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Live from the Diamond Princess Jan 28 - Feb 9 Sydney to Auckland

DonahCBrown

By DonahCBrown,
in Princess Cruises

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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I'll try and find out where Maurizio will be for you. Can't really promise as his shows are mobbed and I may not be able to get through.

 

Had a quick tour of Dunedin today, and a little disappointing in that we signed up for the 'least strenuous' for mom's sake, knowing that Dunedin is very hilly and the major attraction is Larnach Castle which has tons of stairs and walking. So, we signed up for the city sights and Cadbury chocolate factory tour (she loved the tour in Hershey PA) and turns out that the Cadbury tour has over 150 stairs to climb up and down, and is on a strict time schedule. So, we sat it out (and they threw in extra chocolate bars as 'compensation' which was nice of them) but as we were also in port with Pacific Jewel and there were LOTS of folks doing the chocolate tour, it ran over, and we missed being able to get out and walk around at the beautiful Edwardian style railroad station. Had I realized, we could easily have walked over to do it on our own while we waited for the tour to finish. We did stroll down the street and to a really nice craft and gift shop we remembered from our last land trip to Dunedin - place called Koru - just across the street from the station, but didn't go over as we thought we'd be stopping there. Oh well....

 

Quiet afternoon and I'm off to the gym while everyone else is napping. Nice quiet time on board whilst everyone else is in town!

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Some connection issues yesterday so here's the post that didn't make it:

 

Christchurch – one of our favorite cities, and we had a nice tour with Terry Thomsen of Inside Story Tours – paced just right for our party at a half day, we saw bits of Lyttelton and then proceeded up the sea coast to Christchurch, did a tour of one of the gardens, drove around the city, stopped at the Arts Center for the street fair and the Waitangi Day ceremonies. After at look around at the Cathedral Square, it was back to the ship for everyone’s afternoon siesta and for me to take the shuttle into Lyttelton to walk around a bit and visit the store for some New Zealand and Australian wines. There is a free shuttle into Lyttelton, and from there, a public bus to Christchurch – a matter of about 30 minutes or so into the center of town via the tunnel, which is certainly the economic way to do independent travel from port to town.

 

From our prior trips, there are lovely pubs and restaurants, a wonderful art museum and terrific shops in Christchurch.

 

Tonight’s entertainment includes Trevor Knight from Australia on guitar and banjo, doing music from Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver in the Princess Theater, Enrico Cifiello in the Explorers, and the Crew Show at 10:30 PM - and the ever popular ‘If I were not upon the Sea’ of course. Exotique is on Club Fusion – they are quite good and we have enjoyed them throughout the cruise.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Some connection issues yesterday so here's the post that didn't make it:

 

Christchurch – one of our favorite cities, and we had a nice tour with Terry Thomsen of Inside Story Tours – paced just right for our party at a half day, we saw bits of Lyttelton and then proceeded up the sea coast to Christchurch, did a tour of one of the gardens, drove around the city, stopped at the Arts Center for the street fair and the Waitangi Day ceremonies. After at look around at the Cathedral Square, it was back to the ship for everyone’s afternoon siesta and for me to take the shuttle into Lyttelton to walk around a bit and visit the store for some New Zealand and Australian wines. There is a free shuttle into Lyttelton, and from there, a public bus to Christchurch – a matter of about 30 minutes or so into the center of town via the tunnel, which is certainly the economic way to do independent travel from port to town.

 

From our prior trips, there are lovely pubs and restaurants, a wonderful art museum and terrific shops in Christchurch.

 

Tonight’s entertainment includes Trevor Knight from Australia on guitar and banjo, doing music from Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver in the Princess Theater, Enrico Cifiello in the Explorers, and the Crew Show at 10:30 PM - and the ever popular ‘If I were not upon the Sea’ of course. Exotique is on Club Fusion – they are quite good and we have enjoyed them throughout the cruise.

 

 

Sounds like a fantastic day. Keep em coming. :)

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Our next to the last day - and last sea day, second formal night, and second 75% off sale, to which we are heading shortly. Tonight is 'Do you wanna dance', Maurizio is back after being off yesterday, and I'll try and see where he's going to be in the fall, and the movie is 500 days of Summer. Enrico Cifiello is back on in the Explorer's, final of Princess Pop Star, Newly Wed Game at 9:30 - not likely we'll do that, though. The Navigator's talk is today as well as the Backstage Tour, and the final Bingo, so a busy day, all in all. There's also a 'Grand Atrium Gala Party and Balloon Drop" - this seems to have taken the place of the Champagne Waterfall, which has moved to the Captain's Welcome Party.

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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Hi Donna.......

 

Absolutely unbelievable that your cruise is just about over. You just left home! Where does the time go? Safe travels back home and I know you have great notes for me for our Sapphire cruise in Sept. Love to Dennis and Mom.

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Final bingo today - we didn't win :( - Dennis is sitting out again tonight - has a cold and may not go with mom and me tomorrow on our Tauranga excursion. We're booked with someone new from the Tours by Locals - a newish site to me, anyway, which seems a little less commercial and more informal - we'll see how it goes. The young lady offering the tour in Tauranga sounds very engaging and I think she has a good sense of what mom will enjoy. Most folks are booked to go into Rotorua, which is a goodish drive from the port, and we have just heard that due to the tidal conditions we will be leaving around 4:30, as opposed to the originally scheduled 8:45 PM, so that will have an impact, I imagine. As we had already planned for a 1/2 day tour from 9 to 2 or so, it won't cause us any problems. We'll do the town of Katikati, and the water lily gardens, and most likely a tea somewhere. Not looking forward to the end of the cruise, of course, but we are looking forward to our time in Auckland - we enjoy Auckland a lot and will be there until the 13th, waiting for Air New Zealand's direct flight back to Honolulu. Otherwise, we'd have to fly back to Sydney to fly back to Hawaii, or go home by way of Seoul, Tokyo, or LA...not much chance of that as Dennis hates to fly any more than he has to to get from point A to B. We'll enjoy doing the ferry to Devonport, the War Memorial Museum, and Parnell Village with mom as well as all the other areas of Auckland, and, of course, the shopping.

 

Tonight we'll either do the show or one of the game shows as the show repeats tomorrow, then there is the packing...sigh...

 

Almost over...:(

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Kiwi Kruzer

Kiwi Kruzer

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Hi Donna,

Wow 4.30 deparure is early, that will throw a lot of the independant tours into a loop.

Sure cuts down on the time in Rotorua.

Pleased to hear you are going to visit KatiKati, as it is one of my favourites .

The countyrside through that way is lovely.

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Hi Donna,

Wow 4.30 deparure is early, that will throw a lot of the independant tours into a loop.

Sure cuts down on the time in Rotorua.

Pleased to hear you are going to visit KatiKati, as it is one of my favourites .

The countyrside through that way is lovely.

 

That's what I figured, too, David - I'm sure lots of folks are really scrambling to rework times and tours. The ship tours going to Wai-O-Tapu are meeting at 6:30ish, probably leaving around 7 or so, but it will still be a stretch - we spent 4 or 5 hours in the park and still didn't see everything, and we were staying in Rotorua itself. There's to be a folkloric show on board tomorrow afternoon, and we'll be sure to be back on board by then. I know mom will want to attend.

 

Thanks, David, for posting the pictures - I don't know how:o

Have my moments of technical Luddite-ness....

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Had quite a nice day with just mom and me and our guide Julie Cunningham from Tours by Locals, just getting a bit of a feel for small town and rural New Zealand life. Went to KatiKati, saw the murals, did a bit of antiquing and craft shopping - mom picked up some very nice hand made jewelry at quite reasonable prices, and then Julie who is a musician, took us by her 100 year old home that she and her partner are rennovating, and treated us to an impromptu concert on her 1909 grand piano and a bit of Irish fiddle music as well. Then we all repaired to her favorite spot in town for a light lunch. After lunch we had a nice drive around, saw some seaside towns, a couple of the gorges, and some beautiful farming country on our way back to Mount Maunganui. We were 'home' by 2:15, in time for the second half of the Super Bowl (not that I truly much care, but Dennis is watching) and mom and I will go to the folkloric show that is happening at 3:30. Meanwhile, she's napping, and I'm returning library books. I'll pack us all up between the end of the show and dinner time, I guess. :( Still, we get some time to enjoy Auckland before we have to face the dreaded flight home, so it's all good.

 

May do the odd post from Auckland if anyone's interested. Meanwhile our 'suite' time on the Diamond is about over...

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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We enjoyed the Maori cultural presentation yesterday, but skipped 'Do you wanna dance' in favor of making additional contributions to Princess's bottom line in the Casino. None of us did very well - I stayed even, mom lost - she's not used to that, as did Dennis- he is....;)

 

This morning we're headed to breakfast in the dining room - miss our 'special breakfast' in Sabatinis - that's really quite a nice perk. I never did make it to the thermal suite in the spa - too much else to keep track of - and probably never will now! Wouldn't be particularly interested in paying the tariff.

 

So, we're off in a bit and the venue shifts to the Crowne Plaza in Auckland until Saturday. TTFN!:D

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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We managed to get through the semi-ordered chaos that is disembarkation in pretty good shape. Having a wheelchair for mom made all the difference for her, and we arrived at the Crowne Plaza in the midst of lots of coming and going for Diamond and another ship (RCL I think - don't know which one) but still managed to get checked in a couple of hours early.

 

Mom has her own room, a nicer one than ours - corner with a big walk in shower. We're on the club floor but in an older room, not as nice as the one we had on our last stop here, but adequate. We are all resting up a bit before getting started our our touring around Auckland. May go over to the Sky Tower this evening - we'll see.

 

Meanwhile, Dennis had a nice chat with a couple in the lobby on their way to Diamond, and gave them a run down on all the dining and entertainment.

 

That's all for now. Need to try and find space for our stuff - the room we have here has nowhere near the closet and cabinet space of our cabin...:( Looks like I'll have to use my suitcase as my dresser.

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