greyskier

Thank you for your replies. We have done a family Christmas with P&O and it was really good. Most of our  cruises have been on HAL but not in holiday time and it has been mainly older guests so was unsure how much they would cater to children.

If anyone has done a Christmas cruise with Holland America  were there many Christmas festivities on board.  Did they have Santa visit for the children.

Thank you for everyones replies.  We found  they did luggage storage at the ferry terminal information office right next to the wharf where we disembarked. I think it was $10 per case but it was a very convenient place and there were plenty of taxis around later in the day.

thank you for the info  that looked so convenient and we will be there on a thursday so should be ok

Has anyone any recent experience with storing luggage for the day in Auckland. We are staying at the airport after disembarking  as have an early flight the next day but would like to spend the day around the city first.  

Thank you for the info. I did find a luggage hotel listed on Princes Wharf not sure if it is still there.  Was hoping someone might have used the storage recently.

We are getting off the Noordam in Auckland and have a flight booked early the next morning. Does anyone know if there is anywhere around the cruise terminal where we can leave our luggage for the day then we will go to one of the airport hotels that night.

From memory they did not do any passenger laundry because of the muddy water in the Amazon

We did the Amazon and Brazil cruise in 2017 and I don't think any of the shops were closed. the cruise went right up to Manaus and stayed overnight so we were around for several days. that is an amazing trip would love to do it again.

We did the Baltic cruise just before covid. In Copenhagen we were docked almost in town, there was a HOHO bus close to the ship. We took it part way round but then just walked everywhere and eventually back to the ship.  Stockholm  we docked a fair way from the town centre. there was a paid shuttle into the centre and from memory went back  fairly regularly between certain times.

Has anyone had experience of a Christmas cruise on HAL with young children.  Are there many others and does the kids club operate.Most of our HAL cruises have been overseas and there are usually no kids onboard but the australian market is probably quite different.

We have just done the Solomons/PNG cruise, we did the PNG one 6 yrs ago.  I Rabaul they had people on the ship  to change money either into Kina or back to Australian.  In Kiriwina the locals were going along the line of people waiting for the tender to see if they could change there Aussie money.

I don't know if they still do it but we really enjoyed the cultural dance show in Alotau. also the volcano tour in Rabaul. this time in Kiriwina the locals had a section of beach made "private"and were charging 5kina per person. you could also buy bananas, coconuts and they had cooked mud crabs for 25kina which did look good

I have pre existing cardiac problems and ANZ platinum would not cover me.  After going through so many PDS'S for a recent PNG cruise I found Qantas came out the best and only added an extra 103$ for my pre existing. I found there was a huge variation in prices out there.

I have just used qantas for a PNG cruise we are 77and 78.  they were very reasonable and only added an extra $100 for medical problems.  the anz platinum wouldn't cover me for pre existing problems.I did some rough quotes with about 7 companies and Qantas came out the best

Dunedin    We did a HAL ships tour on the Taeri Gorge railway. The train left from the ship and it was a really good day. Yes it was expensive but we were given lots of food and drinks and the staff on the train were fabulous. The scenery was pretty good. the people that booked on their own had to get the bus into Dunedin to join the train.

Wellington  Get the shuttle into town, the National museum was really good. then the cable car to the top. ( can't remember the name )  We had a lovely lunch at the top then walked back to the shuttle through the botanic gardens. We were mid february and the gardens were really  beautiful

Melbourne,, I think going to Phillip Island to see the penguins come ashore would be my definite. Maybe on the 2nd visit as it will be a late night.

Tauranga  We did a ships tour to Rotorua and it was a very interesting day

I can 2nd the Swissotel. we have stayed there several times. It is right over the MRT and shopping centre so you can easily get to anywhere in singapore. If you buy one of there transport cards it makes it so easy

We have done about 14 cruises from overseas. 2x Hurtigruten, 2x princess and the rest Holland america ranging from 2 to 8 weeks.  All were fabulous and would do all again if we could. HAL often has ports other cruises don't often use  they don't have as many extra activies as some other lines but we have never been bored. Hurtigruten is more of an expedition type cruise I think and would not suit if you liked lots of entertainment. Not counting Penguin 101 that we had.!

We have also been on PO and Carnival  and enjoyed those so I think you can find something to suit on most lines.

The daily gratuities have always been added on to our shipboard account even on New Zealand cruises and we have at least 15 Hal cruises.  I think PO and Carnival  from Australia are the only ones not charging gratuities.

We have paid for all our HAL cruises in AUD but then all other charges have been in US dollars.

We have always used our ANZ card insurance but luckily never had to claim.  Concerned now about the previous posts regarding the changes. I have just down loaded the new policy effective from 2nd October and the overseas medical still says unlimited. they do have a new section if they have covered for pre-existing and that also states unlimited.  I now have a pre existing condition so may have to find another insurer.

I have just found this thread about the Hurtigruten. We went to Antarctica and the Chilean Fiords in 2007 on the Nordnorge with the Hurtigruten company. We were told then they only take a max of 300 but there were only just over 200 on our cruise.I do not think a full ship would have been an issue. We could not fault the trip, we were numbered into groups of 8 for shore landings with 1 going to the end for the 2nd landing. We did not seem to wait long for our turn and were never rushed to return to the ship. We were given a really good warm parka and they also supplied gumboots. The expedition leaders on board were all doctors in their field and we had excellent talks on the flora, fauna and geology of the area.Our cruise left from Ushuaia and finished at Punta Arenas. I would love to do another cruise and go below the Antarctic circle and would not travel with any other company.

Thanks Greyskiar

 

Did you do none of these tours?? - in addition to a Princess Land/Sea cruise

 

http://www.adventureworld.com.au/alaska/

Our land tour went from Seward to the princess lodge in Kenai then to Anchorage. We picked up the dome train to Denali then train onto Fairbanks where the tour portion finished. Adventure world had lots of short tours when we went. Up to Prudhoe Bay from Fairbanks was a 3 day trip in a minibus only 7 of us, we stayed the first night in Coldfoot. The last day we flew back to Fairbanks over the Brooks range. The Nome /kotzebue was also just a 3 day trip but interesting to see the different cultures in Alaska and they were both different to the cruisetour portion. There are probably lots of other companies also doing similar trips now. Hope it gives you some ideas.

This Statendam cruise only doubles up on 2 ports so we get to see more of Alaska.

sorry forgot to say the above was a reply for Bazzaw.

We did a Princess cruisetour a few years ago and then spent extra time in Alaska after. The cruise went from Vancouver to Seward then we land toured for another week up to Fairbanks with Princess.From Fairbanks several tour companies had tours, we chose Adventure World and went as far north as Prudhoe Bay then back and across to Nome and Kotzebue on the Bering sea. Our TA was excellent in finding add on tours for us.This all gave us a very good view of Alaska itself and makes it worthwhile traveling the distance from Australia. We loved Alaska and are booked on the final Statendam cruise in September.

HAL has 2 Incan Empire cruises a year in March and November. They spend 3 days moored in Lima. We did the cruise last March and it was perfect, We booked the Machu Pichu tour through HAL it was expensive about $3500 AU each but suited us for peace of mind if anything went wrong. We could not fault the experience we were really looked after the whole time. Some on our cruise organised the trip independently at about half the price. If you are interested in the HAL excursion be aware you have to book it at least 2 months out from when it goes.