MMDown Under

A representative from the Travel Club meets their cruisers before and after every cruise to make sure everything goes smoothly.  When the Princess Majestic was late coming into port, he had to rework all the arrangements - change buses, change the guides, store the luggage etc.  The 740 passengers in Sydney were fortunate to be well looked after during the delay.  

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Re the rain, chucking it down again down here on NSW Far South Coast. Moruya anyway.

Hope you are enjoying your new residence at Moruya.  Does Moruya have local flooding?  How does the weather compare with Batemans Bay, with all the rain?

33 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

We were to be catching the train this morning, our friends were going to fly but decided to take the train as we were. They are glad they did despite us not being there with them.

Your friends are lucky they decided to take the train like you were.  Pity you weren't able to join them. 

92 flights delayed in and out of Sydney.  An example of reason not to fly into port on day of cruise departure.

2 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

At least the NSW school holidays don't start for another week & a bit, hopefully for them the rain has run its coarse and they have fair weather then.

 

Quite frankly I'm sick of this constant rain, just as my veggie garden starts to revive, we get another down pore flooding the ground, and killing the roots.🤬

Not a good time for veggie gardening either!  Too much rain!

Warnings are currently being made about a major rain event which is unfolding across Eastern Australia. 

I hope everyone is safe from torrential rain and local flooding.  

Not a good time for camping and cruising.

Is anyone cruising from Sydney to Seattle  on Princess Majestic for 32 days from 10th April?

740 members of an American Travel Club will be joining this cruise after spending several days in Sydney. 

Bon Voyage to all on this interesting cruise via the South Pacific. 

I love most pasties.  However, my daughter brought me a crimped edge Cornish pastie yesterday, which had swede in it.  Yum the best, like Cornwall.  She also brought a handmade musk lolly Easter Egg.  Both are not easy to find.  

15 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Yes that is my maker's mark, I put it on my personal projects (often in places where it is never seen, only the owner knows it's there). Those particular flowers were for a project I abandoned more than 40 years ago. I still had them. Originally I was going to make the box out of Cherry but I saw that board and it literally said "use me". I don't particularly like carving white oak so a different technique was required; so rather than carve the mark in I laid the flowers on. They are made from Western Maple and the centers are Walnut.

The flowers are beautiful, Lyle.  Hard to believe they are made of wood.  

On 3/18/2024 at 3:11 PM, Blackduck59 said:

This is my final tribute of love and respect for Granny (my name for Lynn's mom).

That is a beautiful box, Lyle.  Did you make the flowers?

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

For those not familiar with foil sailing here is a short vid of the basics.

Generally, most of the time, I am moving at about the same speed as a cruise ship.

 

Thanks.  I was about to ask you what foil sailing was.  Then I realised I often watch these on the Broadwater at the Gold Coast.  

59 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

Sorry, we got off the Great Barrier Reef cruise on Thursday.  Now home with Covid.

I'm sorry to hear that.  I hope your Covid is mild and you make a quick recovery.  

21 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

I'm afraid it is a rather sad day in the Lyle & Lynn Duck house. We have been aware that Lynn's mom's health has been failing for some time. When we visited yesterday, I definitely had the feeling that she was saying Goodbye to me. Lynn got a call this morning and went in right away, they spent some special time together and Lynn came home. We got a call in the afternoon that she was on her way. We went and sat with her until she passed at just after 5:00 pm. It is very sad but not unexpected, she was 91 years old and until about 10 months ago was quite robust and living in a nice assisted living facility. Then she had a fall and never recovered from that. She moved to a different level of care and it was down hill from there.

Sincere condolences at the passing of Lynn's mother.  May you be comforted at this sad time, by memories of happy times spent together.  It is a relief that Lynn's mother didn't pass during your big trip Down Under.  

12 hours ago, cantgetin said:

In 43 nights on board, we've never not been able to get a reservation.  On our most recent 15 night, the app crashed after I made 3 nights of reservations--my TA took over and booked the rest.  But most importantly, we did not stick to those bookings.  We made MANY changes after during the cruise based on which restaurants we liked, planned activities, etc. When we couldn't make the changes we wanted thru the app, we found the crew member at the restaurant podiums to be very cooperative.  And we never ate as early as 5 or as late as 9.  We did have days when one of us would say "I don't feel like doing X tonight," and we'd go to the app to see what else was available.  We did eat at The Galley for dinner based on the special of the night, but not because we couldn't get a restaurant reservation.

Good luck.
I do have an issue with shows.  I missed one show because I couldn't get reservations, and the next day learned that the show had been almost empty.  People were making reservations for the same show multiple times.  They really should fix it so that you can only make one reservation per show and after that use the stand by line if you wish to see it again.

I thought you could only make one initial reservation per restaurant and show prior to departure.

We flew Qantas/Latam ticket to BA via Santiago.  Arriving in Santiago on a Latam flight we were able to use the Business Class Lounge.  On the return flight, we departed Santiago on Qantas after a five hour stopover.  We  had difficulty using the Business Class Lounge  because we would be flying Qantas.  I eventually talked my way in because they weren't busy being Christmas Day. 

5 hours ago, davwen81 said:

We have Wise card, Up card and UBank card and  they all work incredibly well overseas and their exchange rates are phenomenal. We did have a Qantas card but never again as exchange rates are so low. 

Could you please explain how these cards work?  Are they debit cards?  Do you put money on them before your overseas travels?  

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we booked the Sebel Quay West for Sydney and the Adina Apartment Hotel in Melbourne. We booked the Adina because of the race, there was an apartment available with free cancellation and no prepayment. We thought it was a fair price considering the timing of our stay and the race. So we have the first hotel and last hotel for the Great Down Under Meet & Greet tour booked. We are still looking at options for Auckland. It is still a little early for the booking window. For some parts of the tour we have had the good fortune to have our CC friends step up and offer to host us. Other stops are single nights in small towns as we drive from place to place. Of course we plan to stay at Craig's Royal Hotel in Ballarat. That stretch of time between Bateman's Bay when we bid farewell to Linda & Mario and we drop the hire car in Melbourne is starting to fill up. I think after the personal contacts of the first half of our time in OZ we will suddenly be strange people in a strange land. We do have a friend we met on our east coast Canada cruise who lives in Camperdown, Victoria. Apparently that is located along the road between Port Campbell and Ballarat so that works perfectly.

We recently booked Quest Auckland Serviced Apartments in Queen Street, through Booking Co.  The studio apartment, which overlooked a beautiful quiet park, had a balcony.   It was self contained with a kitchen and laundry facilities.  There was a wide selection of restaurants in the street, as well as a regular bus which travelled down town to the wharf area.  

I had a hold booked on a cruise on Resilient Lady from Singapore.  I didn't continue with the booking before payment was due, due to instinct. 

I joined Virgin membership on board.  Will I now be eligible for a refund seeing I will no longer be able to cruise on Virgin Voyages?

Virgin Voyages lost a lot of good will by keeping Australians waiting for news of their plans on future cruising in Australian/NZ waters.

5 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we are starting to get into the proper planning for this adventure, we are less than a year out and this time next year we will be enjoying our visit with Lyndon and seeing part of Oz that was not part of the original plan. From there it is down to Penrith to meet Neil and Tracey, that will also have us getting some local knowledge about the Blue Mountains. From there it is Canberra and a visit with Linda & Mario. 

For now we are working on accommodation in Sydney, I have looked back at what we booked before but some of those places are not available or now have unfortunate reviews. So I was hoping to get a few suggestions for hotels in Sydney that would be convenient to the Opera House and Manly ferry. I know that Mic may have some good suggestions, but please remember we are from a fairly small town and really not "Public transit" savvy. So any suggestions greatly appreciated. We look forward to meeting Mic & Rosie in Sydney in a little less than a year.

We have just had visitors from NY visiting.  Are you visiting the Sunshine Coast in Queensland?  We have just stayed at Mirra Chana on the boardwalk, beachfront, in Mooloolaba Spit.  It was a heavenly peaceful place, walking distance to everywhere.  We look forward to visiting again.  They are now staying at Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay,  This afternoon they have walked along the harbour waterfront, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to the Sydney Theatre Company to see a play at the Wharf 1 Theatre located on pier 4/5.  The Marriott is a great location for catching ferries at Circular Quay or catching light rail along George Street.  I will let you know what they think of the Marriott, which is popular with Americans.  

On 2/21/2024 at 10:02 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:

We didn't see the Arcade either but the games area was very impressive.

I didn't see the Arcade either.  It is that kind of ship, full of surprises.  

Cyclone Lincoln is reforming off Broome, WA.  What an interesting journey this cyclone has followed!

4 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

That side unit on the bed is for turning the double bed into two singles in a L shape.

 

It's a ridiculous concept and Virgin lost a lot of brownie points with me over it.

I did read two singles would be in a L shape, but I couldn't work out how the side unit on the bed worked.  I put the big wooden tray on it!

3 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

My wife is jealous of the hammock. One of the things she wants todo when we are in the tropics next year. Hopefully we can find a shady hammock with bar service so she can relax with a book and sip a fruity drink.

When we go camping at festivals, we take a hammock to hang between two trees.  It is relaxing to return to the campsite in the middle of the day with a good book and a cold drink.  I hope your wife finds one on your travels down under.  

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I never even got around to ice cream. 😪

That is a shame as the ice cream was delicious.  I only discovered it with help near the end.  

4 minutes ago, Cruisegroover said:

So if miss out on getting dinner reservations where do you eat? And if you are last to board you may miss out on seeing the shows?

20 places to eat.  You will never be wanting for somewhere to eat.  On the last day of a eleven day cruise, I found the pizza place and Italian Restaurant so I had pizza for lunch and was able to book a place for dinner at the Italian Restaurant.