B&Dcruise

Wow! You collectively gave me the facts, photos, coordinates and video references I need to make an informed decision, all dispensed with grace and understanding. Knowing what side of the bus to sit on and the idea of bringing headphones and music help the trip feel manageable. I am amazed and grateful for this very specific and helpful information. Thank you, all!

We're looking at the HAL land/see cruise which includes 3 nights in Denali National Park. Can anyone tell me what the road(s) is like for the Holland America motorcoach trip from the ship to HAL's Denali resort?

The beginning, seen on Google Earth, looks pretty flat but there is no view further on. I've been in and witnessed bad crashes in the last year and I'm dealing with some skittishness about driving in general. If you add mountain roads in a bus- well, I might end up living in Denali, afraid to return/ ;-) (Worse things could happen!)

Seriously, can someone give me an honest assessment of the roads from start to finish? Thanks!

Will be boarding in Amsterdam in four weeks. Someone mentioned there were no porters. But I don't know for certain if they were talking about Amsterdam or another port. (Many posts here about embarkation without stating which port.)

Can anyone advise on the best strategy for one person to get both bags AND wheelchair-bound wife into and through the embarkation process?

Wish they offered options like the other cruise lines. Menu's and onboard account.

They had "onboard" accounts in November on the Oosterdam, but not on the TV. It was through the HAL phone app. A great addition!

Chiming in for my wife, who began this thread, we asked HAL if this decision was from them or from the government of New Zealand. HAL responded, "The governing authority of this denied early disembarkation is the New Zealand Customs and Immigrations," and they provided us a link.

So we wrote to New Zealand Customs requesting clarification. NZ responded,

"This is a situation New Zealand Customs (Customs) would refer back to Holland America because it is a delicate situation. Holland America is correct in that the small seaside town of Akaroa is not a Customs port and therefore there is no usual Customs presence there. The advice that Customs provides to the cruise companies in respect to passengers wishing to disembark at ports such as Akaroa is that the passengers can disembark, but because there is no usual Customs presence there, the cost of providing a Customs officer and Ministry for Primary Industries officer to Akaroa must be covered by the cruise company. Additionally, the responsibility of having all passengers return to the ship after a day ashore in a port such as Akaroa is the responsibility of the cruise company. So with that in mind, it is the cruise company’s decision whether or not they will allow disembarkation at a small port such as Akaroa."

NZ also said Customs has a presence in Dunedin and Wellington, in case we want to officially disembark for the night there. I must say, I was very pleased with the prompt, full and helpful explanation from the NZ government. Now, just jumping ship and asking forgiveness later--as someone hinted--might work. But we are not inclined to test the boundaries.

In the end, we decided that this cruise would not offer enough bang (the kind of scenery and experiences we want) for the buck ($$). We canceled the booking and instead reserved a HAL cruise to Norway.

My husband and I plan a 21 day Aust/New Zealand Cruise in November 2017. I really want to take the scenic TranzAlpine train trip and get to enjoy the views of the mountains but this is not offered as a shore excursion.. We figured out a way to get off the ship in Christchurch, take the train trip to Greymouth, rent a car and drive to Picton where we would meet up with the ship the following day- with plenty of time to spare.

However when we wrote to Holland America for a disembarkation request they responded that the request <cannot be approved as it is an un-proclaimed port with no customs available.>

I don't understand what that means or how this is any different, as regards customs, than taking a shore excursion. Can anyone help? Is there a way around this?

Thanks a bunch-

Derri