Thoughts and Opinions on Azmara's Excursions - Australia and New Zealand

We are taking our first cruise on Azmara, February 2018, beginning in Sydney and ending in Auckland.

I would welcome any thoughts and opinions on the quality of the shore excursions offered by Azmara in Australia and New Zealand.

Thank you!

Denise

Could you please post the ports of call. I DIY in Wellington and had a private in Napier..ship tour in Picton. A couple other places did my own thing too. So it would help to knife ports. I do remember enjoying the Amazing Evening.

Could you please post the ports of call. I DIY in Wellington and had a private in Napier..ship tour in Picton. A couple other places did my own thing too. So it would help to knife ports. I do remember enjoying the Amazing Evening.

Hi ellbon!

All are new ports for us, with the exception of Auckland.

Sydney, Australia

Hobart, Tasmania

Dunedin, New Zealand

Akaroa, New Zealand

Picton, New Zealand

Napier, New Zealand

Tauranga, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

Our preference is to arrange private touring. If you have any good recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate your sharing those with us.

What is Amazing Evening? What time of year did you go? Were the seas calm or rough?

Thank you!

Denise

Hi Denise,

We are on the same cruise - looks to be fantastic. This will be our 10th Azamara cruise. I don't know if you have been over to the Roll Call page. If not, go to the Azamara Journey roll calls and you will find our cruise. It's currently on page 2. There you will find a list of people on this same cruise. You will also find info from people who have booked private excursions and are looking for others to join. This roll call is very quiet which is unusual.

We have booked mostly private excursions. We may have availability on the Melbourne excursion that we have booked. If you want to email me at leemaninbox at aol dot com, I can share that info as well as some thoughts about tours that we have booked.

Sue

Hi Sue!

Sorry to say we will not be on your cruise. We are cruising Feb. 8, 2018 and Melbourne is not on our itinerary. Thanks for the welcome and invite, though! I did begin a roll call and one other couple will be joining us, so far. Hoping that list grows!

Have a great cruise!

Denise

We had almost that cruise in January 2016. The ship's tours that we took were with my mom's bad knees in mind.

In Tasmania we had 2 stops. At one we did a ship tour that went to Historic Richmond, a vineyard, and a historic house in Hobart. I felt that the vineyard stop was very quick. I enjoy historic homes and enjoyed learning about the history of the area through that medium. Richmond was cute little town that was nice to walk around. At the beginning we looked a pretty church. Then we were dropped at a car park in the town for about an hour or so of free time.

The Azamazing evening was an orchestra concert near the ship-very nice group. After the concert there were massive fireworks.

In Dunedin my mom took a ship tour (train to scenic gorge and she liked it) while my sister and I met up with Joanne from http://www.4nature.co.nz. She was super knowledgeable on our Penguins and Boulders tour. I would recommend her.

At Akaroa my mom went on the sheep station and Christchurch tour. There were a couple of glitches with it but that was just bad luck that the coach broke down. She enjoyed her day. My sister and I went on a visit to the Pohatu Penninsula and its penguin conservation site http://www.pohatu.co.nz. The drive there is stunning. The guide was the niece of the family and knew a lot about how their sheep farms are working to mitigate the conservation damage of the past and how they are developing ecotourism in the area. It was very enjoyable.http://www.pohatu.co.nz After the tour we ate lunch in the town and enjoyed wandering this very attractive town.

In Napier we wandered the town and went to the aquarium. The shuttle bus system worked well.

In Picton we went out on the water on the Cougar Lines delivery boat http://www.cougarline.co.nz/scenicCruises/deliveryCruises.aspx. Picton has a lot of tourism. Googling around for an hour or two will give you plenty of ideas.

In Tuaranga we used the ship tour for Hobbiton. I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. My sister is a big fan and she took loads of photos. The ship was berthed right next to the beach. After the tour we walked along the beach people watching and ate some ice cream.

It was a fun trip. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Thank you so much for providing such useful information! Greatly appreciated. I am saving your suggestions. :)

Hi Denise,

Take a look at ( Eastern Bays Scenic Mail Run ) at AKAROA in New Zealand . We were on Celebrity two years ago , this was before Azamara started going to Australia & New Zealand .

I found this trip with Robin when researching on the Internet for independent tours . I can honestly say this was one of the best & most unique experiences we have ever had on our many cruises we have taken .

He does get very booked up as he can only take eight passengers , we booked 6 months in advance . We will never forget what a great day we had & it was also not expensive .

Hope this helps . Ann.

Thanks so much, Ann! I checked out the tour you suggested and it looks really wonderful. Any other suggestions would be greatly welcome.

I appreciate your reply!

Denise

Hi ellbon!

 

All are new ports for us, with the exception of Auckland.

 

Sydney, Australia-beach, gardens, opera house, The Rocks- eat at SAKE if you like sushi and Asian.a walk to you drop city. the marekt in the Rocks if weekend.

Hobart, Tasmania-pre book -boat ride to the museum-MONA. mind blowing.. restaurant-winery- museum- interesting art. need to see website to book boat and museum.. can walk from ship to where boat leaves from.. about 15 minutes if a slow walker

Dunedin, New Zealand-train-ship for ease., 3 churches, cadberry and bars..

Akaroa, New Zealand-I did a bad private tour- later found local wine in a shop- some nice places to eat.. jet boat thrill ride

Picton, New Zealand-forgot-think wines- so/so wines-ships tour

Napier, New Zealand-private- got up high where real homes are- art deco area and a winery. not great wines

Tauranga, New Zealand- beach-hike-massage and shop-DIY

Auckland, New Zealand-I bungy jump and did the festival near the ship.. it was turn around day and I ran all day.

 

Our preference is to arrange private touring. If you have any good recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate your sharing those with us.

 

What is Amazing Evening? What time of year did you go? Were the seas calm or rough?

 

I did take motion [pills from Walgreen for the Tasman sea. evening port not on your cruise. Jan/Feb

 

Thank you!

Denise

I did 2B so I did all ports twice. I always found good places to eat. I only went to the beach once.. massage was decent near where the mts thing everyone hikes. did both hikes and it took 2 hours.. Beach an hour enough due to heat.

Great information and suggestions, Robin!! Thank you. I am saving this, for sure!

Denise

Last night I thought of something else-

It appears there are 2 competing postal systems in NZ. Each has their own stamps and specially colored mail boxes.

Use the normal national system if you are mailing post cards. We used both systems because one vender sold my sister the upstart system's stamps. Those post card took 2 months to reach their addresses here in the US.

In Auckland there is a maritime history museum that was excellent. We stayed at the Hilton (on points) and the views over the harbor were great. If anyone in your group is celiac or gluten free, they did a great job with avoiding cross contamination.

In Sydney we stayed at the Mantra 2 Bond St hotel. Each room is really an apartment. We had a 2 bedroom with full kitchen. There is a Woolworths across the street where were purchased snacks and sandwich fixings. We wanted the extra space because of the jet lag having different people up at weird times. There is a roof top pool. We liked the location of being able to walk through the downtown and also over to the ferries and the Rocks. Much cheaper than staying at the Rocks.

There are many hotels in Sydney. But for the things I want to do and dinners at night I like to be near the Rocks.

Also pre book your opera house tour online. .from there you can walk sections of the gardens. gardens are endless so you can do different areas different days. think about spending money on tickets for the opera house at night. I have been twice.

We're doing the February 19, 2017 Australia & New Zealand. Itinerary is mostly the same. Staying in the Rocks area for a few days prior to the cruise at The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel (Sydney's oldest hotel in continuous use, and oldest brewery . . . brewery, pub, restaurant & 8 rooms!). We're on the roll call, so hoping to see what others are doing for excursions.