Hmm... the October replacement cruise for the August replacement cruise for the Norway cruise now also appears to be at risk.
Last weekend Princess cancelled a few more cruises; before that there was about a 6 week gap between the planned restart for the Sapphire Princess and now there's only 2 weeks.
I think if they cancel this one, we might just go to Perth anyway. I've told work that I won't change my holidays again, and the hotel kindly changed our booking even though it wasn't changeable, so we might just spend a few days there and come home again. I haven't spent any real amount of time in Perth before and there are plenty of things we can do and see there. Of course, this is all assuming that we're allowed into WA by then 😀
Monday, 25 May 2020
COVID-19 update number 3
Sunday, 10 May 2020
COVID-19 update number 2
Well, I was definitely over-confident about the August cruise - Princess has notified me that they have cancelled it.
So, I have decided to continue on my confident way and have instead booked a cruise also leaving from Fremantle, but not until October. This is a shorter one that takes the southern Australia route to Melbourne - we could have gone on to Sydney but all the balcony cabins were booked out, and Melbourne is close enough to home. All we're going to miss is Hobart, and we'll be there on our Feb 2021 cruise anyway.
So, the hotel room in Fremantle was prepaid under conditions that allow no changes and no refunds, but I have emailed them and asked if they would consider changing it to just before the October cruise, and I haven't gotten a definite 'No' - they've said that their manager needs to approve such requests and that they'll get back to me by Wednesday 13th. Fingers crossed.
Once I know about the hotel then I'll need to work out what to do about the flights to Perth. Also non-refundable of course. If Qantas was to cancel them then we'd get a refund voucher but I suspect that by October they're not going to be cancelling domestic bookings. So, I'll probably have to take the hit from a cancellation fee. Never mind, it's all good.
I have decided though that if Princess cancels this October cruise I won't be booking another replacement. We've still got Julie's birthday cruise in December, a cruise from New Zealand in February - assuming the so-called Trans-Tasman bubble allows us to go there in the first place - and of course even more hopefully, the Norway cruise in October 2021.
So, I have decided to continue on my confident way and have instead booked a cruise also leaving from Fremantle, but not until October. This is a shorter one that takes the southern Australia route to Melbourne - we could have gone on to Sydney but all the balcony cabins were booked out, and Melbourne is close enough to home. All we're going to miss is Hobart, and we'll be there on our Feb 2021 cruise anyway.
So, the hotel room in Fremantle was prepaid under conditions that allow no changes and no refunds, but I have emailed them and asked if they would consider changing it to just before the October cruise, and I haven't gotten a definite 'No' - they've said that their manager needs to approve such requests and that they'll get back to me by Wednesday 13th. Fingers crossed.
Once I know about the hotel then I'll need to work out what to do about the flights to Perth. Also non-refundable of course. If Qantas was to cancel them then we'd get a refund voucher but I suspect that by October they're not going to be cancelling domestic bookings. So, I'll probably have to take the hit from a cancellation fee. Never mind, it's all good.
I have decided though that if Princess cancels this October cruise I won't be booking another replacement. We've still got Julie's birthday cruise in December, a cruise from New Zealand in February - assuming the so-called Trans-Tasman bubble allows us to go there in the first place - and of course even more hopefully, the Norway cruise in October 2021.
Sunday, 5 April 2020
COVID-19 update number 1
P&O cancelled Amanda's birthday cruise on 25 March; a month before it was due to leave. We're waiting for them to refund the cruise cost (we should be getting a 200% credit for use on the next P&O cruise which just happens to be in December). Qantas has given Paul refund vouchers for the cost of their flights - although a few Frequent Flyer points might have been lost in the mix. And, only hotel they had booked had free cancellation, so that has already been done. The only other thing lost is the cost of the travel insurance of course.
The next cruise we have scheduled is our Northern Explorer cruise from Fremantle to Sydney in August. It was looking fairly hopeful, and we have paid for air fares and a hotel in Fremantle. As of now though it's not promising; a few weeks ago it looked like things might be starting to get back to normal in July or August but now I'm not so hopeful. We just need to wait and see.
The next cruise we have scheduled is our Northern Explorer cruise from Fremantle to Sydney in August. It was looking fairly hopeful, and we have paid for air fares and a hotel in Fremantle. As of now though it's not promising; a few weeks ago it looked like things might be starting to get back to normal in July or August but now I'm not so hopeful. We just need to wait and see.
Sunday, 1 March 2020
Catch up and future plans
Well as usual these days I neglected to finish posting about the cruise. There was only one more port, Phillip Island just near Melbourne. This is another tender port, and we were due to stay quite late at night because there was a shore excursion to see the Penguin Parade.
Adam and I were booked on this excursion, and it although it was interesting enough, the logistics of the whole thing meant we didn't really get value for money. The problem was that we had to be back at the bus (to go back to the ship) by 10pm, and the penguins had barely started coming out of the water when we had to leave. We did see quite a few of them on our way back through the area though, and the information centre and the talk at the shore were both fairly interesting, so it wasn't a total loss. Hugely annoying number of tourists who clearly spoke English - and it didn't matter anyway because the warnings were specifically repeated multiple times in their own language! - who totally ignored the instructions to stop taking photos. I wouldn't care if it was just a commercial thing, but this is about not distressing the penguins with lights and flash photography. To be honest I was already uncomfortable about the thousands of people who were there; I had no idea it was such a big thing.
Anyway, I eventually worked out something that had been confusing me - although our excursion wasn't due back until after 10pm, and the ship wasn't leaving until still later, they had published an 'all aboard' time of 7pm for everyone else, and they had stopped the tenders from running after that.
Basically I think this was to try to make sure that no-one from the ship could go to the penguin parade unless they booked through an excursion with Princess. The cruise lines always go out of their way to try to make sure that you book with them, but I've never seen them go so far as to force everyone back on board early so that you had no choice. There were some really unhappy people who had booked tickets for the penguin parade separately (it was sold out, as it apparently often does) and then couldn't go because Princess didn't make tenders available - the mandatory early return to the ship didn't become obvious until the evening before so it was also too late to change plans around hire cars etc.
We got back onboard with no dramas, then arrived in Melbourne as expected. The disembarkation was a bit disorganised actually. We had decided just to pay for a Princess shuttle bus to the airport - expensive but usually reliable. However, I'd be amazed if everyone who booked one actually found it; once we left the ship and got our bags there were no signs or people pointing out where to go, just a couple of random buses in among all the other buses. And, when we got to Melbourne Airport - oh my heavens - it was Australian Open time, and lots of work being done on the airport. I have been to Melbourne Airport before and I didn't think it would be possible to get confused about where to go but the crowds and disruption were just amazing. However, we eventually got to our gate and flew home without any real problems
Overall, apart from the excitement about late flights and missing luggage, Adam and I had a few nice quiet enjoyable days free of bushfire smoke and we were really pleased with the whole holiday.
Anyway. On to future plans. For quite some time now Paul and I have planned to go to England in late September or early October this year, to do what was originally going to be two cruises but then became only one - a "Search for the Northern Lights" cruise to Norway. However, COVID-19 has put a crimp in these plans. Despite the dramas with the people who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess, it's not the cruise that has me concerned, it's getting to (and into!) England in the first place. We're both getting just a bit old to enjoy the really long haul flights, so we had decided for the first (and only) time to fly business class. But as of now, most of the 'not quite so expensive' business class flights are probably off the table because they fly via China or Hong Kong - many countries already won't allow entry if you transit through either of those places and there's no telling if the UK will follow. It could also get worse - for example if transiting through the Middle East becomes problematic then getting to the UK becomes even more difficult and expensive. And, because we hadn't booked before this all blew up, there's zero chance of any travel insurance company covering our losses if we try to book now and I'm not prepared to spend that much money without insurance. Of course it's also possible that the whole thing will clear up in time - I mean, Donald Trump says it will all be gone by next month and the President of the USA must know something right? And if that happens flights could actually be cheaper and abandoning this trip would be a mistake - but in the end, as I'm still working I need to be able to commit to dates fairly soon, and I can't really do that now.
So, I pondered over this for a while and we've changed our plans. I've just made a booking on almost the same Northern Lights cruise next year - same ship leaving Southampton at much the same time, although unfortunately more expensive. And, this year, we're taking advantage of a move Princess has made, also due to COVID-19. The Sapphire Princess was due to spend the southern winter cruising from Singapore and then come to Australia in November 2020. However it's currently moored in Singapore unable to do any cruises - they haven't had any cases on the ship but many people can't / won't come to Singapore and even if they do, most countries they'd be cruising would refuse to allow their passengers to land. So, they've decided to bring the Sapphire Princess to Australia from May this year instead. And, one of the cruises they're doing is one I've wanted to do for quite some time - Fremantle to Sydney across Northern Australia.
These new cruises opened for booking on 27 February and apparently I wasn't the only one who was really keen to book one. Well, in fact I knew I wasn't, because social media in the cruising space was full of excitement. The Princess booking software wasn't quite up to the excitement actually, and it took about four hours before they could get it working, but I managed to get the cruise I wanted and the cabin I wanted too! So, our new 'big holiday' for 2020 is going to be to fly to Perth and cruise back to Sydney in August.
Adam and I were booked on this excursion, and it although it was interesting enough, the logistics of the whole thing meant we didn't really get value for money. The problem was that we had to be back at the bus (to go back to the ship) by 10pm, and the penguins had barely started coming out of the water when we had to leave. We did see quite a few of them on our way back through the area though, and the information centre and the talk at the shore were both fairly interesting, so it wasn't a total loss. Hugely annoying number of tourists who clearly spoke English - and it didn't matter anyway because the warnings were specifically repeated multiple times in their own language! - who totally ignored the instructions to stop taking photos. I wouldn't care if it was just a commercial thing, but this is about not distressing the penguins with lights and flash photography. To be honest I was already uncomfortable about the thousands of people who were there; I had no idea it was such a big thing.
Anyway, I eventually worked out something that had been confusing me - although our excursion wasn't due back until after 10pm, and the ship wasn't leaving until still later, they had published an 'all aboard' time of 7pm for everyone else, and they had stopped the tenders from running after that.
Basically I think this was to try to make sure that no-one from the ship could go to the penguin parade unless they booked through an excursion with Princess. The cruise lines always go out of their way to try to make sure that you book with them, but I've never seen them go so far as to force everyone back on board early so that you had no choice. There were some really unhappy people who had booked tickets for the penguin parade separately (it was sold out, as it apparently often does) and then couldn't go because Princess didn't make tenders available - the mandatory early return to the ship didn't become obvious until the evening before so it was also too late to change plans around hire cars etc.
We got back onboard with no dramas, then arrived in Melbourne as expected. The disembarkation was a bit disorganised actually. We had decided just to pay for a Princess shuttle bus to the airport - expensive but usually reliable. However, I'd be amazed if everyone who booked one actually found it; once we left the ship and got our bags there were no signs or people pointing out where to go, just a couple of random buses in among all the other buses. And, when we got to Melbourne Airport - oh my heavens - it was Australian Open time, and lots of work being done on the airport. I have been to Melbourne Airport before and I didn't think it would be possible to get confused about where to go but the crowds and disruption were just amazing. However, we eventually got to our gate and flew home without any real problems
Overall, apart from the excitement about late flights and missing luggage, Adam and I had a few nice quiet enjoyable days free of bushfire smoke and we were really pleased with the whole holiday.
Anyway. On to future plans. For quite some time now Paul and I have planned to go to England in late September or early October this year, to do what was originally going to be two cruises but then became only one - a "Search for the Northern Lights" cruise to Norway. However, COVID-19 has put a crimp in these plans. Despite the dramas with the people who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess, it's not the cruise that has me concerned, it's getting to (and into!) England in the first place. We're both getting just a bit old to enjoy the really long haul flights, so we had decided for the first (and only) time to fly business class. But as of now, most of the 'not quite so expensive' business class flights are probably off the table because they fly via China or Hong Kong - many countries already won't allow entry if you transit through either of those places and there's no telling if the UK will follow. It could also get worse - for example if transiting through the Middle East becomes problematic then getting to the UK becomes even more difficult and expensive. And, because we hadn't booked before this all blew up, there's zero chance of any travel insurance company covering our losses if we try to book now and I'm not prepared to spend that much money without insurance. Of course it's also possible that the whole thing will clear up in time - I mean, Donald Trump says it will all be gone by next month and the President of the USA must know something right? And if that happens flights could actually be cheaper and abandoning this trip would be a mistake - but in the end, as I'm still working I need to be able to commit to dates fairly soon, and I can't really do that now.
So, I pondered over this for a while and we've changed our plans. I've just made a booking on almost the same Northern Lights cruise next year - same ship leaving Southampton at much the same time, although unfortunately more expensive. And, this year, we're taking advantage of a move Princess has made, also due to COVID-19. The Sapphire Princess was due to spend the southern winter cruising from Singapore and then come to Australia in November 2020. However it's currently moored in Singapore unable to do any cruises - they haven't had any cases on the ship but many people can't / won't come to Singapore and even if they do, most countries they'd be cruising would refuse to allow their passengers to land. So, they've decided to bring the Sapphire Princess to Australia from May this year instead. And, one of the cruises they're doing is one I've wanted to do for quite some time - Fremantle to Sydney across Northern Australia.
These new cruises opened for booking on 27 February and apparently I wasn't the only one who was really keen to book one. Well, in fact I knew I wasn't, because social media in the cruising space was full of excitement. The Princess booking software wasn't quite up to the excitement actually, and it took about four hours before they could get it working, but I managed to get the cruise I wanted and the cabin I wanted too! So, our new 'big holiday' for 2020 is going to be to fly to Perth and cruise back to Sydney in August.
Tuesday, 28 January 2020
Tuesday 28 January - at sea
Nothing much to report today. Spent some money at the shops, lost some money on the pokies (which were open for the first time since we came onboard), had free hors d'oeuvres before dinner - Adam was keen to try even though I know they're seriously ordinary, then dinner at the Crown Grill.
Later: I have to apologise for my comments about the hors d'oeuvres - for the first time ever, they were really fresh and tasted really good. Dinner at the Crown Grill was also delicious, but that's expected!
Later: I have to apologise for my comments about the hors d'oeuvres - for the first time ever, they were really fresh and tasted really good. Dinner at the Crown Grill was also delicious, but that's expected!
Monday, 27 January 2020
Monday 27 January - Port Lincoln
Beautiful day in Port Lincoln today.
First stop on our shore excursion was the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum, where we could have spent hours reading all the information on all the displays, but even the short stop we made was interesting.
Next stop was at the Fresh Fish Place where they gave us a lot of information about fish and fishing, and showed us a number of different fish they buy and sell. We also saw a demonstration of shucking oysters - apparently if you work there you need to be able to do 40 dozen per hour! - and filleting fish. Then we got the most delicious fish and chips for lunch.
Finally we drove around other parts of Port Lincoln - all through the tour the lady running it had been explaining various bits of history and current information about (mostly) the fishing industry and this continued for the last part of the tour - we saw all different sorts of boats and businesses before being returned to the ship.
Had a restful afternoon on board followed by dinner.
On the tour, they suggested that we should keep an eye out when we're sailing out of port for the holding pens where they fatten up the tuna. What they do is go out to see and gather a whole lot of appropriate tuna, then they gradually bring them back to these holding pens - it takes a week or two at no more than 2 knots to get back to the pens. Then they carefully move the tuna into these pens and spend the next 6 months feeding them pilchards every day, all the time monitoring their health and growth. Then, when they're big enough, they're harvested and pretty much all end up in the Japanese market. And we did see them - photos to be added later
First stop on our shore excursion was the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum, where we could have spent hours reading all the information on all the displays, but even the short stop we made was interesting.
Next stop was at the Fresh Fish Place where they gave us a lot of information about fish and fishing, and showed us a number of different fish they buy and sell. We also saw a demonstration of shucking oysters - apparently if you work there you need to be able to do 40 dozen per hour! - and filleting fish. Then we got the most delicious fish and chips for lunch.
Finally we drove around other parts of Port Lincoln - all through the tour the lady running it had been explaining various bits of history and current information about (mostly) the fishing industry and this continued for the last part of the tour - we saw all different sorts of boats and businesses before being returned to the ship.
Had a restful afternoon on board followed by dinner.
On the tour, they suggested that we should keep an eye out when we're sailing out of port for the holding pens where they fatten up the tuna. What they do is go out to see and gather a whole lot of appropriate tuna, then they gradually bring them back to these holding pens - it takes a week or two at no more than 2 knots to get back to the pens. Then they carefully move the tuna into these pens and spend the next 6 months feeding them pilchards every day, all the time monitoring their health and growth. Then, when they're big enough, they're harvested and pretty much all end up in the Japanese market. And we did see them - photos to be added later
Sunday 26 January - Kangaroo Island
This is a tender port, and we didn't have any excursions booked. Then after the disastrous fires, we thought that the best thing we could do is go there and support local businesses, as the SA government is asking.
So, once we were dropped off at Penneshaw, we went up to the markets that they were running and spent more than I normally would have on various bits of jewellery and other things.
Then we went to a local cafe and had lunch - delicious meal of fish & chips. We topped this up with a walk on the beach and then went to catch a tender back to the ship. It took quite a long time because lots of people decided to go back to the ship at the same time. A couple of ship's crew were very unhappy because they apparently didn't consider the risk of long queues and needed to get back to the ship quickly to start work, but the Princess officer waiting near us in the queue refused to give them a break and told them to go to the back of the line.
After we returned had a wander around the ship to do stuff like checking out tonight's dinner menu. We then tried a cocktail each - Adam had raspberry baileys which he enjoyed (I didn't really like it) while I had something called Dusk which if I remember correctly contained coconut rum, Midori and banana liqueur topped up with pineapple juice. It was delicious!
Later in the afternoon:
Last tender from Penneshaw was meant to leave at 4:00. It's 4:30 right now, and there are still two tenders out there, presumably waiting for missing tour groups.
4:45: Another tender is just heading out from the ship to Penneshaw. Hopefully they're just picking up the last of the Princess staff and gear (e.g. their big umbrella, iced water buckets etc) from the dock.
Finally left port an hour or so late, but it isn't a long sail to Port Lincoln. This was the first time we have sailed in anything remotely like open sea since we left Adelaide and unfortunately Adam got seasick. He didn't throw up, just felt miserable and couldn't sleep. He finally said something about midnight and I gave him a couple of Kwells so eventually he managed some sleep.
So, once we were dropped off at Penneshaw, we went up to the markets that they were running and spent more than I normally would have on various bits of jewellery and other things.
Then we went to a local cafe and had lunch - delicious meal of fish & chips. We topped this up with a walk on the beach and then went to catch a tender back to the ship. It took quite a long time because lots of people decided to go back to the ship at the same time. A couple of ship's crew were very unhappy because they apparently didn't consider the risk of long queues and needed to get back to the ship quickly to start work, but the Princess officer waiting near us in the queue refused to give them a break and told them to go to the back of the line.
After we returned had a wander around the ship to do stuff like checking out tonight's dinner menu. We then tried a cocktail each - Adam had raspberry baileys which he enjoyed (I didn't really like it) while I had something called Dusk which if I remember correctly contained coconut rum, Midori and banana liqueur topped up with pineapple juice. It was delicious!
Later in the afternoon:
Last tender from Penneshaw was meant to leave at 4:00. It's 4:30 right now, and there are still two tenders out there, presumably waiting for missing tour groups.
4:45: Another tender is just heading out from the ship to Penneshaw. Hopefully they're just picking up the last of the Princess staff and gear (e.g. their big umbrella, iced water buckets etc) from the dock.
Finally left port an hour or so late, but it isn't a long sail to Port Lincoln. This was the first time we have sailed in anything remotely like open sea since we left Adelaide and unfortunately Adam got seasick. He didn't throw up, just felt miserable and couldn't sleep. He finally said something about midnight and I gave him a couple of Kwells so eventually he managed some sleep.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)