exiledowl

On 1/28/2024 at 1:48 PM, Mrs f. said:

May I ask where you saw the walk off ship charge so I can show my husband? We will be there next November.  Thanks

I think I saw it in an old TA article. 

However we're back home now and pleased to say it wasn't the case. 

One word of advice though; if you need a taxi wait until you're out of the port gates as they are cheaper but still bargain hard.

Being able to speak French is also a huge help.

7 hours ago, BVILady said:

exiledowl thank you so much for pointing to Phoenix Reisen. I went on their website and discovered the same cruise At7Seas will be going on and he fortunately was able to put me onto the segment of the Caribbean and South America to Rio, which was better suitable for me, having been around South America already twice. That is the best cruise for the Caribbean Islands I have seen so far with visiting so many islands usually not on cruise-schedules and spending the night in several. Should you have previously been in Buenos Aires I recommend doing the excursion to Iguazo Falls. I did it early this year on the Costa World Cruise and loved it. 

The Phoenix fleet are relatively small ships, for instance the Amera has only 850+ pax, the Artania I believe slightly more. 

This may well be the reason that they can reach smaller ports that the floating cities can't. 

Another nice touch, having been on the Amera twice before, was   that  having fewer passengers has led to casual acquaintances made on board becoming long lasting friendships at the end of the cruise. 

3 hours ago, At7Seas said:

 

Depends a lot on cruise, desired cabin - and luck! As solo cruiser getting a suitable cabin can be hard, the demand for them is high. I’ve since two days a confirmed booking for the 125-day cruise on the Artania circumventing South America in 2026 - and I stood for a short time on the waiting list!

Well done!

If I could only cruise one part of the world, it would be South America. 

We'll be visiting Peru ( with an excursion to Machu Picchu) and Ecuador on our world cruise, but obviously that's only a small part.

We start in Genoa on Thursday next week but have to travel to Frankfurt Airport a day earlier to take a bus to Freiburg, where we stay overnight and then travel next morning to Genoa. 

It's annoying, because the bus passes Karlsruhe, where we live, but doesn't stop.

However, all these changes are at Phoenix Reisen's own expense so we get dinner, bed and breakfast paid for. 

8 hours ago, whogo said:

Will you blogging from your cruise, exiledowl? I would love to follow along on a Phoenix Reisen cruise.

Unfortunately not whogo, due to 

(A) Expensive and sketchy Wi-Fi on board and in many of the ports. 

(B) Technological incompetence on my part.

However, I'm more than willing to offer advice and experiences on CC after we return on May 12th.

If you want to follow the route it's in the Phoenix Seereisen catalogue 2023,

entitled " Einmal um die ganze welt mit MS Amera in 143 tagen ".

Obviously it's in German but it's easy enough to follow if you hit the translation button. 

8 hours ago, At7Seas said:

 

Absolutely!
 
My only problems with Phoenix are that they are fully booked very early. So I will leave in January on another ship. Have a great cruise!

Thanks very much. 

We booked ours in May last year, shortly after our return from Norway, and it was well on the way to being a sell out even then. 

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I hope they get the ship finished fairly quickly, as while she is getting on in years, she was an amazing ship. Built by Royal Viking Line, as Royal Viking Sun, their 4th ship. Sounds like she is undergoing a major drydocking and wet dock for 3 months, so it should almost be a new ship.

We hope so too!

Actually, we feel we've dropped quite lucky. Celestyal Journey usually cruises the eastern Med and the reason it has become available is due to cancellations of passengers (many American) and therefore whole cruises by the company, because of the Israeli/Hamas conflict. 

We could have ended up having to start the whole cruise in Cape Town, or even worse.

57 minutes ago, At7Seas said:

 

My own experience with Phoenix - although I did no cruise that long with them yet either - is that they try offer a broad variation. And two consecutive cruises are not the same as a world cruise. You said that they essentially use the same fish again and again. Yes, of course. You will be offered a bit less than 300 main courses with lunch and dinner and at least one of them will be fish. Thinking about this fact it becomes very obvious that the same fish is used again and again. But the way of preparation will make the difference! Think about the different things beef can be turned into…

My remarks about the fish were not meant as a criticism; we have been with Phoenix twice before, to Norway and Greenland and on both occasions the food was good, and superb in the speciality restaurant, with reservation only but for no extra cost .

I take your statistical analysis entirely regarding the preparation of the dishes. 

On many days we will be on excursions with lunch included, giving us the opportunity to sample local cuisine anyway. 

Less than 2 weeks now , really looking forward to it!

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I can't remember which cruise line you are using, but the ones I worked for and cruised with as a pax, did make an effort to increase the number of menus available on World Cruises and Grand Voyages.

 

Therefore, you may be pleasantly surprised once aboard your cruise that the WC menus are different from sister ships, on shorter itineraries.

Thanks for the tip Heidi13, I always seem to be able to rely on you for advice!

We are sailing with Phoenix Reisen on the MS Amera, originally out of Hamburg but as the ship won't be ready on time we're now starting the first leg to Cape Town from Genoa on the Celestyal Journey which has been borrowed by Phoenix for this purpose. 

We're setting off on our first world cruise in just under 2 weeks time, and as our ship is in dry dock atm undergoing renovations I've been consulting, somewhat nerdishly, the daily menus and dishes of her sister ships as they ply round their itineraries. 

Yes , most dishes are repeated in some shape or form and on the pescatarian side, different descriptions are often used for what is essentially the same fish.

However, they do make an effort, especially on port days,to include a dinner dish which reflects the place where they're docked, or the region through which they are travelling. 

But as other contributors have said, there is always the opportunity to eat ashore if you want to sample the local stuff.

The Indonesian embassy informed me that visa on arrival is the norm there.

But that is for each entry ; we are taking a world cruise later this month and enter Indonesia on 2 separate occasions and therefore need to pay twice. 

The NZeTA finally arrived this morning so we have the full set now.(Australia, USA, NZ and Sri Lanka).

All of them with different requirements regarding cost, documents and photos, and family info!

Has anyone else experienced the same problems as we have in obtaining the above?

My obligatory home produced photo was accepted immediately and the eta was granted overnight, whereas DW tried 6 attempts before one was deemed good enough and her application is still pending 4 days later.

We've just got our visa and extra charges through for December. 

It appears that we'll have to pay €55 pp just to walk off the ship in Dakar!

Can't see many tours or excursions being made if that's the case. 

On 9/19/2023 at 5:25 AM, possum52 said:

I think you really need to contact your cruise company to find exactly where you are docking in Brisbane which will make your planning much easier. We docked at Fisherman's Island a few years ago. Princess provided a shuttle which we had to pay for. The shuttle took us into the central business district. 

 

You may feel the cruise company is obligated to provide a shuttle, but they may expect all passengers to go on the ship's tours/excursions.

We've been told by our cruise company that there is a "75% chance " of a shuttle bus being put on in Brisbane. 

Reading between the lines I don't think we have been the only passengers phoning them over this.

Nothing wrong with a bit of arm twisting now and again.....

On 9/18/2023 at 7:24 PM, Heidi13 said:

We have utilised the same procedure for both World Cruises and all shorter ones.

 

A few weeks prior to departure, we order a small amount of currency for each country we will visit, from our local bank. It can take them up to a week for some of the lesser required currencies. For each country we request the equivalent of about $20 CAD. We will also request more US $, Sterling, Euros, Aus $ and NZ $.

 

Time ashore is generally short and we don't want to waste it by looking for ATM's or currency exchanges. Note - I will not use a private ATM, only those from accredited banks.

 

While most purchases are paid with Visa, some small vendors, especially stalls, only accept cash. My preference is always to provide local currency to both local vendors and tips to guides/drivers, unless another currency is widely accepted.

 

In a number of ports, we may not spend any of the local currency. Not an issue, as we take it home with us, keeping it for another cruise, or exchanging it at the bank. Yes, we lose in exchange, but it is pennies.

We picked up a sprinkling of different SE Asian currencies today, along with a wad of small USD denominations to use as tips or to change into local cash for

1 day in 1 country visits.

It really added to the build up and excitement to see all these exotic bank notes for the first time!

8 hours ago, triplem67 said:

Hi Jon @exiledowl
I think that's a great way to look at it.  If you are docked at Fisherman Island, they will have to put a shuttle on.  

It's my pleasure to help and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any specific questions.  I'm happy for you to email me direct.  triplem67 @ gmail dot com  

Thanks that's very kind of you. 

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

We have utilised the same procedure for both World Cruises and all shorter ones.

 

A few weeks prior to departure, we order a small amount of currency for each country we will visit, from our local bank. It can take them up to a week for some of the lesser required currencies. For each country we request the equivalent of about $20 CAD. We will also request more US $, Sterling, Euros, Aus $ and NZ $.

 

Time ashore is generally short and we don't want to waste it by looking for ATM's or currency exchanges. Note - I will not use a private ATM, only those from accredited banks.

 

While most purchases are paid with Visa, some small vendors, especially stalls, only accept cash. My preference is always to provide local currency to both local vendors and tips to guides/drivers, unless another currency is widely accepted.

 

In a number of ports, we may not spend any of the local currency. Not an issue, as we take it home with us, keeping it for another cruise, or exchanging it at the bank. Yes, we lose in exchange, but it is pennies.

That's brilliant @Heidi13 just the informed and reassuring response I was hoping for. 

Thanks v much!

Jon 

Good Afternoon Shipmates,

We are embarking on our first world cruise in December and would like the advice of seasoned cruisers regarding currency. 

I'll be taking the usual suspects, GBP/EUR/USD/AUD/ZAR/NZD/CAD on a multi currency card, as well as cash in the 1st 3.

Whilst I've seen through researching the ports that in a lot of the one-off ports where we will dock accept EURO or USD, some don't. 

So my question is, should be try and obtain some of each currency for the places we visit before leaving, or are we generally able to find money changers at the port who give a better rate , especially where we dock at the weekend when the banks are closed?

I'm referring particularly to West Africa,

the Indian Ocean and SE Asian countries here.

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

6 hours ago, triplem67 said:

Thanks for that info Leigh @possum52

Nicole @nchr John & Ingrid @exiledowl  Many people are posting information that I am sure is being shared in good faith, but I don't believe is accurate.  Your ship will not dock at the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal (BICT) as Quantum of the Seas is scheduled as docked that day and now uses Brisbane as her base for the summer Cruising season.  She will take up the whole dock and there will not be any other ship docked at the BICT on the same day as her.  Also as has been said many times, you will not dock at Portside Wharf at Hamilton which is no longer operating as a Cruise Terminal despite many websites still stating Cruise Ships dock there. 

I believe that @possum52 is correct and your ship will be docked on the other side of the Brisbane River at the Port of Brisbane Shipping terminal.  This is the only other option for docking in Brisbane.  The Fisherman Island wharf is part of Brisbane's cargo shipping port and access in and out of the port will be tightly controlled. I don't think passengers would have any access to taxis, but I personally have never docked on a Cruise ship out of Fisherman Island. I would think that your cruise line will have to provide a shuttle into a central location in Brisbane for anyone not doing ship-arranged excursions.  

I recommend you go to your Cruise line and have them verify where you will be docked in Brisbane and if they confirm it is Fisherman Island, then ask what transport arrangements will be made.  Any excursions that you want to plan for your Brisbane port day starts with that information.  

I hope this helps and you have an amazing cruise.  

Thank you @triplem67 for all the homework you have done for us.

I've just looked at Google maps and the nautical map on What's in port and Fisherman Island looks even more isolated than BICT.

I'm not too disheartened about it though, as I feel under the circumstances the cruise ship is now more or less "obliged" to provide a shuttle bus to CBD. Thanks again. 

Jon 

Hallo Nicole,

Thanks for the reply we are in the process of joining FB  now. My German is still not great but hopefully by the end of the cruise it will be much better!

Ingrid speaks fluent English and French as well as of course German. 

Thanks that's my fault for not reading your post properly. 

4 hours ago, nchr said:

Hi triplem67,

that's the Problem, I also can't find our Cruise Ship on the BICT List. It is a small Cruise Ship with only 800 Passengers, so I'm quiet sure they plan to dock at Hamiltion. The official iternary says only 'Brisbane' from 8.00 to 20.00, that's it.

Hi Nicole,

We are on the same cruise as you on MS Amera Hamburg to Bremerhaven world cruise. 

While I hope we do dock in Hamilton I suspect we'll arrive at BICT , a long way from the city centre and , annoyingly, no public transport into the city.

There might be a shuttle, otherwise it looks like an expensive taxi ride.

By the way, I've  posted 2 roll calls, one on the "other cruise lines" section here on CC in English and the other on the Phoenix section section of Kreuzfahrten-Treff.de in German. 

I haven't had any replies yet though. 

Jon and Ingrid 

Its basically a quirky , typical German town enclosed by the desert.

You'll see what I mean by the architecture, most notably the Hohenzollern building and the Woermann house.

Luderitz is similar but on a smaller scale. 

If you've only got a day a trip to Swakopmund would be a good idea ; it's more attractive and interesting than Walvis Bay. 

We're arriving in Georgetown/Penang in March next year but looking at the map in my guidebook the pier is more or less within walking distance of many of the sights so walk is what we'll do. 

Apparently it's also a great gastronomic centre for hawker food so we'll use our noses as well as our eyes.