tangogulf

Ah, gotcha. I'm new to this whole cruising thing. Can you tell me whether this suites lounge is where we will have our evening cocktails? I wasn't sure whether they would be in Coastal Kitchen or whether they would be in a separate lounge?

For those in a Grand Suite or above the Suites Lounge (Well Concierge Club) on Deck 12 Aft will be where the nightly cocktail hour (well 3.5hrs actually from 5pm to 8:30pm) is held. Bit out of the way but should have spectacular aft views.

Nice one. After 4 Sea days (Including the longish time they spent in Milford Sound) I'm sure passengers will be pleased to make landfall again!

In Australia if you booked with a local TA or even with RCI direct I believe you would be forced to cancel and rebook at whatever the current rate is losing whatever benefits such as OBC that you may have had included in your original reservation.

Terribly inflexible rules we have here in OZ.

It is envisaged that with the new check in system (next generation) that the Ovation is using, "mobile" check in agents (and lots of them), on line check in at home and no issuing of seapass cards in the terminal ( they will be in your stateroom) and nominated check in times there will be virtually no queues so the need for priority lines is eliminated.

Once you drop your luggage off there will be check in agents standing in the forecourt of the terminal with handheld tablets and scanners etc and once they do a quick check of your setsail and a "verbal" health questionaire, your setsail is stamped and you are on your way onto the ship. The CIAs (check in agents..I just thought of that :D .. might use it) will also be spread throughout the terminal and you can be "processed" anywhere. Setsails can be reprinted photos retaken etc and if need be the old level two check in area is set up to handle any "problem" documents .

 

Obviously this system is new to us in Sydney but once any little wrinkles are ironed out and, judging by the first embark last Thursday, it will be a smooth, hassle free, speedy check in for everybody. I think many people do resist change but, given a chance, this new system will have them wondering how they could ever check in any other way, the old way will seem archaic.

Still have to fill in those damn Aust. Govt. Departure cards though which I see in the news they are planning to do away with in the next couple of years.

thanks for all your speculation no problem with Dunedin weather have a look at South west coast of NZ :rolleyes: Sick bags have been out for days :rolleyes: Been in Miliford Sounds since 5:30 am leavin noon :)

Sounds like they arent doing Dusky or Doubtful sounds either.

There were additional up-charge menu items on the standard Chops menu for Dry Aged beef etc. Wonder if these are included for these "Special" dinners.

We did Speights a couple of years ago ourselves. Was easy to arrange and easy to get to from where the shuttle bus dropped us.

Trying to get to the Cadbury factory on our upcoming Ovation cruise. Tried booking online for the 3rd Jan when we are there ($22 NZ) but cant book that date. Dates either side are available but of course that doesn't help. The equivalent ships excursions, and there are multiple to Cadbury's listed @ $55USD, must be all sold out as it says they cant be booked online.

Wondering if the ship has booked them out completely for the day. Might take our chances and just turn up on the day though.

W're on the 30th Dec Cruise as well. Was able to get a North Star booking for 11:30 on the first sea day and they only let you book one session online. But DW was hoping they would run North Star whilst we were going through the sounds assuming the weather is kind and we actually make it) in NZ. That would be spectacular. Will see once onboard if we can snag a session or badger our Concierge to see if they can help.

Would also be great to do North Star at night or at sunset/sunrise but probably asking too much!

How did you find out it has changed? I haven't heard anything from Celebrity and our January itinerary is still showing as Lifou when I login.

Was checking prices for friends of ours on one of the online TA's we use. Itinerary shown now no longer has Lifou but has Mare instead. Then yesterday the TA I booked our cruise with emailed to advise of the change as well.

Our March 2017 Celebrity Solstice itinerary has now changed replacing Lifou with Mare. Been to Lifou a couple of times. Never been to Mare.

Sounds like its going to be a looooong disembark/embark on these dates. Those with mobility issues are going to find things a little difficult.

Well have to await the first cruise out of Sydney to be certain.

My booking still says "My Time Dinning" so I am expecting no DD.

Nope. No time change for south pacific island cruises. Ship will stay on Sydney Time.

Went last year when it was just a "cruise" expo. Very crowded and noisy so if it's expanded to be a "travel and cruise" I can only imagine how busy it will get.

I went armed with a selection of specific cruises we were interested in. Spoke with a couple of the TA's that were there got a good price (well same or a little less than what I could get from my usual online Cruise TA). Booked, entered a competition with the same TA I booked with and ended up finding out a few days later I won $1,000 travel voucher. Put that towards the cruise. So ended up being a good day.

As others have said if you are in to brochures you can end up with a truckload of them.

Would I go again probably not.

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When on Radiance a year or so ago in Aus JD the concierge didn't have a issue with it. On Explorer last Feb and before we left the lounge for Dinner or sailaway our drinks were always freshened up before we left. Always had great service. Never have had an issue taking drinks with us out of the lounge.

So now that a few weeks have passed and also the extended 2016-17 as well as the 2017-18 Ovation seasons have been published - how did those affected with the change in schedule get on?

Did RCI provide the assistance they said they would? Hope no one ended up out of pocket. Interested to know.

That was before the extension at OPT as well, when there wasn't a land option elsewhere. It'd be harder now as part of the justification for the extension was to remove the need for that.

 

 

 

I doubt because a line decided to make some bookings late for their own commercial benefit and as a result OPT was booked out would be accepted.

Oh I wouldn't be so sure. The Govt would look at the economic benefit of the additional visits (pax spending money, provisioning the ship, port pilot and docking fees) for a ship this size. There are also per pax processing fees. So it could end up being viable for them to allow Garden Island to be used at least in $$ terms.

Just off explorer and the loyalty ambassador has the info but was reticent to share full details.. There seems to be a complication with what is planned for Legend and Ovation. But late March or early April for our region appears to be the best bet..

Don't know if this is a local thing in Australia or not. We are just off Explorer after a New Zealand Cruise which departed from Sydney. We were in a GS and we received an email from the Concierge about 1 week prior to sailing advising us to tell the baggage handlers that we were in a suite when handing over our bags and they would be tagged with suite priority stickers. First time we have encountered this.

Well the baggage guys put these large "Suite Priority" tags on our bags and they turned up at our cabin within 90mins of boarding. Nice.

You probably don't get sick because you live a normal life, have been exposed to germs, and apparently don't go crazy with trying to sanitize everything. You sound like me - I wash my hands frequently but other than that I don't go crazy with the other stuff. Coming down with something now and then actually makes our immune systems stronger as long as we don't over medicate.

Agree. But if I am paying a couple of thousand dollars for my cruise I don't want to spend 2 or 3 days stuck in my cabin sick if I at all can help it.

I understand taking precautions can't possibly eliminate the risk completely but I'd like to think it helps somewhat and also probably assists in preventing me unwittingly passing something on to others if for some reason I may have picked up something but am initially asymptomatic.

When was the last time you heard about a noro outbreak on a cruise ship???? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

And honestly, if grown adults still don't know that they should WASH THEIR EVERLOVING HANDS FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, a flyer in the stateroom of a cruise ship isn't going to suddenly teach them this point that should have been learned (and learned very well) by the time they are in kindergarten.

 

Some people are stupid.

 

Some people are nasty.

 

Some people are stupid AND nasty.

 

It's just the way of the world.

This Aussie cruise season there has been 3 outbreaks on cruise ships that have made the major News bulletins - One on Explorer (158 people), Diamond Princess (180+ people) and another princess ship IIRC. Yes you could consider these a bit of a media beat up in some respects due to the numbers fallen ill compared to total passengers and crew on board but still.

Given the prevalence of noro outbreaks lately I don't understand why the cruise companies don't highlight the hand washing etc more.

Perhaps a flyer in your stateroom on boarding day to outline the hazards and stress the hand washing/sanitiser use.

They could also take a minute during the safety drill to emphasise the point.

Also big signs in the public bathrooms would be good too.

A couple of years ago we sailed on Celebrity Solstice and their public bathrooms all had electronic doors. There were large white buttons inside and outside you just pushed with your knuckles, elbow, shoulder whatever and bingo door opened automatically. Great idea.

:eek:

 

Shocking how it unravels.

 

Anyway, here is the 'protection plan procedures my wife and I use (cruises listed below) and never sick (did get sun poisoning in Panama, my fault).

 

1. Pre-Cruise: We fly quite a bit, as family (three sons and families) is on each coast, both north and south. Lysol wipes for us, even the people next to us, to clean the trays, arm and TV and seat buttons, etc. Don't read the flying sales magazines.

 

2. Cruise: Stateroom attack, using a bar of IVORY SOAP and the hand towels with hot water, I wash the entire bathroom(s); seriously, every square inch of it. My wife does the same with every solid surface in the stateroom (she give me the TV remote and I do it 3-4 times). After wash and towel dried, we Lysol wipe everything (I mean everything).

 

3. Cruise: Room steward meet, greet and pay to change the bedding again, including the top covers. We also inquire if the party prior to ours was healthy or if they have been ill.

 

4. Cruise: Around the ship, avoid the handrails, bar counters, signing pens (we do have pens), etc.

 

5. Cruise: In the eateries, we bring our own salt and pepper (seriously, the little white and black ones, or packages). If we go to the buffet (a seriously wicked place of barbarians at the food gate), we use our napkin on the tongs and don't select stuff that others could hand handle. We also "observe" if any of the station staff are sick.

 

6. Cruise: In the pools and especially the hot tubs, we go in early, early AM after they are allowed time to refresh overnight. I we see others coming in that don't shower rinse prior to, we get out.

 

Sounds a bit over the top?

 

We don't care, it works.

 

This would not be need if the real people that can keep "things" from spreading are 'those who are sick act responsibly for the consideration of others.

 

That is rare today.

 

("ducking")

Great tip - as you are always signing for something on the ship and they hand you a pen that hoards of others have been also using.

Watching Azamara come in on the live webcams. Difficult as La Soleal is docked with the bunker barge right next to it. Azamara is taking a long time to to position itself just right to dock.

We've priority as well but still arrive 1:30pm - 2:30pm and usually get on quickly. Before this I find the bottleneck is the last step in the process - the security scanning as they don't seem to have enough scanners to really process passengers quickly.

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