Rare Ozwoody Posted August 2 #501 Share Posted August 2 44 minutes ago, sewgood said: We had a great day ashore and we are very thankful to have come here. I still can't believe I've been to Easter Island after so many years of first seeing pictures of the statues. The tour was fantastic and well worth the money. 🙂 One more thing to tick off the bucket list. Princess's tender and shore crew did a terrific job under very difficult conditions. It great that you were successful full, we had two goes 2014 & 2018 missed out both times, been a wish since I was a kid, alas not to be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Yaya_in_Oz Posted August 2 #502 Share Posted August 2 4 hours ago, cruiser3775 said: So glad you made it to Easter Island. It is one of my favourite remote places on earth. In the good old days, there used to be regular trans-Pacific flights between Australia and Chile that went via Tahiti and Easter Island. (Alas, no longer available). They were only twice a week, so you were 'forced' to stay three or four nights, which I did on two occasions in the early 2000s. In those days, you could stay with a local family, hire a small 4WD and drive anywhere you liked on the island. Nowadays, it is highly regulated, hard to get a visa from Chile, and you can't set foot on Easter island without a full itinerary and a local guide. They were good old days and you could also get off in Tahiti. I spent about 10 days on Easter Island all up including NYE where I got to see some fireworks over Hanga Roa. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mareblu Posted August 2 #503 Share Posted August 2 What a place of wonder Easter Island must be. How fantastic to be able to visit. I read somewhere once that it is indeed the most remote spot on our planet. Any more photos anyone?🙏🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruiser3775 Posted August 2 #504 Share Posted August 2 9 minutes ago, Mareblu said: Any more photos anyone?🙏🏻 You can only get there these days by cruise ship (if you are lucky with the weather) or by flying to and from Santiago, Chile. Easter Island is a special territory of Chile. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mareblu Posted August 2 #505 Share Posted August 2 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare arxcards Posted August 2 #506 Share Posted August 2 8 hours ago, sewgood said: We had a great day ashore and we are very thankful to have come here. I still can't believe I've been to Easter Island after so many years of first seeing pictures of the statues. The tour was fantastic and well worth the money. 🙂 One more thing to tick off the bucket list. Princess's tender and shore crew did a terrific job under very difficult conditions. That is awesome. It is a bucket list item for us, and we had our fingers crossed for next years WC on Crown. A few months back, Princess changed the status from a tender port with excursions on offer to a 10am - 2pm "Scenic Cruising" sail-by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted August 2 #507 Share Posted August 2 Just now, arxcards said: That is awesome. It is a bucket list item for us, and we had our fingers crossed for next years WC on Crown. A few months back, Princess changed the status from a tender port with excursions on offer to a 10am - 2pm "Scenic Cruising" sail-by. Crown holds an extra 1000 passengers above Coral. If conditions ended up like yesterday's there is no way they'd get everyone ashore in time for excursions. We were so lucky! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 2 #508 Share Posted August 2 18 hours ago, cruiser3775 said: So glad you made it to Easter Island. It is one of my favourite remote places on earth. In the good old days, there used to be regular trans-Pacific flights between Australia and Chile that went via Tahiti and Easter Island. (Alas, no longer available). They were only twice a week, so you were 'forced' to stay three or four nights, which I did on two occasions in the early 2000s. In those days, you could stay with a local family, hire a small 4WD and drive anywhere you liked on the island. Nowadays, it is highly regulated, hard to get a visa from Chile, and you can't set foot on Easter island without a full itinerary and a local guide. You were fortunate to have two three/four night visits to Easter Island. Sounds like they were perfect visits to meet some locals, see the island and break the long haul journey. We used to do the same with other South Pacific islands en route to the USA. Those stopovers were the highlight of my overseas travels. Aitutaki, Cook Islands remains at the top of my return visit list. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 2 #509 Share Posted August 2 13 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said: They were good old days and you could also get off in Tahiti. I spent about 10 days on Easter Island all up including NYE where I got to see some fireworks over Hanga Roa. You were fortunate to be able to spend so long on Easter Island. Fireworks over Hanga Roa would have been a memorable experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 2 #510 Share Posted August 2 11 hours ago, cruiser3775 said: You can only get there these days by cruise ship (if you are lucky with the weather) or by flying to and from Santiago, Chile. Easter Island is a special territory of Chile. Thank you for the great photos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 2 #511 Share Posted August 2 20 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said: We had a great afternoon ashore but getting on and off the tenders at the ship end was "interesting"! We got a great view of the ship from the first stop on our tour. I'm happy you and all the other passengers got to land on Easter Island. What a highlight to your WC, especially as so many past passengers have been unable to land. Looks like flights from Santiago to Easter Island is the way to go for guaranteed landing. Assuming all flights land. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 2 #512 Share Posted August 2 Just now, MMDown Under said: I'm happy you and all the other passengers got to land on Easter Island. What a highlight to your WC, especially as so many past passengers have been unable to land. Looks like flights from Santiago to Easter Island is the way to go for guaranteed landing. Assuming all flights land. I have just booked a holiday in November on Lord Howe Island flying from GC on a small plane. On our last visit, the flight from Brisbane was able to land on the second attempt, but the Sydney plane had to return to Sydney, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare arxcards Posted August 3 #513 Share Posted August 3 5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said: Crown holds an extra 1000 passengers above Coral. If conditions ended up like yesterday's there is no way they'd get everyone ashore in time for excursions. We were so lucky! I get that, but it was part of the itinerary when it it was released, and weather conditions might be perfect next year. Slim odds I would agree, but the odds are now down to zero. Princess changed the route from Sydney to Europe to go via Cape Town, as expected, but said they were the only changes that were being made. In typical Princess fashion, at the same time they removed 2 x Norwegian ports and Easter Island from the Dover to Sydney leg. These changes have not been advised to any passengers. The only presumption is they have reduced ports in the 2nd leg to allow for slower cruising and balance the cost of all the extra fuel burn from the longer Sydney to Dover route. We still have a month till 2nd deposit is due, and whether to pay it and stay aboard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 3 #514 Share Posted August 3 17 minutes ago, arxcards said: I get that, but it was part of the itinerary when it it was released, and weather conditions might be perfect next year. Slim odds I would agree, but the odds are now down to zero. Princess changed the route from Sydney to Europe to go via Cape Town, as expected, but said they were the only changes that were being made. In typical Princess fashion, at the same time they removed 2 x Norwegian ports and Easter Island from the Dover to Sydney leg. These changes have not been advised to any passengers. The only presumption is they have reduced ports in the 2nd leg to allow for slower cruising and balance the cost of all the extra fuel burn from the longer Sydney to Dover route. We still have a month till 2nd deposit is due, and whether to pay it and stay aboard. That is a shame, as both would have been highlight visits. Surely they have a responsibility to inform passengers. When my cruise ship rerouted via South Africa, due to the closure of the Suez, the amended itinerary became a highlight, East Africa, Kenya, Bombay, Ceylon, Perth, ?, Sydney to Brisbane, This is why I don't like current world cruises. I feel local cruises, with more interesting ports, are better value, My two half world cruises formed the benchmark for all future cruises. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted August 3 #515 Share Posted August 3 7 hours ago, MMDown Under said: I have just booked a holiday in November on Lord Howe Island flying from GC on a small plane. On our last visit, the flight from Brisbane was able to land on the second attempt, but the Sydney plane had to return to Sydney, There isn't a problem with planes landing at Easter Island. I can't recall which model plane we flew in from Santiago to Easter Island, but it was a full-size jet and the airport is a reasonable size. Currently LATAM uses Boeing 787 Dreamliners. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 3 #516 Share Posted August 3 1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said: There isn't a problem with planes landing at Easter Island. I can't recall which model plane we flew in from Santiago to Easter Island, but it was a full-size jet and the airport is a reasonable size. Currently LATAM uses Boeing 787 Dreamliners. THAT IS GOOD TO KNOW THANKS! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiecruiser66 Posted August 3 #517 Share Posted August 3 4 hours ago, arxcards said: I get that, but it was part of the itinerary when it it was released, and weather conditions might be perfect next year. Slim odds I would agree, but the odds are now down to zero. Princess changed the route from Sydney to Europe to go via Cape Town, as expected, but said they were the only changes that were being made. In typical Princess fashion, at the same time they removed 2 x Norwegian ports and Easter Island from the Dover to Sydney leg. These changes have not been advised to any passengers. The only presumption is they have reduced ports in the 2nd leg to allow for slower cruising and balance the cost of all the extra fuel burn from the longer Sydney to Dover route. We still have a month till 2nd deposit is due, and whether to pay it and stay aboard. That was the reason that we cancelled our 2025 WC on the Crown as we had already booked and paid for our Easter Island tours and without any reason given-we received our money back and the itinerary had been changed to “scenic cruising”. We have just booked the 37n segment on the Zuiderdam WC from FL to Sydney on the 4th January 25- we get to go through the Panama Canal ( which we missed out on due to Covid), and we have booked the 2 day overnight stay on EI as we arrive at 10am and don’t leave until 4pm the next day. They are also offering a 4 day overland adventure to the Galápagos Islands from Manta Equador and a 2 day Cusco and Machu Picchu overland adventure from Callao,Peru.We are super impressed with the itinerary and excursions offered- as it visits some places we haven’t been to before and were on our bucket list. We got a great deal that included our airfares, transfers,2n accommodation in FL and the 37n cruise for cheaper than HAL site and the guru 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility Base Posted August 3 #518 Share Posted August 3 3 hours ago, Aus Traveller said: .....and the airport is a reasonable size. The runway extension was funded by NASA to enable it to be used as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted August 3 #519 Share Posted August 3 58 minutes ago, aussiecruiser66 said: That was the reason that we cancelled our 2025 WC on the Crown as we had already booked and paid for our Easter Island tours and without any reason given-we received our money back and the itinerary had been changed to “scenic cruising”. We have just booked the 37n segment on the Zuiderdam WC from FL to Sydney on the 4th January 25- we get to go through the Panama Canal ( which we missed out on due to Covid), and we have booked the 2 day overnight stay on EI as we arrive at 10am and don’t leave until 4pm the next day. They are also offering a 4 day overland adventure to the Galápagos Islands from Manta Equador and a 2 day Cusco and Machu Picchu overland adventure from Callao,Peru.We are super impressed with the itinerary and excursions offered- as it visits some places we haven’t been to before and were on our bucket list. We got a great deal that included our airfares, transfers,2n accommodation in FL and the 37n cruise for cheaper than HAL site and the guru THAT IS GOOD TO HEAR, AN ITINERARY IMPROVEMENT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Yaya_in_Oz Posted August 3 #520 Share Posted August 3 13 hours ago, MMDown Under said: You were fortunate to be able to spend so long on Easter Island. Fireworks over Hanga Roa would have been a memorable experience. The first time I stayed in a hotel for a few days, bit pricey. The second time I stayed in a guest house. From my notes at the time 'Having a westerly aspect its a great place for sunset viewing. I went a few times with other travellers and a bottle of red, pisco, Suntory or whatever - and the walkman" 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Yaya_in_Oz Posted August 3 #521 Share Posted August 3 2 hours ago, aussiecruiser66 said: That was the reason that we cancelled our 2025 WC on the Crown as we had already booked and paid for our Easter Island tours and without any reason given-we received our money back and the itinerary had been changed to “scenic cruising”. We have just booked the 37n segment on the Zuiderdam WC from FL to Sydney on the 4th January 25- we get to go through the Panama Canal ( which we missed out on due to Covid), and we have booked the 2 day overnight stay on EI as we arrive at 10am and don’t leave until 4pm the next day. I hope you can get out to Ahu Tongariki, my personal fave. These guys make a lot more sense than some people I meet! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiecruiser66 Posted August 3 #522 Share Posted August 3 Just checked our itinerary and we going to Akivi ,Orongo, Rano Kau volcano, Hanga Roa village, then Ahu Tahai for sunset on the first day. Then on the second day we go to Ahu Tongariki for sunrise, then to Rano Raraku quarry, then back to Tongariki for more exploration, then Te Pito Kura where the largest Moai is located and then to Anakena Beach and the restored platforms of Ahu Nau Nau and Ahu Ature Huke. It appears that we should see a fair bit of the Island 🤞🤞 I would love to hear your opinion of the places to be visited. Thanks, Jenny 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare arxcards Posted August 4 #523 Share Posted August 4 22 hours ago, aussiecruiser66 said: That was the reason that we cancelled our 2025 WC on the Crown as we had already booked and paid for our Easter Island tours and without any reason given-we received our money back and the itinerary had been changed to “scenic cruising”. We have just booked the 37n segment on the Zuiderdam WC from FL to Sydney on the 4th January 25- we get to go through the Panama Canal ( which we missed out on due to Covid), and we have booked the 2 day overnight stay on EI as we arrive at 10am and don’t leave until 4pm the next day. They are also offering a 4 day overland adventure to the Galápagos Islands from Manta Equador and a 2 day Cusco and Machu Picchu overland adventure from Callao,Peru.We are super impressed with the itinerary and excursions offered- as it visits some places we haven’t been to before and were on our bucket list. We got a great deal that included our airfares, transfers,2n accommodation in FL and the 37n cruise for cheaper than HAL site and the guru It looks awesome, but we don't have that luxury. The prime part of our trip is connecting with some relatives in the UK, in some cases while they are still around. The plan is to enjoy the UK for a few weeks, then cruise home. If we drop the cruise home, we will do a midnight sun and maybe one around the UK, then fly home. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Cbtours Posted August 4 #524 Share Posted August 4 28 minutes ago, arxcards said: It looks awesome, but we don't have that luxury. The prime part of our trip is connecting with some relatives in the UK, in some cases while they are still around. The plan is to enjoy the UK for a few weeks, then cruise home. If we drop the cruise home, we will do a midnight sun and maybe one around the UK, then fly home. That’s the main reason we going back for only my second visit in 52 years!!! I’ve booked 2 cruises, sky princess 14 day Mediterranean adventure, followed by 11 day British Isles before flying home. just a question, what were you cruising home with?? From and too? I had looked at doing that but were longer cruises than we wanted re insurance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare arxcards Posted August 4 #525 Share Posted August 4 1 hour ago, Cbtours said: That’s the main reason we going back for only my second visit in 52 years!!! I’ve booked 2 cruises, sky princess 14 day Mediterranean adventure, followed by 11 day British Isles before flying home. just a question, what were you cruising home with?? From and too? I had looked at doing that but were longer cruises than we wanted re insurance. 2nd half of Crown Princess WC, Dover to Sydney via New York. Insurance is a challenge for us too. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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