Cruising the South Pacific & New Zealand

This web site is to share with you what we've experienced in our cruise on the Holland America Zaadam to the South Pacific and New Zealand. It does not go into all of the excursions and trips you can take while in a port. We just want to let you know what you will find when you dock or anchor, especially for the smaller ports. Even with the internet and the Cruise Critic web site, we had plenty of questions to ask. We hope this site helps.

ATMs: Most of the South Pacific ports are so small that they do not have ATMs. If there is no mention about ATMs, it means that an ATM is available at a nearby bank.

Internet: There was no free internet in the South Pacific (except Pago Pago) and in New Zealand. Some ports offered internet that was cheaper than the cruise ships. The rates on our ship were $0.75 per minute, 100 minutes for $55, or 250 minutes for $100. McDonalds often had free internet.

Online newspaper: The Holland America ship we were on had free access to the New York Times website as long as the web page address started with, www.nytimes.com. This meant that New York Times blogs and most of the movie and television reviews were not accessible.