OzKiwiJJ

When we boarded Westerdam in December it was a free-for-all for a while. We had the first boarding time of 12 noon. We arrived about ten minutes before that time, were directed upstairs and told to sit and wait until "called". They started processing people where they were sitting and also in a line that was standing. More and more people kept arriving, filling seats just processed or joining the line and it was clear the terminal staff weren't keeping track of who/where they had processed. We had ended up in the back row and were totally ignored for quite some time. Eventually our row started to get angry and demand they process us. It still took another ten minutes after that. Eventually one of the staff told all the others to only process the noon and following arrival times (12:15?) and we finally got checked in. It sounds like they'd streamlined their process by the time you boarded Noordam. Just as well!

For example if you want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef you could do a cruise that takes you up that way but usually you'd have to do a ship's excursion out to the reef with hundreds of other passengers. In less time than a cruise would take you could fly to Cairns then transfer to Port Douglas for three nights. That would give you time to do two totally different reef trips - one to the nearby Low Isles, the other to the outer reef on one of the smaller reef boats. Of course you could stay longer and do a Daintree tour or explore more around Port Douglas. One place you can't cruise to is Uluru, you need to fly and spend a couple of nights there. Where else do you want to go to? Most of our major cities have enough places of interest, locally and as day trips, for a few days each.

Princess still lists their protocols under their Cruise Health section. You see the details under the FAQs. There are separate FAQs for Australia, Japan, and for the rest of the world.

It was there last November. We got off the 58 tram after crossing the river from the CBD side and boarded the shuttle bus back to the port at the same stop.

I believe there has been a push from certain factions in NZ to ban cruise ships from Fiordland but nothing official has come of it so far. I think the "new" hull biohazard ruling came in just before Covid hit so the effects of that are only just being felt this season. Fiord is just a variant spelling of Fjord. Since NZ calls that region Fiordland I tend to use the Fiord spelling for there but would use Fjord when referring to other parts of the world.

It's a bit tricky doing drinks other than cocktails as the bars don't always have drinks menus anymore and capturing and posting screen shots from the app takes a lot of time. I'll see what I can do though.

Rolf likes Fat Yak beer on Princess.

How odd. On the HAL cruise we had a passpirt check in Hobart. That was a one way cruise though so may make a difference. But I'm sure we've had passport checks in the past when returning from other cruises that went to overseas ports. Now I'm confused!

Passport checks are only done if the ship has travelled to international port during the voyage, and usually take place at the first Australian port of call after that, e.g. Hobart if the ship came from NZ via Tasmania. I believe Ruby arrived in Sydney direct from NZ that time so passports should have been checked. Other than that Princess disembarkations have always been efficient in Sydney as far as I can recall. The bit that takes the longest is usually finding your luggage. 😀 Sometimes the customs clearance queue moves a bit slow but if the cruise hasn't been to an international port, or done the Willis Island cruise-by so duty free can be sold onboard, then there is no customs check. I can't comment on the bus transfer situation.

The wine menu with prices is here:

Auckland to Waitomo Caves then across to Rotorua - the back route from Te Kuiti used to be a lovely drive but I haven't done it for many years. Allow two full days in Rotorua. Then head for the Coromandel Peninsula via Tauranga. There is a loop you can do up one side from Waihi - stay two nights at Whitianga so you have a full day there. I recommend a boat trip to Cathedral and a visit to Hot Water Beach (check the tides as to the best time to go there). Then go around to Coromandel, stay there, then head back to Auckland via Thames. That's 7 days. If you want more detailed directions let me know.

Only 63 days? Nah, not long enough! 🤣🤣🤣 We're booked on the Aussie world cruise next year. It's 110 days! 😯

I'm sure you won't have any problems. Have a great cruise.

I don't think it's quite that simple. Ships don't hang around doing nothing until it's time for the next NZ itinerary. They're doing other itineraries so no easy way to free up time for hull cleaning unless it is deemed necessary. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of keeping NZ's pristine waterways free from nasty imported marine life but ... Surely this isn't the first NZ itinerary that Pacific Explorer has done this season? Why now? Has NZ happily been letting her in without hull checks on other cruises? Or were her previous hull checks clean and this is something new - if so where has she been to develop a dirty hull? Is it only Fiordland visits that trigger hull checks or is NZ worried about all ports? If it's the latter are merchant vessels subject to the same hull testing or is it only cruise ships that are being scrutinized? My curious mind wants to know more. 😊

I've just installed an update of the app. That might help. It didn't change the Lane status but it does seem to work faster. Don't worry too much about Green versus Blue Lane. It really doesn't make much difference. Last year we had Green Lane on one cruise and the terminal staff still went through everything step by step, and on another cruise we had Blue Lane but they saw our info on their devices and all we had to do was show our IDs and vaccination certificates. Go figure!

We've just gone back to Blue for our upcoming March 21st cruise but we're still Group A. We'll see what happens closer to embarkation day when I update the health info. Unfortunately that cruise doesn't start embarking until 2:30pm so I'm going to miss out on my MDR lunch! 😪😪😪

Lovely to hear you enjoyed your trip Down Under.

The portion sizes in the MDR were inconsistent depending on which dishes you chose, and even between different serves of the same dish. Our table of 6 noticed it several times. I can understand some different dishes being larger than others ie a lamb shank is bigger than a portion of fish, but if there are different sizes of the same fish portions then that's just sloppy quality control. The head chefs aren't doing their jobs properly.

We really enjoyed Canaletto on Westerdam and went there twice. It was excellent value for money too, especially compared with speciality restaurants on other cruise lines.

I don't think it's the crossing of the Tasman part the OP is asking about.

There is no way I'd pay that much for a steak on a cruise ship, regardless of what the other courses were. I have had a couple of really good steaks on Celebrity Solstice - both at lunch deals at very reasonable prices. Around US$30-35pp.

🙄🙄🙄 I very much doubt that some one who is coming all the way from the US would be interested in a short cruise that only crosses the Tasman Sea. Although there are a few exceptions most one way NZ cruises are effectively two cruises joined by a changeover day in Auckland. The first cruise leaves Australia, often after calling into Tasmania, comes across the Tasman to Milford Sound then round the bottom of the South Island and up to Auckland with various port stops along the way. The second cruise reverses the itinerary, going south down the east coast of NZ. We've done four cruises this way, starting in Auckland. We find it's a great way to catch up with family and friends in NZ, and it's much better to fly over then cruise home to Sydney.

They've upgraded the menu and it looks even more delicious! Given the amount of food you get it will be worth it even at the higher price. Anyway we have a complimentary speciality dinner on our upcoming Grand cruise so hopefully we can get into Sabatinis one night. I'll let you know what it's like.

Sabatinis, on Princess, is worth it even though the price has recently gone up. I'm not sure what it is now though. Be prepared for a very large meal! I've never been impressed by the steak restaurants on Princess and certainly the one on Coral Princess wasn't worth going to in my opinion, apart from the desserts which were great.

It's odd that you didn't get the usual Elite info in your cabin. We did last year, on all five cruises that we did. Based on your other comments that may have been linked to the issues they were having at the Loyalty Desk. No excuse though. Ouch! An inside cabin on Alpha deck wouldn't be great although I think the Coral cabins are bigger than the old Sun Class inside cabins. They were tiny. Refunds get complicated. Port fees and taxes are often refunded directly to your onboard account while onboard so aren't included in any other refunds.