NCL Spirit Australia - New Zealand Cruise

[Lloydrjphd]

We are going on this cruise on March 2, 2023.

 

Has anyone taken this cruise recently? Or, are you on the cruise right now?
 

Please share your cruise and side trip experiences.  We have several side trips planned, but none had any reviews.  I see that bad storms and an earthquake just hit NZ, and it looks like a port may have been missed so far on the current cruise (Feb 16).

 

Thanks

[Mimimatz]

Norwegian Spirit has skipped two New Zealand ports so far - Lyttelton and Napier.

[Lloydrjphd]

Did NCL give specifics on why, or any compensation for missed ports?  
 

We will be traveling from the East Coast, USA, so the travel time is large, and if ports are missed, it will be an expensive trip to nowhere.

[georgiagal88]

We are also traveling from US east coast and will be on NCL Spirit leaving Sydney on March 4. Would love to know what sunny day temps have been like on the current New Zealand/Australia cruise. I’m a notorious over packer, not a good idea for such a journey. Is there is any hope for sunbathing on sea days (assuming they are sunny)? 

[LDIdeals]

I am going to guess they skipped the ports due to the horrible weather and state of emergency that was declared in NZ.  I'm guessing no compensation when these circumstances are beyond their control, which is understandable.  We will be on the cruise March 16th.

[sweetcarolina]

Hi, just got off the spirit. Was a wonderful cruise, but we did have to skip two ports.  Lyttelton because the swells were too rough for a ship to dock on the unsheltered dock.  Napier because the devastation from the cyclone flooded roads, and bridges were washed out.  The infrastructure was so damaged that they could not accept any visitors.  Amazingly, NCL gave each cruiser $100 on board credit, and it really was not their fault. Hope those ports have a quick recovery, but the Kiwis said it was nothing they have ever seen in their lives. We still had an awesome time.

 

 

[Karaboudjan]

Does anyone who took this cruise recently or has it upcoming recall how far in advance NCL started offering shore excursions?  

[Lloydrjphd]

I believe excursions are offered at around 120 days before cruise start date

[Lloydrjphd]

On 2/20/2023 at 1:34 AM, sweetcarolina said:

Hi, just got off the spirit. Was a wonderful cruise, but we did have to skip two ports.  Lyttelton because the swells were too rough for a ship to dock on the unsheltered dock.  Napier because the devastation from the cyclone flooded roads, and bridges were washed out.  The infrastructure was so damaged that they could not accept any visitors.  Amazingly, NCL gave each cruiser $100 on board credit, and it really was not their fault. Hope those ports have a quick recovery, but the Kiwis said it was nothing they have ever seen in their lives. We still had an awesome time.

 

 

Thank you for the update.  We are going on the Mar 4 cruise, hopefully, seas are calm enough to dock.  We feel really bad for those Kiwis dealing with the devastation of the storms.

[brngckn]

We were on the Jan 27 departure. We lost Tauranga port and Milford Sound due to wind and weather. We received no compensation. Hopefully you will experience better weather but maybe prepare for a bit of ship motion just in case. I know a lot of people on our departure were unwell at times.

All of our in-port activities were non-NCL and we had a great time! 

[alwalaska]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:48 AM, brngckn said:

We were on the Jan 27 departure. We lost Tauranga port and Milford Sound due to wind and weather. We received no compensation. Hopefully you will experience better weather but maybe prepare for a bit of ship motion just in case. I know a lot of people on our departure were unwell at times.

All of our in-port activities were non-NCL and we had a great time! 

Did you lose all of the sounds or just the one?  

[LDIdeals]

We will be on Spirit 3/16 - 4/12; does anyone know where it docks in Melbourne?  We have friends that are going to meet and pick us up while we are in port there and have asked for the address.  Thanks in advance if you know and can respond!

[Karaboudjan]

47 minutes ago, LDIdeals said:

We will be on Spirit 3/16 - 4/12; does anyone know where it docks in Melbourne?  We have friends that are going to meet and pick us up while we are in port there and have asked for the address.  Thanks in advance if you know and can respond!

 

Based on tracking it looks like the last stop in Melbourne was at Station Pier.

[LDIdeals]

thank you!

[alwalaska]

2 hours ago, LDIdeals said:

We will be on Spirit 3/16 - 4/12; does anyone know where it docks in Melbourne?  We have friends that are going to meet and pick us up while we are in port there and have asked for the address.  Thanks in advance if you know and can respond!

 

1 hour ago, Karaboudjan said:

 

Based on tracking it looks like the last stop in Melbourne was at Station Pier.

Well, according to https://www.vicports.vic.gov.au/cruise-shipping/Pages/cruise-ship-schedule-1.aspx , Karaboudjan is correct. It looks like the March sailing will be there as well. 

[LDIdeals]

thank you

 

[LDIdeals]

Will I need an adaptor on this ship while cruising NZ/AUS/South Pacific  for my hair dryer to work in my cabin?  We are from U.S.

[Rob_H]

3 hours ago, LDIdeals said:

Will I need an adaptor on this ship while cruising NZ/AUS/South Pacific  for my hair dryer to work in my cabin?  We are from U.S.

 

The standard cabins have one US socket and two European sockets on the desk area.  A (weak) hair dryer is provided in the bathroom.

 

[davencl]

4 hours ago, LDIdeals said:

Will I need an adaptor on this ship while cruising NZ/AUS/South Pacific  for my hair dryer to work in my cabin?  We are from U.S.

You won't need one on the ship but if you're staying in a hotel before or after you'll need an AUZ/NZ adapter.  Euro adapters won't work.

[LDIdeals]

Thank you so much for the responses; after last cruise I realized I needed my own dryer to come with me 🙂

 

[LDIdeals]

Also, any of the port stops in NZ/AUS particularly good for a day of casual bicycle riding?  

 

[Karaboudjan]

15 hours ago, LDIdeals said:

Also, any of the port stops in NZ/AUS particularly good for a day of casual bicycle riding?  

 

 

I have been looking into that also and it seems like Napier should be a good possibility.  There is a bike shop that does rentals located just across the street from the visitor's center where the shuttle drops passengers off.

 

I think that one of the other NZ ports looked like it might work also but I can't recall which one it was.  I have been meaning to ask this question on the Australian/New Zealand Ports forum but haven't got around to it yet. That would be the best place since this question is not really unique to NCL.