Kristelle

Absolutely. Pack 8 pairs of shoes, or whatever you like. But OP does have a weight/space limit and did ask for help on this - so pack a s many as yo u want probably won't work for her.

I normally wouldnt quote a post that I a m directly responding to - but changing post order means conversations will be all muddled up.🥴 We are showing appreciation - they asked for feedback so we are giving it. I will not be voting for any posts. and Cruises with Amazing Scenery seems to me an example of a totally subjective topic with no possible best answer. I see it also now has no votes - so I dont think any answer was ever voted as best - it just had temporary votes, now withdrawn, by someone testing the system, not actually choosing a best answer

Something like Does Singapore Airlines fly to Cambodia? - has a correct answer. Objectively it either does or doesn't. But most threads asking those sort of questions get answered quickly and there is no need for discussion (and mostly person could of found out for themselves without CC anyway) any discussion will have opinions, preferences, pro's/cons etc - there isnt a correct answer

voting is silly and childish IMO People can like a post already. and it isnt a popularity contest anyway.

Shoes are heavy and take up space - 8 pairs is going to take space/weight from other IMO more important items taking out 1 pair of flip-flops wont save much - they are the ones light and easy to pack. I think you really need to decide on one of each (ie one wedge, 1 formal shoe etc) and that cuts the list in half. 3 pairs packed in your suitcase and 1 on your feet.

yes - if one wanted to enter or return t o Australia from a yellow fever country and not quarantine one would have to have documentation of yellow fever vaccine. It isnt a recomendation, it is a requirement. But my point really is just that one has to check the requirements of any vaccine before travelling,this isnt just a Covid thing. regardless of statements by WHO about whatever - the requirements of where you are going is what matters

Yellow fever is a bit different - it is an actual requirement not just a recomendation. At least it is for Australia - not to come here and not even to go to affected countries. But if you want to return to Australia from them without quarantining, then it is.

So do you go into the War Memorial where the trials took place? That was good and includes a short film ( ,maybe 20 minutes) of actual footage from the trials

given that the dressy occasions are beginning and end of trip - ie Welcome and Farewell dinners - nobody will probably even remember which dress you wore first time round, let alone care. On Europe river cruise I did not take a dress - but I had one evening sparkly top which I wore with black pants and wore to both. (obviously cooler weather conditions than SE Asia) ) did not even wash it in between since had only worn it for few hours sitting down in air conditioned dining room For Mekong I intend to take one semi dressy mid length dress, the type I would wear out to dinner at home but not to a wedding - it is easy wash non iron material so if neccesary will wash and hang up for 2nd occasion.

sorry, didnt realise that was a banned word - hope you can tell what I mean from context.

leaving aside the cost since you said both are about the same anyway - I would vote for Historic Nuremburg if it is the one that includes the *** rally site and war trials musuem That was really interesting and was different to anything else - I found general history/city walking tours can get a bit 'more of the same' and good to look for tours with something different. Will also add a plug for Hospital in the Rock when you are in Budapest rather than general city tour - same reason

be that as it may - what one needs to know for travelling is requirements, recomendations etc in relation to a disease in the country one is going to. Not just Covid of course - but also countries for which one is required to have, say, Yellow fever vaccine or recomended to have Hep A vaccine. (not Australia)

My bold yes, exactly. that's what us Aussies and NZ'ers keep saying - please don't routinely tip. We don't want it creeping in here. Not for average tours, not even for really good tours If some absolutely extraordinary event occurs, somebody goes really out of their way for you, like you described and you really want to - but then and only then.

Thread is a year old, I'm sure OP's trip has been taken by now. Information about not tipping and separate currencies and card surcharges still the same though.

We are booked on similar trip in Jan 2025. On land in Cambodia 3 nights then 7 nights on Mekong River and fly home from HCMC I have been to Vietnam before on land trip, in 2017. We are also on Scenic - my understanding of Scenic Spirit, their Mekong river ship, is that there is a free self serve laundry on board. Also Scenic Spirit has a pool so bring swimwear for that. Everything I read says dress casual, same as we did on Scenic Europe river cruise. Itinerary has one or two nights where in Scenic literature words " you might like to dress up a bit" I will be interpreting this as capris and dressy tops or a summer sundress Do be aware of need for coverage in temples though. This includes Angkor Watt. So make sure your casual summer clothes do include below knee length pants or skirts and shoulder coverage tops.

I live in Australia Covid is still prevalent here - to my knowledge no places ( except health care occupations but that obviously wont affect you) require proof of flu or Covid vaccination any more. A very limited number of places may require masks and/ or RATS - some hospitals and Aged Care facilities Also unlikely to affect you.

I dont think so. We were in Airlie Beach in 2022 (not on a cruise) and it wasnt there then. I rang the company that does the Aquaduck in Brisbane and Gold Coast and they said the Airlie Beach one was no longer running.

We were so lucky with the weather in September - ranged from low 20's to low 30's celcius for the whole 3 weeks we were in UK/ Europe.

I would call the dress code more relaxed, or informal, than business casual. Some people dressed as you described but also people wore shorts ,casual sundresses, tee shirts - and, as you mentioned, jeans. (of course the weather also played into that)

Canal archive's post above is how our Europe Scenic river cruise went too. There was no separate restaurant for dinner - but there was a special table which higher level passengers went to 10 or 12 of them per night I think, - so nobody ate separately every night , most of them ate with rest of us most nights and there was an invitation for all passengers once per cruise to a special dinner in separate section behind main restaurant. People dressed up a bit more when invited to that.

I once did the minutes of a staff meeting and accidentally typed a sentence up as " Afternoon staff need to make sure all external doors are licked" Since there was no spelling error and the sentence was grammatically correct - neither my spell checker nor my grammar checker picked it up. 🙃🤪

None of the replies seemed snarky to me. 🤔 Anyway I would say tie dye tee shirts would be fine for maybe all but the few dressier events - the captain's gala dinner,and if you go out to an off board event in the evening. If you want to wear tie dye tee shirts most of the time, I would just take one dressier outfit to wear on the other few occasions - not full formal but dressy top and long pants sort of thing.

You will also get several hits by searching for 'dress code' or similar - several threads and discussions within threads, on such, have posted in them myself My own experience with a river cruise - the dress standard was neat casual. There were a couple of dressier dinners and events - most people dressed up a bit for them but still not formal wear.

Scenic river cruises (and Wendy Wu land trips I have been on in Vietnam and China, booked in Australia) have gratuities included in the price. You are not expected to tip anyone on the ship or the excursions and I did not see or hear of anyone doing so. Scenic's own literature says "all inclusive, leave your wallet at home" - I doubt anyone takes that absolutely literally but you certainly were not expected to do any tipping or paying extra to them on the trip.

I think that is the key. If a tip is expected in the place you are touring do it. Don't do it in places with a non tipping culture. and poster not native to NZ who said tipping is encouraged there - not my experience or the experience of the many people I know who have travelled there. I would take the poster from NZ to be the one who knows what it is like there.