Cruise___master

I don’t quite understand the tip situation on cruise ships?

surely you should tip what you want each day or at the end of the cruise?

are cruise ship tipping pre-calculated on your onboard spend?

I don’t cruise much, but I was interested to see Norwegian cruises having a 35% sale. Is this a common type of sale?

I was looking at doing a European 7-10 days cruise from Southampton next month. Everything looks like a good deal, but perhaps that’s just the marketing spin?

£684 per person for 11 nights. 4 ports around the canary island in and out of Southampton on the enchanted princess.

how does that sound?

I have been lucky enough to do this. yes it is excellent. yes it is expensive. but yes it is worth it, espcially if you have never been on a safari in africa. it could be as close as you can get.

Nz has a lot more mosi's than Oz, especially the south island. But yes sun cream is just as important! buy a spray as its easier to spray on over the top of suncream.

On 12/5/2018 at 3:38 AM, iancal said:

Another consideration might be the on board currency.   A few years ago we did two cruises-a few weeks apart. A Sun Princess cruise to the Pacific Islands and an RCI cruise AUS/NZ.

 

One glaring difference was that AUD was the on board currency for Sun Princess.    USD was the onboard difference on RCI and the prices were higher.

 

We calculated that for us (CAD), the RCI on board costs were about 35 percent highter on the RCI 21 day cruise.  It was not an issue since it was a heavily discounted last minute cruise. It was about 30 percent less expensive to book the cruise in Australia than it would have been to book it in North America.

 Wow, that’s weird. Normally things are much cheaper to buy in USA than Australia. Must be the trump effect 🤣 

....I can’t believe there has been this many replies as to where you can get a pie. That’s hilarious 🤣 

Shuttle is the way to go. Stops right outside central station. Have a great trip 👍 

Wellington and Auckland are easymplaces to arrive, wonder around and find things to do. In the smaller ports I recommend you pre book tours 👍 

Yes, make sure you are going through the actual tour operator themselves. They have their reputation at stake so will not sell you a tour they know will not meet your sail time. The agents don’t care and will sell you anything under the sun. When something goes wrong, they will just blame the tour operator! 

Sydney harbour bridge climb.....say no more 😉

On 10/28/2018 at 5:33 AM, NCHPcruiser said:

Has anyone visited  Phillips Island while in Melbourne and if so was it worth it?  We are considering a tour which would leave around 11 am and return at 9:00 pm and includes the Penguin Parade.   

 

Thanks!

 

Martha

 

 

I saw nobody answered your question, so I thought I should! With those timings, you won’t see the penguins as they don’t come out until dusk. Do you need to be back on your ship by 9pm for disembarkation?

On 11/2/2018 at 4:09 AM, epixx said:

We are staying in Melbourne and have one day to do a tour.  Some tour companies advertise the advantage of the "reverse" when compared to the "standard" tour is that you reach the sites at at different time from the big bus tours.  Are there any disadvantages of the "reverse" tour?

Disadvantages and advantages of both. Going from the end is quieter at twelve apostles etc, but you are then on the left hand side of the road (so further away from the ocean vistas). Plus you have less chance to stop off at look out points as some will be too dangerous to get to, and often they are on blind corners, so crossing over is too difficult. I would just go the normal way......

On 12/14/2018 at 1:34 AM, sunscreen said:

I am looking at a tour from Sydney for just the Australia Reptile park as it is approx 1 hr drive from Sydney.  I only could find one and it combines a dolphin cruise and the sand dunes which I do not want.  Would rather spend all the time at the park.   Any suggestions would be appreciated...

What about toronga zoo? Cruise ships often more at circular quay which is the same place the public ferry leaves from that goes to toronga zoo. This takes 30 minutes and 5 dollars to cruise across to. I just don’t get why you would want to sit in traffic to get to a reptile park when toronga zoo is soo close 😕

On 1/3/2019 at 6:42 AM, OceanPrince said:

Hi all, I'll be going on the Majestic to New Zealand in couple weeks. Will be hitting up Tauranga, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin.

 

Do all these ports have vendors selling tours when we get off the ship or tender? 

I found New Zealand quite tricky with doing tours etc. It is heavy regulated. Very unlike Asia ports where it is every man to himself and you get surrounded by vendors selling tours. Just jump on a resource like trip advisor and book a guide ahead of time. It will save less of a headache on shore.

Whichever upgrade option you choose, make sure you book it in advance as they sell out. In peak season even the standard viewing platform sells out. It’s a long way to get down to find out you can’t see the penguins!

On 1/9/2019 at 6:47 AM, CKTVL said:

If ship is in Melbourne from 10am to 6pm, would you be able to see any of the Great Ocean Road

No, not enough time to see the great ocean road. You would have time to do a winery tour but to be honest Melbourne is so great, just get into the city and do a city tour there......