Day 6 (Sunday 31st December 23) The Fiordland of New Zealand.

 Getting up at 7am (4am EST) wasn’t as bad as I expected, especially since the ship was slowly cruising the first of the three Fiordland sounds. The water way view of the majestic green canyons, grey mountains, climatic atmospherics and plunging waterfalls of immense size has effect on the senses. You quickly forget about the need for sleep. 

Milford Sound 7:12am 31Dec23

Our first sound was Milford which visited in 2015. Still amazing in terms of beauty and sheers scale. 

We had a deluxe breakfast delivered so we could enjoy the view from our stateroom while enjoying a delicious breakfast. 

At 8:30am, after 2 hours in Milford Sound, we head out to sea, and travelled along the coast to next Sound. 

Leaving Milford Sound

An hour half later, we arrived at the next sound. We believe no photo or video can really do the Fiordlands justice, so magnificent and truely awe inspiring. Despite this, many photos were taken to at least capture the scene. 

Doubtful Sound 

Between Doubtful and Dusky Sound we had quick lunch of pizzas, anti-pasta, coffee and ice cream. 

Dusky Sound exit

The final sound we visited was Dusky Sound.

Later we headed off to specialty Italian restaurant Sabatini’s for a five course meal that we struggled to eat due to the sheer amount of great food. To complete the evening, we attended “Encore”, a dance and classical singing act by a troupe of talented presenters. Enjoyable, but certainly not we would normally attend. 

To see new year’s out we returned to our cabin to enjoy a glass of wine. All the bars and public places were parked with noisy party goers! We returned to the central part of ship to see in the last 10 minutes with the party goers.

Day 5 (Saturday 30th December 23) Still some where in between Australia and NZ at sea.

 Today, we woke up just in time for lunch! ( 11:20am NZ time which is 8:20am EST so don’t judge too harshly!) We really haven’t got use to the plus 3 hours of NZ time. 

Lunch menu with wine tasting 

We headed to Sabatini’s Italian restaurant for Tapas style wine and food pairing event. The food and wine were presented by the ship’s culinary staff, with complete explanations of each wine, its style and why it was paired with particular dish. Very pleasant event. Feeling very full we retreated to our cabin to recover, then sat on our balcony with binoculars to watch the sea birds for a while. 

A dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s visits to “the sounds” of NZ’s fiord-lands. We ordered room service to our balcony for an after snack and coffee a rehearsal for tomorrow’s deluxe breakfast. After suitable recovery period we rested and got ready for a lateish dinner. A lovely dinner interrupted by announcement by the Captain of “1st stage response deck 2 laundry”. Google the meaning. After 10 minutes, he made another announcement that it was a false alarm which was a relief. To end our day we attended a quiz show on guess the 25 celebrities before they were famous, … we got 6 correct, a great effort on our part. To celebrate our success or lack of it we retired to our stateroom with one glass of top shelf gin and one glass of whiskey. 

Progress 11:02pm 30th Dec 23

Off to bed early tonight to be up at 7am (4am EST) to enjoy the sounds” of NZ’s fiord-lands.

Day 4 (Friday 30 December 23) At sea some where between NZ and Australia

 Today we moved our time forward an hour. The cruise ship is slowly changing time so we can adjust to New Zealand time of plus 3 hours.

Our day started our day started nicely with fine art presentation and free jewellery give away. For lunch, we enjoyed Japanese sushi which was very tasty. We continued our exploration of the ship followed by a mid afternoon rest. 

For dinner we went to the ship’s seafood and steak speciality restaurant. It was very enjoyable, and we are glad that we returning to it later in cruise. After dinner, we enjoyed a comedian followed by a pleasant nightcap. Again tonight, we set our clocks forward another hour, so will start the day in a NZ time zone of plus 3 hours.

Day 3 (Thursday 28th December) Sydney to sea

 After a lovely breakfast, we headed down early to the cruise terminal. It took less than 40 minutes to board the ship, and was very smoothly done by the cruise company/port authority. We were aboard ship before our scheduled check in. An added  bonus, our room was ready. 

Royal Princess 

We found our muster station, checked our bookings for the speciality restaurants and headed off to lunch in one of the main dining rooms. The food was superb, and better than our experience on the Grand Princess from 2 months ago. 

We did a quick reconnaissance of the ship, certainly much to like. The passengers are a mixed bunch with us being the

upper age group of average on board. Many children and younger adults, which fits, since it the school holiday period and a New Year’s cruise to NZ. 

The harbour is truly magnificent. The ship left dock about 4pm local time and sounded its horn to the tune of “love boat”. Boats of all sizes and makes made their way across the harbour, with many boat goers waving to the departing cruise ship. 

After departing the harbour, we unpacked, met our room steward and went on another reconnaissance around the ship. We found the ship’s sky walk, a see through walkway projecting out over decks and sea 16 stories below. Very unnerving. 

After a light dinner and cocktail, we retired early after an eventful but enjoyable day.

Day 2 (Wednesday 27th Dec 2023) Brisbane to Sydney

 Our stay in the Pullman hotel was most pleasant. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast, then returned to our room to leisurely pack up, ready for our trip. After an easy 7 min walk to the terminal we checked in and waited at the gate.  After the quick flight we landed just missing a storm.  However just after we landed the storm closed the airport so our luggage was delayed on the plane for just over an hour.  Apparently there were updates on the speaker system…

MGallery Harbour Rocks

We chose to use an Uber from the airport to the hotel in case of further storms. The thought of dragging our baggage around was not something we wanted to do. Our hotel, MGallery Harbour Rocks is located a 5 minute easy walk to the Overseas Cruise Terminal. The hotel is a mid 19th century building that has been repurposed multiple times during its existence. It is heritage listed and has fantastic historic features.

The Rocks region of Sydney Harbour is the oldest colonial inhabited place. By European standards the buildings, are not old but by Australian colonial standards they range from late 18th to mid 19th century. 

We spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around the Rocks and Quay area. 

The area was busy with fellow tourists and residents alike. Of course we sampled some local cafe food. Very friendly. 

We also did a reconnaissance of the terminal for tomorrow. The terminal seems new to us. Last time we saw it the passengers waited under large trees near the docks. Now there appears is a large building complete with restaurants, similar to Brisbane and Melbourne. We watched today a P&O ship take on passengers which seemed to go smoothly. We look forward to tomorrow. 

Cruise Terminal 

For dinner, we ate at middle eastern style restaurant called Tayim. Very nice, and fortunately we got discount being Accor members. After dinner we tried to walk it off by walking along harbour. Overall a pleasant experience.

Day 1 - A new trip to NZ 23 (Tuesday 26 Dec 23)

 A new adventure started today, we traveled to Brisbane to fly out to Sydney tomorrow, then go cruising to NZ on the Royal Princess on Thursday and finishing in Auckland on the 6th Jan. This followed by a week of touring the North Island in a rented car. 

We decided it best to arrive the day before to allow any misadventures of airlines and the like. It was a good decision, as we spent 30 minutes waiting for emergency services folks to clear a road accident about halfway between Toowoomba and Brisbane. Closer to the airport, we spent another 30 minutes travelling through a storm with hail, strong winds and rain. 

Tonight we are staying at Pullman Brisbane Airport. It is a hotel in the past that we have found to be excellent. This time, the hotel upgraded us to executive suite next to executive lounge which we have access to. Very nice suite ‘The Theodore Suite’ none the less!

To ensure we knew our route in the morning, we walked the path between the airport and the hotel which took just 9 minutes. The Rex section of the airport could be easy to miss, so we are happy that we did the reconnaissance today. Our car will stay under the hotel until our return in a special area to keep it safe.