Blackduck59

Even with a 50% refund that would be the cost of a full cruise on another line. This is just ridiculous. For us the whole Milford sound part of the voyage is a major highlight. To miss that because the cruise line failed to do required maintenance would be a major disappointment. I'm just glad my one and done with Viking was a relatively inexpensive lesson. Ironically that was also on Orion. Clearly the people of New Zealand have strict expectation for cruise lines so that their ecological treasures are protected for generations to come. Perhaps plans should be made to have the hulls cleaned at one of the yards in Asia as ships reposition to the down under season. I'm sure that would be expensive but would that be more expensive than thousands of pi**ed off passengers? Perhaps upset enough that they never cruise with you again.

So there are no flights out of China to other countries until January 8th?

We have also put the pre travel test for travel from China. The restrictions come into effect from January 5th. Talk about closing the gate after the horse has bolted. If you are going to make a regulation make it immediate. The only exceptions should be those coming home from overseas, and they need to be tested on arrival and again after 7 days.

Thanks for all your reports on this cruise Julie. We are still looking at options for our down under adventure. We were going to book soon but maybe we will book it as a future cruise while we are on Zaandam in the summer. I like the low deposit.

Mostly water on the floor and under the machines. Fortunately being a woodworking shop means a ready supply of sawdust to sop up the water. Some material that was standing on the floor has water damage but nothing major was ruined. Ironically my work area is dry. Tge pipe is repaired and I will be back to work Thursday morning.

One is "Don's Family Vacations" on utube he is the Canadian but sometimes gets irritating, the other is "la lido loca" also on utube. I'm not endorsing either of them. Just making people aware that they will be on Noordam. I think she is alongside for the fireworks in Sydney, either that or they will be staying in a hotel for it.

The snow is gone woo hoo, back to the "Wet Coast". Meanwhile I went in to work today hoping to make up some of the time I lost in the snow. Unfortunately prolonged sub-zero temperature coupled with an inadequate heating system in the shop meant a burst pipe and quite a flood. My boss discovered it on the 23rd. It looks like I'll be off for a few more days.

Rotorua was something we were interested in, Hobbiton not so much. I guess we could get in to Auckland earlier and make that a trip before the cruise. There are a couple of VLOGers from these parts, one Canadian and one American that are going to be on Noordam in a couple of days. HAL is comping them the cruise so it will be interesting to see how balanced the reporting is. Of course the "Hobbiton" excursion has been cancelled so one of them is already choked about that. I am more interested in the Maori culture than some movie set.

Probably mostly the same as yours but there are 2 stops in Tasmania including an overnight in Hobart. I think there is a Melbourne stop as well but we will go back as part of our land adventure after the cruise.

I don't really want to hijack Julie's thread but the cruise we are interested in is a 16 day Auckland to Sydney at the end of February into early March 2024.

Ahoy Julie and Rolf. Look at me late to the party. I just now found your thread and spent some time reading it. Thanks for your reports, we are looking at HAL for our Down under adventure now. I like one itinerary on Noordam but my TA says that ship is old and we may not like it. We will know more about "old" HAL ships after our Easy Coast cruise on Zaandam in the summer.

As I have mentioned in the past Les the "Orse" will have to wait until we are down under. I will try it when I'm there because it is an Ozzy thing and require real Ozzie pies. I may even try the mushy peas just to know if I like them or not.

The steak and mushroom has chunks of beef and sliced mushrooms with a thick gravy. Both could be eaten by hand. Unfortunately the place we got them from doesn't seem to stock them anymore 😕

This is the chicken curry it is a nice filling with very mild curry flavour

We are still snowed in on the wet coast of the Great White North. We are working through the freezer. Today was pie day. These are "Australian Style" meat pies made in Canada 🇨🇦 bye an Australian guy. One steak an mushroom one chicken curry.

I hate people who are "Dreaming of a White Christmas". We are still snowed in and it's snowing again. Fortunately we have electricity, there is fire wood available and there is food for a few more days. The temperature is supposed to rise dramatically tomorrow and we should have rain. For all our friends down under have a safe and happy holiday season and may you all have wonderful adventures in 2023. Be safe be well and enjoy. Cheers, Lyle & Lynn

Funny thing Mic, we got 36 cm I think the ski hill got less than 10, although they are apparently expecting 20cm overnight tomorrow (Thursday)

Well we have been snowed in for 2 days now, 36 cm of snow overnight on Monday. Our Subaru is good in the snow but no way will it do that amount of snow. It is pretty but I think it can go away now.

It is always sad to hear of line of duty deaths. Also the civilian death is tragic. I see that the perpetrator has failed to survive the encounter, that will save the crown some expense. It will also spare the families from having to hear the perp try to justify his actions in court. RIP the fallen

Yes our cruise is much shorter than yours with mostly Canadian ports. You have several ports in Newfoundland, we only have Cornerbrook.

Hey Lissie, looks like we will be passing each other on the pier. We are boarding when you get off of Zaandam. I have read your posts on the down under board. Have a great cruise. Our itinerary stops in Portland not Bar Harbour.

Ho I'm rather neutral on the subject, I do however find it interesting that so many people seem to be up in arms over it. I may have a look who knows. Although I would definitely choose the colouring over the casino or say an unfortunate musical performance.

That does look well attended, we are going on our first HAL cruise in August, perhaps we will look in. For the more creative types they could just use the provided art supplies and sketch there own thing, perhaps from a photo on their phone. Just like food "Entertainment" is very subjective. What I may find entertaining could be very boring to others and vice versa. Opera for some is a magical lifting experience, for me it's fingernails on the chalk board. Funny thing I don't have to go to the opera.

We'll just put you down in the "don't like adult colouring column". It's too bad you seem to be so offended by it.

There seems to be a lot of mocking going on about the "Adult Colouring" activity. Is this an extra charge event or included in your fare? I am 63 and my wife is 65 and we can both remember when it seemed like everyone had a "Doodle Art" poster either on their wall or a work in progress. I would bet even some of those mocking "Adult Colouring" had Doodle Art in their room in college.