AND maybe on sale for end of season....

Especially if you love 'possum. ;)

Well, this answers the "should I pack the fleece sweatshirt?" question.

Weather Underground has a great feature where you can put in your city, pick a month and year and then view the chart for the weather that month.
Here is the weather for Auckland Nov 2009:

That is a very cool planning tool Karen!
I just did a packing test run. Not too bad although I'm sure it could be slimmed down a bit. Gotta love Chicos travelers stuff!

Thx, Karen. I have gone in the past years area on Wunderground but haven't seen the calendar. That's really neat. Will go investigate the other cities.

Thanks, Karen. I've never noticed the calendar on Weather Underground. I like to use Weather Underground's Trip Planner feature for each city. See: Trip Planner . You specify a range of dates for each city and it gives you lots of information and averages for those dates in each year back to 1996. Seeing all those years helps me avoid relying on data from an atypically warm or cold month. Here's what you would see for a search on Sydney from Nov. 14 - 18. Trip Planner: Sydney, Nov. 14 - 18 . If you click on View Historical Calendars, you'll get to Karen's calendars.

We are in cabin 925

Thx, Dave, I'll have to play around with Wunderground some more.


M&C, I'll update your cabin #.

OK so the packing process is beginning!!! We have never been gone on a vacation for 3 weeks so could use any suggestions for packing. Thanks.

Pack black and no one will know you wore the same thing twice. Pack for one week and send your clothes out. Pack layers and dual purpose stuff.

For evening clothes, I usually pack one pair of white and one pair of black slacks. Then I can switch off tops.

Black chicos travelers top, pants and skirt. Just add scarves, necklaces or belts or a jacket to change it up. Chicos makes some great reversible jackets too. And no, I don't work for them, I just spend most of my money there!

We're all going to look like we're sharing wardrobes.

Chico's stays in business with us faithful cruisers!!

Hubby Tom and I are doing the whole enchilada, all the way to San Francisco, even though we will be about 100 miles from home when we stop in Hilo! We managed to get a small concession from Regent ie: their wanting to route us through California on the flight to Sydney. We are flying one day early and staying in a hotel at our expense but they are waiving the deviation fee. The downside is that they are not providing transportation to SFO at the end of the cruise even though that flight has not changed.
Noel

Hi Noel,

I'll add you and Tom to our roll call. There is at least one more LCTer cruising with you from Sydney-San Francisco and others getting on in Auckland. See you in a few weeks.

Noel, sometimes I think it is easier and quicker to get yourself to the airport after a cruise via taxi. Sometimes with Regent air, I've had "hurry up and wait", and then have been put out from a coach at some part of the airport with no porters or carts available.

You all will have a great time. Noel, sorry I won't be there to play trivia with you and Tom !!

Anyone heard anything re the Christchurch stop? A friend's brother who lives there says they're still having problems with frequent and sometimes strong aftershocks.

Yes there was one just this week - I saw in the newspaper. I wonder if we will have a sea day or a substitute port.

I hope you won't miss Christchurch! I so enjoyed visiting the botanical gardens there. But, I am a flower lover!

2 cruise ships have called there so far ,as the season gets under way.
Sapphire and Sun Princess.
Reports coming back say that everything is operating as normal.
Today the City put on a huge free concert in Hagley Park , so things are settling down, but they are still getting aftershocks and locals are pleading for them to stop.

Thanks. If those megaships are able to stop there, surely Navigator can.

Your update is greatly appreciated, David. After hearing of some continued, strong aftershocks, I called Tauck to see if our stop in Christchurch is still a "go." Tauck reported things are going as scheduled with no real issues reported from tour groups there now.

Three weeks from today - New Zealand!!! First stop for us - 4 days in Bay of Islands!! All tours in Bay of Islands, set; TranzAlpine excursion, set! I snagged some great tour discounting and 2-for-1 fares for TranzAlpine! Let the countdown begin!

I have been looking at the Christchurch newspaper every few days and it sounds like business as usual. Even the normal # of people not happy with the lack of speed by the insurance companies. Somethings are the same the world over it seems. Had read about the concert Dave mentioned so haven't been too concerned. Even though I live in a hurricane area, I do know earthquakes come without warning. Sure would hate to miss it.
This morning I made my usual pre-cruise trip to Chico's and Talbot's, so it's starting to feel real.

kiwigirl over on the Australia-NZ board on cc has reported numerous aftershocks. She went to the concert in Christchurch and reports, " Didn't feel any aftershocks at all either - although the ground was rocking from the music anyway! " She also reports that the people of Christchurch are excited about the cruise season beginning.

There was another one this afternoon.
Seems they are getting smaller, but are much shallower and closer , hence although only small , they feel a lot bigger.
Hopefully a sign that things are settling down.

Thanks, again, David, for the update. Hopefully, for residents and visitors, the aftershocks diminish very soon. Alan and I are so looking forward to visiting your beautiful country!

Marcie, we will surely miss you and Tom at trivia, hopefully we can find some good replacements! As far as after shocks, we are used to small earthquakes all the time as we live on an island with a very active volcano!

Fellow Dingbats, I just found this blog via Princess about Napier:

http://50essentialexperiences.com/2010/10/25/art-deco-treasures-from-tragedy/#more-498

Just realized we don't have a transfer to our hotel in Sydney prior to the cruise. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
Cheron

We usually take a taxi, about $30.00 -$40.00 in Sydney. In Asia we sometimes have the hotel send a car for us. We always have the currancy of the country on us.
There are trains and buses but after a long flight I just want to get to the hotel and go to bed.....Pat

I am using a shuttle service called SydneyAirporter from the airport to the hotel. I already have the reservation and have paid online. I think it was $12.50 AD. I am only 1 person so assuming it will be times 2 for a couple. I made this reservation on my laptop - no printer. Suggest you do it on a computer with a printer, since they had to resend my receipt.

Betty, this is a silly question but you know you can plug your laptop into your printer with a usb cord? Or maybe you mean you were away from home and your printer at the time?

Betty, I just printed out the email receipt after paying.

Cheron, Here's the website . From the information I received, it's an easy pick up near the Meeting Point, which is situated on ground floor at arrivals, next to the Travellers Services Desk, this is where our representative will be to meet you. Please look for KST Sydney Airporter buses with distinctive Sydney Airporter Logo and KST representative wearing an approved KST Sydney Airporter ID card.

Thanks for posting that info, I had forgotten that I need to book a transfer. Now it's done!

Thanks so much everyone for the transfer information. It was very helpful.

you will all have such a great time

Thanks for the link, Beth, and to Betty for alerting us to this service. Not sure what I will do yet to get to hotel in Sydney in February, haven't even booked it yet.