JohnQ

Is there any news out there about NZ cruise ship ports being open or closed or for how long. I saw a few pictures of Hawkes Bay and they looked bad. Reminds me a lot of a few weeks ago here in Northern California. We just don’t get much news here on down south.

Thanks Jean C. We will get some cash for our days in Auckland and ports along the way. Looks like the nz$ is strong agaist the us $. When we booked, the exchange rate was showing 1.70 to 1.00, but now saw 1.42 to 1.00.

We are flying in at 6am in the morning and wondering how to have local currency available for luggage cart Uber/taxi, etc? Is their a money exchange service at airport at reasonable rates? We will be staying in downtown area for 4 days before cruising on Saturday evening. We plan on using credit card for bigger purchases, like tours, meals.

Are small steamers still allowed by HAL? We’ve used before but its been several yrs. Does the wrinkle out spray really work? Thanks. 42 days!

We are cruising from Auckland down around to Tasmania and back up to Sidney in late March-Early April and trying to figure out how hot or cold we can expect it to be? Taking light rainproof jacket and at least a couple of henley long sleeves. Are we good? Need a heavier jacket? We know how to layer. We’ve seen lots of reports on cold weather and high winds, missed ports, and this is summer!

Departure date is March 25 ,2023, sorry.

Thanks Shmoo. After more research I found this long cruise has been on theropp call for 2+yrs due to cancellation and their trip was transferred foward to 2023. So a lot of peoples have been on here for a while.

When I recently searched for our upcoming cruise (3/35/2023 14 day Auckland to Sydney) on roll calls, I found one listing but all the responses were from cruises in 2018-2021? No other way to look for a shorter part of an upcoming cruise?

First cruise to Aus and Nz. For 14 day Auckland to Sydney on Noordam Mar 24, 2023, will we have to tender anywhere? Does’t say on itinerary.

Good info here and I'm sure we are all concerned for the people on these islands as well as many in Florida. We probably won't know the total extent of all the damage for at least another week and longer for short term plans. After health and safety, tourism will be next due to the jobs involved and economic benefits.

Our cruise to St Martin, St Kitts, St Thomas, etc is just seven weeks away----too late to cancel or reschedule, too far away to know much and too little to expect it to be all fixed. So we will wait and see and assume we will have changes to some of our ports!

Friends of ours just had their Rccl cruise in late Oct or early Nov changed to drop St Thomas and add San Juan?. We also saw it on a couple of others also. We are on Koningsdam in Nov and it still shows St Thomas.

We sailed on the Maasdam to the Caribbean in 2010, and we complained about the ac the whole time. Their answer was to give us a box fan!!! About the 3rd or 4th day, they offered us an upgrade cabin one floor up but all the way in the aft section---over the propeller shafts. We took it, it was cooler, but noisier with more movement which my wife didn't like. First time on four HAL ships we had any problem with ac.

Maybe Disney as we are all fans. We want some other entertainment too!

Haven't been on the msg boards much for last year plus. That's what motorhome does to your cruise time. We are planning a family cruise for six adults, and one 9 year old grandson for Nov 2015 for our 50th Anniv. Looking for ship similar to Norwegion Epic which I heard wasn't doing the 7 day Caribbean much longer. We liked the bright colors, water features and things for kids, while having lots for adults to do in evening, shows, music, etc.

We have been on most of the major lines and haven't had a bad cruise yet in our 8 or 9 cruises. We just want something for everyone as this will probably be our one and only family cruise. Getting together this evening to have our 1st talk about it and direct our planning and research. Thanks for any help.

Thank you Fat Boy!

Does someone have Godfrey's website link?

Thanks Coral and Sharon. We have two days there and still haven't decided what to do.

How long was the entire flt/cruise? We have flown into Misty Fjords twice and want to do something different. Is the boat portion of the tour interesting and goes to several different places within MF?

Has anyone done Allen Marine or someone else for cruise only to MF?

While we don't buy major art purchases or expensive gifts, we always like to bring the grown kids, coworkers, dog sitter something back from all our trips and cruises. The ula knifes were popular purchases on our first trip along with Alaskan candy bars. We also bought the wooden bear claw salad tongs. With these things along with most others, there are different quality levels, and most of the port stuff is made in China, etc. There are strick labeling guidelines in Alaska for what is made there from local material and what is assembled, I think. We found both that were made in Alaska. The russian nestling buska dolls are big in Sitka.

The Coast Hotel is probably less than a mile or two, on same street. We stayed at Guest House Hotel which is about 10 min away, had free parking for cruise week, continental brkfst, and free shuttle to terminal. Only cost us $79 for 3***.