Nov. 1, 2023 - Hey there, everyone! Starting a blog here to record our epic adventure to Australia and New Zealand at the end of the year. This trip has been a long time in the making. It started as the glimmer of an idea about 4 years ago (after I retired) when I thought about booking us on a re-positioning cruise across the Pacific Ocean to get to Australia and be time-acclimated when we got there. However, a couple of things worked to scotch that idea. First, repositioning cruises (when cruise lines move their ships to Australia in time for cruising season in Australia) generally leave/arrive in Australia in their late Spring (e.g., in September) when Australia weather is quite cool. In addition - and who would've thought - they are actually very popular cruises, meaning they book up months (try almost a year) in advance! So, that idea went by the boards and in the meantime, our thoughts turned to a European River Cruise combined with a once in a lifetime chance to see the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany in the summer of 2020.
Well - we all know what happened in 2020 - COVID! We had our River cruise booked and paid for and then it all got cancelled. The Passion Play was rescheduled for the summer of 2022 but by late fall 2021 we started getting notifications from our tour company that while the cruise might go on, we might not be able to do the shore excursions we had planned as Europe was still 'recovering' from COVID and suffering from staff shortages in many venues. So, in January 2022, we pulled the plug on the rescheduled river cruise (and lost a fair chunk of money) and said "oh well."
Skip forward to August of 2022 and suddenly I was ready to start thinking about Australia again. I began by looking just for cruises that would take us to both Australia (AU) and New Zealand (NZ). Wasn't having much luck. I could find lots of cruises to/around AU and other cruises around NZ - but no cruises that combined the two - and especially at the time of year we wanted to travel (during AU/NZ's summer which is Dec-Feb). Finally, I went on the website for Princess cruises and found a deal on a combination 6-day Australia land tour and 2 -week NZ cruise that seemed perfect! Had a chat with the hubby about timing, and cost and in early September 2022 was ready to book our great adventures for Dec 2023-Jan 2024.
We have booked (and since paid for) a 21-day journey that begins on Thursday, December 14, 2023, and returns us home to PA on Friday, January 5, 2024! We booked everything through Princess.com. I told Carl, since this is a bucket-list trip, that I didn't want to go 'cheap' so we booked a mini-suite on the ship (the Majestic Princess approx. 3,000 passengers) with a premium package that gives us drinks and wifi, a couple of specialty meals onboard, and some other goodies). The only place we went 'cheap' (which I may regret) is on the airfare because I just couldn't bring myself to pay for 1st class or other premium airfares.
The Majestic Princess can accommodate 3560 guests and 1346 crew, and was built in 2017. It was originally designed for the Asian market, but was then repurposed for the Australian and US markets. It boasts 19 decks and 1780 passenger cabins. Our assigned cabin is R338 on the Riviera Deck (Deck 14).
Over the next several months I also added a number of shore excursions at our various stops in NZ. I actually booked 2 different Lord of the Rings excursions but got notified by Princess in Aug/September that "for reasons outside their control" both had been cancelled. When I tried contacting Princess to confirm this and figure something else out, I did not have much luck and in fact, the Princess rep. I spoke with actually said that as far as they could tell, both excursions were still on our itinerary! However, in October, credit for the excursions was back on my credit card so I had to go in and select new excursions. The visit to the Hobbiton set is now permanently gone (we've subbed in a Maori cultural experience) but the Lord of the Rings studio visit and film site tour is now available again, so I re-booked that.
The only other pre-cruise headache has been our airfare! We booked it as soon as it was available to book through the Princess EZAir program back in February. However, since then, flight schedules have changed - that's airline changes sort of outside Princess' control. The result is that our first connection on our way to AU is really tight! We leave Harrisburg, PA at 1:55 pm. on Dec. 14 and are scheduled to arrive in Philadelphia at something like 2:56 p.m. and have to catch our next flight at 3:55 p.m. for LAX! That is very tight indeed. I tried calling Princess about that but the reps I've talked to all "claim" we have enough time for the plane change, even though their website keeps flashing a warning notice that we really should have at least 90 minutes between flights. I can't get anyone at Princess concerned about our short transfer time. All they do is give me the 1-800 # for Princess EZAir to call WHEN I actually miss a connection! Does not make me very happy! Oh - and when I first tried to resolve this and either find an earlier flight out of Harrisburg or a slightly later flight out of Philadelphia, the agent was 'very accommodating' but came up with totally different flights (flying into/out of different cities) - at an extra cost of $3000! I just about had a cow! I said NO and told them in no uncertain terms that I was NOT going to pay an extra $3000 when I had originally booked flights that had more than adequate transfer time between flights! We shall just have to wait and see.
The next airfare glitch was a notice about a month ago about a change in our return flight schedule that resulted in us arriving at LAX on Jan. 5 at 9 a.m. and having to catch our next connection at 10:50 a.m. (that bothered me because I don't think that gives us enough time to clear customs). Again, I called Princess to express my concern and they 'assured' me we'd have enough time (hah!). But 2 weeks ago, I got another notice about yet another change in our return flight and now our connection in LAX doesn't leave until 12:15 p.m - that's more like it!
We are now about 6 weeks out from our big trip. I've worked hard to get things lined up and in place (I'm a big believer) in being "prepared." I've got converters for electric items we need to plug in; I've bought some necessary travel accessories; we've arranged for rides to/from the airport going and coming back; we've enlisted friends to shovel snow if it happens while we're gone; we've gotten our AU and NZ travel visas; and I've arranged for an overnight stay at a hotel near the Harrisburg airport on our way back (since we won't arrive until almost midnight on Jan. 5). I've also arranged for most of our household bills to be on autopay. Two items I will need to do a little closer to our departure date is arrange to get some AU/NZ currency through AAA and to put our mail on hold with the Post Office.
These last 6 weeks are going to fly by!
Comments
Post a Comment