arxcards

And Majestic Princess a couple of months back. It is amazing to watch people lower their mask to start coughing. Sadly, it takes passengers to speak-up, as the crew are way too polite to say anything.

Sealed packs, no problems. Declare them on your arrivals card.

That is true. It was a slightly different itinerary that made HAL attractive in the first place, so that point of difference is no longer there. While we don't have the appetite for anything grand in the next 18 months, when we do, the Princess free laundry will win out for distant cruising if all else is nearly equal.

She returned to Sydney as tier 1 on Saturday. If QE had indeed reached tier 2, all passengers would have received an official letter to cabin advising of elevated covid aboard. I presume no mention of this letter means that the announcements aboard were accurate - a few cases aboard.

I figured the News Corp rags would also have a bit on this. Interesting headline Welcome to Bris-bin? Push to upgrade ‘derelict’ zone around city’s $177m tourist magnet. The story is behind a paywall, so I am not bothered to link it

Sky News has found a story here. I don't know how widely it has been circulating via other news outlets. Port land is bound to be industrial. Much of the peninsula is low lying and flood prone, and QLD government can't revitalise private land holdings. A sewage plant is not a fun park.

The doubt is for the following year in the 24/25 season (Feb/Mar 2025) as port bookings have been removed.

I would agree. Their "smaller" ship normally does a cruise around OZ/NZ split in Fremantle. A few months back, there was definitely bookings in place around Australia for one of these in 24/25. Even if they were changing the ship, they would surely keep a booking as a place marker. Until the new itineraries are announced, it looks like their smaller ship is in doubt.

As above. Also a possible difference in exchange rates in the time between paying deposit and final payment. It can work either was though. Paying by credit card, also check what charges your bank will take in fees and/or margin between their conversion rate and the official midpoint.

Nor Fremantle or Darwin. Vision of the Seas is what is listed for Sydney that season, and is still missing from there between 14th Feb & 20th March which is the usual timing of the around OZ/NZ cruise. The plot thickens.

Rather than neglect, I just wonder if in current times if there was anyone qualified to do these marine inspections for a period of time - until recently. Lots of ships that were on hiatus for 18 months had their scheduled drydocks pushed into the future, and are overdue for a new anti-fouling coating on their hull. A rolling stone gathers no moss - so many ships didn't move much for 18 months leading to issues of marine fouling that wouldn't normally occur.

The salmon mousse is a bit waxy?

That is what attracted us to our first HAL cruise - a Fiji cruise for New Years. HAL in themselves are also repetitive, and have almost identical itineraries year to year. Now when I look at the itineraries, nothing stands out until we want to do Fiji again. The last minute addition of Westerdam did change it up a bit this year, but that was a plan B for them when Asia was still largely closed.

Another caramel pot 😃 That version is how it looked on Majestic.

Just checked the lasted maps, and it doesn't look too bad. Might get a bit bumpy (3 metres) for a while on Monday arvo through to the wee hours of Tuesday, with the seas abating after that. All in all, not bad timing. Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you. I don't know what I was thinking. 😂

At least they are changing it up. Majestic has been using Aussie towns/cities instead of wildlife. Their pronunciation of some of them has been the highlight of the day.

Carnival Corp can't afford to lose more cruisers. HAL has a niche that I am starting to grow into as I get older. Yes, I have been happy to do I-fly and dodgems on Ovation, but it isn't a highlight. A good itinerary, comfortable cabin, good food & drink, quiet time with the missus, a nice view of the ocean and anything else is a bonus. I get the difference between the lines and wouldn't be booking HAL for an active fun-filled cruise. However, food is supposed to be a virtue on their ships, and they become far less appealing to us if they are coming up short there.

Reading passenger comments, there has been a general slip of service standards across most lines. Like it is in our cities, the service sector has been shaken-up considerably. I have become friends with quite a few ship staff over the years, and some of those have moved on to other things instead of returning to sea. Good, experienced staff are hard to find anywhere, but I hope in time that it returns to the standards of the past, and the current level doesn't become the new norm.

There are lots of Aussies on cruises around the world. As a group, we give as much as we get - and then some.

A bit of guacamole on the side would be a plus.

Thanks. HAL has slipped a bit in my eyes after reading your review. Amazing era that we now think of ships like Noordam as small ships.

The difference between old and new is pretty clear. The old packages will have the increased caps for departures from 20th February. I have just done a dummy upgrade to our next two on Majestic, the first is booked with Plus and the 2nd is booked with Premier. They have red text at the bottom saying the items listed as "NEW" are not part of the existing packages. They can tell the difference between old and new, as our plus package is now a plus 50 package, and our premier package is now a premier 75/85 package. The red text may be a bit hard to read - "New" items are not included in your current package. Please contact us or your travel agent to make changes to your package. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope it is all seamless, as that is the main reason we get that package anyway - knowing what we will get without checking our balance on the folio each day. Freshly squeezed orange juice was on the plus package but was taken off some months back, even for those that had already paid for the inclusion.

It was in fantastic condition in 2014. Keep an eye on this live thread.