my date shows because just like FB it's not mine..........shhhhhhhhhhhhh........I don't give that to anyone in case it's nicked  🤣🤣  

Well you learn something new everyday ....didn’t know if you  clicked on a profile photo you go to their profile page.....do now 🤩🤩🤣🤪

2 hours ago, NSWP said:

It would be scary without PBS concession.🤯 So is 6 weeks the time you are allowed out of OZ without notifying Centrelink if a concession card holder? 

Have no idea Les, we let them know even if we are only going for a week. Last big trip we were gone 8 weeks with no issues, we flew in and out though....When you advise online they do ask if you are cruising, guess they are either fully aware of paperwork delays or being nosey 😉😆😆

Not new to us, 3 years ago we sat in front of a Centrelink staff member who confirmed we weren't back yet  .... we had been home for 3 weeks...... knew something was wrong when heart meds were charged at full price by the chemist.....now that was scary........

Too pricey for me.... early 2017 we cruised 35 nights onboard Oceana, one of the sun sisters, and I must say I was a tad bored with the ship around the 3 week mark and it wasn't just because it was full of UK peeps 👀 can't believe how may of them dislike Australian accents, an expat Scot I  kept telling them mine was not in fact Australian it was the sought after very unique   "modern Scottish accent" 😇..... back to the ship.......it was just not big enough or have enough decent venues to offer a good choice of things to do on the long sea day stretches..  I don't mind paying a reasonable price for a long cruise but not on the old girls....my choice for a longer cruise is something more the size of say Diamond Princess or the RCL Voyager class.

Love it.... what a great improvement I am sure the whiners and whingers will be out in full force , i say suck it up and move on or move out.. also loved the fantastic banter and friendliness in the Floataway Lounge whilst we were in limbo.......  well done CC

Legend was not in a much different condition than the rest of the Vision class - read some of the Grandeur reviews.

You don't have to have too much business nous to know that when you want to impress and steal business away in a new area you don't deliver dregs to the punters... she was in a sad state.....full stop:mad:

They didn't deliver Rhapsody of the Seas in 2007 like that but then again they were trying to impress as they were the new kids on the block and that they did... the inaugural cruise from Honolulu to Sydney was fabulous....we also did Voyager and Explorers first cruises into Australia neither of these were presented in such a way.......as I said it was clear from her condition that Legend was not staying in the fleet they were playing for time... As for the now renamed lovely little Marella Discovery 2 it's great to see some love has been given back to her.........

Btw I sent my thoughts backed up with photos of the Legend to the big head office, not of course expecting anything back, and low and behold got a lovely reply, apology and some OBC for my next cruise....:'):'):')

Everyone wants one. [emoji6]

 

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Don't mind sharing ;):cool:

Vision may well be a placeholder. Perhaps the itineraries have been decided but Brisbane port is still negotiating with Royal on the specific ship.

I think the channel dredging in Cairns is relevant. Currently, tendering is required for ships larger than Vision class but once the channel dredging is done next year (assuming it does get done) they will be able to dock larger ships right in the city.

Mind you, Royal doesn't need to try very hard given Carnival's offering for Brisbane.

 

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If Royal don't bring one of their big guns it's a missed opportunity to steal a good chunk of the market especially as you say given Carnivals dismal offering:mad:.....and they need to make amends to the market here for the abysmal Legend of the Seas that they dumped on us for a season.......it was very obvious from her shabby condition, I cruised the inaugural Hong Kong to Brisbane cruise, that she was destined to leave the fleet...

Still got my fingers crossed for an Oasis class....... :hearteyes::hearteyes:

Doesn't Carnival have the new Brisbane port tied up most of the time for their ships? I sure hope there is room for a RCI ship to be home ported there.

The ACCC, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, weren't happy with Carnivals initial plans to hog the dock and push out competition. Conditional approval was finally granted with Carnival having preferential berthing rights, gets it's choice of 4 days per week however they can't book more than 2 of the 3 weekend days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) in any given week. Guess that's fair...still plenty of space for Royal :D

Probbably what will be done with the Oasis Class ship it will be used for one week itinaries in direction New Caledionia, not sure how it will be handled logistically as Noumea currently is a tender port I thought?

Noumea has two area's for docking, small ships tie up at the port in the main street, larger ships in the ports working area - bus to town or bus to port gate then walk to town for pax .... pretty sure Ovation of the Seas docks:D The smaller islands off Noumea eg: Iles des Pins - stunning place, as well as most others in the South Pacific are tender.

A " Perfect Day" purpose built island venue will be a winner i'm sure..... last year we went to Carnivals Mahogany Bay- Roatan had a great day.. ;)

Brisbane Terminal will be able to handle Oasis Class and that is where they will go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

They have a market here ready and waiting ..... Oasis or a Quantum class are the ideal product.....:D Carnival announced last week they are home porting the drab depressing Carnival Spirit here ......blah.... RCL will blitz them if they bring us a ship with all the bells and buzzers...;)

There were some rumblings on the Allure last week that they were having a European season summer 2020, followed by drydock and then transit through Suez to Australia. Time will tell ...

Have everything crossed that they just might do so....... if so ....sign me up for the repo :hearteyes::hearteyes:

The French Media a few months ago quoted CEO Richard Fain “ Australia should have an Oasis Class ship by 2020’

This will be interesting to see if it happens.

Allure after dry dock would be the easiest to move to this region.

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Fingers crossed have always wanted to try the Oasis class just haven't had the chance. Do you think Brisbane's new cruise port will be able to handle her, we won't say no to her home porting here for a while ;p:D

Well this has been an interesting discussion. Many thanks to those who specifically addressed the question. It’s much appreciated. Sent from my iPad using Forums

We were away from Australia for 53 days early last year....trip to the UK and a 35 night cruise...we advised Centrelink of our movements and there were no adjustments made to the pension. If all cruises are international, I'm thinking they will be looked upon as accumulative, just double check your health care card is still active, if you have one, on your return..... have a wonderful trip.

I feel this is a over-reaction, I was not condemning anyone for receiving a pension, I feel it is too generous at the top end of the threshold and not enough at the bottom end. However, you too are entitled to an opinion and can condemn me for thinking about the future of welfare payments and the recipients in Australia.

Not an over reaction... you are what you post .... !!!!!

No one should feel they have to explain themselves and/or their lifestyle to anyone on here, especially those who have worked hard all their lives and are now enjoying retirement...... we like a lot live a modest lifestyle, no coffee culture here, to be able to afford the joys of cruising now we are no longer time poor.

If you have no experience in this particular matter other than cut-n-paste your comments are only post counts .... unfortunately on CC a lot of great info goes by the wayside of thread hijacking and unnecessary commenting......

My apologies to all for having hi-jacked this thread..

On a side note, we need to ask ourselves why we are paying someone the Age Pension (a welfare payment) if they can afford to cruise for more than 6 weeks. One thing is for sure, they may certainly, they may qualify for more Pension after 6 weeks of cruising.

Omg ...who the :mad::mad::mad: do you think you are....shame on you. :mad::mad::mad:

I'll see you onboard!! :cool::cocktail::tropical-drink:

You sure will :bottle-pop::champagne-toast::D

I was hoping to do that one Alex but it was nearly 500 quid more expensive than the Rome to Dubai in November for a solo...thats the drinks package! I am changing my Explorer TA to Jewel Suez Repo and saving a chunk of change for 2 nights extra!

OMG.....I nearly forgot about this cruise..... just booked the November Rome to Dubai .....happy days:cool::D:D

The notations in the Gibraltar, April 19th booking for Spectrum of the Seas would seem to indicate it is a fuel stop and may be traveling without passengers.

May I please ask what made you think it's perhaps a 'fuel stop" only, maybe no pax onboard. According to the port schedule she is there from 0800/1700hrs....bit long for a pit stop......we had one of those with P.O Arcadia - 4 hrs... we saw what we needed to see ..... ships tour.... took no chances :D

I believe Ovation of the Sea's Global Odyssey repo to Asia called there early May 2016 with a boat load of pax.....fingers crossed they do same with Spectrum.

Thanks essandjaybee for the tip. I’ve just saved $600 on two staterooms plus got double OBC on what was offered on official cruise line site. Legend!

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Yay great savings...well done ... happy to pass on info whilst remaining compliant ;);p;p

Now finally the truth has come out and it is a fact that it was a suicide.

 

I now hope all the supposed cruise loving people on this forum who jumped on the social media bandwagon, without any regard for the truth aplogise for sprouting so much vile and negative comments about cruise ships and the cruise industry about believing and supporting initial false stories that someone accidentally fell over.

 

This just shows the danger of social media and how in the wrong hands a group of people "mob mentality" can be led into believing something is true. I on the other hand stuck to my three main reasons as to why people go overboard and in the end was proven correct. I hope the false stories and those who provided online support for the false stories have not scared new people off booking the best holiday in the world out of fear that they might fall off if they get sick.

Well said.......;) at the end of the day the deceased is where she chose to be, her reasons none of our business but she obviously did not want to return to her shore life......her choice..............full stop.

Safety onboard cruise ships is more than adequate and is well controlled....... a suicidal person will find a way no matter what obstacles are put in their way.............

$10 bucks deposit how can you go wrong.

 

What agent ?

No agents to be mentioned ruling here ....sorry ... google $10 cruise deposit and see what comes up ;):D:D

They have some good deals, research helps pick the winners. In addition, if it is a one off (per season) type itinerary the cruise will tend to go up and up in price due to demand, as opposed to the itineraries that run 5 or 6 times a season, which may drop in price to fill the ships.

.....i had a lookie-see at the early bird specials wasn't really planning to book anything but over the tops and underneaths don't happen too many times a season, the pricing was keen and we hadn't done one since 2012 so I thought why not ...and booked us on Radiance's Perth to Sydney 18 nighter Feb 2020 .... and .....managed to get us $10pp deposits....win win..;):D:D

Great deal there... a YC interior is the same price as RCL's plain jane interior... I agree with you which one I'd rather be on!!

 

RCL just keep going with their money grab. Entry level interiors are around $200/person/day.

Fantastic deal, YC interior including grats $3290pp .... and would you believe scored the price on a $10 pp deposit :'):') we needed a lift part the way home this will do nicely :D:D