lissie

For Wellington - take the cable car if you wish - but then get the (I think) free shuttle over to Zealandia(from the top of the cable car) and spend 2 hours wondering through the NZ bush seeing the native birds - far more NZ than the botanic gardens. You can then bus or take their free shuttle to Wakefield St - very near to Te Papa . Antarctic Centrre is fantastic in Christchurch - out near the airport Larnach Castle is worth it - in part because of the drive out along the Peninuslar. However if you like colonial history I rather like Olveston House - a complete Victorian House - with all the "downstairs" room - not just the pretty stuff

Airtags - at least you'd know where it missed the transfer and where it is.

Becareful of that - in the fine print I found you still have to pay gratuities on the "free" elements of the have it all package ie 20% on the dining, drinks so-called value - it added up

And it can be at a much better exchange rate than the current rate!

Every cruise line does that - there are only so many ports in this part of the world! Even in Europe where there are so many ports cruise lines do the same circuits - we were on a Med cruise last year and followed the same rival ship around the western Mediterranean for most of a week.

Its 11C in Wellington this morning! I'm glad I'm not paying for the experience! I agree have zero interest in local cruising. I will sometimes travel locally - but if I want a gettaway I just book a nice hotel and restaraunt. I read this thread as we have a provisional (ie incredibly low deposit) booking on a HAL trip ex Boston which goes to the Maritimes, Greenland, Iceland - 21 ports in 25 days. It doesn't really matter what the ship is like so long as it doesn't sink and provides a bed breakfast and dinner! The alternative cruise lines for this itinerary are Ponant, Viking, Regent - a LOT more expensive (and the HAL is not particularly cheap)

Iwasn't making a general statement I was talking about entering Australia - that's the discussion here . Australians aren't going to deport you for bring in perscription meds. Try to smuggle food in - that's a whole different story

Just note there have been long lines for the Waiheke Island ferry on recent days in Akjl with cruise ships in. They are suffering from staff shortages . I'd hire a car myself - downtown Auckland isn't that exciting - I'd consider a drive south to maybe Raglan - you can then easily drop the car at the airport and you avoid any traffic issues coming from the south.

Australian border force will clear you on the ship the day before you get to Hobart - not sure if you need to fill the same form - I don't remember doing so but it was a few years ago.

Everyone reads it like that including the officials at the airport - otherwise 80% of people would go through the "something to declare" lane - while in reality its a pretty low % that do that .

I was just going to say - I am very sure there is no requirement to declare normal perscriptions - my partner has a tonne of them - and we flew thru recently.

Yes there is - but not for Americans Subclass 651 eVisitor (homeaffairs.gov.au) - which seems fair as Australians have to pay to visit the USA

We this was 2 long cruises this year on the QE - the card invovled was a pre-pay Wise Visa (and Mastercard - my partner has an older card before they switched providers for some reason). So I do think its the card rather than the bank

You're not bad. Covid was rife on our 34 day Cunard cruise in July/August . We'd had Omicron in early May (plus 1 booster) and know for a fact we were multiple exposures to people who came down with it. Everyone who got Covid I asked them if it was there first time - it was - they had all been vaccinated and boosted but it didn't stop them getting it.

Except they don't - we used a Visa debit card expecting exactly this. What acutally happened over one cruise of 34 days and one of 20 days - Cunard charged a $1 to the card a few days before we cruised - that was refunded. Every day or 2 they would make a pending/hold charge against my card for our current balance. At the end of each sector - they confirmed the current balance charge and pending went to spent. At no time did their hold on our card exceed the amount we owed them - plus or minus a few dollars

Because I dont want either soup or pasta for lunch! I want a bit of salad, maybe some sushi, some cheese and ham and a bread roll - Iwant to graze . And if I did want soup or pasta why would I not just go to the buffet and get them - faster, quicker, get to get the portion size I want

Because sitting down for a formal lunch AND dinner is a bit much?

I don't do paper. I use a combination of Tripit - which monitors my inbox and automatically builds itineraries from reservations which arrive in it, and Evernote for everything else - receipts for payments, interesting websites for travel locations, due dates, budgets. I also don't sweat the small stuff - we did 6 weeks this year between 2 cruises. Only ever booked accommodation and transport a day or 2 in advance as we decided where we were going - I'd done all th research, but didn't book until last minute

I don't think so. Its certainly not on Cunard so I'm pretty not on HAL either both being Carnival

Because I haven't actually worked out flights to Boston or anything else yet, and only have a minimal deposit in play so far , so not doing anything not entirely refundable yet LOL

This is weird. We booked from New Zealand, so the pricing is in Australian $ for the cruise and apparently for the gratuities if pre-paid via the website. So something is wrong here: 2 pax , non-suite room, 25 days that$16x2x25 = US$800 However, they want A$1040. According to today's exchange rate that is only US$704 -. Should I pay this immediately until they realise the exchange rate is way out of date? Not often I will on exchange rate fluctuations!

Haha small world! We have Portland too - there is a LOT of ports - exciting

Yeah we've already got Portland as the first stop on the cruise (Its a loop up and back to Iceland)

We've recently booked a trip ex Boston 29 July on the Zaandam. They advertise a stop at Bar Harbor but I believe that port has recently banned ships bigger than 1000pax . Any talk of what the alternative port will be. Or as its our last day before returning to Boston do you think we will return a day earlier and spend the last night in Boston?

Yup happened to people we knew on our cruise this year - they have a requirement to provide you access to fresh air