GABRIELLE

[Hogbay]

1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I may be wrong, but I don't think Australia is in the firing line for this one.

 

 

Either was Vila Vanuatu but Quantum did not go there and today, Sunday , was supposed to be in Sydney harbour but told Harbour closed to her ,too windy. 

[rkmw]

I haven’t read all the post but here goes

 

i was on the Carnival Luminosa and we left Sunday from Brisbane and nearly got to Lifou and the Captain turned us around and said we were heading back to Brisbane and might try and stay a couple of nights at Morten Island but we couldn’t due to the Splendor being there so we cruised down near Port Macquarie and arrived back in Brisbane today (Sunday)

we had 7 days at sea and no ports but no one seemed to mind as we had plenty of food and smooth seas and no problems 

[timtam2]

6 minutes ago, rkmw said:

 we cruised down near Port Macquarie 

I was on Ovation (off this morning) and saw Luminosa go past the other afternoon. We had our 3rd medivac of the cruise and had to go close to Port Macquarie for it.

    Vanuatu was cancelled and we only called at Noumea. However we did get OBC ($150 for a balcony cabin) and the Port taxes refunded. Didn't worry me as I wasn't planning on going ashore in Vila or Mystery Island. Weather was pretty good mostly although the sea was a bit rough last night.

[Hogbay]

51 minutes ago, rkmw said:

I haven’t read all the post but here goes

 

i was on the Carnival Luminosa and we left Sunday from Brisbane and nearly got to Lifou and the Captain turned us around and said we were heading back to Brisbane and might try and stay a couple of nights at Morten Island but we couldn’t due to the Splendor being there so we cruised down near Port Macquarie and arrived back in Brisbane today (Sunday)

we had 7 days at sea and no ports but no one seemed to mind as we had plenty of food and smooth seas and no problems 

Heard you got obc and ffc of 50% ! Suppose that's not much when you paid so little to start with . Quantum off the Gong doing 6 knt.. got no obc or ffc and was on last cruise which was to Hobart. Pools flat as ?? And sun out .

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 hours ago, lissie said:

Unlike the interislander ferry that nearly ended up on it a few weeks ago after an engine failure 

Oops! The last thing Wellington wants is another Wahine disaster.

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I may be wrong, but I don't think Australia is in the firing line for this one.

 

 

Norfolk Island is part of Australia 

[rkmw]

1 hour ago, Hogbay said:

Heard you got obc and ffc of 50% ! Suppose that's not much when you paid so little to start with . Quantum off the Gong doing 6 knt.. got no obc or ffc and was on last cruise which was to Hobart. Pools flat as ?? And sun out .

Yes we got $200 OBC per stateroom and 50% FCC but in the fine print it says 50% what you paid less fees & taxes

some people only paid a couple hundred dollars so they won’t get much but if you booked early and paid a fair price you’ll get back quite a bit

[onlyslightlymad]

52 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Norfolk Island is part of Australia 

True.  I stand corrected.  I should have said mainland Australia.

Edited February 12, 2023 by onlyslightlymad

[kiwimum]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Oops! The last thing Wellington wants is another Wahine disaster.

As someone who was on the Wahine, definitely not.  Will never get over the evacuation boats and wading in water to safety.   Pay attention to all safety videos and routes going forward.   Overcoming fear has been a long road, but now cruise 2-4 months a year.  Safety policies have come a long long way.   Still will not travel on the Interisland ferries.  Fly from Wellington or sail with family friend on their boat to Picton.

Edited February 12, 2023 by kiwimum

[Jean C]

Northland has declared a state of emergency - not good. Very strong winds with even stronger gusts, and horizontal rain all day - and they say tomorrow will be worse 🥴 I've never known it so bad and shudder to think what tomorrow holds 😧

[possum52]

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

Northland has declared a state of emergency - not good. Very strong winds with even stronger gusts, and horizontal rain all day - and they say tomorrow will be worse 🥴 I've never known it so bad and shudder to think what tomorrow holds 😧

Stay safe Jean.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, kiwimum said:

As someone who was on the Wahine, definitely not.  Will never get over the evacuation boats and wading in water to safety.   Pay attention to all safety videos and routes going forward.   Overcoming fear has been a long road, but now cruise 2-4 months a year.  Safety policies have come a long long way.   Still will not travel on the Interisland ferries.  Fly from Wellington or sail with family friend on their boat to Picton.

Yikes, that would have been scary indeed. I was at college that day and getting home was bad enough. A power line had come down right outside our place and was sparking right next to our wrought iron gate - I had to jump the fence. 

[mr walker]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Norfolk Island is part of Australia 

Not according to some of the locals who insist it was an invasion in 2016. As a visitor the main difference is you don't now need a passport to travel there anymore.

I've now seen posts on FB from locals & they said the cyclone was not so bad although there has been some damage & power was lost at one point - electricity on the island is provided by large communal diesel generator, although many are now self-sufficient thru solar. 

 

Oh, forgot to post that there was a media report this morning of concerns over coral damage on the reef. The Sirius of 1st fleet fame was sunk on the reef at the time of the penal settlement. 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by mr walker
pressed reply button to soon

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

Not according to some of the locals who insist it was an invasion in 2016. As a visitor the main difference is you don't now need a passport to travel there anymore. 

Yes they have always considered themselves separate to Australia and didn't even pay tax to the commonwealth government until recently, despite taking tax payer money for health, welfare and education. No wonder they are upset.

[Jean C]

12 hours ago, possum52 said:

Stay safe Jean.

Thanks Possum. Of course, worse things happen at sea so I hope all the ships are safe. I had two young trees blow over yesterday and another overnight. A fourth has a lean on it so is hanging on for now but today the winds and gusts are strong again. They're young trees that grew fast with spindly trunks so I imagine I'll be able to stand them up again and hopefully get someone to help hammer stronger stakes in.  I just hope everyone else is safe, we've had heavy rains before but nothing like this unrelenting wind.

[Jean C]

14 hours ago, kiwimum said:

As someone who was on the Wahine, definitely not.  Will never get over the evacuation boats and wading in water to safety.   Pay attention to all safety videos and routes going forward.   Overcoming fear has been a long road, but now cruise 2-4 months a year.  Safety policies have come a long long way.   Still will not travel on the Interisland ferries.  Fly from Wellington or sail with family friend on their boat to Picton.

That would have been awful, you poor thing 😪

[Hogbay]

Quantum has been given permission to enter Sydney Harbour finally.  Not the South Pacific tropical holiday everyone booked. I thought that FCC was definitely due , nope .just a obc . 

[OzKiwiJJ]

18 hours ago, Jean C said:

Northland has declared a state of emergency - not good. Very strong winds with even stronger gusts, and horizontal rain all day - and they say tomorrow will be worse 🥴 I've never known it so bad and shudder to think what tomorrow holds 😧

I saw a photo of the beachfront road at Oakura with water coming up over the road. I've walked along that beach many times as a close friend has a bach there. Incredible to see the water that far up especially as Oakura is a relatively sheltered beach.

 

I hope you're safely through the worst by now without too much damage.

[OzKiwiJJ]

57 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Quantum has been given permission to enter Sydney Harbour finally.  Not the South Pacific tropical holiday everyone booked. I thought that FCC was definitely due , nope .just a obc . 

That's a bit stingy. When we got stuck in Melbourne for three days on a 9 night South Australia cruise, thus missing two out of the scheduled four ports, Princess gave us 25% of our fare as FCCs plus some OBC ($50pp I think).

[Hogbay]

32 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's a bit stingy. When we got stuck in Melbourne for three days on a 9 night South Australia cruise, thus missing two out of the scheduled four ports, Princess gave us 25% of our fare as FCCs plus some OBC ($50pp I think).

Sure is , before on Ovation received both obc and 50% ffc for missing Mystery and Noumea due to aziepod. Feel for the kids looking for their Valentín,  heaps of yong ladies whom came in groups for sun in the South Pacific ,one grup was from Sydney too.

[Jean C]

41 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I saw a photo of the beachfront road at Oakura with water coming up over the road. I've walked along that beach many times as a close friend has a bach there. Incredible to see the water that far up especially as Oakura is a relatively sheltered beach.

 

I hope you're safely through the worst by now without too much damage.

Thanks 😊 The wind seems to have calmed down a lot, it was truly horizontal yesterday, still a strong breeze but not the wickedly strong gusts. They say today will be the worst day but they could be talking about Auckland who probably have what we had yesterday.  A lot more rain is forecast to fall, already lots of localised flooding, just hope everyone's okay. I'm at my daughter's now for a break, fresh baking, nice lunch, should have brought my PJs  hehehe 🤣

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's a bit stingy. When we got stuck in Melbourne for three days on a 9 night South Australia cruise, thus missing two out of the scheduled four ports, Princess gave us 25% of our fare as FCCs plus some OBC ($50pp I think).

Pretty sure it was 20% of the fare (less taxes), FCC which has to be booked by 1 April 2023 and used by 1 April 2024, $180 port fees returned and $100 OBC for that cruise.

 

On Quantum last Dec and missed a port, no obc or any port fees returned.

[OzKiwiJJ]

17 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Pretty sure it was 20% of the fare (less taxes), FCC which has to be booked by 1 April 2023 and used by 1 April 2024, $180 port fees returned and $100 OBC for that cruise.

 

On Quantum last Dec and missed a port, no obc or any port fees returned.

Yeah, you're correct, it was 20% plus fees and OBC. 

 

We got 15% on the Round Australia cruise for missing four ports.

 

If just one port is missed due to weather Princess usually just refunds the port fees so I was pleasantly surprised to get the FCCs.

[Jean C]

Oh dear, the gusty, strong winds are back with a vengeance - they've switched and are coming from the opposite direction. Not quite the unbelievably straight vertical that they were yesterday but a definite angle to the rain. Earlier today must have been the calmer centre of the storm, at least this means it's heading away. Have been fortunate that power stayed on, however first world problem - TV signal has gone down. Stood my fallen trees up during calmer afternoon, one has gone down again, the ground is so sodden they can't hold themselves up [sigh] 🌧

[shuyak]

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/02/13/jaw-dropping-image-shows-cyclone-gabrielle-from-space/

 

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiLGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC1hc2lhLTY0NjE3MDEz0gEwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvbS9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLWFzaWEtNjQ2MTcwMTMuYW1w?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

 

Hope everyone in the impacted area is safe and with minimum damage!