2020 - the year of no cruises

 We had two cruises booked for this year, a September cruise and a Christmas cruise. The September one was cancelled months ago and our Christmas cruise was officially cancelled a few weeks ago. We had only paid a $6 deposit for the September cruise but our December cruise was much more. Fingers crossed we get this back in the coming weeks! Celebrity asked what we preferred a future cruise credit or a refund, we opted for the refund. We just don't know when or if we will cruise again so would just prefer to get our money back. There is also the chance that cruise companies will go broke so you'll never get your cruise or your money. 

Seeing as we couldn't go on our September cruise which was to celebrate a birthday we looked at what else we could do. We settle on Cairns in far North Qld, catching the train up and flying back - this didn't happen either. Border bubble put a stop to that. Plan C - Yamba. We could all get there without worry about any border crossings (but you never know when things change!). We booked a lovely unit through Airbnb and crossed our fingers that nothing would change as there was no refund allowed.

Happy days, we made it to Yamba and had a lovely 5 days. The unit was just what we needed, overlooking the ocean so it felt like we were on our cruise when we sat on our patio and in our loungeroom looking out the window! Gorgeous spot and we hope to be able to get back there one day. Sadly it was already booked out over Christmas, not surprisingly! We saw so many whales and dolphins, what a treat sipping your tea while whale watching. The weather gods were kind to us even though we were a bit worried on the day we arrived as it was VERY windy,, thankfully the wind eased over night,

We now need to decide what we are going to do for Christmas with Covid spoiling our plans!! It's very hard to plan anything when there is a pandemic so we will most likely just have it in Port Mac. We just need to find someone who's willing to cook all our meals for us, that's what we were really looking forward to on the cruise!! Oh well I'll just have to start making dinner reservations around town.

Flights and Accommodation

Well I've booked my flights for the September cruise as both Jetstar and Tiger have a good sale on at the moment. $68 with check luggage. I booked Jetstar going to Sydney and Tiger coming home. Jetstar had more flights going down so I feel a bit better knowing that I'll have a better chance of getting on another flight if mine happens to be cancelled (fingers crossed it'll all be fine). Tiger was cheaper coming home. I've also booked my flight down to Sydney in December as it was also $68 but at the moment the return flight is still full price. Hopefully there'll be a sale on for that date but being that it is early January I don't like my chances. I'll wait a bit longer and just keep an eye on the flights and the prices. Don't want to miss out completely but don't want to pay $140+ either if I can get it cheaper!

I've also booked out accommodation for September, just the one night before the cruise. We always arrive a day before to cover any delays getting down to Sydney. We'd rather spend money on a nights accommodation that miss our cruise because our plane or train was delayed or cancelled!

I booked a two bedroom apartment - Apartment Darling Harbour - it has free cancellation until 31/8 so I'll watch for any bargains that may come up between now and then. It's near Haymarket/Chinatown an area we know plus I think we should be able to get the new Lightrail down to Circular Quay almost straight to our ship!

I'm tempted to book our December accommodation as Sir Stamford Circular Quay has a pretty good deal on Booking.com although it is still more than we normally would pay for a hotel. $280 for a triple, not a bad price for the hotel but we generally like to spend around $160. The hotels we've stayed at before aren't cheap at the moment and with it being the time of year we're going (Christmas) I'm not sure if they'll ever be cheap. The only reason I'm hesitating is that payment is required immediately and there is no refund for cancelling. I'm thinking I should just do it as it is Christmas time and it would be nice to stay near Circular Quay. I'll just have to be even more frugal with my spending else where!

About 190 days until the birthday cruise in September and 290 days until our Christmas cruise!! I can not wait!!

Majestic Princess - September 2020 - Birthday cruise!

Well we've booked a cruise for September when Princess had their $1 deposit offer. We had been eyeing off this cruise so thought we might as well book it as it's no biggie if we end up cancelling, we'll only lose our deposit of $3!

This is a 12 night Fiji cruise which includes a few ports we have never been to before. Dravuni Island, SavuSavu and Lautoko it also includes a BIG birthday celebration. It's a must that we celebrate on a cruise. If this cruise happens to fall through we've got a back up of a short 3 nighter which includes the big day.

As it will be the three of us again I have booked a suite (and it's appropriate for a birthday celebration) as these are substantially bigger than a balcony standard cabin which we found just too small for three adults. We had looked at booking two cabins but it really adds to the cost. I think this should do us just nicely. How lucky are we!!

I can't wait for our cruises but I guess I need to be patient being that the first one is still 8 months away! As with the Christmas one, it does give us time to save up and to get our new passports.

Bring on September!!

Celebrity Solstice Christmas 2020 - booked!

Well we've booked our very first cruise of 2020 and it's a 10 night Christmas cruise! 357 days and counting...

It's on board the Celebrity Solstice which is a ship we've never been on before, heading to the north island of New Zealand. We can't wait!

We're in a Deluxe Veranda stateroom on Deck 7 and we got bonus drinks packages, woop! Look out cocktail bar.

So far I've decided we'll do the Waiheke Island HoHo bus when we're in Auckland and the Marlborough Flyer Steam train when we're in Picton. At this stage the other stops we'll just wander around.

The itinerary is: Bay of Island, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier and Picton. We'll be at sea on Christmas Day, Napier for a birthday (or two!) and Picton for New Years Eve. What a cruise.

Final payment is September so that gives us a bit of time to save up :-)

We may just have to book a cruise between now and then to get us though! Possibly one in September as we've got a big birthday to celebrate.