Aus Traveller

A couple of months ago I returned from New York to Brisbane with QANTAS. They operate a non-stop flight to Auckland from where there are three options - Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. Air New Zealand operate the same route. I realize you are in Ottawa so this route would involve a flight to New York, but it might be cost-effective.

Future Cruise Deposits are only valid for two years, after which the $100 cost will be refunded. FCDs can't be used as the deposit on the WC because of the length of the cruise. Also because of the length of the cruise, there are two substantial deposits that have to be made (unless you book in segments). Trying to remember back to 2018 when I booked the 2020 WC - I booked it in segments (Brisbane-Dubai, Dubai-London, London-New York, New York-Brisbane). I did that to get the shareholders credit multiplied by four rather than just one. I seem to remember I was able to use the FCD and get the relevant OBC, but I am not absolutely sure about that. I don't have time to look back through my files to check on it. Your travel agent would know. I am sure about the multiple shareholders' credits. When I booked the 2023 WC, segments were no longer available so I couldn't get the multiple OBCs.

The prices are much lower if the ship is going to Vila. 🙂

When we were in Vila in August, we felt the prices at Fung Kuei were as good as they always had been. When you were comparing the prices on the Ballantine scotch, were the bottles the same size? Usually spirits are 1 litre or 750mls. When P&O ships have Vila on their itinerary they drop their duty free alcohol prices to match those in Vila, or maybe 20 cents cheaper. I haven't ever seen more difference than that. BUT when the ship goes to North Qld, the duty free prices are more than double even though the ship is going into international waters and the prices are duty free.

Exactly. This cyclone is very early in the season.

My brother and SIL moved from Townsville in 1968. Their former house was totally demolished by Cyclone Althea. It was a new house in 1966 when they moved in.

I am sure the answer is "no".

I agree with all your comments.🙂

I have heard that some countries (example Vanuatu) want to charge import duty on goods brought in. I suppose if you take a bag of items and hand them over personally to someone ashore, the officials wouldn't know about it.

We have cruised across the Tasman Sea (between Aust and NZ) probably 20 times and never had really rough weather but it can happen. It is more likely in winter (say May to September). If the weather is really bad, it would be worse cruising from NZ to Australia - heading into the rough seas rather than having following seas. NZ cruises are virtually all in the southern summer (November to March) because of the weather in NZ. NZ's weather is better in summer, but even so it is always cool (cold to me!) in the fiords and even in Dunedin. Wellington is renowned for strong winds. It is known as Windy Wellington. Most cruises from Australia to NZ start from either Sydney or Brisbane. Sydney doesn't have a really rainy season, but Brisbane does because it is sub-tropical. January and February are usually the wettest but that doesn't mean it will rain every day or even most days.

If your tour company is picking you up from the Port Chalmers cruise terminal, you will most likely be OK. All tour companies are very aware that they have to get their customers back on time. If they don't they will lose business in the future. I haven't heard of any passengers who have missed the ship in our part of the world because a tour got back late. If the tour starts and (more importantly) ends in Dunedin, I don't feel you can be sure you will be back in time.

Although 1st November is officially the start of the cyclone season, in practical terms, it isn't the start of the season. Early December is very early to have a cyclone off the Queensland coast. Usually the first cyclones of the season are off the Kimberley, or near the Cocos Islands.

It is early in the cyclone season. The earliest recorded cyclone to cross the Queensland coast was Cyclone Althea on 24th December 1971. It devastated Townsville and the surrounding region. If cyclone Jasper crosses the coast as is likely, it will be a couple of weeks earlier than that.

The earliest cyclone to cross the Queensland coast was Cyclone Althea on Christmas Eve 1971. I hope that this latest cyclone won't come very far south, even to Central Queensland. My reasoning is that the ocean off Southern Queensland hasn't warmed as much as it will by January.

In August I was on a similar flight - JFK to Brisbane. Mine was with QANTAS. We left New York more than an hour late because of congestion, but we still arrived in Auckland on time. There was a couple of hours' lay-over between that flight and the Brisbane one.

If you want to donate this (such as school supplies), I suggest Kiriwina would benefit more from any donation rather than the Conflict Islands. Kiriwina has a local village (with a small school) but Conflict Island is a business owned by an Australian man. People living there are probably cared for reasonably well.

I could be that the specialty decorations team were working on other ships and dates had to be juggled. They probably contract with the decorators to work for 'X' number of weeks on their locally-based ships. Their decorations could easily have been loaded when the ship was in Brisbane.

I agree with Geoff and Mic. We have never had a problem with a guaranteed booking and will continue to book that way if there is a reasonable saving.

I originally thought the letter sounded as it if was sent days prior to the cruise BUT I am now doubtful. It clearly wasn't an email and the sheet of paper has the RCI logo in colour and the page doesn't have fold marks from being posted in a standard envelope. It looks like it was handed to people in person and that would have to be at the terminal. I understand it isn't unusual for a cruise to have a small number of over-bookings. The cruiselines know from experience how many cancellations they will get. They can then email a few customers with a move-over offer until they have enough cabins to accommodate all the guarantee bookings. In this case, maybe it is as a few people have suggested - some last-minute change either a maintenance issue or needing the cabins for another purpose such as isolation. Either way, it was sh...y for the people who were expecting to go on a cruise only to be turned away. I feel the compensation was very poor.

I hope he recovers quickly. All the best to you both.🙂

The Quantum of the Seas cruise in question is going to Noumea. Travel insurance is compulsory or passengers are not permitted to board the ship. I agree with your comment about vacation time off work being an issue.

Over-selling on flights is common practice in the airline industry. (I don't mean what Qantas did.)

Sorry. Sorry. I was mixing up the two events currently under discussion. No excuse. I should have put brain into gear before posting. 😁

I see the point you are making, but it isn't likely that anyone flew 10,000 miles for a P&O cruise. They don't market their cruises outside Australia/NZ.

We never liked the Jewel. My husband called it the Pacific Zirconia. He even photo-shopped a pic of the ship with the name change. 😁