Peal

On 4/7/2024 at 4:21 PM, phoenixx said:

That sounds like a lot to do when you are unwell. Were you able to send them the documents they asked for?

It was a lot of work, especially when I was taken off the ship. Local Internet connection was terrible. I had all the info on my laptop or phone, but had to send each item separately because of the poor internet. Fortunately our son back in Australia was able to do some of the paperwork & talk directly to the medical team in Allianz. 

Took about 14 hours to get approval for the medivac flight, and then another 12 hours before I was on the flight. I'm fairly certain that the 14 hours to get approval would have been much shorter, if we hadn't used the credit card insurance. 

16 hours ago, AJCM said:

Interestingly, with the latest changes they are quite explicit that you should contact them before you spend any money. I assume some people may have spent considerably more, in anticipation of reimbursement, than the insurance will cover. So, they’ll only reimburse what they would have been prepared to spend if you had contacted them first. Seems fair enough to me.

That is fairly reasonable from the insurance company's point of view; and I can see why that is necessary to prevent some people ripping off the insurance company.

Not sure what would have happened in my circumstances. By the time the insurance policy kicked in, I'd already paid out a total of just under $5K AUD for the ship medical centre, ambulance transfer to the hospital & the hospital Emergency Dept admission. The ambulance transfer & hospital were arranged by the ship. We had no idea of the cost until after the service had been provided.

I'm assuming/hoping, I'll get the $5K back when the claim is finalised.

On 3/11/2024 at 6:46 PM, Over from NZ said:

but as you say - if you were relying on the free card insurance and doing a world trip.. you better look elsewhere for cover. 

I used Westpac Platinum Card free travel insurance for a recent South Pacific cruise. Never again. I'd already registered for travel insurance & had a "Letter of Eligibility" from the insurance provider. However, I became seriously ill, then found out we had to provide heaps of documents to prove we had paid for the cruise with the credit card, passport photos, Release of Information authorisation, etc Like this -

To confirm that you have met eligibility criteria and activated your insurance cover please provide the following:

·       Your Credit Card Statement showing your full name, address and the first 6 and last 4 digits of the credit card number

·       Flight itinerary which confirms the dates that you departed and returned to Australia

·       Tax Invoice or Receipt for travel arrangements showing the last 4 digits of your credit card

·       Contact details for your travel agent if you wish for us to contact them on your behalf to confirm this information

·       Flight itinerary for all travellers on the policy

·       Passports

This OK when you have a minor heath issue & can remain onboard, then do the insurance claim when you get home. In my case, I was in a third world hospital for one night, before a medi flight back to an Australian hospital. I'm fairly sure if I had had an insurance policy direct with the company, this would have avoided the local hospital - where I've picked up some antibiotic resistant bacteria (CPE).

So for me, no more free card travel insurance for international travel.

16 hours ago, Porky55 said:

but our stingers will make you very ill.

Or possibly kill you, particularly if you are a child.

Just to follow up on my original question. I used by 28 Degrees Latitude credit card to book the Steak House. Cost was $90USD. Latitude Credit Card charge was S138.80 AUD. The XE currency converter says $90 USD = $138.11 AUD

So Latitude conversion rate is fairly resonable.

6 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Get to the Queens Room very early for afternoon tea or you might miss out

How early do you think? 30 minutes?

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Make sure you check out the pub and the library, as well as the gorgeous Queens Room. The Commodore Club is the perfect place for sailaways.

Definitely on our list, especially an afternoon tea in the Queens Room. Have 14 nights, so hopefully can take-in most of the highlights. Got a last minue deal on an obstructed oceanview, so no access to the premium Queens and Princess Grills.

Thanks everyone. All clear now. First time on a US dollar ship. And mixing up the QE with the QE2.....

With the onboard account for drinks excursions etc, all charges are in US dollars. At the end of the cruise the account is charged in AUD dollars at Cunards conversion rate. I have a 28 Degrees credit card that allows me to pay in US dollars at a reasoble conversion rate. Does anyone know if -

Cunard allows customers to pay in US dollars?

Is the Cunard conversion rate reasonable?

On the QE2 for the Pacific cruise on the 20th Feb. First Cunard cruise.

To pay, just go to the Norwegian site online chat. Tell them you want to pay for the balance of the cruise & give them your Booking Reference. They send you the link where you can pay by card. No extra charge for using a credit card.

Their web site is not that great, but the online chat is very helpful.

Correct. You cannot pay by credit card online. When you get the invoice for final payment bank and SWIFT information for a bank transfer is included. If you want to pay by credit card you need to contact their office.

 

 

Just set up my bank account to allow me to transfer the balance. I've used the IBAN & SWIFT details from the invoice. The IBAN is just another way of identifying the bank account I assume?

Also does anyone know if they charge an extra fee on Credit Card transactions? UK site charges 1.5%, but can't find any fees on the Norwegian site. I'm thinking I may still try paying by credit card via the online chat.

Anyone know a convenient way to pay the balance of the invoice cost on the NOK site? I paid the 10% deposit online during the booking process, but there doesn't seem to be anyway of paying the balance online. Any other cruise I've done it's just a simple case of using the reservation number online & going from there.

I guess I could supply my credit card details via email or online chat, but that seems a bit insecure. Phoning from Australia is not a great option either, but might have to do that.

Most modern electronic devices have inbuilt capability to work with different voltages. So phones, laptops, tablets, cameras etc etc are all good to go.

Just check the devices you are taking - should be clearly marked. Hair dryers might be one exception.

Yep they are all by the glass for wine. Sorry I should have clarified as it is not immediately obvious from description. My wife and I took a liking to the Mack ciders only 74 kroner for a 330ml bottle. The full wine list is a large booklet to hard to photograph but took some shots of first couple pages of the fancier wines to add to my full review in due course. Also grabbed the a la carte upgrade menu if you really want to spend some money!

 

Currently in Singapore defrosting / melting before heading back to Australia. Hard to believe the trip is all over and reality soon awaits!

 

 

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Wow that is expensive. I seem to remember there is a dinner wine offer. I'll check that out - may be having an alcohol free cruise!

Future communication might be in Norwegian language. Google translate might be helpful but let me know if I can be at any help

 

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Thanks for that offer. Google translate does an OK job, but it does need quite a lot of guess work to work out exactly what is meant.

The initial booking auto generated email was in Norwegian, but the follow up email confirming the deposit was in English, as I guess they know from my booking details I'm Australian.

Currently on Hurtigruten and have attempted to attach a beer and wine menu. Not sure it will work from my phone though.

 

 

Thanks for posting the wine & beer prices. Quite reasonable when compared to P&O Australia. From memory the cheapest bottle of wine on the P&O Aria was $30 AUD, and it was pretty ordinary. The beer seems a bit more expensive than Australian cruise lines though.

I booked back in Oct 2017 for a cruise in June this year. I used the Norwegian web page after looking at the various english version ones. Apart from being cheaper it also had 10% deposit instead of 20%, plus free flights from Oslo to Bergen, and from Kirkenes back to Oslo. The UK site had free flights to and from the UK. I had a bit of trouble completing by booking online, but an online web chat fixed the issue. As mentioned confirmation emails are in Norwegian, but seems to be the only disadvantage.

Yes they have reduced fares for kids but it is very hard to get that to appear when doing a booking on their website. Believe me I tried when doing it for our upcoming trip! (2 adults and 2 kids) Ring them and book direct. I called from Australia and had it all sorted in ten minutes! As a guide a polar inside cabin was 1200 pounds for an adult and 900 for the child rate (11 night Bergen to Bergen round trip).

For anyone else living on the other side of the world, I used the on-line chat function on their web page - worked really well to sort out an issue I was having trying to book tickets. Lady was very helpful and perfect english of course.

There is actually a senior discount, but that is only when booking a cabin only (not on the full trip/full board).

Maybe there is a similar discount for kids 4-15 on short trips.

That makes sense. I didn't really expect to get a Senior discount - I imagine a large percentage of the customers would be Seniors. I still can't find the info on their EURO web site. Maybe it's on the Norwegian version.

When you are booking, it does allow you select Children (4-15) or infants (0-3). I did a search on their site and could find no reference to what this means price wise. I suspect as someone else posted that 4-15 years are full fare.

And as a side issue - just noticed there is a Seniors option. Do they get a discount? I can do a dummy booking to see if it makes a difference, but I don't know if an Australian Senior would be eligible or just EU members.

Thank you for your response.

 

I prefer emails from Norway direct, rather than a third party. Let me know how you go.

Not a 3rd party site. These are all Hurtigruten, just aimed at different markets and in different languages. Just go up to the MENU in the top right. It has a number of options such as Global (EURO), United Kingdom (GBP), Norway (NOK) etc.

One thing I have noticed is that the different country sites have different offers. The UK site had return flights to Bergen etc, the Norway site had flights Oslo to Bregen, and Kirkenes back to Oslo. The Euro site didn't seem to have any deals. I booked on the Norway site in Krone and it seemed the best deal. Auto confirmation was in Norwegian, but followup email confirmation was in English. I must sign up for email deals and see what happens.

Edit - I suspect it depends on what site you select from the menu. The Euro site lists most countries including Australia, but the GB site is limited to the UK. Maybe select the UK site to force it to English?

Thanks for the suggestions. We have 60 days in Europe, & we like to spend at least 2 nights in each place to avoid fatigue. I'll probably make it 3 nights in Bergen and if the weather is OK do the Norway in a Nutshell trip from there.

Regarding internet, I paid ZERO for internet and had as much internet as I wanted. What is mean is that it was unecessary to pay extra. I have TMobile and my phone/data plan includes, no extra charge or special plans, international data. There are NO roaming charges. Also free texting as well. Phone calls 20cents/min but I can text/FB message so no need to call.

 

On my Sept 2016 voyage, Bergen RT to Trondheim, I posted regularly on FB, IG and all. No problem connecting to towers. There was usually 3/4G service. If I was somewhere where there was wifi, I connected to that.

 

Tmobile for an international regular traveler is essential.

Is the TMobile plan from USA or Europe? I'm from Australia and roaming charges in the EU with my Telco is way too high, so looking to buy a local SIM card so I can 'roam like at home' within the EU.

Strange - I though I'd replied to thank Hallasm for the blog link, but seems to have vanished. Anyway, loved the videos. I can't believe how smooth the seas were, and the weather also looked better than I was expecting. Just the luck of the draw I guess - expect the worst, but hope for the best.