lissie

By then I would have thought Napier would be open again - its unclear how much damage there is downtown - the pictures we're seeing of surrounding areas. I would think rafting is far more problematic and they will probably be cancelling that . Don't bother trying to contact them for at least a week - power and interne and phones are all out and only slowly being returned, and of course some people have lost everything. Here's some pics FYI Hastings is a nearby city - normally 20 min drive from Napier. 'Devastation' as pictures, video emerge from Hawke's Bay | Te Ao Māori News (teaomaori.news)

Are they are still doing mandatory quarantine if you test positive?

I just carry an empty bottle. Cunard was worst - they went on and on about how long a drive it was to Luxor (it was 6 hours) and no facilities. And tried to sell people glass bottles of water! Got on the bus and of course we hadn't sat down before they were handing out free and cold bottles of water - and you could get more anytime you wanted it.

NZ doesn't care about empty anything - its the contents that agriculture cares about. Can't speak for he cruise ships

Its not made the news - but it would be smart to assume that Napier and Bay of Islands will be off the itinerary for some time (particularly Napier)

That could be true LOL

They may need to be declared if they fall under the list of questions you get asked on the form on the plane. However even so I very much doubt that they will confiscated - sealed commercial biscuits etc are fine. The real danger are things like fruit, dairy, meat, honey, seeds and dirt Don't forget to get your NZETA before you fly Information about NZeTA: New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority | Immigration New Zealand

Wow - that's pretty extreme. We had nothing but support from the strangers on the local bus with us. No one spoke English and Idon't speak Chinese but several did "call a firend" and we had several translates on mobile plus some who were medically trained. I just really really hope if a Chinese person collapsed at a comfort stop (yes us too) they would get the same help from random strangers as we did. The bus was diverted to the local very basic medical centre - which appeared to be a consensus between the passengers telling the driver what to do! he wa then forced to wait about 30 min and then ordered (again by the other passengers) to take us into town! And later we realised it was even more surprising because the local medical centre thought he had TB - which is a highly infectious disease still common in older people in that part of China. We knew he didn't have TB (vaccinated as a child as we all are) - but they didn't know that.

LOL that's evil payback - but yes as they say on the planes - put your own oxygen mask on before helping others

That's what happens on any coach trip where you get sick and can't continue. They are not holding up the whole group because one person has an issue. This has always happened. I prefer to organize my own travel for many reasons - but I've always been perplexed by people who think having someone else do all the organization is a good thing! My partner collapsed with life-threatening illness in China - I guess if we'd been on a bus tour the tour guide would have liaised with the cops before we were put on a local bus back to the last town with a hospital - a number of hours away. Given we were independent I had to do that myself - but apart from that a tour company wouldn't have helped (and the insurance although they paid in the end were the cause of no end of stress at the time). I now have a deal with my brother if anything catastrophic happens to us overseas he will fly in and help - and I'll do the same for him.

I'm sorry but there is plenty of evidence that having that Xmas lunch was a very, very bad move. Rest, rest and more rest. We weren't that sick- only symptons for about a week - but spent at least a month afterwards absolutely knocked out if we did anything physical.

There's just been an interesting breakthrough - from Australia no less ‘Crazy interesting’ findings by Australian researchers may reveal key to Covid immunity | Health | The Guardian

We cruised out of SF last July and Barcelona and last October -both times we had to test negative at an authorised centre and get the paper work (not self-test). We are cruising out of Boston on HAL in July and as of now we may still need to test pre-cruise- HAL is still doing it for longer itineraries. I don't expect that cruise ships will stop isolating infectiously ill patients ever - this was a thing long before covid. And as per just what happened to a bunch of people booked on the Queen Elizabth ex Melbourne to NZ (they were cancelled with under 24 hours notice and given no options except for a refund) its always wise to have at least thought about a plan b

It's an automatic fine - there are no excuses and no way to avoid paying - parents get quite upset when they are fined because kids have fruit in their bags!

70 days

Water is not a problem. Sealed drinks are not a problem. You'll still need to declare them though and be prepared to show them. Taking sandwiches, and particularly fruit from the buffet is a HUGE issue. Its a $400 instant fine in NZ and yes they have dogs searching in the terminals - our agriculture matters to NZ . You can probably buy all these items for less than the ship's prices as soon as you arrive in NZ

I loo is slang in NZ - the proper term is toilet

Black tie is black tie , white forma shirt and tuxedo - I think the cumberband is optional. White tie is white tie - formal shirt (with separate detachable collar) and tails - you don't see that on Cunard (tails take a lot more space than just a tux. Cunard modifies black tie by accepting a suit as well as a tuxedo.

We were in the Med in August - it got really hot in Britannia at late dining - I was pleased to be wearing short or no sleeves - most men took their jackets off or stopped wearing them entirely (on non gala nights)

We were almost entirely tropical - SF-Panama Canal-Barcelona and Barcelona-Singapore. I'd say the Americans who were on until Florida wore the most jackets - across the Atlantic is predominantly Brits and it was less formal - the last week around the Med was even less so. The second cruise was about 1/2 Brits and Australians and noticeably fewer jackets . At times the QE Britannia dining room was far too warm - and we were on late seating

Did a 34 night cruise and a 20 night cruise last year . My partner packed one dark suit , one white shirt, a couple of ties. For informal nights he had 4 other patterned button down shirts plus a second pair of dress trousers. You no longer need a jacket on informal nights.

You're generally find that in the tropics every forecasst is for partly cloudy and rain. It generally does rain every day - usually late in the day. Ignore it all and have a great time

Where though? I've done 70 nights on QE in Australia - USA trans Atlantic, Med, trans Indian - never had anything scanned

If its the same as QE some are sofas and some are pull-downs

I wore black trousers which have nice movement and looked classy- they are actually pure merino and were my "cold weather" trousers too. I had a bunch of cheap but blingy tops to rotate through . I like trousers or long skirts because I don't wear stockings or fancy shoes