3littlepigs

Does that taste like coffee you get at Starbucks?

No! It actually tastes good! ;):D;)

The Italian one does anyway, the other one probably tastes like Starbucks.

I am not really a coffee snob but do like it to be made properly with decent beans and not burnt (never had a decent cup in the whole 3 weeks we travelled across the USA even the fancy cafe's in NYC that raved about their coffee were blah!:eek:) I think Australians must have very different coffee tastes to Americans. But we all agree that cruise ship stuff is undrinkable!

Looking forward to trying the Explorations coffee if its Lavazza, hoping they have a good barista!

I saw a price list for Explorations Cafe somewhere and couldn't believe how cheap it was...bet there is a looooong queue in the morning :)

If he is looking for dramatic scenery from the actual ship you really can't beat Halong Bay, you sail up through the islands to get to the anchor point, it's lovely. And is you are docked at the Ocean terminal in Hong Kong you are smack bang in the middle of the city with incredible views from the ship.

I would choose the Singapore to Hong Kong trip for that reason. For info, Halong Bay is not particularly near to Hanoi, its about 4 hours by car.

In terms of visas we have organised both Vietnamese and Indian visas in the last year and they were both quite straightforward neither was more difficult than the other. Indian one just requires a special sized photo.

We did a short cruise on Sun Princess and decided it wasn't for us for a number of reasons but the real deal breaker is the lack of anytime dining. Princess Australia seems to live in the dark ages!

I used to say who'd bother with a two or three days but as you can see I am off to check out Voyager today for 3 days. Its a great way to check out a new ship, value you for money? Probably not! But I just consider it a weekend away with friends and we all have a good time. If you are not into the party atmosphere be warned sometimes these shorties are booze cruises with all that entails. The ones between Sydney and Melbourne or Brisbane are much quieter but you do have the added cost of flying home.

 

Sue

That explains all the pax with just overnight bags at Circular Quays this morning, I thought it was odd to see cruisers with so little luggage!

Love to know what you think of the ship, it desperately needs a paint job on the outside! I'm sure it's fine inside though!

Have a great trip!

May not be relevant but we had an obstructed view gty for a short cruise and ended up with the highest grade balcony. We were new to Princess.

I think it depends on how the cruise is selling and what they need to do to fill the ship.

Good Luck!

We did a Sun Princess Brisbane to Sydney a couple of years back.

It was a Booze Cruise.

The demographic on a short cruise was very different to a longer cruise, lots of bucks and hens nights a real Boozathon!

Good part was we got to have a good look at the ship and decide it really wasn't our sort of thing. And we were a group of 10 so it was nice to spend time together.

Also got me hooked on balcony cabins!

I wouldn't just sit back and assume the bank will sort it out. Follow up with RCCL and the bank regularly, sometimes they need a shove. We had a problem with a MasterCard that went on for 3 months and had to be escalated to the highest level at CBA before anyone took notice of what we were trying to tell them from the beginning! Incredibly frustrating and stressful!

Document every contact with the company and the bank so you can refer them back to it if necessary.

Good luck I hope it is all sorted quickly.

A couple of years back I bought Clinique at about a third if the price we pay here in Sydney, but the dollar was higher then.

We are just off RCCL, I imagine their prices are similar, I got my daughter a 200ml ( that's a double size) dramatically different moisturising lotion for about US$38 and the cleanser she likes which is called something like mild facial wash for about US$15. So MUCH cheaper than home.

Any ship that sails through Australia or NZ with Clinique at these sort if prices sells out very quickly so no problems around here with old stock :)

Thanks for all the great info!

Glad to see it doesn't make any difference. Our next cruise goes to some ports where doing the ships excursions are pretty much the only way to go, one trip we booked some time backed is already fully booked.

With our sailing credits and spending we will easily go up a category with this next cruise.

If you are leaving from the OPT there is a desk just past immigration we claimed our bits and pieces back there before we left in December

Just wondering whether you get mariner society credits for shore excursions booked before you sail or whether its just based on the total of your onboard account at the end of the cruise. We have booked a few things for our next cruise because it's likely some trips will be full ( one already is) it made me wonder whether we would have received the extra credit had we waited and booked on board.

Not worried about it, just the accountant in me being overly analytical!:D

We picked ours up yesterday from the Australian equivalent. It was easy. Fill in the online forms print out attach the proper sized photo and send in. I opted to deliver and pick up in person, got there when they opened in the morning, waited a little. Very friendly staff checked everything was ok. You can pay to get a text message once they are ready to collect or they send you an email. We put our applications in on 21 December and even with all the shutdowns over Christmas they were still ready yesterday. Cost under A$100 each. Not sure shy some are paying a lot more unless they are using a visa service, but even if you do that you still have to fill in the online forms which are the hardest part!

Don't stress about it, have a go, you will be fine!

Maybe look at an Obstructed view outside, you get light and it's often a very similar price to an inside.

We have done everything from inside to suite and have settled on a balcony as a minimum (although after our last RCCL trip it would be suite minimum on them! ) we do spend time in our cabin and like the fresh air.

Prefer HAL over X with RCCL a long way behind!

I have only very recently heard the term upper middle Bogan...before that it was always said CUBS which stands for Cashed Up Bogans.

For our overseas friends the best examples of CUBS I have seen are the Kardashian's on TV!

Lots of them on RCCL!

In fact my teenage daughter christened Radiance of the Seas Boganville!

Maybe I misunderstood the article but I read it as you could have 1 gallon per person without paying tax.

Here its half that amount and the ships just restrict the amount they sell to each passenger to the limit.

No hassles, no lines, no stress.

I don't think anyone has anything to worry about:)

Good to see NZ giving tourists a gentle reminder of the law!

Basically its "Our Country Our Rules"

We make the laws tourists don't get to question them. If they want to enter our countries they abide by our laws, not sure of any country on the planet where that's not the case. Whilst we don't need to give a reason for our laws, its for the survival of our agriculture industries. Doesn't matter whether you find it heavy handed or not...its the law.

Yes they will allow most prepackaged biscuits and sweets but only if you declare them. If you don't they are within their rights to be as heavy handed as they want. They can fine you whether its prepackaged or otherwise because the law in Australia and NZ is declare ALL food.

Take the attitude that you know better than the customs officer and see how you get on...they have made a whole lot of reality TV shows on that very subject. Us Aussies and Kiwis love to sit back and laugh at the tourists being caught because they are arrogant enough to think they are better than the law.

We are lovely easy going friendly people...as long as you play the game by our rules:D:D:D

Forgot to say...strongly agree on the mobility issue.

You have to be able to get up or down into the runabout.

We thought it was a great way to get into town, much nicer than the usual buses or taxis.

They were also offering Hideaway island tours.

There was a bigger boat in town offering $10 trips back to the ship from the waterfront near the ladies pop up markets.

Hire a car.

Plenty to see and do without sharing the experience with 2000 other people at the same time!

Some places lend themselves to cruising...I don't think you can get a good feel for Australia by spending a few hours at a time in places that Han accommodate large cruise shops.

Part of the joy of FNQ is being able to get out and about in the countryside and the rainforest and deserted beaches. You won't get that on a cruise.

Enjoy two different holidays in one!

Noumea

HO HO bus was $5 when bought with other tours, not sure if IRS the same price if you buy it by itself. Definitely don't buy it on ship. There were other short excursions available where you are dropped off from $10.

Lifou

I hope the cruise line are paying the locals a LOT of money to be able to land passengers here.

We were horrified at the damage the cruise ship trade has done to the beach where the tenders dock. The beach is tiny and strewn with litter, coral dead (crushed underfoot) until you get a fair distance from shore...it's still not much more than waist deep 50 metres from shore. The coral there is ok, some nice fish. My daughter saw a turtle.

We were first off in the morning. Found a spot for our towels then snorkelled for a couple of hours, swam back to the beach and stood up to discover a beach and water as crowded as Bondi on a hot summer day...headed back to the ship and had a nice quiet swim there.

You don't need money, there us nothing to buy unless you aren't going back to the ship for meals.

Port Vila

You now have the option of using a water taxi (small runabout boat) to get to town or hideaway. They were charging $5 each to take you across the bay to the wharf on the far dude of the supermarket, two minutes walk to town.

Buses were charging $5 per person at the port gate. The current local price us apparently 150 vatu. Good luck with negotiating that!

The duty free past the pub at the end of town was the cheapest long lines by the afternoon.

The pub has toilets and claims to have free wifi but nobody could get it to work.

For the price of a drink at the numbawon cafe on the waterfront the wifi worked but slowly.

Patisserie opposite the market has a toilet up the back and good coffee, also yummy cakes...both much appreciated after the tasteless fair on Radiance!

Isle of Pines

Walk a rose the road and snorkel out in the far side of the rock island past the Seagrass beds, the water is maybe 5 metres deep visibility not the best but if you have something to tempt the fish with they will be all over you with excitement, huge variety of fish, lots of fun but take care, there can be a tidal current and the water I'd deep, take a pool noodle with you if you aren't a strong swimmer..

Beautiful island.

If you mean port wine jelly inside could he mean a frys Turkish delight?

Interesting that the different ships had different experiences of formal nights. I suspect Voyager was off to NZ and Radiance was the Islands so a different demographic altogether.

Makes for interesting cruising :)

My parents did the True North, only about 26 passengers, casual luxury, on board helicopter to whisk you up to the top of the falls and fly over Montgomery Reef, they are still raving about it years later. Best trip they ever did. It's a local firm, Aussie captain and mostly Aussie crew. If I was going it would be on that!

We were on a charter on the Volendam a couple of years back and found the food excellent so we are hoping it is still just as good. Will report back!

The Radiance food this time was way below anything we have had on Celebrity or HAL...and I whinged about how salty the Celebrity food was for part of our last cruise. The only food we have had at sea that was worse was the Sun Princess buffet we tried on a short cruise, the MDR food on Princess was much better.