mr walker

just of Brilliance this morning (Çruisin' Country charter). Our waiter last night said the ship is going to Eden, Adelaide & Hobart for today's departure.  

Yes glad you could catch up - I am reminded of Tracey & my dinner with Les at Raymond’s a couple of years ago now. Great dinner!!

Filled in 'enquiry/interest' form for Grand Princess Syd-Hawaii-Syd 37N in Oct '25 when the emails came out. Had a missed call from our planner yesterday & today received an email with booking for the cruise with 10% deposit required by 15Dec. BB mid balcony on Baja deck.

Off on Brilliance tomorrow, so will have to give it some thought. Sth Pacific, Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga & NI sounds pretty good 🙂 

20 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

 I just got off Brillance and I didn’t have hot water in my cabin,which was a annoyance

not a big problem .

I just had a bit of a widge when paying my bill and Royal is giving me a full refund on the cruise. 

 

I'll give that a go tomorrow when we board BR for the Cruisin' Country charter 😉 I'm sure I can find something wrong 🙂 

How was Brilliance Chilli?

It's going to be hard having to pay for drinks on RC - advice is that D drinks etc do not apply on the charter cruise 😦 No OBC and no freebies!!!!!!

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

matching shirts from Lowe's, the type I detest. 

C'mon Mic, you and Rosie in matching 'loud' Lowes shirts is the go! 🤣

It will be compulsory to all wear matching outfits when/if we ever get the Aus/NZ CC cruise happening.

I recall the photos of the American couple who wear matching outfits every day of the cruise - a different one each day 😮

On 11/23/2023 at 9:03 PM, arxcards said:

My nightmare is when I get to the ship and realise my passport is still at home.

1 hour ago, gbenjo said:

That is a regular occurrence with many embarkation days.  

Always a worry for me. I am a double, triple, quadruple checker & then one more time for luck 🙂

When I regularly flew OS for work DW would think I was mad. She would watch me put the passport in my carry-on bag. She'd then watch me check again a few minutes later, and then when I pick up the bag & my wallet, phone etc I'd check again. I'd check again as I went out the door. Often our regular shuttle driver would ask just before we pulled away "has everyone got their passports" & I'd check one more time.

45 minutes ago, Bubbeh said:

and that in itself is a major part of Australian culture.

I agree, but don’t expect that many survey respondents were ranking culture based on sport

3 hours ago, Bubbeh said:

Clearly this was written, assessed and awarded by someone who'd never been to Mandurah!

My first thought was actually that the people who voted for Melbourne having the best culture must have never been to Melbourne, or at least not spent much time there, or perhaps the problem is that they haven't spent enough time elsewhere 😮

All my life I have heard Melbourne has the best culture, the best shopping, the best coffee, the best food etc etc. My experience is that they do not excel in any of these, but I admit that they are the sporting capital of the country, and indeed perhaps the world. 

6 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

Refidex = street directory 

 

 Sydney born & bred - was always a "Gregorys".

Now a GPS 🙂 

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Welcome to the party, which has been going since 2017 !

How many pies do you reckon have been consumed in that time mate ? - I reckon we have all had our fair share 😁 🥧 

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

I can't get over though, the number of passengers that have to find free wifi and stay glued to their devices, even on coaches and buses, missing the scenery 😪

Yes, it's amazing that people pay thousands to travel to a 'free' wi-fi spot, far more important it seems than seeing or doing anything at the destinations. For some, the main focus is getting online asap to make contact with others, post on social media (food photos) & play games on their phone 😮

If I was working in the excursions dept of the cruiseline I would be selling tours that offer free wi-fi at some point of the tour - you would likely sell a lot more 'tours' 🙂 

Also, I doubt too many consider the security aspect of free public wi-fi in a foreign country.

1 hour ago, gbenjo said:

That’s because they knew you were  a Queenslander 😂😂😂😂

They are easily recognised - evenly balanced from having a chip on both shoulders 🙂 

Hope all’s going OK mate - I’ll have a crownie in your honour  🙂 

14 hours ago, yungyung said:

I am not a plant for anyone. I’m over 80 years old so don’t post things unless I have something useful to say. Doesn’t happen much on CC.

I wasn't seriously suggesting you were a plant - it was a joke based on some others (perhaps on CC with another username) re-appearing after a long time to make a comment. Sorry if I offended you.

I'm glad you are over 80 and still cruising - only hope it is the same for me.

Stay safe & enjoy.

Cheers

7 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Some ports have weird rules for ship's services. 

I recall reading about issues on sailings out of Galveston, where non-Texan beer had to have Texan sales tax added to the price until the ship reached 'international waters' & then some other rules applied. Caused a lot of complaints by the early onboard drinkers. 

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

One attraction was that we often travel with a group of friends, and NCL handle groups well. We also liked the pub lunches at O'Sheehan's, with grilled sandwiches, chips, on-tap beers and sports screens.

Wow. Lunch in a pub with friends with beers and sports - sounds perfect. Count me in next time Geoff - doesn't even need to be on a ship 🙂 

Hope you both come good soon. Stay safe

4 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Grand Princess. October 16th. 2025

4 hours ago, cheznandy said:

Grand Princess, 16th Oct 2025, board in Sydney or Brisbane.

They have also split it, so you can do to Hawaii or return. Great for those of us that don't have the time to do 35/37 nights.

We did Sydney to Hawaii in 2010 on the dawn Princess and I don't think they have offered it since.

3 hours ago, sewgood said:

Thanks for that.

I'm a happy little camper now.

 

I found it and it is for 37 nights and includes port stops in Raiatea (maybe this replaces Bora Bora), Nuku'alofa and Norfolk Island.😄

Thanks Geoff for the information. I am now looking at us doing this cruise (Syd-Syd) 37N - no flights 🙂 . Let's see if I can arrange it! It's only money, right? 🙂 

Intrigued about poster "yungyung" - joined CC over 10 years ago & then zilch until 2 posts within minutes of each other yesterday, both attacking P&O Aust on a thread about VOS.

Maybe a RC plant? 🙂 😮

Guess they were pretty busy on the 200+ cruises.

22 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

 The main thing is to get off the ship early. Don't hang around having a lesiurely breakfast and waiting for the crowd to clear, because by the time you get on land, the choice of tours will be less. 

For this reason, we almost always have tours (with locals) booked ahead of time. Then we are able to have a leisurely breakfast & get off & join our tour at appointed time. Note: this doesn't work so well on Fiji time, where you may have a leisurely breakfast followed by a leisurely wait for the tour to depart 🙂 

12 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Can someone please explain to me why our currency is so weak and why cruiselines don't take this into account when they are charging for extras on top of the high cost of the cruise.  

Ask 10 economists & you’ll get 10 different answers. The value is somewhat based on the strength of the Aus economy vs other countries. People make & lose lots of money trying to make money on Fx rates.

The cruise lines are not making extra, just charging in $A to the equivalent USD amount.

Its less than 10 years ago when the $A was higher than USD & our cruise bill was less in $A than USD - we were happy then 😁

Oops - typed wrong year. Majestic cruise is 10Feb 2024 not 2023 😳 Port stop in Vila showing 8am - 6pm.

This is second itinerary change - with Noumea going from first to last port

Just received notification from Princess that Mystery Is now off our itinerary for Majestic Princess 10Feb '23 replaced by Vila due to "Cruise Ship Congestion".

Was looking forward to Mystery Is again, but now the opportunity for duty free from Vila 🙂  3 ports in Fiji and the 'Paris of the Sth Pacific' are the other stops. 

received email from a TA, and then 30mins later direct from Princess 🙂 

13 hours ago, gbenjo said:

You and a couple of  hundred others 😂 I will should  be up on deck scanning you in, so see you then.

Yes, see you then.