hen302

Thanks all. Sounds like we should be ok to buy the 9am tickets for Robben Island. I figured we will be up early on changeover day any way as there is usually a lot of noise and activity in the corridors as people leave. We aren't changing rooms so I expect it will be pretty smooth process, it's just that our only other B2B experience was on NCL and they make most things incredibly complicated. Fingers crossed for the weather. Cheers

Hi. We are doing B2B on Nautica in May. Changeover day is in Cape Town. Want to book a tour to Robben Island. Would prefer a 9am tour but wondering what time we are likely to get off the ship. It is due to arrive at 7am. It's only a five minute walk to from the pier but wondering if they are going to make us wait until after others have disembarked? TIA

Thanks pmatawan. Ours is a 24 night cruise so I was hoping we could have a bit of bridge. Not many cruise lines have hosted bridge anymore.

Hi all. I wonder if any current or recent Oceania cruisers can let us know if they still have a bridge host/teacher on board for their longer cruises? Will be on Cape Town to Lisbon in May and looking forward to some bridge on sea days.

I agree with hlitner re spending more time in NZ but if you can't do it here are some more suggestions. Sydney is a beautiful city and you can easily see a lot of it by using the ferries on the harbor. Trips to Manly and Parramatta by ferry give you great views and are a very cheap way to see major sites. You can even take a ferry to the zoo. I can happily spend a couple of days walking around the city and taking ferries. Public transport is also easy to use. Melbourne is the arts and food capital of Australia. Very good national gallery and always has excellent theatre productions. There are 4 major productions on now. Public transport trams are free in the city centre. The port is a short Uber fare away or about 30 mins walk. Lovely old buildings. A free old fashioned tram (circle team)takes you on a narrated tour of the city centre. Hardware Lane is a fantastic place to find excellent food 24/7. I wouldn't go to see wildlife here. It's a long trip to Phillip Island. Plenty of chances in Tasmania and NZ for wildlife. Burnie is nice little town in Tasmania. I would take a tour to a wildlife park here and take in some beautiful rural scenery. Hobart is a beautiful old small city on a great river harbour. Take a walk around the historic centre part. There is a fantastic museum of modern art (MONA). You can get a ferry there from the city centre. A day trip to the convict settlement of Port Arthur is haunting and beautiful. A must see. Timaru is a nice little town to wander around. Easy walking. Christchurch is a very pretty university town that has been hit by large earthquakes over many years. If you into wine I would visit a few wineries around here. Best thing about Oceania is that you can it back on board and drink it. NZ has some of the best sav Blanc in the world. Wellington will be wet and windy. Consider an indoor activity. Weta workshop and/or museum. There is a cable car but have never got on it yet because it's always wet and windy. If you into art deco Napier is your town. Destroyed in an earthquake in the 1920s it was rebuilt in art deco style. Stunning little place and easy to walk. Tauranga is close to hobbiton where they filmed the movie and you can combine this with a tour to Rotarua for hot springs and Maori culture. If you don't want to far Tauranga has great beaches and a mountain to climb or walk around. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers

You don't say which ports you are visiting but if you are going to Dunedin you could hire a car and go down the peninsula to the Albatross hatchery and other great wildlife and scenic areas. There are also tour companies that will take you there. NZ also has some great wineries in very picturesque areas. The Weta workshop in Wellington is very interesting. It's where they make animation models for movies such as The Hobbit. North Island has some spectacular beaches and scenery and Maori cultural sites. Auckland harbour is beautiful and the ferry trip to Devonport is a great way to see the harbour and go to a lovely beach place for lunch. Hope you have a wonderful time. I am Australian so if you have any questions re Oz feel free to ask Cheers

I have cruised with many cruise lines and our experience on Norwegian was by far the worst. First of all it is a gamble if you arrive on time. Then the next delay will be blamed on the port authorities. When they do get the tenders going they only run 2 or 3 boats. The queues are long and the ticketing system doesn't work as many angry people jump the queues and the staff just throw their hands in the air and say they can't do anything. On my last (and final) cruise with Norwegian jewel we had 5 tender ports (1 of which was listed as docked) and couldn't get off the ship until after lunch. It is a disorganized schmozle. Good luck.

Bus stop is about 200m from entrance to old city. Some areas inside old city are very steep. I managed ok with a new knee but avoided the very steep part as it was raining and saw some people slip on wet cobblestones. I imagine if you are doing a tour you still would have to walk as the tourist buses seemed to park near the public bus stop

I have recently been on the Jewel and will also never again cruise with Norwegian. Agree with all comments re boring day time entertainment, tendering debacles, rude guest services staff, absent officers who don't seem to be responsible for anything. I thought the food was good at the price point and food and beverage staff service was very good. But it was hell trying to get on and off the ship and the crew were snapping at passengers and looking miserable as disorganization reigned supreme There is something seriously wrong with the organisational culture

We did this independently last year. There is a bus that leaves from the city centre, just around the corner from the tourist information centre. We went to the tourist information centre and got excellent advice re taking the bus to St Emillon along with the local bus timetable. Much cheaper than a tour. Hope you enjoy

We got the sames letter for our recent cruise. If we had have followed its instructions we would have missed the compulsory safety briefing! We turned up at about 1:30 and walked straight on. Enjoy your cruise

I am also interested in this topic. My Az Journey cruise is scheduled to leave at 4:30pm but we can only board from 3pm onwards in our category. Surely they would want us on and settled and safety drilled before then?

We hired a car for the day in Dunedin and went to the Albatross colony. Fantastic. Can spend a great day touring around the coast and also take in the sights of Dunedin In Wellington we did a tour of the Weta workshop/studios. It is where they do the movie special effects. They pick you up from downtown and give you a thorough description and tour of their workshop. They have lots of their models on display. Pickup point is right near the national museum which is also really good. Napier is interesting to walk around but we also hired a car and visited some great wineries. Most have excellent share platter lunches. Favorite thing to do in Auckland is take the ferry over to Devonport. A lovely seaside village atmosphere with fantastic harbour views and excellent cafes. Ferry terminal is right next to where your cruise will dock. Enjoy!