2022cruisey

Are you using a phone plan in the ports?  I’m also unsure about whether to take any currency for Lifou or Noumea, could you please say what you have done?  
We are planning to go the cultural centre and aquarium, using the hop on hop off bus where possible.  Might just use my credit card and pay the international transaction fees as I can’t find any reasonably priced travel card that has Pacific francs on it.

Thank you for posting this.  We are going on the same cruise next month so I am grateful for the time you are putting into this review.

Maybe Melbourne doesn’t provide incentives to ships or has high port charges.   

The online sellers are supposed to advise you that they will be processing your transaction overseas.  Unless the shop tells you that, they would not be doing the right thing.

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/1651FAC_FX busines guide Disclosure D02.pdf

Is it legal for them to charge an international transaction in Australia?  
I was thinking about using them in June but now will look at other options.

eta it could constitute misleading and deceptive conduct, according to the ACCC.  Websites with .com.au have got into trouble for it, so it would follow that a physical shop in Sydney would get in trouble for charging international transactions.

With the various commissions and taxes, are they mentioned on menus or anywhere so that you can do an approximation of the total cost?
The Aussie dollar is weak against the US so having an idea of what I am paying for a meal before choosing it is very helpful.

This is the page for cruise passengers.

https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/plan-a-trip/visiting-adelaide

There is a deep sadness in Moonee Ponds today, particularly around Everage Street.

2 hours ago, Normanville said:

Adelaide public travel is FREE for anyone with an Australian seniors card all day, 7 days a week. Train, bus and tram. For overseas travelers it is $11.20 for an all day pass available on the train on credit card.

We paid $10 per adult for a special cruise ship passenger ticket which provides public transport all day. It was free for my 14 yo and 73 yo mum, $5 for my 17yo.

We were on the Grand in January and will be again next January.  Didn’t have any problems in our mini suite, which is one of those affected now.  Really like the Grand and Coral.

We flew to Brisbane last year in June for a Queensland cruise to get out of Melbourne for warmer weather.  This June we are flying to Sydney for a Pacific islands cruise for warmer weather.  There is a lot of demand from southerners for cruises.  
We went to South Australia in January for a short cruise from Melbourne and next January will go to NZ from Melbourne.  
Will look for warm cruises each winter - would love PNG, Darwin, Indonesia during school holiday times from Brisbane or Sydney.  In summer I would prefer more choices from Melbourne.

We got really annoyed at a waiter that was obviously buttering up another table to give them a 10.  They were neglecting our orders and table to over serve the other table.  We wrote this feedback on our survey.  

Crew are not kids or pets.  Don’t give them unasked for presents.  If you want to give them anything, give them money.

Flights to and from Melbourne and accommodation are very hard to get over the Melbourne Cup week.  It is also hard to get accommodation around Victoria as lots of people have an extended weekend.

We were there in January and hired a car.  It is a big island and driving distances takes longer than you think it should.  We went to American Bay, Kingscote, Emu Bay and Seal Bay.  That took us over our 200km limit and took from 10 to 5.30, stopping for lunch by the beach in Kingscote and exploring the first landing area, going to the lavender farm, spending a little time in the water at Emu Bay and spending about an hour at Seal Bay.  
It was much cheaper for the four of us than paying for the Princess excursions.

We won Elite status on our first cruise at the first time cruiser gathering.  
It only lasts for that cruise and was great.  Free laundry was the best perk.

Thank you for sharing this.  I have always bought travel insurance but in my last few trips relied on the cc insurance (ANZ FF Black).  It now has domestic travel insurance included too so that’s a bonus.  Haven’t yet made a claim so reassured by your experience.

I’ve been on Princess recently with similar aged teens.  They have loved it and found plenty to do.  But it does not have water slides or any of the fancy activities.  Need to be 18 to use the gym but my 15yo did use it with her grandma.  Loved princess drink package for the eldest.  Cost very little for drinks for the youngest.  We had a mini suite and there was enough room for four of us.  In a balcony it would have been a bit cramped.They didn’t do any kids club activities.  Loved getting food at any time all over the ship for free.

We’ve cruised twice with masks now - on Coral last year and less than a month ago on Grand.  It is a small thing to do to keep us safe.  Happy to continue so we don’t get sick.  Next cruise is on Splendour and it will be interesting to see the difference.

Mask compliance was great both cruises and there was little evidence of spread.

Just got off the Grand - was in a mini on Dolphin deck. No night lights.

Please don’t tip.  It just makes it awkward for everyone involved, except you.  

Great idea.  When we left Coral in June at 9am the taxi queue was a mile long.  Our flight wasn’t until 8pm.  In the taxi line I decided that I couldn’t be bothered getting a taxi in and finding somewhere to leave our luggage then picking it up and getting back out to the airport.  So I rang the airport hotels and got a day room.

My preference is for a city cat to Portside or city, somewhere to leave luggage then we could spend the day out and about in Brisbane.

If you don’t do the reef, the crocodile cruise at Airlie is wonderful.

The Princess one is four hours and doesn’t say anything about any other inclusions.

Checked out the cost of train journey - $299 per person on Princess excursions for our 2024 tour.  That is $897 for the three of us - absolutely ridiculous.  We have been on trains all around the world and nothing has charged that much for a four hour scenic rail trip.