NZ Cruise

[John Saxton]

Was considering doing the road trip around NZ,however with time constaints (managed to snag the house sitter) the opportunity arose to do a coastal cruise around NZ leaving Brissie later on in the year.

As the cruising lifestyle is something that appeals and this time for only a short period of 14 days this was a chance to see the main points of interest from a coastal perspective.

Anyone done one of these cruises and if so what are their thoughts on highlights that have stood out and what would be a "not to miss" occasion?

Cheers:)

[Grumpy John]

Hi John, dud you ever gut to do the uNZud cruise. I'm planning to do a cruise there un December thus year :rolleyes:.

I've got 2 choices:
This (http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=25301) cruise, that has the advantage of leaving from Melbourne. Downside is that the ship itself doesn't get a lot of favourable reviews and does not visit the Bay of Islands, a place I've been wanting to visit for a long time.
This (http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=28053) cruise, run by Celebrity (the same company I did the Alaska cruise with) gets excellent reviews and visits the Bay of Islands. Downside is that it leaves from Sydney and there'll be the extra costs of airfares invloved.
I'm leaning toward the Celebrity cruise as I was very happy with the standards set on the other cruise I did with them.

[John Saxton]

Hi John,

Considering the cheap fares these days with the competitive nature a cruise to NZ is good value.

Your cruise links only went to a travel agents web site not showing a particular cruise.

We left from Brisbane on the Sun Princess( 14 nights) nominally because we got a good deal through our travel agent.

We did'nt go to the Bay of Islands (we had been there before ) so was not really concerned.

Milford Sound cruising was terrific,Dunedin we went to Speights Brewery and did a tour with a lot of beers at the end of the tour.Then went to Cadbury's chocolate factory for a tour there.

Next was Akaroa a nice little coastal village with a French flavour as the Frenchies once attempted to lay claim to NZ....some nice walks around the village.

Wellington we went up to the Botannical gardens and also a trip to TePapa their Musuem in the city.

Napier was another stop went up TeMata peak for a coastal look with great views and lunch at a local pub with plenty of nice dark ales.

Tauranga we did'nt do any sightseeing just wandered about the town did'nt do the Rororua thing as many of the pax did.

Last stop was Auckland and we did the hop on hop off bus tour aroung the burgs as well as checking out the zoo but filled the day in,Quite impressed with the zoo layout and I have seen a few around this old earth.

We get a special deal pricewise on our cruises with the loyalty factored in it makes for an easy time on the pocket in fact we have 2 further cruises this year to Russia/ USA and a South American one later on.

Hope you decide to go and enjoy yourself seeing the country from the outside in.

Cheers:D

[Grumpy John]

Sorry the links didn't work, here's a screenshot of what you should have seen.

Dawn Princess

201488


Celebrity Solstice

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[John Saxton]

Hi John

I reckon the deal on the Celebrity Solstice looks the goods have not sailed on this ship however the its the deal I like the look of for one I lie the Itinerary as opposed to the other and the fares looks good too.

We've sailed on the Dawn Princess shes a good ship the crew are great in fact we did 104 nights world cruise on here back in 2010 and we will sail on her again I reckon some time down the track.

One thing though booking too early can cost you, whereas if you leave it until the last couple of monthe the fare will be a lot cheaper with the busy sailing season they cut costs to get heads on beds.

Cheers:)