Aus Traveller

When I was trying to book a transfer it wasn't under excursions.

I know of several occasions on Princess and on P&O where passengers are offered a 'move-over' to free up cabins for people who booked on a guarantee. The mover-over offer is usually a full refund PLUS a free cruise of a similar length some time in the future.

I agree. 50% refund + $300 OBC was pretty good.

So do I. 🙂

That is an unbeatable price.

You can book on board the ship, but that won't help you if you need a transfer to get to the ship. A few months ago I wanted to book a Princess transfer from Sydney airport to the ship so I couldn't do it on board. I phoned Princess and they said I had to book it through my travel agent. He did it without a problem. From your post it sounds like you have a Princess Cruise Planner. He/she should know how to do it. How soon is your cruise? I got a bit of an impression that maybe the transfer couldn't be booked until a few weeks prior to the cruise, but I am not sure about that. If you are travelling with a companion there isn't much difference between the cost of a taxi and two people in the shuttle bus. The taxi would be around A$60.

Our cruise on 23rd October was supposed to be from Brisbane to Noumea/Lifou/Port Vila. However a cyclone got in the way and when we arrived at the terminal, we were advised that we were going to Cairns instead. It didn't matter much to us because we were going just for the cruise, not the ports, except I intended to buy duty free alcohol in Vila. We were given $100 OBC for the change of itinerary. I felt sorry for people who were going on their first cruise, or who had got passports that now weren't needed. There were a lot of children on board, so I suspect there were a lot of unused passports.

There are no public transport options from the cruise terminal. Princess has transfers to the airport and I think also to the Roma Street Railway/Transport Centre. The other option is a taxi or Uber.

Did it end up as a full refund? The last I heard was 50% refund plus $300 OBC.

The letter indicates that people were advised ahead of time, but it is still awful. Presumably no-one would have flown to the port unless they took option 1 in the letter, but that doesn't mean they could get a refund of their airfare.

I see the point you make about the 2025/26 itineraries.🙂

How can Carnival pass the extra cost on to passengers making it cost a few dollars extra? Itineraries have been published and bookings accepted. $3.50 might not sound much, but multiply that by the number of passengers and it becomes a sizeable amount. That is every time the ship docks. I suspect that Carnival has publicised this issue hoping it will put pressure on the authorities to delay increasing their port fees.

Then I agree. Snorkelling equipment would be a good gift.

I doubt that snorkelling gear would be much use on a cruise to Airlie Beach. If the family goes on a trip to the Reef, the excursion company will have the gear that is required. I feel that snorkelling gear for four kids would be a fair bit of stuff to carry and it wouldn't be used anyway.

The NZ fiords are sometimes missed because of weather. I wouldn't agree with the comment that 'the rest of the ports are industrial ports well out of town'. Dunedin - dock in Port Chalmers (but not an industrial port). Lyttelton - not really an industrial port. Wellington - dock very close to the middle of town. Napier - a working wharf but only 5 minutes' drive form the centre of town. Tauraga - dock in Mt Maunganui (not an industrial port). Auckland - dock in the middle of the CBD.

Yeah! Sticking my neck out. 🙂

I don't want to be controversial, but I wouldn't be surprised if QANTAS was/is tougher on women flight attendants regarding grooming than they are on their male flight attendants.

Washing hands is the most important preventative measure against Noro. However, washing your hands before going into the dining room or the buffet doesn't fully protect you. If you touch anything (salt/pepper shakers, sugar containers, serving utensils in the buffet or even your chair) there is the chance that it has traces of the virus from the last person who handled it. When you pick up your breadroll, you transfer the virus to your body. Cruise lines try to minimise this problem by removing salt/pepper and sugar containers and even drinks menus and having staff serve food in the buffet. I understand that after P&O set up a buffet where all the food is served onto your plate, they virtually eliminated noro from their ships.

That is most unfortunate. If bad weather continues it is likely they will have to skip Napier as well because it is a difficult port for ships to get into in high winds.

Maybe once prevention measures are put in place such as extra cleaning of handrails etc and removal of items that multiple people touch (salt/pepper shakers and drinks menus), few people get infected. Usually the numbers decrease after the Code Red measures are implemented. Another point could be that noro affects some people more than others. Some people might have it and not be very ill and therefore don't report it.

I applied for my shareholder's OBC via email. I have just now received an email to say the appropriate amount has been applied to my booking. Yes - the old method still works!

Noro is easier to avoid than COVID. Wash your hands, obviously before you eat and I also suggest, when you return to your cabin. Although you can wash and sanitise your hands before you have a meal, you have to use your hands to move your chair into position at the table. Hand sanitiser isn't totally effective against Noro. I play it safe and don't have bread rolls or anything else that I have to pick up with my hands while the Code Red is operative. You will probably be given paper sachets of salt and pepper rather than having the shakers on the table.

With 57 years' you are just ahead of us. 🙂

The Rudd's former house is even larger than the one that we go to.🙂

The house is in a gated community, two doors from a house previously owned by Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein. (I hope I spelled her name correctly.)