aSiAnRiCk

Anyone who sailed NCL recently can confirm that the test is "free" and when they do the testing? Is it the morning of Santorini? (day before last) I have a Greek Isles cruise booked for the end of Sept.  

Thank you!

We'll be on the Norwegian Jade scheduled to return to Piraeus at 6 am and currently looking at return flights to Miami.  I'm looking at Turkish Airlines leaving at 10:20 AM.  Is this too early?

Oh yeah, as of this date, you don't need negative PCR to transit via Germany, Netherlands, Spain and France.

Safe travels!

Sorry for not knowing but if there aren't any porters, who do I drop off the luggage with?  If I go inside to the check-in desk, I can still leave right to explore the city?

Okay, thank you guys.  We will be dropped off at 8:30 am.  I'm not sure if the porter will be open by then.  Maybe I need to look for luggage drop off so we can explore prior to boarding the ship.

Thank you for all the help.

Thank you!

Ok, is it the same if our next port is Hobart, which is still Australia?

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 12:33 PM, WAVTAM said:

Remember for those leaving Australia on a cruise and NOT returning into Australia, once you board ship , you are NOT allowed to walk off and visit more of the city later.

What?  Is this true?  I'd like to drop off my luggage AND go inside to change my dining seating reservation.

This is a bummer to find out.

Question - I have lots of Macy's cosmetics / fragrance goodie bags that I'd like to give to my cousins when visiting Sydney.  After reading this thread, I guess I will declare them.  But will they tax me on those items?  They're technically "free stuff".

Thank you.

On ‎1‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 8:49 AM, buchhalm said:

Not to forget the lovely cafe there.

Great Penga Burgers.

Penguins taste a bit like a cross between chicken and cod! 

Hmm ... my to do list for our upcoming trip, to eat Kangaroo Pizza and now Penguin Burgers!

Hello everyone, our cruise is in two weeks and currently I have nothing booked in Wellington.

At first, I thought going to Te Papa museum and taking the cable car uphill and leisurely walk down thru the rose gardens and cemetery then tour of the parliament would be sufficient for our day.  But I'm debating whether we should go ahead and book the Weta Workshop tour.  But we also don't want to take most of our time in port just to do the Weta tour.  We'd like to explore the city as well!

What do you guys think?  We're going with HAL Noordam and will be in Wellington from 8 am until 4 pm.

Thank you.

Please stop by the Greenhouse Spa and say hi to the spa manager Bobbie.  She's my partner's childhood friend and we have boarded the Prinsendam few times in Port Everglades to visit her. (well mainly for the free lunch lol ... just kidding!)

We were supposed to sail to Antarctica with you (board in Ushuaia and depart from Montevideo) but our guest request did not get approved due to the max capacity for guests for crewmembers.  So we're sailing to Australia and New Zealand on the Noordam instead  :D

Thank you for the wealth of information in this thread. We're going in less than 3 weeks! (HAL Noordam from Sydney to Auckland).

Have a lot of homework to do and need to book any tours quickly as it's just around the corner.

I'm going to copy and paste my "notes" from my friend who lives in Napier and from another friend who's done the cruise itinerary 3x.  Some of the items on the list may be a duplicate.

See Bluff Hill lookout, Mission Winery.

Art Deco Walking or Vintage Car Tours

Port - free 3 minute shuttle drive to the city centre.  Working port, no walking from ship thru port, take cruise shuttle to iSite Info Center on the Marine Parade.

Art Deco heritage

1931 Napier was destroyed by a 7.8 mag earthquake and fire which burnt what remained.  City was rebuilt in the Spanish Mission style / Art Deco of geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, ornate plasterwork and pastel colours.

Massive weeklong celebration with loads of events in February.

Also known for Wine Production and Horticultural and Agricultural products.

Waterfront bike ride.  Along Marine Parade about halfway between iSite and Port is Fish Bike Hire for $15 an hour.  Path along seafront passing War Memorial, Sound Shell, Viewing Platform, Sunken Gardens, Pania of the Reef, Spirit of Napier Statute and Aquarium.

Wineries, biking, boat to Hawke’s Bay or just stroll off ship and find something.

Art Deco Walking Tour Options are:

Self guide tour through town.  Download app $5.99 NZ.  Walk takes 60-100 minutes depending on the pace.  (1.5km)

Guided walking tours @ 10am or 11am.  $24 NZ.  Takes 1.5 hours and starts at the Art Deco Centre (across from the iSite) beginning with 20 min film bout the Day that changed the Bay. 

Vintage Car Tour:  Mini tour of Art Deco highlights in a Vintage Car.

45 minutes $125NZ (max 4)

75 minutes $210NZ (max 4)

Hooters Vintage Car Tour:

Deco City Tour 60 mins $180NZ (max 4)

Vintage Bus Tour:

1930 Ford Model AA bus $45 NZ per adult

60 minutes City Tour Daily at 11 am from iSite

Replica Vintage Train The Hawke’s Bay Express – one hour tour.  Must be booked thru Cruise Excursion.  Check price and info.

The Art Deco Center opens at 9 am.

The Art Deco Shop

The MTG (local museum) with basic Maori settler exhibition, earthquake history etc (free entry)

Bluff Hill lookout (view over the Bay and Port)

Mission Winery (vineyard and lovely winery building) founded in 1851, NZ’s oldest winery founded by French Marist missionaries.

Clifton, Hawkes Bay

Overland (hilltop) access available to see Gannets

Cape Kidnappers, which has a gannet colony.  Has great scenery.

Beach entry via tractor/trailer is closed after recent massive landslide.

Overland entry is available but departs at 9:30 am and takes 3 hours.  Book thru the cruise to be sure to return in time.

March is when gannets start migrating.  Great scenery but a bit smelly with all the birds.

We were in the same exact situation as you.  We were debating which cruise line to take but in the end, decided on Holland America Noordam.  We've sailed with Princess, Celebrity (our favorite due to their modern décor) and Holland America in the past.

Basically, I wrote down the list of the different ports/cities for each cruise line doing the Australia and New Zealand itinerary and found that you get more for your money with HAL in term of port visits.  We are in our 30's and yes, even though HAL attracts older crowds, we did not feel out of place as we managed to find and hang out with people in our age group and even older.  Yes it's nice to be in a newer ship but we'd like to visit as many cities as possible in our first trip to Australia and New Zealand and HAL will deliver just that.  We enjoyed the food and customer service of HAL.  The breakfast room service easily our favorite versus all the cruise lines we tried.  We love grilled salmon and we would manually write down Salmon in our breakfast card and boom there's always salmon with our breakfast, with no extra charge.  Also, the room are pretty large for our needs.  We paid a base price of $925/person before taxes and port charges and under $1300/person with those charges included for a midship Oceanview room... for 14 days cruise!  Yes it's fully obstructed but it'd be nice to get some natural sunlight for this long sailing.  And you know you can always look in between the tender boats to take a glimpse of the scenery haha.  Or better yet, within minutes you can just walk outside.

Hello,

We're on the Noordam disembarking at 9 a.m. on 3/10.  Our flight to Honolulu is at 11:55 p.m.

There is a ship tour which would bring us to the airport at 7 p.m.  We don't really want to "hang around" at the airport from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Any luggage drop off area near the ship or somewhere in downtown Auckland so we may tour the city before our flight?

Thank you and safe travels.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us and looking forward to see the rest.

Question for ya - we have a 11AM flight out of Copenhagen on disembarkation day. We plan to be one of the first people out ... heck we'll even help them drop anchor if necessary. How was your experience with the customs in CPH when disembarking?

Our cruise is in two weeks!

Taxi is easiest I think. Just make sure it says Radio Taxi. You can ask airport staff (like the cafe personnel etc) and ask for the "safe" companies and they'll point you in the right direction. Last time we caught the taxi on the main street right in front of the terminal. Make sure you have small change or local currency with you.

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I live near Hypoluxo Rd in Palm Beach mentioned above. I-95 can be congested on rush hours as far north as Delray Beach (just south of me). So if you do choose to take 95, stay away from rush hours. Weekdays 7am-930am and 4pm-630pm.

My recommendation is, if you don't mind getting a Sunpass but also want a nice and shorter drive, is to take I-75 south and switch to Turnpike and then Turnpike south and switch over to 95 in Jupiter exit (north Palm Beach) as 95 and Turnpike are right next to each other. Then take 95 south to Miami.

You can make it a fun drive by stopping by West Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale along the way.

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You can get a Sunpass from Publix for $5. A quick set up online and they even charge you less for the tolls if you have a Sunpass.

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I used the Premier Cruise Parking at 1415 NE 2nd Ave and felt very safe leaving my car there (it's a secured parking garage and I kept my keys). More than half what POM charges.

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We haven't sailed Carnival in a while but we enjoyed our sailings with them. Don't have too high of expectations and you'll be fine. Yes, you'll spend more time waiting in lines, especially at the buffet. But you're guaranteed to have a lot of fun on Carnival cruises. At least we did.

However, having done so many cruises, we're at the point where we just want to sit somewhere and relax and enjoy the cruise. That's why we have no plan to sail on Carnival at the moment. But if someone come up with a super great deal on a 7 or 8 day cruise with Carnival, we'll be there with our Redbull :)

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I would look into AirBNB as an alternate lodging options. If you're not as adventurous, look into Hotwire or Priceline's Name Your Own Price feature. If you find an airport hotel (with airport shuttle but not a cruise shuttle), you can always take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and then take a taxi from the airport to the cruise port ($20 bucks?). Or you can try Uber.

Ps: Plantation is an option too, straight shot on I-595.

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I tend to have bad experience with CDG so I personally wouldn't connect there if I can help it. Especially one with only an hour transfer.

But I do love Paris and a misconnect would be a good excuse to see the city of light!

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The evening before disembarkation day

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Aaaaahhhhh!!! My cruise is RUINED!!!! Where's my compensation?

LOL you silly goose.

I don't recall asking for one, and considering I left the auto gratuities on by the end of the cruise. Won't let two staff members ruined it for the rest of them and definitely won't let it ruined our cruise :)

It was simply a poor experience with the two poorly trained staff.