Tell me about Collector Cruises to the Pacific

[pictonite]

I know contributors to this board have a wealth of advice to give - so here goes:

 

We were originally booked on the Volendam 14 day cruise from Auckland to Sydney in February 2012. Now we have extended our cruise to include an extra 14 days cruising the Pacific islands. This 28 day cruise is a Collector cruise. What does this mean? Will we have more on board experts? Any more perks?

 

Our past cruises with HAL have been 10 - 14 days in length. 28 days is a long time to be on board. I'm hoping that there are some of you out there who have sailed this exact itinerary and can help me out.

 

Thanks!

 

Annette

[rugbypopsie]

I got off the Volendam yesterday after 14 days around the Pacific I have also done NZ by cruise. I have done a short review which is on the main P and O Australia board and am happy to answer any questions. Lots of people onboard who had just done the NZ leg. If you have questions about the ports you will get answers over there from Aussies and Kiwis who live in the regions.

 

No special perks on 28 days except that the price for back to back cruises is usually good. You will see a good contrast between NZ and the Pacific Islands which are much less touristy and less developed.

 

[J_M_F]

You may have a cocktale party on the second leg for those doing a back-to-back. We have done this twice on Australian/Asian trips. Open bar. Nice.

Jeff

[SilvertoGold]

You may have a cocktale party on the second leg for those doing a back-to-back. We have done this twice on Australian/Asian trips. Open bar. Nice.

Jeff

 

You may indeed have a Collector's Voyage Cocktail Party or a luncheon on the first day of the second voyage. The past Captains of the Volendam are both very amenable so I would think the Cocktail party would be a go. Nevertheless, it is a long way off and things on HAL change a lot. A nice ship and a great itinerary!

[Krazy Kruizers]

It really varies by ship.

On one recent Collector's Cruise -- there was a cocktail party with an open bar -- no special lunch -- no free dinner.

On our next Collector's Cruise -- NO cocktail party -- the special lunch was really opened to everyone on the ship. The cruise after ours the people were offered their choice of a free dinner at either the Pinnacle or the Tamarind. So in a nutshell -- we got nothing.

[Belle]

On ours we got a Cocktail party and

a free dinner for two in the Pinnacle.

There was only 42 of us doing the Collector.

It was on the Zaandam.

 

Going again in March on another Collector

Cruise. See what's going to happen this time.

 

The main thing with a Collector's Cruise......

It's cheaper than doing it as a B2B.