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Absolutely. I have had many sun cancers removed from my face (and one on my shoulder). It is no joke. The Australian sun will burn you very quickly. Not only use a 50+SPF but keep reapplying regularly, wear a wide brimmed hat and cover up.

This is the one I use and found it to be a very good product

I was thinking the same thing! I don't believe he's over 80!! Where's he hiding the fountain of youth?!🙂 Must be all that cruising!

I think you'll be very happy with it. As hubby is fond of saying 'once you've tried a Byron mini, there's no going back' to which I reply 'Keep working, dear'🤣

And people do cancel ahead of the final payment date. We have friends who recently ended up cancelling four months ahead of the sail date. Definitely worth getting on a wait list and monitoring the site daily in case something comes up.

Thanks so much for the information on MA mini suites and Byron access. I was wondering if MAs got all the perks of an M1 given that the overall cost is cheaper for an MA in our experience. I was fairly certain that the MAs wouldn't have received the soft furnishings make over. The location of the M1s doesn't worry me. We're quite happy with the forward position, tends to be a bit quieter (less foot traffic) and we haven't found that there is more motion (though there probably is) compared to the mid ship position of the MAs. Appreciate your feed back

As a former Northern Beaches girl, I would definitely opt for Manly (sorry, Guy, no 'e'). Plenty to see when you get there and the ferry trip is relaxing. Go for a leisurely stroll up the Corso (pedestrian only shopping road) which leads to beautiful Norfolk Pine fringed beaches. https://sydneyvisitorguide.com.au/manly/

Definitely an M1 mini suite if one is available. (With the MA mini suite, I think you pay an extra surcharge on the base price to gain Byron access? I could be wrong. However MA definitely has access one way or another). Perks with a Byron mini suite give you access to Angelo's for breakfast (restricted to Byron mini suites and full suites), the breakfast menu is really good and the service is great (also not crowded) and there is no surcharge for things like eggs benny. Luke's Bar and Grill is worth every cent. Amazing meals. From memory I paid $58 for three courses (8 months ago) and hubby had two for around $48. Drinks were not included in that price but we had a drinks package. You also get a bottomless fruit basket and nightly canapes with a Byron room (not sure that applies to a 3 day cruise, ours was 7 days). BTW the coffee pods for the Nespresso machine are really good quality. We're not exactly the last of the big time spenders, but I would have an uphill battle getting hubby on a P&O cruise in a category below Byron mini suite. The beach club itself is great and the views are spectacular.

Coincidentally, this just turned up in my in box (prices are for interior cabin)

I suppose it is not all THAT unusual for some older people not to have a drivers licence. My late mother in law never held one. I don't know if it was true or a family joke, but the story went that she just couldn't get the hang of driving no matter how many times people tried to teach her. She did, however, travel extensively overseas, though in her later years her passport had long expired and her health prevented her travelling anyway.

To be honest, we used our passports for ID on our last domestic cruise. Not necessary, but since we have them............................

Come on, Geoff. You're only as old as you feel. 😂 I'm a tad older than you, but have been known to zip across the Lido Deck on P&O on a flying fox! On our last couple of cruises we went with friends in their 30s and had no trouble keeping up with them.😄

That's great news, Bob!

The following is straight off the Carnival website:

You could try emailing:

Australian citizens need only photo ID to cruise domestically. We did 7 days Brisbane to Cairns round trip in June last year and that was the case.

For anyone interested, this is the current Ultimate Romance package For us we probably wouldn't get our money's worth. Hubby is not the champers aficionado (pearls before swine springs to mind 😂), we already get canapes every night from day 2 with a Byron suite, we don't find breakfast in bed romantic (yeah, I know, we have no soul), dinner at Luke's last year was less than $140 for the two of us and a photo portrait of Gatsby night was around $30 from memory. Luke's and the photo were covered by our OBC. We found this more to our liking and pre-ordered it to be delivered to our room upon arrival on embarkation day. It was a really good Sav Blanc, too:

Luke's is awesome!

We feel for them. We were without power for 5 days over Christmas due to the tornado that went through the Gold Coast like a dose of salts!

Totally agree, Geoff. We opted to go to Angelo's for the majority of our evening meals. We even booked a specific table in our favourite waiter's section.

Positive thoughts that they stay safe.

What ship are you on? You can definitely fit cases under the bed on Encounter.

Packages could be bought on board on a cruise we took in 2018. However, I think P&O have now changed the policy and packages must be bought in advance. Perhaps you should contact P&O and ask for clarification in your son's case as it's a bit of a grey area. Also, consider how much alcohol he is likely to drink. It may work out cheaper if he just pays as he goes. Average cocktail is $16 and I think beer is about $8-10. Premium drinks package is $99 per day. I've just had a look on the P&O website: Beverage packages can only be purchased pre-cruise and are not available onboard.

Me too, obviously🙂

🤣 I thought you were counting the hours! I've got 327 days to go........................