peter1956

15 hours ago, cruisine21 said:

We have a Westpac Altitude Black card but I doubt we could change being self funded retirees. We also have pre existing medical conditions.

I have been looking at this to, but none them appear to cover existing medical conditions. My wife has stents. As soon as you put this down when applying for travel insurance it doubles the quote.

Looking at booking our first cruise since lockdown to Alaska, I know this has been discussed before.

But in the New World we find ourselves in is it better to book direct or through an agent?

We are in Australia so have no access to US agents?

Thank Peter.

1 hour ago, possum52 said:

I'm actually amazed that there is consideration of resuming cruising from the US whilst Covid is still rampant there. 

 

Leigh

 

 

Totally agree with you.

Forgot to say that we finally got our refund for our May 11th cruise on Tuesday.

We have now been fully refunded for all our holiday. Two cruises, air fares, helicopter tours and hotel bookings. We only lost $110 each for this last cruise so I consider ourselves lucky.

Hope that everybody else still waiting for theirs receives a refund soon.

1 minute ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

Ballarat is the last stop before Melbourne but we will be in Melbourne a couple nights before we fly out.

If you are in the centre of Melbourne, the getting to the airport in the morning rush will be OK. its the evening rush you will have to worry about.

I would love to go into Melbourne at the moment and see what its like deserted. The news footage looks amazing. But at the moment we are not allowed .

On 8/17/2020 at 2:01 PM, Blackduck59 said:

 

Thanks Adrian, Just as I hoped. That was our "splurge" one night for the trip. We will be looking to re-book there in the new itinerary. It will be closer to the end of our adventure now as we will be flying out of Melbourne instead of Sydney. There are direct flights Melbourne to Auckland yes? We are still hoping to fly Air New Zealand direct Vancouver to Auckland and back.

Its around 4 hours flight time Melbourne to Auckland and if Ballarat is your last stop an easy 90 minute trip to Melbourne airport. All freeway, but I would avoid the morning rush hour.

We got a full refund for both our Air New Zealand business flights. Melbourne to Honolulu and Calgary to Melbourne and the the Alaskan cruise from Celebrity, this week. These were through flight centre.

Unfortunately some of the TA's in Australia have not treated their clients well in this period. I can more people booking things directly in the future.

@bazzaw is your TA the guru one?

6 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

A zero missing? Did you mean $9000?

Yes 🤔 fixed.

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Just checked itineraries, there is a 14 night Auckland to Sydney with pretty much the same itinerary as the original but adds Bay of Islands and Hobart and misses Melbourne so that would be a fly to after Sydney. This may be the solution depending on what I can do with pricing and perks. It starts January 14th 2022

Liked the sound of this one so had a look. Can not believe how prices have gone up. We paid AUS$6000 for a 11 day cruise this February. Same cruise in 2022 is AUS$9000.

3 hours ago, peter1956 said:

Its taken its time as I cancelled when they first started cancelling cruises in April for our May 11th cruise.

But just got this from our Australian TA

 

"We are happy to report that your refund is in queue and should appear in your account within the next four weeks."

Not sure if the delay has been with Celebrity or the TA.

 

Still waiting for the refund of the shore excursions I cancel early May.

Edit. Got the shore refund back in May.

Its taken its time as I cancelled when they first started cancelling cruises in April for our May 11th cruise.

But just got this from our Australian TA

"We are happy to report that your refund is in queue and should appear in your account within the next four weeks."

Not sure if the delay has been with Celebrity or the TA.

Still waiting for the refund of the shore excursions I cancel early May.

Hey what's this 65 old stuff?? I will be 65 next year and I am not old 🙃

We had a 7 night Alaska cruise and 10 night self drive Vancouver to Calgary all booked this May 😪 Just don't know if or when we can go. Perhaps 2022?

For our May Holiday I have had full refunds through Airbnb and all excursions that I booked direct. Still waiting for a refund on the 2 Celebrity cruises, excursions and the air new Zealand airfare.

I still have my Fingers crossed.

I remember doing that on the SS Australis in 1975, Southampton to Melbourne emigrating to Australia. 5 weeks as an19 year old, what a ball.

Thought I recognised the X on the funnel.

8 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

 I ordered a Leffe Ruby and got less than half of it by the time she was through, the only solution was to order more. In Germany she discovered radler (shandy) and she liked that. 

I have some very dim memories of drinking Leffe. What an awesome brew 😜

After the run around with TA her, with the latest problems I am tempted to direct to Celebrity in the US to book. I would also be tempted to try an American TA if I know of a good one.

Nothing for us either. But no stress I hope that it will eventually happen 🙂

I am now seriously thinking about going cruising again May 2022. If it is not by then, I would hate to think of the mess we will be in.

So I for one hope that there will be some great sales on later this year.

10 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

$1800 cancellation charge for airline and TA?  What was this amount made up of?

I assume you took a credit voucher for your flights to NZ so you didn't have to pay $1800.  If this is the future, I agree no-one will use a TA.

The Air New Zealand were cheap non-refundable fares. Though you would think that they would change the rules under the circumstances.

Air New Zealand want to charge $600 per person and the TA another $300 person.

We took the credit note, though not sure when or how we will use it. Hopefully book some flights early 2022.

5 hours ago, portcbob said:

Hi fellow Aussie cruisers.

wife and I had a Canadian Rockies and Alaska cruise booked for June which was subsequently cancelled due to the pandemic.

We are going to make another attempt to do the same trip in June, 2021.

Due to our cancellation this year we have the option of taking full cash refunds minus $600.00 in cancellation fees from flight centre OR Take credits and roll them over hopefully to use in 2021.

Just wondering what you guys would do, it’s a hard decision.

ps. We are a bit concerned that flight centre could go under.

We are with them too.

They changed the rules last week. So now you can get a full refund on the cruise.

For the rest of the holiday they will still take their $600 or you can get a credit voucher.

Just went through this with them on Thursday. We took the full refund for the cruise component and a credit voucher for the flights with Air New Zealand. After both the airline and the TA took our their fees for cancelling it was going to cost us $1800.

I for one will be changing the way we book in the future.

The TA charging the $300 per person fee, changed their rules on Friday. All cruise line bookings can now be refunded free of charge. All other holiday bookings still have the $300 fee but now capped.