lissie

Has anyone got a photo of the per-item costs for laundry - trying to work out whether the daily charge is worthwhile

If I eat too early - I get hungry again later in the evening - late sitting on Cunard was 8:30 or 8:15 which was fine by us - particularly if afternoon tea had happened!

Is this an American thing eating so early? I've not eaten before 6pm since I was about 10! I guess we'll be doing late sitting or anytime dining. We are cruising Greenland and Iceland and many of the ports we don't leave until 7pm so I guess no one will be do early sitting

One of Boston's main access points to the airport is closed this summer Sumner Tunnel Restoration: Project details and closure schedule | Mass.gov Wondering what this will do to travel times to the airport and whether we'd be better getting a train rather than an uber from the cruise terminal to Logan?

Are you staying you don't need to show proof of vaccination ?

Cool I'd assumed it was an intranet - and then realised I was assuming Oh that's a nice function - we had to use phones attached to walls on Cunard to chat to each other LOL

Do you need a wifi connection on board to use the app? I wasn't planning on buying ship's wifi as we can use local connections on 21 of the 25 days of our port-heavy itinerary.

Could be true - but personally we've paid a total of A$50 deposit for 2 people - so its not that big a deal!

Little bit different - but its for a cruise - this is sized to be a personal item on N. America airlines First time using vinyl - it was a bit of a learning curve but I am now thinking what other bags do I need!

What time are the early and late fixed dining times?

Ask your agent - its not just the price - its also the add ons like drinks and OBC. How much would you lose if you cancelled and rebooked? I saw a big drop on one of our cruises on a different cruise line - but when I ran the figures it was about the same as what we have - because of a large OBC we have (which we know we will spend on drinks and gratuities)

I think people who think you are stupid for wearing a mask are the ones that will be most upset about being quarantined in their cabins. You do you - what other's think is their problem not yours

US$ is only accepted in the US unless you count a few countries who will take it at rip off rates for tourists - like the touts in Luxor offering to take US$4 for a t-shirt marked as being 4 Egyptian pounds (about 50c) .

Every health department says it takes 7-14 days for a vaccine to become fully effective - nothing unusual in that

We were close contacts at least 3 times that we know of on our 2 long-haul cruises last year (see the sig). First cruise - we were all wearing masks (compulsory) - but we weren't bothering sitting around talking at craft corner. Several got it I didn't First cruise - we were playing trivia with a group of 4 - sometimes another couple replaced one of the other couples. She thought her husband had food poisoning - but it was Covid, she got it too. We didn't When we got on the cruise we'd had 2 primary vaccines, 1 booster and had caught covid about 90 days prior. We wore N95 masks other times - but when we were exposed we were not masked. Second cruise someone we met at a CC meetup at anytime dining in the MDR - large table of about 10- they were 2/3 places away obviously not wearing masks - they tested positive a few days later. We were by then 5 months post-infection and still didn't get it. Pretty much the most dangerous places to least dangerous places that I can figure out were: buses or similar crowded indoor spaces where people are talking or singing e.g choir practice (first thing cancelled) crowded indoor spaces e.g. lifts indoor spaces with good ventilation outdoors - there seems zero chance of getting current variants outdoors. Not all masks are the same - the N95 and FFP2 masks are much better than the blue surgical masks, and fabric masks are a waste of time. (google it there are studies supporting this). We are doing a long cruise again this year and this is what we're doing - regardless of the ship's rules. getting a booster and flu shot about 3 weeks before leaving home wearing masks flying to the cruise particularly at the airport and until takeoff (less worried about it once everyone is sat down) wearing masks in crowded bus/trains/tours wearing masks for embarkation if the terminal is crowded wearing masks if sitting for a show in a low-ceiliing space we have many ports (21 in a 25 day cruise) - so I'm not that worried about catching it on board - but if we do book any cruise excursions we will mask for those -probably we'll stick to car rental and outdoor activity - which is what we do normally anyways Handwashing is always a good idea but its not particularly a covid issue.

Not true - if you want to send money overseas to say the Philippines - the money is sent in pesos - any major currency is accepted and they get the rate on the day.

Most of the crew go back to Philippines, India, Kenya and other places. Any major currency will work for them - they are sending money home to their local currency so whether is US$ or A$ makes no odds to them

How do you separate the items that need different treatment. We are doing a cold-water cruise on Zaandam and will have lots of merino clothing (wool - can't go in a dryer). I want those items to come back damp so I can dry them naturally in the cabin.

On our last Cunard cruise Europe to Singapore we knew who are cabin attendant was in advance (we'd sailed in the same cabin 6 weeks previously) and we knew she was from Latvia. So we saved euros and tipped her in those. You're over thinking it - they will take any major currency which is easy to trade. I suspect the crew do a lot of informal currency trading amongst themselves depending on who is leaving to go where. As you are coming from the US I think using US$ makes sense - other passengers coming from Australia will tip in A$ and it work out in the wash for the individuals concerned I'm sure.

Napier and Gisborne are the only ports with issues currently.

The only port that you should have issues with is Napier - none of the others are affected. Don't count on Napier anytime soon - probably not to the end of this season. The power is back on in most of the town - and the central area and port are actually undamaged - but obviously everything around it is in dire straits

They are simplifying it - because people are pretty stupid about this. The official rules are: Food items that cannot be removed include: fresh fruit and vegetables meat of any kind prepared meals (including sandwiches) dairy products eggs honey. Also, flowers, seeds, or plants cannot be removed. Only commercially bottled drinking water, chocolates, confectionery, and biscuits are permitted to leave the vessel. Passengers and crew going ashore are requested to present their hand luggage, including backpacks for inspection if requested. Leave it on the ship or risk a $400 instant fine. Biosecurity information for cruise ships | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)

We transited on a different line last year from Pacific to Caribbean - we didn't exit the canal until not long before dark - so I'm guessing about 6pm I think every ship would be similar as we were in a convoy through the old docks and no one could queue jump so to speak

There are some long threads over on the Australian & NZ board - this is most relevant I think I'm not sure that Napier will want tourists for the rest of this season. It's not just the port - its the absolute devastation all around the city (not in the centre of city itself) - lack of power and water are issues which are being resolved and will hopefully be stable in the city in another week or so. My accountant's offices are under 10min drive from the cruise port and although undamaged they are still closed due to lack of power and staff having more important issues to attend to. Napier is still isolated from the rest of NZ by road except for essential traffic- that's a week later - that's how big it is. The weather is good at the moment across the country - and what is lost in all the headlines that here in Wellington and the whole of the south island have had an absolutely fantastic summer so far - and often our weather is very average until Feb.

That's surely supply and demand - maybe the harpist got another job? How many harpist are on the books of whatever agencies they use for performers? We had a classical guitarist who was very good as well as a string trio and various pianists - those would be fairly easy to replace but harp is a fairly unusual instrument