arxcards

In downtown Luganville today. Champagne Bay was just a pipe dream.

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.

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

You would be lucky to get a lounge pass out of them.

Waking up crying in the middle of the night is bad enough, buy the nappy rash is a killer.

Especially if still going to Airds of Lochinvar to shop for an Akubra.

Because this was a Qantas "operations" decision, the ball is in their court. Insurance covers for out of pocket with missed connections and delays for a stack of reasons, but this isn't one of them.

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%

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

😴😴😴 Night, night, sleep tight. I hope the ..... well, you know! 🤣

A friend encountered beg bugs on a Pacific Jewel cruise 10 or so years ago. It was handled pretty well, and no compensation was sought. They aren't endemic to a particular brand of ship, and like covid, they are initially bought aboard by passengers in their luggage. I haven't encountered any on our cruises, unless they were the invisible type with invisible bites.

Till now, a winter cruise was the last thing on our minds. Anyway, the good news is that we may get a winter cruise after all. Barb's surgery has been and gone, and she is recovering well. She should be cruise fit in a month or so, so we are looking at a July cruise. Splendor or Pacific Adventure? Still shopping around, but Splendor is winning so far.

Yes, AKA goodwill. The other point is they are repatriating Rotary volunteers, and P&O have often delivered emergency relief supplies on behalf of Rotary in the past.

Kudos to P&O, and possible due to some available accommodation. Pacific Encounter is due in Port Vila on Tuesday, and hopefully they also have a few cabins to help out some more stranded Aussies. Carnival Splendor will be there in a few days, perhaps some more - we will see. The advice since lockdowns has been to avoid flying via Air Vanuatu, and this isn't the first time they have had planes grounded. After a few days, someone has come to rescue the airline, but not this time.

Just some shipping news. Yes, as mentioned it is secondary to the problems in New Caledonia, but it is a cruise forum and two of the most prolific ports are in New Caledonia. I don't think anyone here would be feel that their right to cruise there is more important than the locals in New Caledonia, but the cruise lines are slow to communicate their "plan B". Carnival Splendor has departed for the Islands this evening. They have altered their ports for the current cruise to Santo (Champagne Bay would be nice but likely to be Luganville) and Port Vila. Pacific Adventure hasn't added extra alternate ports. The stops were Port Vila & 2 days at Mystery Island. They are bound for Sydney with a slow cruise back or an early arrival. As expected, they are skipping both Lifou & Noumea. I have yet to read, but I believe there is another thread for P&O repatriating passengers stuck on Vanuatu due to their airline being grounded. Pacific Encounter has called at Mystery Island & ports in Fiji, as was their schedule. They have Port Vila next, then will skip Lifou and return to Brisbane. It looks like both P&O and Carnival will try to keep cruising to the Islands, but with alternate ports. With only three ships during the off-season, they should be able to avoid bumping into each other.