Fletch1

13 hours ago, portcbob said:

Who are they????????

Cover More are an insurance company. I was referred tothem by Travel Insurance Direct a few years ago, who would no longer insure me for my pre existing condition. TID insured me for everything except my PEC, which Cover-More picked up. What Cover More charged me was just as much as what TID charged me for my normal travel insurance.....very expensive. 

I now go with 1Cover, who have been great. They have paid out for me on 4-5 occasions when I have made a claim. Very happy with them. 

I have found Cover-More to be quite expensive in the past.....at least for my pre existing conditions. I went with them one year, and then found other companies to be much cheaper for the same cover. 

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We had a cabin changed by Princess years ago, well before Covid. I only noticed by checking the personalizer. We were not notified. Princess claimed they notified our TA, but he says he never got the notification. Our TA tried to get the original cabin back, but they said it was too late and they had already sold it to someone else. He did get us a similar cabin instead of the one that Princess had moved us to that would have been in a noisy area.

Same thing happened to me a few years ago.....a bloody nuisance as we picked our cabin specifically. 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

I was on the Majestic last week and realized that my lattes at the International Cafe weren't being charged to my account, which I assume was to save the time and hassle of inputting each purchase. I didn't have Princess Plus, since I had enough military/shareholder OBC to cover my needs. When I went to do laundry, I also found piles of tokens for laundry and detergent, so packing enough clothes for 4 days worked out. I also saw in the ports that they weren't confiscating alcohol, a guy in front of me showing his bottle of tequila but just waved through. So that might influence those who are trying to decide about Princess Plus, or Elites who might choose coffee cards instead of minibar drinks. 

That sounds like my sort of ship!....let's hope it stays that way. 

Good review....thanks for posting. Interesting reading. 

At the moment, isn't cruising in Australia suspended until the end of September 2021? Or has there been a more recent amendment date. 

If this is the case, and cruising does kick start in Australia before Christmas 21, we could still get a few months in. 

15 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

No…only this benefit: 50% off MedallionNet package.

 

For me this is not a benefit but a downgrade in Captain’s Circle benefits. Eliminating free minutes to require everyone to pay for internet usage is a downgrade for me. I recall your sharing the new benefits they promoted to TAs…that was false news.

 

While requiring everyone to pay for internet increases their income the change to priority boarding does not. Based on their statements it’s not necessary because everyone can chose their Arrival Group. Currently there is no procedure to allow Platinum/Elite passengers to get first choice & if that’s early boarding it might not be available when noticing we can make an Arrival Group booking. Priority boarding has no cash incentive & only generates goodwill towards their most loyal passengers which currently is gone.

I agree.

4 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

I just clicked on that FB page & it opened the webinar.

 

Here’s another link to their VP of Sales FB page & maybe that’ll work for you. 🤞

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1937949749686380&id=607462672735101&__tn__=*s*s-R

 

Love your work Astro Flyer....

As mentioned in Cruise Passenger......

Cruise and Maritime Voyages, the traditional British cruise line which folded during COVID, has auctioned off its five ships. And one even sold for $1.7 million – around the price of an inner Sydney house.

The vessels were sold for between $1.7 and $10.1 million and are either being held by private companies or meeting their watery endings at scrap yards.

Here is a list of where they ended up:

Vasco Da Gama

Built in 1992, Vasco Da Gama was the most expensive sell in the CMV fleet. Sailing off to Mystic Invest, a family-owned financial holding for just over $10 million. The 28-year-old ship was initially built to sail with Holland America Line as Statendam, which is where she stayed until 2015.

The ship was then transferred to P&O where she was named Pacific Eden by Kate Ritchie sailed Australian voyages around the Australian coast until 2019.

In 2019, she was moved under the CMV umbrella and be renamed Vasco Da Gama, ready to be operated for TransOcean brand in the German market.

Columbus

Marios Iliopolous of Seajets, a Greek fast ferry company has snapped up Columbus from CMV for $5.3 million. While he has not openly shared his plans for the ship, the businessman seems to be collecting cruise ships for re-sale.

Columbus was originally ordered by Sitmar Cruises as the Fair Majesty but while still under construction, Sitmar was purchased by Princess Cruises and the ship was renamed the Star Princess. She sailed for almost 10 years with Princess before being transferred to P&O UK as the Arcadia in 1997. She then spent 20 years cruising with both Ocean Village, a former brand of Carnival Corporation, and P&O Australia before joining CMV as Columbus in 2017.

Astor

Heartbreakingly, all 20,704 tonnes of 1987 built Astor is currently en route to the ship scrap yards of Aliaga, Turkey. The 650-passenger ship sold for $1.7 million, the least in the fleet.

Astor, built to offer five-star luxury to the UK market held her name for most of her 33 years of service. There was a brief period where she was bought by Soviet owners and became Fedor Dostoyevskiy. However, after years of sailing chartered European tours, the ship was acquired by TransOcean tours and once again named Astor.

Magellan

The 35-year-old Magellan has also been added to the growing Seajets collection. The 1452 passenger ship was sold to Mr Iliopolous for $3.4 million. In service since 1985, the Magellan was originally built for Carnival Cruise Line as the Carnival Holiday.

Following a major refit in 2009, the ship was transferred to IberoCruceros to sail in the Spanish market as the Grand Holiday. With the collapse of the Ibero brand in 2014 the ship was sold to CMV.

Marco Polo

At 55, Marco Polo is the oldest ship in the CMV fleet and sold for $2.7 million and is projected to be scrapped.

Not always a cruise ship,  Marco Polo was built as an ocean liner in 1965 as the Aleksandr Pushkin for the Leningrad/Montreal route. Sailing this route until the 1970s, the ship started to sail as a cruise ship under charter agreements. In 1991, she was sold to Orient Lines and renamed Marco Polo. In Greece, the vessel was rebuilt as a true cruise ship and continued to sail until earlier this year.

Thanks again Petra for taking us along on this cruise with you. Glad you had the opportunity to experience an aft balcony cabin. 

I look forward to your next adventure...........

58 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

It did wonders for the share price though.  🤑

Yes....Carnival up 39% in one day! 

Thanks Petra......appreciate you re posting the photos. 

That is very interesting about the "live" from the bridge........I have never heard of anything like that on any cruise line. Something so easy to do would be so interesting to tune into. I would be captivating.....for me anyway. I would love to see that. We have toured the bridge of a few ships, but only when the ship is in port. It would be great to see how it all works on departures. 

Thanks again........ 

Thanks again Petra. I couldn't open the photos either, but your description of the tour sounds just great. 

Thanks Petra.......enjoying this "Live" as well. 

That tour in Sardinia sounds wonderful. Thanks for posting. 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise. 

Five excursions for 99 euro sounds good value to me. Are they all walking tours for that price and how long are the tours, time wise? 

Thanks again Petra. I followed your last cruise on the MSC Grandiosa, so looking forward to this one as well. 

Enjoy your cruise!

Does this mean there are no more stops at Akaroa?

I have nothing booked at this stage. Prefer to sit back and see how it all goes when cruising does recommence. 

We have done one cruise on her in 2013 around the islands from Sydney. Nice memories. 

That is amazing.....thanks for posting. 

Yes, it was very negative against the cruise industry. 

I agree. I think if a prospective first time cruiser watched it they would be definitely be turned off cruising. 

It was alarming the reported amount of serious crime which occurs on board goes un-investigated properly.....

But it finished on a positive note with past passengers, including one passenger who had contracted covid-19 on board, saying they would definitely cruise again. 

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

Not in Hawaii - actually not in USA. It is in the Southern Hemisphere.

It looks familiar but I can't recall exactly where I have visited it. All I can remember is was it was a war memorial and it was bloody hot.....very hot and humid. 

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

Not in Hawaii - actually not in USA. It is in the Southern Hemisphere.

Fiji? 

20 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Here is my next picture.

A war Memorial in Hawaii??.....can't remember the exact name.