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2 hours ago, mattymay said:

There are heaps for Spectrum - 24 dates

It's not going to work until they drop the testing regime in Singapore, currently too restrictive to make it worth it.

 image.png.bc8586a3ffb0d8f7da0fa58613a8ce06.png

 

I’m waiting for a response from RCCLAPAC Singapore.

You are right about the testing,   about $350 worth.

From what I can work out a test at sydney airport, then one on arrival in Singapore.

If you stay anymore than a night before the cruise you have to get another.
Royal Caribbean do them at the convention centre and transfer you.

Then one before the flight coming home and then I believe a RAT on arrival at Sydney.
 

We are looking at a trip around the middle of the year.     L.A. is a bit to far for some of my friends but 8 hours to Singapore they should be able to do.

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Here’s a interesting article by a lawyer that specialises in the Australian Cruise industry.

She predicts 6 months for this bill to pass the fed then there’s the state and a 3 months lead up for the ships.

 

https://www.victorytravelcruiselawyers.com.au/australias-cruise-ban-crisis-continues/

 

https://www.victorytravelcruiselawyers.com.au/when-will-the-cruise-ban-be-lifted/

 

 

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What is going on in Australia as it pertains to the cruise industry?  Just yesterday Carnival Cruise lines confirmed to The Points Guy that they will be removing both Carnival Spirit and Carnival Splendor (the two ships they've dedicated to Australia for a few years) over to the United States.  Carnival Spirit is heading to Jacksonville however there was no destination given as to where Carnival Splendor will end up at.  According to the article Carnival is removing those ships from Australia because there is still no clear path as too when Australian government will allow cruising to resume and Carnival would not say if or when these ships would return to Australia.  

The Australian Government needs to take some action in regards to the cruise industry or risk setting the industry back because it would seem like cruise lines are not willing to go another year and let those ship sit idle while other countries around the world have allowed cruising to safely resume.

The news about Australia can be found in the second half of the article.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/2-more-ships-leave-carnival-cruise-line-fleet/

 

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We were looking forward to the prospect of flying to Singapore, then cruising back to Brisbane along the East Coast.  Forget it -- the testing restrictions/requirements are so onerous and costly, as well as the paranoia about being frogmarched around on the ship's excursions instead of being allowed to do our own thing at each port.  Not worth it

Looking at NZ instead -- whenever Jacinda lets us in .  It's getting to be easier to fly over there and tour, instead of cruising to NZ;  Looks like Alan Joyce has more clout with the Governments than the cruise lines??

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3 hours ago, Jimbo07 said:

We were looking forward to the prospect of flying to Singapore, then cruising back to Brisbane along the East Coast.  Forget it -- the testing restrictions/requirements are so onerous and costly, as well as the paranoia about being frogmarched around on the ship's excursions instead of being allowed to do our own thing at each port.  Not worth it

Looking at NZ instead -- whenever Jacinda lets us in .  It's getting to be easier to fly over there and tour, instead of cruising to NZ;  Looks like Alan Joyce has more clout with the Governments than the cruise lines??

I’m sorry you all are still having to deal with this cruise stoppage especially at this point we governments know it can be done safely. 

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In yesterday's earnings call, the CFO mentioned Australia is planned as a go

"While we offer cruises in the vast majority of our key destinations, we continue to closely monitor both China and Australia. We anticipate Australia to open for cruising for its summer season, our wintertime. "

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There supposed to be a meeting tomorrow with the Fed about opening the boarders for non residents and cruise .

The Cruise ban runs out on the 17th and there’s a lot of pressure but anything is possible with these clowns.    It’s like watching one of those B grade comedies. 3 stooges, Marks brothers, F troop.

I think the carnival ships where deployed to America until October, that’s when our season really starts.
If they extend the cruise ban this week RCG will have to make some serious decisions.They can’t afford to have ships empty for another 6 months for our 22-23 season.

 

 

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46 minutes ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Good news. International borders opened to tourists on the 21/2. They never mentioned anything (that I've noticed) about lifting the cruising ban though.

Nothing about cruise.

At the press conference,someone asked are you going to pull the carpet out from under us like you have before?

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I just put the cruise with confidence Australia price match to the test.

 I have a NZ cruise on Ovation next February and with the current wow sale  it’s a couple of hundred bucks cheaper with extra $350 OBC.

I emailed my agent and they said Royal Caribbean matched the current price ,no questions asked.

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On 2/8/2022 at 8:49 PM, smokeybandit said:

National cabinet also discussed allowing cruises again after biosecurity orders that had prevented them from operating in Australia were lifted.

“The Commonwealth, NSW, Victoria and Queensland agreed to work with the industry to implement new protocols to enable the resumption of cruising over coming months,” a statement said.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/national-cabinet-scott-morrison-orders-audit-to-check-australia-can-handle-flurona/news-story/53fd63a2e1ccb350299d427e677cafc0

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2 hours ago, KWofPerth said:

National cabinet also discussed allowing cruises again after biosecurity orders that had prevented them from operating in Australia were lifted.

“The Commonwealth, NSW, Victoria and Queensland agreed to work with the industry to implement new protocols to enable the resumption of cruising over coming months,” a statement said.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/national-cabinet-scott-morrison-orders-audit-to-check-australia-can-handle-flurona/news-story/53fd63a2e1ccb350299d427e677cafc0

In other words, they're thinking about thinking about it...

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22 hours ago, Chili said:

I just put the cruise with confidence Australia price match to the test.

 I have a NZ cruise on Ovation next February and with the current wow sale  it’s a couple of hundred bucks cheaper with extra $350 OBC.

I emailed my agent and they said Royal Caribbean matched the current price ,no questions asked.

12/2 10 night? See you there. Unfortunately no reprice for me as all the studio cabins are gone so can't see what the price would be at the moment

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Cruising ban extended by another 2 months, but can be ended at any time once protocols are decided on according to P&O.

Looks like there is at least some momentum now for a restart. I'd say the 22/23 season for Royal Caribbean is looking pretty good as we are still 8 months away.

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1 hour ago, mattymay said:

Cruising ban extended by another 2 months, but can be ended at any time once protocols are decided on according to P&O.

Looks like there is at least some momentum now for a restart. I'd say the 22/23 season for Royal Caribbean is looking pretty good as we are still 8 months away.

I don’t know,  they are predicting another wave during our winter and There are still no official restart guidelines.
Royal must be thinking what to do if the ban continues through Christmas again.
‘Radiance can go through the Panama but what about Ovation and Quantum.

 I think if something doesn’t happen soon they May pull a ship out of Australia.

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10 hours ago, Chili said:

Where’s the best fish &chips? We usually go to the best cafe.

The Student Mag (Critic) at the uni I work at does a really good review each year of the fish and chip shops around Dunedin. Their top rating for the last few years is Tahuna Camp Store which I would have to agree with.

https://www.critic.co.nz/features/article/9163/the-20th-annual-critic-fish-and-chip-review

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50 minutes ago, EmersonNZ said:

The Student Mag (Critic) at the uni I work at does a really good review each year of the fish and chip shops around Dunedin. Their top rating for the last few years is Tahuna Camp Store which I would have to agree with.

https://www.critic.co.nz/features/article/9163/the-20th-annual-critic-fish-and-chip-review

There’s some colourful language there from your students,I will have a good look at Tahuna camp.

Are you on cruise critic, I will start a roll call for the cruise  as there isn’t one yet.

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4 hours ago, Chili said:

There’s some colourful language there from your students,I will have a good look at Tahuna camp.

Are you on cruise critic, I will start a roll call for the cruise  as there isn’t one yet.

I should have put a language warning on the link 🙂. Being a student mag it can be rather colourful at times. I havn't been on Cruise Critic for some time but will make sure I enroll on the roll call.

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Carnival announced today that Carnival Splendor a ship that normally stays in Australia will now sail out of Seattle doing Alaska cruises for the Northern Hemisphere spring/summer season before returning to Australia in October hopefully for the Southern Hemisphere's spring/summer 2022/2023 cruise season.  They did not announce whether or not Carnival Spirit (the second ship that was permanently assigned to Australia) would return to Australia after they also just recently announced they were moving that ship from Australia to Jacksonville FL via the Panama Canal for the spring summer/season.  The good news for now is at least people in Australia now know Splendor will be back in October and I think if Spirit does not return Carnival would most certainly send another ship over to Australia to replace Spirit should cruising be allowed to resume.

Hopefully the Australian government is realizing cruise lines are not going to allow their ship to continue to sit idle while they figure out when to allow cruising to resume.  Fingers crossed this is all figured out by the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. 

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18 hours ago, Chili said:

So I have put the Australian price match to the test another 2 times with the current WOW sale.

Royal Caribbean didn’t hesitate to match the current price and OBC  under the cruise with confidence price match.

The agent said they where surprised when they reprised the fares

Would love to know your secret! I tried repricing mine but apparently it’s not eligible for price guarantee and I would lose my non refundable deposit. Little bit disappointed as the OBC would be a lot more if I had waited and booked now. 

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3 hours ago, khas said:

Would love to know your secret! I tried repricing mine but apparently it’s not eligible for price guarantee and I would lose my non refundable deposit. Little bit disappointed as the OBC would be a lot more if I had waited and booked now. 

That’s interesting, who and when did you book.
I don’t think that is correct. My agent first said that but I told them it’s in the cruise with confidence price guarantee,


I will try to find the fine print for you.

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4 hours ago, khas said:

Would love to know your secret! I tried repricing mine but apparently it’s not eligible for price guarantee and I would lose my non refundable deposit. Little bit disappointed as the OBC would be a lot more if I had waited and booked now. 

Here we go ,this is off the Australian website .I believe this is out of date also because I got it on a cruise in January 2023.

Take this to who ever you booked with.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/aus/en/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

 

 

455E5FB0-7443-4FB0-B368-751C74B53A51.thumb.png.baa57d7572c38b560925700c193b1254.png


 

 

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15 hours ago, Chili said:

That’s interesting, who and when did you book.
I don’t think that is correct. My agent first said that but I told them it’s in the cruise with confidence price guarantee,


I will try to find the fine print for you.

I booked direct through RC website as all the travel agents I know closed their businesses recently. That was information I was told when I called RC direct. I’m booked on Quantum November 22 so I’m outside the eligible sailing dates apparently. 

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3 hours ago, khas said:

I booked direct through RC website as all the travel agents I know closed their businesses recently. That was information I was told when I called RC direct. I’m booked on Quantum November 22 so I’m outside the eligible sailing dates apparently. 

Well , I’m sorry to here that .

Its hard to keep up with the constant changes but I got it on a January 2023 cruise.

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On 2/16/2022 at 5:22 PM, khas said:

Would love to know your secret! I tried repricing mine but apparently it’s not eligible for price guarantee and I would lose my non refundable deposit. Little bit disappointed as the OBC would be a lot more if I had waited and booked now. 

@ChiliHa, they denied me on an Ovation for Jan 2023, cancelled and rebooked at new price.

It seems to be enforced inconsistently. I also book on the website and sometimes when you call they are happy to reprice and sometimes they say they wont. I feel like it depends on who you get on the phone.

I always book with refundable now so I can just cancel and rebook the same room. Only downside is paying the deposit again, but they have been returning within a few days lately.

 

 

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24 minutes ago, mattymay said:

@ChiliHa, they denied me on an Ovation for Jan 2023, cancelled and rebooked at new price.

It seems to be enforced inconsistently. I also book on the website and sometimes when you call they are happy to reprice and sometimes they say they wont. I feel like it depends on who you get on the phone.

I always book with refundable now so I can just cancel and rebook the same room. Only downside is paying the deposit again, but they have been returning within a few days lately.

 

 

Gavin must have you on his hate list,  LOL

Did you quote their own propaganda?    Cruise with confidence price guarantee?

What cruise in January?

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1 hour ago, Chili said:

Gavin must have you on his hate list,  LOL

Did you quote their own propaganda?    Cruise with confidence price guarantee?

What cruise in January?

image.png.1441cf641a126457abc6d7ceb8614596.png

A handy 18 C&A points, but 331 is depressing!

I just got home from a land holiday in Cairns/Port Douglas. Should have been on Quantum this week 😞

No didn't quote it, it's not a big deal, just paid the deposit again. 

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