erniebernie

We have just booked Vancouver,Alaska and finish in San Fransico September 2024,Would like to have carried on and finished in Auckland but there is a lot of sea days in between.So im sure I will have a few/a lot questions for you knowledgeable folk out there 🙂

Hi we are after any hotel recomendations  mid range  and would prefer not at the top of a hill.

Good afternoon from beautiful day here in Kirwee New Zealand we are looking at doing a b 2 b cruise that includes ending and starting in S.F and was wondering if we will have time to do a couple of touristy things, Alctraz being one of them.Also looking at cabins in  1058 to 1087 range or obstructed view Deck 4. Any helpful hints would be welcome. Thanx Allison.

Goodmorning all from a lovely sunny morning here in Kirwee Christchurch NZ expected temp today is 27c .We are in our level 2 lockdown which means we have to sign in and out of shops,buisnesses etc and fewer people at gatherings  and lots of concerts and sports game cancelled... BUT Auckland is in level 3 which means go home stay home! Shops shut except for supermarkets and chemists  all because some moron who was feeling unwell (rest of his family in isolation due to positive covid results) went to work,the gym, university and several other places to meet people. That unknow person is not very popular in NZ:). Our daughter and Grandson had just returned home from Auckland when lockdown went into force. They are now feeling unwell so have had their nasty test and are  awaiting results in isolation. Fingers crossed. 

Hi all our cruises on Cunard have been in inside cabins nothing grand like QG or PG but still wonderful to us.The service has been excellent treated like royality:) By booking inside cabins we can do twice as many cruises than if we booked any Grills.

We took out travel insurance with a "Cancel for any reason " clause for our now non existant Alaska cruise  and on claiming on it as the cruise was cancelled we were then told they would not have paid out  on anything Covid related!  

Thank you all for your replies  Colin-Cameron I will try and find video  and oskidunker if for some reason we cant do our long awaited for Alaska cruise I think we might do San Fran to Australia.

Goodmorning to you all  I am wondering if any Cunard ships have gone to Hawaii as part of a cruise to or from somewhere?  I dont recall seeing it anywhere. Just thinking about our next cruises long long way in the future. Regards Allison  

Or New Zealand!!

We thought it was too good to be true...after 100 days of no contact transmission New Zealand now has 17 cases found in community and more to be expected so as of miday yesterday Auckland has moved to Level 3 and in lockdown while the rest of the country has moved to Level 2 .  which means  those of us not in Auckland have to do social distancing and  signing into stores which in the grand scheme of things is no great bother. Government havent decided if masks will be manditory or not  so while we wait im making "Sock Masks"  with newly bought sock😁. And now for the weather... its Winter here in New Zealand  and here in the South Island we have been getting days of 14,16, and 18 degrees C which is amazing but sadly the snow on mountains near us is fast disapearing. Mt Hutt  and inland Kaikoras. Sadly we cancelled our travel insurance yesterday for our 2021 Alaska cruise  but on a pleasant note the money was in the bank the very next day!! Stay safe everyone.

Hello everyone from Kirwee NZ it has been a beautiful day here 22deg C  not to bad for half way through the first month of Winter but we have been told it will all turn to Custard for the weekend high of 9deg. Anyway after 24 Covid free days we have been told we now have 2 new cases in  people returning home from UK they were allowed out of quarantine on compassionate grounds .We have now been told no more exemptions will be given. They were on a flight from UK via Doha via Brisbane then Auckland so they could have picked it up anywhere. It sure is a petty nasty bug. Hope everyone is well Regards Allison

Bazzaw,  boy are you lucky getting your flights refunded  we booked NZ to Vancouver then Tokyo  NZ  with Air New Zealand and we  ( as in nz) have been told we will not get refunds only credits for our flights!!   Very annoying as with so many people losing their jobs a lot of them can no longer afford to travel overseas. We re booked our cruise today Vancouver- Japan for next September and found we cant use our FCC for the deposit and we are to pay a NON RFEUNDABLE deposit but we will do it as we want to go on the cruise which im sure will be worth it in the end. Allison

Goodmorning all from a beautiful Autumnal day here in Kirwee Christchurch NZ at the moment its 8deg c hope to get to 13 had a decent frost this morning. We had  our cruise from Vancouver to Japan  in September this year cancelled so have been humming and hawwing about what to do next so I have made the decision to re book now for next year instead of waiting to see what might or might not happen  as this has been in the pipeline for a few years and will be so upset if we leave it till later and find its booked out,my biggest worry at the moment is trying to get an answer from Air New Zealand reguarding our booked and paid for flights  they are not very forthcoming at the moment with information. I tried to get flight refund from travel insurance company and was told " Your flights have not been cancelled yet and we dont cover ANYTHING pandemic related". Very helpfull NOT. Anyway im off to travel agent (being mindful of social distancing) to transfer to our next cruise as Cunard still have our deposit so nothing lost at this stage. Fingers crossed. Allison

HI Bgmike911 WOW how lucky are you to be able to go to a garden center N.Z is in total lockdown only places open are supermarkets,gas stations and chemist shops with the odd fruit/vege store. I work in a garden center and on our last day of freedom before lockdown  we sold over 500 bags of compost& potting mix and nearly every plant,shrub and tree we had instock. Once we get back to normal NZ will be looking beautiful !  Its 11am here in Christchurch NZ and 14 deg c  coming into Autum   expeted high today of 21deg.  I am enjoying reading on here about what people are up to as I like many others are missing our cruise updates.  Allison

We are booked on a Vancouver -Japan cruise in September so not that soon. We are hoping for the best outcome  but prepared for the worst. We will wait and see as we have plenty of time.Thanks for your help

Thank you so much for replying  that is understandable now  but im guessing New Zealand wont have anything different reguarding FCC than anywhere else  but if you have any information on that  by all means let me know.  Hope your lockdown going well. Thanks again.Allison

Definatley still Alaska  but would love to do a Christmas cruise  somewhere it will be cold and snowy.

Goodmorning  I have been reading a lot of infomation about FCC to the point now that I am confused!! Can some nice person please give me a pretty basic run down of it.I know to most of you it will be very clued up on this but im not. Many Thank Allison

Hello to you all from Kirwee  in Christchurch New Zealand like most people we to are in lockdown supposidly till 23rd April? So far we are managing as the weather is good and we are allowed out for excersice/walks as long as we dont pat ramdom dogs and stay more than 2mtr away from everyone. Our only shops open are supermarkets,chemist,gas station and liquor outlets!!!  No takeaway food outlets open even for delivery. Like most other people on CC we have a cruise booked for September Vancouver -Japan  cant see it happening this year. We live in a smallish town so the neighbours have been having a coffee hour where we all stand on one corner of cross roads  and have a chat/yell to each other. Kids ride their bikes in crocodile formation 2mtrs apart great fun for now but im sure that will soon wear off. We have just had a couple of majors stores open for "essential" items  ie washing machines,warm clothing,baby items and.....nail polish remover??? Someone got that wrong. Oh well if thats all we have to grumble out lifes not that bad😃 Off now to supermarket for eggs,milk, bread and friut,we have had a few issues here with some shops hiking up prices $13.00 for a cauliflower!! but PM soon jumped on them and told them to stop. I must say i think our Prime Minister has done a good job in a tuff situation  (i didnt vote for her) . Stay well everyone  and keep up the comments. Allison

Brilliant  thank you both for your reply. We  are on Q027 leaving Vancouver 8th Sept. Thanx

Hi is there anyway to find out what cabins are available on board, looking at changing rooms but want to see whats available first. Thanx Allison

Hi I can only see Guest Speakers up to April on QE  is that all there is showing or am I doing something wrong?  Looking for September 2020. 

Thanks everyone for your replies.  Lakesregion  we dont plan on selling the pieces we get  we buy then because we like them and they will eventually be left for our grand kids  so the more Grand kids we have the more cruises we have to take:)

Hi just wondering if we buy some "Art" while onboard  (thinking a bronze) are we able to take it with us when we leave the ship? We bought some last time we were onboard but they shipped them to us and the freight and customs worked out to be dearer than the item!! Thanx

Hi sfred Thank you so much for that information the PDF is brilliant  so much to see and do.Im sure I will have lots more questions once I have sat down and studied it.The coastal walk looks amazing. Thanks again. Hope those fires are far enough away from you,terrible things. Regards Allison