SinbadThePorter

It was named for HMS Britomart. Which was the ship of Capt William Hobson, the first Governor of NZ. Britomart was originally a character in Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene.

Yes, it can give you a couple of days notice of rough weather in the Tasman. In general what you need to look out for are the intense low pressure systems that rotate around the Southern Ocean. They are usually spaced three to four days apart, traveling from west to east. In summer they tend to sit at about 50-60 degrees South and in winter about 40-50 degrees south. As these Lows pass the sea below NZ and Tasmania, they push waves into the Tasman. Over two or so days the waves dissipate and you have smooth seas for a day or so. Then a following low starts the process again. How big the seas will be depends on how far north is the Low and how intense it is.

Yachts entering or leaving New Caledonia must get clearance in Noumea before proceeding anywhere else. It's obviously different for cruise ships. I assume that they must get some form of pre-clearance in order to head straight to Lifou, but that there is a requirement to appear in Noumea on the way home.

I don't know why the hate on Eden. It's a lovely place. I prefer it to Airlie, which is the Noumea of Queensland, way over visited. Won't some ship on a Queensland cruise please go to Townsville or Gladstone just for the change of scenery? As noted before, there aren't enough deep water ports in Australia. Which means lots of tendering. I've yet to meet anyone who enjoys tendering.

My experience is that I did not catch covid on any of six cruises this year, but that I did catch it on my last visit to my doctor.

I suspect somebody in NZ must have had a closer look at the paperwork for these cruise ships.

Only with the written permission of Princess. It might be a good idea to get a note from her doctor before asking.

I was on Coral when we went into Milford on the 9th Dec. Lots of ships had preceded us.

I wonder where and how the NZ authorities are checking the hulls of these ships?

Fortunately, it's a noon departure.

On Coral last week we each got a Patter delivered by our steward every evening. Only it wasn't called the Patter, it was called "Princess event listings".

It looks like Coral is heading around the North Island for a clockwise cruise.

I wonder if "hull cleaning" is a euphemism for hole patching? 😱

Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington were sunny and warm. After that things got miserable.

For Princess, grats are included for Asia bound cruises although not for US bound cruises.

Only a reminder that masks are always to be on indoors except when exercising, eating or drinking. Since this has been a moveable feast all cruise I can't see it making much difference. We are heading out to Cook Strait now. It's flat as a tack.

The captain has just told us that we have an elevated level of covid on board.

My understanding is that cruises bought in Australia and departing an Australian port will have gratuities included in the fare. They may be talking about grats on top of that being at your discretion.

Just to update you all on the doings of the Coral Princess. We are in Wellington today and just like Dunedin and Christchurch we have warm sunny weather. The main problem is avoiding sunburn. Yesterday the indoor pool was drained painted and refurbished. It is currently empty but looking good. The fjords were very cold and foggy. But we did get into Milford without problems.

A lot more coffee tables in front of cabin doors this afternoon.

On Coral everyone is RAT testing tomorrow morning. I assume the NZ government is insisting.

The Looseum awaits. 😁 Though I think it's closed at the moment. 🤢

You are braver than me. I am sticking with cruises out of my hometown for now. I really don't want to catch covid in a situation where I have to get on a flight to get home. 😷

Gavin Smith would be far more effective seeing what he can do about bringing RC shuttle bus fares down to $8. 🤑

Non-stop at full speed a Citycat would take about an hour to go from the cruise terminal to the CBD. They would not be allowed to use the ferry terminals, so they would have to find a public jetty to tie up to. $8 seems optimistic as this is would not be public transport. There is the cost of hiring the Citycat, insurance, fuel, staff, etc. At the moment it's a daydream and we just have to put up with a lack of public transport. Just as we do with almost all cruise terminals around the country that were not lucky enough to be built next to Circular Quay.