New Zealand ports

[roscoe39]

On 6/4/2022 at 9:38 PM, possum52 said:

Cruising has restarted as of this week with P&O Aus Pacific Explorer doing a return cruise from Sydney to Brisbane. Coral Princess is due to arrive this month and other cruise lines will have ships here in time for the summer season in October. There have been small ships (under 100 passengers I believe) since last year doing cruises around the northern part of the country. Tourism is really ramping up and international tourists are returning. There will be plenty of things to do in both NZ and Australia. Yes, you quite often can pick up tours at the dock. 

just to clarify that you are talking about cruising having restarted in Australia. New Zealand is still off limits to Cruiseships. We are expecting that it will be reopened in October when traditionally our main season restarts.

The last cruise ship that tried to enter nz waters was swiftly turned away!

 

(and for my two cents worth in great NZ ports discussion... the Bay of ISlands is a must if you are looking at non-missable nz ports).

[possum52]

1 hour ago, roscoe39 said:

just to clarify that you are talking about cruising having restarted in Australia. New Zealand is still off limits to Cruiseships. We are expecting that it will be reopened in October when traditionally our main season restarts.

The last cruise ship that tried to enter nz waters was swiftly turned away!

 

(and for my two cents worth in great NZ ports discussion... the Bay of ISlands is a must if you are looking at non-missable nz ports).

Yes I was talking about cruising resuming in Australia. The OP was talking about cruising to NZ next year.

[cruisin from florida]

We're doing NZ back to back with a transpacific next spring. We have a week in Australia before we start cruising. I really appreciate all the suggestions on this thread!

[tillys mom]

Nebr.cruiser- we are cruising to Australia and New Zealand next spring and ran across something you might enjoy. Weta studios offer tours in Wellington and Auckland to see the backstage magic used to create the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc. You can get all the info from their website- and remember the ticket price is NZ dollars so about 56 USD. If a tour isn’t listed yet, you can email and they will add your day to the calendar- very helpful customer service.

[Nebr.cruiser]

59 minutes ago, tillys mom said:

Nebr.cruiser- we are cruising to Australia and New Zealand next spring and ran across something you might enjoy. Weta studios offer tours in Wellington and Auckland to see the backstage magic used to create the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc. You can get all the info from their website- and remember the ticket price is NZ dollars so about 56 USD. If a tour isn’t listed yet, you can email and they will add your day to the calendar- very helpful customer service.

Thank you--sounds like just what we are looking for.  I'll check it out for sure.    

[zalusky]

We did Celebrity Sydney to Auckland back in 2016.  We paid for the off ship overnight excursion getting off in Milford Sound and reboarding in Dunedin.  We stayed overnight in Queenstown.  They took us to many stops including Sheep shearing in Queenstown and the Kawarau river gorge bungee jump sight.  We definitely got to see a lot of New Zealand south island and the transition from snow to rolling green hills.

 

There was an upscale option to ride in a minivan vs the bus with a more intimate tour that I am still curious as to how much better it was than our motorcoach ride.

[ReneeFLL]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:57 AM, possum52 said:

…or visit Rotorua for the hot springs and Maori culture. 

Do you know of other ports where we can visit the Māori culture? We will be visiting next month. Thanks.

Dunedin  

Christchurch Lyttelton  

Wellington  

Napier  

Picton  

[possum52]

7 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Do you know of other ports where we can visit the Māori culture? We will be visiting next month. Thanks.

Dunedin  

Christchurch Lyttelton  

Wellington  

Napier  

Picton  

Here are some suggestions -

1. Wellington - Visit the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to learn about Maori culture.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

 

2. Dunedin - a number of suggesions on this website - Maori Culture in Dunedin

 

3. Christchurch - the attraction I would have suggested is not operating at the moment I believe -  Ko Tane. Perhaps this one may be of interest - Waka on Avon

 

4. Napier - https://maoritourism.co.nz/experiences/hawkes-bay

Good luck and enjoy your cruise to NZ, it is an amazing country to visit.

[crewsin250]

In Wellington can you walk to the cable cars from the cruise port

Thanks

[Over from NZ]

Yes you can walk it. At a quick guess, about 20 mins. 

[JeffroK]

I'm not sure thats correct, Most cruise ships park up near the ferry docks, well past the Sky stadium in an industrial area. A substantial walk to the Cable car.

On our cruise there were complimentary buses running into the CBD

Edited September 10, 2022 by JeffroK

[possum52]

3 hours ago, JeffroK said:

I'm not sure thats correct, Most cruise ships park up near the ferry docks, well past the Sky stadium in an industrial area. A substantial walk to the Cable car.

On our cruise there were complimentary buses running into the CBD

If I remember correctly, you can't walk out of the port area. You must take the shuttle or be on a ship's excursion. We were docked almost beside the stadium, as we have some photos of it from the top deck of Golden Princess.

[Over from NZ]

23 hours ago, JeffroK said:

I'm not sure thats correct, Most cruise ships park up near the ferry docks, well past the Sky stadium in an industrial area. A substantial walk to the Cable car.

On our cruise there were complimentary buses running into the CBD

Well even from there, it's only a 20-min walk. It's only a 10-min walk from the train station. 

[ReneeFLL]

On 9/6/2022 at 10:39 PM, possum52 said:

Here are some suggestions -

1. Wellington - Visit the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to learn about Maori culture.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

 

2. Dunedin - a number of suggesions on this website - Maori Culture in Dunedin

 

3. Christchurch - the attraction I would have suggested is not operating at the moment I believe -  Ko Tane. Perhaps this one may be of interest - Waka on Avon

 

4. Napier - https://maoritourism.co.nz/experiences/hawkes-bay

Good luck and enjoy your cruise to NZ, it is an amazing country to visit.

Thanks, I really appreciate the info. We went to the Te Papa back in 2018 and really enjoyed it. Will look at the others.

[dachshunddoglover]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:57 AM, possum52 said:

Do you want to cruise from Australia or from a NZ port? Most mainstream cruise lines do a round trip from Australia to NZ and back - sailing from Sydney, Melbourne or possibly Brisbane. There may be a small number of one way cruises from Australia or NZ (Auckland).

 

My favourite destination is Fiordland for NZ, then Dunedin, Tauranga and Auckland. From Tauranga, you can visit the Hobbit movie set and film locations or visit Rotorua for the hot springs and Maori culture.

Fiordland - the ship usually sails into the sounds for the passengers to have a good view of the scenery. Depending on the cruise line, you may visit 4- 5 sounds including Milford Sound which is the best (I think). In Milford, the ship will sail up the sound almost to the end where the village is situated and turn around to sail out. If there is an overnight excursion from the ship, depending if the ship is sailing from or to NZ, the ship will stop while turning for the excursion passengers to either disembark or embark. A point to remember is that depending on the weather conditions, ships may not always make it into the sounds. 

 

I would suggest you do some research on the NZ ports and what their attractions are. That way you will find which ports will suit you most and you can choose your cruise accordingly. 

Do you have any more insight on the over nigth / multi-day excursion that drops you off at milford sound? I do not want to miss the sounds for sure, was thinking that this excursion would allow a better view of the sounds. Also, this excursion takes you to Queesntown to stay over night then to Dunedin, which all sounds amazing just do not want to be missing out on anything going on back at the ship. Wish I knew more about the travels to Dunedin and how much there is to do along the way. 

Thanks in advance. 

[dreams_of_travel]

Question about visiting Dunedin:  the ship docks at Port Chalmers, does the ship or city run shuttle buses to Dunedin?  Cost?

 

(Unless my info is not correct, and we dock in Dunedin, then nvm 😉 )

[possum52]

3 hours ago, dreams_of_travel said:

Question about visiting Dunedin:  the ship docks at Port Chalmers, does the ship or city run shuttle buses to Dunedin?  Cost?

 

(Unless my info is not correct, and we dock in Dunedin, then nvm 😉 )

Yes, you will dock at Port Chalmers. If my memory is correct, you will find shuttles to take you in to Dunedin. Many private excursions will also pick you up from the cruise terminal (as ours did). Sorry, I have no idea of the cost of the shuttles.

These two links may help.

Visiting Dunedin

Arriving By Cruise Ship

 

Perhaps contact the Dunedin i-SITE Visitor Centre at  visitor.centre@dcc.govt.nz

[dreams_of_travel]

2 hours ago, possum52 said:

Yes, you will dock at Port Chalmers. If my memory is correct, you will find shuttles to take you in to Dunedin. Many private excursions will also pick you up from the cruise terminal (as ours did). Sorry, I have no idea of the cost of the shuttles.

These two links may help.

Visiting Dunedin

Arriving By Cruise Ship

 

Perhaps contact the Dunedin i-SITE Visitor Centre at  visitor.centre@dcc.govt.nz

Thanks for the links.  I'll do some more research.  I do have a short tour booked with the cruise line, and they will pick up from the port,  but I hope to still make it into Dunedin afterwards.   

[JeffroK]

Shuttle is about $10NZD