Opua Kiwi

On 11/19/2022 at 1:20 AM, Cursa said:

Ovation is tendered from 8am to 5pm on the 31st and their next destination is Bay of Islands at 8am the next day, so I would have thought they would be in Auckland for the fireworks?

Cursa,  Ovation is due to depart at 5pm on the 31st December, it will still be daylight as sunset is not until 8.43pm that day. 

Queen Elizabeth is overnighting 31st December departing Auckland 1st January 2023 unfortunately the Ovation of the Seas departs at 5pm on the 31st December so no fireworks for them

WOW a busy day ...lots of people with everything closed.:rolleyes:

Fear nor David, Dunedinites will step up to the plate.

While passengers arriving on Christmas Day will not have the full quota of tourist activities usually on offer, many operators, tourist shops and food outlets have stepped up to make sure they will be catered for.

Dunedin i-Site visitor centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said tourism operators from Larnach Castle to Olveston, as well as literary tours and various bus tours, would be working.

A Pacific Showcase would entertain with cultural performances in the Dunedin Community Gallery in Princes St.

Cadbury World would be open, but was close to being booked out yesterday, and some city food outlets would be open.

Five shops in Port Chalmers had indicated they would open.

Has anyone ever missed the port of Lyttleton, NZ?

the tour company payment is NON-refundable and don't want to risk the $$$ if the port is often skipped?

Have you asked whether the non-refundable actually applies to the ship not docking situation ?

Sometimes, especially with companies used to cruise ship excursions, they will allow refunds because the cancelation was beyond your control.

Eek.

Wed 20th December 2017; 3 ships in the Bay of Islands.

Ovation ( 4,905 pax )

Maasdam ( 1,266 pax )

Caledonian Sky ( 140 pax )

Total about 6,300

Potentially about 5000 day trippers using tenders, in addition to the normal Xmas visitors already in town.

It seems ridiculous when I can prepay the gratuities in AUS and order bottles of water etc all using AUS.

What AUD exchange rate is being used by Princess on that gratuities cost ?

Our friends joined the huge queue at 2.30pm and they were in the queue over an Hour!

That's where you find a bar within sight of the queue.:cool:

I'm not sure but I think they came into the Wynyard Quarter wharf.

That is a pleasant area with harbour view bars & restaurants.

A short walk over the pedestrian bridge will bring you to the Viaduct Basin area, and from there you are in the CBD.

You could email Marina Bay and ask them what hours customs and immigration keep during these overnight situations.

https://mbccs.com.sg/

I wouldn't be surprised if they were manned 24hrs.

Everyone has to go through immigration even on port day transit stops.

If they weren't manned 24 hrs, the ship would have to have a "curfew" for everyone to be back onboard by a certain time otherwise they would be stuck landside.

It's a little bit of extra effort, but if you can do try to take Kina for use of the 3 Islands.

The Islanders suffer by getting a poor exchange rate for the AUD they earn.

At the end of the day they will often ask those in the tender queue if they have any Kina left to exchange for the AUD.

There are 3 main sources.

1. Bank / money exchange in Aussie;

2. Money changer who comes onboard in Alotau;

3. Westpac in Alotau if you are there first and during opening hours.

Perhaps they will use one of the two specialty restaurants on deck 10 as a dedicated CC dining room ?

This cruise is the final segment of the 75 day Circle Pacific; Syd - Syd cruise.

Unfortunately it does not happen every year.

It is not one of the more regular trans pacific repositioning cruises.

Platinum / elite internet minutes are done by cruise segment length, not booking length.

So his 3 x 150 minutes as opposed to 1 x 500 minutes was correct.

Unused minutes will rollover into the next segment; but they must then be used or lost.

There are 3 elite items which are allocated by segment:

Internet;

Mini bar;

Wine tasting invite.

Your primary question however is about purchasing minutes which is different.

I don't know the answer as I've never done this; but I would expect the minutes to be able to be used at any time in that 28 days.

Am planning a 3 week trip to Australia and New Zealand in January 2018.

Two months ago the flight from San Francisco to Sydney then returning from Auckland to San Francisco .......

This is what is termed as "open jaw" ticketing.

IE: In to one destination and return from another.

Try a normal SFO - AKL - SFO return fare.

Then, if that is more reasonable, you can just get one of the many flights from AKL - SYD separately. ( Ideally after a 1 night stopover in AKL if possible )

The Christchurch City Council have been accused for some time now about neglecting the infrastructure upgrade required in Akaroa as a result of 6 years of hosting cruise ships. The chances of getting that upgrade now will I fear now be nil.

Once the cruise ships leave, what infrastructure upgrades are required ?

At least they will be able to start losing the derogatory nickname they have been given recently due to cruise ship crowds.

Once the large cruise ships leave, Akaroa will once again attract the same type of visitors it did prior to 2011; although in larger numbers.

NZ is straining at the seams in many areas trying to keep up with the tourism boom and the demands this places on our communities.

I see the Lyttelton announcement as an overall positive for Akaroa.

This morning I resemble a zombie... that packed "everything" out of my room and walked 2/3 the way to Victoria coach station... and realized I forgot about the safe.

Here's a tip.

Put one of the shoes you'll be wearing in the morning in the safe.

I reckon you'll remember to check your safe.

Have you read up on the Antarctic section in the Ports of Call forum ?

Can you manage an expedition ship ?

If so, then do the physical one while you can.

The best nature experiences require you to be physically on the ice.

You could still do NZ when less physically active, and avoid one flight by doing a repositioning one way.

New cruise $56m cruise ship berth for the Port of Lyttelton

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/92074027/new-cruise-56m-cruise-ship-berth-for-the-port-of-lyttelton

I'd love to experience Cub Class but on the Pacific, like on all other Princess ships, the aft regular balcony cabins we love are never included.

 

I know there are aft suites - which I think is what you have, so maybe someday that will be a solution.

On the Sea there are 4 aft facing premium mini-suites.

These are club class.

2 are on Baja and 2 are on Dolphin.

On the Sun I think there are only the 2 on Dolphin.

More chance of this happening I reckon.

Stunning stadium pitched for Auckland, sunken into waterfront

'Crater' arena pitched for waterfront

The good thing about re-boarding in Akaroa is that there are a couple of bars from where you can keep an eye on the wharf queue.

To me its a no brainer, the GC being one of the most exciting tourist destinations in Australia, with a stunning skyscraper background on beautiful beaches with beautiful weather, how exciting and beautiful would it be to dock on the GC.

I assume numerous surveys have been done asking cruiseship passengers their thoughts.

Both those from Australia and overseas.

I'd be keen to see the questions and responses.

Personally, I really enjoy my cruise visits to Brisbane, but I have little interest in the GC.

Voyager of the Seas a couple of hours out of Darwin.

Due to leave this evening for Singapore.

NZ and Auckland has far higher priorities for infrastructure dollars than bigger cruise ship facilities.

All for what; a few visits from a mega ship which is not ideally suited for this part of the world anyway ?

Plenty of 2,000 - 3,500 pax ships far more suited to this region.