geospyder

Check out the Eastern Bays Mail Run in Akaroa.  You ride with the local mailman as he delivers mail on a fairly remote mail route.

Sounds like we'll have no wait for immigration but the other part of my original post was...we are scheduled to arrive at 0900.  Is it reasonable to expect to be off the ship by 1030 if we carry off our own luggage?

1 hour ago, SirWolf said:

Depends on the port of the last stop prior to Kiel. No customs & passport checks if you are arriving from a Schengen area country. 

I learned something 🙂  As much as I've traveled I had not heard of the Schengen area.  Looks like I'll be good to go.  Last port prior is Norway.  I'll already have my entry stamp to the Schengen area from Amsterdam.

We will be on the MSC Splendida for a Kiel to Kiel cruise of Norway.  The ship is scheduled to arrive back at Kiel 0900.  

What is a reasonable time to expect to be off the ship if we set out the luggage the night before?  We have a ride scheduled for 1030.

Do you have to set out your luggage the night before or can you do your own walk off?

Any customs, passport checks, etc. in Kiel for US citizens?

I speak four languages...

English

Sarcasm

Sexual Innuendo

Drunken Sailor

...but I a feeling I should stick to English 

This will be the first time in a long time that we'll be on a cruise where we know nobody.  On the positive side it will be a good chance to make new friends.

We are on the Splendida.  Just the two of us.  We are Fantastica Ocean View.  We like share tables to meet new people but we only speak English.  Guess we'll have to talk to the maitre'd.  This is only our second time on MSC.  The last time there were ten couples so we all sat together.

We are booked Fantastica - not Aurea. 

We like to do shared tables with different people each night. 

Are we stuck with assigned dining?  Does assigned dining also mean an assigned table? 

I must be a glutton for punishment.  I just booked my second MSC cruise.  On top of that I'll be on the Ovation of the Seas again in two months.  To be honest I wasn't impressed with MSC nor the Ovation but that doesn't stop me from having a good time.  I'm on the cruises for the people and the ports.  The food and service is secondary.  I still don't have to make my own bed nor cook my own meals - I'm happy.

17 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I can give you another plus to the showers on Azamara that you don’t find everywhere:  they have shower heads that can be hand held when you need that.  No gymnastics or wrestling with unpleasant shower caps If you don’t wash your hair every day.  For the ten minutes that I spend in the shower every day, the showers are fine.

No shower caps here - maybe for my wife but not me - I shave my head every morning 

We're booked on the Feb 20, 2022 Antarctica.  Expensive way to do it but wanted to have boots on ground on the continent of Antarctica.  One more thing to cross off 

9 minutes ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

...Hope the weather behaves for you.

 If it doesn't we'll find a pub nearby, drink beer and eat meat pies 

We will be spending two weeks in New Zealand in April.  Lodging, car and some attractions are already paid for.  We are staying one week in Rotorua and the second week in Wanaka. Have a couple questions.

What would be a realistic budget for food and misc spending for two weeks?

If we bring cash, what is the most common denominations most people carry and accept?

According to the staff, Holiday Inn reservations will be honored.  Here are the new emails in case you want to contact them.

Dear guest,

Please be advised that as of the 15th of January, this hotel and all inboxes will be managed by Rydges Sydney Harbour. 

Please address all future e-mails post this date to : 

FIT and general inquiries 
Email: reservations_rydgessydneyharbour@evt.com ;

Contact Number: 02 9255 1855 / 02 9255 1860

Group Reservations 

Email: groups_rydgessydneyharbour@evt.com ; Contact Number: 02 9255 1855 

Function/Event Inquiries 

Email: functions_rydgessydneyharbour@evt.com; Contact Number: 02 9255 1853

Corporate and Marketing Sales Inquiries

Email: sales_rydgessydneyharbour@evt.com ; Contact Number: 02 9255 1851

roaming_kiwi58 - I gather you like Azamara - eight down and five to go   We will be heading your way in April.  We'll spend a couple days in Hawaii and then head to New Zealand.  We'll spend a week in Rotorua and then a week in Wanaka.  After that we'll catch the RCCL Ovation of the Seas (a monster ship) from Sydney back to Honolulu.  Currently we have seven cruises booked - one RCCL, one MSC, two Celebrity, one Azamara and two Viking.  Life is good 

On the Viking Ocean we were in a DV6 on deck three.  On the Azamara Journey we are in V2 on deck seven. We tend to fly coach and book standard verandas.  This works for us in that we can do more cruising.  We can get a notice of a new cruise , talk about it and book it with a couple hours - but - I cannot buy underwear unless it is on sale 

On 1/27/2020 at 8:44 AM, geospyder said:

We have our first Azamara booked for early 2021 - a 21 night Capetown to Lisbon up the west coast of Africa.  We just got off a 21 night Viking Ocean up the Amazon.  Coming from Viking to Azamara, what major difference will we expect to see other than excursions not being included?

I'm quoting my own post   My question was an honest one in the respect we booked the Azamara cruise strictly based on the itinerary not really knowing what to expect of the ship.  Our latest cruise was a Viking Ocean so that was what I used as a comparison.  We will be coming over as Elite Plus from Celebrity so we'll have a few extra perks.  Everything seems positive so far with one minor thing - shower curtains   But that is nothing that a magnetic clip can't take care of   Thanks everyone for your responses.

My Time Dining mysteriously showed up today.  Got them booked 

We have our first Azamara booked for early 2021 - a 21 night Capetown to Lisbon up the west coast of Africa.  We just got off a 21 night Viking Ocean up the Amazon.  Coming from Viking to Azamara, what major difference will we expect to see other than excursions not being included?

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

MTD should be available for your Ovation sailing - look all the way at the bottom of the dining section. Also, check with others in the roll call thread for your sailing.

That's where it has been in the past but isn't there now.  I'm going to do two things:  double check with my TA that yes in fact that I'm on MTD and have her make the reservations for me. No big hurry but it's one more thing off the list for that cruise 

85 days and counting   At what point do the on-board activities and my time dining reservations open up?

20 minutes ago, Cool Fool said:

We used these magnetic clips. Perfect for pulling the curtain taut!
 

Great idea - thanks.

26 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

All the walls in the stateroom are metal.

We knew about the stateroom walls.  We pin (magnetic post pins) mini posters of each port name on the walls.  Helps decorate the cabin and when in that port we take a picture of that mini poster.  That helps keeps the photos in order.  But wasn't sure of the shower walls.

17 hours ago, Melissaghoti said:

I’ve used magnets,  more to keep the floor dry than because of the shower curtain. I don’t find it a problem. It’s a small shower, but if mobility problems can be dealt with, it should be perfectly adequate. 
 

Hope you’re able to get all the info you need to say yes to an Azamara cruise. 
 

M.

We've used clothespins weighted with fishing weights.  Curious about the magnets.  Are the shower walls metal?

We are doing a Viking Ocean cruise that includes the Amazon ports of Santarem, Printins, Manaus and Belem.  We have ships tours in each port we are not concerned with transportation or food.  After the tours we may visit some of the local tourist type shops for souvenirs.  Think we can get by with USD in the tourist shops?