Day 9 (Tuesday 24 December 2024) Dunedin

 This morning we arrived in Port Charmers (Dunedin) which we last visited back on new years’s day 2024. 

 Today is cool, damp and overcast compared to a warm sunny day back on 1st of January. Also another cruise ship has docked as well. town.

 We haven’t booked any excursions except a bus ticket to get us to Dunedin and return. A generally lazy exploring day was planned and achieved. It has been awhile since we last explored Dunedin so it was like visiting the town anew again.

Initially the day was cool, overcast and foggy with a promise of rain, but by mid day the sun had burnt through.

The bus took us on long road that borders the large bay for about 20 minutes into town. 

The bus dropped us off near the museum not far from the fantastic railway station which we saw on our last trip to Dunedin.

At the museum we got directions, and decided to visit the Chinese gardens. A lady that appeared to be of Chinese heritage indicated to us that the gardens were fairly authentic. For NZ$22 revisited the gardens and found them to be very serene and different to Japanese Gardens that we had visited in the past.

We would certainly recommend visiting the gardens for something different. We then climbed the hill travelling past several parks, magnificent buildings until we found the Spieght’s brewery.

We didn’t take a tour, but we did taste six of the beers that they had on offer. Certainly worth a visit if you enjoy beer. We then proceeded to climb a very steep road up a hillside to the towns, magnificent catholic Cathedral.

We then proceeded down Stuart Street to the octagon in the centre of town. Again we enjoyed the late Victorian architecture found in Dunedin. 

Dunedin was founded mainly by Scottish immigrants during the 1860s to the early 1900s, who developed the town and surroundings. As a result, we found a Scottish shop, on Stuart Street so we dropped in for a wee shop and gather. The shop had all manner of cool stuff ranging from kilts, tartans, and other Scottish paraphernalia. We left more than a wee bag of goodies. 

Eventually, we found food in a Burger ( velvet burger) Speciality restaurant (not MacDonald’s as that isn’t food.).

Octagon

We continue down Stuart Street to the railway station turned to head to our bus line. The line to the bus was long but did move fairly quickly. Another cruise company (celebrity) operating much smaller ship (2/3 the size of the Ovation) appeared to have vastly more buses available. While waiting in line we got to talk to some of the crew who had short leave today.

We enjoyed Dunedin, as it was generally a no frills day but was enjoyable.

 Departure from Port was interesting as our ship passed the celebrity edge in the harbour and passengers from both ships called out Christmas greetings. as the ship passed out to sea people park their cars along the road and waved as we passed by.

The scenery in the channel was typical of New Zealand, simply beautiful.

We finished our day with a speciality meal at the Japanese restaurant followed by a Christmas show in the theatre. We then returned to our favourite ship bar called Vintage. 

Day 8 (Monday 23rd December 2024) Lytteton and Christchurch

 Welcome to the South Island! Once more in the little port of Lytteton. We docked in port 10am local time. 

Today was an example of what happens when 4000+ passenger cruise ship arrives in port at 10:30am instead 7am. Everyone has had a chance to get up, eat a leisurely breakfast and get off the ship at the same time at 11am. People waited up to 1 hour and half (plus some as we retreated to our cabin for 45 minutes ) to get off ship, as the various buses ferried them to Lytteton or Christchurch. At Lytteton, it is a working port, passengers cannot just walk off the ship but instead shuttled off the port. This process slowed down the whole departure process and causes tempers to flare with some passengers. Hmmm. For us, joining the line at 11:30am and reaching Lytteton drop off at 12:20am. 

We took a $4nz dollar trip through the tunnel to the Christchurch gondola centre. Again confronted by a long queue which we joined for 30 minutes before Melissa did the maths that by the time we got a ride, we would need to return to the ship for scheduled 3:45pm North Star ride. So we abandoned the queue and took $10NZ uber ride back to Lytteton for a leisurely lunch in the Main Street followed by a 3pm free bus shuttle service back to the ship. 

A quick refresh, and we headed to our 15minute North Star ride above the ship. Stunning views but is it worth $70USD dollars,… probably not. Fortunately for us, our ride was complimentary as part of our package. 

After the ride, we enjoyed an ice cream and cold drink from the bar before retreating to our balcony to watch in comfort the ship’s departure. 

Tonight, we dine in the main dinning room 7:30pm as we have a show called the Spectra Cabaret at reserved for 10:30pm. Originally booked for the earlier 8:30pm show but that messed up our dinner choices. 

It was very enjoyable with dance, music, singing and techno lights display. The cast could appear almost anywhere using special rising platforms rising out of deck.

Day 7 ( Sunday 22nd December 2024) landfall at last, Napier New Zealand

 Today we docked in Napier New Zealand, Hurray!

We ate breakfast and headed out into the bright and sunny day ashore. It was nice to be on land and in New Zealand once more, certainly a happy place for us. 

Today, we booked a winery tour of Hawks Bay, which visited Abbey Wines and Sileni Wines. Our bus driver  loaded us on 15 minutes early so we got away early.   He took us for guided tour through Napier and surrounding valley to the wineries. Absolutely New Zealand like gorgeous countryside, which makes you almost want immigrate to New Zealand.

Sileni

The first winery was Sileni, that was made up several wineries on the North and South Island. Delightful wines, will certainly look for the them back in Australia. We considered buying some wine, but 29% Tarif, and freight worth as much as $30-35NZDs bottle made prohibitive to import. Very sad.

The next winery was a family owned, and produced lovely wines as well. After so much wine, we enjoyed cheese board provided by the winery. Very friendly people. Again, we intend to look for their wines back home.

Napier itself is the art deco capital of New Zealand having be rebuilt in the style after a massive earthquake in 1931. 

Certainly want to revisit this area again sometime in the future. 

Day 6 (Saturday 21st December 2024 ) cruising between the. North and South Islands of NZ

 A pleasant sleep and slowly adjusting to the +3 hours time difference between Queensland and New Zealand. Today we would have docked at Picton, oh well, next time I hope.

A slow sea day as we pass between north and South Islands. A Whale was spotted, and yesterday a pod of 50 dolphins kept pace with the ship.

We took a look at some of the Christmas displays onboard, very minimalistic compared to other ships we have seen. I suspect cultural sensitivity at play as a goodly number of

passengers from others countries onboard. The other observation is

Royal Caribbean charges for almost everything on the ship. If you do not want any additional perks apart from the dining room, the price of the cruise is very reasonable?However Royal Caribbean charges for some things that other companies provide for free.

The shows have been great. Last night we watched dance and singing show with many lights and song/dance routines.

We finally got a go at bumper cars aboard. Last time, ( on another ship) the line go longer in front of us as additional people joined the line because friends “held spaces” for them.

Same thing happened again with mostly teenagers joining in because of held spots. Staff try to curve the activity but too few staff and too many cunning teenagers. Regardless we got a go this time, and Melissa was deadly with rear attacks. Speaking of teenagers, most have been great, but after 3 days at sea, we are starting to see “interesting” behaviour of some, like pushing the lift buttons for all floors or seating on the floor of lifts even when it standing room only.

Come on parents, control your offspring! Tomorrow brings Napier as a port if the weather is good, which should reduce cabin fever that some of teenagers are experiencing. Of course in lifts you find the piano man playing tunes!

Dinner tonight was pleasant. At table for set for six, Melissa and I were the only guests, nice. Waiter staff are great and very friendly. 

Day 4 ( Friday 20th December 2024) Halfway to Napier

 Last night was interesting, as a ship rocked and rolled with a 35 knot wind striking it on its side. Given that the Ovation of the Seas is 72metre (16 story) bemoth that is shaped like a block of flats sitting on 330+ metre hull, it little wonder that it rolled last night. The ship has a draft beneath the waterline of just 8 metres so really only modern technology of underwater foils keeps it from rolling over in heavy weather. To add to the fun, we are staying on the 12th floor so a 1 or 2 percent roll at sea level is multiplied by effect on level 8 and beyond. Needless to say our sleep last night was disturbed. Certainly a pleasure to wake up to calmer seas and halfway to Napier. Happy to say we didn’t feel sick from the experience. 

Today was a typical sea day of food drink entertainment and repeat. Despite being at sea somewhere in the ocean, Cos was able to connect with technicians from the department today, a very small world.

Day 4 (Thursday 20th December 2024) at sea and heading to Napier NZ

 We woke up to find the ship at sea and moving in the right direction for New Zealand. 

The Captain informed us over the public address system that we had been delayed out of Sydney due to the Sydney harbour master closing the port due heavy swells at the heads leading out to the ocean. He also added that two passengers had been evacuated due to medical emergencies which further delayed the ship while ambulances took the two separate medical emergencies to further medical care. As a consequence, the ship had cancelled our scheduled stop at Picton. This was disappointing but can’t be helped given circumstances and we got refund for our excursion to the Aviation Museum. Cos will need to return to New Zealand another time to visit the museum.(Ahh shucks)We also gain another sea day, which makes us a little sad as we enjoy cruising for the port visits not so much the ship experience. Fortunately the ship is huge, so plenty to explore and enjoy. 

Fortunately plenty to see and eat, so for lunch we tried speciality Japanese restaurant which was very enjoyable.

 We spent most of afternoon resting after such large lunch. At dinner time we tried to catch up with some of Facebook group that we have been linked to. No luck, when we were there they were not and vice versa. We then went to the theatre to enjoy comedian and singing act of “Mercury rising” by a Freddie Mercury impersonator. Very entertaining!

We then attended Dinner at the speciality restaurant (an American steakhouse) called Chops Grilled. Amazing and tasty food, well worth the visit and extra dollars. We then walked off our dinner before ending our day at the Vintage wines bar. A restful and pleasant day.

Finally we discovered that the ship handles rough seas well. You can tell drunks on the ship because they walk in straight line while the rest of us zigzag and stagger around as the ship ploughs onto towards New Zealand.

Day3 (Wednesday 18th December 2024) Departure from Sydney for NZ

 Cruise day has arrived! Up relatively early ready to board the ship Ovation of the Sea. Unlike yesterday, the city is damp from overnight showers of rain.

Boarding the ship was painless and quick. We boarded it about an hour before our official check in time. As members of the key, we were given a special welcome lunch from chops Grill in one of the main dining rooms. Our ship was scheduled for a 5 o’clock departure but as of this writing at 10:30 pm we are yet to leave Port. Apparently, this is because the harbourmaster has closed the port due to high swells. We have so far found this ship the Ovation of the Seas to be almost the same as her sistership, The Oasis of the Seas which we sailed on back in February 2023. 

Day 2 (Tuesday 17th December 2024) Sydney

 A warm and sunny day in Sydney CBD. After a late rise, we enjoyed a quick but pleasant breakfast at our hotel. The Hotel is only a 10 minute walk to circular Quay where we took a “Captain Cook Cruise” around the harbour to various locations including shark island, Watson’s bay and Manly. The cruise took about an hour and a half. Sydney has a glorious harbour. 

The afternoon was spent in Pit street mall, picking up last minute items including some boat shoes. 

Day 1 16th December 2024 Toowoomba to Sydney

 Packed up ready for new adventure. Charlotte kindly agreed to baby sit our house. The country side around airport, very green and full of life. Lots of rain in the last couple of months. Passing through security was the most involved ever, but still better than a major airport.

A couple of days in Sydney before we cruise over New Zealand again, very exciting. 

The flight was quick in Dash8-400, and before we knew it we had landed in Sydney. We had quick video call with Jaqueline to see her open her Christmas presents. A quick uber to our hotel: The Sofitel Wentworth, grand and classy hotel 10 minutes from Circular Quay. Our room was 1734, top floor of the hotel.

After checking into our room, we were invited to French evening supper, of Roast Pork with cold meats and salads served with white wine and other drinks. No need for dinner after this “light” supper. We decided to visit Circular Quay, to where our ship will be in two days time. A pleasant walk, and we got to see the ship, Queen Elizabeth leave harbour. Very pleasant.