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Major Cruise line scraps entire season

Virgin Voyages has cancelled all of its sailings in Australia and New Zealand for the next year after they were left with "no choice" in the wake of escalating tensions in the Red Sea. The Resilient Lady ship will not return Down Under for its promised second sailing season next summer due to safety concerns following a series of strikes on container ships in the Red Sea. The cruise line revealed on Tuesday that a lengthier alternative return route around Africa was not viable for the company. "On the heels of these recent changes and based on the regional and government advice we have received, we remain very concerned about potential escalations in the Red Sea over the next 12 months," a spokesperson from Virgin Voyages said. “This significant and ongoing conflict puts unacceptable risks for safe passage through the region for our Sailors, crew and vessel." “To say that we are disappointed to have come to this tough conclusion is an understatement. “These adjustments are happening now to minimise potential future disruption to our passengers’ holiday plans, knowing there is a high likelihood that changes would need to happen in the future.” The cancellations will impact customers with trips planned in late 2024 and early 2025 on repositioning voyages between Europe and Australia. Virgin Voyages have indicated that a return to Australian waters will remain a possibility, as they continue to look for available options. They also said that if the 2024/25 can go ahead, customers who had previously booked their holiday will be prioritised if they would like to re-book. Currently, impacted customers have the option to re-book a different trip or request a full refund. A few other cruise companies who operate seasonal sailings or world cruises through the Red Sea and Suez Canal have also had to cancel, reposition, or re-route their sailings. MSC have cancelled three repositioning sailings in April, while Cunard, Princess and Seabourn have re-routed their world cruises to avoid the Suez Canal. Image: Virgin Voyages

Cruising

Could you cope with a shock to your bank balance? 5 ways to check you are financially resilient

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bomikazi-zeka-680577">Bomikazi Zeka</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> Imagine the dentist has just said you urgently need a A$2,000 dental crown. A week later, a pipe in your bathroom bursts, causing $8,000 worth of damage. Suddenly, you’ve been hit with a $10,000 financial shock. As the cost-of-living crisis plunges more households into financial uncertainty and at least <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/taking-the-pulse-of-the-nation-2022/2023/australians-face-challenging-budgetary-constraints#:%7E:text=Over%20the%20past%20six%20months,has%20increased%20to%2060%20percent.">one-third</a> of Australians struggle to make ends meet, it’s more important than ever to ask yourself: how financially resilient am I? Being financially resilient means you aren’t left financially devastated when an expensive emergency creeps up on you. Here are five key signs of financial resilience. <h2>1. You have a plan for what you’d do if you suddenly lost your salary</h2> Financial resilience means having a plan to fall back on during tough times. This extends to how you’d make money if you lost your job. In practice, that means things like making sure your skills and contacts are kept up to date so you can more easily find a new job. You might also consider whether a “side hustle” job such as tutoring could work for you in the short term, and how you’d put that plan into practice if needed. Perhaps you have a spare room in your home you could rent out for a period of time if you lost your salary. Those examples won’t work for everyone, of course, but it’s still worth asking yourself the question: what would I do if I lost my salary tomorrow? <h2>2. You have enough liquid assets to meet an unexpected financial expense</h2> Liquid assets means money that can be accessed quickly and easily to overcome an unplanned financial expense. Savings are a good example. They provide a buffer so you can cope in the short term if a financial shock strikes. The federal government’s Moneysmart website suggests you aim to have enough in your emergency savings fund to cover <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/saving/save-for-an-emergency-fund">three months of expenses</a>. Having an <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/glossary/offset-account">offset account</a> as part of a mortgage is another option that provides a buffer. Putting money in an offset account helps you save while reducing the amount of interest on a home loan. You can still access the money in an offset account at any time. <h2>3. You have bought the right financial products, such as insurance</h2> Financial products, such as insurance, hedge against potential losses. Personal insurance is important because it provides income in the event of death, illness or injury. Examples include: <ul> <li> life insurance (which pays out to your beneficiaries, such as your partner or children, when you die) </li> <li> total and permanent disability insurance (which means you may get some money if you acquire a disability that prevents you from working) </li> <li> income protection (which provides you with an income if you can no longer work) </li> <li> trauma cover (which covers a life-changing illness or injury, such as cancer or a stroke). </li> </ul> Check if your superannuation has any of these insurances included in it. <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/295770/FPRJ-V4-ISS1-pp-53-75-insurance-literacy-in-australia.pdf">Research</a> has found that many Australians are underinsured. <h2>4. You can still pay your debts when times are tough</h2> Being able to borrow money can help when you’re in a tight spot. But knowing where to borrow from, how much to borrow and how to manage debt repayments is crucial. Financially resilient people use debt responsibly. That means: <ul> <li> not using debt for frivolous expenses like after-work drinks </li> <li> staying away from private money lenders </li> <li> being cautious about buy-now-pay-later services </li> <li> watching out for debts with high interest rates, such as payday loans and credit card debt </li> <li> maintaining debt repayments consistently. </li> </ul> If you’re having debt problems, talk to your lender about renegotiating your repayment arrangements, or contact the <a href="https://ndh.org.au/">National Debt Helpline</a> on 1800 007 007. <h2>5. You are financially literate</h2> Being financially literate means you can assess the benefits and risks of using savings or taking out debt to meet an unplanned financial need. As I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-financially-literate-here-are-7-signs-youre-on-the-right-track-202331">written</a> before on The Conversation, key signs of financial literacy include tracking your cashflow, building a budget, as well as understanding what debts you have and which to pay first. It also means storing your money across different places (such as superannuation, savings accounts, property and the share market) and understanding how financial assets like cash, shares and bonds work. Being aware of your financial strengths and weaknesses, and having financial goals is also important. Nobody is born knowing how to make sound financial decisions; it’s a skill that must be learned. It’s good to think about the resources you would draw upon to help get yourself out of a difficult financial situation – well before disaster strikes.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218126/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bomikazi-zeka-680577">Bomikazi Zeka</a>, Assistant Professor in Finance and Financial Planning, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-you-cope-with-a-shock-to-your-bank-balance-5-ways-to-check-you-are-financially-resilient-218126">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

If you want your child to be more resilient, get them to join a choir, orchestra or band

One of the most important qualities for a young person to develop is resilience. This involves their ability to overcome adversity. Resilience is perhaps more important now than ever. Today’s young people have been <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth-in-brief/contents/summary">facing adversity on a mass-scale</a>, thanks to COVID and all the disruptions to their education and social, home and working lives. The good news is, resilience is not just something you are born with. It <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/ca34a20a-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/ca34a20a-en#chapter-d1e10348">can be learned</a> from our experiences and interactions with others. Parents may not be aware that one way to develop resilience is through group music making, such as in a school or community choir, orchestra or band. <h2>Our research</h2> We wanted to investigate how group music making can develop skills beyond just learning to play an instrument or sing. Our <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project">study</a> is based on the Tasmanian Youth Orchestras, which include accomplished musicians aged from 14 to 25. This includes the state youth orchestra as well as two other orchestras, specialist ensembles and two choirs. For our project, we collected comments from players, managers and conductors/teachers on a closed Facebook site and then did eight follow-up interviews. Our findings show how qualities like teamwork, empathy and grit – all components of resilience – can be developed through group music making. <h2>Teamwork</h2> In order for a group of players to make a piece of music work, they have to work together. People have to listen to each other, understand what is happening around them, and be prepared to change how they play something (slow or fast, loud or soft) depending on how the group is performing. You need to be able to value the contributions of other people, not just your own. So, <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/teamwork">we found</a> if you are playing in a band, you are learning team work skills. As David*, a conductor told us: "After a while, players realised that they were ultimately responsible to the other players not to the conductor." <h2>Empathy</h2> Players also need to be able to understand others in a group and share their feelings. In a choir or orchestra, the music making is a shared creative experience – that involves the whole body. And this is where <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/empathy">empathy</a> comes in. Empathy, like teamwork, can be cumulative, growing over time through rehearsals and performances, as players and teachers support one another. As brass player Tom said, "I have to understand that I am not always going to be the main focus of a piece." Another player, Simon, told us about his realisation that other people were also having to work hard (and it wasn’t just about him). "You certainly aren’t the only person having to practise your doubles [playing two notes at once] for that piece." <h2>Grit</h2> It is important for young people to develop a “<a href="https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/">growth mindset</a>”, where they understand effort makes them stronger and learning is a long-term commitment. This is where <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/grit">grit</a> also comes in: pursing a goal and sticking with it even if it takes a lot of work or gets difficult. It can take many months to learn a piece of music up to performance standard. And learning an instrument requires practice every day. So commitment is a key part of learning music. Lawrence, a player, told us about participating in his school musical, "There were many points throughout the year which I felt like giving up […] but it was something I had committed to […]. I kept working on playing the music to the best of my ability, even if it felt like I couldn’t do it." Tory, a choir conductor, described performance as both “safe and unsafe”. Young people in a choir learn to deal with the unexpected as part of performance. And this takes a kind a bravery. "You’ve got safety in numbers, to some extent, but you are still stepping into the unknown every time you walk on stage to do a thing. You can rely on each other, because you’ve rehearsed, but stuff does go pear shaped. Stuff happens […] It’s an incredibly useful life skill to be able to go, ‘well, that sucked’ […] and go, all right ‘let’s [go again]’." <h2>Why music?</h2> But what is so special about music in fostering resilience? Young people also work in sporting teams or academic assignments. They can also work together while playing games. Playing music provokes activity in many different parts of the brain at the same time. Listening to music that we like triggers the pleasure/reward centre of the brain. Dopamine and serotonin are released, resulting in that “feel good” sensation, and <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/this-is-your-brain-on-music-daniel-levitin/book/9780241987353.html?source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw48OaBhDWARIsAMd966B_bnNSq0206FOdSKqjfAEbrRWPkyKsh1tlY4v7eD1JGqZMB5qYGmoaAgmKEALw_wcB">providing an incentive</a> to keep engaging with music. Learning a musical instrument also <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2021/01/14/JNEUROSCI.1985-20.2020/tab-article-info?versioned=true">strengthens connections</a> in the brain, linking the auditory cortex to parts of the brain involved in the processing of complex information. This link has <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02023/full">been shown</a> to improve memory, motor functions and learning in other subject areas. Making music with others also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661313000491">affects levels</a> of the bonding hormone oxytocin, supporting a sense of togetherness, while reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and boosting immune function. For young people, music can provide valuable respite from study and daily life, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732320944142">help</a> manage and express their emotions. So, if you want your child to be a team player who is empathetic and shows grit, our research suggests that joining a music group could be the answer. *names have been changed Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-want-your-child-to-be-more-resilient-get-them-to-join-a-choir-orchestra-or-band-190657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Adults only cruise coming to Australia and New Zealand

Sir Richard Branson’s award-winning cruise line is set to hit Australia and New Zealand’s shores in 2023. Resilient Lady hit the high seas in 2021 and is the newest ship in Virgin Voyages that is offering an “adults only” cruise. Aussies will be given the chance to sail the high seas from Athens to Sydney in a gorgeous 44-night trip. Included are also three itineraries: “Ancient Athens to Modern Dubai”, “Dubai Delights to Singapore Sights”, and “Singapore, Bali and Australia”. Resilient Lady will arrive at Station Pier in Port Melbourne, with sailors given the opportunity to experience the “exclusively adult voyages”. The journey will begin from Melbourne to Hobart and Burnie in Tasmania, along with Sydney. She’s also set her sights on New Zealand with itineraries that include ports of call in Picton, Napier, Tauranga, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. Passengers will be able to enjoy a delicious chef-driven culinary delicacy at six signature restaurants and food from more than 14 other eateries. They can also get involved in HIIT exercise sessions and bungee classes to fuel the day, or dance the time away with jaw-dropping festival-like entertainment. Spend the day around the pool to achieve that sun-kissed look, and lose those luxurious hours at the mermaid hideaway that is Redemption Spa. “Australia and New Zealand are without question the most beautiful countries in the world, and we knew that these destinations, paired with the Virgin Voyages experience, will make it the most incredible holiday for our Sailors,” Fellow Australian and Virgin Voyages’ President and Chief Experience Officer, Nirmal Saverimuttu said. “The Virgin brand is known and adored by Australians and New Zealanders, and we are committed to delivering a holiday experience you will love and memories that will last a lifetime.” Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson described it as an exciting milestone for the brand. “Australia has a very special place in my heart, and we can’t wait for Australians and New Zealanders to meet our Resilient Lady and experience all that she has to offer in true Virgin style,” Sir Richard said. “For more than 50 years, Virgin companies have been innovating and making industries better for our customers. Virgin Voyages is very much charting its own path, offering a fresh perspective on cruise travel with all the elements of the Virgin experience that people love.” Resilient Lady will sail through Australia and New Zealand from December 11, 2023 - March 27, 2024. Images: Virgin Voyages

Cruising

7 signs you're more resilient than you think

Whether you’re navigating retirement, dealing with challenging relationships or having a hard time reaching a personal goal, the key to picking yourself and dusting yourself off and get through comes down to the same thing - personal resilience. While adapting to life’s difficulties might seem an insurmountable task at times, you’d be surprised how many of us are much more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. Here are seven signs that you are resilient than you know. 1. You shy away from the negative Whether it’s avoiding getting into conversations that are negative or choosing to let negative news stories wash of you, resilient people know how to ensure they don't focus on the daily things that can get you down. 2. You remain optimistic While it’s impossible to avoid feeling down all the time, if you’re able to process such emotions but then find a positive way forward you understand that challenges like this are temporary and you know there’s a positive light at the end of the tunnel. 3. You’re accepting As dreamy as it sounds, you know no-one is perfect and you’re accepting of all different kinds of people and their values. And how boring would that be? After all, it’s our idiosyncrasies that make us interesting - and give people their individuality. 4. You show compassion and empathy Despite your own struggles, you make sure that no matter what you always treat others how you would want to be treated - with respect, understanding and compassion. 5. You remain steadfast in the face of adversity While negative experiences can take their toll, you recognise the part these experiences play in shaping people and thus you don't let adversity define you. 6. You don’t take life (or yourself) too seriously If you can’t manage to laugh at life and yourself, what’s the point? You know that humour is one of the best things for you and you make sure you don't take anything too seriously. You know that a laugh a day will keep the doctor away, so to speak. 7. You always get up, dust yourself off and try again No matter what happens, you always get yourself up, dust yourself on and are ready to take on each day. Even though it’s sometimes quite hard, you manage to still get up each day and put one foot in front of the other.

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