Pushka

I'm sorry you likely won't be progressing through the Suez Canal. It's fascinating. Hard to believe we safely did this just a few months ago and into Israel but it shows how quickly the world can change, literally overnight. On the other hand Africa sounds fascinating and hope they can get some fabulous excursions happening for you. Let us know when you get a chance. It must be horrendous for the various cruise lines to sort out. Viking World cruises are meant to traverse Suez I think in March. They haven't told the World Cruisers anything yet.

When I took her on Princess she was 82 and not going to travel overseas again. She had been overseas multiple times but her passport had expired and didn't want to renew it as being a pensioner it wasn't going to happen. I took her overseas when she was 80 to Hong Kong and Singapore and then her passport expired. She loved travel. She went into China long before most tourists were able to as her friend was a TA and had special connection in China She also became legally blind in her fifties. So not able to drive at that age. Before then, she simply didn't need to drive so never got a licence. I had my full license by the time I was 17 as we could back in those days.

My mum didn't have a passport nor drivers license but simply used a Govt identity card (looks like a drivers licence - she's never driven a car) and this was fine for a Princess cruise within Australian ports.

Our only foray into the heated lounge relaxation area was shared with a guy who snored so loudly it was extremely unpleasant to everyone else. We walked out and never returned. Sleeping on backs is a sure way to initiate snoring. We’ve been in Aqua twice and didn’t know about the breakfast until the last day. 😱

We were so fortunate to complete the Passage to India cruise just last May that went from Mumbai, to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt (multiple ports) and Israel. I can't imagine when it will be possible for that cruise to sail again.

Yes and if it's the same as Australia, the deposit you pay isn't refundable. Ours isn't quite that high but it's a chunk.

There's still Blu for breakfast isn't there?

For my cruise next year, it's more expensive to pre pay using Hollands rate than if I used the ING card onboard to settle on the day. ING rate is the same as the currency exchange rate of the day. I'll check later in the year to see if HAL rate improves. If the HAL website allowed me to select US currency instead of their conversion rate then it would cost me less than what HAL currently wants me to pay. I would have expected that pre paying these amounts would mean that it was all fully paid.

It’s a great card for travel and as long as you deposit $1000 the month prior and do 5 transactions - eg I do 5 separate items at Woolies, then 5 of the international atm fees that month are credited back.

Yes, mmv. Not from ING which is the same as the currency rate. I wish we could pay online in USD as I would be better off than letting HAL do the exchange. Celebrity has a much better exchange rate.

I was looking at pre paying to get the better exchange rate but for the AUD HAL's exchange rate is woeful for us.

A few years ago now but on Equinox or maybe Sillhouette we said we missed Indian food. A couple of nights later we were presented with a full on Indian buffet for just the two of us. Wonderful. And it was a classic case of 'I'll have what they are having". 😂.

So I've finally found out where to pay this but the exchange is not good at all, there's no bargains there and it works out a few AUD more to prepay. If the AUD improves slightly then we won't be prepaying. Also there's a discussion on the general boards that even if you prepay, some are still required to pay more if there's an increase as that prepayment is logged each day onboard and so a gap accumulates.

Go into MYJ. Click the three lines on the top left, then select Account. The second tab on that page is Request Invoice. When that arrives it will have all the port times listed.

So I'm new to HAL. Just booked Japan for next year and took the All inclusive package which includes the bev package that is one down from the highest. Now I'm curious. Does this package not include the tips for drinks either? I'm going to pre pay the daily charge. In manage your booking, whereabouts does this appear please. Just checked the fine print. Tips included. Choose from a large selection of wine, beer, spirits and cocktails, plus non-alcoholic options like sodas, specialty coffees and more – with service charges on us.

Thankyou. This thread had me second guessing. Ours is one way, Tokyo to Osaka. In 2025 so a while to wait. For April 6 from memory.

The most important thing. Itinerary.

We are going with Azamara. Very port intensive. April 2025 for Sakura blossom. Princess uses Diamond. It's fine but not as nice as Celebrity ships.. It was also dominated by a passenger group from a particular nation who likely won't be allowed to travel to Japan for the moment.

Thanks for confirming. So it isn't just cruise ships that get attention then. As it should be.

Not sure about experiences in the USA but if there's a Noro outbreak or Covid or 'flu' in any of our aged care homes, child care centres hospitals etc then they must notify health authorities and likely visitors are either refused entry or are masked and sometimes tested and the facility (child care) might close down for a couple of days. My grandson was due to have surgery in December last year. On the day of his arrival he was refused the surgery because they considered he may be infectious from whatever bug was going around at the time. The issue with cruises is that it involves a mass of people. Nursing homes are a controlled space. Australia was introduced to covid en masse by a cruise ship, (not Celebrity) where 900 cases occurred and 22 deaths, just in Australia alone from this one cruise. We'd had very few cases prior but this changed everything. So cruise ships aren't seen amongst the general population as being a wonderful thing and the authorities screen them. We only stopped testing passengers for Covid a few months ago. We've been on two cruises post covid. We are fine but we completely understand why in Australia anyway, authorities act as they do. And cruise ships aren't the only ones impacted if there's an outbreak here. We just don't hear about aged care homes etc unless we are personally impacted. So Australia goes nuts in general, for any outbreak and not just to cruise ships. We have intense biosecurity arrangements at all airports and ports and sniffer dogs meet pretty much every plane and ship.

It is also why cruises get a rotten reputation amongst the local population. Similar experience just before Christmas in Australia where a ship known to have both a Covid and Noro outbreak - they got all passengers off the ship and into the next port so they could clean the ship. No consideration whatsoever for the locals.

We all need to thank you! So Thankyou. 😁

I randomly priced one today. Single was $10,000 approx aud and the double - $7200 aud (this was the total price not pp) for exactly the same cabin, same cruise, same inclusions. Its being discussed on an Australian Travel forum and has been noticed.

I'd give very basic info only.

Phew. Seems like I'm sorted then to eat non sushi items and a takeaway on a few days as well. It's a shame they removed the sushi from the buffet. Watching them prepare from the wonderful fish supplies was a fav past time of hubby.