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Advice From Past Cruisers! (4 Viewers)

azzie

so delicious...
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for schoolies cruise- if you havent checked it out by now or booked or something i think the chances of you getting it are slim. we booked in mid feb i think and we JUST got our spots.
anyone who is underage, dont ask the same question, we answered it. you wont be able to drink. the best way to get around it is get someone whos 18 to buy and bring back to the room.
as haidar said, the security guys aint so bad. we made friends with a few of them. people on the ship dont treat you like children, they're awesome and you can reason with them. however, if you're caught being a dickhead, then accept that you're a dickhead and take whats coming to you. they're all reasonable and nice people but they have their limits. its better to behave and have a good time than be in a holding cell for being an idiot.
 

Odourless

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I was 17 and I had a few girls come with us who were 17 as well.

All the people in my cabin were 18 though.

Basically you are given a wrist band if you are over 18 which allows you to buy alchohol. The bartenders and P&O guys don't care where it goes after that basically and they were all cool. The extra security they get for the cruise (outside of P&O) don't like under 18's drinking.

Basically my friend would just buy the drinks and I would drink then as fast as I could or if there were not many security around it was fine. They tend to patrol certain areas and some are wankers while others are nice.

I did get caught once though because I was walking from one bar to another with drink in hand and a dickhead guard pulled me up. They took down my name and stuff and in the morning I had to go see the main security/P&O/captain guys. This happens to everyone who gets in trouble for anything at night.

So they give me a talk and say stuff like.....you were caught drinking......so you are pretty low on the list but if you get caught again we can just leave you on an island and you get your own way home and if you get caught for the 3rd time then you will probably be in a lot of strife.

Basically I reccommend it to anyone who is under 18 as you can go into all the bars and clubs (unlike Surfers) and its just such a great atmosphere on the boat.

Best time ever!
 

funny_bunny

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do u guys remember wot colours the wrist band were, we might be able to get some b4 the cruise then swap.... just an idea
 

pickle2005

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The bands were green. But people bought green bands from the islands and wore them, and security caught on pretty quickly. What I did (i was 18) was cut my band off, gave it to my 17 yr old friend, he borrowed a sewing kit and sewed it on his arm.

Then I just went up to security and told them my friends cut it off when I was asleep for a joke. They were a bit suss esp coz Id already had it cut off twice b4, but it worked and they gave me another one.

It sounds like an effort, but it was pretty easy, plus my friend gave me 20 bucks for my trouble. bargain!
 

funny_bunny

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hmm but if we get the bands b4 the cruise then put them on asap, they might not be so suss. it's worth a try.
 

luke_ball

Luke
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They are P&0 wrist bands, your chances of getting replica bands are pretty slim, but as we are all desperate to get on the drinks on the cruise, desperate times call for desperate measures. I wouldn't like to see the consequences of having a fake band on and then caught with a drink in your hands.

I went on the 8th of december 05 and a few of my mates were 17, and they basically got on the shots the whole trip, as they are easy to down, and you aren't walking around with a drink in your hand, and getting hammered as you go. So if you can handle the straight stuff, then that's the way to go, or smash the beers in the lift on the way to your room, you'll find ways of getting round it. Put money on your 18 year old mates cards, get them to buy it for you and your set.

And the best thing is for 17 year olds, unlimited access to niteclubs unlike anywhere else you would go for schoolies. Only place you can't go is the casino, but that's fair enough, and you don't go on the cruise to waste all your money on the pokies lol.

Cabins with windows arent the best. I highly recommened the inside cabins, as it can be pitch black dark 24/7 and you can sleep all you want and not woken up by the sun behind the blinds or some idiot in your room checking the view at 10am in the morning after you have been on the drink all night till 4 or 5am and you want to sleep for hours.

Best bartender goes to Jessie. He is a philo bloke who had us in tears for hours with his jokes and card tricks. Does anybody remember him?

Before you go on the cruise, go to the pub across the road, get on it with your folks, your mates, or whoever takes you to the cruise and then your set while you board and then when you dump your gear. This will last you untill your onboard and decided to head to the bar for your first drinks.

Islands are great. Relax at devine island, go early, find shade, it was bloody hot the day we got there, and there is no sand, it's like rocks and they cook your feet.

Go jetskiing in Noumea in the morning, hire mopeds in the afternoon and cruise around the island and check out the sights. Mopeds aren't that expensive, roughly $35 for 2 hours if my memory serves me right, but the main island is the most expensive on the islands. Dont get onto the freeway with the mopeds, your not allowed on it and you will have locals try to run you over lol.

Try to save yourself for the last night, it is the best of them all. I will never forget coming into sydney harbour at 4am in the morning in the pouring rain, and the top deck going off.

I still miss the cruise.
 

Kateee

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are there more girls than guys on the cruise or is it bout even?
 

Miss Breezy

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I was on the 29th November Cruise and our wrist bands were orange with P&O on them.

There are slight differences with cruises if its schoolies or not.

There are more security guards on schoolies cruises than normal.
Theme nights and deck parties ect vary. non schoolies aren't as big on all nighters.
Schoolies security appear stricter and assholes because they have a "duty of Care" with passengers. ADVICE - be nice to them and they'll b nice to you - we were nice to some who's room was opposite ours and they looked out for us at night.
 

Ranger Stacie

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OZGIRL86 said:
Hi, I'm going on my first cruise in a few weeks , I can't wait:)

Did you get seasick?
What happens on theme nights(apart from dressing up)?
Did you go on any shore tours? any recommendations?
How much does it cost for formal photos onboard?
Any other advice or tips would be great.
Thanks:)
i got seasick, its terrible. they advice you to wait for a day or 2 before getting the shot cos most peoples bodies can fight it, but i was very very very very ill by the 4 th day. the shot works wonders as well.

i went on a couple of shore tours, the horse riding one on vanuatu was really good. in vanuatu you HAVE to go to the waterfalls that was the highlight of the whole cruise for me. and go on a tour at noume as well cos the city stinks. (literally). i went on a kayaking one and i sprained my ankle


the only tip i could give is to really, really stress the importance of getting out travel insurance before you go. i almost didnt because i thought at the time 'argh nothing will happen i dont wanna waste the money' but as it turned out i spent $400 on medical bills nboard, for seasickness shot and costs relating to my ankle (the doctor on board thought it was broken and strongly advised me to get xrays etc..=$$). i got all of the money back becuase of the travel insurance, but if i hadnt gotten it it would have been all out of my own pocket
 

Tess653

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how much spending money should people bring? me and my friends were guessing about $200 per day with shore trips, and $100 for every other day. is that about right?
 

r.haidar

not crusin til schoolies!
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Tess653 said:
how much spending money should people bring? me and my friends were guessing about $200 per day with shore trips, and $100 for every other day. is that about right?
Thats over a grand, u probably wont need that much. A 18 yr old male would need that much.... lol i took 650... just dont spend it on stupid shit and u can get filleted every night. plus im assuming ur female so guys will shout ya heaps of drinks.
 

willmaca

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im goin on the november schoolies 06 cruise. ill be 17 and i was wonderin that even though the drinking is strict on the ship what about on the island stops... in vanuatu in 05 when i was 16 they served me... will it be any different...
 

OZGIRL86

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Thanks for the info and tips everyone! I go on my cruise next wk:)
I booked it at the end of june last yr and the time has just gone by so quickly.I will try and post some pics up when I come back.
 

Ranger Stacie

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Tess653 said:
how much spending money should people bring? me and my friends were guessing about $200 per day with shore trips, and $100 for every other day. is that about right?

it really depends, you can have a great time spending relatevily little, most of my friends spent under a grand. one of my friends got back from a recent cruise where she spent 6 grand though...
 

*miss jess*

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hi....

Well i agree and disagree with some of the stuff thats been said,. I was on both the 29th cruise and the 8th cruise last year. I was only 17 but i found if you didnt act like you were doing anything wrong the security guards dont check your armband. I managed to drink excessively every night for nearly 20 nights, without drinking in my room (or a bathroom :S) once.

Just wrap your lanyard around your wrist so that they have to stop u if the want to check it, drink some sort of mix with a non alcoholic beverage so u can claim "its just pineapple juice/red bull/oj" and drink quickly.

If your drinking cocktails try and get one that looks kind of like the mocktail of the day (you will understand once your on the boat). You will still have to get someone else to buy it but i was having between 6 and 10 drinks a night and didnt get in trouble once. Security sometimes came over but because i talked to them, didnt run away and just acted as tho it was fine they just assumed it was. Also i recommend drinking at the bar, your more likely to get noticed if your walking around with a drink in your hand. You grapb the straws while ur friend buys the drink:)

I had the advantage of being on there for 20 days so i was on a first name basis with most of security, but just try and make friends with a couple at least on the first day..most are pretty cool and you can work out which ones you have to look out for pretty quickly.

With the armbands, i thought i'd be clever and keep the ones off the first cruise, as you can see they changed colour and arm! Very annoying! But seriously i couldnt believe the amount of people that had to sneak around to drink, i didnt find it difficult at all even on the first cruise. I cant talk for the boys because that may have been different, but there was about 10 girls in our group of 20 that were underage and we all drank and not one of us got in trouble.

As for the talent (boy wise), i thought there was plenty. I was expecting a heap of ugly boys (thinking that we couldnt escape off a boat!) but there was sooo many beautiful boys. Plus once you've got the beer goggles on.... lol only joking. Seriously a lot of the boys were mighty fine.

what else? I never got seasick, it was the best 20 days of my entire life, the food is great, i only spent $1100 on the 2 cruises ( but im a really cheap drunk). Cocktails are only $6.50, and rest of the drinks are pretty standard price, bout $5.
The islands are awesome, i didnt do any shore tours and am happy that i didnt. i will to answer questions too, seems like its different for everyone so get as many opinions as you can, but i bet we all agree it is absolutely awesome! I would go over and over again if i could afford to.


Sorry its such a huge reply, hope it helped xoxo

Theme nights are heaps of fun, i didnt kno what mine were before we got there, most were pretty typical ie. island night etc its good fun but its not like u have to dress up, i didnt dress up as superhero, and i wore a dress on board short and thongs night.

If you go to noumea dont stay in the city get on a bus and go aroun to the bays get off at the second one (bai de citron i think) the food at the absinth is awesome!
 
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Just wondering what the onboard entainment if like besides the clubs.

Also whats the consquences of fighting onboard?
 

r.haidar

not crusin til schoolies!
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EightySixMafia said:
Just wondering what the onboard entainment if like besides the clubs.?
Casino, massage parlour, hairdresser, a couple of stalls to buy stuff, 2 pools 1 with a slide, fantsatic 360 degree views from the boat...
EightySixMafia said:
Also whats the consquences of fighting onboard?
usually u spend the night in the brig (the boats jail) and in the morning u get spoken to by the captain, and he can decide to leave u at the next island or if u have already stopped at them all, you will be kept in the brig for the rest of the cruise... theyre fucking strict so dont risk it
 

mish88

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hey hey i was just wantin 2 know how much money u took 4 spending money coz i really dont know how much 2 take lol....if any1 is goin on the 9th of dec 2006 u should add me 2 msn surfchick32@hotmail.com
i cant wait its goin 2 be so good:)
 

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