SilvertoGold

Where do the operators of the shorex come into this? I expect the locals who run shorex for cruiseships would monitor weather reports. They would likely live there and be aware of typical weather patterns for the area. They probably do not want to get caught in this type of situation any more than pax do. Don't they report to the company who arranges HAL shorex?

Thanks for your ideas! I have read through all 12 pages of our last policy. Nothing whatsoever about mode of transport. This has not been an issue in the many years we have cruised, but now we could be asked to show the insurance at boarding and some say you need to show it is good for cruises. Never been an extra cost, never been asked about the what kind of trip, just Canada, US, International? This will be another question to ask when we purchase the insurance!

In Canada I am having a hard time with the coverage for "cruising". All the companies say just "emergency medical travel insurance". Is this good enough? "Travel" is such a generic word: could mean plane, train, car, cruise, bus but no one makes a distinction here.

I hope you are right about this, but HAL World Cruise is saying nothing but sealed water off the ship in ports.

This is true. From what I can see, having cruised out of Canada Place for many years: they keep changing everything. Where the line(s) start, where the Xray is, where the check-ins are for each cruise line, where the lines for US Immigration are, even the area where each cruise line seats pax before they board their ship. It is like starting from scratch each day! They do the same with intransit pax: they keep changing how and where it is done, what you have to do one time is not what happens the next time. We did this last year 5 times and it was unbelievable. Everyone is the boss, no one is the boss. I would swear they have a whole new set of works each day with no training.

Wow! This is MUCH better than the Canadian apple turnover which is just a triangle of pie pastry with a cooked apple filling. Boring!

Fantastic lot of information on sweets. I thank everyone for participating in this delicious thread. I note you have Lindt down there. This is my go-to for dark chocolate and I LOVE the Lindt "Excellence" Dark Madagascar with vanilla. I have never tasted such smooth chocolate and the vanilla gives it a perfect "extra"! I buy these 100g bars on sale of 3 for $10 CND and horde them!

HALLs are the best ones.

You can always show up later that when you are assigned. Usually 2 hours before scheduled departure is best.

Arriving later than 1:30 pm usually gets you on board quite quickly. Going early, even if that is your check-in time, can be horrendous. The number of ships in port has a lot to do with this. Canada Place has always funnelled pax for ALL ships boarding into ONE long line to go through Xray first. Then you separate up to the individual ship check-ins.

OP annnrl: I am amazed that HAL did not cancel other excursions. What was so different about that shorex that is went ahead? Length, distance from ship, number of people signed up? HAL had a choice to make and lost. While HAL put the pax in hotel and fed them, I am amazed that these pax were not compensated for this mess (avoidable, as other shorex were cancelled) with more than a small amount of OBC and FCC. Does HAL not do "goodwill" any longer? OBC and FCC is cheap for HAL. They get it all back when you spend it onboard and the difference between that drink/speicalty dining/etc that you use the OBC/FCC for and the actual cost to the ship is small. HAL really shouldn't be so cheap. And just 41 pax involved! Thanks, OP, for all this info, very cautionary and educational.

No, I refer to the long list of questions I have about what I can bring into the country. For example and consistent with this thread, cough candies. The best ones I buy have honey in them. These are individually wrapped, with menthol and eucalyptus as the medicinal ingredients. Honey for taste. Not sure these will pass, although as "boiled candies", they might.

Thanks to you and lissie for the recommendation for Whitakers. Have list, will travel. This is the kind of shopping my husband actually likes, so we are set!

Yes! Tim Tams. On sale here this week for 2 for $8 Canadian. Regular and Dark Chocolate. Full of bad fat, however, so two packages last a long time for us.I love reading about ALL the MANY flavours you guys have down under!

Pasties are very Brit to Canadians and mean meat pies here. Sultanas I buy regularly to go with our porridge. I took a couple of courses in Linguistics in university and think they should have had a course in English dialects :) Love the vocabulary differences.

Canadians have cookies, soft, hard, chewy, it is all the same thing to us. Scones and biscuits are the basic baking powder biscuits (dough rolled out and cut into rounds, triangles). Scones have a richer dough. Both are served anytime, with butter, jam, jelly, peanut butter. Thanks for all the info :) I will be shopping for all the recommendations for taking home. Have not cruised NZ and look forward to learning about your food.

Sold! Now, tell us what grocery stores you recommend, please! And, "bikkies" are... cookies, right? Any recommendations for good, dark chocolate cookies?

HAL used to do this. Not sure about now, but it was very nice in the tropics, especially for someone not used to the heat!

An empty water bottle (not plastic!). An idea! Should work unless they don't like my empty thermos?

Thanks for your info. "Random" may be what is happening. In all the blogs I read about cruising in Australia and NZ , this is is not something I have seen before.

Have been reading a World Cruise Blog and it was noted that in Australia, for certain, maybe NZ, also, you cannot take anything off the ship in port except a "sealed container of water". No thermos (of anything), no sealed container of juice or soda/pop. I have looked for more information about this and can't find anything. Any experience or info would be appreciated. Thanks!

In my planning I am finding NZ and Australia have some very strict rules, much different from any cruise are we have sailed pre-and post pandemic. It is difficult to get it all straight, but at least they are trying to keep everyone safe. That is appreciated!

As noted by colbe. We saw only a few books on the exchange shelf in October. Glad to hear HAL still has this shelf!

Of a sort, not large but it has some older books, fiction and non-fiction. It is located where the Explorations Cafe is on deck 3

Agree how friendly and polite the Japanese are :) Wonderful ports! We did have problems in the train stations purchasing tickets (Aomori and Kobe espeically), as it took time to find someone who spoke English well enough to understand what we wanted.