EmersonNZ

Given gratuities make up a good proportion of some of the crews wages and know how cost of living has increased I'm not too upset to see gratuities rise and thus see their wages rise accordingly.

Prepaying gratuities is kinda strange in some ways. It's like going to a restaurant and paying for the meal at the cost it was when you made the reservation 12 months ago and the chef and everyone being happy with the wages from 12 months ago. Of course the benefit is people actually pay them if they are paid before hand. (Coming form a country that doesn't do tipping I find the whole idea strange. My experience of service in countries where it does happen (incl US) is it certainly doesn't improve the service compared to those that don't).

He'll be fine, if like my wife a little self conscious but no issue with the cruise line. 

I imagine he is probably taking some medication for the allergies??  If so I'd have them in my carry on just so you can show that the symptoms are actually allergy related. Just make things a little smoother if they do happen to question etc.

It is one of those things that you shouldn't have an issue with but if for some reason customs did a random check of your luggage it could end up holding things up a little as you go through explaining what they are and if they feel like they need to check going through that process.

If I had the bottles then I've take them in that just to make it easier but not a massive deal if you don't.

23 hours ago, Riley said:

Sent my passport renewal in around 6/10 and got it back last week. I paid for expedited as I needed it by 9/1 but 6 months should be plenty of time even under regular processing.

Wow! I can't believe it takes that long to get a passport renewed in the US. Last time I got mine renewed in new Zealand I had it back in less than 10 days and that was npt paying for the expediated service (I believe they garantee 5 days for that). It use dto take a lot longer here but they moved to the enw online renewal process about 10 years ago and it really has made a big difference in turn around time.

8 hours ago, Bill Johnson said:

So with the UDP, you are telling me that when I visit Chops, I am stuck only getting 1 app, 1 entree, and 1 dessert? At Playmakers, I have to pay out of pocket once the amount of food I order exceeds $20? is that what I am reading?? (what is the point of an unlimited dining experience when I am tied to how much I order/eat?) In the main dining room, you can order to multiple entrees and appetizers and whatever you want. Not the case with specialty dining then?

That is exactly what you are reading.

The value is in the fact that if you were to pay for each of the speciality resturants for lunch and dinner each night of the curise it would cost you many more times the cost of the UDP. 

You could argue that the word 'unlimited' is misleading in you can't eat 'unlimited' food but I guess they would say you can make unlimited bookings at speciality resturants.

Personally I'd be happy to remove the smoking zones (But keep the non smoking policy).

I was going to say the casino only becuase I don't go becuase of the smoke but then again if there was no smoking I would probably go to the casino so decided to get rid of the reason I don't go

I agree with everyone above.... Can you? Yep. Will it be an issue if everything goes as planned? Apart for slightly slower at customs... nope. Will you have mayjor issues if for some reason you can't return to port with the ship (sickness/injury, miss ship, accident in port etc, ship being stuck in a port due to a mechanical issue etc etc?)... absolutly!.

It really comes down to how much risk you are prepared to take and how big an issue would it be fore you had to spend days sorting out emergency passport/visa etc if stuck in a port? Chances of their being an issue.... low... but not 0
 

PErsonally if I ahd time to get a passport before I traveled I absolutly would.

On 7/24/2022 at 12:19 PM, CruisingOz said:

 

We have cruises for 18th Nov Queensland and no shore excursions listed yet . Also nothing for Wellington NZ for early Nov. For Adelaide, there is nothing for the March cruise yet. 

Interesting... our Jan 2023 Ovation cruise has Wellington excursions in the planner (Only 9 are listed which seems a lot less than I'd expect).

12 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

I think some people say the words but don't actually walk the walk.  

Kinda like the people who say "if 'x' wins an election I'm leaving the country". While I know at least a few that have (Literally a workmate left the US for NZ aafter an election) I imainge it is abou t 1 in 100,000 that say it actually follow through.

8 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

Not bad @EmersonNZ but our furthest is 19,905 km / 12,368 miles and closely followed by 18,720 km / 11,1632 miles recently

Just goes to show the lengths Australians and New Zealanders are willing to travel. I always laugh when I hear in a podcast or read in an article about people having to travel a couple hour's to cruise.  

My 'worst week fo travel was LA -> Washington played a game of Waterpolo), Washington -> LA (training in moning), LA - Auckland (Played a game of Waterpolo) Auckland -> Sydney (another game), Sydney -> Perth (another game), Perth -> LA (Via Auckland as stop over, never left airport). I say a week as it was only 7 days for me but it was a bit more given time zone changes.

By the end of it I had no idea if i wa coming or going or where I was waking up each day.

Well I guess since I've traveled from Dunedin New Zealand to Port Canaveral, USA I guess 13,631km (8,470mil) is the answer

First of all congrats on the weight losss. I'm sure there was a lot of work behind that.

The gyms are well appointed and normally pretty empty. If you are on a treadmill make sure you take a few moments to get your sea legs. It can be a bit strange running on a object that is moving (After a minute or 2 you'll be fine but a rather strange feeling).

I think in this case @SpeedNoodles the best decision is NOT to buy ala carte. If 1 speciality meal is $102 and Ultimate Dinning Package is $432 or 11 nights unless you REALLY want to do a speciality restaurant and can not afford the $432. (And even then consider a good steak house on land in NZ/Aust would cost you about $60-$70 I’d suggest you trat yourself a post or pre-cruise meal instead.

The Dinning package at $432 for 11 nights really good value…. $102 for 1 meal at Chops is ridiculous and surely has to be a mistake(Especially as this is on top of the cruise fare which includes dining).

25 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

EmersonNZ now I get it. Family owned?

No relation. It's actually the owners last name (Richard Emerson who was actually born deaf) while Emerson is my first. I do think I should get some naming rights though... say free product . Happy to have my name assocated with such great beers though...
 

52 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

So is Speight’s or Tui.?

It would be a no to Tui's but being having been a Dunedin based Scarfie and still living down here I'd be deported if I didn't say yes to Speights. PErsonally i prefer an Emerson's but i might be basied.  

It gets more interesting

The price for the Deluxe Dinning Package came out and I am now more certain RCCL has placed placeholder figure (Ok... 'hopeful' they are placeholder)

The Unlimited Dinning Package is NZ $432pp (US$280). This is for a 11 night cruise. Granted this is with 60% prepurchase discount but that is not unusual)

When they are selling Chops at $102 ($66 US)  a night after 4 nights of the 11 night cruise you eat free. $432 for 11 nights is $39 ($US 25) a meal (not including lunches which would drive it down further (with 5 sea days I imagine we'll have at least a few speciality lunches). 

9 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

All you guys drink is Fosters right?

Wash your mouth out!!!!!
A New Zealander woudn't been seen dead drinking Fosters!  
 

32 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I would imagine due to its relative isolation that supply chain issues in Australia are worse than in the USA

I can’t speak for Aust, but imagine it is similar, but for most things there’s is not too many issues  especially for food and beverage so there should not be an impact on their availability. Believe me, if Australia or New Zealand ran out of beer there would be riots….

What worries me is if there is an emergency on board what are the chances these people are going to be able to follow the instructions of the crew. In the case of an emergency the last thing the crew need to be dealing with is passengers who haven’t bothered to do their muster drill and/or passengers who can’t follow instructions. It puts the crew and follow passengers in danger at a time when time and coolness of action could really count

Totally agree with FionaMG

Purchase a two device package for 1 person. 
 

Nothing stops you using 1 of the device logins each

On 5/26/2022 at 12:14 PM, mattymay said:

Works out to 15/16 drinks per day at the moment. I could do that on a few days but not for 9 days straight. 

Yeah, I know Kiwis and Aussies are known for their drinking... but even in my scarfie days I would have found that difficult... for 11 days in a row (From Thursday to Saturday no issue....  )

12 hours ago, RWDW1204 said:

Maybe RC is thinking the Australian market has been deprived of cruising for so long that you're willing to pay anything for everything and just be happy to be back on a ship. 

I think they might be in trouble.... Kiwis and Aussies are pretty price conscious on the whole due to the bargains for holiday travel we have on our door steps (Pacific Islands, South East Aisa… our own countries etc.

We are in the same boat. Unless the Dinning package is about 1/3 that per meal we will be enjoying the MDR. In all but one cruise we've done we've had the Ultimate Dinning Package but at these prices it'll be MDR every night.

At the prices for the Drinks and Dining package I really think they have misjudged the Australia/New Zealand market. I have been telling myself these are simply 'put them on the site' prices and they would come down to reasonable prices sometime soon.... now I beginning to think these are the actual prices in which case I think they are going to issues in what is a price conscious market in Australasia. I am sure the RCCL has systems in place to track purchases through the planner and if they see they aren’t making the sales they are expecting will reprice (If not I imagine there will be a lot of onboard sales as the Food and Beverage staff are trying to increase revenue).

If I was a new cruiser taking my first cruise from NZ/Aust and saw these prices it would be our last (Ironically the cruise price itself was really reasonable).

Ouch! Looks like Royal is quickly pricing themselves out of the NZ/Aust market. The prices of speciality restaurants have been released for our Jan 24th 2023 cruise out of Sydney and they are e watering.

All the prices below are with a 15% discount 

• Chops NZ$102pp (US$66)
• Jamies NZ$$79pp (US$51) 
• Wonderland NZ$94pp (US$62)
• Izumi NZ$55pp (US$36)

To give you a comparison I'd expect to pay no more than $75 for 3 course meal at a really good steak house in NZ (with most being closure to $60.. and we do steak really well). Italian is probably going to be closure to $45 and fantastic Sushi $20-$30. It's worth noting this the premium on top of what you've already paid for meals as part of your fare (I don't think you can compare Wonderland as it is more an experaince than a meal).

I'm really hoping these are just 'get it on the website' prices as these are ridiculous. The same massive price increases have also been seen in their drink packages out of Australia.

One thing to be careful of is the restriction on some electrical goods such as hair dryers, extension cords, multiboard etc. Because  fire is such a concern at sea they take electrical safety very serious. Obviously anything with an open flame like candles are also not allowed.