Just off Noordam this week - first time HAL cruiser - NZ 17Dec to 2Jan

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, icat2000 said:

HAL is starting to interest me due to their itineraries. I'm looking for interesting places to go or itineraries that can cover a lot. 

 

Princess 2024 selections besides the one I have booked for that year don't really interest me. 

Like you, I'm always looking for interesting itineraries.  I don't think Australia has the population to keep supporting routine itineraries.  

[icat2000]

Just now, MMDown Under said:

Like you, I'm always looking for interesting itineraries.  I don't think Australia has the population to keep supporting routine itineraries.  

Exactly. How many times can one keep doing the NZ, South Pacific, Tassie, Queensland run. Its gets a little stale when your done it a few times.

 

Besides we have more leave. I love to see more South Pacific runs that go up to Tonga and Samoa and few other islands. 

 

A little bit creativity needed than slapping out the same itineraries each year. 

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, icat2000 said:

Exactly. How many times can one keep doing the NZ, South Pacific, Tassie, Queensland run. Its gets a little stale when your done it a few times.

 

Besides we have more leave. I love to see more South Pacific runs that go up to Tonga and Samoa and few other islands. 

 

A little bit creativity needed than slapping out the same itineraries each year. 

Plus Fiji and its outer islands. Plus Cook Islands and its outer islands.  So many choices in the South Pacific.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

As much as I'd like to see some more interesting local itineraries there are some factors that may impede that concept:

 

1. There are surprisingly few safe harbours around the Australian coast which is why coastal cruises go to the same old ports all the time.

 

2. Small Pacific islands probably don't have the infrastructure to handle ship loads of passengers.

 

3. Cruise ships are getting bigger and bigger and smaller ports are saying no to them.

 

4. Our peak season is also the northern hemisphere winter so American, Canadian, British and European cruisers come down here to escape the cold. What places do they want to see most of all? NZ, Great Barrier Reef and Sydney. 

 

5. Our peak season is not the best time to do some itineraries. It's cyclone season in the South Pacific. Unfortunately most ships bugger off to other regions when our peak season is over leaving very few ships to do the interesting itineraries at the best time for those.

 

6. South Pacific ports are often far apart which would result in a high number of seas days on itineraries to some of those ports. Personally I'd love it but many people want port-intensive itineraries.

 

7. Cost and time. Longer itineraries are more expensive than shorter ones obviously, and long itineraries don't suit a lot of people who only have limited holiday time.

 

Sadly we're a minority group and there aren't enough of us to keep the ships here over our winter. Even Princess has cut back to one ship from the two that used to ply our waters for the first 3-4 years since I started cruising in 2014, and that ship is busy doing the big itineraries.

[icat2000]

A couple of the HAL repos to Australia have some nice stops. So might have to consider looking at them for variety.

[arxcards]

14 hours ago, icat2000 said:

HAL is starting to interest me due to their itineraries. I'm looking for interesting places to go or itineraries that can cover a lot. 

 

Princess 2024 selections besides the one I have booked for that year don't really interest me. 

That is what attracted us to our first HAL cruise - a Fiji cruise for New Years. HAL in themselves are also repetitive, and have almost identical itineraries year to year. Now when I look at the itineraries, nothing stands out until we want to do Fiji again.

 

The last minute addition of Westerdam did change it up a bit this year, but that was a plan B for them when Asia was still largely closed.

[NSWP]

To experience the more interesting itineraries of lines like HAL you really have to get on the aircraft, fly to the Americas or Europe and start your cruise adventures there, so much to see.  I just cannot understand  why people do the same old cruises every year, South Pacific, NZ etc.

 

Standby for incoming, lol.

[lissie]

20 minutes ago, NSWP said:

To experience the more interesting itineraries of lines like HAL you really have to get on the aircraft, fly to the Americas or Europe and start your cruise adventures there, so much to see.  I just cannot understand  why people do the same old cruises every year, South Pacific, NZ etc.

 

Standby for incoming, lol.

Its 11C in Wellington this morning! I'm glad I'm not paying for the experience! I agree have zero interest in local cruising. I will sometimes  travel locally - but if I want a gettaway I just book a nice hotel and restaraunt. 

 

I  read this thread as we have a provisional (ie incredibly low deposit) booking on a HAL trip ex Boston which goes to the Maritimes, Greenland, Iceland - 21 ports in 25 days. It doesn't really matter what the ship is like so long as it doesn't sink and provides a bed breakfast and dinner!  The alternative cruise lines for this itinerary are Ponant, Viking, Regent - a LOT more expensive (and the HAL is not particularly cheap) 

[lissie]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

That is what attracted us to our first HAL cruise - a Fiji cruise for New Years. HAL in themselves are also repetitive, and have almost identical itineraries year to year. Now when I look at the itineraries, nothing stands out until we want to do Fiji again.

 

The last minute addition of Westerdam did change it up a bit this year, but that was a plan B for them when Asia was still largely closed.

Every cruise line does that - there are only so many ports in this part of the world!  Even in Europe where there are so many ports cruise lines do the same circuits - we were on a Med cruise last year and followed the same rival ship around the western Mediterranean for most of a week. 

[Belmont Babe]

1 hour ago, lissie said:

Its 11C in Wellington this morning! I'm glad I'm not paying for the experience! I agree have zero interest in local cruising. I will sometimes  travel locally - but if I want a gettaway I just book a nice hotel and restaraunt. 

 

 

Noordam is still stuck in Wellington by bad weather, but I suppose being forced to stay tied up is better than tossing around trying to get in, for the passengers. Not a nice day to be doing touristy things in Wellington today!

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 hours ago, NSWP said:

To experience the more interesting itineraries of lines like HAL you really have to get on the aircraft, fly to the Americas or Europe and start your cruise adventures there, so much to see.  I just cannot understand  why people do the same old cruises every year, South Pacific, NZ etc.

 

Standby for incoming, lol.

Long distance flights! 

 

That says it all!

[MMDown Under]

16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Long distance flights! 

 

That says it all!

For a number of years, I have flown EVA Air overseas.  Business class north from Brisbane to London via Taiwan, with enough time in Bangkok for a shower and delicious tropical fruit/food of your choice. From London/Europe, there are endless cruise possibilities, in all price ranges.    

[lissie]

22 hours ago, Belmont Babe said:

Noordam is still stuck in Wellington by bad weather, but I suppose being forced to stay tied up is better than tossing around trying to get in, for the passengers. Not a nice day to be doing touristy things in Wellington today!

Yes I saw that! Bizarre itinerary - the "cruise" to Picton take 3.5 hours and is very scenic - yet they were planning on doing it overnight?? What a waste 

[lissie]

18 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Long distance flights! 

 

That says it all!

You get creative - we are flying to Boston from NZ for a cruise this year - Hawaiian does direct to Boston from HNL so we  considered a stop over there. In the end we wil ljust go with the 4 hour layover - at least it splits the legs equally. 

[arxcards]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:48 AM, lissie said:

Every cruise line does that - there are only so many ports in this part of the world!  Even in Europe where there are so many ports cruise lines do the same circuits - we were on a Med cruise last year and followed the same rival ship around the western Mediterranean for most of a week. 

That is true. It was a slightly different itinerary that made HAL attractive in the first place, so that point of difference is no longer there. While we don't have the appetite for anything grand in the next 18 months, when we do, the Princess free laundry will win out for distant cruising if all else is nearly equal.

[NSWP]

19 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Long distance flights! 

 

That says it all!

Fair enough Julie, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get on those infernal flying machines to see new places.✈️🚢

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Fair enough Julie, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get on those infernal flying machines to see new places.✈️🚢

No I don't. I'll just board Coral Princess in Sydney and she'll take me right around the world! 😊😊😊

[icat2000]

40 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

No I don't. I'll just board Coral Princess in Sydney and she'll take me right around the world! 😊😊😊

WC is something I've looked at but I still can't pull trigger.  I would love to see another Cruise to South America that stated ended in OZ same to Africa.

Edited January 8, 2023 by icat2000

[NSWP]

58 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

No I don't. I'll just board Coral Princess in Sydney and she'll take me right around the world! 😊😊😊

Yes, way to go.   Your worldie is not that far away - May. We did half worldie on Arcadia, Sydney to Southampton, via Africa in 2012. It was great but 49 days was enough for me.

[NSWP]

22 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

WC is something I've looked at but I still can't pull trigger.  I would love to see another Cruise to South America that stated ended in OZ same to Africa.

You would have to win the lotto to do the full Worldie Sarah., BIG bikkies.

Edited January 9, 2023 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, lissie said:

You get creative - we are flying to Boston from NZ for a cruise this year - Hawaiian does direct to Boston from HNL so we  considered a stop over there. In the end we wil ljust go with the 4 hour layover - at least it splits the legs equally. 

Great route to fly avoiding LAX.  Hawaiian people make long distant stopovers more enjoyable.  We did that once en route to Hawaii (Big island), as it was less expensive.  At one stage, I looked at flying to Alaska via Hawaii.  I learnt to make the flights part of the holiday,  When I used to fly with Air NZ, we stopped at all the South Pacific islands on their routes to USA/UK.   

[icat2000]

8 minutes ago, NSWP said:

You would have to win the lotto to do that Sarah., BIG bikkies.

I have to slum it in interior. But I know Princess did it a couple years back 78 days. Also repo cruises are good too.

Edited January 9, 2023 by icat2000

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

I have to slum it in interior. But I know Princess did it a couple years back 78 days.

107 nights this year. 

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

107 nights this year. 

I would have to sign myself into rehab for alcohol poisoning on return, but then again I could go see Dr Bob and Bill W daily.

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I would have to sign myself into rehab for alcohol poisoning on return, but then again I could go see Dr Bob and Bill W daily.

Get a premier package so you can have unlimited sugar-loaded desserts on top of your alcohol poisoning, then roll off the ship to visit Dr Jenny Craig.