Snoopkat

Vaccine passports are being implemented by SloMo and team next month. It would be a strange day when we can leave the country before we can visit other states.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-08/covid-live-blog-nsw-press-conference-victoria-lockdown/100442154

57 minutes ago, NSWP said:

What lockdown, are all these cars going essential shopping?  Fiveways, Miranda.

The traffic there occasionally gets banked up because of the timing between the sets of traffic lights.  It's nowhere as bad as it used to be.  I heard there was a covid case at the brick pits/South Village the other day. 

I heard you can get all sorts of wonderful bargains at Costco but the idea of paying a membership to give them more money doesn't really appeal to me.

Ikea is awesome, I just got myself a new standing desk and a set of chopping boards. 

7 hours ago, NSWP said:

Same here, I get ear infection easily, particularly on the ships, so stay away from the hot tubs/spas and often the pools. Ships Drs told me to avoid them, full of bacteria he said. Some pax use the hot tubs as their daily bath.

I never even thought about the germs. I just assumed it would be a clorine or salt water pool like a normal pool. What do people do on hot sea days then?

On 9/3/2021 at 3:52 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, the pools are really, really tiny. 

 

If you get a drink from a poolside bar it will be in a plastic glass so it can be carried anywhere, but anything in glass itself can't be taken poolside. However be careful what drinks you carry around, ships do have a tendency to move in unexpected ways at times so drinks can easily spill. One of my favourite evening dresses got ruined by someone accidentally splashing their drink on it. It's best not to start moving around until there is little likelihood of the drink splashing.  

Oh dear, sorry to hear about your dress. I'm always worried about spillage when I'm carrying drinks and would hate to be that person.  I might just stay put at the bar like I normally do on land for everyone's sake!

We originally got $200 as we're booked in a suite. Just got off the phone with my TA and it looks like it was the same offer as when we first booked so no extra OBC on top of what we already got. Maybe they just extended the sale, I can't remember when it was supposed to finish. I'll also find out in a couple of weeks whether the 2nd deposit is still due in Oct or if that will get pushed back. 

2 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Until 14th Sept, P&O are offering extra OBC to go along with their $1 deposits.

 

2 – 6 nights, Insides/Windows $100 per room, Balcony Suites $200per room

 

Is this $200 on top of the original $200 they offered when the $1 deposit sale first started?

32 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The ship will seem bigger than you expect and the cabins will seem smaller.😁

Apparently the pools are also tiny IRL. Another thing that will be weird for me is being able to carry your drink around wherever you go, except the pool. Though not sure if it's allowed on P&O.

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

If you are a footballer or WAG you will get in, lol. What a joke.

This from the same people that virtue signalled about the importance of vaccinating children and keeping them safe blah blah blah. 

10 minutes ago, NSWP said:

And when in USA these days, they add up to 25% gratuity to the bill, plus the state tax, federal tax, well that was the case when we were in Honolulu, 2 years ago. Plus when in Hawaii, like Wakkiki watch out for the 'resort tax' many hotels add to your bill when you get there.

Oof, 25%! I paid 20% gratuity in New York 4 years ago and I thought that was steep. Hawaii has never really interested me as a holiday destination though. I think the resort tax thing happens with other countries too.

16 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

I agree. I remember the first time I went to the States I got caught out by that. When your not used to having to calculate all the add-on taxes it feels frustrating to try to work out the final price. I prefer our method with the total on the price tag. If you just want to know taxes just minus 10% or when you get the receipt it is on there.

Yes it was frustrating esp when I also realised that the tax wasn't consistent across different states. I eventually got to the point where I decided I wasn't going to spend my time worrying about taxes and things cost what they cost. One of the quirks of holidaying in a different country with a different culture I guess. Ahhhh I miss my travel days, as I'm sure we all do.

13 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The trap is looking at prices with US travel agents. Prices in the US are advertised as the base fare only but port fees and other taxes are added later.

That was one of the things I found frustrating about travelling in the US.  I keep forgetting their pricing is not all inclusive and got caught out by the state and local govt taxes when trying to buy something.

On 8/29/2021 at 2:15 PM, sewgood said:

I did see one as well on the brand new ship Iona and the cabins looked great especially the bathrooms.

The atrium had a hugh glass window several stories high.

I subscribe to Cruise with Ben and David on YouTube and they did a recent review of Iona and it's absolutely gorgeous. I've been following the progress of the Pacific Adventure fitout and while some of the design is not to my personal taste, I'm still looking forward and hoping to sail her in March, though it's looking more and more unlikely with the official cruise pause being extended to 17 Dec. I think as someone who is new to cruising, the very first surprise for me will be the scale of the ship because it's not really something I can picture right now.

Qantas and P&O must have known about this because they both paused international flights and cruises until Dec 17 prior to this being made official today.

Thanks everyone. I generally ignore FB commentary as a rule but it's a good time waster for when I'm bored to see how the other side thinks. I wonder if cruising will become more popular with newbies like me when we come out of the pandemic or if people will always go 'yeah nah, remember Ruby Princess?'

I just remembered another thread about things you don't see on cruise ships anymore.  I can't remember all the things mentioned but I think lobster dinners was one of them. Do you still find them good value even without those additions? Or is it more a case of 'yeah it's still good value, but it was REALLY good value before'.

Our first cruise is booked for March 2022 (hopefully cruises in Australia would resume by then) and I am also addicted to the CC forum and YouTube! Tips for Travellers is my top favourite channel followed by Emma Cruises and Cruise with Ben & David.  I could count on one hand the number of times I have used YouTube prior to booking my first cruise and now it's something I look at on a daily basis 😂

21 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Comparing pricing on my P&O New Year cruise (this coming NY) the price of inside cabins has remained the same if not cheaper but the prices of outside or balconies has increased by about 25%.  I booked around 20 months ago. I don't think it will go ahead and will wait to see what happens in the next month prior to final payment.

 

They do have a deal for the next 2 weeks with double OBC and $1 deposits.  There is a huge gap between insides and others.

We booked the P&O cruise purely because of the $1 deposit. Our next deposit is due to be paid in Oct, I wonder if they will push out the payment date given we don't actually know if the cruise will go ahead.

Anyone here a regular Carnival cruiser? They seem to be really popular with the US market and is consistently one of the cheaper cruise lines I've found, but the reviews I read about the drunken yobs (about 5 pages worth!) became a major turn off for me.

42 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Our benchmark a few years ago to determine if the pricing was OK, was $100 a day twin share for an inside cabin, even if we booked a different category.

Why use the inside cabin as a benchmark if price increase between categories is non linear?

39 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

One rule of thumb not too long ago was $100 a day. Those days are now long gone. I don't know if anyone has done a survey across cruise operators to find cost averages for last, say, five years.

I'm guessing $300-$500/day depending on cabin type.

Maybe it's because I don't know what I don't know but $300-500 per day is still pretty good to me considering a hotel alone would cost $300-40 p/n (Sydney prices) and then you have to factor in food/drinks and the cost of getting to the destination itself. Not to mention other non quantitative costs like time spent travelling/checking in at hotels/packing etc. That's the main reason why cruising has started to appeal to me. I've crunched the numbers in several different ways and cruising still comes out cheaper relatively speaking.

46 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

There is a long forgotten thread about El Cheapo cruise bargains here. It gives you an idea of how cruises were being marketed and discounted before covid.

 

 

Thank you, I've started reading the first couple of pages and it will be interesting to see the price creep over the years. Lots of good tips on there too, I didn't realise you could use a US TA for one.  I usually book all my travel direct with the supplier so using a TA has never really occurred to me much less an overseas based TA. The Celebrity cruise was the very first one I booked and I did jump the gun a bit with that one so there is definitely some learning in there for future bookings.

I did wonder if there was an element of apple vs orange comparison. I don't usually pay attention to commentary on social media but this one in particular got me curious because I have seen similar comments on other threads about increasing prices for the same cruise that has been deferred due to COVID. 

I saw a thread on FB this morning about how cruise prices have doubled and even tripled since the pandemic.  Having only done land travel as an adult, I was pricing our future cruises based on what it would have costed us in flights + hotels + food/drinks and so the cost seem reasonable to us.  But I am curious about what cruises used to cost back in the olden days before COVID was a thing.  You don’t have to post the exact price you paid unless you want to, just a general ballpark is ok. For reference, we’re paying about $2800 for a suite on a 3 night cruise to Moreton Island in March 22 with P&O and I am travelling solo on a 9 night cruise with Celebrity in Feb 23 and paying $4500 for a balcony (I didn't know solo supplement was a thing but it is what it is 🤷‍♀️).

52 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Qantas want to start international flights in November or December, I can't remember which.

 

I think the tourist industry is getting antsy!

Qantas is aiming for Dec 21 in time for Christmas and Virgin has the same target. So much has to happen before we get there though, like getting different countries to recognise each other's digital vaccine certs for a start, setting up/reinstating travel bubbles etc.

56 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

No, it wasn't a paid upgrade. She had booked an obstructed oceanview and got an email overnight advising she had been upgraded to a premium Caribe balcony. A very nice upgrade and totally unexpected!

 

Oh that is a lovely surprise!

57 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

A friend just got an upgrade on a Feb 22 Australian cruise out of Melbourne. 

 

Is this another sign that cruising will commence in December? I can't see them bothering with upgrades if it looked likely the cruise would be cancelled and they must have a fair idea by now of what will be happening in December.

Assuming this is a paid upgrade, the cynic in me thinks it's more a revenue raising exercise than the cruise line actually believing cruises will go ahead this year.