lissie

The water colour classes on our Cunard cruises last year were over-subscribed and they ran 2 different streams am/pm every sea day. The insturctor got a free cruise so I think that's the only cost to the cruise line - there was a charge to participants for materials (apparently very good value) . It was run in part of the main dining room

I'm assuming you are travelling on a US passport and are not a known drug dealer, criminal etc 🙂 You don't need a visa for NZ or Australia. You do however need an electronic travel waiver -these are the official links Information about NZeTA: New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority | Immigration New Zealand Apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (highcommission.gov.au) The biggest thing you need to understand that you CANNOT bring in food or vegetables of any type into NZ or Australia - our bio security is taken very seriously here. You must NOT take food of the cruise ship at ports unless its a sealed commercial item(like a sealed protein bar). If flying there is an instant $400 fine if you have a piece of fruit (or anything else ) in your bag - doesnt' matter if you forgot it was there. There no requirements for Covid vaccines/test at the border to enter the country- but there maybe still some for embarking your ship in Australia - as that's state authority not Federal. If you've come from certain places like S America and Africa there maybe a requirement for a yellow fever vaccine.

That's good to know Did you manage to get a taxi to their office?

Those itineraries are very USA-centric. I'm cruising to US/Canada/Greenland/Iceland and its only the later 2 countries with the "visa required for some". They are both part of Schengen and do not require a visa for me or even an visa waiver. Canada and the USA both do require me to have that paperwork in place though. If you are cruising through the Med next year you may need an ETIAS for Greece. Just like airlines, cruise lines take no responsibility on providing the correct visa information so its always worth double checking their advice

And shopping opportunities! Yeah me and group tours don't fit well

So this is only if you've bought booze etc on board? Those of us who don't shop can skip the whole thing?

Not HAL but all the cruise lines are probably the same . We stopped in Safaga (for Luxor) on Cunard last October. Some people spents $100's getting visas - but they weren't required. The ship collected our passports and were returned after the visit with our stamps in and out of Egypt. No charge

That's what I'm worried about - it has to be boiling!

Yes it will be taken anywhere the Visa sign is - it doesn't actually matter if its credit/debit its more about whether its Amex/Visa/Mastercard

I like an "english" cup of tea in the mornings - by this I mean black tea (probably a tea bag) in a cup of boiling hot water and milk - is such a thing possible in the Lido without paying?

I use something similar to this - it clips to a ring on my daily carry purse and I forget its there until I need it! Amazon.com: Kaxich Foldable Reusable Grocery Shopping Tote Bags, 6 Pack Eco-friendly Travel Recycle Shopping Bags Folding to fits in Pocket, Waterproof and Machine Washable: Home & Kitchen

The advantage of doing in country-wide I guess. I must admit I wasn't best pleased when it happened and I hoarded the plastic bags before they stopped - I use them for rubbish bags at home. But the improvement in plastic pollution is pretty noticeable around the country- and I now notice when I go overseas and see them. I have a tiny foldable bag which goes into a carrier which hooks on the outside of my purse - its incredibly useful to have when travelling - I use it for things like wet clothing/swimsuits too. I grew up with paperbags (before plastic) - but modern paperbags are really durable and carry a lot more I agree

You've never swam through the soup of plastic pollution on a remote Pacific island then - I have.

Wow is that unusual in the US? Our supermarket stopped giving free bag well before the pandemic, no plastic bags have been allowed for years and now they are getting rid of the plastic ones for produce too. It's rare to get a free bag in any shop now - most won't even offer. I though NZ wa a late adoptor because I came across the supermarket pay for a bag thing at least 10 years ago in Ireland

You've just saved this ESTA visa waiver country cruiser. I've NEVER seen a requirement to have a copy of the ESTA at the border - in fact all advise is that its electronically attached to your passport and the officer sees it when they swipe the passport. This letter suggests that the passport control doesn't have the equipment to do that - incredible. Will get a digital copy of our ESTAS

Thank you so much this is super-helpful and suggests that its not my time estimates (and google's) that are wrong 🙂 I'd seen good reviews of the Discovery Center too so was going to drop in. Those sort of places often do a good explainer of the local geology - which I had no idea of until I found out about the Tablelands! I wondered if there was a ferry across to Rocky Point - that might be pushing our timing a bit too tight. I tend to be relaxed about these things - our next stop is Red Bay , if we missed the ship we would just have to do a one-way rental there - but my partner freaks out a bit when I behave like that! Hoping for good weather - but will pack the merino and the flynets and suntan lotion to cover all bases!

The rules don't say they have to have a driver's licence just a state ID

We have a stop at Corner Brook in early August - I've booked a car with Hertz which looks like its 10 min walk from the dock. We arrive 10am depart 6pm on the Zaandam. I'm an ex-geologist and really want to walk the Tablelands Trail Hiking - Gros Morne National Park - Gros Morne National Park (canada.ca) -its 4km - pretty flat - easy - they recommend an hour - that seems very comfortable to us. I looked on Google maps and see its 120km and they say 123minutes one way - that seems reasonable- street view shows a good sealed road with passing lanes in some places. HOWEVER the ship's tour - which does the same trip - but at 2x the price of a car rental - says it takes 2.5 hours to get to the trail? What am I missing? Is Google badly wrong? Or the cruise ship? Are we going to hit a lot of traffic on a Wednesday? We both drive - so we don't need to pull over for rest breaks. The plan would be to head straight to trail head - do the hike and then work our way back to the ship if time allows.

They used to say that - but its one of these vaccines that have got extended to lifetime (hep B was similar)

We booked on board last year and got fully refundable, low deposite and about $300 OBC PP

We've rented from the same location using Avis (its the same company) - I've seen confirmed elsewhere on this board that there is no shuttle post Covid. Your options are a 40 min flat walk - a local bus which runs hourly and costs ?$2.50? or a taxi if you can find one.

Thanks - I have the museum on my list for our pre-cruise Boston stay - but hadn't heard of the movie

I can't really see how they can stop you - particularly if you are embarking in Canada. People leave cruises early for many reasons- often medical evacuation. So long as you are legally allowed to be in the country - I would just advise them a few days prior. Assuming you are a resident/citizen of the US it should be simple to leave early there. If you did it a Caribbean country or Central America it maybe a little more complex as you would have been "signed in : to the country on the ship and be expected to leave the same way

this is accurate - and prices include the compulsory tip of 18% Wine-Cellar-Packages-2023.pdf (rogerjett-photography.com) - ther is no price advantage buying in advance

The USA ESTA is a huge PITA - I'm busy prioritizing US travel because once I'm done I want to go to the "evil" places that if I go to automatically disqualifies me from an ESTA Cuba and Iran are high on my list and maybe Yemen