IDLnyc

We are currently on the Koningsdam’s R/T from San Diego to Hawaii. Yes, HAL offered a tour that combined the river trip and fern grotto, with the Waimea Canyon. Unfortunately we had strong winds the morning of our Kauai arrival and docking was delayed almost two hours.. Some of the longer tours (including the fern grotto/Waimea Canyon combo) were canceled. We were booked on this tour and wish they had run either half (say, Waimea Canyon only) with a partial refund for the missed portion. But that wasn’t offered and the excursion was fully refunded. We ended up taking an Uber to Lihue and visited the island museum on our own- nice but hardly the long scenic day we had envisioned. We had a lot of disappointments with the shore excursion department on this cruise. Our Maui excursion was canceled by HAL about five days before the cruise, our Kona excursion was canceled by HAL the day we embarked, and then the Kauai excursion was canceled when our docking was delayed.

We (72 and 75) kayaked on a Seabourn cruise to Greenland. Three years ago we kayaked on the Antarctic peninsula. Yes, the cruise line provided dry suits. The kayaking was in very still water - protected coves with ripples, no waves - some photogenic small bits of floating ice. We felt very confident - our local river kayaking (New Jersey) is technically more challenging. A guide in a kayak led the group of passengers, and a zodiac boat stayed close to the group, presumably to rescue anybody who got into trouble. I wouldn't want to fall in, but I felt safe. It was quiet and peaceful - almost a moment of solitude even though we were part of a group. Note, on the same trip Seabourn sponsored a "polar plunge" for passengers (tethered to the ship by a cable) who wanted to jump off the tender platform into the arctic water - in their bathing suits. Seems insane to me, but a couple of participants actually lingered in the water for maybe 30 seconds.

Thanks, all, for the responses. Yes, if I hear or read any explanation of why the ports were canceled, I'll come back and post it here. rcs931: Brisbane and and Newcastle still show up for the version of my itinerary on the Viking webpage for people making new bookings. But those ports have been removed from the version of my itinerary under "My Trip". So if you didn't receive an email, and those ports still show up under "My Trip" for your voyage, then I think you'll be ok.

We have LONG been booked on a much-postponed Sydney to Bali voyage now scheduled for 2024 on the Orion. Yesterday, we received an email from Viking informing us that they were dropping Brisbane and Newcastle from this itinerary "due to new, local regulations". This is a disappointment because we have a family connection in Brisbane. I know our specific voyage isn't the only one affected - I believe people making the same trip in 2023 received the same email. Of course, I'm curious what kind of regulation would prompt Viking to cancel a port, and I'm also curious if there is any likelihood that the ports might be reinstated if conditions changed between now and 2024. I couldn't find anything explicitly relevant on the internet. Brisbane has just opened a new cruise terminal to much publicity, so I don't think they would be backpedalling on hosting cruise ships. On the other hand, I know another cruise-line's ship had a well-publicized Covid outbreak before arriving at Brisbane last summer - so maybe more requirements grew out of that (?). Does anyone have any information as to what "new, local regulations" might be behind this change? Thanks in advance.