SinbadThePorter

Akaroa is nice, but I don't think it's worth that long a trip. The view from the top of the cable car at Lyttelton is worth seeing if it's a clear day. We were in Port Chalmers last month. We did a private tour of Lanarch Castle, including a boat trip out from the mouth of the bay to see the wildlife. The house is interesting, the gardens pretty and the view from the top outstanding. However, the boat trip was the highlight. In Wellington we took the cable car up to the Botanic Garden. The trouble with it is that unless you know your plants, one garden looks much like another. It's a long walk back so I'd recommend getting a return ticket on the cable car. That way you can spend more time at Te Papa.

It's just Sky News being Sky News. If there isn't a story for them to negatively spin about the Qld govt, they'll just make one up. The cruise terminal is next to a sewage plant, because that was the last bit of suitable river frontage available. The area is/was an industrial wasteland. The nearest residential suburb is 6km away at Pinkenba Village. Nobody lives near the terminal, and I suspect that nobody has for decades at least. By the way, who is putting on this supposed pressure? In the report there's no name, no organisation, no nothing. Rubbish news from a rubbish source.

I've found that the app does very strange things on older versions of Android. I wish Princess would give us a compatibility list.

On all the cruises I've been on from the new terminal, except for the first one last June, there have been plenty of taxis at the cruise terminal. Sometimes queues of people waiting, but plenty of taxis. Just make sure that they take you to the airport via Lomandra Drive. The shortest route.

It was named for HMS Britomart. Which was the ship of Capt William Hobson, the first Governor of NZ. Britomart was originally a character in Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene.

Yes, it can give you a couple of days notice of rough weather in the Tasman. In general what you need to look out for are the intense low pressure systems that rotate around the Southern Ocean. They are usually spaced three to four days apart, traveling from west to east. In summer they tend to sit at about 50-60 degrees South and in winter about 40-50 degrees south. As these Lows pass the sea below NZ and Tasmania, they push waves into the Tasman. Over two or so days the waves dissipate and you have smooth seas for a day or so. Then a following low starts the process again. How big the seas will be depends on how far north is the Low and how intense it is.

Yachts entering or leaving New Caledonia must get clearance in Noumea before proceeding anywhere else. It's obviously different for cruise ships. I assume that they must get some form of pre-clearance in order to head straight to Lifou, but that there is a requirement to appear in Noumea on the way home.

I don't know why the hate on Eden. It's a lovely place. I prefer it to Airlie, which is the Noumea of Queensland, way over visited. Won't some ship on a Queensland cruise please go to Townsville or Gladstone just for the change of scenery? As noted before, there aren't enough deep water ports in Australia. Which means lots of tendering. I've yet to meet anyone who enjoys tendering.

My experience is that I did not catch covid on any of six cruises this year, but that I did catch it on my last visit to my doctor.

I suspect somebody in NZ must have had a closer look at the paperwork for these cruise ships.

Only with the written permission of Princess. It might be a good idea to get a note from her doctor before asking.

I was on Coral when we went into Milford on the 9th Dec. Lots of ships had preceded us.

I wonder where and how the NZ authorities are checking the hulls of these ships?

Fortunately, it's a noon departure.

On Coral last week we each got a Patter delivered by our steward every evening. Only it wasn't called the Patter, it was called "Princess event listings".

It looks like Coral is heading around the North Island for a clockwise cruise.

I wonder if "hull cleaning" is a euphemism for hole patching? 😱

Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington were sunny and warm. After that things got miserable.

For Princess, grats are included for Asia bound cruises although not for US bound cruises.

Only a reminder that masks are always to be on indoors except when exercising, eating or drinking. Since this has been a moveable feast all cruise I can't see it making much difference. We are heading out to Cook Strait now. It's flat as a tack.

The captain has just told us that we have an elevated level of covid on board.

My understanding is that cruises bought in Australia and departing an Australian port will have gratuities included in the fare. They may be talking about grats on top of that being at your discretion.

Just to update you all on the doings of the Coral Princess. We are in Wellington today and just like Dunedin and Christchurch we have warm sunny weather. The main problem is avoiding sunburn. Yesterday the indoor pool was drained painted and refurbished. It is currently empty but looking good. The fjords were very cold and foggy. But we did get into Milford without problems.

A lot more coffee tables in front of cabin doors this afternoon.

On Coral everyone is RAT testing tomorrow morning. I assume the NZ government is insisting.