Tauranga & Rotorua Help

[jarand]

We are considering an itinerary with a Holland cruise, followed immediately by a Princess cruise out of Auckland. There is a one day overlap:

 

Nov 6: Holland docks in Tauranga; Princess sets sail from Auckland

Nov 7: Holland ends in Auckland; Princess docks in Tauranga

 

Option 1 is to disembark a day early from the HAL cruise in Tauranga, rent a car and spend a night in Rotorua, then pick up the Princess cruise a day later in Tauranga. This is really appealing because we'd love to experience a little more of the culture and geology.

Questions:

~Is there a regulation that would allow or disallow boarding the cruise in Tauranga? Who would I contact to be absolutely certain?

~Any suggestions on a great overnight place in Rotorua? We like B&B type places more than big resorts.

 

 

Option 2 is disembark a day early from HAL in Tauranga, tour/travel to Auckland and board Princess (late evening departure). We'll be back in Tauranga again the next day on Princess. Ideally we'd see some of the sites north of Tauranga on the trip, then focus on Rotorua the following day when Princess docks there.

Questions:

~Is it feasible to travel and sight-see from Tauranga to Auckland in a day? What would be the best means of transportation and route?

~Is there a tour company or driver who might provide the Tauranga-Auckland tour?

 

 

Other suggestions?

Thank you very much for your insight!

[bazzaw]

I doubt that you would be able to do that (at least here in Australia and/or NZ - although there is 'some" practice of this in European ports.

 

It could be possible for you to "self disembark" a day early in a non-disembarkation port (very unusual however) -- however it is not common practice for cruiseships to allow passengers to embark at a non-embarkation port. You can imagine that if they allowed this as a general practice, their embarkation/disembarkation procedures would become chaotic.

 

Barry

[cruisingsis]

Option 1 would not be allowed but Option 2 is possible. I live in Tauranga and lots of my friends that have done cruises like yours have disembarked in Tauranga rather than go on to Auckland. As for whether it is feasible to drive Tauranga to Auckland and sightsee in one day - sure is. The actual drive is only 2.5 hours. You would need to hire a car with one of the national companies to allow drop off in Auckland. You could head over to Rotorua (1 hour drive) and spend the day there then drive up to Auckland late afternoon.

It would make a great trip.

 

 

Jenny - Cruising out of sunny Tauranga, NZ

[rkmw]

We are considering an itinerary with a Holland cruise, followed immediately by a Princess cruise out of Auckland. There is a one day overlap:

 

Nov 6: Holland docks in Tauranga; Princess sets sail from Auckland

Nov 7: Holland ends in Auckland; Princess docks in Tauranga

 

Option 1 is to disembark a day early from the HAL cruise in Tauranga, rent a car and spend a night in Rotorua, then pick up the Princess cruise a day later in Tauranga. This is really appealing because we'd love to experience a little more of the culture and geology.

Questions:

~Is there a regulation that would allow or disallow boarding the cruise in Tauranga? Who would I contact to be absolutely certain?

~Any suggestions on a great overnight place in Rotorua? We like B&B type places more than big resorts.

 

 

Option 2 is disembark a day early from HAL in Tauranga, tour/travel to Auckland and board Princess (late evening departure). We'll be back in Tauranga again the next day on Princess. Ideally we'd see some of the sites north of Tauranga on the trip, then focus on Rotorua the following day when Princess docks there.

Questions:

~Is it feasible to travel and sight-see from Tauranga to Auckland in a day? What would be the best means of transportation and route?

~Is there a tour company or driver who might provide the Tauranga-Auckland tour?

 

 

Other suggestions?

Thank you very much for your insight!

 

you would not be allowed to disembark in Tauranga because they dont have customs and immigration there and you couldnt join another ship for the same reason

 

what you could do is to get a cruise going from Sydney-NZ-Sydney and if you got permission to leave the ship for a day or so and rejion the same ship

[rkmw]

Option 1 would not be allowed but Option 2 is possible. I live in Tauranga and lots of my friends that have done cruises like yours have disembarked in Tauranga rather than go on to Auckland. As for whether it is feasible to drive Tauranga to Auckland and sightsee in one day - sure is. The actual drive is only 2.5 hours. You would need to hire a car with one of the national companies to allow drop off in Auckland. You could head over to Rotorua (1 hour drive) and spend the day there then drive up to Auckland late afternoon.

It would make a great trip.

 

 

Jenny - Cruising out of sunny Tauranga, NZ

 

if someone can get off in Tauranga do they rejoin the same ship in Auckland, if not how can they by pass customs and immigration

[Kiwi Kruzer]

you would not be allowed to disembark in Tauranga because they don't have customs and immigration there and you couldn't join another ship for the same reason

 

Tauranga is actually the biggest port in New Zealand with many cargo and container ships calling on regular runs. They would have crew coming and going all the time and every ship has to be inspected re Bio Security Customs and Immigration. Tauranga would have the biggest C&I in NZ apart from airports.

If a passenger disembarked in Tauranga it would have to be arranged in advance. The line would have to advise the authourities that the service was required and there would no doubt be an extra charge, probably passed on to the passenger.

At disembarkation the passenger would have to surrender the cruise card so could not reembark with out re applying for another which would mean going through C& I again.

 

In answer to the original query, ...It can be done, but the only one to OK it would be the cruise lines , who would have to instigate extra facilities for you. There would be no cost saving and probably an extra charge.

 

 

 

[jarand]

Thank you very much for helping us out with our planning. I really appreciate your time and insight!

[Dizziedi]

I can't speak for HAL but we have done it on RCI - they called it Downlining. We had to get permission from Miami but it came through within about 48 hours.

 

I would ask my TA (if you have one) to seek the permission.

 

We were on the Radiance a couple of weeks ago and had some friends get off in Tauranga.

 

You will not get a reduction in the fare.

 

Cheers

Di