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We opted for cocktails in the Retreat as we had a few questions for the concierge. We are changing CC levels after this cruise and would like to have our new status reflected so we can get our additional perks. After all, it’s all about the laundry, right? 🧺🧺🧺🧺 😀😀😀😀. He balked telling us it takes 3 weeks. 🙄 I pointed out that others have been accommodated when they asked. Then he said, “I could send an email to the CC concierge.” It was a bit frustrating to have to insist. The second question was our remaining nonrefundable OBC. As we booked this just after the CV pause, we had over $1000 we needed to spend. Those days are now gone. Our server in the retreat is a lively breath of fresh air, Shevil. After chatting with her we created a tequilatini 🍸. We were now ready for dinner. The Luminae was busier than normal. I ordered the pea salad and veal cheeks. DH had the steak salad and tuna. Happiness was a glass of Emmolo Merlot 🍷🍷. I have to click really fast before DH devours his meal 🍽️🍴🥢😛. I had no idea what veal cheeks were, but I was adventurous. They were AWESOME! So tender I could cut them with a fork! DH loved his vanilla crème brûlée! Notice he has already started 😂. My mango sorbet was really good, but the chocolate was like a thick bar of fudge 🍫. It was so thick you could barely get a fork into it. I love chocolate, but this was a miss. No, we didn’t eat dessert first, but that’s how the pics loaded. The show schedule was is a state of change because of the cancellations due to weather yesterday. Due to the late notice, we missed the Aussie comedian. The Wisper game show was entertaining. The passengers won!🥇. The casino 🎰🎰🎰 was closed, AGAIN, we we turned in for the night.

Well, we sat in the cabin and waited to hear that we had been cleared to disembark. We were not on the gangway side. We finally heard the NZ food restriction announcement. We finally decided to go to the gangway on deck 5 and wait. We got there with only about 10 people ahead of us. Then we heard the announcement that the ship had been cleared. We went down the gang way and found the shuttle to Lyttelton where we were meeting our tour. Just as we got on the bus we received a call from our tour company asking where we were. We told them we were on the bus. When we arrived at the bus stop, a lady told us the bus had departed as we were the only ones missing. She said not to worry, she was driving us to meet the bus at the first stop. Service with a smile. We have no idea how everyone else got off, or how we missed the all clear announcement. First time for everything! Our tour was 4 hours around the local area. First stop was to a pathway to a scenic overlook. Then we drove about and went to a lovely and peaceful garden park. It had beautiful flowers 💐 🌹🪻🌸 and the biggest hydrangeas I have ever seen! Then we headed off in the direction of Christchurch. The city was planned in the 1800s with a church in the center. The recent history revolves around 2 catastrophic earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Much of the downtown area was leveled. 14,000 homes were either lost or deemed uninhabitable. Due to the high water table, the area was subject to liquefaction where the soil loses strength and becomes more like liquid. Miles of land were deemed red zones and uninhabitable in the future. New construction downtown is limited to 7 stories and giant springs are incorporated into the structures. What is very amazing is the resiliency of the residents and their positive attitude about the opportunity to recreate their city to accommodate a modern lifestyle. It makes you think about the hazards to LA and San Francisco. We had stopped for a quick lunch and to visit a souvenir shop. It’s Easter Sunday, so not much was open. The local “pies” were very convenient and tasty. I had chicken, Brie, cranberry and DH had butter chicken. They are like large puff pastries and were delicious!😋 It was now time to head back to Lyttelton and the ship. It’s a very small port town. We walked the Main Street. There is a statue of a sled dog. This small town used to breed all the sled dogs for Antarctica! And as with the other ports we have been in, lumber is stacked for export. Most of the logs are exported to China.

Yes, we got to taste honey in Tauranga and Napier. The hone shop had a tasting bar 🍯🐝🍯

Day 8 - Christchurch, NZ Happy Easter 🐣✝️🐇 from this side of the date line! We have made it to the South Island and are inching into port. It is cloudy, but there is no rain in the forecast. It’s getting cooler as we sail south. It is 55 deg this morning. Today is another leisurely morning with a late arrival. We elected to eat our first breakfast in Luminae. We split a fruit plate and DH had salmon Benedict. I had the peach crepe. The pastries were very good, still warm, this morning. They were decadent! I selected a chocolate au pain and frosted croissant. There were 2 bars of chocolate in the au pain and caramel filling in the croissant 🥐🥐. To avoid a sugar coma, 🫠 I only ate half of each 🤣. I have come to terms with the Lavazza coffee ☕️ by avoiding it. My stomach is much happier. I have switched to tea. For those inquiring about sugar and artificial sweeteners, here is a pic. We are pulling alongside the pier in Lyttelton. We have 2 tugs at the ready. This looks like another busy container port. We will be taking a city highlights tour booked through Viator.

Our waiter in Luminae made us another reservation in Eden. We could not get in until 8 pm. After chatting in the cabin a bit we decided to get a cocktail 🥃🥃. Hubby suggested Eden because it had live music. However, I was more focused on catching the sunset 🌅. After a quick orientation, I recommended the Retreat, if it wasn’t crowded, for the best view. It wasn’t crowded and we saw a lovely sunset over New Zealand! Then off to dinner we went! We decided to mix it up a bit tonight. We both had the crab cake, I had the lobster casserole, and DH had the Branzino. All were very good. I has the chocolate tart for dessert and DH had the strawberry cake. It was another awesome meal. To top it off, we had a table by the wake and no one sitting next to us. In an impressive attention to detail moment, the maitre’d from Luminae appeared with tomorrow’s menu so that I could pre order my dinner. Those of you with food allergies can appreciate how great this gesture is ❤️. The shows were postponed this evening due to the rough seas. As usual, we wandered a bit after dinner. We spent some time in the atrium listening to the music. The “pit” (no windows and no views) area as I refer to the martini bar and stage, was busy again. It is my least favorite area of the ship. I know the martini bar 🍸🍸🍸 fans will take issue with this, but it’s just my opinion. When we walked by Cafe Al Bachio, tucked into the bottom corner were coconut macaroons! SCORE! We got a bag to go!

Calling all Lord of the Rings fans… here come the Hobbiton pics!!! Hubby said the recreated movie set was very well done and has become a large tourist draw for NZ. The visitors were encouraged to touch things, sit on chairs, etc. He gets credit for the pics 🤳📸🤳

We agree. DH is a ribeye lover. He just stared when his steak was delivered. As you described, it was a thick square. The one thing that I have found disappointing is the plating of the entrees in Laminae. The appetizers and desserts are nicely arranged and decorated. The entrees are pretty much just dropped on the plate. I remember seeing the pics posted by @Jim_Iain when Edge arrived in Australia. I thought the entree presentations he posted looked very artistic. However, that said, my food has been hot and for the most part tasty.

We didn’t get the best sleep last night and DH is 😴💤😴💤. A few interesting things about NZ! - The population of NZ is about 5 million, very similar to Sydney. - The #1 export is dairy products. This is followed by meat 🐄🐑, produce (apples, kiwi fruit, and more)🥝🍎, and lumber 🪵. - Tourism is a big industry. ✈️🛳️🚂. - Kiwi fruit were originally known as Chinese Goose Berries. - The ring of fire passes through NZ. The country experiences an earthquake nearly every day. 🫨 - Auckland is a huge container port. There is a world glut of shipping containers. The port stores containers for a fee, refurbishes them, sells them, and uses them as building materials.

Cruising is a bit like speed dating for me. You get a little taste and can go back for more if you are interested 🏃🏽‍♂️❤️👀. And speaking of a quick peak, that’s what we got in Napier. It appears to be a very cute seaside town. Like most of NZ, there is a lot of agriculture in the vicinity. Apples and vineyards here. Most of the waterfront buildings were destroyed by a big earthquake in 1931. The buildings were rebuilt in art deco style. It’s very cute, much like small seaside towns in California or Florida. Lots of small stores and cafes. We got a drive through. Simply not enough time to walk about and we were dodging rain showers. The beaches are smooth black stones. There were a lot of nicely planted flower gardens and fountains. Palm trees lined the streets. We booked a small group tour with Vines and Views Tours. It is more intimate for us than the big bus tours. There are some very steep windy streets up on the hills. The views from up there are fabulous! We went to a boutique vineyards and then a honey store. Unfortunately, the weather and timeline didn’t allow for much more. An overnight in one of the ports we visited would have been more productive in terms of seeing more of NZ. Getting on and off the ship proved to be easier than advertised. They opened a second gangway on deck 2 that had no line. There were 20 busses waiting to shuttle us to town. Pretty much the same in reverse. We allowed plenty of time in both directions and tried to avoid having to stand out in the rain. Back on board, we decided to grab a lite bite since we toured over lunch… again. It was raining, so the outdoor venues were a no go. It was 2 pm and we went to the OV. I think half the ship was in there. We grabbed a quick plate and looked for a place to sit. That was a futile exercise. We took our plates to the Spa Cafe, nope, full. Finally, we went to the Retreat and had a long table to ourselves. Now we have some down time before a second dinner in Eden. The Captain has announced that we can expect 5-6 hours of rough seas and wind again tonight before it calms down 🌊🌊🌊💨💨💨. As I said, the ship rocked, rolled, and creaked last night. We heard from the occupant that a six foot sliding bathroom door in one of the Edge Villas shattered early this morning as the ship rocked. Fortunately it was safety glass and no one was injured.

I’ll see if I can get a pic for you 🥰.

Still searching for the elusive coconut macaroons! They are plentiful on the M class ships in multiple flavors. They are more scarce on the S class ships. I have yet to fine one at Cafe Al Bacio on Edge! Maybe they will make an appearance?

Today”s activities.

Day 7 - Napier @barneyboy, thanks for the hint on the butler. We will give that a try! Maybe that will reduce the stress since we only have 5 hours in port. Well, it was a blustery night as the Captain predicted. We didn’t get the best night’s sleep. Our balcony door started “ rat a tat tatting, click, click, clicking” about 10 pm and continued throughout the night. At one point DH got up and opened and closed the door. No help. Then the door to the water closet started swinging. So, we are not as chipper us usual. Our room has been very quiet to this point. I noticed a shim between the wall and ceiling and it is apparently doing its job. DH was still sleeping so I popped up to the Oceanview for breakfast. For those of you that likes the lemon, apple cranberry, and raspberry flavored teas, they were all missing the first few days. Occasionally you can find a lemon. The Retreat has raspberry nectar. Yesterday ginger lemon tea appeared in the Oceanview. It was quiet up top for breakfast and I had a view! With the wind I noticed we have a tug to assist if needed. The weather looks iffy this morning, but we have been very lucky thus far. Maybe the rainbow 🌈 is a good omen!

I didn’t go on the Hobbits tour, DH did. I know he has pictures. I will grab some from his phone to share. He said it was very well done and he really enjoyed it. Apparently, the Hobbit folks no longer accept ship tours because they tend to cancel at the last minute if not enough people sign up. I know he booked direct with Zealander Tours.

We arrived just after Luminae opened at 5:30. It was so quiet! It was also amazing how quick the service was compared to later in the evening! DH and I both had the taco and duck. The taco was quite tasty. I’m not a huge duck fan, but the combination of flavors and the cherries 🍒 came together quite well. I had the cheese cake and he had the caramel ganache for dessert. After dinner we went to the musical performance with Tom Ward. He is an amazing classical guitarist. We also enjoyed his matinee performance. We popped into the casino for a little while. Our last stop was “Finish the Song”. It was fun to sing along and cheer on the contestants! We had a busy day today. We are currently sailing at a quick clip of 20 knots. The Captain has reported that we can expect rain and 35 kt winds in Napier tomorrow. It is a short port call, only 5 hours. When we received tomorrow’s Daily tonight it said they expect delays with the gangway and getting folks ashore. There are added activities on board for those who would like to stay on the ship. We have a private wine tasting tour booked tomorrow. After the difficulties leaving the ship the last 2 days we are a little nervous. I anticipate we will be lining up well before we are alongside the dock at 10 am.

Well, the weather held will we were ashore 😎. DH loved crawling through the Hobbit holes. I must admit, I didn’t read the books 📖. I enjoyed my shorter tour of the local area. NZ is so lush and green! Once again, it took a bit of time to get off the ship. One gangway was open with one lane. They announced another was open as well, it I never saw a second. We also learned that Tauranga is the busiest port in NZ. It is the only NZ port that can accommodate the 10,000 container Maersk ships. Most container ships only carry 3000 containers. Who knew??? We went to some scenic points, had a look at kiwis growing on their vines, saw a waterfall, tasted the local ice cream and muffins, and sampled green, yellow, and red kiwis, and kiwi juice 🥝🥝🥝. I had never seen or tasted a yellow or red kiwi before. We had a very calm sail away. Since the food pictured here was ”lunch” DH convinced me that it might be a good night for an early dinner. Skipped cocktails and headed upstairs to eat!

Day 6 - Good morning from Tauranga! It is noticeably cooler with a high of 63 deg expected. In a bit of a twist for us, DH and I are doing separate tours. He is doing a full day tour that includes the Hobbit set. That didn’t really appeal to me, so I am doing a several hour tour of the local area highlights. I had a quick breakfast in the Spa Cafe again. It’s very convenient for a quick bite. Fruit and avocado toast. I did pass through the Oceanview to grab a danish. One thing I noticed was there are no longer individual packets of hot chocolate. The powder now comes in syrup containers. I guess you have to estimate the amount you need. I spotted chicken sausages for the first time today. They are also 1/2 size. For the gluten free folks, here are today’s pastries.

We returned to the ship and freshened up a bit. 🚿🧼. It was still a bit breezy. We walked by the Sunset Bar and the pool bars, but it was cool and very windy. To our surprise, it was “Dinner on the Edge” night. I wonder how that went with the wind and chill. Still in search of a bar 👀 and being up top we went to the Retreat. The door opened to a full house, it was packed. A couple was exiting and the gentleman said, “ We can drink faster than they can serve.” That was good feedback and we decided to head to Eden. There were seats at the bar!!! We ordered drinks and enjoyed the venue. 🥃🍹. DH ordered one of the specialty Eden drinks. It was $24, $4 over the premium limit. Just me, but I thought that was a bit pricey. I wasn’t particularly hungry after our late lunch, but filet mignon popped up on the menu In Luminae. To our surprise, Luminae was hopping at 8 pm. DH ordered the tea soaked salmon, I had the bursts, and we both had filet mignon. For dessert DH had ice cream and I had the almond cake with buttermilk icing. Since it was filet, we sprung for a glass of Opulence Cab 🍷🍷(+$10 each). We have not signed any slips in Luminae, the charge just appears. This is probably a good thing. There is only one wine steward, and he is crazy busy 🏃🏽‍♂️. Dinner was very good, the filet was quite large and very tender. We walked through the casino after dinner. It was closed, for the 2nd day in a row. We must never leave NZ territorial waters. The martini bar area was quite lively with music and people dancing. DH did comment that the music selections were from the 60s. 🎶🎵🎤🎸

We are also currently on the Edge in a Sky Suite and we have a butler. I specifically asked if he was a “Head Butler” and he said no. He has been replenishing our bottled water and Red Bull for my husband each day. He calls out our names if he sees us in the hall. We have made a few requests which were taken care of. My understanding is he has 23 suites to service which is about twice as many as prior to any changes.

We had a marvelous 4 hour tour of Auckland. It was very informative and scenic. We learned: Auckland is made up of 52 volcanoes, with one remaining active. We visited several of the extinct volcanoes which provided grand spots for viewing. The highest spot in Auckland has an impressive caldera and is Mt Eden. The only active volcano was referred to as “Sleeping Beauty”. It is only 2 km from Auckland. We visited St Mary’s, the largest Catholic Church in Auckland ✝️. It was a fascinating mix of old and new. It was enlarged at some point and the old stone gothic type architecture was blended with a modern linear wooden sanctuary. Oddly enough, the mix and match worked well. Auckland has its own bridge with a unique history 🌉. The bridge was built in 1959. Over the next decade traffic increased dramatically. The government searched for a way to expand the bridge, but did not have the technical expertise. Japan stepped up and offered to help. They designed and “pinned” space for 2 additional lanes on each side of the existing structure. No money was exchanged for this grand effort. Instead, Japan asked they be allowed to export cars to New Zealand without any import tax. This tax free import deal is still in place today! We worked up a bit of an appetite during our tour. At the conclusion we walked the waterfront stopped for a late lunch. DH had fish and chips and I had fish tacos. 🌮 🐟🍟. And, we decided to taste some NZ beverages 🍷🍺 We wandered a bit and picked up a few items at the stores. I was delighted to find some Kombucha, as there is none on the ship. Other than a brief shower and a bit of wind, we had another great day in NZ 🥝🥝🥝.

@Kiwichick62, we have been so fortunate with the beautiful weather! Thanks so much for the warm sunny ☀️ and breezy day 😎

We are very fortunate to be enjoying a safe sea journey. Our hearts go out to the friends and families impacted by the 2 recent maritime mishaps. - Two crew members perished in an engineering accident on HAL’s Nieuw Amsterdam. How tragic. - The ship collision and collapse of the Key Bridge in Maryland was catastrophic mishap. It has closed the port of Baltimore and will impact trade and transportation for some time. Several people are unaccounted for. We are thankful for the safety precautions in place to keep us safe when at sea. It is a reminder to live in the moment because life can change in an instant. 🙏🏻❤️❤️‍🩹⛑️

Day 5 - Auckland. Good day from the harbor in Auckland. We are tied up at the pier and now side by side with a Hilton hotel. Those harbor view rooms now have a stunning view of our floating condo 🏙️. We were awakened by an announcement at 6:30, not sure what it was. The ship was cleared about 8 am. With our late dinner I wasn’t too hungry. DH wanted an omelet and headed up to the Oceanview. I had a lite bite at the spa cafe. The view at breakfast was quite entertaining! This must be new crew survival training. This is quite civilized survival training accompanied by spa music in a warm pool. The water temps in Bay of Islands yesterday was 68 deg. We will disembark shortly for our small group tour of the Auckland city highlights. It’s Thursday on this side of the date line. We understand the Easter holiday is Friday through Monday here. Not certain what will and will not be open for the long weekend beginning tomorrow.

We returned to the ship about 7pm. By the time we got to dinner it was nearly 8. Dinner was good, nothing extraordinary. Here is a quick download of the food 🥗🍖🍗 Amuse bouche was a fish ball with squid ink and tomatoes. It tasted a bit like a crab cake. DH had the fennel soup and the pasta, blueberry mouse for dessert. I had the asparagus, chicken and salted caramel with chocolate. We both had a glass of Elegance Cabernet. DH is fast asleep 😴 💤💤💤. The sun, wind, and water 💧, and salt air certainly do tire you out! We have a morning excursion in Auckland tomorrow, so I should close my eyes as well. We really enjoyed our first day in NZ 😁👍😎.

I’m am not certain what was going on with the tenders today. 🍻🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. Tendering started at 10ish. At 12:30 they were still calling #s. Then we heard an announcement, which we were expecting to say open tendering was no the operation. Nope, it said we are operating as quickly and safely as we can. Weather and wind were not a factor. 🌞 We also noticed that bridge officers were driving the tenders. We have never seen this before. Upon our return the line snaked around in circles. It looked a bit like Disney World!!! 3 tenders ⛴️⛴️⛴️, nearly 400 passengers left the pier ahead of us. It took 45 min to get back on board. Fortunately, today is our only tender port and the weather was nice. Well, we arrived on a ship, took a tender to shore, and then jumped on another boat. Boats are us 🚢⛴️🛥️. We took a boat tour to see the hole in the rock and visit some beaches. It was a beautiful day in the mid 70s. The waters around Bay of Islands resemble the colors around Turks and Caicos. Simply beautiful. Our boat ride was a bit rougher, wetter 🌊, and more windy than expected. It reminded me of pounding in our Baja years ago. It was all worth it to take in the sights. I was very happy I had a waterproof jacket with me 😎. We hiked to Capt. Cooks lookout, watched a sea urchin get dissected, saw two seals, and thoroughly enjoyed to scenic views 🌴🐟🦆