Grand Circle of the Pacific - Beginning Sept 13. 2006

[Grothj]

Seems like September will never arrive!

 

We are going to do the entire 90+ days cruise. I have been following some of the world cruisers posts about the orient and have gotten some great tips.

 

I have a couple of questions:

 

1. Anyone else going on this cruise? I see several posts that look like they might be on some of the segments?

 

2. Do you think a private guide is best in Vietnam? Has anyone used the Tour Desk services for private guides? We have done that in St. Petersburg and a couple of other places and have been very pleased.

 

My husband is a geologist who still has a consulting business and I'm retired from Intuit. This will be our second cruise of the Mariner...we did South America Circumnavigation in 2002.

 

Looking forward to seeing who else might be joining us.

 

JG

[KiwiIan]

Seems like September will never arrive!

 

We are going to do the entire 90+ days cruise. I have been following some of the world cruisers posts about the orient and have gotten some great tips.

 

I have a couple of questions:

 

1. Anyone else going on this cruise? I see several posts that look like they might be on some of the segments?

 

2. Do you think a private guide is best in Vietnam? Has anyone used the Tour Desk services for private guides? We have done that in St. Petersburg and a couple of other places and have been very pleased.

 

My husband is a geologist who still has a consulting business and I'm retired from Intuit. This will be our second cruise of the Mariner...we did South America Circumnavigation in 2002.

 

Looking forward to seeing who else might be joining us.

 

JG

Hi JG, think you will be visiting us here in NZ on the 29th November [Tauranga] If your husband is a geologist he may be very interested in the geo-thermal landscape we have close by. White Island is an active marine volcano just of the coast [can visit by helicopter] plus of course the geothermals of Rotorua, last significant eruption being in Jan 2001. Of course this may be a bit of a busmans holiday so there are plenty of other things to enjoy without going anywhere near rocks. Please to offer help and advice if you need any. A great review of a recent NZ cruise can be found at http://www.thepreismans.com/ he is a CC poster under MPVinBOYNTON. Regards Ian [Tauranga] NZ

[CruiserPat]

We'll be on the Hong Kong - Singapore segment. This is my husband's and my first cruise, and we're really looking forward to it. My husband was in the Navy during the Viet Nam war, and sailed into some of the same ports we'll be going to. I've also heard that the private tours are best in Viet Nam, but don't know anything about them; i.e. Do you go with other people (in a small van or something), or are you by yourself, or with a larger group? And why is it better than the ship's excursions? I've heard it's cheaper, but don't know anything else. We are definitely novices at this!

[scb]

We're on the Sydney-Auckland segment. Can hardly wait! Would love to do the whole Grand Tour, but my husband is still gainfully employed=no time. :rolleyes: Maybe someday!

[KiwiIan]

We're on the Sydney-Auckland segment. Can hardly wait! Would love to do the whole Grand Tour, but my husband is still gainfully employed=no time. :rolleyes: Maybe someday!

Hi, if you would like any local info on the NZ ports of call, what to do etc, please let me know.Theres lots of choice at each destination so worth doing some prep. Pre or post cruise shore tours will enable you to see more of the inland areas, though for NZ at least most places are always close to a shoreline in one direction. All ports will have local operators offering tours as well as those by the ship, info can be found by contacting the local information centres at each ports town or city. I have posted info on their addresses in my earlier posts so if you trawl through those you'll finf a lot more information. Regards Ian.

[scb]

Thank you for the offer Ian! I may take you up on that. I'm just now starting to investigate what to do and see. My husband is working on booking a fishing day, as he is an avid fly fisherman. Can't go to NZ without trying for one of your famous trout :) Unfortunately we can not do a post cruise trip as husband has to get back to work :(

[sundial]

We've decided to book the Tokyo to Hong Kong segment. We've sailed on Regent before and loved it, but we are really looking forward to experiencing the Mariner as well as the Orient!