Hitch a Ride with Bill & Mary Ann on Holland America's 2018 World Cruise - 113 days +

[Bodogbodog]

Sorry if there are any inaccuracies in my post regarding the legislation around credit card fees, but the fact remains that many vendors and retailers in Perth refuse to accept payment via AmEx. As much as I’d like to run around my local shops and restaurants to provide evidence to my claim, I have better things to do with my time.

 

After all, I was only trying to provide a bit of guidance to tourists visiting Australia and New Zealand and advise that they maybe shouldn’t rely on American Express cards as their only payment option. Apologies to anyone I upset by trying to help.

 

 

My point was that it’s nothing to do with the recent legislation as you stated was the case. There has always been a delta between the acceptance of AMEX v MasterCard/Visa and that’s why I carry two cards to cover that

 

What’s you’re stating now is a little different that your brand generalisation that implied the acceptance rate of AMEX was reducing as a result of the recent legislation

 

The legislation is good as it stops merchant over recovering costs relating to credit card transactions - for any type of card and the ACCC are looking for anyone breaching it to make an example of

 

Merchants (and customers in terms of usage) will make the decision on what to accept and I’d say the acceptance rate of AMEX has improved in recent years as opposed to declined. Basically merchants need to decide if they can take the risk that clients who would prefer to pay with AMEX don’t choose to shop elsewhere if they don’t accept AMEX - that’s a commercial call

 

There’s even some cafes etc who don’t accept any credit cards relying on cash - now how long they can hold out in today’s increasingly cashless society is a different discussion

[CI66774]

My point was that it’s nothing to do with the recent legislation as you stated was the case. There has always been a delta between the acceptance of AMEX v MasterCard/Visa and that’s why I carry two cards to cover that

 

What’s you’re stating now is a little different that your brand generalisation that implied the acceptance rate of AMEX was reducing as a result of the recent legislation

 

The legislation is good as it stops merchant over recovering costs relating to credit card transactions - for any type of card and the ACCC are looking for anyone breaching it to make an example of

 

Merchants (and customers in terms of usage) will make the decision on what to accept and I’d say the acceptance rate of AMEX has improved in recent years as opposed to declined. Basically merchants need to decide if they can take the risk that clients who would prefer to pay with AMEX don’t choose to shop elsewhere if they don’t accept AMEX - that’s a commercial call

 

There’s even some cafes etc who don’t accept any credit cards relying on cash - now how long they can hold out in today’s increasingly cashless society is a different discussion

 

Oh for the love of Gawd - do you have a life or just relish nitpicking someone else's post? OP is doing us all a favor by detailing he journey around the world and all you can do is spew mind-numbingly boring drivel?

[Bodogbodog]

Oh for the love of Gawd - do you have a life or just relish nitpicking someone else's post? OP is doing us all a favor by detailing he journey around the world and all you can do is spew mind-numbingly boring drivel?

 

I have a great life thanks - and yes I agree it’s great to have the thread, that’s why I’m following it. But when someone posts incorrect information then they should expect to have it challenged - or is it better to mislead members with false news?

[CI66774]

I have a great life thanks - and yes I agree it’s great to have the thread, that’s why I’m following it. But when someone posts incorrect information then they should expect to have it challenged - or is it better to mislead members with false news?

 

I suggest you re-read your posts. Your accusatory tone was incredibly inappropriate and you come across as some know-it-all. I read the OP's posts to enjoy his voyage and, in a way, live vicariously through him. I suggest you do the same.

[Bodogbodog]

I suggest you re-read your posts. Your accusatory tone was incredibly inappropriate and you come across as some know-it-all. I read the OP's posts to enjoy his voyage and, in a way, live vicariously through him. I suggest you do the same.

 

 

Maybe in this case I do know it all - or at least a lot more than the person who wrote the post I corrected does

Nothing annoys me more than people making claims that are incorrect and then not expecting to be called on them

We’re not talking about the OPs posts are we - it’s someone who decided to offer a statement on the Australian credit card market

[WCB]

Report #29 Alofi,Niue January 28, 2018 Sunday 82 degrees & chance of rain Part #1 Of 4 80 Pictures

 

Every time we see Alofi, Niue (pronounced new way), on theitinerary, we say why? Especially on aSunday, when most everything is closed. Perhaps it is because there is nothing else on the way towards Auckland,or for the “bragging rights” to say you have been there. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Niue is an up thrust coral reef that rises vertically out ofthe ocean. Perhaps, it may be thelargest of its type in the world. Locatedmidway between Tonga and the Cook Islands, it is a long way from anywhere. The land mass measures 100 square miles, andthere are probably less than 1400 people living here. Although there is little beachfront, if any atall, there are ravines, gullies, and sea caves. That makes this place a destination for scuba caving diving.

 

The capital is Alofi, from what we saw, the only village onthe entire island. It is the world’ssmallest self-governing state, overseen by New Zealand. It also suffers population decline, becauseonce the kids reach high school age, most are sent to New Zealand to beschooled. Many of them never return tolive. So today, it is a fact that moreNiueans live in New Zealand than on the “rock”. That brings Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay to mind because it has beenreferred to as The Rock. Not muchdifferent, except this rock is bigger. Anyway, this info was shared with us from a teacher who explained howshe and her husband came here on a 4 year contract from New Zealand.

 

Captain Cook landed here in 1774, only to find it wasinhabited by savages that did not take kindly to British invasion. He never came back, naming it Savage Island. Noone came back to this island for 80 years. These days, the natives offer tours for whalewatching or swimming with the dolphins, obviously, not this time of the year. Our take on the tourist season, is that it isover now. All of the restaurants andlodges we passed were shut up for the season. And besides, it was Sunday, a day for churchservices. We have a feeling that some ofthese businesses are run by folks from New Zealand, and they have left the rockuntil it starts up again later in the year. We could be wrong.

 

Getting over to shore by tender boat was much easier than inthe past. Skipping breakfast once again,we were on the first boat over. Neverknow when, or if the transfer process may be suspended. We waited while the officials boarded, andcleared the passengers right after 8am.

 

It was going to be a very warm, humid and overcast day, witha chance of rain. It had been rainingfairly heavily when the ship came into the bay this morning, so we packed theumbrellas and lots of water. Good thing.

 

The landing at the pier can be dicey, but with the help ofthe shore team, we timed the wave with the lowest, slippery concrete step, andjumped off the boat. Steep stairs tookus up to the dock area. Once up thedriveway to the main island road, it all came back. Not much was here, and all of it was closed. Locals were handing out maps of the island,which were far better than the ship’s map. However, most all of the info on the map must have been pre-cyclone2004, when Cyclone Heta hit the island, destroying much of itsinfrastructure. So many of the lodges,cafes, and bars simply were not there as listed. Nice map, but not necessarily correct.

 

The locals were down at the landing with their vehicles,offering tours to the folks. Somepassengers had arranged for an island tour, and had their cars and driverswaiting for them. This would have been the way to go, because from what we saw,no rental places were opened, at least, not until after church was over.

 

We did hear church bells ringing from a nearby tower. Although our info said we could hear theirchoir singing on Sunday morning, we heard nothing today. And we strolled past three churches. On the front of our newsletter, it wassuggested that the passengers may join the church services, so dressappropriately. Also, it was warned thatthe island’s tradition forbids swimming near the village greens and churches onSunday. Not a problem, as there was noplace to swim anyway. Of course, we wererequested not to parade through the village in swimsuits.

 

Heading off towards the right, we hiked 5 miles, passing thegovernment building, Tomb Point, the cemetery, a golf club, and theinternational airport, which was located, out of sight, up a road that went uphigher. The village of Alofi houses atiny food market, a vanilla shop, a DVD store, and a meeting hall. We did see one place that offeredinternet. While on our first visit here,the passengers shut down their entire internet on the island for the day,shutting down the schools for the rest of the day. The schools of the islandare located higher in the center of the island. Good place to be if there is a tsunami. Those tsunami warning signs lined the road.

 

We passed by The Organic Vanilla store, and Utuko Reef. Weturned around and found that absolutely no one had followed us. It was brutal hot already at 9am. Continuing on, we passed the Council of Women,Hala Tahi Opaahi Sea Trek, The Ekalesia Church, and a Pizza Place. Oh boy…..pizza. Even the Mini golf Café was closed untilnoon, but the children’s playground was opened. There are benches there, whichprovided a good spot to relax for a minute. By the time we reached a veryclosed Clayton’s Bar, we realized the road was turning inland. This time, we had hoped to find the MatavaiResort, according to the map, located 6 kilometers from the villagecenter. It should have beendo-able. But where was it?

 

We continued further towards a fix it car garage, the fishpacking plant, and Hala Tahi Amanau, another access to the water farbelow. Both of us went down the steepcarved stairs that led down the cliff. But when the stairs became a vertical ladder, one of us stayedbehind. There is nothing but coral androcks with caves along this part of the coastline. And the tide was coming in. We could see rather large black fish swimmingin the reef waters near the shore.

 

Further up the road, we came cross the local quarry. This is where they harvest the coral, andgrind it into sand for the rest of the island’s roads. On our quest to locate the resort, we wentfurther and discovered where their garbage dump was. In fact, the flies discovered us first, as wewere literally covered with them. On theplus side, they did not bite.

 

The road took a turn away from the ocean, and we seemed tobe climbing gradually. We thought weheard a large truck coming with a dull roar. Turned out, it was a massive cloud that was dumping rain intorrents. By the time I said, get theumbrellas out, it was pouring. The noisewe heard was the rain pounding down in the forest. Truthfully, it felt wonderful, even thoughthe road was flooded within seconds. Iteased up almost as fast as it had begun.

 

Somewhere along this stretch of the road, a local ladystopped her car, and offered us a ride to the Matavai resort, as she wasbringing a couple there already. Wedeclined, but she said she would be back after she dropped off her guests. Asking if it was within walking distance fromhere, she laughed and said no, you cannot walk there. Way too far to walk she said.

 

We did not go much further, knowing that if there no cars,there would be nothing close. On theside of the road, at the base of a big tee, was a small garden nome, a concretestatue. He had a beard and was holding awhite rolling pin. Taking that as a signto turn back, we did. Keeping in mind,we had 5 miles to get back, and we were running low on water, that was the bestchoice.

 

It was about ½ hour later that the same local lady pulledover to ask us if we needed a ride. Ithad taken her that long to drop off her guests, and drive back. The more we thought about it, perhaps thesemaps are mismarked to keep the public out of the resort.

 

Most everyone that was just coming over to the island met uson the road, asking what was up the road. We told them what we had seen, and just with the mention of the garbagedump and flies, most of them turned back. The only high light on the way back, wasseeing a giant coconut crab being shown to some tourists. This was close to the home of the man thatmade money for photos of the crab in his front yard. That huge giant must have died since we werehere last. The Pizza place was stillclosed, and there was little chance of getting something to drink. Having walked our feet off, we decided tohead back home. It was already 1 pm andtime for lunch…..just not here. We havehad the question about getting sick eating off of the ship. Believe us, we are very picky about where wedine off shore. Usually it is inrestaurants that have the most customers, or in hotels. If we’re not sure, we’ll wait until we areback onboard. Street food stalls aresomething we never do, as it is too risky. One other important concern is drinking the local water. We have learned it is best to stick to thebottled water, soda, or beers. And tryto get it served without the ice. It’snot that the ice is bad, but it may have something that does not sit well withyou.

 

The ride back was just as easy as coming over. No problems today. The boat was full of guests that were happyto go back, mostly mumbling why did we go to this island. We are certain that our buddies, Wendy andSteve, will have the most fun. They weregoing geocaching today, showing us their possible caches they would searchfor. Having never been here before, theywere excited. And we did see some folks packing golf bags over, and head forthe small golf course. And we did happento talk to some ladies that actually found something opened and purchased at-shirt and a jar of local honey.

 

Lunch for us was in the coolness of our room. This time we tried cobb salads and a sharedroast beef panini. Oh yeah, and threechocolate chip cookies. That was our bigtreat for the long 10 mile hike today.

 

The Alofi sail away was at 4:30pm, where during CaptainMercer’s talk, we learned that we will be heading into a weather system thatwill produce some rough seas and 40 km winds. Some rain too. He asked us tostore valuables, and be careful when taking the stairs. Fine with us, as we usually use the elevatorsanyway. The island quickly faded in thedistance, but not before we spotted the coastline, where the wave actionproduced blowholes that sure looked like whales blowing. Overhead, we heard the chattering of threebirds. Getting a shot of them, revealedthe long tails of the tropicbirds. Alongwith a handful of white terns, we saw few birds today.

 

If they did not serve the honey mustard chicken and a tastypork chop, we may not have gone to dinner. It would be a short evening for us, because we were admittedlytired. The Knights, a trio of Britishsingers, brought their show back to the lounge tonight. We do like the type of music they sang, butway too tired to stay up after 10pm.

 

Walking the promenade for some air tonight, we saw thatevery lounge had been stacked and secured to the inner railings. An indication that things may get bad throughthe night and tomorrow. Captain Mercerusually sticks to the safer side of caution.

 

The clocks had to be put ahead 24 hours tonight as we willbe crossing the International Dateline, and literally losing a whole day in theprocess. So January 29th willnot exist for us, and we will begin tomorrow as January 30th.

 

This evening’s pillow message read: “Fill your life withadventures, not things. Have stories totell, not stuff to show.” Wish we had readthat 40 years ago, before our house became a mini-museum of stuff!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Floridiana]

You are brave to walk in the heat.

It's better to prearrange an excursion on Niue. There are not enough visitors to warrant a thriving tourist industry. Years ago, we flew in, drove around the island and visited the caves, also talked to the islanders. I have fond memories.

[WCB]

Report # 30 Rough Dayat Sea January 30, 2018 Tuesday Rain & 81 degrees 24Pictures

 

Not only did we cross the international Dateline, but itseems that we have entered a whole new world as far as the weather isconcerned. Gone are the flat, smoothseas, replaced by deep swells, high winds, and waves that come up to thepromenade deck. According to theCaptain, we are now sailing between two different storm systems, something hecompared to a “jammie” sandwich, with the ship being the jam, and the stormsbeing the bread. Whatever is causingthe motion, we hope we are through with it sooner than later. We don’t mind the rocking motion during theevening, but during the day, it tends to make one of us a bit on the queasyside. Taking meclizine helps, but makesyou sleepy. This is when we are so gladwe are on Dolphin deck, instead of deck six, where the more you pay, the moreyou sway.

 

Since I had been gifted a $50 credit towards a spatreatment, I chose to have a trim. Theappointment was 10:15am this morning. When I arrived 15 minutes early, I was taken right in. Beginning with a relaxing shampoo andconditioning with Steiner products, a nice young Indian gal trimmed about oneinch off of the ends. I do this regularlyat home, so it is nice to have a professional trim it for a change. The whole process took only ½ hour, with the coupon covering everything except the15% tip and a little extra tip. I onlyhad a partial drying, so I went back to the room to finish the drying in frontof the fan. I shall be thanking Henk forthis nice treat when I see him.

 

In the same vein, today there was an invitation for aspecial celebration of all birthdays in January. It was held at the shops on deck five from 7to 9pm. Forgot to go, since dinner sortof snuck up on us. Of course, this isjust another creative way to market their products. We’ll have to remember at the end of Februaryto attend that one, so we know firsthand, what it is all about.

 

It was a good day to work on photos that have been backingup. There wasn’t a chance that the poolwould be of any use today with the rain showers and extreme winds.

 

Life onboard went on as usual with lots of activities. The overland adventures was the subjectdiscussed at 10am by the EXC team…..namely Barbara H and Nyron, the shore exmanager. Most everyone we know that isgoing overland, signed up months ago, as these tours tend to sell out. The ports where these overland adventureswill begin are in Hong Kong, Viet Nam for Cambodia, Sri Lanka for India, Mozambique,and Cape Town.

 

Hoping to meet up with Barb in the dining room for lunch, itdid not pan out. She already had a “date”with one of the dance hosts she knows well. We are happy for her, since her BFF, Ellen, was unable to make it on theworld cruise this year. Ellen and Aart are missed every single day.

 

The only good thing to watch on TV were movies, since thenetwork programs were coming in and out. Being so far away from land, the reception is iffy. So far the internet has been working, but ata very slow pace. At one time years ago,this whole area was a dark hole with little or no reception.

 

Despite the wave action, the dining room was full ofcustomers tonight. One of us ordered thelamb shank, remarking that it was so tender, he could cut it with the fork. I had the steak salad, trying to keep themeal light, always something difficult to do. How about the light? cinnamon ice cream or the strawberry crisp? Small portions these days, thankgoodness. However, we both refuse tohave a single guilty feeling by indulging a little. Life is too short.

 

A variety show was held in the show lounge featuring FrankKing and Nathan Coe Marsh. According toBonnie, one was far better than the other.

 

We all walked out of the dining room like drunken sailors.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[carolyn22]

Thank you so much for your descriptive and entertaining reports! I am taking the 2019 WC and am reading your current and past blogs avidly and taking quite a few notes.

 

Question about the meclizine - do you know if the ship still provides it for free? I've seen some reports that HAL is now charging for it. I am very prone to sea sickness and I'm trying to figure out what types and amounts of sea sick medicine I should bring with me. I normally wear the patch, but I definitely don't want to do that for 113 days! I've bought some sea bands and also plan to get some ginger pills. I may also get several patches to use when I know that the sea is going to be exceptionally rough.

 

Thanks again for the time and effort you put into your blog as well as your beautiful pictures!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[WCB]

Report # 31 Day atSea January 31, 2018 Wednesday 79 degrees & Partly cloudy

 

The last day of January found us a couple of days away fromour first stop in New Zealand. Hard to believe we have been sailing foralmost a month already. But as the oldsaying goes, times does fly when you are having fun.

 

At least the worst of the storm has passed, and the skieswere mostly cloudy this morning. Goneare the deep swells and extra high waves…..at least for a while. The most noticeable thing is that the extremehumidity and heat have abated. Thebreeze had a hint of coolness in it, while we walked the mostly wet deck thismorning. The further southwest we head,the more temperate the temperatures will be. Suits us just fine.

 

We noticed that at breakfast, there were umbrellas hangingfrom the ceiling. Hope the staff was notexpecting leaks. That’s when weremembered that the theme for the gala dinner tonight was Bowlers and BumperShoots. Took us a while to learn thatbowlers were hats, and bumper shoots were umbrellas. Thus, the umbrellas hanging from the ceilingwere simply decorations. While we wereeating, one of those umbrellas broke loose from the paper clip holding it, andcrashed on the table below. Good thingthe table below was unoccupied. Perhapsthe bowler hats should have been hung up there instead.

 

The first photo contest was advertised today. The categories included landscape, wildlife,people/life, and things around the world. The ship’s photo department will print an 8 x 10 print for a $5 entryfee. These photos are yours to keep afterthe voting takes place. The winner ineach category will be announced February 9th. On past cruises, the passengers voted, butrecently, a select group of staff members did the honor of voting. Prizes are usually a credit to be used in thephoto department.

 

We spent a relaxing few hours at the aft pool, although notin swim wear. It was pretty windy, but thesun did peek out every now and then. Itwas the best spot to watch some sea birds flying around the ship. Usually that means there is land nearby. Around 4pm, there was an island on the horizon, so that made sense.

 

It was also a good day for a Wajang movie, which was aboutNew Zealand’s Maoris. In the same vein,many activities revolved around the tours in New Zealand, their ancientculture, and history.

 

Dinnertime found that we had a host, Marion, the secondengineer, from Croatia. A nice youngfellow, he recently joined the HAL fleet last November, and appears to be quitehappy with his decision. Since he spendsthe bulk of his time working down on deck A, he admitted it was a treat to cometo dinner in this dining room, and get to know some passengers. He will be leaving in March, going home tohis wife and 5 month old son.

 

Our meal was fabulous with the best appetizers yet. They served caviar, escargots, and crablegs. Surf and turf was a popular pick,but we both ordered the veal chop……tender, tasty, and seasonedbeautifully. The best part of themeal? A dessert of the cappuchino bombe. Right before we were done, our umbrellacame crashing down without warning, startling all of us. Everyone joked that they were injured, andwould demand a free cruise. Our hostwent along with it, and added he was developing a headache, and may need to besent home early. Like we said, hang thehats not the umbrellas.

 

Showtime featured the singers and dancers with classiciconic songs we all know and love. Thisgroup is most talented as they performed The Midnight Hour. Nice way to end another gala evening.

 

Almost forgot, we received gifts tonight. There were two universal travel adapterswaiting for us in our room. These haveUSB ports as well, and will be most useful.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got caught up with your wonderful reports, blog.

[Copper10-8]

Awesome blog as usual Bill and Mary Ann! :) Keep up the good work and see ya fairly soon ;)

[WCB]

Report # 32 Day atSea February 1, 2018 Thursday Partly cloudy & 78 degrees

 

If you think we’ll start with a weather report, well, youmay be right. The sun was out full bore atthe beginning of the sunrise at 6:29am, about blinding us this morning. There’s something different about this partof the world we are now approaching. Theair is particularly clean and clear of the usual haze we have seen on the wayhere. Along with this, comes somedanger, namely, an opening in the ozone layer, called The Black Hole. Now not to get technical, it simply meansthat one can get a powerful sunburn here. It happened to us about 10 years ago, when we flew to Auckland, and hada hotel stay for three days prior to a cruise. Booking some tours out of the hotel, we took a ferry to one of thenearby islands out of Auckland. Sort offorgot to use sunscreen, because it wasn’t that hot out. Well, both of us got pretty toasted in amatter of a few hours. A lesson learned.

 

We’ve had a few questions about sea sickness, and possibleremedies. Years ago, we tried the “patch”behind our ears on a seven day cruise, not knowing if we would experience seasickness. Within a couple of days, oureyes would not focus to read a menu. Itwasn’t for us, so we took them off. Andwe never did get seasick, because the weather was fine…..it was a MexicanRiviera cruise. Then as a precaution onlonger cruises, we graduated to a low dose of meclizine, but only when we feltit necessary. Getting a prescription wasthe way to go, since the price was way better. Now only one of us needs it occasionally. One side effect is sleepiness, so taking apill at night works better. The wristbracelets may work for some people, but we never tried them.

 

The other question was about staying in shape, more or less. That’s simple. We don’t do gyms. We never have. As many months that we have spent on thisship, we have only looked in the gym once. Really just to see where it waslocated. It’s great for the passengerswho don’t like the heat, wind, sun, or the motion of the ship. So we walk. A lot. It’s not unusual for us towalk three different times during the day (sea days), doing 2 or more miles ateach session. And we take the stairs,but not exclusively. We do this at homeevery day, a different trek each day, enjoying lunch out, before heading back. Thishas also doubled as therapy for not-so-great back problems for one of us. Walking, as well as swimming, seems to be thesafest form of exercise without the danger of more injury.

 

It seems that we missed an event last night, a big one atthat. The eclipse of the full moon. It wasthe second full moon in the month of January, making it a blue moon we heard. Exceptthat during the eclipse, this moon turned red. Barb found out late last night, when she ran into a larger than normalgroup at the Seaview Pool around 11pm. Sometimeswhen these things occur, the ship’s itinerary does something special. Not this one, we guess. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the realevent happened around 2 or 3am.

 

The EXC guide Barbara was giving talks on Port Chalmerstoday. We still have to catch up on whatto see and do in Auckland, Tauranga, and Napier. This afternoon would be a good chance towatch these talks on TV. Have wementioned that the guest speaker’s lectures have not been rerun on TV?

 

Now that we have three ports in a row, this would be ourlast day to spend some time at the pool soaking up the sun. The further south we travel, we expect thetemps to cool off. And Captain Jonathondid say that we will be getting some rain tonight and tomorrow. Can’t remember ever having rain this time ofyear in Auckland.

 

Today we got our delivery of vitamin waters for the President’sClub amenity. A fresh flower arrangementshould arrive in two days. Thisafternoon, we had the opportunity to visit with Christel, the guest relationsmanager. We caught up on recent shipnews, as well as asking some questions. We wondered if we could get the $40 per person allowance in shipboardcredit, where it could be used for a larger variety of things on the ship. She said we were not the first ones to figurethat out. But the company said no tothat, although Christel thought it was a fine idea.

 

Another question we asked was how many people were leavingthe ship tomorrow. The answer surprisedus because it was only 14. Then, 22 newfolks will be joining. Auckland is notthe end of a segment, but Sydney will be a debarking port for many more. Better yet, there will be no muster drill forall of the guests tomorrow. That shouldhappen next in Sydney.

 

To commemorate the occasion of arriving to New Zealand, beefwellington was one of the entrees for dinner tonight. And it was delicious. We had written some positive remarks aboutthe dining room staff today, and Phillip, the manager, came over to thank uskindly for our comments. He showed us a copyof our note, and said he puts it up on the wall in the crew mess for all to read. Never knew that before.

 

Last chance to see Gary Arbuthnot and Hyperion Knight, bothback with all new shows.

 

Looking forward to exploring Auckland tomorrow…..rain orshine.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[daisybertie]

Really enjoying your reports of your cruise. We were in Tauranga in November on the Maasdam. After walking half way up Mt Manganui ( couldn’t make it to the top!) we caught the bus over into Tauranga town. There are the most beautiful rose gardens there, the remains of an old fort and a very interesting Mission Cemetary, all within easy walking distance of the bus stop. We had been there before but never realised how nice the town was! We had to go into an op shop, I think you call them “goodwill” stores in the US, to buy a fleecy top as it was so cold out on deck on the way from Sydney to Auckland! With the time difference, I get to read your report every morning over breakfast, a great start to the day!

[jig]

Just a heads up - a lot of shops and restaurants in Australia and New Zealand have stopped accepting AmEx due to extremely high fees that the retailer has to pay. For a while the retailer was passing this fee on to the customer, but recent law changes mean the retailer now must pay these fees themselves. Their solution - not to accept AmEx as a form of payment. Visa and MasterCard are readily accepted, although often with a minimum spend.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Not sure what law your talking about as they are charging surcharges in Australia today.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving your reports.

Great that you are able to avoid the gym and get in your walking everyday.

Sorry you missed the eclipse.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your continued reports. I am reading each one.

 

Keith

[WCB]

Report # 33 Auckland, New Zealand February2, 2018 Friday Chance of sun & 74 degrees Part # 1 of 5 85 Pictures

 

According to Lonely Planet, Mother Nature took her bestfeatures and put them all in this South Pacific Gem called New Zealand. They do have it all: snow-capped mountains,fjords, beaches, rain forest, and active volcanoes. It is a haven for the outdoor folks, andanother type of paradise for the wine lovers of the world. The “Kiwis” have a lust for life, and it certainlycan rub off on the visitors, such as us.

 

The best time to visit is November to April for thesun. For snow, come in June to August. Besides excellent seafood and shellfish,grass-fed lamb is widely served. Hot offof the grill is best. And their favoritedessert has to be pavlova, a meringue cake topped with fruit and whippedcream. Sweet, sweet, sweet and most addictive.

 

Trademarks are the kiwi bird, All Blacks rugby team, bungy-jumping, andLord of the Rings, and sheep…..lots of them.

 

Shore excursions offered 12 tours today from one hour tonine hours. The cost ran from $66 to$250. Waitomo Caves with the famous glowworms was one of the longest ones. Threehour ride each way, however. We havegone there twice in the past, swearing those glow worms were not real. They were. Another fun tour was to see the gannet colony, along with a visit to asheep, cow, and deer farm. The best partof this tour was watching the dogs working the herd.

 

America’s Cup yacht ride was short, but also fun to say you’vesailed in one of them. Waiheke Island byferry is a good way to spend the day touring wineries and olive oiltasting. Different. Nearby Devonport is across the Auckland HarbourBridge, a great place to visit. We have been to Kelly Tarleton’s Sea LifeAquarium at least twice, a fun tour to see penguins, among other sea life. Lastly, the city tour covers the highlights,and the duck tour, amphibious vehicle drive, is totally cool.

 

New Zealand has a English and Maori-speaking population of4,316,000 people. The capital isWellington, although Auckland is the bigger city, one of the loveliest in theworld, according to local surveys. TheAmsterdam pulled into Queen’s Wharf in Waitemata Harbour quite early thismorning. Despite the rain and wind weexperienced during the night, it was mostly sunny with clouds passing overheadall day. Boy, did we get lucky, as weheard from a local florist that the storm that went through here yesterday wasa strong wet one. Then it headed north.

 

After breakfast, we took a walk on the promenade deck totake a closer look at what all of the waiters were watching from the diningroom. There was a crane suspending a platform that had diners eating around acounter with 22 chairs that hung over the ground 100 feet below them. They were being served food by three or fourwaiters, who were tethered in the center section. Never have we ever seen anything likethis. The name of the “hanging restaurant”was grandcordon. This must be a newaddition, since we could not find any info on it. Kudos to these inventive folks.

 

The quarantine regulations are most strict here. When they say no food, flowers, seeds, or plantsoff of the ship, they mean it. We haveheard of on-the-spot fines of $400 for infractions. Only commercially bottled drinking water ispermitted to leave the vessel. If theofficials do not find the food, their cute little beagles will. And you have to be very careful to bring anoriginal government photo ID as well as your key card. Better be current too, or you may not beallowed back on the ship.

 

Leaving the ship, we ran into a couple that were boardingtoday, a daughter and son-in-law of Lee and Eddie. We met them last year when they came on for asegment of the world cruise, and they remembered us. Eddie, who has to be in his 90’s, was waitingfor them, doing his emailing in the terminal. That is, until we sent him back onboard to go get Lee who was lookingfor him. It’s seldom that you don’t seethem together. Nice for them to havefamily join them for a while.

 

Downtown streets were pretty torn up, but we did make ourway around the closed streets. We foundAlbert street, and followed it uphill towards the 1072 foot Sky Tower, thetallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It is an iconic sight in Auckland. We have had the pleasure of dining in their Orbit 360 Restaurant yearsago. The circular restaurant literallyrotates 360 degrees, changing the spectacular view every hour. Since we have been inside the hotel manytimes, we took lots of photos of the tower instead. You can pay a small price to go to the top,and pay even more to bungy jump from near the top. Fun to watch others do it, you’d have to payus to do this. Or, you can cheat, andappear to jump. Photos can be deceiving…..

 

Taking a left turn, we climbed the steepest hill yet, andfound the entrance to Albert Park. Therewas much evidence of storm damage up here. Heavy limbs from some very old growth trees were being cleared byworkers. The many flower beds were inbloom, and the grass was the greenest we have ever seen it. Benches line the walkways, a great place tocatch your breath after hiking up here. Also a good spot for bird-watching. Usually there are flocks of silver gulls inthis park, but they must have blown away in yesterday’s storm. Some of the trees are massive up here, obviouslyquite old. A convenient set of restroomsare also here…..clean and well-stocked, for those who need to know.

 

From here, we made our way to Grafton Road, passing an oldcemetery, which has been preserved within the city. Auckland Hospital is also in this area,sitting high above the city. Theentrance to Auckland Domain, the city’s oldest sprawling park, is an impressiveone. The Auckland War Memorial Museumsits atop the park’s volcanic cone, housing a collection of Maori and PacificIsland artifacts. Twice on tours, wetoured the museum, and found it an experience to remember.

 

Within the Domain is a most wonderful Winter Garden with 2barrel-vaulted Victorian-style glass houses full of hothouse plants. The center has a sunken pond, and issurrounded with courtyards, statuary, benches, and beautiful bloominglandscaping. Located on a meandering creekwith ponds, is a café with more restrooms. We noticed a small group of HAL guests on a tour, enjoying the pastriesand coffee or tea they serve here. Martha, our tablemate, happened to be one of the nine guests on that particularwalking tour.

 

Taking many photos of this beautiful spot, we continueddownhill towards the Parnell district, filled with Victorian villas, stylishshops, and upmarket boutiques. Among theseveral churches here, the largest one we saw was Holy Trinity Cathedral. By now, it was 1:30pm, and lunch wasdefinitely on our minds. We always go toa place by the name of Windsor Castle, recalling they had good pizza and coldbeer. It’s located towards the end ofthe steep Parnell Road. But when we gotcloser, we could see it was not opened for lunch anymore. Disappointed, we figured it was not worthgoing back uphill to the dozens of cafes we had passed.

 

Sometimes when one door closes, another opens up. Crossing the road, we entered a small café bythe name of Mink Café. Guess what? They had a menu that included a variety ofpizza, and better yet, Margherita pizza. So we ordered one pizza, a bowl of fries, and two cold bottles ofbeer. So far, this pizza may have beenthe best Margherita pizza we have eaten. Who knew? And adding a dessert ofa brownie with ice cream and a biscotti cookie, we had enough energy to makeour way back towards the ship after an hour of relaxing. And it waspretty much downhill the rest of the way…….easy walking.

 

On the way, we went to the supermarket, Countdown, where wefound some room snacks such as Bluebird chips, dips, and a block of cheese forlate afternoon snacks. The way back wasthrough the Britomart neighborhood, which also has an eclectic collection ofhip bars, cafes, and restaurants. Manypassengers from the ship were dining in these places, which tend to be more forthe wine drinkers we noticed.

 

One last stop at the ferry terminal for hokey pokey icecream was disappointing. They did notoffer it today. Whaaaaat??? The vendor said they alternate with otherflavors, so we said, no thanks. At $6NZD for one scoop in a cup, it was our favorite one-of-a-kind flavor, ornothing. With three more New Zealandports, surely we will find hokey pokey elsewhere.

 

Spending some much needed time in our room for photo work,we headed out one more time around 6pm. The only area we had not explored was the America’s Cup yacht marina onthe way towards the Wynyard Quarter. This whole place was really busy, since tonight was Friday, and thelocals were jamming all of the bars in the marina. These kiwis are a party hardy young crowd forsure. We did not want to cross theViaduct Bridge, because if it went up, we might be stranded for a while. We did notice that major construction was in progresswith the addition of future apartments and business buildings.

 

Right before dinner, we went to deck eight to watch theelevated outdoor hanging restaurant prepare for another session. Even with a strong breeze blowing, the dinerswere strapped in, and lifted by 7:30pm. We were hoping to see what was on the menu food-wise, but once they wentup, the plates were out of sight. Champagne was definitely the first course.

 

Too bad the sail out of the scenic harbor was during ourdinner time. The sunset was impressive,despite watching it out of smudged windows. We had the veal piccata entrée with spaghetti covered with lots of tangymarinara sauce. The rest of ourtablemates ordered the fish plate, and were happy campers.

 

Annie Gong was a familiar name as the entertainertonight. She is an accordion player witha wide range of music selections.

 

Tomorrow will be another busy day in Tauranga.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[apples4t]

Google "Dinner in the Sky" Restaurant, it appears to be a pop-up in various locations. Not for the faint hearted!

[Copper10-8]

Pretty cool

 

[erewhon]

Hope you were able to buy Hokey Pokey ice cream at the kiosk by the port gate at Mount Maunganui.

[bennybear]

Ok, what is hokey pokey ice cream?:D

[colbe]

Ok, what is hokey pokey ice cream?:D

Hokey pokey is a flavour of ice cream in New Zealand. It is a rich vanilla ice cream containing small solid lumps of honeycomb toffee.

[travelnap]

Pretty cool

 

 

Thanks for the link Copper, that would be a very cool meal to enjoy. They look like they are strapped in pretty good, I know I would want to be.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great reporting.

About 3 or 4 months ago there was a special on TV that showed unusual restaurants. Don't remember in what country that restaurant that is raised up into the air was -- but we thought it most unusual. My one question was: What do you do if you have to go to the restroom?