Australia/New Zealand Review Jan 5-21, 2018

[Cousins at Sea]

We arranged our car directly with our hotel. Not sure how else to do it.

 

Caesar, our concierge, was very good. A soft spoken and fairly reserved man. He was very attentive to everyone and came over to talk with each table when we came in for breakfast each morning and also at lunch. He tried to accommodate all requests and changed a dinner reservation for us. He was actually the best concierge we’ve had but we don’t often need Concierge assistance. I know he stopped by our suite a couple of times to check on us but we were napping so he just left a note. He also got us priority disembarkation at the different ports that works out nice if you have early tours set up. So all in all, a very good concierge.

 

 

Cool cruiser..

 

We are taking a similar cruise(2) in Jan 2019.. But it seems that the CC message board is all messed up.. Only 11 people on It! So no comments about private excursions.

 

Can u give me a list if companies you used at the various ports so that I can try to contact them to see about private excursions?

 

Thanks

 

Dina (cousins at sea)

 

Dinah.tyson1@gmail.com

[mertziek]

Cool cruiser..

 

We are taking a similar cruise(2) in Jan 2019.. But it seems that the CC message board is all messed up.. Only 11 people on It! So no comments about private excursions.

 

Can u give me a list if companies you used at the various ports so that I can try to contact them to see about private excursions?

 

Thanks

 

Dina (cousins at sea)

 

Dinah.tyson1@gmail.com

 

Look in your email. I sent you an email with your company names, etc that I don’t think I can post here. If you have further questions, just ask. You will love Australia and New Zealand. We had a very active role call and set up tours with many of them but you can join other tours on your own.

[njhorseman]

Look in your email. I sent you an email with your company names, etc that I don’t think I can post here. If you have further questions, just ask. You will love Australia and New Zealand. We had a very active role call and set up tours with many of them but you can join other tours on your own.

 

You can post the information about tour operators you've used. We're not allowed to discuss cruise travel agencies, but tour operators are discussed everywhere on Cruise Critic.

 

I'd be interested in your information, if you would be kind enough to post it here.

[njhorseman]

Cool cruiser..

 

We are taking a similar cruise(2) in Jan 2019.. But it seems that the CC message board is all messed up.. Only 11 people on It! So no comments about private excursions.

 

Can u give me a list if companies you used at the various ports so that I can try to contact them to see about private excursions?

 

Thanks

 

Dina (cousins at sea)

 

Dinah.tyson1@gmail.com

 

Nothing wrong with Cruise Critic. The cruise roll call is correctly listed and indexed. Apparently just no interest so far in discussing anything on the roll call.

[mertziek]

You can post the information about tour operators you've used. We're not allowed to discuss cruise travel agencies, but tour operators are discussed everywhere on Cruise Critic.

 

I'd be interested in your information, if you would be kind enough to post it here.

 

Ok. Here is my list. We used Viator for the Blue Mountains tour.

 

“Here is a list of the private tours we did. Hope this helps you with your planning. This was a fabulous vacay and you won’t be disappointed. We did The Best of Melbourne tour from the ship and really enjoyed that, too. Others did private tours there and had a good day, too.

*Captain Cook Cruises Sydney Harbor for dinner cruise of Sydney Harbor. We upgraded to the Gold Penfolds Dinner and well worth the extra expense.

*Blue Mountains Deluxe Small Group Eco Tour from Sydney, Itinerary #1038697521 - great tour to Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary and to scenic stops in the Blue Mountains. We loved this day! Saw all the animals and got to pet kangaroos and pictures with koalas. And had we not done this tour, we would have never experienced the Mountains here. Quite stunning!

*Sydney Opera House Tour - go to their site and book your tour at the time you want. Very informative. Made us want to attend an event there and able to set something up after we got off the ship. So if you think you want to experience the Opera House, they have several venues to select from that aren’t too expensive. We saw a Limbo Unhinged in the Studio. Entertaining.

*Sydney BridgeClimb Tour - definitely do this! I am 67 years old and not the most physically active and had no problems with it. Book it in advance and we loved the twilight tour. Great view of the harbor and Sydney and the sunset cannot be beat! Be forewarned - they tour rain or shine and only cancel if lightening. We had a sunny day.

*Taieri Gorge Train and City Sites Combo Tour via Good Company Tours - you do the same train tour offered by the cruise ship for less money plus you tour the city of Dunedin with some scenic stops.

*Christchurch Highlights with Shore Trips & Tours - this included the I ternational Antarctica Center as well as driving through some beautiful hilly countryside. This included the Botanical Gardens and Canterbury Museum. I did not realize this ended up being on a bigger bus tour of 45 people with kids but we enjoyed the day. Very packed itinerary!

*Wellington Highlights with Shore Trips & Tours, standard tour WLG-1 - absolutely wonderful tour. A lot of scenic stops as well as city stops, a cable car ride down from the mountain and lunch along the seaside. Visited Weta Cave for some Lord of the Rings fun. We ended up touring the museum in Wellington, too, and driver came back for us after a couple of hours. Some people went back to the ship but we were happy to do this museum. Some incredible Gallipoli exhibits plus a lot of Maori exhibits. Not enough time there but after our other touring we could not complain.

*Prinsey’s Napier Tour - winery tour and a lot of scenic sites, including Te Mata Peak. Lasted about 4 hours and more than enough time to do our own walking tour of Napier after the tour. This was a morning tour.

*Hobbits and Geysers Shore Tour, Cruise Tauranga - this did the two big sites here. Rotorua Geysers and Hobbiton Movie Set. A long day but we loved it all. The Geysers were spectacular and Hobbiton was fun.

*Had a tour set up for Bay of Islands but port canceled. We had a tour set up via Viator I think.

*Toru Tours Auckland 3 Hour Express Tour - we did not get out to see as much as we were scheduled to see due to rain but definitely a long enough tour. This was our last port and we were toured out by then.

*Picton - This was our down day and we just walked around the port. Very enjoyable and had a great lunch at Escape to Picton.

When we got back to Sydney, we went to the Taronga Zoo via ferry. Very easy to set up on your own at the main wharf by the Circular Quay and included zoo admission price as well as ferry fee. Staff all along there to answer questions and we managed to figure it out even though we are not ones to do a lot of solo touring on our own. The zoo is very nice and we saw a lot of the animals again which was our main goal for going there. The ferry ride during the day was so beautiful and very different from our experience of the harbor dinner cruise so try to do both if you have time.”

Hope this helps you as I know how helpful the Aussies and Kiwis were when I was planning our ports.

 

 

If you have more questions, just ask.

[mertziek]

I just found your review and enjoyed it tremendously. You brought the ports and sights seen to life. No wonder people want more information. Very descriptive, and inspirational.

 

We think of you both every time Barry wears his ski school t-shirt. It was a really good cruise, and a lot of that was because of friends made through the roll call.

Carol

 

Carol,

Think of you every time I look through my pics. I have some of Barry with his Nordic Mountsin t shirts on them. We had a great group and a very active Roll Call. That made this trip even more enjoyable! It was a trip of a lifetime for us and only disappointment for me was missing those worm caves and the Hundertvasser toilets. 😂🤭

Mary

[njhorseman]

Ok. Here is my list. We used Viator for the Blue Mountains tour.

 

“Here is a list of the private tours we did. Hope this helps you with your planning. This was a fabulous vacay and you won’t be disappointed. We did The Best of Melbourne tour from the ship and really enjoyed that, too. Others did private tours there and had a good day, too.

*Captain Cook Cruises Sydney Harbor for dinner cruise of Sydney Harbor. We upgraded to the Gold Penfolds Dinner and well worth the extra expense.

*Blue Mountains Deluxe Small Group Eco Tour from Sydney, Itinerary #1038697521 - great tour to Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary and to scenic stops in the Blue Mountains. We loved this day! Saw all the animals and got to pet kangaroos and pictures with koalas. And had we not done this tour, we would have never experienced the Mountains here. Quite stunning!

*Sydney Opera House Tour - go to their site and book your tour at the time you want. Very informative. Made us want to attend an event there and able to set something up after we got off the ship. So if you think you want to experience the Opera House, they have several venues to select from that aren’t too expensive. We saw a Limbo Unhinged in the Studio. Entertaining.

*Sydney BridgeClimb Tour - definitely do this! I am 67 years old and not the most physically active and had no problems with it. Book it in advance and we loved the twilight tour. Great view of the harbor and Sydney and the sunset cannot be beat! Be forewarned - they tour rain or shine and only cancel if lightening. We had a sunny day.

*Taieri Gorge Train and City Sites Combo Tour via Good Company Tours - you do the same train tour offered by the cruise ship for less money plus you tour the city of Dunedin with some scenic stops.

*Christchurch Highlights with Shore Trips & Tours - this included the I ternational Antarctica Center as well as driving through some beautiful hilly countryside. This included the Botanical Gardens and Canterbury Museum. I did not realize this ended up being on a bigger bus tour of 45 people with kids but we enjoyed the day. Very packed itinerary!

*Wellington Highlights with Shore Trips & Tours, standard tour WLG-1 - absolutely wonderful tour. A lot of scenic stops as well as city stops, a cable car ride down from the mountain and lunch along the seaside. Visited Weta Cave for some Lord of the Rings fun. We ended up touring the museum in Wellington, too, and driver came back for us after a couple of hours. Some people went back to the ship but we were happy to do this museum. Some incredible Gallipoli exhibits plus a lot of Maori exhibits. Not enough time there but after our other touring we could not complain.

*Prinsey’s Napier Tour - winery tour and a lot of scenic sites, including Te Mata Peak. Lasted about 4 hours and more than enough time to do our own walking tour of Napier after the tour. This was a morning tour.

*Hobbits and Geysers Shore Tour, Cruise Tauranga - this did the two big sites here. Rotorua Geysers and Hobbiton Movie Set. A long day but we loved it all. The Geysers were spectacular and Hobbiton was fun.

*Had a tour set up for Bay of Islands but port canceled. We had a tour set up via Viator I think.

*Toru Tours Auckland 3 Hour Express Tour - we did not get out to see as much as we were scheduled to see due to rain but definitely a long enough tour. This was our last port and we were toured out by then.

*Picton - This was our down day and we just walked around the port. Very enjoyable and had a great lunch at Escape to Picton.

When we got back to Sydney, we went to the Taronga Zoo via ferry. Very easy to set up on your own at the main wharf by the Circular Quay and included zoo admission price as well as ferry fee. Staff all along there to answer questions and we managed to figure it out even though we are not ones to do a lot of solo touring on our own. The zoo is very nice and we saw a lot of the animals again which was our main goal for going there. The ferry ride during the day was so beautiful and very different from our experience of the harbor dinner cruise so try to do both if you have time.”

Hope this helps you as I know how helpful the Aussies and Kiwis were when I was planning our ports.

 

 

If you have more questions, just ask.

 

Thanks.

[karoo]

Most of the ports in NZ had private operators offering tours when you got off. They had stands set up and locals that were very helpful at explaining what was on offer and giving directions etc. We were able to organise tours in every port. All the same as what was on offer through the ship, but much cheaper.

 

 

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