No 2021 travel to New Zealand?

[onlyslightlymad]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

If so, overseas cruising for Aussies is out. NZ and Pacific cruising is ok, but once you have done it you have done it. I like to cruise from Europe or the Americas, if no long haul air until 2023, there goes that plan.

I think you have to assume that when long haul air travel does return it will be much more expensive.  With disrupted travel routes, increased safety protocols, it's going to be more expensive for airlines to operate.  Even the Tasman, which has not been a money maker for a long time because of capacity dumping by the gulf carriers, is likely to get more expensive.

 

 

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I think you have to assume that when long haul air travel does return it will be much more expensive.  With disrupted travel routes, increased safety protocols, it's going to be more expensive for airlines to operate.  Even the Tasman, which has not been a money maker for a long time because of capacity dumping by the gulf carriers, is likely to get more expensive.

 

 

There will be no more $1500 return flights, Syd-LHR.

[onlyslightlymad]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

There will be no more $1500 return flights, Syd-LHR.

Well let's just say,  not for a while.  I suppose, the likes of Emirates, which are bankrolled by their govts - maybe?  But then, it's not really an even playing field, when our flag carriers are expected to be commercially viable.  

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

We'd be happy to cruise to the same places in our region over and over again. It's no different to going somewhere local for a regular holiday. Before we discovered cruising we had several holidays in Port Douglas, where we just relaxed around the pool, walked on the beach, and enjoyed the local restaurants. We just enjoy being on a ship, no cooking, no cleaning, lovely meals with plenty of choices, great entertainment, and meeting new people.

 

Yes, we do enjoy cruises that take us to new places but you only get a "taste" of those places in a one day port stop. We also enjoyed doing regular NZ cruises as it gave us a chance to catch up with friends and family all over NZ without the hassle of doing a road trip. But until those itineraries are possible again I'd be happy just cruising right around Australia every year, or to the South Pacific if that becomes possible - I've still got a few restaurants I want to try for lunch in Noumea.

[SinbadThePorter]

22 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

Yes, I prefer cruising from overseas but will take local cruises if that is all that is going. I will be dissapointed if NZ falls through as is said in above posts

 

Alaska and the Med are unique destinations, but to tell the truth I'm not sure that cruising in rest of the world is worth the flying time. But that might be because I hate the stress of airports and flights. For me, flying hours to jump on a ship and then flying hours back home after disembarkation is a good way to kill the buzz from a cruise.

 

We've got the South Pacific, NZ and the whole of Australia to cruise in, if we can work out the problems. That would do me for some time.

[Aussieflyer]

My feeling is that there will be no NZ cruising until 2022 for Australian pax. Maybe just maybe the end of this year but not sure. It is the risk NZ don't want to take with international pax.

Even with NZ px only, Ponant have had to cancel all of their scheduled cruises for the first half of this year (and ships are usually not in our region then over our winter). Ponant not allowed to dock as NZ decided some staff were not essential and the line could not source local NZers to replace them. I understand Ponant is scrambling for an answer on the Kimberley.

The current cruises to Tasmania are expensive but they are expedition ones and that is the sort of ballpark cost per day for any we have been on.

 

[onlyslightlymad]

Just now, Aussieflyer said:

My feeling is that there will be no NZ cruising until 2022 for Australian pax. Maybe just maybe the end of this year but not sure. It is the risk NZ don't want to take with international pax.

Even with NZ px only, Ponant have had to cancel all of their scheduled cruises for the first half of this year (and ships are usually not in our region then over our winter). Ponant not allowed to dock as NZ decided some staff were not essential and the line could not source local NZers to replace them. I understand Ponant is scrambling for an answer on the Kimberley.

The current cruises to Tasmania are expensive but they are expedition ones and that is the sort of ballpark cost per day for any we have been on.

 

I agree with you re cruising not opening til 2022.  You are not entirely correct re Ponant.  Ponant leased their ship to an NZ company which presold cruises.  Ships are not allowed to come into NZ at present with a few exceptions like fishing boats and cargo ships (under strict protocols).  There are some exemptions available.  The NZ Company applied for a waiver to allow a ship to be delivered to a NZ business.  They then applied for visas.  Visas were approved for those staff necessary to deliver the ship.  Other staff (like hairdressers) were not considered essential to the purpose of delivering a vessel to a NZ business.  They would be essential to a cruise but that was not the stated purpose of the ship entering NZ waters.  It was plainly a SNAFU

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Alaska and the Med are unique destinations, but to tell the truth I'm not sure that cruising in rest of the world is worth the flying time. But that might be because I hate the stress of airports and flights. For me, flying hours to jump on a ship and then flying hours back home after disembarkation is a good way to kill the buzz from a cruise.

 

We've got the South Pacific, NZ and the whole of Australia to cruise in, if we can work out the problems. That would do me for some time.

Whenever we embarked or disembarked a ship overseas we always had a week or three doing land travel in those countries. You cannot see a country in one port stop.

[lorri111]

3 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Whenever we embarked or disembarked a ship overseas we always had a week or three doing land travel in those countries. You cannot see a country in one port stop.

We always tack extra days onto start and end. Best case was our last Med one where we flew to Paris for a few days, took TGV to Barcelona for a few days before embarking, and then a few days in Venice at end of cruise. That was one great holiday

[ilikeanswers]

4 hours ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I think it will survive but it will be different.  I am astonished at the posters on other boards who think that they will get a vaccine and things will go back to 'normal'.  First, a vaccine is not a magic bullet, just an important part of a comprehensive strategy.  Second, a vaccine is not a time travel device (to my best knowledge).  We can't go back so we may as well move forward.  Some cruise lines will probably go broke, those withe capital reserves will be okay and will probably profit by expanding their market share.  I do agree though that I can't foresee much happening til 2023.  One positive, I think the Asia-Pacific region will be the first to recover, simply because our governments have been so proactive.

 

Very true, a lot of people seem to think the vaccine will return the world to pre Covid travel🙄. I like this article it is a realistic look at what covid vaccines will really mean for world travel:

What vaccines mean for the return of travel

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, lorri111 said:

We always tack extra days onto start and end. Best case was our last Med one where we flew to Paris for a few days, took TGV to Barcelona for a few days before embarking, and then a few days in Venice at end of cruise. That was one great holiday

So do we, and we did exactly the same as you at the beginning of our Med cruise but our cruise ended back in Barcelona. We'd been to Paris a few times before so didn't have to frantically sightsee there. It was a nice way to get over the jet lag although we did do a day trip to Giverny.

[lorri111]

5 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

So do we, and we did exactly the same as you at the beginning of our Med cruise but our cruise ended back in Barcelona. We'd been to Paris a few times before so didn't have to frantically sightsee there. It was a nice way to get over the jet lag although we did do a day trip to Giverny.

Sigh. Making me want to travel 😞

 

[onlyslightlymad]

44 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Very true, a lot of people seem to think the vaccine will return the world to pre Covid travel🙄. I like this article it is a realistic look at what covid vaccines will really mean for world travel:

What vaccines mean for the return of travel

That's an interesting article.  Thank you for sharing.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, lorri111 said:

Sigh. Making me want to travel 😞

 

Yeah! I'm still mourning the Western Europe cruise we were supposed to be going on last year.😥 I don't think we'll get a chance to do one like that in the future.

 

We have all fingers and toes crossed that South Australia will open it's borders without restrictions in the next week or so so we can do the Murray River cruise we have booked. 

[lorri111]

12 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yeah! I'm still mourning the Western Europe cruise we were supposed to be going on last year.😥 I don't think we'll get a chance to do one like that in the future.

 

We have all fingers and toes crossed that South Australia will open it's borders without restrictions in the next week or so so we can do the Murray River cruise we have booked. 

We had a Med one cancelled for this May and have rebooked it for May next year. Who could have foretold the situation would go on so long? I am eternally thankful we got to do our South America/Antarctica one in Jan/Feb just before the world went pear shaped. I remember first hearing of the real threat from our captain while doing a tour of the bridge, had no idea to that point that something was happening with the Diamond Princess. Sigh.

[possum52]

Yesterday, we drove close to Station Pier as we made our way through Port Melbourne to the West Gate Bridge. The Spirit of Tasmania was boarding so there were vehicles of all descriptions lined up. It made me think of the excitement of planning and then actually going on a cruise. As our last two cruises were from Station Pier, the memories are still strong.

 

Leigh

[lorri111]

3 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Yesterday, we drove close to Station Pier as we made our way through Port Melbourne to the West Gate Bridge. The Spirit of Tasmania was boarding so there were vehicles of all descriptions lined up. It made me think of the excitement of planning and then actually going on a cruise. As our last two cruises were from Station Pier, the memories are still strong.

 

Leigh

I have often wondered what proportion of the pleasure of cruising (or travelling in general) comes from the planning, or the memories afterwards or the actual experience.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, lorri111 said:

I have often wondered what proportion of the pleasure of cruising (or travelling in general) comes from the planning, or the memories afterwards or the actual experience.

For me it varies. I've done some quite extensive land travel where the planning was as much fun as the actual trip. When we did a seven week Ireland and UK trip we had a huge map hang off our bookshelves with pins in all the places we were planning on going to. My cat didn't approve and took great delight in hooking the pins out' even after I replaced them with a different, flatter, type of pin.

 

But then there was the Hawaii/Tahiti cruise we did in 2019. Minimal planning required, apart from choosing a few excursions, and it was one of the best holidays we've ever had. Sooo relaxing!

[lorri111]

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

For me it varies. I've done some quite extensive land travel where the planning was as much fun as the actual trip. When we did a seven week Ireland and UK trip we had a huge map hang off our bookshelves with pins in all the places we were planning on going to. My cat didn't approve and took great delight in hooking the pins out' even after I replaced them with a different, flatter, type of pin.

 

But then there was the Hawaii/Tahiti cruise we did in 2019. Minimal planning required, apart from choosing a few excursions, and it was one of the best holidays we've ever had. Sooo relaxing!

Being rather OCD I like the planning part, especially when the main details are sorted and it is more a matter of finessing it. We have charts, spreadsheets, itineraries planned. I would have to say that planning is a big part of it for us. And of course with time one forgets the irritations that often occur with cruising and you can look back on them with humour.

[ilikeanswers]

3 hours ago, lorri111 said:

I have often wondered what proportion of the pleasure of cruising (or travelling in general) comes from the planning, or the memories afterwards or the actual experience.

 

I love the planning, I'm still planing trips I'll probably never take just because it still gives me some pleasure😄

[MicCanberra]

We have had to cancel some great travel plans already, some really interesting (for us) itineraries, I just really hope that we can travel in 20222.

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

We have had to cancel some great travel plans already, some really interesting (for us) itineraries, I just really hope that we can travel in 20222.

You are planning well into the future, Mic.  Inter Galactic travel perhaps? 😁

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yeah! I'm still mourning the Western Europe cruise we were supposed to be going on last year.😥 I don't think we'll get a chance to do one like that in the future.

 

We have all fingers and toes crossed that South Australia will open it's borders without restrictions in the next week or so so we can do the Murray River cruise we have booked. 

I hope you get to do your Murray River cruise.  How many days?

[lorri111]

I just bit the bullet and cancelled my NZ cruise and had FDC and FCC applied to my Med cruise in 2022. It worked out well, I had paid an actual deposit for this Med cruise but she cancelled/rebooked under anew number, will refund (eventually!) the deposit we paid on credit card and used the stuff from NZ cruise as deposit. We somehow ended up with more OBC and a reduced cruise price, and now no actual money tied up. Go us! Now I can concentrate on planning a fly only visit later this year to Sydney taking advantage of Qantas new sale

[MMDown Under]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

For me it varies. I've done some quite extensive land travel where the planning was as much fun as the actual trip. When we did a seven week Ireland and UK trip we had a huge map hang off our bookshelves with pins in all the places we were planning on going to. My cat didn't approve and took great delight in hooking the pins out' even after I replaced them with a different, flatter, type of pin.

 

But then there was the Hawaii/Tahiti cruise we did in 2019. Minimal planning required, apart from choosing a few excursions, and it was one of the best holidays we've ever had. Sooo relaxing!

When a neighbour said she wanted to visit her elderly relatives in Poland before they all died, I said I would go with her, as she hadn't been overseas before.  After a week in Paris, we caught the train to Poland, where we travelled by train to various relatives in Poland.  We finished in London, and a Baltic Cruise.  That is the joy of organising land travel to see what is possible during the timeframe. I am so happy I've done a lot of overseas travel, as it is going to be more difficult with Covid.  It is even difficult within Australia due to covid outbreaks.