About To Cruise But Not On The Broads!

[SwanR]

Great to start reading your write up. First time on the M25? Wow! How have you avoided it for so long? 

Your description of your day at Heathrow is so reminiscent of our experience. We managed to get our cases checked in a little earlier than we expected. And then security was quite easy. I think we used the same lounge as you and were a little underwhelmed by it. We wouldn't use that particular one again.

That does sound like a loooooooong journey. Makes me very glad that we made the decision to overnight at Singapore before travelling on to Sydney. You must have been so happy to get onboard the ship.

[Hylander]

I have only just joined your post and crumbs you do like to do things the hard way.     I hold my hat up to you for travelling all that way.   Well done.      The ship looks amazing and so does the weather.      Thank you for posting.    You are not missing much here in the UK as ,   still cold and miserable most of the time.   Enjoy every moment.    

 

[CeePee1952]

11 hours ago, SwanR said:

Great to start reading your write up. First time on the M25? Wow! How have you avoided it for so long? 

Your description of your day at Heathrow is so reminiscent of our experience. We managed to get our cases checked in a little earlier than we expected. And then security was quite easy. I think we used the same lounge as you and were a little underwhelmed by it. We wouldn't use that particular one again.

That does sound like a loooooooong journey. Makes me very glad that we made the decision to overnight at Singapore before travelling on to Sydney. You must have been so happy to get onboard the ship.

Yep, up until now because we live close to either Birmingham or East Midlands airport, we have always flown abroad from either of those airports except for when we went to Cuba many years ago and that was from Manchester airport! We have booked another Princess cruise holiday - we were very very pleased with the New Zealand cruise so this time we have booked a Caribbean cruise with them (aboard Island Princess) sailing from Fort Lauderdale on 22nd Dec 24 and returning on 5th Jan 25. Flying from Heathrow again (will not be using that Plaza lounge though!) and it's only a 10 hour flight this time  into Miami and then a short "hop" to Fort Lauderdale the next day to meet up with the ship.

Chris and Brenda

[CeePee1952]

Outside Starbucks in Auckland enjoying the local scenery!View of the "back end" of the ship

View over the port side of the ship while berthed in AucklandSomeone is happy! G&T time in the atrium of the ship while waiting for the cases to be delivered to our cabin!

[SwanR]

11 hours ago, CeePee1952 said:

Flying from Heathrow again (will not be using that Plaza lounge though

I think it was the Aspire lounge that we used in Terminal 5 and wouldn’t do that one again either. 

Great that you enjoyed it so much that you’ve booked another cruise. Loving seeing your photos. 

[CeePee1952]

Day 2

Our first stop after leaving Auckland was the Bay of Islands. We had booked an excursion to see part of the Manginangina Reserve followed by a visit to the glow worm caves. There is no harbour as such for the cruise liner to dock so access to the mainland was by water shuttle provided by the cruise ship. Once on land we boarded our tour coach and set off for the Reserve. Our coach driver was an ex Dutch airline pilot who had emigrated to New Zealand some 20 years ago and proved to have a great sense of humour! On the way to the Reserve he explained about the continuing problem with possums (introduced from Australia!) and how they are slowly destroying both the habitat and certain wildlife! They are mainly active at night time and he said that if you are driving along a road at night and see a pair of twinkling eyes in front of you - don't stop! If you can still see the eyes in your rear view mirror - then reverse back at high speed!!  Hmmm 

When we arrived at the Reserve - we were led by a tour guide through part of it and shown the different types of habitat that flourish in the area.  There were also numerous possum traps around to try and stop the possums destroying everything - they really are a problem there!

Next stop was a lunch break in a local village before travelling onto the glow worm caves. This village had a unique public toilet establishment. After about 30 mins we set off for the caves.  This was another guided tour and proved to be very interesting.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the caves so as to protect the environment and the glow worms (plus the camera flash would obliterate the glow worms "glow" anyway!).  At the end of the tour we were taken back to where the water shuttles were waiting for us and after passing through a security check to make sure we were'nt bringing any prohibited items back on board, we flopped in our cabin before getting ready for dinner that evening. The next two days would be spent at sea as our next port of call would be Sydney! I'll insert a couple of pics here and put the rest in a separate post.

Chris and Brenda

[CeePee1952]

Part of the unusual public toilets!

The unique floor design in the male toilets!

No mistaking the entrance to the ladies loo!

These were various glass bottles/jars etc that were inlaid into concrete in front of the loos

IMG_1728.HEIC

[CeePee1952]

Day 2 continued/....

The glow worm cave was fascinating, we have never seen so many glow worms in one place!

 

[CeePee1952]

Day 5

Ok, so Days 3 and 4 were spent at sea as we made our way from the Bay of Islands across the Tasman Sea towards Sydney. It got a bit "lumpy" during the crossing and although Brenda and myself were ok, there were a few passengers who didn't quite enjoy that crossing and looked a bit green around the gills 

We arrived in Sydney early in the morning on Day 5 and after breakfast we made our way to the Princess theatre on board where we would get our orange sticker which denoted what excursion we were doing and at what time we could disembark.  We had opted for the "Hop on Hop off" bus tour as this was the best way to see quite a bit of Sydney in the time we had ashore.

Once off the ship, we made our way to the area where we would get our tickets for the bus. Then it was a case of waiting for the next bus to turn up which arrived within ten minutes.  We managed to get seats up top on the open top double decker and had a good view as we journeyed through and around the city.  A good commentary was provided (through headphones that were free) and we passed many of the main sights that Sydney had to offer.  I was impressed how clean the city was but amazed at how many traffic lights there were!!  At one point we were driven through Sydney's Red Light area (unfortunately it was midday so there wasn't a lot happening ). The tour lasted about two and a half hours and was well worth the price we paid.  Once we had finished, we decided to go and get a bite to eat and looked for a suitable pub/cafe.  Most of the pubs were very busy but we found a small cafe on a street corner and we both ordered a sandwich and a drink.  The sandwiches were massive and we were so glad that we didn't order anything else to go with them!  We got back to the ship suitably stuffed and had a few hours in the cabin before going on deck to watch the departure out of Sydney and the start of another two day crossing down to the Fiordland National Park on the west coast of New Zealands South Island.

Chris and Brenda

In the berth with Sydney harbour bridge in the background

No description neeeded 

If you look carefully - there are people walking over the top of the bridge!

 

somewhere in the city!

another view of the bridge

waiting for THE sandwich!!

it's arrived!!

waiting to depart Sydney

 

[SwanR]

Fabulous! We also thought how clean the city was. So many views of the harbour bridge from different places but we never got tired of it. I was glad we got the chance to walk across it … note, not over it. No way would I have done that. 😂

Definitely lots of traffic lights with junctions and road layout that reminded us more of America than England. Pedestrians seemed to generally respect the lights as well and wait to cross on their turn. 

[LizG]

When my middle daughter went to Sydney a few years ago - her friend bought tickets for the Bridge walk thinking Sarah would be thrilled - she did do the walk but I don't think she really enjoyed it and needless to say it rained!  They were  bungee jumping off Auckland Harbour bridge when we went under this last holiday!  I must put up a few of my photos to compliment everyone else's - its interesting however finds something different to photo!

[CeePee1952]

Day 6 and 7

Not a lot to post about these two days at sea.  The cruise down across the Tasman Sea towards the South Island was uneventful and compared to the two days crossing to Sydney, the sea was like a duck pond!  We spent the two days just lounging around on the aft decks, making use of the sun beds and relaxing in the glorious sunshine.  The second night at sea was going to be the formal night for dining so late in the afternoon we started to get our formal attire sorted ready for the evening.  Unfortunately, I can no longer get into my military Mess dress (no prizes as to guessing why! ) so I decided to wear my Tux outfit together with my miniature medals. I'd had tiny loops stitched on to the jacket above the pocket so that the pin from the medals clasp wouldn't damage the jacket.  We had made friends with two australian couples and we all met up in the restaurant before attending a show in the theatre.  

After dinner we stopped at the  Piazza in the atrium (centre of the ship) and watched the Captains Champagne Waterfall event unfold.  Passengers were invited to climb the steps next to the tower of glasses and pour a bottle of "champagne" over the tower - we didn't participate as the queue was far too long! Next it was on to the theatre where we were treated to a live production show "Sweet Soul Music".  The show was outstanding and the various artists were brilliant - treating us all to a variety of soul music from the 60's, 70's and 80's.  Once the show had ended we made our way to what had become our "local" bar - Bellinis Bar, where Brenda indulged in her favourite cocktail - Mojito and I got my lips around a few bottles of Corona . Eventually it was time to retire and we went to our cabin, watched a movie on the large flat screen TV and then fell asleep.  The next morning would find us slowly cruising up the Fiordland admiring the incredible scenery around us.

Chris and Brenda

Formal attire for the evening

Champagne tower

Our "local" onboard being served by Michelle who was an exceptionally talented lady!  

[grendel]

3 hours ago, CeePee1952 said:

the sea was like a duck pond!

small, round, flat and full of ducks, with the odd shopping trolley handle poking out of the water?

[CeePee1952]

Thursday 8th Feb 24

Today we arrived at the Fiordland National Park and the day was spent cruising through the various fiords and admiring the beautiful landscape. The ship entered Milford Sound and at a steady 7 knots, we slowly navigated the fiord before doing a 180 degree turn before it got too narrow and we exited and made our way down to the next fiord – Thompson Sound.  Having passed along this Sound we continued on until we met up with Doubtful Sound where we followed its route back out to the open sea.  Then it was on to Breaksea Sound where we followed the fiord around the edge of Resolution Island to finally emerge back on to the open sea via Dusky Sound.

The whole experience was stunning and luckily the weather behaved itself so we managed to spend the entire day up on the top deck and get a good view of the surrounding scenery. The red/black blankets were available free of charge for those who were feeling a bit chilly but the temperature wasn’t that bad so we didn’t bother with them!  Normal evening routine followed and after the obligatory “nightcap” at Bellinis Bar we retired for the night.  The next morning would see us berthed at Port Chalmers where we had booked an excursion to Larnach Castle and Olveston Historic home in Dunedin.

Chris and Brenda

The Fiordland National Park Info sheet

This is the second page but for some unknown reason (and I've tried everything to get it to insert the right way up), it won't!! (not sure if a mod can correct it for me please?)

The Blanket Brigade!

One of the many waterfalls we saw during the day

[CeePee1952]

Friday 9th Feb 24

Early morning arrival at Port Chalmers! Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port for Dunedin city which is approx 15 kms NE of the town by road but only a couple of kms across the water from the port! It's one of two of NZ's deepest container ports and serves as the primary export port for the South Island.  As well as other commodoties, one of the biggest exports is logs, we were told that most of the logs go to China where they are processed and a fair amount of them then come back to NZ as furniture, building material etc!!  Once the ship was berthed we then went through the routine of being assigned coaches for our excursion and then disembarked ready to board our coach for the trip through Dunedin and out to Larnach Castle. Details of that visit will be in the next post.

Chris and Brenda

0600 hrs - just about to enter Port Chalmers

One of many container ships that use the port

We are about to "reverse" onto the berth on the left hand side of the pic (the containers are so placed to stop cruise ship passengers from wandering into the working area of the log depot!)

A view of the log stacks in the log depot prior to the ship berthing, pic taken from our cabin (which is on the starboard side), ship is slowly going astern prior to turning into the berth

[LizG]

My middle daughter got back this morning - she didn't want to come home - she said her trip to Milford Sound was the best but the rest of trip wasn't pretty good as well!  I have prepared the text for my Australian adventure - its just a matter of posting it!