Austinite by birth

I fly out today!! See you on the ship on Sunday!!

Went to review my excursions and was surprised to see that "SKYRAIL, KURANDA VILLAGE AND SCENIC TRAIN" in Cairnes, had been deleted from my cruise!! It is no longer offered. I was able to re-sign up for basically the same with the deletion of the "train" part. When I went to pay for the replacement, I had a credit...which covered the replacement excursion. Glad I looked... I would have been very surprised if I hadn't. I suppose it has something to do with timing.

I signed up for the Steak House restaurant on day 1. I figured since I am a single/solo I will meet at least a couple of friendly faces at the dinner that I might see later on the cruise. This is going to be great!! I have read that the ship itself is not remarkable, but that is not why I am going. I am going for the adventure!! Really hope to meet up!!

Can't believe that we are a week+ away from this and so little chats!!! Would LOVE to hear from more people on this.... the ship is HUGE and so little chatter! Would love to know that more people are as excited as I am...........

I probably shouldn't do this, but I am booked in room 7391. I am also signed up for the steakhouse on the first night..Jan 7..... since I am a single, I am hoping to meet a couple of people I can connect with at the dinner.... join me if you would like. Otherwise, lets meet for a cocktail either before or after. I am assuming that there will be phones in the room.

Anyone else decide on excursions?? I am really excited about this cruise, seeing others traveling from the USA and meeting a bunch of Aussies and others.

look up this link: Great Barrier Reef Luminosa January 7, 2024

I am arriving in Brisbane at 9:55am January 6th. I am staying in downtown: Royal Albert Hotel. I wanted to see a little of Brisbane prior to the cruise. I debated staying close to the pier, but decided to stay downtown. The Royal Albert is about a 10 minute; 4-5 block walk from the central train station. Also, I will be leaving Brisbane for NZ at 11:10am on the day we disembark...so no time to see the city at all... hope I can get off and to the airport in time! Yikes. I am from Austin, Texas so no problem with snow here!

there is another link on this trip..... look it up!

I am also booked on this cruise and coming from the USA. I am traveling as a solo since my husband passed in July. This will be the first trip I have taken as a single so I am a bit nervous. I am arriving in Brisbane a day early to try to acclimate... hope it works. My excursions: Ocean Rafting, Skyrail Village and Train, and then GREAT BARRIER REEF snorkling... it is also on my bucket list. Here is hoping for a wonder cruise. Then I am going over to New Zealand for 12 weeks (Gate 1) land tour. Keep in touch and we can have a drink together!

Hello! I am also on this cruise solo. I live in Austin Texas and will be arriving 1 day prior to the cruise. After the cruise, I am flying over to New Zealand for a land tour. Have you booked excursions? I have mine booked and wonder if they are good excursions. Looking forward to meeting you!

Same here!!

All of us on summer trip got the same notification on your portfolio page. At least we all know that our trips are cancelled so we can start making other plans. Be positive and pray that they company is able to honor the options they gave us.

Wow!!!

Been to S Africa... our friends are going on a Gate 1 tour (not sure when), and they really like Gate 1. I recommend a safari with Inyati in the Sabi Sands... we have been on a safari in Tansania and Kenya-- savannah-- the Sabi Sands is wooded, so a complete different look. This is upsetting... sorry!!

How do you know that the Odyssey is empty? We are booked on Odyssey in July and again in September. The July sailing still doesn't have flights which makes me very nervous. This makes me very sad because I have had several wonderful vacations on Vantage cruises. So sad that this might be happening.

HALLELUJAH!!! Finally!! Hope it all goes well for the Ocean Odyssey and Vantage!!

kitmrandall@gmail.com...... would love to tell you what a wonderful trip you will have.

I guess you missed it! Our cruise was cancelled/postponed. We were suppose to be going Copenhagen-Edinburgh Aug 23-Sept 6..... the rebooked us for Copenhagen to London June ? 2023.... but we declined that trip. We have been to all of those places and were looking for more adventure. They moved us to "Passage to the Amazon:Nassau to Manaus" Sept 18 2023-Oct 12 2023. Looks great and it should be lots of adventure. I feel for Vantage.... covid has been awful for them, between cancelled sailings to dealing with trying to get a new ship built in China.... what a nightmare!! So instead of just staying at home and crying, we kept our flights to and from Europe, found another cruise (MSC for a week, Copenhagen to Copenhagen), and will fill the rest of our trip on our own in Copenhagen and Edinburgh. Not what I had planned, but it will still be an adventure!! Good luck to everyone on all their future voyages!!

We are in cabin 624... will let you know how it goes

Did this November 2021. It was WONDERFUL!! We were in there 21 years ago... lots have changed, but a LOT is the same--since most interesting things are 4000 years ago!! We went 1 day early, hired a private guide because we wanted to see more of Islamic Cairo and the bazaar-- which are NOT included on your Vantage tour. Our guide was Mohamed Anwar Eissa.... he was FANTASTIC!! Hopefully the Grand Egyptian Museum will be complete and open when you go. You will be amazed by EVERYTHING you see. We also had the ship make us reservations at the Old Cataract Hotel (where Death on the Nile was written) for high tea. You might be interested in doing that. If you want to contact me about directly, feel free: kitmrandall@gmail.com.

Well all looks good on our trip 8/22! yea!!! The Ocean Odyssey is moving toward Copenhagen! We have our travel documents in our Portfolio! We booked our own flights and so far they haven't changed. Glad to be flying into LHR directly from AUS (British airways), then into Copenhagen. No flights thru Amsterdam which looks like sh*tshow! I am aware that since this is the first sailing, there will likely be problems, but we will face that when it comes. So, looking forward to going!! Wish us luck!

I am SURE it will be ready by February! We are booked to travel on August 22, 2022! I have been looking at a website: cruisemapper.com. and for months it said that the ship was in the dockyard and the location was reported "45 minutes ago" , "6 minutes ago", " 1 hour ago".....etc. NOW it says that the location (same dockyard outside of Shanghai) was reported "5 days ago". I am hoping (🤞) that means that it is on it's way to Copenhagen. When I speak to Vantage they say the cruise is on!!!!! Again- fingers crossed! Have you traveled with Vantage before?? I know they have had a lot of difficulties since the pandemic, but we LOVE Vantage and have had nothing but good trips with them. Ever think of going to Egypt??? If you do, go with Vantage, they do an excellent job with that trip!!

We were also scheduled to be on Jewels of Scandinavia in August... and it was cancelled.. and our cruise moved to 2024. We phoned Vantage and had it moved to a larger cabin on the 2023 ( it was moved to 2024 because our original cabin was unavailable 2023). To complicate the issue, we were on back-to-back cruises. The 1st cruise "Jewels of Scandinavia"-- cancelled, but the 2nd cruise "British Isles and Scandinavian Jewels" is still on! I have been in a bit of a panic, since the reason for the cancellation was the ship wasn't ready.....BUT it will be ready 2 weeks later?? Not so sure, but I have looked at www.Cruisemapper and it looks like the Ocean Odyssey has left the ship dockyard in Shanghai....FINGERS CROSSED! They tell me that we will be on the "inaugural voyage". Hope it makes it and that everything works. I have been on 6 Vantage Cruises and 4 Viking... Vantage offers better excursions at no additional cost, where Viking excursions seem a bit expensive... but sometimes you get what you pay for! Lets be patient with the tourist industry, they have been hit extremely hard by covid.