February 1, 2026 Auckland, New Zealand
Today was a long day. Our flight to Vancouver departed Auckland airport at 8:30 p.m. (= Vancouver time on Jan. 31 11:30 p.m.; a 21 hour time difference) on time. We crossed four time zones as we flew over the Pacific Ocean. In all, for the 42 days cruise, we had one excursion cancelled and notified in October; the Conflict Islands stop was cancelled in December, but we had the excursion refunded on the ship; both Phillip Island and Kangaroo Island in the first 14 days were cancelled excursions which were refunded. The next 14 days no excursions affected but the Townsville port was cancelled and an extra day in Cairns due to a future cancelled port. The final 14 days had two ports cancelled but we had excursions planned for them which were refunded. Our final bill was a refundable credit of over $1,100 USD. We received a complimentary dinner for two at the Canaletto specialty restaurant for our 90 minutes bobbing in a tender boat in the storm. Plus there was a ...