jevvv

2 hours ago, Docker123 said:

3 things I enjoyed in Auckland are the City Tower, the Auckland Art Gallery, and Martime Museum.

As a bonus: the Maritime Museum is between the two wharves used for cruise ships 

13 hours ago, shof515 said:

no..there is no longer a new app

 

the new forum software is suppose to be mobile friendly so that you can use safari or chrome on your phone/tablet

Thank you for clarifying that shof!

Have they given us a time frame for the replacement app?

Where do we find such info?

jevvv sailing on P&O's Pacific Pearl to Vanuatu for 10 nights, departing 16th May

This time Hubby & I are taking our adult children for their first cruise :)

Very true. But for those who have never been on a cruise seeing what is AND isn't useful can help them think it through a little more, rather than blindly following every downloadable packing list they find on the Internet :)

We were on P&O Australia's Pacific Pearl and they had suitable hole punches at reception - both a single round hole and a slot punch, depending on what you were hanging your card from

The tacky putty or Adhesive Putty is also known as Blutak here in NZ

I used a combination of Blutak and actual magnets

I'll redo this with a bigger version

I decorated the door/adjoining wall for the sake of any kiddos down the corridor from us:

All set then Yankee Penny :)

In the aftermath of Cyclone Pam I have watched Port Vila transform itself into a cleaner, brighter version of its old self.

Two weeks down the track and the power is back on in most areas, town water supplies are clean and drinkable and for many it is business as usual as most businesses in the main street were open within days of the cyclone passing.

In the last few days I have spoken to many people. The Chief of Mele tells me that Cascades looks wonderful, better than ever. The dive shop down the road has taken video footage of the reefs and dive sites and declared they are looking great. The largest indigenous tour company in Vanuatu is ready to resume tours. Many resorts are advertising that the are open and ready to take bookings.

Port Vila is ready for the visitors to come back!

So when are you planning to visit?

Thank you SO much for the update Bellamariya! Great hearing how Port Vila is getting back on her feet again. One day we'll be back again, but for now it's saving pennies towards that goal :)

I remember you giving suggestions for activities before my cruise last year- we ended up just walking about town, appreciating the people and how they share their home town with us :)

I decorated the door/adjoining wall for the sake of any kiddos down the corridor from us:

Oooo - nice! I can see what I'll be doing for a bit ;)

Cool! I didn't think to look for the QM2 webcam :)

Thanks for sharing

You might get more response posting this question to the Celebrity forum, here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

She's now berthed on the western side of Jelicoe Wharf, the middle one in the container area. I'm guessing that's because she's too big for Princes Wharf, or someone else is already booked for there :)

Apparently she's steaming up the Rangitoto channel right now

We travelled with P&O Australia - they had two different punches available at reception - a slot one and a round hole one, and punched according to what you were hanging it off.

I picked up a couple of retractable card holders similar to what my daughter had issued for her security pass at work. The clip can go on a belt loop, on your handbag zipper etc. or tucked away when not in use. Ours were from our local dollar shop, very similar to these:

That will depend on how long it takes to "tidy up" and if the locals are ready to receive visitors.

Hopefully since so many people have visited the islands on their cruises many will get behind helping in whatever way is needed to rebuild

One bunch of things I took that were appreciated:

I printed a bunch of nautical themed printables like colouring sheets, word searches, dot-to-dots, things to colour & cut out etc, took a tin of colouring pencils, some large magnets and bulldog clips and every morning put a few more sheets on the wall OUTSIDE our room with a note that anyone who wanted something to do could use them, but please return the tin of pencils.

We were about half way down a dead-end corridor so I thought we wouldn't get much through-traffic. BUT there was a little girl with her parents, grandparents & aunt & uncle. Very shy. Her mum and her grandmother both thanked me for puttting the things out.

She'd come along each day to see what was there, then if the adults weren't heading out with her she'd borrow the pencil tin and take a sheet or two "home" to do.

I DID say to one of her adults at the beginning that she was welcome to use the stuff.

The staff were fine with it all. I think they were happy that the wee kiddy had something to do instead of getting bored and running up and down the corridor ;)

Link for the various free printables I used: http://www.savetzpublishing.com/

Scroll down the page and you'll find lots of subsites that Kevin creates with all sorts of downloadable printables, just look for coloring sheets & pages, word search, crosswords etc

Just realised I never updated after our cruise.

We ended up walking along Port road past the stalls and haggling drivers, just past the next boat dock and then getting on one of the buses to go the rest of the way into town. It cost us 300VT (for the two of us) and we paid in AU$ as we couldn't get VT before the trip.

We had them drop us by the covered market in town and took a stroll through there- really interesting seeing the various locally grown types of food on sale there. Wandered around and popped into a local supermarket for a bottle of water each, again using AU$.

Link to Port Vila Markets (the covered food market) http://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attraction_Review-g294144-d2343419-Reviews-Port_Vila_Markets-Port_Vila_Efate.html

Instead of charging off on various day trips we enjoyed wandering around town, looking around local shops, catching up on some email while having locally grown coffee at Nambawan Cafe, having a really good look through the art & craft market next door.

The art & craft market is housed in three thatched open-air ring shaped structures, with various stall holders displaying their goods underneath. Unfortunately I can't find them on Tripadvisor. If you're looking for an Island Dress/Mother Hubbard dress there are lots here, also wood carvings, woven bags etc. The ladies here are much lower-pressure sales than the market on Port Road by the ship.

This is what they look like from the waterfront walk https://flic.kr/p/6uYETK

Hope this gives you some ideas for just taking your time in town :)

...and found a couple walking around the balcony. When I questioned them they off-handily said they were just "curious" about what a Jr. Suite looked like and wanted to see how big the balcony was. When I ask them politely to leave they gave me an attitude....

Would have been fun to take one of them by the arm and said "Now my turn to look at your room, lets go" :p

You live in the most beautiful place in the world, it is totally worth the cost to come there. :)

Thanks Jeannie- yes it is a beautiful place :) And we love others coming and discovering it too :)

Thanks wwcruisers and crzndeb.

I'd kinda figured that the Aus/NZ market was a really small sector. I've joined a RC hosted elsewhere (unmentionable here) and am happy that others are contributing. No one has organised anything, no one has tried selling anything.

Part of the issue for a lot of the non Aus/NZ CC members is that it costs so much to get here before you even pay for a cruise ;)

It's great discovering that a cruise leaves from the city only an hours drive down the road- the people going on our cruise are nearly all "local" :D

Don't know any of them, but the majority seem to be only 4 hours away at the most.