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Hi everyone, we are cruising Ovation in October and would love some recommendations please.  We've been to Papeete and Moorea on a cruise before and in Papeete the first time we drove around the island, 2nd time we caught the ferry to Moorea.  This time we'd like to explore Papeete more and after some  recommendations. There's 9 of us (4 x 50+ and 5 are in their 20's so looking for something that would suit a wide age range)

Moorea we're thinking of snorkeling and was looking at Miti Tours - has anyone used them before?  Any other recommendations?

Raiatea we're looking at doing Bruno's tour (www.tahaa.net).  Has anyone had success in doing the full day but cutting out the pearl and vanilla stops? 

Thank you in advance 🙂

Happy New Year everyone!!  This time last year my daughter got engaged on our cruise in Mare.  They would like to get married in 2022 and were thinking of a destination wedding on a cruise, having their ceremony in Mare and then back on board for their reception.  Has anyone done something similar?  They don't want to have the actual ceremony on the ship they'd like to do this part on the island.  

I'm sure they would need to go through a Mare Tour company for the wedding ceremony.  

After advice, pros and cons.

Great thanks everyone for your help.

Hi we are cruising on Sunday and purchasing a laptop today.  I know that I can claim at the OPT but my question is does the laptop box have to be sealed and unopened or can we open beforehad and load our software etc and use it for the next couple of days. 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi all, question for all you regular Carnival cruisers.  My daughters are looking at going on Carnival Splendour in March and have enquired about a drinks package direct with Carnival and were quoted $118pp per day, which seems like a lot of money to me.  Can you purchase drinks packages on board cheaper?  Do they ever have sales online for their packages?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Hi we are off on Voyager on Friday and we have our check-in time of 11.30am.  There are a few smokers in our group that would like to ask if they can get back off the ship to have a cigarette once they've checked in.  Apparently one of the travellers was told on their last cruise that they couldn't smoke until sail away because of the ship refuelling, which I completely understand.  So does anyone know if they will they be allowed off ship once checked-in?

Thanks everyone for your replies.  Looks like Noumea Turtle Tours might be a great option, I'm going to look into this one further tonight 🙂

Hi needing advice on things to do in Noumea.  Has anyone done both Escapade Island and Signal Island trips.  I can't decide between the two of them.  They are both roughly the same price but if anyone could offer pros and cons would greatly appreciate it.

I was actually looking at this exact exclusion yesterday with TID and didn't understand the alcohol clause.  It seems if you only have 1 glass of wine and then slip on the deck and break your ankle then you're not covered.  Seems very unfair to me, does the ship medical centre give everyone a blood alcohol test everytime someone comes in with an injury?

After 3 weeks of trying to sort this out with daily calls and emails I've given up and booked without using the certificates.  Never again will I bother purchasing and we purchased 2 for 2 staterooms.  Total joke everyone gave us a different answer and they'd never even heard of the onboard credit for other rooms travelling in the same group even though it clearly stated on their terms and conditions.  Maybe I should try and email the CEO too 🙂 I feel like I've spoken to everyone else there.

Has anyone booked a NextCruise certificate whilst on a cruise?   I booked one and am now wanting to use to book my next RCCL cruise.   I've phoned seriously not exaggerating 6 times and emailed numerous times and not one single Royal Caribbean staff member can give me an answer.  So surely one of you lovely cruisers has had this come up before.

In the terms & conditions of the letter it says "Up to two other bookings can receive the same onboard credit as you do.  They must book the same ship and sail date as you do and within 30 days of you confirming your chosen ship and sail date."

So from how I read it if I book a room I get OBC and I'm also travelling with a group and so two other staterooms in my group will receive the same OBC as me.  Tell me if this is how you understand it, because no one from RCCL has ever heard of this before yet it's in THEIR Terms & Conditions.  I've even taken a photo of it and emailed them.  Seriously crazy, there is no one in Australia they're all in an offshore call centre and it's doing my head it.  

The other question I asked them was if I book direct with RCCL and my friends book with a different travel agency can they still get the credit if I give RCCL their confirmation numbers when booked.  They can't give me an answer on that either.

Getting so frustrated!!!!!!

Hi Cruise Gurus,

Advice needed, we're wanting to book a RCCL cruise for next year (2020) and the current sale with 50% of 2nd passenger and up the $1200 OBC is certainly not what it seems, it really is just "click bait".  Someone has suggested that there may be an Australia Day sale which is a genuine sale similar to the boxing day sale that we missed out on.  Does anyone know if historically this is true.  

Thanks everyone I'm going to look at discount Hawaii car rentals. I was originally looking on Expedia. Thanks for the advice, we leave 5 days Sydney to Hawaii getting very excited. :D

Hi we'll be arriving in Waikiki on 19 April from Australia. We were wondering if it's cheaper to book the car here before we leave or once we're in Waikiki. We were wanting to book a convertible for the day to drive around the North Shore. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Thanks LBJB2009 for your reply. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I can do it from the Carnival Australia website.

Hi I've an urgent question - we are cruising with another family on Carnival Legend next year and was wanting to purchase some Onboard credit for them as a Christmas present, does anyone know if I'm able to do this. I was able to do this with a Celebrity cruise.

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas.

Hi we've booked a 19 night repositioning trip Sydney to Honolulu April next year. I'm starting to get nervous as all I seem to hear are negative comments about how the service, food and standards have really dropped, I'm seriously reconsidering. Does anyone have any good feedback who's travelled on Legend recently?

Thanks everyone - I've just got off the Sydney to Hawaii cruise on Celebrity and would really like to book another one for November/December 2016. :)

Hi there, does anyone know when the 2016 Australia/NZ cruises will be released?

I've called back again and got a different person - because I've booked with an Australian travel agency I can't book through Choice Air. They have told me to contact the Celebrity International bookings but they're currently closed and I don't know what that's going to do. I've been looking online with Hawaiian airlines and it was $1,000pp cheaper going through Choice Air. :(

Maybe I'll call back later and hopefully get a different person who'll allow me to book. Why do you need to book 40 days before the cruise? I think I'd be worried that the flights would be booked out waiting that long.

Can anyone please tell me if they've booked through Choice Air for a Royal Caribbean or a Celebrity cruise. Cruising to Hawaii and need to get a one way fare back. Have called them a couple of times now to get quotes and flight numbers etc, I'm finally ready to book today and now they tell me that I can't book through them because I'm from Australia - he then gave me this phone number to ring in Australia which is a completely wrong number. Damn it, it was such a good price compared to companies here. :mad:

Has anyone booked before??

We have been to Noumea a few times now and I would highly recommend Amadee Island over anything else. It was amazing.

Yes it is expensive but well worth it.

We have been to Duck Island which I didn't think was that great, done the city highlights tour. Amadee Island is really the only thing worth doing in Noumea.

Totally recommend Cascade Waterfalls, absolutely magic place.

We also enjoyed snorkelling at Hideaway Island.

If you book a mini van for the day, you'll be able to fit so much in. We've also on other trips to Vila done horseriding along the beach, zorbing down hills and swam in the beautiful blue hole.

There's so much to do in Vila - Enjoy!!!!!

I did a Blue Lagoon cruise many, many years ago was fantastic.

I also agree with more roundtrip cruises to Tahitian Islands and Samoa. I'm desperate to go to Tahiti :)