Yorkies Knob

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 3/10/2021 at 2:56 PM, Ondine said:

 

I can't see a problem with having to do their shore excursions if they price them reasonably.  

 

 

It's not quite that straightforward for us as some cruises we do to catch up with family and friends at some of the ports, especially NZ cruises, so not being able to go ashore independantly would be a deal breaker for us.

 

On other cruises we have booked we've been to many of the ports before so would just stay on the ship, we'd only book an excursion if it was a new port or was going to somewhere interesting.

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Murray Princess does that too.

They'd need a fleet of buses for all their passengers. The only time we docked near them was at Mannum on our second day, which was their embarkation day, so didn't really notice how they did their excursions.

 

I think the Murray Princess needs places to dock whereas Proud Mary can just pull into any spot on the river bank that has two trees the right distance apart to tie up to, which we did a couple of times.

Edited March 11, 2021 by OzKiwiJJ

[lyndarra]

31 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They'd need a fleet of buses for all their passengers. The only time we docked near them was at Mannum on our second day, which was their embarkation day, so didn't really notice how they did their excursions.

 

I think the Murray Princess needs places to dock whereas Proud Mary can just pull into any spot on the river bank that has two trees the right distance apart to tie up to, which we did a couple of times.

MP does that too. The cruise we were on could not return through the lock as scheduled due to strong winds. They tied up to trees on the opposite bank and swung the gangplank from the boat to the shore. This was on the day we visited the Burk Salter winery. When we got back the boat had been moved a little to make the mooring more secure and we spent the night there instead of downstream of the lock. Next morning the wind had dropped enough to go through the lock. The American Queen did something similar when we were on it in 2017. It couldn't dock at its usual spot due to high water.

Like this.

 

[Vader1111]

On 3/10/2021 at 2:56 PM, Ondine said:

I can't see a problem with having to do their shore excursions if they price them reasonably. 

I suppose there's a first time for everything...  They could price them reasonably, but we've got more chance of seeing pigs flying backwards.

 

There's even less chance of this happening if they know they have a monopoly on shorex tours, and passengers can't make use of cheaper local alternatives.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Vader1111

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, Vader1111 said:

I suppose there's a first time for everything...  They could price them reasonably, but we've got more chance of seeing pigs flying backwards.

 

There's even less chance of this happening if they know they have a monopoly on shorex tours, and passengers can't make use of cheaper local alternatives.

The reverse could be the case. If (a very strong doubt here) the cruise lines only allow pax to go ashore if they are on official tours, their bookings for cruises will plummet. This would be even more so, if the cost of tours was high.

 

When cruising restarts in Australia - and it will one day - I doubt that this restricting on going ashore will apply. In the unlikely possibility that it does, I feel the cost of the tours would be reasonable. The cruise lines would be 'shooting themselves in the foot' if they insisted on pax taking expensive tours.

[MMDown Under]

16 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The reverse could be the case. If (a very strong doubt here) the cruise lines only allow pax to go ashore if they are on official tours, their bookings for cruises will plummet. This would be even more so, if the cost of tours was high.

 

When cruising restarts in Australia - and it will one day - I doubt that this restricting on going ashore will apply. In the unlikely possibility that it does, I feel the cost of the tours would be reasonable. The cruise lines would be 'shooting themselves in the foot' if they insisted on pax taking expensive tours.

I think cruise lines would be shooting themselves in the foot if they insisted on pax taking ship organised tours on any cruise in Australia or NZ.  For me that would defeat the reason for taking the cruise, as I'm destination driven.  I love exploring ports on my own.  My idea of a nightmare cruise would be one with excursions where you just follow the flag!

[NSWP]

36 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I think cruise lines would be shooting themselves in the foot if they insisted on pax taking ship organised tours on any cruise in Australia or NZ.  For me that would defeat the reason for taking the cruise, as I'm destination driven.  I love exploring ports on my own.  My idea of a nightmare cruise would be one with excursions where you just follow the flag!

I like the little stickers they put on your chest, lol. We generally did ship's shorex. So if I went on a cruise with the new shorex policies, I would be ok with that. However it is masks and booking seats in theatre or other public areas, no, not for me.

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I like the little stickers they put on your chest, lol. We generally did ship's shorex. So if I went on a cruise with the new shorex policies, I would be ok with that. However it is masks and booking seats in theatre or other public areas, no, not for me.

I have just made my first theatre bookings.  Small steps - One will be in the open, and one only for an hour.   I am not ready to book long shows inside theatres yet and only eat at outside cafes.  

Queensland Govt. just announced four people now allowed in a lift.  I'll be interested to see how cruise ships will handle their theatres and lift numbers. 

[NSWP]

13 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I have just made my first theatre bookings.  Small steps - One will be in the open, and one only for an hour.   I am not ready to book long shows inside theatres yet and only eat at outside cafes.  

Queensland Govt. just announced four people now allowed in a lift.  I'll be interested to see how cruise ships will handle their theatres and lift numbers. 

Like if every second seat has to be left empty in ship's theatres and max four in a lift, will be chaos. The Lift police will have to be on duty 24/7. Imagine at a port, when hundreds descend the lifts to the tender decks?  And tendering, if they have to socially distance on those tenders, cpacaity will be reduced by 50% at least. Will take all day to get off. But then if only pax on ship's shorex are allowed off, half the ship will stay on board anyway. So many issues to be addressed. The cruiselines and cruise staff will be paranoid.

 

I have been to the movies a couple of times in recent months and covid never stopped me from going out and eating in pubs, clubs, restaurants etc.

Edited March 12, 2021 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Like if every second seat has to be left empty in ship's theatres and max four in a lift, will be chaos. The Lift police will have to be on duty 24/7. Imagine at a port, when hundreds descend the lifts to the tender decks?  And tendering, if they have to socially distance on those tenders, cpacaity will be reduced by 50% at least. Will take all day to get off. But then if only pax on ship's shorex are allowed off, half the ship will stay on board anyway. So many issues to be addressed. The cruiselines and cruise staff will be paranoid.

Theatres are now 100% capacity.  Even my favourite little theatre in Sydney. 

Cruise lines won't be able to get passengers to queue for tickets to get off the ship like they have done in the past.  Hopefully they'll develop a better system like having tickets delivered to passengers cabins.  Mega ships will have to spend longer in ports to give passengers enough time to disembark and return to the ship.  Challenging times for the cruise industry.  

[Vader1111]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

The reverse could be the case. If (a very strong doubt here) the cruise lines only allow pax to go ashore if they are on official tours, their bookings for cruises will plummet. This would be even more so, if the cost of tours was high.

 

When cruising restarts in Australia - and it will one day - I doubt that this restricting on going ashore will apply. In the unlikely possibility that it does, I feel the cost of the tours would be reasonable. The cruise lines would be 'shooting themselves in the foot' if they insisted on pax taking expensive tours.

Conversely, they will be completely and utterly desperate to wring every possible dollar out of their passengers, to make up for the losses they've suffered during the shutdown.  Having a monopoly on shorex tours represents a perfect money making opportunity for them, so their prices are likely to be even higher than the previous extortionate rates (which were typically 2-3x that of the equivalent locally booked tours).

 

The only times I was ever willing to book ship's shorex tours were if I had excess onboard credit to use, if the ship's shorex had a complete monopoly (e.g. going to the beach at Mare), or if the tour was long enough that there was a substantial risk of being late back to the ship (e.g. day trip to Rotorua from Tauranga).

 

I am longing for my next cruise - but I won't be booking anything while the proposed rules are in place (booking theatre seats, masks in public areas, ship's shorex tour monopoly).  That's just not how I want to spend a relaxing vacation.

[mr walker]

15 minutes ago, Vader1111 said:

Having a monopoly on shorex tours represents a perfect money making opportunity for them, so their prices are likely to be even higher than the previous extortionate rates (which were typically 2-3x that of the equivalent locally booked tours).

I have read before with people saying that ship tours were x no. of times more expensive than the same tour with local tours. I must say I really have not seen this, a premium but not to that extent. Of course it is difficult to compare exactly in many cases.

When we first started cruising we mostly took ship tours. It seemed a very convenient way to get the best general overview of our limited time there, or a good way to see some specific highlight. As we visited more & more ports we started to take more local tours, not primarily based on price, more on what we wanted to experience, and the 50 people on a bus was a negative for multi-stop tours.

We continue to take both types of tours & probably sit at 50/50 ratio as of today. We have also chosen at times to enjoy the ship for a port day from time to time. As with OzKiwiwJJ, we have also spent the day with local friends & family on some port stops.

We are of course hoping for the option of both types of tours in the future .

[Vader1111]

3 hours ago, mr walker said:

I have read before with people saying that ship tours were x no. of times more expensive than the same tour with local tours. I must say I really have not seen this, a premium but not to that extent. Of course it is difficult to compare exactly in many cases.

One classic example is the Taeri Gorge Railway, in Dunedin NZ.  Booking locally, you could do the trip for around NZ$130.  Booking through the ship would cost you upwards of AUD$350.  The only difference was that the locally booked train departed from the Dunedin Railway Station (itself a highlight), whereas the ship's tour departed from the wharf.  Triple the price, for the same experience.

 

This is far from an isolated example.

[Aus Traveller]

31 minutes ago, Vader1111 said:

One classic example is the Taeri Gorge Railway, in Dunedin NZ.  Booking locally, you could do the trip for around NZ$130.  Booking through the ship would cost you upwards of AUD$350.  The only difference was that the locally booked train departed from the Dunedin Railway Station (itself a highlight), whereas the ship's tour departed from the wharf.  Triple the price, for the same experience.

 

This is far from an isolated example.

Not quite correct - tthere is another difference between the ship's rail trip through Taeri Gorge and doing it privately - food and unlimited alcohol on Princess' tour. However, that doesn't equate with the difference in price.😁

[LincolnLegend]

We cruised from Singapore back to Brisbane on the Pacific Jewell after a refit a few years ago. It was our third cruise and we had never been so thoroughly "overseas" before so booked all tours through the ship. Our first three stops and tours all had the ship waiting for us, one of them had us back well over an hour after the scheduled departure time so we were very glad to be booked with them!