Inaugural AFF Cruise 25 - 29 Jan 2018

[Pushka]

As Coffin Bay is only about 45km from Port Lincoln I have booked a rental car for the 26th and have also booked 2 spots for the 1pm tour at Contact Us - Oyster Farm Tours

Now I just need the weather to co operate

That could be stunning. I think the only risk is KI with the tender. That stretch of water can be notorious. But if a day like it is in Adelaide today - perfect.

 

[Pushka]

Pushka, will we be in trouble if we miss any ports?

Only Adelaide methinks.

 

[Pushka]

My annual travel insurance policy has the provision of a refund of $1000 for a missed port, due to adverse weather conditions or mechanical breakdown.
I'll be happy either way, whether we land at Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln or not. Definitely don't want to miss Adelaide though. Otherwise, it would be a very lonely cruise, except for everyone else who gets on in Melbourne.

Going to burst your bubble. I just read the PDS. Its $100 per port up to a maximum of $1000 per trip (10 ports missed).

 

[sinophile888]

Going to burst your bubble. I just read the PDS. Its $100 per port up to a maximum of $1000 per trip (10 ports missed).

Oops! It thought that it was too good to be true, but haven't even needed to use it. I can stop praying for foul weather now.

 

[Pushka]

Oops! It thought that it was too good to be true, but haven't even needed to use it. I can stop praying for foul weather now.

It was almost worth taking out a basic insurance policy with no health protection (for us chronic sickies) just to get $1000 and pray for bad weather

 

[Anna]

It'd be a very interesting insurance policy if it just paid out $100 per port for a missed port without you needing to demonstrate some kind of financial loss, eg loss of pre-booked rental car at that port. Insurers are not renowned for compensating people for disappointment!

I got an email about onboard dining options today. Does anyone think we should pre-book anything in particular for our group? Has anyone been on Golden Princess* before and can comment on the specialty dining options?

*or whatever ship we are going on, I get them mixed up

 

[JessicaTam]

It'd be a very interesting insurance policy if it just paid out $100 per port for a missed port without you needing to demonstrate some kind of financial loss, eg loss of pre-booked rental car at that port. Insurers are not renowned for compensating people for disappointment!

I got an email about onboard dining options today. Does anyone think we should pre-book anything in particular for our group? Has anyone been on Golden Princess* before and can comment on the specialty dining options?

*or whatever ship we are going on, I get them mixed up

Miss N and I will be dining at our leisure. No pre-booking here.

 

[Major]

Miss N and I will be dining at our leisure. No pre-booking here.

Same here. We have selected anytime dining

 

[Pushka]

I just hope the buffet is better than it was on Diamond last Christmas. That shouldn’t be too difficult. At least tables won’t be occupied by all the backgammon players while we were walking around trying to find a table as the other half of the dining room was always closed at dinner. Weird.

 

[straitman]

In my piece of waffle a while back (post #198) I suggested anytime dining for all. That way as many or as few can turn up and they'll accommodate us. The odd numbers can cause delays but rarely more than a few minutes.

 

[Anna]

I didn't explain myself very well.

I meant, did we want to book dinner at a specialty restaurant one night for our entire group?

If so, it might be better to book that in advance because it might be difficult to fit everyone in if we leave booking it until we are on board. But no worries if people don't want to do that and just want to do their own thing.

 

[love_the_life]

I didn't explain myself very well.

I meant, did we want to book dinner at a specialty restaurant one night for our entire group?

If so, it might be better to book that in advance because it might be difficult to fit everyone in if we leave booking it until we are on board. But no worries if people don't want to do that and just want to do their own thing.

&Anna, I wonder as we are quite a large group that it becomes rather unwieldy for dinner. In the past when we have been part of an unofficial mob, we have met up in one of the bars for drinks in the early evening.
What do others think? Happy to go with the flow as they say.

 

[straitman]

&Anna, I wonder as we are quite a large group that it becomes rather unwieldy for dinner. In the past when we have been part of an unofficial mob, we have met up in one of the bars for drinks in the early evening.
What do others think? Happy to go with the flow as they say.

Agreed.

I suggest we use the MIUAYGA principle.

 

[Pushka]

&Anna, I wonder as we are quite a large group that it becomes rather unwieldy for dinner. In the past when we have been part of an unofficial mob, we have met up in one of the bars for drinks in the early evening.
What do others think? Happy to go with the flow as they say.

And which may stay up there with just a quick buffet dash for food.

Agreed.

I suggest we use the MIUAUGA principle.

I had to google that and got a bunch of dating sites. Google then corrected that to MIUAYGA. Unless you really meant dating sites?

 

[straitman]

I had to google that and got a bunch of dating sites. Google then corrected that to MIUAYGA. Unless you really meant dating sites?

Oops. (Fixed)
Thanks.

 

[straitman]

 

[Bazzi]

I just hope the buffet is better than it was on Diamond last Christmas. That shouldn’t be too difficult. At least tables won’t be occupied by all the backgammon players while we were walking around trying to find a table as the other half of the dining room was always closed at dinner. Weird.

In lieu of doing this trip due to scheduling conflicts, I did 3 days on the Golden Princess SYD MEL at the end of November and was really disappointed with the buffet - very ordinary. We had much better food in the Diamond Princess buffet albeit a couple of years ago and a much longer cruise. We loved Vines, staff were terrific and wines interesting. The small food selection near the cafe was far superior than the buffet in my opinion. We ate in the restaurant two nights, the food and service were pretty good.

Just noticed a Celebrity four night cruise SYD MEL SYD in October 2019 - $699pp for inside cabin - if anyone keen for AFFERS go to sea Part 2.

 

[Pushka]

In lieu of doing this trip due to scheduling conflicts, I did 3 days on the Golden Princess SYD MEL at the end of November and was really disappointed with the buffet - very ordinary. We had much better food in the Diamond Princess buffet albeit a couple of years ago and a much longer cruise. We loved Vines, staff were terrific and wines interesting. The small food selection near the cafe was far superior than the buffet in my opinion. We ate in the restaurant two nights, the food and service were pretty good.

Just noticed a Celebrity four night cruise SYD MEL SYD in October 2019 - $699pp for inside cabin - if anyone keen for AFFERS go to sea Part 2.

Oh. That’s not sounding good. Dining room maybe or speciality.

 

[Anna]

I'm usually happy with cruise ship buffets. Could you give more details about why you weren't happy with the buffets on the Golden and Diamond Princesses?

 

[Pushka]

I'm usually happy with cruise ship buffets. Could you give more details about why you weren't happy with the buffets on the Golden and Diamond Princesses?

I can describe the Diamond. Firstly they would close off half each night - not just the speciality area but the complete side. So each night it was a wait with plate in hand to find a table. They allowed backgammon players who were not eating to stay at several tables. We lodged a complaint with MaitreD about lack of seats as it was he who had closed them off. That bit was annoying.

The food. It was bland. Nothing like the tasty fare on Celebrity. It was all located in the one area so you had to queue in the one queue for every dish. The curries when they were presented were just stews not hot and spicy. The same style of food was presented each night even if called something different. The salads were ok but I’m not a salad person. Desserts on the other hand were good. Afternoon tea was good. We were on the ship for 13 nights so we just got tired of it. We ended up in the dining room more often than we normally would on a hot climate cruise. We would check the offerings each night and then go to dinner elsewhere after a couple of dud meals.