gdlamberth

So, as of right now a cruise departing from Sydney requires passengers over 12 years old to be vaccinated and have a rapid antigen test prior to boarding. Do I understand this correctly? I understand it may change but these are the rules today.

I apologize for being a bit thick but the Australia Government web site it says;

International travellers to Australia

Australia’s borders are open, and there are no Australian Government requirements to:

• give proof of a negative COVID-19 test on arrival to Australia
• supply proof of COVID-19 vaccination
• wear a mask, although this is encouraged.

And later:

Cruise travel

Check with your cruise provider for up-to-date travel requirements for your ship and destination.

Vaccination

There is no Australian Government requirement for travellers to be vaccinated on board a cruise vessel. However, we recommend:

• COVID-19 vaccination, as you are at the greatest risk of developing severe illness and long COVID-19 if you are unvaccinated
• reconsidering your travel on cruises if you are unvaccinated.

Am I looking at old info? A bogus website? Or, are all the testing and vaccination requirements unique to specific cruise lines?

We have a Sydney to Auckland to Sydney cruise booked for Febr and March of 2024, at this point thoroughly confused.  Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

57 minutes ago, edgee said:

If the six month window is the rule, would be nice if they stated it on the form. IME they are not that strict with timing. My credit was approved using an April 30 statement for a November Oceania cruise... a little past the six month window. I just submitted for four future cruises, all farther out than six months. Will see if they grant the credit or tell me to wait.

I've experienced the same lack of consistency with timing.  The only reason it even came up is I just had my Shareholder Benefit request turned down for being too soon for my February 2024 cruises. Seems to depend upon who fields the request.  YMMV!!!  🙄

There's may be other issues related THE TIMING to file for this benefit.  According to my TA O requires the date on the account statement to be within 6 months of sail date.  You may also file after final payment; but, since that's usually within the 6-month window not sure this comes into play often.  So, in my case I have two O cruises booked in Feb 2024, and can file for both at the same time (assuming I wait for 6 months from the second cruise's sailing).  I also have an O cruise in August of 2024.  That cruise will require a second request for Shareholders OBC with an updated account statement.

Just FYI

2 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

 

I had to look it up, but a wine margarita subs wine for the tequila, so I think they were just looking to see if they could get some of their favorite vacationy drinks.

For those of us who spent our formative years hanging out in bars, tequila and rum can be replaced with white wines in several cocktails for people that want to lower alcohol content in their drink or don't like to Sharp Taste of the distilled spirit. When I was in college ( in the last century) these drinks were favored by underaged Co-Eds.  They've been sold in bottles and grocery stores for years to circumvent laws in some states that allows grocery stores to only sell wine and fermented beverages as opposed to distilled spirits. A Sangria is another example where the distilled spirit component can be omitted. Yes substituting distilled Spirits with a wine in a mixed drink was exactly what I was asking about.

Since you can have wine with lunch and dinner, has anyone had any experience with wine based cocktails?  In addition to "Coolers" and "Spritzers" I'm thinking about a white wine margarita or similar.  Experiences and suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg

23 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

National express works.  

Taxi to bus Station?  Station looks close to port area.  

Thanks,

Greg

We are on a Sydney to Auckland cruise next February.  Currently, Oceania does NOT have any excursions ending at the airport (or otherwise) listed for our day of arrival.  My question is, "Does Oceania Often/Sometimes/Never offer excursions when they turn the ship in Auckland??" 

Thanks in advance,

Greg

I don't mean to be nosey; but, we'll be disembarking from Oceania in Southampton next year and I was wondering what your O xfer cost.

Greg

20 minutes ago, hmorrow said:

I can see the shore excursions for our cruise , but no prices. Is it because it's more than a year away?

I guess I need to clarify: our cruises are in early 2024, a little over 6 months out.

Sorry for the confusion.

Greg

Once to Australia (did a circumnavigation followed by a 12 day land trip that included Adelaide and Wilpena Pound in South Australia, Uluru, Alice Springs, and Cairns) and 3 times to New Zealand; but 2 times were cruises out of Auckland that stopped in Bay of Islands, once was a 12 day DIY pre-cruise land trip to South Island.

54 minutes ago, ORV said:

I'm pretty sure your cruises or cruise is not on the Summer Sale, that would be a real good reason why what you have is better. It seems it was only compared to current pricing with the Simply More. The big savings is on the 72 cruises on the Summer Sale. Regatta only has Jan 25-Feb 8th during that time period on the Summer Sale.  Are you on that one? 

Nope.  8-24 Feb and 24 Feb -10 March.  

On 7/15/2023 at 7:25 PM, gdlamberth said:

I went ahead and booked two excursions just to see what it would look like and I did in fact get our Olife promotion credit for those excursions. They were confirmed with zero cost zero balance Etc. So I now believe my description above is correct.

     Just to finish up.  First off, we did consider various pricing alternatives including Summer Sale and the All 3 promo was best for us.  I do appreciate the "be sure you look at" comments though.  

      Now for the actual booking excursions during this overlap/confusing period.  We booked a total of 7 excursions.  4 were priced at $199 or less and these were comped as part of All 3 promo.  HOWEVER, of the remaining 3 bookings, one came through with the YWYW 25% discount and the other 2 did not.  I called O and after a 20 minute hold spoke with an agent who was able to correct these 2 bookings to YWYW giving me my 25% discount.  Posted to account in a matter of minutes.  

Greg

24 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

I think this should be the way it works..  The SM 25% pricing is just the OLife YWC (aka YWYW) pricing...assuming O's IT can juggle the 2 programs simultaneously. 

I went ahead and booked two excursions just to see what it would look like and I did in fact get our Olife promotion credit for those excursions. They were confirmed with zero cost zero balance Etc. So I now believe my description above is correct.

There's no intent to hijack this thread; but, we have a bit of a different issue.  

We have a booked cruise for February 2024, on Regatta.  The "Promotion" we booked was the "all three" Olife package ($400OBC, 4 Excursions and House beverage package).  My understanding was that we would be able to choose between our current booking and Simply More.  Clearly (IMHO) our current booking is better than Simply More.  HOWEVER, when I go on line to book my 4 included tours, there is only two prices shown:  the "Tour Price" and the "Simply More (25% discount with 6 or more pricing.  Here's how I read this:

     We can book our "4 included" using the old "less than $199" rule of thumb and then (assuming we book 6 or more total excursions) the "Simply More" price kicks in.

Am I reading this correctly in the collective wisdom of this group?

Thanks,

Greg

Is it safe to assume that all your cost information is in AUD?  Are all/almost all vendors you list part of Australia's "tap 'N' go" culture?

Thanks,

Greg

11 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

cancel on day 181  from sailing  no problem

Thanks, that's what I thought I had remembered; but I couldn't find it explicitly stated on O's web page.

What about cancelling MORE than 180 days out???

1 hour ago, Jancruz said:

NO

Jancruz1

+1 Our favorite cabins are on Deck 4 close to Reception.  No noise but close to everything else.

I'll bite, what was THE answer? I might need to do same thing.

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel seems to be in a good location and rooms are between $140-$160USD which seems attractive.  No one here has mentioned it.  Is it a place we should avoid?  Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Greg

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel seems to be in a good location and rooms are between $140-$160USD which seems attractive.  No one here has mentioned it.  Is it a place we should avoid?  Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Greg

40 minutes ago, renebfl said:

'Im just starting to plan my future cruise,   What ship are you taking?

Oceania's Regatta

7 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

When are the cruises?  Are they outside of school holidays?   Have a look on roll calls for your ship and cruises to see whether some passengers are arranging private tours. 

8 February thru 10 March.  There are roll calls for both cruises now; but, are pretty inactive.  I guess its still early days. We do already have Tours by Locals excursions set up in Burnie (since we already have something on, Burnie not on my list of ports).  We are in Christchurch twice and have an excursion up to Arthur's Pass already set up.

Greg