arxcards

There is a storm front that will affect Vila from tomorrow afternoon. That may have something to do with them dropping their visit.

How strange. Yes, the crossing between Brisbane & Noumea is tight. They normally run at an average of 19kn to get there for an afternoon arrival. Dropping Vila as well is puzzling.

I remember the day well. Specifically, tendering from a big tent at Glebe Island. Wow, how 5-star that was. I hope Chez has pics. I might have a couple of strays, but most of my travel photos are sitting on a corrupt hard drive.

Heads or tails. We have had 6 metres, we have had it calm.

The great thing about cruising - do as much or as little as you like.

We had a separate card each. One for spending, and the other pre-loaded into credit for ATM withdrawals. It worked well at the time. Even 10 years ago, their rules were saying you couldn't do this but it was largely ignored, us included. The 3% is a genuine discouragement. We now take local currency and just use the card for purchases. Still, 3% is more than competitive, considering the conversion is done on the official rate.

And Carnival thoughtfully dropped in another ship with ultra cheap fares to make it even tougher for them to fill Quantum.

Yes, I have done the trip. I was being tongue in cheek about the free shuttle, in line with others expectations of BICT. $40 each seems a bit much, so for the two of us I think I will get a cab. Some have suggested a tunnel under the airport to BICT, but I know that is never going to happen.

I would normally get an ice bucket and ice from the cabin steward. Is this no longer an option on P&O?

Yes, it was pretty formal although I thought it was 5 or 6 nights. It was a small slice of a QM2 world cruise, which I think would be still a bit more stiff than an Aussie based cruise on QE. I feel the same as many of the earlier comments Bazza. It was nice to do, but just a bit OTT for a summer cruise holiday. Packing a suit or tux to take on a cruise is very much in the past for me except for a special occasion. All the same, shirt, trousers & tie are easy. As far as formality on QE goes, you can be comfortable with whatever dress standard you prefer.

A large number do not have upfront fees, but do take a % commission from the official rate and convert your spend to a few % lower.

Yes, I recall the name tags. Shame they have to still be so cautious around passengers, but I can understand it.

Just to add, if you have a Princess plus or premier package fare, it is harder to spend OBC at the bars with so much of it included in your fare. Even then, you can still use OBC for bottles of wine or duty free alcohol.

I am happy to pay for a NZ ice cream thickshake. Twice the ice cream, but lower price. People don't seem to grumble much about paying for a milk/thickshake. Maybe that is because they also charge for similar offerings on other brands.

I am not much of a fan of their shows and some of the activities, but there is plenty of trivia.

The only teething problem I can recall at BICT was a delay waiting to get the gangways to align correctly with the ship. We were the first cruise ship to use the facility, and the port operators had a new toy to get used to. There may have been something else, but if so, long forgotten.

Likely cleaning is done in a similar location to where Queen Elizabeth is getting her bumscrape today. The extra time in Auckland and Hobart suggests to me that Azamara Quest is not having that cleaning done, and that is just to alter the itinerary as NZ authorities are prohibiting them from entering the fiords or Bay of Islands.

Bunkum, absolute bunkum. It could possibly mean that you cant use OBC to pre-buy a drinks package prior to boarding, which would be correct. A passenger under18 would also be unable to purchase alcohol with their OBC. Once aboard though, your OBC gets absorbed by anything you purchase - including alcohol, including duty free alcohol too.

Given time, there is sure to be a site devoted to logging successful bids. As to outbidding, if $150 is considered a reasonable bid, bid a number like $156. No guarantees, but you will pip anyone bidding $150. The downside is that these are not silent auctions. If nobody else bids, you still pay your price, not the minimum price.

First a disclaimer. If you aren't going to zero your balance each month or while you are travelling, you are better off using a low frills/low interest credit card. But yes, another happy 28 degrees card holder.

I am not even sure they tell you a cabin number, just which bid was successful. At least those I have bid on for Majestic are all in pretty specific locations. Currently in a mini, and bidding for club class and a couple of the suites.

That is the downside to the auction process. You are bidding for a guarantee cabin, not a specific one. The same has always applied, but for complimentary upgrades of which not all were good.

All 3 of the current P&O Australia ships are ex-Princess. We have been on Explorer 3 times as well as her previous incarnation as Dawn Princess twice. Each cruise on Explorer was chosen for a specific occasion/itinerary. There is a familiarity of the layout compared to Coral Princess, and the cabin furniture hasn't changed. If you want a hamburger for lunch, you will pay for it. If you walk into the buffet, you can have roast whatever and it is inclusive. The only food we pay for on P&O is for specialty dining, and that is no different to the other lines. We can survive without pizza, burgers and ice cream on a cruise.

If you don't have a boarding time yet, you will get what is leftover. You might get benefit from your platinum priority, but not assured with the way the terminals have been handling this lately. If there are delays and numbers waiting to get into the terminal, they are only interested in the group letter. At work, so I don't have time to redo the post. I have linked to another post with screen caps of where to find in the app. PS, click the top heading to go straight to the post (2nd heading goes to the start of the topic).

Not as such. Can be, but more than that. In Melbourne it is taking them way longer to clear the ending cruise than would normally be expected - not a lot of borderforce to go around it seems. Slow disembark = delayed embark.