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Everything posted by arxcards
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New Caledonia Conflict - I'm Clueless
arxcards replied to JJK2008's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Enough bad news circulating without searching out more of it. I am happy to stick to viewing bad news on a need-to-know basis. Much more fun searching for new McMop memes today. -
There are known issues with sending emails to Bigpond addresses. This has been going on to some degree for over 6 months. It is complicated, but in short, Bigpond is rejecting the emails with their SPAM settings.on their servers. Cunard can adjust their settings to overcome this, if they choose to. Otherwise, just use a hotmail or gmail address for your Cunard emails.
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New Caledonia Conflict - I'm Clueless
arxcards replied to JJK2008's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Plenty of news here on the Oz brothers and their US friend. Another cautionary tale. When we were last in San Diego, it was a day-to-day proposition on whether it was safe to cross the border and go to Tijuana. Travel can come with plenty of adventure, not always positive. -
New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Some of the cruise lines run a "cheapish" bus shuttle around to a beach just a few km away. Kudos also to those who market the alternate names for Inyeug and West Molle Islands. -
New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Often ends in tears. -
New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
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New Caledonia Conflict - I'm Clueless
arxcards replied to JJK2008's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Thanks. Haiti is a bit far away. I was aware of Labadee being dropped from schedules due to unrest, but nothing more than that. I guess if I was planning to be on a cruise there that I might have sought more detail. Lots more ships have been getting back to cruising to Mexico. I guess that will be next. -
New Caledonia Conflict - I'm Clueless
arxcards replied to JJK2008's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
It has been in our news cycle, but also much has been unreported until we sent some planes to repatriate Australian citizens. The world is going mad it seems. The New Caledonia issue has flared over the past two weeks, but there has been an underlying issue for decades. Taking New Caledonia out of our cruise scheduled drops 4 ports, although two of those have been closed since covid anyway. We can handle having Fiji & Vanuatu ports and still getting a decent South Pacific cruise, but when the summer season starts, there will be more ships than ports. Anyway, I don't know if you have caught up on the topic here -
Australian Passport Price Increase
arxcards replied to Wanderers2's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Waking up crying in the middle of the night is bad enough, buy the nappy rash is a killer. -
Now for something completely different
arxcards replied to Blackduck59's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Especially if still going to Airds of Lochinvar to shop for an Akubra. -
If you are entitled to a priority disembarkation, it will help. Otherwise, you will need to cart your own luggage from ship to shore. The plus is that there should be no onerous protocols that will delay the ship from being cleared by Australian & local authorities. Your cruise originates in Australia, so it is easier to get a tick from authorities when you return to disembark. As long as nothing delays you into port, you can make it to Sydney Airport by 8am. On most days, it will be easy enough. There is a risk, and probably/mostly/usually is never 100%
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Invisible Bed Bugs?!
arxcards replied to Mycruiseobsession's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Important to note. What you consider to be P&O groups on social media are mostly unlinked to P&O Australia. Most of those passenger groups are fan clubs, of which there are several that will defend any negativity against their favourite ship or cruise line. P&O has just one official account, and they do not personally attack anyone. OK, they do have pretty lame responses on their account, and defer you to DM them. They are also unlikely to moderate personal attacks made by others. Your personal experience fits one of the reasons why I am not a member of any of the dozens of those groups. -
Australian Passport Price Increase
arxcards replied to Wanderers2's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
I believe that would be true. It would be easier if you could walk on water, but for a traveller it would mean you would be traveling in a foreign country with an expired passport. You could be living overseas as a resident, but still an Australian citizen with an expired passport. I would expect some level of paperwork would be needed to hitch a lift home. Early 2026 for us, and likely another price rise between now & then -
Price. Penthouse suites were Penthose suites on Dawn Princess, aft facing. The SA suites were originally graded as aft facing mini suites on Dawn Princess, but Princess re-graded them to base level suites sometime around 2010. The difference is the Penthouse suites are just a bit bigger. Both have much the same amenities. We have cruised in an aft corner (SA) on Pac Explorer a couple of times. Nice layout and plenty of space, and I couldn't see any value in the price jump to a Penthouse suite. P&O tend to price the Pacific Explorer suites up a bit, as there are so few of them. Normally, they sell out pretty quick too.
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Australian Passport Price Increase
arxcards replied to Wanderers2's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
That is true. You can return into Australia on the day your passport expires, providing that the carrier (air or sea) will allow you to board their plane/ship. Countries require you to have enough time left on your passport in case of pretty much any kind of emergency. Cruise lines are in the same boat, somewhat. They also don't want to risk being denied entry to a port because there is someone aboard with an expired passport. -
Invisible Bed Bugs?!
arxcards replied to Mycruiseobsession's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
On this thread, the mention of these being invisible bed bugs was due to P&O's denial of their existence. If anything, those jibes are largely directed at P&O. Within this cruise forum, we are mostly rusted-on cruisers. We will pull apart any cruise news and have an opinion on it. I haven't read discussions in other locations, so thanks for the extra details. I see your side and support your stance. Good luck!- 116 replies
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A little island cruise around Australia is usually 28 days. A return cruise out of Sydney up the east coast to Cairns is 10 to 11 nights. Most Australian departures to NZ are 14 days, with departures from Sydney & Brisbane, with perhaps a few from Melbourne. There are return cruises and there are 1 way cruises between Aucklland & Sydney. Perhaps the latter will give you the best of both worlds, as the 1 ay NZ cruise usually includes Australian cities Hobart, Melbourne & Sydney.
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New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
It has always been a limited access port, but I don't know if it is a cruise line thing or at the discretion of the locals. It is out of the way on the NE coast of Santo, especially now that other nearby stops such as Pentecost are no longer visited. It is also a tender port with limited facilities, and it needs as many sunlight hours as possible. Now that P&O's ships have gotten larger, it is possible that they can't get everyone onto the island and back in a day. -
New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Ships have taken on fuel and fresh water in Noumea. I haven't taken any notice on more recent visits. There has been an arrangement with Noumea of sorts, particularly for access to Mare & Isle of Pines. Now that both are currently off the table, there can't be much of an arrangement. -
Australian Passport Price Increase
arxcards replied to Wanderers2's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
An extra $5 per year to be able to travel the world is doable. It is the $60 passenger movement charge I am not so fond of. -
Any one doing any Winter Cruises?
arxcards replied to Kiwi_cruiser's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
A quick and painless decision. I am not ready for another repeat of P&O's 9-year-old menus being offered in the cookie-cutter dining venues. Booked, signature updated. -
New Caledonia locked down.
arxcards replied to MicCanberra's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
I think that is the same itinerary as was planned for the current cruise. Even if the issues in Noumea are resolved by then, I think it will be some time before ships resume their calls there. At this stage, I would suggest that you will have Port Vila, Mystery Island and Luganville or something similar. -
Invisible Bed Bugs?!
arxcards replied to Mycruiseobsession's topic in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
😴😴😴 Night, night, sleep tight. I hope the ..... well, you know! 🤣