patatie

We booked around July this year for a Christmas cruise on explorer (out of Australia)...got a really good deal (balcony for the price of interior) mid ship location! This was because there was a huge sale on cabins...we were surprised as the cruise goes over Christmas and new year and thought it would have been nearly sold out...but apparently not! In our case it paid to wait.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

www.abcshuttle.co.nz

Thank you for sharing!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It will be NZ$120 for 2 people so apx AUS$112 - less than half the price of the ships tour. We have just arranged the taxi a couple hours after we dock to give ourselves plenty of time.

Double that for us as there's four of us! (Assuming we can get three in the back seat of a taxi!)

May I ask which taxi company you booked with please?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it would be the Kawiti Glow Worm Caves - we have booked a taxi from Paihia to see them on our cruise next month - taxi was NZ$80 & it is NZ$20 each admission.

Yes, I was referring to the Kawiti caves.

Thanks for the info on the pricing - that's alot cheaper than the ship's excursion which is ~$120AUD!!!

We're visiting Bay of Islands in early January and I was considering the above two places of interest. We have been to NZ on quite a few cruises but have never stopped at Bay of Islands before. As I am not sure if we will be returning to the Bay of Islands again, I am wondering which the best one to pick would be.

I'm from Melbourne and am wondering if the Hole in the Rock is similar at all to the 12 Apostles. If it is I am feeling inclined to go to the caves as I've never been to a glow worm cave before (though I have been on other cave tours in other parts of the world).

At the moment I am very undecided.

I'd prefer to use a private operator but our ship (Explorer of the seas) is only scheduled to get to Bay of Islands at 11:00am, and given that it's a tender port I'm really not sure how late we'll get to shore so I will most likely have to book with the cruise company.

I did also notice that some private tour operators offer swim with the dolphins experiences at Bay of Islands, which also sounds amazing, but with the late arrival I'm not sure if this will be possible (instead of the caves/hole in the rock).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, business hours, 1800 754 500, prompts should be 1,1,2, and 3.:D

Wow very specific!! Thanks so much :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you all very much for the responses. Guess I'll be buying with RCI given that their exchange rate is better! Didn't realise the line is only open during business hours, so I'll try next week!

Hi all,

We're cruising with RCI over summer on the Explorer of the Seas. I noticed there have been a few threads started about the falling AUD and pre-purchasing onboard credit.

I've never pre-purchased OBC - our onboard accounts have always been linked to our credit cards. Given that the dollar is not doing so well, I am thinking that it might be best to pre-purchase some credits.

I've had a look around the Royal Carribbean website, though, and can't seem to find a link as to where to purchase the onboard credit? Am I going blind? Would greatly appreciate if someone could please point me in the right direction.

I was also thinking of getting some money changed to USD at Australia Post (seeing as they don't charge comission) - can anyone tell me if I can board the ship and load US bills/coins onto my account? Or can I only put Australian cash onto my account? ALSO if there is money left on my account does it get refunded in USD or AUD?

Apologies if these are really obvious questions - I've never paid for my account in cash before and I couldn't find answers on the RCI website!

Wow, I'm really ... Well I can't even say surprised at some of the comments on here. I've never understood by people assume that those who give reviews which include a series of negative experiences were adamant to be negative on their cruise etc. I don't think anyone takes a holiday and pays large sums of money just to go away and be negative or complain - I can't understand why anyone would, it's counter intuitive! We were all very much looking forward to this cruise - we've been to these islands before and love them, otherwise we wouldn't have gone. It is disappointing when you pay for a holiday and basic levels of hygiene and customer service are not met. I do not expect every cruise to be perfect, I understand that all cruise lines are different. I do feel that carnival was below basic hygiene standards you'd expect in an Australian restaurant/hotel and below levels of customer service you'd expect in a hotel/entertainment/retail environment (and I say Australian because they are operating out of Australia).

A few other points I'd like to quickly make:

- yes, perhaps we would not h e had so many negative experiences had we not fallen ill (ie because we would never have had to deal with medical staff or not observed their lack of care).

- I never expected to see a doctor for free - we were more than happy to pay the $90 fee but the option was never given to us.

- re quarantining, my doctor had said I'd be ok in a few days, I was just surprised that there were no questions as I boarded (and I was ready, if need be, I not board the ship. But I don't work on cruise ships, and I do not know what falls into the category f able to board vs not)

- There were several other people we observed with coughs an colds particularly on the first few days

I'm on my phone again so it's not so easy to respond to each comment...I just wanted to say that I've tried to keep my review factual. All I've wanted to do is illustrate the lack of customer service and poor hygiene that existed during our trip. I understand that others may have had different experiences - it is a large ship and I'm sure we all interacted with different staff. My review just I outlined what happened to us.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

I'm writing this from my phone so plz forgive me if I don't respond to each comment!!

We have cruised on p&o, twice on princess, twice on holland America and once on costa.

For the price you pay and itinerary offered I'd recommend anyone who was considering a similar cruise to go with p&o rather than carnival.

That being said, of course there were people on our cruise who seemed to love it - and each to their own. I agree that it is best to experience things yourself and make up your own mind...though it can be a costly method (ESP when picking longer cruises!)

Re the comment of missing the heart and soul of a cruise ship - I completely agree. The atmosphere was simply not the same on this cruise, though we thought that could be more to do with the time of year we cruised (all previous cruises had been done over the dec/jan holidays), or length of cruise (all others had been around 14 days) or a combination of the two. Glad to know others felt like we did though!

All the best to anyone who does decide to cruise on carnival (and I do mean that sincerely).

I probably won't be on these message boards for a long time as well probably give cruising a break (not because of this experience), but...if anyone has any questions in the next week or so I'm more than happy to try and answer them!

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Hi all,

We recently travelled on Carnival Spirit for an 11 night south pacific cruise. Before we cruised I found the info available about Carnival Spirit rather scarce compared to other cruise lines, so I've put a (rather comprehensive) review up here http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=225021

I know I will probably be criticised for some of the things I've written, and that's fine - this is just my opinion about what I saw, and experienced onboard. Hope its useful to someone.

:)

 

We also have only limited time 12noon to 7pm what I would like to know if anybody has visited the Prison it is meant to be the oldest prison in NZ:confused:

A couple of years ago we did a tour of the prison with Princess' organised tours. TBH it didn't really impress me that much. But if you like that kind of thing...prison history, details of how they kept and treated criminals years ago etc, you will enjoy it! I just found it a little dry...

I hate...

• People who treat you like crap because they think you're younger than you really are
  
• People who push in line at the buffet
  
• People who use hands/fingers for food in the buffet rather than serving spoons
  
• People who refuse to sanitise their hands before using their hands/fingers in the buffet
  
• People who talk down to the staff - hello, we're all HUMANS
  
• Staff not enforcing dress codes (I once saw a singlet (the underwear type), shorts and thongs in the MDR)
  
• Staff who play favourites with the passengers, esp in the case of entertainment staff
  
• Passengers who think they are all that because they have cruised X number of times or because they think they have $$ to throw around
  
• Chair hogs (on the decks)
  
• Staff not enforcing rules about deck chairs
  
• Kids who press all the lift buttons
  
• Cruise ships who demand to see my ID even though my cruise card alerts them that I am (well) over 18 or 21...and when they do this night after night of going to the nightclub
  
• Parents who let their kids run over the dance floor when you're actually trying to dance
  
• People who wear ill fitting swimwear. I know thats their own personal choice, but my eyes are the ones that suffer!
  
• Kids in the adults pool
  
• Saying goodbye to everyone
  

Thanks so much for this idea!!

I've almost got my whole packing/outfit list complete for our end of December cruise...early I know but I can use it now to remind myself that no, I don't actually need any new clothes or outfits for the cruise!