We paid a $2 deposit back in June for two New Zealand cruises. One on the Norwegian Jewel and one on the Majestic Princess. After much discussion and tooing and froing we decided to go with the Majestic Princess. It worked out better value in the end for the three of us plus I am pretty sure on the Majestic the third bed is an actual bed and not just the sofa made up as a bed. I guess I'll find out in January!
The cruise is a 12 nighter to New Zealand doing both North and South Islands. We leave on Friday 25 January, just before Australia Day and get back on Wednesday 6 February. Hopefully the weather will be lovely and we'll be able to get in to see the fiords.
Now that we've paid for our cruise, the final was due at the end of October, I could log in and complete all our details and we can also prebook our tours or restaurants on board if we want. We won't do any of the paid for restaurants by may book a tour or two although having had a look at them they're pretty pricey! The main one I wanted to book isn't so much a tour but the bus to Christchurch from Akaroa. It's $90pp which seems like a lot for a 3 hour (return) bus trip but I don't think we'll have any choice if we want to get to Christchurch. Akaroa is a small place and from the searching I've done there are no car hire places. The last time I was in Christchurch was 2001 way before the earthquake and I'd really love to see how they're recovering since the earthquake.
Other stops we have are Auckland, Tauranga (both of which mum and I went to on our Ovation of the Seas cruise in 2017), Wellington and Dunedin plus scenic cruising the Sounds (fingers crossed as they are quite often cancelled due to the weather).
I'm hoping they have shuttle buses to Tauranga, which I am sure they will, as where we dock is actually Mt Manganui which mum and I have already seen and walked around. Auckland, not sure what we'll do here just know one thing we WON'T do and that's climb the Auckland Harbour Bridge (right mum!!), maybe we can jump of Skytower (just kidding mum). Possibly get a ferry somewhere or just walk around town.
Wellington I'd like to do the cable car and go to Cuba St to see the funky bucket fountain. The cable car's $5pp one way ($9 return) so we can catch it up and then wander back down through the gardens, if it's a nice day that is.
The exchange rate at the moment is about AU$1 to NZ$1.06 so pretty even really.
I've booked a hotel in Sydney for the night before the cruise and the train for mum and dad, haven't booked my flights yet. Not sure if I'll fly down the night before or the morning of, most probably the night before just in case there are flight issues on the day of. I'll also have to book my car in at the airport and organise travel insurance. I'll probably go through either Budget Direct or Woolworths as they both seem to be about the cheapest, there are a few cheaper but they don't have very good reviews. Hopefully we won't have to use our insurance but you just never know!
We've got a balcony cabin on the Marina deck which is just below the Lido deck and the buffet! It looks to be in a good spot but I guess any cabin on a ship is a good spot :-)
82 days and counting!
