ilikeanswers

I admit I am a food and drink snob;p when I am on vacation I drink less, but in saying that I don't drink much when I am at home. I know a lot of people who drink a bottle of wine a night. It takes me a week to finish a bottle:'). Getting drunk or even buzzing has no appeal to me at all:cool:

I am a quality over quantity person. The products I buy are usually of the higher price range and I generally drink straight up spirits. These brands are usually double the price in tourist places and never included in drink packages if even sold on ships at all and I generally do not enjoy cocktails as I usually find them too sickly sweet.

I will sometimes have a glass of wine or beer as with these products price or brand have little effect on taste but since both drinks aren't a favourite I am happy to not have them at all;).

However when I travel to a new country I love to try the local beverage of choice or a unique drink they make in that community:D

Just phoned MSC on +1-877-665-4655 and they said that they would accept a 500 euro note onboard a Mediterranean cruise in Europe. Thanks everyone, for all your inputs and advice!

Well that is good to hear(y) Looks like problem solved:D.

On MSC, in Europe, everyone will be billed in euros. So I will use it to pay my bill. They will have to accept it, right?

Legally businesses should probably accept it (though if the ship is registered in a non EU country maybe it is not subject to EU business rules) but if the on board MSC staff refuse to take it what can you do:o? I suppose you could try refusing to pay your bill till they accept your notes:confused: Maybe contact MSC customer service and find out what their on board policy is for 500 and 200 Euro notes. Maybe contact your hotel too, just so you can be prepared.

I know in this case this is a passanger but I was once told that cruise ship crews transporting drugs for syndicates is actually quite common. That the crew don't get as thoroughly checked as passangers (though I don't know which ports they were referring to:o) and they sneak their drug loads through whatever cruise ships are loading or unloading. I've always wondered if this is an urban myth;p or if there is any thruth to it:confused:

I would say your best bet is to break it at a bank and do it soon. While it will still be considered legal currency by the end of the year it is meant to be officially phased out, and they already stopped printing them two years ago. I have my doubts any cruise ship will accept notes that are disappearing from circulation. Even at the banks giving 500€ notes entails a lot of bureaucracy (bring all the ID you have and maybe some tax file numbers), that cruise companies may be reluctant to go through such a process, not to mention some banks charge a 0.15% fee for processing 500€ notes.

Have you ever been on a cruise where you thought the route or ports of call were not very good or perhaps you thought certain places were not suited to cruise style travel and are better visited in other ways :confused:

I am the exact opposite when it comes to travelling:p. I always bring items that I feel are disposable, that way if they are ruined or lost it won't bother me:cool:. I am always digging into the back of the wardrobe looking for the older stuff I don't care about any more. Unless I need a specific item I don't already own I avoid bringing any thing new;).

Now That is interesting. Where do I find that as I can not see a promotions folder on my Gmail, only my Inbox, Sent mail, Drafts, All mail, Spam & Trash. All the rest are my private ones I installed.

My Gmail has Primary underneath which is Social and underneath that is Promotions. That is where I find all my commercial subscriptions are automatically placed:cool:.

If you can't see Promotions try going into Settings - > select your email address - > manage labels.

Maybe you need to sync Promotions with inbox?

I noticed you said you have Gmail, so I am wondering have you checked the Promotions folder? I find all my advertising goes in there.

Wow you went through a lot of trouble to make that rant. :)

 

I book all of our cruises direct with the cruise line, no middle person.

Sometimes you need to get things out to be able to move on. I totally get the need to write a rant;). If you really want to make it official there should be some agency in your country/state/region that should handle accreditation of travel agents, usually through them you can make a complaint.

I have a general rule of never putting anything I'm afraid of losing in checked luggage. Would it suck to lose your clothes:o? Yes but I can always buy new ones;) As for travel insurance it would be foolish to go without it. $89 sounds expensive but if you got really sick and needed medical evacuation than the costs would sky-rocket:eek:.

I don't mind the idea of private islands, as long as it was done right.

 

We've done a Caribbean cruise on Disney out of Port Canaveral. All of their Bahamas and Caribbean cruises include a day at Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island in the Bahamas - it's on a 99 year lease or something from the Bahamas. It's basically a tiny undeveloped island (Wikipedia tells me that only 55 of the 1000 acres are developed) where Disney have built a pier, and various facilities.

 

We loved it because of the relative lack of crowds, and that because it's a private DCL island, all you need to bring ashore is your cruise card. Food (BBQ lunch) is all included, as is access to all the facilities so you don't need to worry about cash or anything. They also have a kids area where you can sign your kids in (the kids club staff from your ship are there all day) and then hang out in the adults only area if you like.

 

So if RCL is planning something like this, I actually don't mind that idea.

I'm just wondering how is it any different to what is offered on board:confused:? Food, kids club and adult areas aren't those things already on the ship? Apart from beach access what did you find was the advantage of having these things on land vs on ship? :)

To me this all part of them trying to stop money leaving the ship. It is like when they try to ban non affiliated tour operators from entering ports they dock at:confused:. While there is a growing number of passengers who cruise solely for the experience of the ship a large number of passengers still like to have destinations to visit:cool:, and to be honest I don't think everyone will find themed park private islands that appealing especially when cruise ship already seem to have theme parks:o.

It's interesting to see how few times luxury ships really came up.

I thought that was interesting too:Dalso apart from Antarctica and Galapagos not much mention of expedition cruises. I guess they really are a niche market;p. I do love the people suggesting having their own cruise ship, now that is dreaming big;)(y)

Silver Sea, Heritage Expeditions and Lindbald Expeditions are cruises that cross the Bering Strait.

Are there any cruises you wish you could do but are prevented because it would be too expensive?

Not so far fetched a thought. Maybe not a new cruise line, but sounds a bit like Regent Cruises Navigator. To quote a Yahoo website, "The hull was constructed by former USSR (Russia) as a satellite tracking ship. The hull was purchased by RSSC and the superstructure was finished by Mariotti Yards, Italy."

My mother's friend told me back in the day Russians were running a bunch of cheap no frills cruises. No bars, no pools certainly no entertainment:p. The way she described them it made me think of a floating hostel. Rooms were small, no balcony option at all, (you were lucky if they had a window:')) many times it was dormitory but you got three meals a day and lots of stops, sometimes they provided tours but usually you had to arrange your own thing and apparently they were dirt cheap.

My mother's friend loved them, travelled the world with them all through her 20s and 30s even travelling with her whole family. She told me the big cruise companies as they became more established and flights became cheaper the no frills companies couldn't compete after all while she loved no frills most people do like a little comfort;)

I sometimes wonder when you see complaint posts and the OP never answers back could they be fake stories to bad mouth the competition:o? I have heard companies employ people to post complaints around social media pretending to be disgruntled customers of their competition.

It sort of has all the hallmarks. The 70yr old couple, an age group people tend to feel are more vulnerable and therefore more likely to sympathise with, the whole scenario of "all they needed was one more day", the focus on supposedly bad customer service (how could they not alert the frail 70yr old couple on visa requirements:eek:?), even the hole in the story, that they are seasoned cruisers is almost like they are trying to say other cruises companies are much better at giving you information and of course the high price tag, $10000 each, not too much that it is ridiculous but not so little as to be dismissed:confused:.

IDK maybe the cynic in me is just making me too much into a conspiracy theorist;p

Maybe, But I can;t help but think that drinks packages encourage drinking. If your paying $95 a day for a drinks package your going to want to get "your moneys worth"

 

Yes I think one should not under estimate the psychological effect of prepaid packages. I have heard many times people say "well I am on holiday and I just want to get my moneys worth":rolleyes:. I do think there are people who will drink heavily no matter what but IME they deliberately seek out travel packages that have a generous drink allowance, so I think there is an argument to getting rid of alcohol drink packages.

I've been reading this thread with interest as I too am curious if this is at all possible. Though I do wonder if you should consider a passager freighter voyage/cruise instead of a tourist cruise:confused:? Being a freighter they are highly unlikely to skip a port plus being freighters they might be better equipped and more amenable to shipping personal belongings.

I'm not interested in a holiday for a holiday's sake, I'm interested in increasing my experiences:D. Unfortunately that comes with a bigger price tag:eek:. I will look for any discounts I can but I will save for particular experiences and easily give up any other luxuries in my life. You only live once so I want to make the most of it;p

built to survive in far more extreme conditions than the Gold Coast will ever experience.

 

 

There is no alternative to a rail link of some sort to shore. The overall distance to be travelled from ship to calm water ferry terminal is around 1500m. Cruise companies will not even consider a tender type setup, and it's probably a bit far for people to walk, although a walkway could be included in the plans. .

Have you taken climate change into account? Regardless of what you think of climate change, investors do care how it might effect the future viability of off shore building projects and I don't know how you will convince companies to pour millions into an already risky, experimental project when weather modelling predictions indicate storms becoming more violent and frequent:o.

Will a rail link quickly and comfortably be able to disembark and re-embark up to 5000 passengers including the numerous cruisers who need wheelchairs:confused:? As cruise ships get bigger it will have to accommodate larger crowds, not to mention if you have cruises starting and ending at GC you'll have to accommodate luggage handling and the resupply of the ship.

Apart from price and duration when choosing a cruise do you prioritise the port of calls or the amenities offered by the ship?:confused:

The lack of information is why I stopped using travel agents:o. They would never give me a break down of costs, they would tell me they made the enquiries I asked for but instead invented answers they thought I wanted to hear, and definitely no itinerary. The one time I did get an itinerary it was a print out from two years ago:eek: and of course the information was outdated:mad:. Some people get lucky and find awesome travel agents, I have heard the great stories, the ones who really want to make your trip great but unfortunately they are few and far between. Most are looking to get a quick commission:(.

Perhaps the money would be better spent on a fantastic new Brisbane terminal.

In addition to this, a link to the very fast train system between Brisbane and Melbourne, with provision of stops for the Gold Coast, (20 minutes tops from Brisbane), Ballina, Coffs, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Albury and Melbourne.

I think the idea of a high speed train has a lot more merit than an open ocean cruise ships terminal. Not only would it be a fraction of the cost but it could be utilised by the locals to get around the coast, it would also increase tourism all year round not just when cruise ships are in port. Personally I would rather see money go into the development of a high speed rail network than on one cruise ship terminal.

It is amazing the passions this project seems to stir, I have to say I never realised it was such a big deal. This Glen from FB if his design has any effectiveness can it be put into a simulator so we can see it in practice? I know it won't produce a definitive answer, as they say scaling things up problems can become apparent that did not exist in the small version, and computers are only effective if you account for all the variables but at least it is a good way to verify whether an engineering project has any hope at all.

But I have to say I am mostly on the side of the "anti development greenie" (as I no doubt will be accused of being;p) This project makes no sense, even with the money tourism brings it still may take decades to recoup the costs and if the terminal does end up suffering recurring damage repairs will only eat into any potential profits.

On top of that I doubt passengers of cruise ships that carry thousands are going to find the 1km commute from ship to terminal appealing, (will there be a train on there? Buggies?) it may actually put people off from wanting to get off and I know for a fact that if a cruiser hates a terminal they will actively avoid cruises that start or end at troublesome ports. And that isn't even taking into account how you would get luggage, wheelchairs and supplies onto a ship with a 1km pier.

I don't believe it is impossible engineering wise but you do have to question if it is the best solution to increasing tourism on the Gold Coast.

On a side note, I know everyone gives Greenies a hard time for their zealotry but having visited the Gold Coast a few times and seen first hand the lack of green spaces I think it is a good idea to leave what little nature is left. Studies have found that cities with more green spaces have less people being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. A little green can be good for you:D