tangogulf

DW and I did a 14 night cruise on Millie (2nd after being revolutionized in Feb 2019). Was Hong Kong to Singapore. A few overnight ports, Hong Kong, Phu My and Singapore. Have to say the highlight was Halong Bay. As Dabear said most ports are quite a distance from the Cities and major attractions but still worth the long travel times. We enjoyed the cruise very much. I think Solstice now does that part of the world so larger ship with more amenities and specialty restaurants. 

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

 

Why is Champagne Bay not welcoming cruise ships now?

I believe the Vanuatu govt. has banned large cruise ships from there for the time being. Reasoning is the damage to marine environment. Plus I think some of the weather they have had over the last few years has led to damage of the pier the ships used for tendering. 

On 11/29/2023 at 10:12 AM, DT1304 said:

Hi all,

 

Just a fun topic to chat about. After my post in the other thread about Ovation I got thinking about what experiences people have had with itinerary changes that worked out even better for them.

 

My experience was on my first ever cruise to South Pacific out of Sydney over New Years. When we got to the ship we were told there was a cyclone and we could not sail. We were given the option of a full refund and go home, or a 25% refund in OBC and can board the ship to enjoy the facilities and we will sail when we can.

 

I took option 2 as am not from Sydney so couldn't just go home, and had a great time on the ship. We stayed in the middle of Sydney Harbour for the New Years Eve fireworks, and then set sail at 2am on January 1st.

 

And to top it all off, we were forced to miss one of the ports and change it to Champagne Bay. What an amazing beach!!!!

 

This was on Radiance of the Seas and was the start of my cruising addiction.

 

Did any of you have any forced itinerary changes that turened out better for you?

Yes remember that one. Me and my family were on that cruise. Unforgettable NYE (No crowds, no having to jostle to get public transport home etc etc) which will never happen again. We had news helicopters flying around us all afternoon and of course lots of complaints from harbour residents that this big ship blocked their view of the festivities. 

We had a wonderful day in Champagne Bay as well, a port that is no longer welcoming cruise ships. 

Agree. We did Concierge Class on a 14 day Auckland to Sydney a few years ago now. The only thing I think of benefit was that the cabin position was excellent. Was a birthday cruise for me and my wife, not telling me, booked a birthday cake in the main dinning room for dinner that night. They forgot. When she called down to ask what happened within 90mins a cake arrived at our cabin with 3 stewards singing happy birthday and a nice bottle of Champaign as an apology. Then our cabin attendant decorated our door with lovely happy birthday stuff. Then guest services sent up a good bottle of Red. Couldn't have been happier. We shared all this stuff with our cabin neighbors who were just the best and we still keep in contact! This is why we still do keep going back to Celebrity.

3 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Looking more and more like he’ll never have the pleasure of checking me in again. (but he has only had that pleasure once, or maybe twice). 

Probably haven't said this enough but have always enjoyed reading your posts. I do hope you get the chance to enjoy the cruise experience once more. 

Yep. Grand suite and above get full access to Coastal Kitchen as well as the Concierge lounge. Plus free Wi-Fi and all and more benefits of the Key. So if you can do it it's worth it. 

On Ovation we are always in a suite and use the Concierge lounge each morning for breakfast. Nice and quiet and we don't need hot food in the morning so coffee, toast and cereal is all good. 

Have needed advice from Graham a number of times. Always helpful, always friendly. An asset to this forum. 

My wife and I did a 14 day Asia cruise out of Hong Kong just after she was refurbished. She is a fabulous ship with a great crew at the time. Love the enhancements which have made an older ship pretty much new again. I think you will definitely enjoy your time on her.  

Edge pricing is way too high. But expected I guess. 

This week finally received the full refund on our Apr20 cruise which was cancelled early March. 

Voyager also leaving us after next season and Serenade seems to be only doing one season in Aus. 

Also Celebrity Solstice will leave us after this season as she is going to replace Celebrity Millennium for Asian summer cruises and also Alaska as Millennium is moving to be based in Florida. 

Royal Caribbean Radiance and Voyager class ships do, though the area near the stern is full of machinery vents etc so can be a bit unpleasant to traverse.

We were due to sail transpacific to Hawaii on 20th April on Ovation. 

I have enormous praise for the hotels, private tour companies and even Jetstar in terms of providing refunds because of the cancellation of this cruise. Initially Jetstar was only offering a future travel voucher but when I explained the situation they have agreed to a refund. The hotels were booked as non-refundable bookings as well but didn't bat an eye when we asked for a refund and credited the refunds back to us within 5-7 days. Jetstar will take some weeks as will Royal Caribbean. 

Only hold out now is Hawaiian Airlines where we had some inter-island flights booked. Have asked for a refund after explaining the situation and am awaiting a response but will claim on travel insurance if I get a negative response. 

But all up - we're pretty much getting all our money back and yes due to the drop in the AUD where we paid in USD we'll make a small gain. 

I very much doubt things will ever get back to the way they were pre-COVID-19. Until such time as a vaccine has been developed AND is in widespread use there will always be a risk that you could become infected (unless you have already contracted the virus and recovered and have immunity). 

The other scary factor here is, that like the seasonal flu, which is caused my mutations of flu virus there is a school of thought that COVID-19 could come back seasonally in it's own right but once an initial vaccine is developed yearly vaccines could be available. If you don't like needles perhaps you better get used to them!

In any case I think if the cruise lines themselves manage to survive, it will be at least a year if not more before they can start limited cruises. Assuming any nation around the world is game enough to let them operate in their area. 

It's a shame but things will change. 

Yes saw this and some people who have disembarked these cruises are still travelling.  

We are booked on 20th April Ovation cruise from Sydney to Hawaii. Expect this to be cancelled as ship wont be able to cover it's planned itinerary. We had two ports in NZ followed by 3 in Tahiti (Which now has it's own restrictions on cruise ships). Don't even know how Radiance and Ovation would be able to get back to the US ATM with all the port restrictions which will likely be extended.

NZ just banned cruise ships from midnight  Mar 14th to end if June. Wow. Doubt there will be any transpacifics going ahead given French Polynesia’s position as well. 

On 2/29/2020 at 10:58 AM, Chiliburn said:

2022 the new island is supposed to open and wonder is due in one year I believe.

Ovation was fairly new.

 

Yes Ovation was launched in March 2015 and arrived in Australian waters 9 months later. 

Wonder of the seas is destined for the Asian Market based on current info from RCL so it makes some kind of sense that they may bring it to Australia during the Northern Winter period. That's what they did for Ovation and what Voyager does currently. 

3 hours ago, matj2000 said:

Cruise ship Lobster = Amatuer move.

 

Order the Duck...

Yeah - never ever had nicely cooked lobster on a cruise ship. Hard to do it well for so many over an extended dinner service period. 

Strange for a 3 year old ship to be having a major dry dock so soon.

Spectrum reaches OPT before it leaves Athol Buoy. Dunno how that works!!

Ruby Princess in Fiji for next few days then Tonga - or given the weather perhaps not!

All ships I have been on allow smoking in the designated smoking area on the pool deck on embarkation day but of course not on the port side deck 4 or 5 area until re-fuelling is complete. In fact usually those areas are blocked off anyway during this activity. 

On 1/14/2019 at 5:37 AM, Jim_Iain said:

There is not a specific app available for each ship.   There is only one App and currently it is only for 4 ships -   Constellation, Edge, Equinox and Reflection.   The Roll out has been very slow.    Initially it was launched with just three ships -  Edge was added in November.   

 

I like you am amazed that it is taking so long to roll out as I would like to use it for my sailing. 

Also on Millennium as of it's Dry Dock earlier this year. 

We usually cruise from our home city (Sydney AU) so we usually arrive at the terminal 12:30 - 1:30pm. Usually things have quietened down by this time and we usually breeze through check in, cabin is usually ready and we can go have lunch!

When cruising from other than our home city depends on Hotel check out time. This year we did a cruise out of Honk Kong so checked out by 11am and arrived at the terminal by 11:45. A little bit of a wait before we were able to board but it was fine.