emzz_02

I'm a fair way away too but only straight down the ring road to the city so wouldn't be too bad at that time of the morning and with my work I'm used to getting up at 5am!!

Ill see how comfy my bed is at 5am [emoji38][emoji38]

Seriously contemplating getting up to see this! Unfortunately I don't have the luck to be sailing on her but will be good to check her out!

It's a 6 + hour round trip drive if you stop along the way or get stuck behind the tourist buses. I wouldn't worry about it, as mentioned by a previous poster it's not all its cracked up to be! And I'm a Melbournian. Stick to the city, enjoy our coffee and boutique shopping [emoji38]

Interested to read everyone's opinions on this also. We are on the emerald princess L243 in February 2017 to nz. First cruise for us both

OP, I'm a melbournian but have travelled extensively in NZ and know a fair bit, plus I can offer advise for Melbourne and Sydney.... Feel free to ask away :)

Personally whilst I'm paying off my princess cruise, every time I log in to my cruise personaliser it asks me for the card details, so I can't see a problem with them making separate payments that way. I assume most other cruise lines have similar processes?

Might be wrong but Cannes and much of the French Riviera are going through some massive floods after some severe storms in the area. Presuming Emerald continued on as was not safe for passengers to disembark?

I've started doing some research for my cruise to NZ in 2017 on the emerald. We found a hobbiton and Rotorua shore tour for approx $240AU... Google shore trips and tours. The company operates out of Tauranga and has tours all over the country.

Personally I've never had a major issue with Jetstar but still... For time conscious international travellers I would fly virgin or qantas just for the security of getting there on time

In fairness to tiger it now has a better reliability record than all the other airlines apparently. Probably because of its strict 45 min check in policy but still [emoji38]

Not sure if virgin fly cairns - Melbourne - cairns but if they do, they also have 'happy hour' fares so you might strike it lucky with cheaper fares through them... Qantas also often has sales, you just have to sign up to their emails and keep an eye on it

If money isn't a huge issue then Qantas is your best bet. Baggage with them is included as well as it being a full service airline (eg meals and drinks included). Tiger and Jetstar are budget airlines ( and speaking as someone who works at Melbourne airport, not all that reliable.) they both have basic fares which you can pay more to include bags. They both weigh cabin baggage and will check anything that weighs over 7kgs ($50 fee to do that). They also don't provide entertainment or meals and limited in leg room but if you're budget conscious then they are the better way to go.

Australian banks have changed their practices in the last making it a requirement that you can't purchase anything without a pin. I work in tourism and our machines still accept cards without a pin. I'm pretty sure the machine can differentiate between different country cards etc so our American customers (as well as many Asian customers) haven't had a problem with their purchases.

Haha all good :) but we're woollies now too :) I might grab another couple some time down the track but I know I have some around somewhere from trips to the U.S.

That's what I kinda thought. The dawn has been operating in Aus for a couple of seasons so I heard they changed the plugs but that's good to know... Better find where I put the adapters!!

I've travelled to Turkey and never had a problem with shorts and tee shirts. Obviously in mosques you cover up but they also supply coverups if you don't come dressed appropriately.

There are some towns throughout Turkey who are more conservative than others and you should take each town into consideration but on the whole shorts are not a problem.

Hi all,

Forgive me if this has been asked already.

My partner and I are going on our first cruise on 13/02 2017 to NZ.

My question is, Im under the impression that before the 2016/2017 summer Aussie season the emerald princess hasn't been here before. Will it keep its American power points or switch to Australian?

I know on the Dawn Princess it has Australian points but does anyone know what the Emerald will do? Personally I have American adaptors from trips previous but it would be handy to know

Thanks!

We have just booked on the Emerald Princess for the Feb 13 2017 sailing from Sydney to Auckland.

As mentioned above there are about 3 Princess ships sailing out of Australia all summer so they have plenty of options to NZ and around Aus.

We weighed up our options on ports of call as we are from Melbourne it means flying to Sydney and flying home from Auckland. However price wise this will work out cheaper than doing the round trip back to Sydney (go figure!)

We are mainly cruising for the cruise aspect as I have extensively travelled through the interior of NZ.

The bonus for us is that it does stop at some of my favourite places in NZ (Picton and Napier specifically) as well as Hobart. And more importantly the price was good as well.