The whole family are off on our first cruising holiday. We are doing the 14 night cruise around New Zealand on the Royal Caribbean 'Voyager of the Seas' cruiseship. This cruiseship can accomodate over 3000 guests, has 4 pools, 6 whirlpools, fitness centre, many restaurants, cafes, bars, shops and activities too numerous to mention them all. Throughout this blog we will show you as much as we can on what you can do.
Day 1 :
The ship leaves Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour.
Upon arrival we check out the main plaza which runs through the middle of the ship. It contains some cafes, shops and where the parades and some entertainment occurs.
But all the kids want to do is go for a swim in the saltwater pool .
For dinner, all the guests are allocated the same seats and meal times, and also the same waiters for throughout the cruise. Each night, dinner has a different theme, example it can be asian theme, or from the sea. You have options of what to choose from the menu. If your lucky to get a great waiter they may pull a few strings and get something not from the menu.
The cruiseship has a Madagascar theme. Each night characters from the movie will wander around the ship allowing guests to take photos. There are also cruise photographers who are always taking photos each night, when on trips or when we arrive at destinations.
Day 2 - 4 :
When not at a port, the ship has plenty of activities to do. Many of the sporting activities have competitions each day, whereby winners receive gold, silver or bronze medals. Here i won bronze for basketball 3-point shooting competition.
There is a games room for the kids, and big kids. You can purchase a game card whereby you can keep adding credits. TIP - only give your kids enough money to play for each day. Otherwise if you expect the credits to last the trip you will be disappointed.
Not a place you would expect to find an ice-skating ring. If your a good skater don't expect to go to fast as it is generally full and the ring is not too big. It is on a first-come first-serve basis and you get 2 hours of skating time. There are 2-3 session times during the day. Some nights they also have an ice-skating show.
Day 5 :
Our first port of call is Auckland, New Zealand. We are only here for about 4 hours.
So we go into the city and go up the SkyTower. Tallest building in Auckland.
Day 6 :
We arrive at the port of Tauranga. The cruisehip has day tours that you can book. These are usually more expensive then if you actually organised it yourself. Prior to going on the tour we booked a bus with Royale Coachlines for our tour group, which picked us up and dropped us off at the port.
Our first stop on the tour was 'Te Puia'. A geothermal area just 5 mins from Rotorua.
One of the many mud pools.
Steaming and ready to explode is 'Pohutu Geyser'.
There she goes.
Our second stop is what all the 'Lord of the Ring' and 'The Hobbit' fans have been waiting for. We are going to the actual Hobbiton movie set.
We are taken around the town by a very knowledgeable guide.
Bilbo's house.
Sitting on the double-arched bridge with the Mill in the background.
The Green Dragon Inn.
Day 7 :
Our next port of call is Napier. Napier has a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco architecture, built after the 1931 earthquake. This was the prettiest town on the trip and contains lots of old memorabilia shops selling 1930s goods.
Day 8 :
We arrive at Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.
We take the famous Wellington cable car to the Botanic Gardens where you can visit the cable car museum.
From Wellington we take a 30min taxi ride to 'The Weta Cave'. The studio which created the characters for the LOTR and Hobbit movies, as well as for other movies like 'District 9', 'Avatar', and 'King Kong' to name a few. At the front exists all 3 trolls from The Hobbit.
Inside you can find actual movie set costumes, recreations and gifts to buy. You can watch a 20min video outlining what the studio does and what movies they have worked on. We took a behind-the-scenes tour of the studio showing you how they make the movie sets and also showing other actual movie set artifacts not seen in the front store. Well worth the visit.
Day 9-10 :
Cruising at sea. Port of Dunedin was bypassed due to poor weather.
One of the entertainment rooms.
Rock climbing.
Table tennis - won a Gold medal.
Day 11 :
Today we are going through the Sounds.
Firstly is Dusky Sound.
Second is Doubtful Sound.
Thirdly and the most impressive is Milford Sound.
Day 12-13 :
Cruising at Sea. Building up my medals. Gold for longest drive.
Day 14 :
Back in Australia. Port of call is Melbourne.
We have a full day in Melbourne, so we take a trip to Melbourne Aquarium.
Day 15 :
Cruising back to Sydney. One of our favourite eateries on the cruiseship is Johnny Rockets. Old fashioned 50s style restaurant. There is an additional charge per person to eat here $5, whereby then its all you can eat.
Every hour they do some dance routines to classic American Rock-Roll.
There are cupcake decorating classes for the kids. Make sure you pre-book. This is very popular.
Day 15 :
We've made it back to Sydney early morning. Make sure you get up early to watch the sunrise along Sydney Harbour. Still the most spectacular harbour in the world.
Since we did this trip, The Voyager of the Seas has been refurbished. Generally all the activities and restaurants are the same. One activity that has been added is a flow rider - practice your surfing on the boat.
Tips
- pre-book as many port of call activities as you can prior leaving. For example the bus tour we took to Te Puia and Hobbiton.
- when you have decided whcih cruise you want to go on, make sure you book early. You can save yourself as much as 30% if you book early.
- when leaving the ship, you are asked to pay gratuities to those who have servcied you, your waiters, your room cleaners. You can either prepay this, or when you go on board tell front desk that you want to give your own amount. This is the cheaper option.
- there is a photo package you can buy. Every port of call, after dinner or scenic destinations the ship visits, cruiseship photographers will take your photos. By the end of the tour we had at least a hundred photos taken. But you have to go to where the photographers are.
- alcoholic drinks on the ship are an extra cost. You can buy a drinks package. Can you save you a bit of money over the length of the trip. You are allowed to bring some bottles of wine onto the ship.
- try everything. We did sport activities (won 8 gold, silver and bronze), they do quiz shows (won 4 Gold on that), singing competitions, poker tournament as the casino, and many more.
Itinerary
Day 1 :
Leave Sydney
Day 2-4 :
Cruising at sea.
Day 5 :
Arrive in Auckland.
Visited SkyTower
Day 6 :
Arrived at Tauranga.
Took pre-booked bus tour to Te Puia and Hobbiton.
Day 7 :
Arrived at Napier.
Walked through the town visiting old Art Deco shops.
Day 8 :
Arrived at Wellington.
Cable car to top of Botanic Gardens.
Taxi drive to The Weta Caves. Took local bus back into town.
Day 9 - 10 :
Cruising at Sea (bypassed Dunedin due to bad weather)
Day 11 :
Cruised through Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds
Day 12 - 13 :
Cruising at sea.
Day 14 :
Arrived at Melbourne.
Visited melbourne Aquarium and factory outlets
Day 15 :
Arrive back in Sydney
Costs
- Cruise : $1069 per person quad share. Remember we booked 18months prior to departure to maximise early bird discount
- photo package - $450 for as many photos as you get taken. It is up to you to get your photos taken. The more photos you get taken the cheaper per photo it is.
- bus tour : Tour Bus hire : NZD$1191 for 22 seater
Te Puia : NZD$115 family pass (2A,2-4K), NZD$42 per adult, NZD$21 per child
Hobbiton Tour with lunch : NZD$78 per adult, NZD$48 per child
Hobbiton Tour (no lunch) : NZD$60 per adult, NZD$30 per child
- Wellington Cable Car : NZD$7.50 per adult return trip, NZD$3.50 per child return trip
- The Weta Caves, Taxi : from centre of Wellington approx NZD$70
- Melbourne Aquarium : $38 per adult, $22 per child