Very Frequent Flyer

Mike is the CD on the Voyager. Sophie is back to AM duties.

Asys is still on board the Ovation, currently heading towards New Zealand.

Got off the Explorer 9 days ago.  Aysy was still the Activities manager.

Platinum rooms have double beds instead of bunks. You also go to a different dining car and lounge to Gold passengers.

We all know the 100ml limit on liquids in our carry on luggage on international flights, but does anyone know if this 100ml limit applies if we sail out of Australia on cruise ships? I can't seem to find the answer using Google as all it mention is departures from international airports. I'm thinking of bringing 2 bottles of wine on board the ship. RCI recommends taking the wine in my carry on luggage instead of checked luggage. If the 100ml limit apply, then this would contradict RCI's recommendations.

How does Royal IQ work? I've downloaded the app on my phone. I know I need to log on the ship's wi-fi to use the app, but how does the app pick up my details? Once I've opened the app for the first time on board the ship, do I put in my cruise details?

Also, Lantau Island taxis cannot go to the city.

Taxis in the city (red taxis) cannot go to Tai O. Only those based on Lantau Island are allowed. Lantau Island taxis are blue in color.

Thank you all for your responses so far. I guess I can only try and see if they can upgrade me to Diamond.

I am currently Emerald with 59 C & A points. Next month, I will be on a 14 night cruise in a junior suite, which means double points (28). Therefore, by the end of the cruise, I will have 87 points, taking me up to Diamond.

I have heard that during the upcoming cruise, I can ask Guest Services / Loyalty desk to update my profile so that I can take advantage of the Diamond benefits. Is this correct? This is because I will have reached the 80 points required to qualify for Diamond.

Also, the buses on Lantau Island are not as frequent as those on HK Island or Kowloon.

In port from 7am - 5 pm, can 2 couples easily do a visit to Tai O and back in that amount of time? Has anyone done this on their own?

Conservatively, it will take around 1.5 to 2 hours to get to Tai O (MTR to Tung Chung, then a bus to Tai O). You will also need to consider the time it takes you to get from the cruise terminal to the nearest MTR station.

Tai O is not all that big and can be easily navigated on your own in a couple of hours. It's a small fishing village with lots of houses on stilts and shops selling dried seafood.

There are lifts in the terminal and if your case has 4 wheels it is easy to push.I am 60 and used to lifting weights but my wife is tiny and she has on occasions pushed the cases.

 

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It can take quite a while waiting for the lifts on departure morning, especially if you're on the lower decks.

We have $400 obc on an upcoming cruise as compensation for redeployment of our original booking.

Is this on the Ovation?

What's the name of the manager at Chops? Was it a female manager, shortish in height? If so, she treated everyone so well on my cruise on the Explorer last January. Nothing was too difficult for her and she even let me have breakfasts at Chops (normally reserved for grand suite or higher guests and Diamond or higher C & A guests).

Hi, our ship will dock at 6:30am, 2 at sea days before back to Sydney from NZ. We are 4 adults and will do express check out and walk off the ship ourselves, assuming the ship will dock at the Rock and we want to fly to Brisbane in that morning.

 

The question is: can we make the 10am flight? The next flight is 11am but we want to maximize our time in Brisbane for the day, then fly home the next day. We will take the taxi from the cruise terminal to the airport. Someone mention that we can walk off as early as 7am and just wondering how is RCCL.

 

Also, how does the RCCL clear the custom before going back to Sydney from NZ, do they do it the night before for passengers or the morning the day we disembark?

 

Thanks in advance.

Ship normally docks at 6-6:30am and they generally start disembarking passengers after 7am. Customs and immigration is all processed at the cruise terminal in Sydney, but that's a fairly straight forward process and you should be out of the terminal by 8am.

If I were you, I would catch the train from Circular Quay station (about a 5 to 10 minute walk from the cruise terminal). From there, it's only a few stops to the domestic airport station and you should be there in about 15 minutes. At that time of the morning, trains leave Circular Quay every 5 or so minutes. Sydney traffic is extremely bad so I would advise against taxis if you have a 10am flight.

Pros - you get off early, you don't have to put your bags out the night before so you have them for getting ready in the morning, you don't have to find your bags with the rest of the luggage when you depart.

 

Cons - you have to get off early, which may not be desirable if you are in a hurry, you have to tote your bags down the stairs and through customs/immigration w you

 

 

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Is it mandatory that you must get off early though? While I know they call the self assist disembarkation first, it was my understanding that you can get off the ship at anytime up to the final group being called. It's not as though the crew will scan the ship to make sure all self assist passengers have disembarked the ship before releasing the next groups of passengers.

One disadvantage of self assist disembarkation is that you may have to wait a while for the lifts. I doubt anyone will be able to carry their heavy suitcases down the stairs at the end of the cruise!!!!!

Thesedays I tend to disembark with my suitcases rather than leaving them out the night before. My mother in law had a bad experience in Vancouver a couple of years ago. All her suitcases were placed outside the door the night before, with the same luggage lag on all the suitcases.

However, when it was time to collect the suitcases inside the cruise terminal, she noticed one of the suitcases was missing. It was the one that had her medicine (yes, an error of judgement on her behalf). She was panicking as she had a flight to catch after the cruise. She was told to complete a missing baggage form and go to the airport, in the hope that the suitcase would be found and transferred to her next destination. Just as she was about to leave the terminal, her missing suitcase turned up....... in another cart belonging to suitcases with a different tag number.

Seems rather expensive. I wonder how much of the ship the tour would cover in such a short time. The tour on the Explorer flew by so quickly and we were rushed from one place to another.

Just checked My Calendar in the Cruise Planner section of the RCI website. The All Access Tour on the Ovation is only 75 minutes in duration, from 10am to 11:15am. Not that long at all. The previous one I attended (on the Explorer) was 3 and a half hours in duration and well worth it.

Do you mean the Mandarin Oriental? If so, yes! We loved it, we stayed in a club room which has its own separate reception and basically free everything, breakfast, cocktails in the evening etc. Worth every penny.

I know about Mandarin Oriental. It was outside my price range. The one i booked is definitely Marina Mandarin.

Don't forget there is so much to see and do at the airport that you can easily spend an entire day there.

I've asked RCI a few times and they have always told me the only way to upgrade is to cancel and rebook. In all cases, it was not worth it as I would lose the deposits paid (or whatever percentage of the fare depending on how close it was to the departure date). I would lose all the OBC from the original booking.

Timetable in English.

http://www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KTCT-ferry-notice-ENG.pdf

She's actually not that much wider and longer than Explorer. Only taller. Hence it was fairly easy for her to leave the harbour.

Ovation has just departed OPT. The harbour look so empty now. Hope the weather will be kinder when she returns on 30/12.