Re: My Bogan Holiday

Interesting post , however, take it you are not a smoker. There are still some about how do they fare in this utopia of yours ?

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Correct I don't smoke, neither for that matter do I hit myself over the head with a hammer or drink domestos

For those insistent on damaging their health there are designated places on board where they can engage in that habit with the least impact to others. Typically this is on the port side of the ship on the prom deck and on the upper open deck. No smoking in cabins of course which would be a fire hazard and would make cabins uninhabitable for non-smokers, so no different to hotels really. No smoking on balconies either as you'd be right next to the neighbouring balcony. You can however vape away on your balcony.
When restrictions first came in smokers were pretty angry but as the smoking laws crept across the country they now take it with a pinch of salt. To be fair, I'm sure standing on the prom deck staring out at the majestic sea, seeing the sun or moon light gleam off the water and seeing the dolphins leaping in front of you whilst having a fag, is surely nicer than standing outside your local pub in a purpose built dingy shelter !

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Yes, I did enjoy it. I was with a party of about 30 people including several children aged between 2 and 7. The basic group was celebrating their 30th birthday with their friends from school (long term friends) and work (mostly Dept of Defence). It was a very diverse group of Aussies, Pommies, South Africans, African Americans and Asians. We all had a great time, at 70 I was the oldest, there was another couple in their 60s but the rest were late 20s or early 30s plus the kids. I definitely wouldn't want to go cruising alone.

My youngest son chose our suite which was excellent, it had a living room, changing room, twin bedroom, walk in wardrobe, spa and a massive balcony. If I got my lunch from the Snags and Pies section of the buffet I would bring it down to my cabin and eat it on the balcony or in the cabin though most of the time I ate in the restaurant rather than the buffet.

I was up at 6am and went for the buffet breakfast (on the deck above my cabin) when it was quiet, I only wanted Weetbix and coffee then I would walk round the promenade deck for 40 minutes or so before the ship came to life (hence the photos of empty decks and pools).

One anomaly; on one occasion we ate in the posh restaurant on board (you have to pay), the food was plentiful and excellent, three courses, perfectly cooked (rare was rare, medium rare was medium rare). The meal was a fixed price of $45p/p, for the equivalent meal in the restaurant on land you could pay up to $100. I wanted to go again but left my booking too late.

The entertainment wasn't bad though I thought there would be more of it, the shows were fine and one of the comedians was brilliant, he had me rolling but I still can't believe I did play Bingo in the afternoon (at $30 a session). Every bar had either a duo or solo artist playing most of the time - by moving from bar to bar you could listen to music all day. To be honest I was surprised how reasonably priced the beer was, they had plentiful Tooheys New on tap at $7.50 a pint (not a schooner), considerably more than I would pay for in a club but not too bad compared to pub prices. I must admit I spent a lot of time in the over 18 section of the ship testing the beer. The days of cheap beer once you are out of the 3 mile limit seem long over.

My daughter won $500 for $3 on the first day in the casino and wisely never went back, personally I find gambling quite boring so never went other than to walk from the restaurant to the theatre at opposite ends of the ship.

Occasionally I would join the trivia quizzes but was always beaten by somebody...grrrr However one question, "Which is the busiest cruise ship port in the world?" made me sure never to cruise the Caribbean (it holds 18 cruise ships at once!)

How does it compare with my usual holidays?

Well it doesn't, it was a 10 day cruise that cost me just under $2000 and I spent slightly under $1000 on booze and excursions (including a trip to the bowels of the ship). In comparison when I drove to Darwin earlier in the year I spent approximately 5 weeks travelling and spent $1000 in fuel, $2000 in motel accommodation plus a few $100s on food and sightseeing. Even earlier in the year I went to Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar for four weeks and spend about $1000 on fares (including flight there) and about $1000 on food and incidentals. So for me cruising is not worth the money even though the food is included. However those with kids saw it as a cheap option to fit in between more expensive holidays - one couple in my party with kids quoted $4000 for the cruise and $10000 for their holiday to China and Vietnam.

Coming out of Australia there was no tipping or gratuity added to the cost of everything. (BTW Divide the price by 2 for approx £ equivalent)

So there you go, as I said I would not go again but at least I won't die wondering.

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Correction: I have not been to Asia this year, that trip was late last year, I usually go at least twice a year however this year I toured Victoria in summer and Qld, NT and SA in winter.

The cruise was my only OS trip this year.

Re: My Bogan Holiday

An interesting report Bruce, thank you. Like you, I enjoyed the experience, we met some really nice people, we enjoyed the cruise, but I have no desire to do another one.

The food wastage is incredible, or at least it was on the cruise we were on. We saw many nights the staff going on deck with big bin liners full of bread and whatever else and just tipping the contents into the sea. I guess the fish like cruise liners

The only cruise I felt a little envious of friends going on was on a Jules Verne cruise which went to the Galapagos Islands, and I forget where else. They did ask if I would like to go with them, but the cost of that cruise was prohibitive, I´m not as wealthy as them. If I was rich I might well consider a Jules Verne cruise though.

https://www.vjv.com/themes/cruising/

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Some good points in there Bruce. I would add the following or others still on the fence:

Families

For those with kids aged 5-12 I would say cruising will be a Utopia holiday. The kids will quickly find the "kid clubs" and games rooms at the back of the ships and the swimming pools and will meet loads of other kids whom they will make friends with. In a very short space of time you will find that you will see your kids for breakfast, then they will disappear the entire day and you will see them again at evening meal where many will still want to have the specially laid on "kids dinner" rather than eat with parents. The kids are looked after brilliantly by dedicated crew members but equally the kids can do heir own thing too.

This entire arrangement means tired stressed out parents are free to relax all day, lounging in the sun or quietly reading in a bar or library without the constant pestering of their kids saying "daddy I'm bored!". You really will get a thoroughly relaxing holiday to yourself !

Steaks

Bruce mentioned eating in a restaurant where "rare was rare". It is a common mistake and misconception of many cruisers that when they eat in the fabulous but mainstream restaurants (i.e. their free designated evening restaurant) that when they order a steak, it is going to be cooked to perfection as they ordered it, rare, medium, well done etc.
This isn't the case and for good reason. There are often 1500-3000 passengers eating. It is simply impossible to personally cook that many steaks for people without holding up service.

What you must do is look ta the menu and see if there is a special steak option on that particular night. On most cruise lines, the evening menus have a section of "always available" meals in case you don't fancy tonight's main dishes. The "always available" pretty much always includes a basic steak, chicken and some type of fish.

Occasionally the main menu of the evening will offer a special steak.

It is important to distinguish between the two.

When the steak is a special on the normal menu, you must realise that 100s if not over 1000 people will be selecting it. As such you are NOT going to get that steak cooked perfectly for your taste. They will have to have pre-cooked 100s of steaks and will be keeping them warm at varying degrees of cooking, rare, medium etc. But keeping them warm means they are still cooking.

So if you want Medium Rare, you need to order rare. If you want Medium you need to order medium rare. This is the only way you will get what you want.

On the other hand, if there is no steak on the main menu and you instead select the steak from the "always available" menu, then you can order it plainly because you aren't competing with 1000s of other people and your steak WILL be cooked to order. So here, Medium Rare IS Medium Rare.

Bingo

Bingo on cruise ships is a terrible rip-off and most cruisers (esp older women) are clueless as to things like odds and numbers. My advice is to steer well clear of ship's bingo until the very last day when there is usually a jackpot rollover which is typically over £1000.

Worth noting that the Bingo is NOT run by the cruise line. It is run by the casino operators who are independent (often Romanian). They are ruthless in their taking of betting money.

The last time I played the final jackpot day of Bingo (as more of a study than anything else), I counted the number of people sitting around the room. There were some 300-400 people and every person had paid on average at least £10 and many much more than that. The casino takings were therefore in excess of £3000 and probably closer to £5000.
A total of 5 bingo games were played in that session and I totted up the total prize money that was paid out which came to about £1800.

That's an absolutely shocking pay-out compared to the amount of money taken in, and this is why no-one should really play bingo on a cruise ship. The casino (house) keeps most of the money rather than pay it out in prizes. It is a total crooked mugs game.

Also note that these ships casinos sell bingo "books". Very often you can by a single game book (for say £5), a 3-game book (for £10) and a 5 game book (for £15). Money-wise people are duped into thinking that the 5 game book offers more value for money. It means you are marking 5 bingo cards during each game instead of one.

What people don't realise, is that no numbers are duplicated on those 5 cards. They are all unique numbers. So if No 7 is called you might think you would be ticking off that No 7 on say 3 of the 5 cards, but you'd be wrong. It will appear only once. You need to buy multiple SINGLE cards to achieve that and hope that the single cards have many duplicate numbers.

All in all, cruise bingo is a huge huge con. Avoid.


On Board Spending

How much you spend aboard is a personal choice and it can easily be greatly minimised. $1000 for a 10 day trip is quite a lot. $100 per day. Newbies tend to have a lack of confidence in ports and so book an excursion for every port which is a really expensive option. Many ship excursions are poor value for money. It is usually extremely cheap and easy to just walk off the ship, take a shuttle bus into town or take an open top bus trip around cities and do your own thing. Never be afraid to do your own thing.
When calling into Naples a year ago, our cruise line was offering excursions to the beautiful town of Sorrento for something like £30-40 per person. Just a transfer bus there and back leaving people to wander at will.
My wife and I just walked off the ship, walked 5-10mins to the nearby Naples railway station and bought 2 return rail tickets to Sorrento for 6 Euros each ! Language was not an issue. The train was essentially a tube train that ran overground rather than underground and along the way we passed Pompeii and saw great views of Vesuvius. Had a full day in Sorrento and hopped back on the train back.

Saved ourselves £60 or so.

Cruise lines prey on fear and people's lack of confidence to charge stupid money for bus rides.

It is also worth picking a cruise line that allows you to bring booze on board. Many don't but some will such as P&O Cruises. You can bring bottles of liquors and wine and champagne on board to drink in your cabin at will throughout the cruise. Typically I only bring a bottle of Champagne and a bottle of the wonderful orange liqueur called Aperol in order to make Aperol Spritzes. I then wait until we hit first port in the Med (say Spain) and buy cans of lager and other stuff there which is crazy cheap as well as nice nibbles to have with them.

We do go to ships bars in the evening for pre and post dinner drinks but through the day, we drink what we have brought on board. Far far cheaper that way.

All in all cruising is a fabulous way to travel and is perfect for families with young kids.

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Coincidentally this morning I received a cheque from the cruise company for $380 so I actually spent $620 on the ship (I put $1000 in cash on the ship's credit card).

Excursions cost me about $160 but $95 of that was the trip round the ship. Apart from the trip round the ship I booked no other excursions onboard but waited until I was ashore and took the local tours for about $25 a pop compared with $65 for the one booked on the ship. It is nothing to do with being a cruise newbie it is a question of common sense.

Unfortunately Pacific Islands don't have trains services or even public transport to speak of but they do accept just about any currency you care to offer them (and unlike Asian countries give you change in the same currency) and my French is sufficient to get by with.

The rest of that money went exclusively on booze except for $30 on Bingo, the restaurant and a rip off $20 on a hat on the Isle of Pines because I left mine on the ship. Still I guess it counts as a souvenir.

The main restaurant was very good but I can't say whether they even asked whether you wanted steak rare or not because I didn't order any but I doubt it.

My son took 2 litres of vodka onto the ship (and ended up taking 1 litre off) but I was happy to pay for my drinks and shouts - I don't drink wine or spirits and it's a holiday after all, I don't see the point of economising at our age; what are you going to do with the money when you are dead?

Re: My Bogan Holiday

Haha with you there. Lost count of the number of baseball caps I have bought ashore because I forgot my own.