icat2000

Yes. 21 days until I board her in Melbourne.

Yes. I'm sailing on Diamond Princess out of Melbourne on 19 October.

I remember lining up on a cruise ship to get off at NZ port and they brought the sniffer dogs on. And they stopped at one passenger (women) and said do you have fruit in your bag. Nooo she replies. Turns out she had an orange. Maybe she forgot or maybe she thought the dogs wasn't going to pick it up. Total time waster she was.

Both are good options. Depends whether you want to go to Bay of Islands or Picton. Wellington not really a deciding factor for me. Can be a dreary windy place at times.

And not papercopies of Government issued ID. They about as useful as blowing your nose on it. I saw in Dunedin one couple be told that their paper copies were not legal documents and to provide some sort of other ID.

Edited. I re read the OP post. My comment no longer applies. And its been answered above.

Just build it into the cruisefare and be done with it all. Such a simple solution. Don't know why they don't roll it out everywhere. Sure there will be complainers. But they will go away over time.

Hmmm expensive shore excurision or additional travel costs for waving the ship goodbye and catching up if you can. Some of the risky options I just pay the shore excusion price. Depends on what I want to do though. If I know I can safely get back to the ship then I might do my own tour in port. But I can be such a lazy cruiser. Sometimes its a struggle to get off the ship. Like certain ports are just no my feet are not hitting land. Not today. Noumea, Suva are two that come to mind.

Ive stayed at both Sir Stamford and Sydney Harbour Hotel (both were pricey and probably due for a upgrade). But your paying for location and ease of access to the cruise ship.

Basically amounts to a big fat nothing. A cheap gimmick promo in my mind.

Thank goodness my booking with Crown Princess is still in tack. We sail on 20 May 2025. I'm really starting to feel jaded by the cruising industry. Too many cancellations. We had all our cruises canncelled on the Grand Princess coupled with the pulling out of Melbourne by Princess. Cynic in me is feeling like they trying to push Australian cruisers into the Carnival and the newly merged PO Australia ships under that umbrella.

I'm cruising Diamond in October so I soon see.

Never hopefully. Isle of Pines was nice stop but they haven't had that stop for years. However, Noumea. Ugh.

Been that way since I've been cruising from 2012. So not a recent change at all. Note these are for cruises departing from Australian or NZ ports for Princess, Carnival Australia, PO Australia cruises. All have AUD. Celebrity and Royal Carribean, HAL, Norweign charge USD on board. Hence why I tend not to cruise with these lines out of NZ/Australian ports. Cause it makesa difference.

AUD for Princess cruises departing from Australia and NZ.

Seemed to have gone really quickly.

That how I feel about Australia, South Pacific and NZ cruises . So now I'm looking at Alaska.

I feel like they wanting to fill their ships up without any discounts or incentives because their less cabins now. So no need to discount. That the cynic in me talking though.

Both cruises are showing for me as having availability. However, we are already booked on the Sapphire 26 Day Grand European Explor in April 2026 and that holds more appeal that the TA for me.

Not in my experience.

And how many ships in Melbourne.

Sounds like Ibiza on a cruise ship. Pass for me. Never did like the party raves when I was in my eary 20s.

Both are great choices. But as others have commented on it depends on what your number 1 priority is it desintation or is the ship the destination. The HAL one sounds amazing. Especially the Tahiti port stops.

Yeap sounds right. Last time i disembarked from Melbourne and we got cab to southern cross it was a mess and delays for taxis. Ubers weren't even coming onto the dock area. YOu had to go out to carparking area.

You can get them from the shop. However pricey. Bring some on board with you and stock up again in ports. Otherwise hot chips are available. Some times you do find corn chips in the buffet area.