Aus Traveller

It depends on which cruise line you will be travelling with. I know that Princess will supply you with distilled water for use in your CPAP machines. You just have to apply under the medical section. On most cruise ships you cannot take a power board that is surge protected. Obviously a ship is not 'earthed' the way a house is so a power surge to a power board that is surge protected can cause a fire. You can take extension cords and a double adapter or a power board that isn't surge protected. PS. Check if P&O will supply you with distilled water.

I haven't ever seen the waiters' names on the MDR table either.

I have never seen staff wearing hats with number 10 on them.

We have always received an email with a survey within a couple of days of returning home.

We have travelled exensively in the US many times, driving across the country several times. We have also travelled a lot in Australia. I wrote travel guide books for 15 years. There is more to see in an 'around the USA' (west-east, north-south, east-west, then south-north) compared with 'around Australia'.

I don't think they would have sufficient time to make the drive from Cairns to Brisbane worthwhile. They probably mean they have a few days. Even if they had a spare week, there are better ways to spend it - Canberra, more time in Sydney, more time in SE Q'ld.

The road trip Cairns to Brisbane is only for people with a lot of time. I certainly would not recommend it for overseas tourists unless they were in Australia for several months.

The bans are because of two recent shark attacks. So it's likely swimming is also out at Amadee.

Great. As I said, we like to share.

I agree. In a month's time we will find out if sharing tables is back on the menu. 🙂

We like to share but on our P&O cruises last year they did not seat you with other passengers unless you were travelling with them. I found this a disadvantage because I like to go to the dining room for breakfast and lunch but my husband prefers the buffet for these meals. When I went into the dining room on my own, I was seated at a table on my own. I used to joke that I felt I was in the naughty corner, or "I should have brought as book". It made no difference. I felt this policy was COVID related. It might have changed recently.

I agree. The Melbourne Cup will have absolutely no effect on availability of flights from Cairns to Sydney a few days before the Cup. It would be a different matter if you wanted to fly into Melbourne a couple of days before the Cup. Cup Day is a public holiday in Victoria only, but beyond that it wouldn't be noticeable. Businesses and shops don't close, although I wouldn't telephone anyone around the time the race is run.

If the ship gets away promptly at 4pm, then by 4.30 you would have passed all the major sights in the Harbour. But, if the ship is delayed 20 or 30 minutes then you are in trouble. earlier I was trying to find out exactly when the curfew is for cruise ships in the harbour. It could be from 4.30 to 6pm, but I am not sure. I couldn't easily find an answer. Someone here might know. If you could find this out, you would know by what time the ship has to be out of the busy area of the harbour.

It can be at peak time. Check in and embarkation often starts a bit earlier than the advertised time (unless the ship has to be deep-cleaned because of COVID). People who can board early often get through check-in and on board in 15 minutes. However, your flight arrival time won't allow this. By the time you reach the terminal to check-in there will be a lot of people and queues will have built up.

If your flight was an hour or more earlier, I would say you would be OK. I'm an optimist, but I wouldn't book a spa appointment for 1.30 with the time of your flight.

If they specify 4pm, it will be close to that time. They can't delay too long after that because of the peak hour commuter ferry traffic on the harbour. If they miss their timeslot, they have to wait until 6.30 or so.

I agree with your comment. 3pm would be realistic but 1.30 is a bit early when you don't get off your plane until 11.30. Even if this is a domestic flight, I can't see you getting to check in until around 1pm. This is peak time for check in so it could take an hour.

After reading this story, I was appalled at what happened to that couple. If someone told me this story, I wouldn't be inclined to believe it, but it is clear that it is all true. Eventually with a lot of being going to bat for them, they have a FCC, but it would be hard to fully enjoy that cruise after what happened.

Although the Melbourne Cup stops the nation, the vast majority of people watch it on TV. I don't think it would affect the cost or availability of flights. It would probably be harder to get hotel accommodation in Melbourne over the relevant days, but otherwise I don't think it would affect your plans.

I can remember hearing that when I was a child. That was in Brisbane.

I have never heard that term, unless referred to cream in food. 🙂 P.S. After reading Little Fish's comment, maybe there is something I should look up on the internet. However, I wouldn't ever use a slang term that could offend.

If you don't like the hand-wash soap in a pump container, or the shower one, you can take you own cakes of soap.

Maybe it was supply issues at the time. We have been in three cruises on Pacific Encounter in the past nine months. We had tissues in our cabin in all of these.

I'm sorry to hear that you are unwell. Kind regards.🙂

We are going on the 10-night Pacific Encounter cruise to PNG on 25th April - $600 pp in an oceanview cabin. The TA got us an accessible one - not that we need it but the extra space is good and it is in an ideal location.