johndon

My wife &I were on DAWN for the NZ Xmas cruise last year and contracted gastroenteritis (norovirus) 2 days out of Sydney

We were quarantined to our cabin with the medical staff visiting 3 times a day. The care and professionalism shown were excellent

We found exactly the opposite with the fees for care and medication

It came to just over $90 for the two days care and medications I was so surprised I went to the Medical Centre after we were fit again and queried their account but it was correct. It was not worth putting in a claim to our travel insurance as the excess was greater than the medical bill

I don't think there will be any issues if you have a defib issue

John

We did the mail run tour on the "Dawn" Xmas cruise last year. It was the best tour we have done so far in NZ

You can book through the Akaroa Adventure Centre (Google for their website)

The ships' tours are not interested in the Mail Run Tour as there is nothing in it for them as it only takes up to eight passengers at a time so it pays to book well in advance

John

I am of the opinion that anyone who climbs over the railing and falls off the ship whether by accident or intention cannot have the incident treated as an "accident"

As soon as he/she climbs over the rail they have crossed the boundary of acting in a normal, reasonable and responsible manner and whatever the eventual outcome of their actions it is no accident as the mere climbing over the rail demonstrates a diminished responsibility by that person and they then become responsible for the outcome

I think it is drawing a long bow to describe the incident in question as an "accident". The tragic part about it is that it claimed two young lives and not just the life of the girl who climbed over the rail and "accidentally" fell

The poor boyfriend thought he could save her life by jumping after her but it is obvious now that he had no hope whatsoever of doing so

We will never know if the girl jumped from the other side of the rail or fell but to describe her demise as an "accident" when she should not have been over rail is being rather generous at best

John

Hi Anna

Yes, it seems to be that roll calls are not the present flavour

Our Diamond cruise out of Singapore on 17th Sept is very poorly represented on the rollcall and the only active member apart from us, had to cancel last week because of family health concerns

It is certainly nothing like our Bangkok to Sydney Diamond cruise 3 years ago when everyone joined in and we organised several tours between us

There were some interesting characters too

I can only hope that now that final payments are due we may get more joining

John

Hi Fletch

We are on the Diamond Singapore to Sydney too

There is a rollcall but it is very slow with not much interest being shown

John

We have done the Taerie trip by booking direct with the railways and we were not overcrowded. The railways supply a shuttle bus at a small cost from the ship to the station. The train returns to Dunedin at about 2-30 pm and for a total of about $30 for the shuttle bus they will take you to the train in Dunedin and drop you off at the bottom of the gangplank at about 4-30after taking you on a city tour when you return to Dunedin on the train

If you have kids wanting to go on the ship's train tour you will have to pay more than half the adult fare of $200 plus

If you book direct with the railways the kids travel free

There is another train trip leaving Dunedin at 0930 that follows the coast north to Palmeston and gets back to Dunedin at about 1-30. You have to book with the railways for this train

We found the info tent on the wharf at Pt Chalmers very helpful. The volunteers organise the railway shuttle bus for you as well as organising other tours as well

With independent operators

A really nice gesture are the pipers and drummers fare welling the ship as it casts off. Dunedin is our favourite port of call in NZ

At Akaroa we did the postman's tour to the isolated bays, villages and fishermen's camps out from Akaroa. The tour limit is about 8 passengers in his small mail bus. You cannot book this tour with the ship but have to book through the Akaroa Adventure Centre. Google it and it will come up on the Internet

It was a very unique tour delivering the mail to the farms and villages with a very nice morning tea thrown in home cooked by the mail mans wife

I am sure you will have a marvellous cruise of NZ

John

If they have added the compulsory tipping to the cruise fare , how come the cruise fares are cheaper now than before the tips were added?

John

,

This seems to be an opportunity for Aussie people power to have kettles put in the cabins in Australian waters. People power certainly worked for the removal of compulsory tipping on Australian based ships

It seems ludicrous that kettles in cabins are ok in the Japanese based cruise ships but not on those SAME SHIPS when they operate out of Australia

Perhaps we are too complacent about it. I wonder what would happen if we asked our cabin steward for a kettle? The kettles must be in storage on the ship somewhere if they bring them out when in Japan

John

I cannot comment on whether the Cruise lines are lying about where the compulsory tipping goes to or not

I am only repeating statements from 3 different ex crew members who have commented about this in their books. I suppose they could be lying!!!

In my post I do not see where I am trying to control anyone. I expressed a personal opinion after commenting to the stewards that my tip was for appreciation for services provided to me by him (no one else)

That is a matter for your interpretation of my comments and if you want to read that into my comment that is your prerogative

John

Surely you don't believe for one moment that the compulsory tips are shared amongst the crew who don't get tips

I have read several books written by ex crew members who verify that no crew members receive any extra money from the cruise companies from the compulsory tipping. They go on to say that the crew members who make the most money from tips (and NOT wages) are the cabin stewards followed by the table waiters and drink waiters

There are some suggestions that tips given to the stewards and waiters are pooled and shared out by the crew but how would anyone know if a steward for instance had any tips given to him and if so, how much?

I have asked our stewards if the tips we gave have to be shared and they said NO

I have also emphasised to our steward that we are tipping him for the good service HE has given to us and if we thought for one moment he was going to share it with someone who had done nothing for us then we would not be very pleased with that

John

We give the room steward a tip at the beginning of the cruise and if the service is good we give another larger tip at the end

Our MDR waiters and drink waiter get a tip at the end

We do not participate in the compulsory tipping

John

In their blurb they have a very flexible itinerary where you can join and depart at any port they go to

This is not generally allowed by the mainline cruise companies

Living in Adelaide we always have the add on air fare to Sydney or Melbourne to take a cruise. On SS VIRGO we would be able to embark in our home town

John

The first cruise we did after going on the aged pension I advised Centrelink by email and a letter the details of the cruise, the date of departure, the date of return, the name of the ship etc etc

Upon our return the pension payments had been stopped and a letter from Centrelink waiting for us advising that we had not advised them that were out of the country

I immediately went to my Centrelink office with copies of the email and the letter I had sent to them before going on the cruise and presented them and myself to the office person saying that this is me and here I am back in Australia presenting my self in person to them

I don't think it had any impact on them and they were not convinced that I sent prior advice to them

Since then I have not bothered to advise them when we go overseas and nothing has happened

I presume they are linked into the Immigration computers so would know each time we are out of the country but there have been no questions asked since

John

We are doing the Singapore to Sydney cruise on Diamond on 17th Sept

This is the repositioning cruise from their Japanese season to the Australian summer season

On my cruise personaliser they advise me that the on board currency will USD so I expect the Compulsory tipping wil be added daily to my on board statement

I am not overly concerned about this as I withdraw the compulsory tipping by signing a "waiver form" at the purser's desk and they are removed and refunded

I prefer to tip the crew members who give me good service like our cabin steward, MDR waiters and any drink waiters who go the extra yard

This story of the compulsory tips being shared with ALL of the crew is utter nonsense. It is a fund raising scheme by the cruise line to supplement their normal wages. I have read several books now written by crew members and this is substantiated by them

Don't believe everything that is fed to you about where the compulsory tips go to

John

We were on "Dawn" for the NZ Xmas cruise and during the cruise quite a large slab of new carpet was laid in the atrium area

This seems a bit strange if it was due to go into dry dock in May for refurbishment

John

Oh for a decent Aussie pie shop on the Princess ships!!!

The last two ships we have been on (Diamond & Dawn) have promoted Aussie pies in the buffet but they were nothing like the good old Aussie pies. More like those little Pommy pork pies and something else like a quiche

Oh for a good old Mrs Mac's a Vili's or something similar of which there are many to choose from from all States in Australia

After 10 days or so on board of eating the excellent MDR and other buffet food, I am really hanging out for a "real" Aussie pie and sauce

John

Regarding passengers having to cancel flights, it may not be so bad as Sydney airport has cancelled many flights due to the wild weather

I hope everyone on the "Spirit" enjoyed breakfast this morning

John

ALSO missing in action......THIED

Anyone know where he is. Haven't seen a post from him for months

John

We have dressed appropriately for the "formals" until our last cruise to NZ last December.on Dawn Princess. I don't like dressing formally and my idea of cruising is to be as leisurely and relaxed as possible. We have gone along with the formal dining for the last 10 years but on the last cruise decided to be "grots

Surprisingly, when we presented ourselves at the MDR in casual trousers, shirt and no tie, not a word was said by the maitre de at the door and we noticed many other diners dressed similarly

It would appear that dress requirements for formals have been relaxed somewhat

It would be interesting to get an opinion or ruling on this from Princess Cruises

as to if the rules have been relaxed or not

John

'

Don't overlook Virgin. Have heard good reports about them and the fares are competitive

John

Not in the least surprised especially for Australian based ships where compulsory tipping is not applied

The companies will claw back revenue by whatever means they can devise and increasing the tips (levies) on items that cannot be avoided is one way of doing so

I wonder how long it will be before an attempt of some sort will be made to ban independent tours at port calls or make it so difficult for independent tour operators to access the wharf areas that passengers will be forced to take ship shore excursions

The cruise companies lose thousands of dollars to the independent tour operators so I hold my breath on this issue

John

Yesterday I listened to an interview with Graham Samuel from ACCC on one of our local radio stations on "deceptive advertising".

His comments were mainly directed at two major Australian airlines who have been advertising cheap airfares on line when customers accessing these fares found that after add ons and credit card charges the fares were substantially more expensive than what was advertised

The ACC currently had court cases going against both airlines

In my opinion, the matter of gratuities added on to cruise fares (although deceptive) do not come under the same category as what the airlines are doing because the gratuities are not compulsory and passengers do not have to pay them if they so choose

The add ons with the airlines cannot be avoided

It is arguable that cruise companies and/or TAs are "deceptively advertising" by not advertising that gratuities are an addition to the fare and that they are not a compulsory cost but it is not the same as what the airlines are doing as that cost can be avoided

Mr Samuel's whole argument on "deceptive advertising" was anything that deceives or misleads by deception the decision of a customer to purchase goods or services

It is gratifying to know that the ACC will and is prosecuting large corporations and companies for this type of conduct. Coles and Woolworths are also being pursued on similar lines

Perhaps the cruise lines and TAs should take note

John

Just where in the world is there left where we can be safe?

I suppose we can get run over by a bus anywhere anytime but to be exposed to terrorists on an innocent tourist excursion is an outrage

The shooting down of the Malaysian airlines plane is another example of "terrorist" activities and so it goes on

Many years ago I remember an attack on a cruise ship (it could have been Achilles Lauro) on the high seas where passengers were shot

Just what can we do? Just go on living normally and don't be intimidated by these lunatics? I don't know

Perhaps other C C ers may have some ideas

John

Anna

We did the "Dawn" NZ Xmas cruise and the cruise before us had a severe out break of NOROVIRUS so much so the the departure from Melbourne was delayed several hours to finish off a complete disinfection of the ship

My wife was vomiting with dihoearrea 2 days into the cruise and I had the same 2 days later. We were both quarantined for 24 hours but I was laid low for 3 days

The medical staff diagnosed us with "severe gastroenteritis" which to my way of thinking is norovirus. I think by then "norovirus" had probably become a dirty word and gastroenteritis was used as it probably didn't sound so scary

We were fully aware of the risks and Jocelyn being an RN we were very cautious as soon as we got on board washing our hands frequently,using our own cabin toilet and using the disinfectant solutions as frequently as possible before going into all food areas

Despite our own awareness and precautions we both went down very quckly

I still maintain that no matter how many precautions you take personally it only takes one selfish, uncaring and irresponsible person who does not practice good personal hygiene to spread the germs if only by touching another surface that most other people touch

I was very surprised at the number of people or did not or refused to use the hand sanitiser station before entering the MDR or buffet

I don't honestly know of a foolproof way of completely avoiding norovirus if it is around apart from locking yourself into your cabin for the entire cruise but then, what would be the point of going in the first place

John

I'm not sure whether to believe this or not and judging by the cynical posts so far, neither do a lot of other people

1st of April is too far away. Perhaps someone has jumped the gun

If, on the other hand, there is a modicum of truth in this story then why aren't Princess saying something about it, either admit something went wrong or kill the story outright

It's too serious to joke about

John