JDincalif

Good that you found something suitable. We were fortunate to find a lower rate than you were quoted for our stay at the Park Hyatt.

There's also a shop in the Ferry Building.

Another vote for the Park Hyatt Auckland here. Great location, excellent restaurant and service and our spacious comfortable room was well designed with surprising details.

For which we, JD, are truly grateful🤭

TMBG and Humphry Slocumbe ice cream - delightful combination!

J thought the same thing! "Hand scooped" is the usual term in our neck of the woods (or at least in our house).

We experienced that on a different cruise line two months ago. The cabin attendant told us that bathrobes would be collected the evening prior to disembarkation. Totally understandable.

Check with your cruise line about whether your child will require a passport from travel. Check the US Department of State steps to get passports for those under age 16.

Hoka fans here too. The GoreTex Hokas are good for light to moderate showers; for anything more J uses rubber rain boots. Agree that a large light packable water resistant jacket over warmer layers offers the most versatile coverage.

We used Shore Excursions Group successfully and without any issues in southern Spain last November. What we do like about the site are the search function - enter the ship and itinerary dates for a list of what's available - and that the tours provide pickup at the port rather than requiring one to travel to a central/hotel location.

Speaking for the Viking Sky passengers, we were given only life vests, which those who remained aboard the Sky through the crisis wore nonstop for about 20 hours. We saw no survival suits among the passengers or the valiant Sky crew. At the same time, nine crew members of the nearby Haglund Captain cargo ship had to abandon ship, plunging directly into the water in survival suits, where all were successfully rescued by helicopters that had originally responded to the Sky. *That* must have been absolutely terrifying for those crew members Hypothermia, the threats of being dashed against the rocks or drowning in the high seas made the idea of survival suits cold comfort indeed 😉

Usually there's a concentrator attachment with the hair dryer in the room, but we haven't seen diffusers. Good suggestion from AMHuntFerry to ask for one since at the very least these would be available in the salon.

We're stunned and saddened to learn of your unexpected diagnosis Our thoughts, and those of everyone in this community, we're sure, will remain with you through this new health challenge.

We hope that healing comes sooner rather than later. Our thoughts are with you both.

To everyone in our Sky community: Our warmest wishes for happy holidays and all good things in the year to come.

Regarding the Search function on this site: It's sometimes faster and easier to use Google or similar, entering (topic/question)+Cruise Critic in the Search bar.

Simple tastes and palates are just as 'discerning' as more critical ones. Enjoy! Anthony Bourdain has been credited with the quote "Good food is very often, even most often, simple food."

As an alternative to an actual suite or an actual wall, Regent has some good-sized rooms where the sleeping and living areas can be screened off by floor to ceiling curtains, giving a modicum of privacy.

"When the Giant Cruise Ships Came to Town", a five minute New Yorker documentary, gives a glimpse of how the fortunate residents of Gamle Stavanger experience these port days https://youtu.be/XK2F1SeBQXY?feature=shared

Among the cruise lines we've experienced, Regent is closest to the Viking experience, offering a high quality experience without unnecessary stuffiness. We also enjoyed the Azamara experience which to be fair was also enhanced by the "halo effect" of two consecutive sunny warm weeks in the Norwegian fjords.

Thanks for this information - it'll be useful to us as we plan for our Great Lakes cruise on Octantis next May. Have to confess though that the 'World Cafe' wasn't the first thing to come to mind when we saw 'WC' 🤭

Didn't realize that this was a rhetorical question.🤭 We were on an Auckland-Sydney voyage (not with Viking) early this year where more than half the port stops were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, the sort of thing that's listed in the contract as ineligible for any compensation. Looks like Viking has offered you some voucher compensation for the missed ports? Not as gratifying as getting to all of the ports or a cash refund but more than many lines would offer.

Significant issues are hard to predict 😊. Without going into specifics we've found in similar circumstances that, working together with Viking and our TA, vouchers have been issued or reissued and honored without question. Refunds in any form apart from vouchers are rare. So we reapply our vouchers to new adventures (rather than risk losing them entirely). We've sometimes not had precisely the voyages we'd planned but found ways to enjoy the voyages that we got

Hi, OTJ! We're going on the Octantis from Milwaukee to Toronto next May, so we can give you an update then if you like!

We have Leki poles that have been priceless during icy winter excursions. We pack them in checked luggage.