Q – Thank you for your website. Interesting and very helpful. Also loved the sense of humour throughout. I like your comments re the problem with pax reviews and marketing department frauds.
I do want to suggest a mild correction regarding Aussies consumption of Fosters. We (ie probably 99% of Australians) don’t drink Fosters in Australia! Yep – it’s not really drunk in Australia. In fact, I think they now export more than they sell here. But the marketing overseas has been excellent! It’s in the movies, advertised by ‘name’ people, etc. It’s was even on tap on the Royal Yacht Britannia! (Now in Edinburgh) But it is really not us! Bit like all that advertising showing kangaroos jumping down our suburban streets and koalas everywhere. Nup.
I have only drunk it when we’ve been overseas and it’s been comparatively cheap with not much else on offer which I like! (eg the ‘oil can’ on the Oasis of the Seas – Caribbean cruise out of Ft Lauderdale. Loved it.) Never drunk it here in Oz.
I have drunk a wide range of beers in Oz, UK, USA and Europe. I just love variety! Even brought home a Millers tin with screw top as a souvenir. Our tinnies all tab push ones. We have screw top wines (better sealing that cork, so used even on top quality wines.) but not screw top aluminium beer bottles.
Also love good wines. We have lots of those here in South Australia. Pay about $US10-20 in the bottle shop for something which is about twice that in the US for similar quality. In fact, if you are into real quality wines, order a Penfolds Grange Hermitage Shiraz. In a decent place with a decent waiter just say ‘Grange’. He might offer you a choice of vintage. Generally the older the better and dearer. A world renowned drop which only costs about the same as a day (or two or more for older vintages) on a top quality river cruise!
If you are a beer connoisseur, try the South Australian Coopers range. Hard to get sometimes, but we’ve found it overseas. A bit dearer than most, but an excellent family company with very strict standards and quality outlook. If you don’t mind a beer with a bit of body, try a Coopers Pale Ale. It’s naturally brewed and not filtered. The ‘dregs’ fall to the bottom of the bottle. Leave them there, or gently roll the bottle on its side before pouring. Either way, we’ve converted quite a few people to it.
Finally a cruise tip. We love quizzes and have found a mix of nationalities in a team works best. RCL & Princess tend to have US biased questions, so we love having ‘yanks’ in a team. ‘Win-win’ as we tend to do well on other than USA questions. On one cruise, even with rotating / different members, we won over six quizzes. As the host said, we won a ‘ship’ prize!
By the way, Aussies wouldn’t throw drink containers overboard. We’d collect them to get the 10 cent deposit back on them! LOL. Cheers.
A – This primer on Aussie drinking has rather little to do with luxury cruising and there is no discernible question to answer. But we felt we had to share this with you. Thank you John from Adelaide and do keep in touch.
