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margord

By margord,
in Australia & New Zealand

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jms

jms

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If you decide to do the Sapphire Princess, be sure to take the overland excursion (overnight or 2 nights) from Milford Sound to either Dunedin or Christchurch. It was worth every penny!

Just came back on Apr 2. Although the ship is very big and at times the buffet can get crowded, we never had a problem at dinner getting a table for 2 and the sailing was very smooth across the Tasman Sea.

It was great!

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margord

margord

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If you decide to do the Sapphire Princess, be sure to take the overland excursion (overnight or 2 nights) from Milford Sound to either Dunedin or Christchurch. It was worth every penny!

Just came back on Apr 2. Although the ship is very big and at times the buffet can get crowded, we never had a problem at dinner getting a table for 2 and the sailing was very smooth across the Tasman Sea.

It was great!

 

Please tell me more about the overland excursion.

 

Marilee

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margord

margord

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Margord,

Our Diamond review should be the same info you are looking for if you want info on the Sapphire. It is at www.thepreismans.com .

 

Thank you Mike. I have read your Australian review along with every other review you have on your web page. I actually look forward to your trips (along with you) as I thoroughly enjoy your reviews. So thanks for the offer but I have read your reviews over and over. Where are you off to next and when?

 

Marilee

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MVPinBoynton Great Review Rare

MVPinBoynton

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Marilee,

I am so glad that you have enjoyed our reviews and that they have helped in your cruise planning. As far as future trips, we will be doing a Nile River cruise in September, then a week on the Solstice in March 2009 and a Danube River cruise in May/June 2009. We have never done a river cruise before, so I am quite excited about this different type vacation experiene.

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margord

margord

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Marilee,

I am so glad that you have enjoyed our reviews and that they have helped in your cruise planning. As far as future trips, we will be doing a Nile River cruise in September, then a week on the Solstice in March 2009 and a Danube River cruise in May/June 2009. We have never done a river cruise before, so I am quite excited about this different type vacation experiene.

 

I will look forward to reading each and every one of the reviews. Have a wonderful time on all of them. The river cruise does sound interesting.

 

Marilee

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jms

jms

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To those of you who have asked about the overland excursion:

 

We disembarked the Sapphire Princess once we arrived in Milford Sound. They used a catamaran which held all 65 of us with plenty of room including our overnight baggage. 40 did the one night/15 did the two night. We met our coach just at the shore line and drove through beautiful scenery in the Fjordland National Park Area stopping at "The Chasm" and other photo ops as we went along. We had a buffet lunch in Te Anu at a place whose name escapes me and continued on to Queenstown where we did our overnight (at the St Moritz which was a downhill walk into town).

 

The group doing the 2 night stayed at a different hotel. The hotel itself had comfortable beds, lobby internet access for a small fee and great bathrooms. We were taken back into Queenstown after checking in to the hotel for a trip on a steamer vessel onto Lake Wakatipu - took about 40 minutes and was very scenic. Dinner was served at a very nice inn at the edge of the lake and then we had a sheep shearing demo before returning back to Queenstown on the steamer. Full breakfast was also included the next morning.

 

The next day we made our way to Dunedin to reboard the ship stopping first at the Hackett Bungee jumping gorge (where it all started!) and actually 2 of our co-passengers decided to make the leap! Lots of scenic overlooks and at Mirror lake along the way, lunch again in a small town and we had a short city sightseeing tour in Dunedin.

 

We enjoyed the camaraderie of this small group as it gave us time to get to know people a little better and the scenery, as I have said, was spectacular. Even looking back at my photos, they do not reflect how beautiful it was! I cannot speak for the 2 night crowd but I'm sure they loved Mt Cook which was their 2nd night.

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margord

margord

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To those of you who have asked about the overland excursion:

 

We disembarked the Sapphire Princess once we arrived in Milford Sound. They used a catamaran which held all 65 of us with plenty of room including our overnight baggage. 40 did the one night/15 did the two night. We met our coach just at the shore line and drove through beautiful scenery in the Fjordland National Park Area stopping at "The Chasm" and other photo ops as we went along. We had a buffet lunch in Te Anu at a place whose name escapes me and continued on to Queenstown where we did our overnight (at the St Moritz which was a downhill walk into town).

 

The group doing the 2 night stayed at a different hotel. The hotel itself had comfortable beds, lobby internet access for a small fee and great bathrooms. We were taken back into Queenstown after checking in to the hotel for a trip on a steamer vessel onto Lake Wakatipu - took about 40 minutes and was very scenic. Dinner was served at a very nice inn at the edge of the lake and then we had a sheep shearing demo before returning back to Queenstown on the steamer. Full breakfast was also included the next morning.

 

The next day we made our way to Dunedin to reboard the ship stopping first at the Hackett Bungee jumping gorge (where it all started!) and actually 2 of our co-passengers decided to make the leap! Lots of scenic overlooks and at Mirror lake along the way, lunch again in a small town and we had a short city sightseeing tour in Dunedin.

 

We enjoyed the camaraderie of this small group as it gave us time to get to know people a little better and the scenery, as I have said, was spectacular. Even looking back at my photos, they do not reflect how beautiful it was! I cannot speak for the 2 night crowd but I'm sure they loved Mt Cook which was their 2nd night.

 

Thank you so much for the information. It sounds like it was wonderful.

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cloakndagger

cloakndagger

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Hi Margord,

 

Just had a look for you...

 

These ships did NZ this year so far....Statendam, Mercury, Sapphire Princess, Sun Princess, Amsterdam and Crystal Serenity. I believe Silver whisper did it as well. Queen Vic and QE2 did both.

 

There were a few others but I don't think they did the Oz/Nz run together. Saga Rose, Clipper Odyssey, Nautica, Aurora (she may have done OZ), Black Watch (Fred Olsen). Volendam and the Diamond are due to due it later this year.

 

Hope it helps.

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margord

margord

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Hi Margord,

 

Just had a look for you...

 

These ships did NZ this year so far....Statendam, Mercury, Sapphire Princess, Sun Princess, Amsterdam and Crystal Serenity. I believe Silver whisper did it as well. Queen Vic and QE2 did both.

 

There were a few others but I don't think they did the Oz/Nz run together. Saga Rose, Clipper Odyssey, Nautica, Aurora (she may have done OZ), Black Watch (Fred Olsen). Volendam and the Diamond are due to due it later this year.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Thank you so much for checking this out for me. I really appreciate it.

 

Marilee

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