Booked 2006 Australia/New Zealand!

[localady]

Just a quick note to let folks know that HAL has opened the bookings for the 2006 Australia/New Zealand cruises. We were able to book the cabin we wanted for the Oct. 27 Auckland to Sydney cruise this morning!:) I know it's not as exciting as the document dance, but wooooo hoooo anyway!!!!!:D

[jasl]

Congrats Sher.... who knows we may just join you ...... will take a look and be in touch. Since we are neighbours on the Veentastic voyage, we can start planning the side trips way in advance!!

[xpcdoojk]

thanks for posting this information!

 

 

jc

[localady]

Congrats Sher.... who knows we may just join you ...... will take a look and be in touch. Since we are neighbours on the Veentastic voyage, we can start planning the side trips way in advance!!

 

You know we would love to have you and Bob join us!:D Would make the trip even better! Amazingly, the Mariner price at this point is less than our 14 day Prinsendam Baltic trip this year.:cool:

[Bill S]

Congratulations, localady! That is great news and a great itinerary. We would love to visit NZ and Australia but DW dreads flying long distances over water. I'll have to work on her or find a good tranquilizer!

[localady]

BillS-

Don't tell her she has to fly over the Atlantic to get to Amsterdam!:eek:

Would love to have you all join us!! Maybe you could get her some valium to make the flight more tolerable. Or even better, take the cruise from Los Angeles and then you only have to fly back!:D

[RuthC]

What a wonderful trip! I all excited for you.

 

Congratulations on taking the first step toward some fabulous memories.

[cruisinjudy]

We may join you. That is on our list of what to do next! We will book something for sure when we are on Ryndam in March.

[localady]

Cruisin Judy-

 

That would be great! We will meet you and DH on the Veendam this November. It would be great to have a group from CC! I think the itinerary is fantastic!:cool:

[localady]

What a wonderful trip! I all excited for you.

 

Congratulations on taking the first step toward some fabulous memories.

 

RuthC- Have you done this itinerary before? Sure would be fun to have you join us too!:) We could celebrate with Volcano Cake or convince them to make us a Chocolate Tulip!:D

[aussie jb]

the Australia/NZ itinerary is a great one with some terrific ports of call (I'd love to be a tourist in my own city, there's so much to see) If I were to have a lottery win I'd book as well.

Don't be too concerned about the flight over, it's only about 14 hours from L.A to Auckland, and because most of the flight is actually overnight, you tend not to notice the big pond below :)

[localady]

Thanks for the information Aussie jb!:)

 

My DH has made the trip before and has told me he wants to hear no whining about the flight!:eek: ;) The Statendam's new Australia/NZ itineraries looks great, and we'd sure love any recommendations as to "Not to be missed" sights!

Thanks in advance.:cool:

[Aussie Gal]

Localady,

 

Congratulations. It is wonderful to think that so many of my C.C. friends will at long last be visiting our homeland and our cousin country N.Z. If there is anything you want to ask please go ahead. As aussiejb has mentioned, the itinerary is great and you will not only be seeing Sydney but you will also be visiting my wonderful home - Melbourne.

 

Jennie

[RuthC]

Sher, the furthest West (East?) I've ever gotten is Fiji, so no, this would be a new itinerary for me.

I'd love to take it, and have some openings in the travel plans for '06, and I'd really really really love to join you, but I hate the idea of flying for that long.

Tell ya what: I will consider it. Between the two of us they could never refuse to make the chocolate tulips! We can sweet-talk with the best of 'em! :D

[trvlnliz]

Count us in! :D I think this is a fabulous itinerary. We've never been to Aust. or NZ and are looking forward to it. What kind of weather should we expect?? We are taking our 1st HAL cruise in September on the Prisendam. How would you rate the Statendam compared to the Prisendam? We booked an A Catagory cabin, what cabins are your favorites, for the ones who have cruised on the Statendam?

[dakrewser]

Sher, the furthest West (East?) I've ever gotten is Fiji, so no, this would be a new itinerary for me.

I'd love to take it, and have some openings in the travel plans for '06, and I'd really really really love to join you, but I hate the idea of flying for that long.

 

 

If you take the repo from San Diego to Auckland, then stay on for the trip to Sydney - that saves about 9 hours of flying! :)

[aussie jb]

The weather? now thats an interesting question....we abide by the 4 seasons in one day rule :) Seriously, being mid Spring you should get milder weather maybe in the mid 50's to 70's, but certainly don't discount rain. Australia will be switching across to daylight sayings time on that last weekend in October, but I think NZ switches times a week or 2 before us.

All in all, a pretty good time to be travelling

[Aussie Gal]

trvlnliz,

 

I have been on both the Prinsendam and the Maasdam which is the sister ship to the Statendam. Out of the two ships, I do prefer the Maasdam even though we had a great cruise on the Prinsendam. The Prinsendam is a smaller ship with only 800 passengers which is a huge advantage but it is a much older ship than the Maasdam and therefore does not have the extras that the newer ship provides, such as an escalator, more elevators etc,. a longer promenade deck and a two tier dining room.

 

An A cabin on the Statendam is a lovely verandah cabin. We had a mini suite on the Prinsendam and that is a much larger cabin than an A on the Statendam. Probably an A on the Prinsendam would be very similar.

 

With regard to weather. If you are coming in October, the weather can be quite unstable. As Aussie jb has mentioned, it is mid spring and therefore will be windy and we can have four seasons in the one day here in Melbourne. Sydney is much more settled and will be warm and probably sunny. If you can remember back to the Olympics, Sydney had beautiful weather and they were held in September. We have our Melbourne Cup in early November (the first Tuesday) and we have had very hot, hot, warm and very cold weather for that day over the years so it is the luck of the draw.

 

I cannot speak for N.Z. but that is a cooler country so I would pack clothes for temperatures ranging from 14C (58F up to 80F) and bring a light weight waterproof jacket which keeps out the cold winds (just in case) and the rain. I hope this helps.

 

Jennie

[localady]

Count us in! :D I think this is a fabulous itinerary. We've never been to Aust. or NZ and are looking forward to it. What kind of weather should we expect?? We are taking our 1st HAL cruise in September on the Prisendam. How would you rate the Statendam compared to the Prisendam? We booked an A Catagory cabin, what cabins are your favorites, for the ones who have cruised on the Statendam?

 

trvlnliz-

We have been on the Statendam while it was in Alaska in 2002. Although my personal favs are the Amsterdam and the Ryndam, we enjoyed the crew on the Statendam very much!:D We are thrilled about the itinerary. Which dates are you looking at?

 

RuthC-

Dawrewser has a great idea! "If you take the repo from San Diego to Auckland, then stay on for the trip to Sydney - that saves about 9 hours of flying! :)" It would be a fabulous cruise IMHO! Hoping you consider it!!:D

[cruisinjudy]

Hey, I like the idea of doing both those cruises! Hubby has been wanting to do another B2B, but then there is this tiny little problem of money and then also paying for the pets to be cared for, for all of those days, well, one can dream.

[localady]

Aussie Gal- Thanks for confirming my plan for packing! Simular to the clothes I packed for South America!:cool:

Judy- We like the trip all the way from the West Coast, but I think my sons would protest loudly!:rolleyes: So for now it's a quick trip "across the drink" and hopefully a side trip to Cairns to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef!:)

[Aussie Gal]

I love the itinerary from San Francisco to Auckland and would dearly love to do that leg. Perhaps HAL will repeat that leg in 2007, if so we will be on it. It is a very reasonable cruise for 24 days.

 

Jennie

[robynp]

I love the itinerary from San Francisco to Auckland and would dearly love to do that leg. Perhaps HAL will repeat that leg in 2007, if so we will be on it. It is a very reasonable cruise for 24 days.

 

Jennie

 

And I could join you too Jennie - I have a LARGE birthday in 2007 :eek: - need to do something spectacular for that ;)

[trvlnliz]

Aussie Gal and Aussie jd, thank you for allthe information on the weather and the ship.

Localady, we are looking at the Oct. 27 cruise, same as you.

[Aussie Gal]

Robyn,

 

That would be fun. It is a great itinerary going to Hawaii and then on to Christmas Island before Samoa and Tonga plus all those lovely sea days across the Pacific! I am definitely keeping it in mind.

 

Jennie