NZ re-opening sooner than advertised and dropping self-isolation on arrival.

[lissie]

Vaccinated kiwis and PIs can return to NZ from today.  The requirement to drop the 7 day self-isolation requirement on 2 March. 

From 4 March kiwis and PIs from anywhere in the world can return.  There is a testing on arrival and if you test positive then its 10 days isolation. 

 

PM has indicated that previous dates of foreigners returning from July and October are very likely to come forward - and will be informed by the peak of Omicron in NZ.   

 

Obviously if you are not vaccinated you go into MIQ for 14 days. 

Edited February 28, 2022 by lissie

[sewgood]

Great news Lissie

Thanks for keeping us up to date with all the lastest from over there. 🙂

[OzKiwiJJ]

"Someone got quite upset after hearing a rumour that NZ wouldn't open to the rest of the world until November so posted this gem on FB:

"I hope that date is wrong because I am on a cruise leaving Sydney on the 24th October this year and I will be very, very angry that I not been notified as yet by my cruise planner. I have already had 3 cancellations."

 

My inner snark took over and I couldn't resist posting this in response:

Wow, you'll be very, very angry with your cruise planner for not having a crystal ball to foretell the future? Get real! Your cruise planner will know when the cruise line knows, and that will be when the NZ government announces a firm date for cruise ships to operate in NZ. And you'd better hope the Australian governments decide to allow cruise ships to operate by then as well.
And since you seem to think the number of cruises you've had cancelled makes you important there are many people who have had more cruises than that cancelled. I've had 10 cancelled!"

 

I think this is the second time, at least, this person has complained about Princess not keeping him informed about cancellations ahead of time. The only advice was when they sent the cancellation notice. 

 

Go figure!

[lissie]

Haha I just shut down someone on the same platform. What -  you are still testing on arrival - what happens if you  test positive???  I noticed she had an anit-mask avatar so I listed all the places she'd need one - starting with the plane obviously. Suggested maybe NZ was not for her LOL 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, lissie said:

Haha I just shut down someone on the same platform. What -  you are still testing on arrival - what happens if you  test positive???  I noticed she had an anit-mask avatar so I listed all the places she'd need one - starting with the plane obviously. Suggested maybe NZ was not for her LOL 

Was that the same person who coyly asked what the cruise lines would do if the government no longer had vaccination mandates? I carefully pointed put that the cruise lines would follow mandates, of course, but if no mandates were in place they still had the right to require people to be vaccinated. As the conversation continued that person started making comments about vaccines not working etc. She outed herself!🤣

[lissie]

4 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Was that the same person who coyly asked what the cruise lines would do if the government no longer had vaccination mandates? I carefully pointed put that the cruise lines would follow mandates, of course, but if no mandates were in place they still had the right to require people to be vaccinated. As the conversation continued that person started making comments about vaccines not working etc. She outed herself!🤣

No this was a general NZ travel group - not a cruise specific one. 

 

Its going to be very interesting where the vaccination requirement thing ends up - I'm not at all sure I want to cruise unless they keep that requirement. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

20 minutes ago, lissie said:

No this was a general NZ travel group - not a cruise specific one. 

 

Its going to be very interesting where the vaccination requirement thing ends up - I'm not at all sure I want to cruise unless they keep that requirement. 

Agreed. I don't think I want to mingle in the relatively close confines of a cruise ship with unvaccinated people. I do feel sorry for that very small percentage of people who genuinely can't have the vaccines, but the rest who demand all the rights of vaccinated people without being vaccinated themselves are selfish gits. 

[lissie]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Agreed. I don't think I want to mingle in the relatively close confines of a cruise ship with unvaccinated people. I do feel sorry for that very small percentage of people who genuinely can't have the vaccines, but the rest who demand all the rights of vaccinated people without being vaccinated themselves are selfish gits. 

I agree completely - its like all you  were asked to do for your country was to have 3 jabs in the arm  and wear a mask .  Current events in Europe puts that into perspective. 

[MicCanberra]

Great news.

[Sailaway John]

On 2/28/2022 at 6:08 PM, sewgood said:

Great news Lissie

Thanks for keeping us up to date with all the lastest from over there. 🙂

Great News. Looks like my cruise will be going in October this year.

[lissie]

Looks like you Aussies can hop on over for Easter - but you'll have to fly! Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Tourists from Australia allowed back in New Zealand next month, others to follow soon after - NZ Herald 

[lissie]

Dates confirmed  Aussies 12/4 and for visa waiver countries 1/5 - no comment about cruises 

[sewgood]

Thanks for the update Lizzie,

Hopefully you can give us some news before November that we can enter by ship. I would love to catch up with some of the extented in-laws and I always enjoy our New Zealand cruises even if it is only 8 degrees in Dunedin. 😄

[onlyslightlymad]

There was a comment on cruises but nothing of substance

 

"Ardern says we will see the return of cruise ships, though those changes have not been made formally to the border today. She does not have an estimated timeline for that yet, but will see if officials can provide further information on that."

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/463407/pm-on-border-reopening-plan-we-re-ready-to-welcome-the-world-back

 

 

[onlyslightlymad]

Although, the heading is regarding superyachts not cruises, this is the first reference  to the Maritime border that I've seen for a while.

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/464873/superyacht-agents-pin-hopes-on-timeline-for-re-opening-of-maritime-border

 

Sea border more complex - PM

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said re-opening the sea border is more complicated than the air border, due to multiple ports and different types of vessels.

She said the government would make an announcement when they have received advice from officials.

"We want to make sure that we are equitable in our response and we're trying to move in a way that matches the changes we've made at the air border."

 

 

[losfp]

Fingers crossed it is all sorted ahead of the summer cruising season. We have one booked in Jan to NZ!!

[RubyRedDeb]

We also hope it gets sorted before the Summer cruise season; we are booked on Coral Princess for a Feb visit to New Zealand - really looking forward to it; our last visit was back in 2020 on the Maasdam, just as the pandemic was spreading. This will be our first Princess cruise - but 4th to NZ. Can't wait!.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, RubyRedDeb said:

We also hope it gets sorted before the Summer cruise season; we are booked on Coral Princess for a Feb visit to New Zealand - really looking forward to it; our last visit was back in 2020 on the Maasdam, just as the pandemic was spreading. This will be our first Princess cruise - but 4th to NZ. Can't wait!.

We are also booked on a February cruise to NZ with Princess.

[RubyRedDeb]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We are also booked on a February cruise to NZ with Princess.

Our sailing is on the 6th, only booked it a couple of months ago & thankfully still managed to get a balcony, though it's quite forward & might get a bit rocky but we will manage. it will be really handy leaving from the new Qld cruise port.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, RubyRedDeb said:

Our sailing is on the 6th, only booked it a couple of months ago & thankfully still managed to get a balcony, though it's quite forward & might get a bit rocky but we will manage. it will be really handy leaving from the new Qld cruise port.

We are also on the 6th February cruise to NZ. We booked ages ago. I have started a Roll Call for this cruise. You might like to post on there. See you on board.

[OzKiwiJJ]

51 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We are also booked on a February cruise to NZ with Princess.

We're booked on a late January NZ cruise on Majestic Princess. Our last NZ cruise was 2019. I'm looking forward to catching up with family and friends there.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, OzKiwiJJ said:

We're booked on a late January NZ cruise on Majestic Princess. Our last NZ cruise was 2019. I'm looking forward to catching up with family and friends there.

We have cruised to NZ many times. Our last cruise was on the Sea Princess to NZ on 23rd Feb to 8th March, 2020. The world changed while we were on the ship.☹️

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We have cruised to NZ many times. Our last cruise was on the Sea Princess to NZ on 23rd Feb to 8th March, 2020. The world changed while we were on the ship.☹️

We've done three NZ cruises on Celebrity Solstice since we started cruising in 2014. It's a great way to catch up with people, especially my brother in Dunedin, without a lot of land or air travel. We always book an Auckland to Sydney cruise so we have plenty of time to catch up with folk there before boarding the cruise. We started with Celebrity as Princess wasn't doing many one way itineraries. However Celebrity's fares have gone up too much and on our last cruise with them the bar service was appalling, plus it was exceptionally noisy as the sound systems seemed to be turned up to full volume - that's the first time I ever been able to hear every word of the Captain's announcements, on the corridor speakers, in our cabin with the door shut.

[LittleFish1976]

2 hours ago, losfp said:

Fingers crossed it is all sorted ahead of the summer cruising season. We have one booked in Jan to NZ!!

 

And I'm heading over on the QE in Feb next year. Going the scenic route via the South Island and fiords and then hopping off in Auckland to spend time with family.

 

[Johhno]

Booked on the 4th Nov Grand Princess but not holding my breath.