WisRiver

I do not remember if there was a shuttle.  We were a group of four so we took an Uber to the Museum of Brisbane in City Hall.  After shopping, sightseeing and a river cruise, we had a delicious dinner along the river and took another Uber back to the ship.  

On our drive in a rental car to Seal Bay we saw no kangaroos.  However, we did see several koalas in trees along the highway.  You have to keep an eye on the trees along the highway.

We were on a Holland America cruise in November, 2022 that stopped in Broome.  There was s shuttle offered by the city that took us from the pier (about three miles from the city center) to the main shopping area.  Broome was hot and humid.  We did not find any excursions that interested us.  We took the shuttle into the city center, found a shady place to have drinks and snacks, and went back to the ship.  Some people did pearl shopping.  The Pearl Luggers museum is near the city center.  

Drivers from the United States do not need an international drivers license.  I think the cost was about $100 US including refilling the gas tank.  The roads are well maintained, little traffic and easy to drive on, except for being in a right hand drive car.  We paid extra for an automatic transmission.  

Last year we were in the same predicament, sold out tours on Kangaroo Island.  We were a group of four. We rented a car from Seafront Connect, a short walk from the tender port.  Our original plan was to rent the car and drive out to Flinder's Chase.  Our arrival was delayed for five hours due to high winds and rough seas.  After we tendered in,  we had only about five  hours on shore.  We rented the car and drove out to Seal Bay.  You will be driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but there is not much traffic.   

We have booked an SS guarantee on the Noordam for travel in March.  We like SS cabins.  We had an SS on the Zuiderdam in 2019, and were not disappointed.  The extra size of the SS cabin is quite noticeable.  We were in a veranda cabin on the Oosterdam last month, and we wished we could have found an SS cabin.  Veranda cabins are smaller than an SS and usually have smaller verandas.  Why would you have to pay more unless you are moving up to a Neptune?

We cruised to Australia last October on the Noordam and Brisbane was our first port of entry to Australia.  It did not take much time to clear immigration, 10 minutes or so.  We did not do an excursion and we walked off the boat about an hour after docking.  We took a taxi into the city center, toured the City Museum, did some shopping, walked down to the riverside and took a boat cruise.  We had a nice dinner along the river, and took an Uber back.  Our departure was not until midnight.  It was about a ½ hour drive from the cruise terminal to the city center.  

We did the 13 day coastal express, Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen last year.  While most port stops are 15-30 minutes long, it seemed like everyday there was an extended 3-4 stop in cities like Tromso, Trondheim and Kirkenes,  In addition there are several excursion booked through Hurtigruten where you leave from one port and rebound in another port.  For example, the excursions to the North Cape and in the Loften Islands were the hop-on, hop-off type.  

From Wikipedia:

"American mahjong is a form of mahjong standardized by the National Mah Jongg League^[12] and the American Mah-Jongg Association.^[13] It uses joker tiles, the Charleston, plus melds of five or more tiles, treats bonus tiles as honors, and eschews the chow and the notion of a standard hand. Legal hands are changed annually. Purists claim that this makes American mahjong a separate game. In addition, the NMJL and AMJA variations, which have minor scoring differences, are commonly referred to as mahjongg or mah-jongg (with 2 Gs, often hyphenated)"

The easiest way to tell if you are playing American Mah Jong is the use of joker tiles and a card describing winning hands.  I have seen people on board playing traditional Mah Jong with their own sets.   

We were on the Noordam last fall on the San Diego/Sydney and circumnavigation of Australia cruise.  Mah jongg was scheduled every afternoon in the Half Moon roomon deck 3.  HAL provided four sets.  Passenger were playing American Mah jongg rules and brought their own 2022 cards.  In addition there were two more MJ sets in the game area of the Crows nest on deck 10.  In October, 2021 we were on the Rotterdam transatlantic.  HAL had four sets available and we played in the MDR on deck 3 next to the bridge players.  We will be on the Oosterdam this November.  I am fairly sure people will be playing MJ. 

We stopped in Halifax of a Voyage of the Vikings.  We, a group of four, had booked no excursions.  There were several taxis outside the cruise terminal who offered trips to Peggy's Cove.  I do not remember the exact price but it was extremely reasonable.  Since we had our own cab, we moved at our own pace.  It was about an hour's drive.  Our driver was an Iraqi student studying marine engineering at Dalhousie University. He was an excellent local guide.   He suggested a stop at the cemetery for the Titanic victims.  We were in Peggys Cove for about two hours, and dropped outside the Maritime Museum in Halifax.  We had time to walk back to the ship along the waterfront boardwalk with a stop for some fresh oysters and mussels at a harbor side cafe. We had great weather.   

Where does the ship stop before you arrive in Sydney?  Last year we did a B2B from San Diego to Sydney continuing on to circumnavigate Australia.  .  Our first stop in Australia was Brisbane where we had to clear immigration.  We did not have clear immigration again and did not have to disembark in Sydney (although we did). 

If the taxi line is long when disembarking at Vancouver, is a ride sharing service such as Lyft or Uber quicker.  Our flight from Vancouver to the US leaves at 11:45 AM.  We plan on self disembarking at the earliest time.

We were in Melbourne on December 11 and 12, 2922.  I was in error when I said we were in South Australia and it was winter.   Nevertheless, it was a cold, wet, and windy day on our visit to Phillips Island.  

Last year we had an overnight stop in Melbourne while on a Holland America cruise.  We used Wildlife Tours for our trip to see. the Penguin Parade. https://wildlifetours.com.au/tours/1-day-phillip-island-penguin-tour/. 

Phillips Island is about a 90 minute drive from Melbourne.  The penguins do not come out of the ocean until sunset.  We left Melbourne at about noon.  Once we reached Phillips Island we toured a koala reserve, and had the chance to do a seashore walk.  We did return to Melbourne until about 10:00 PM.  

It was winter in South Australia, and the weather was terrible. Cold (10 C0, windy and rain.    We were prepared, rain jackets, rain pants water resistant hikers and warm fleece.  We skipped the seaside hike.  There was a one hour stop in Cowes late in afternoon to get a bite to eat.   

Despite the weather the Penguin Parade was extraordinary.   The little penguins do not mind the weather.  For me a once in a lifetime experience. 

What car rental company are you using that allows you to pick up the car in Vancouver and drop in Seattle?  So far I have checked with Hertz and Enterprise, and they say I cannot drop in Seattle from Vancouver.

We have done two cruises to Iceland and a 21 day driving trip around Iceland.  The driving tour was a vastly superior experience.  We made four stops on the Holland America Voyage of the Vikings.  This cruise only whetted our appetite for Iceland.  After we did the driving trip we did a 8 day circumnavigation of Iceland on a Hurtigruten Expedition.  If you only have a short period of time to see Iceland, the circumnavigation with extra days before and after the cruise in Reykjavik. It is hard to spend the afternoon soaking in a hot spring on a cruise.  On a driving tour you can end almost everyday with a hot soak.  Iceland has a number of excellent restaurants which not be available on a cruise.   

Four years ago we booked a Neptune Suite on the 8th deck on the Eurodam.  All of the aft corner Neptune balconies on decks 4-8 are larger than the Neptunes on the side with the 4th deck aft balcony being the largest.  The 8th deck Neptune was a great hangout space for our large group (ten) including four teenagers.  They had easy access to pizza and the Dive In on the 9th deck.  We had no problem with noise from moving furniture near the SeaView pool in the morning.  

When we stayed at the Radisson we were starting a Hurtingruten Expedition cruise.  Their ship was able to dock in the Old Harbor, about a five minute walk to the ship.  In 2019 we were on Voyage of the Vikings, and the Zuiderdam did an overnight stay in Reykjavik, and docked at the cruise port.  We took a taxi to and from the Harpa.  

We liked the Radisson Blu;  central location, nice staff, good (not great) breakfast, clean quiet rooms.  It is a good business class hotel, without a lot of charm.   On our next trip to Iceland in October, we will be staying at the nearby Center Plaza Hotel.  

Last year we did the Hurtigruten 13 day Coastal Express.  We had cold, wet, windy weather in Bergen and Alesund, mild cloudy weather in Trondheim and Tromso, sunny cool weather further north and wonderful summer weather in Oslo.  We checked the weather just before we left the US and knew that we would face cold and rain.  We added extra rain gear.  Kaisatsu's advice in #4 is right on point.

We are doing an Iceland stopover on our way to Europe this fall.  We will rent a car.

We have made three trips to Iceland including a Hurtigruten cruise around Iceland last year.  We were in the same situation as the OP.  We were to arrive at 6:30 AM and did not start our cruise until two days later.  We rented a car from Blue Rental at the airport.  We were staying at the Radisson Blu in the center of Reykjavik.  We drove to the hotel in hope that we could get an early checkin.  No such luck, but we did leave our luggage at the hotel.  We had breakfast in a nearby cafe.  We had booked tickets at the Sky Lagoon for noon.  We drove out to the Sky Lagoon, had a wonderful two hours in the warm water, sauna and steam bath.  We drove back to the hotel, checked in, took a nap and wandered around the city center.  The next day we checked out, and drove along the south coast to overnight in Vik.  We drove back towards Reykjavik stopping to see the new volcano.   We dropped the car at the Blue location in Reykjavik  and embarked late in the afternoon.  Taxis are very expensive and I do not like riding the bus with luggage.  The rental car did not save us much money, but it gave us lots of flexibility.  Icelandic highways are well maintained with good signage.  We did not go off road so did not need an AWD vehicle.  

Several years ago (pre-covid times) we did the Buenos Aires-Santiago cruise.  A significant number of passengers were from Argentina or Chile.  The Latin American passengers were much better dressed than the English speaking (Canadians, Aussies and US).  Given the state of the their economy, I do not know if there will be many Argentines.  Nevertheless, my suggestion, try and dress up a little for the gala nights.

We have sailed out of Fort Lauderdale four times.  We usually stay in a hotel along 17th Street, Holiday Inn, Embassy Suites, etc.  The first time we took the free hotel shuttle from the airport and the shuttle from the hotel to the cruise ship.  When we took the "free" hotel shuttle we had to wait almost an hour, boarded in a crowd, and I had to stand.  As a result there was a long line at check in.  The next day we had booked seats on the hotel shuttle at 11:00 AM.   There was a crowd waiting to board, and we had a hot ride to the ship.  Again we had to deal with a crowd getting off the bus.  The next departure (two years later) we used a cab (pre-Uber) from the airport and from the hotel.  No crowds (but there was a line for cabs), air conditioned cab, and help with our bags.  In the last few years we have used a cab from the airport and Uber/Lyft from the hotel.  No problems.  The Uber/Lyft/taxi was about $15, less than two shuttle tickets.  I have negative reviews about Uber/taxi services, but our experiences were positive.

We have sailed out of Civatavecchia on HAL twice.  The first time we took the HAL shuttle.  We did a lot of waiting.  First we had to wait for the bus after our flight landed.  Second we had to wait for other passengers from other flights to arrive.  We were loading a 44 passenger coach.  Finally our group was checking in at the ship at the same time.

The second time we took a taxi.  This was in 2018, but the taxi cost was about the same as for two persons for the shuttle.  There was no problem finding a taxi.  When we arrived (1 PM or so) at the port, we were ahead of the bus and almost no wait.