OzKiwiJJ

Just wing it. It only takes a few minutes longer during check-in. I had three days between cruises last year and no way was the app going to wake up to the fact that I wasn't still onboard or something. The website version acknowledged me after two days so I could update a couple of things but the app just wouldn't work. I printed out the travel summary and waved that under the nose of anyone who wanted to see what my app said. Luckily we're Elite so that smoothed the path a little.

I know one stop is in Wakefield St, near the iSite information centre. That stop is only a few minutes walk from the Te Papa museum. I'm not sure where the other stop is these days.

Roughly here: You aren't allowed to walk off the wharf as it is a working wharf so a shuttle is provided to take you into the CBD, with two stops I think.

Medicare certainly hasn't kept up with increasing costs for GPs, especially in cities where property leases / rents havecincreased so much, let alone other costs such as salaries/wages, equipment and supplies.

In 2019 it was great weather! Who knows what it will be like this year. I'd add a light fleece or jumper, plus a warm hat, scarf and gloves. It can get chilly first thing in the morning doing the Fiordland scenic cruising and it's best to be outside for that.

I think you were very lucky with that $5 price. I'd been told $14/$7 onboard when I checked the prices but saw posts in a couple of places saying they'd paid $6.50 or $6.75. None as low as what you got.

That's what it was when I checked last year. It sounds like the new pricing is only coming in to play for cruises departing mid-Feb onwards.

Wow, so sorry to hear about Frank's son. That would have been a huge shock to him and his family.

The aft lifts were great. And you get plenty of exercise walking through to midships. 😁 We had an aft balcony cabin on Baja deck on one of our cruises and could see people standing at the balcony railing in the Caribe suites below but I don't think we could see them if they were sitting on the loungers. I did try the spa bath on one cruise - it was lovely but, yes, tricky to get out of if you're a plus size with wonky knees! I think Princess may have started adding more suites with the Grand Class ships. Coral is a Panamax Class, designed to fit through the original Panama Canal locks.

We tried both a Premium and a Vista Suite. They are identical, you just pay a lot more for the location of the Premium suites. We actually preferred the Vista suite location as it had a bigger, fully covered balcony - we were on Dolphin deck though. I think the Caribe balconies are as big but only partly covered. The suites are gorgeous. I didn't take photos but the ones on the Princess website are accurate. The sitting room and bedroom have a thick curtain between them. There is plenty of storage although the wardrobe is a bit odd - plenty of hanging space but awkward to get to some of it. The bathroom is in two parts with a door between - spa bath and separate shower on the bedroom side, toilet and handbasin on the other side. There is a sofa, chair, desk, and wet bar area with fridge in the sitting area. Comfy padded lounge chairs with footrests, plus two other chairs and a table on the balcony.

Yes, it was the same on Holland America. Sensible, I thought

Coral never had McWilliams wines. The ones you are thinking of are De Bortoli Willowglen wines. They are $53, as are the two Masterpeace wines. The 19 Crimes Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are the cheapest at $52. I imagine the same wine lists are on Grand at the moment but hopefully things will change sometime next month. And even more hopefully for the better!

Bear in mind the wine list could change some time in February when the new Plus / Premier options come into play

Are you sure that is the onboard purchase price? If so it hasn't changed. I'd heard the online prepurchase price was now $20/$10 up from $14/$7 when I checked it during one of our cruises last year.

Yes, probably. It's easy enough for GPs to cut skin cancer out of some parts of the body but some areas need a bit more expertise. I had to see a plastic surgeon with an SCC I had cut out of my lower leg a few years ago.

With the new Plus and Premier price per glass limits coming in to play in mid-Feb, which also may signify an increase in the prices by the glass, they may be trying to get rid of some of the bottom of the range wines in stock. I'm hoping we will see a much better selection of wines by the glass once that occurs - both in quality, and in the number and range of wines available for each package.

I think the OP means their winter not ours.

But if the hull was inspected in Australia then why wasn't the cruise line involved told immediately that there were issues? It just seems to have blown up out of nowhere over the Xmas/NY period and now has gone very quiet again.

But some of the ships hadn't reached NZ before they were told their hulls needed cleaning so how were they inspected? Coral Princess had been operating all around Australia for six months without being required to have her hull cleaned. Does that mean Australian marine biosecurity requirements aren't as strict?

For a cruise? You shouldn't need a medically observed test. Most cruise lines in our region just require a self test within 24 hours of embarking. You take a photo of the result alongside your photo id (passport, drivers licence) and sonething showing the current date and time ( we use each others phones with the date/time showing on the lock screen).

I see they're still padding them out with mushrooms. 🤬

Accirding to Wikipedia: "The name comes from the French languageThe name cantaloupe was derived in the 18th century via French cantaloup from The Cantus Region of Italian Cantalupo, which was formerly a papal county seat near Rome, after the fruit was introduced there from Armenia.[3] It was first mentioned in English literature in 1739.[2] The cantaloupe most likely originated in a region from South Asia to Africa.[2] It was later introduced to Europe, and around 1890, became a commercial crop in the United States.[2"]

That's quite different from the original wine packages which allowed you to choose any wines off the wine list up to a certain price point. Plus you could pay the difference if you wanted a more expensive wine. I would not buy a wine package that dictates what wines I have to drink. It would be a waste as I can't drink most Sauvignon Blancs (reflux) or Cabernet Sauvignons (headaches), and I dislike heavily oaked chardonnays.

It's known as canteloupe on most cruise ships as it is the original name for that type of melon and is the name used in the US.

Oh I agree. I'm a Kiwi as well as an Aussie and I am always aware of what a privilege it is to be able to cruise though Fiordland, especially Dusky Sound. But it's odd that this has all blown up recently and, by the sound of things, at relatively short notice. Not all ships seem to be affected. How do they tell if the ship hasn't visited an NZ port? Is it just random? Is it based on where the ship had been previously? Were the cruise lines informed ahead of time? If not, why not? Has someone in NZ suddenly woken up to the fact that the new rules that went into play in 2018 hadn't actually been implemented? It all seems a bit weird and the timing of it all, over the Christmas holiday period, is rather reminiscent of the bad old days in NZ when the wharfies would always go on strike so the Wellington ferries couldn't operate.