New Zealand cruise 2025

14 day cruise to New Zealand on Discovery Princess Read more

Follow Insights Calendar Photos Share

Newest first

Trip start
December 5, 2025
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 0-Canberra to Sydney bus trip.
December 5 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Our New Zealand cruise we had been planning for 2 years has finally come around.
Picked up by Dad at 13:45 and off to the Jolimont to get the 15:00 bus to Sydney.
It was the usual trip up the Hume Hwy to get to Sydney, made a little slower by roadworks at Marulan.
Arrived in Sydney by 18:50, checked in at the Metro Marlow and had sushi train for dinner.
Back to the hotel and bed for an expected early start.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 1-Embarkation day.
December 6, Tasman Sea ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
Steve got up at 5.45 and went for an early morning run down to Darling Harbour and along the water to Circular Quay before breakfast.
The 3 of us went for a leasurely breakfast, stroll down George Street and then back to our hotel before we packed and made our way down to Circular Quay for check in and boarding of the Discovery Princess.
Check in went surprisingly quickly, and we were on board. Had lunch in the buffet dining before orientation and booking Millie in to kids club, checking out the health center and then finally getting access to our room where we unpacked. Our cabin steward introduced himself and then we made our way to the pool for some relaxing time, and so Millie could have a swim.
Dad found us while Millie was swimming, touching base now he and Mum were on board. Millie finished her swim and we made our way to dinner at Ketchikan Restaurant.
Millie really wanted to go to kids club after dinner so we dropped her off the, went and looked around the main shopping area before Lindz went for her massage and I (Steve) went to O'Malley's Irish Bar for a drink and a read.
Mum and Dad caught me there, so we had a drink together and listened to Rory and Roisin, and Irish Duo. They even had a go at playing The Unicorn Song.
Mum and Dad picked up Millie from Kids Club and we turned in after relieving them of her.Read more
3 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 2-At Sea
December 7, Tasman Sea ⋅ 🌬 16 °C
We had to wind our clocks forward 1 hour to move us gradually in line with New Zealand time, so before we realised it, it was almost 8am and Steve wanted to go and try out Thai Chi. It wasn't what was expected so came back to the room and got Millie out for breakfast before checking into Kids Club at 09:00.
We also had a complimentary health assessment at 09:00 which, though said to only take about 15 mins ended up taking about 70 mins before we actually went and got some breakfast ourselves.
Much of the rest of the day was resting.
An early lunch and Lindsay went off and did a communial facial information and advice session, while Steve and Millie spent some time playing Uno with Mum and Dad, then off to get a pedicure at 13:30 and back off to kids club after this.
There was an interesting presentation on Maritime history at 14:00, after which Steve went and read in the Grill Bar.
17:00 came around and we headed for the Ketchikan for dinner with Mum and Dad, then Millie turned in as she was shattered from the change in time and a big sea day in Kids Club.
Mum, Dad and I (Steve) headed to the Vista Lounge and listened to the Irish Duo, Rory and Roisin perform again, before turning in for the night.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 3-At Sea
December 8, Tasman Sea ⋅ 🌬 15 °C
I (Steve) woke early this morning to another lost hour of sleep and a nice morning. The skies were mostly clear and it was moderately temperate so I went for a run on the running track; 25 laps or about 6.5km later I was finished. I saw Dad while I was up there and when finished he headed for breakfast and I went to shower and get Millie and Lindsay for breakfast in the Ketchikan Restaurant.
After checking Millie into kids club, Lindsay and I headed to check out the Contemporary Watch event/sales and a destination presentation about Picton (our second shore stop) before retiring to our room for a nap. The lost hours of sleep had finally caught up on us both.
We got Millie for lunch, Buffet style, then headed to the pool. It wasn't overly warm, but I bore it and went in with Millie amd afterwards had an Icecream. The sun was at least out which made it bearable.
Back to the room with the girls and I went to finds somewhere to read and have a cup of tea, before getting ready for the first formal night.
We got a call from the photo studio on board offering us a free photo session and print as we had indicated it was our anniversary on the cruise. Lindz booked it for just after dinner.
We had dinner in the Ketchikan Restaurant with Mum and Dad again before the photo session and sending Millie to kids club. We missed the first sitting of the first stage show for the cruise, Rock Opera, so we went to O'Malley's for a drink and caught the second session. Lindz had to get Millie from kids club and she had to sit through the show, which she wasn't thrilled about, but I think she secretly enjoyed it. Once it had finished we turned in for the night.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
1
Day 4a-Fiordland NP: Milford Sound
December 9 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Up at 07:00 and dressed to find a pisition on the upper decks for photos as we started the scenic tour part of the cruise.
We entered Milford Sound about 07:30 and headed down as far as the ship was able to go before turning around and heading back out. This was the first of the fiords we would be visiting today.
After Milford Sound it was going to be a couple of hours before we entered Thompson Sound, so the 3 of us went and had breakfast. Lindz checked Millie into Kids Club and I headed back to the room to shower, tidy up for the day and I caught up on some sleep before finding a position on the upper deck for the second Fiord, Thompson Sound and Doubtful Sound.Read more
Wow stunning scenery!’ [Gill]
2wReply
TravelerGreat pictures! Lucky to have such a clear morning in Milford Sound.
2wReply
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 4b-Fiordland NP: Thompson/Doubtful S
December 9 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 14 °C
Lindz went and got Millie from Kids Club, and the 2 of them went and had lunch without me. I wanted to get photos of Thompson Sound and Doubtful Sound as we travelled through.
Dad mentioned that Milford Sound was the besy of them, and though Thompson Sound was pretty, it was nothing compared to Milford Sound. The ship entered Thompson Sound and did a loop of Secretary Island, coming out via Doubtful Sound.
It got incredibly windy and gusty up on deck 18, but I stayed there for a while and got some photos.
After the second round of photos, I made my way to the Marketplace for Lunch and ran into Mum and Dad, so we shared a table for a late lunch. Lindz just happened to come along as we were thinking of wrapping up, so she joined us before we made our way back to our room in time for the third Fiord; Breaksea and Dusky Sounds.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 4c-Foordland NP: Breaksea/Dusky Snd.
December 9 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 16 °C
The last of the Fiordland National Park Fiords was in through Breaksea Sound and out through Dusky Sound, performing a run around Resolution Island. Another, less spectacular of the Fiords but pretty none-the-less. We watched this one from our room blacony, and managed to see some Fur Seals basking on their "favourite" rock.
Straight after it was staright to dinner, Millie to Kids Club, while Steve went to the Theatre to grab seats for the show Rock & Roll Retrospective.
Drink at O'Malley's and then a late night hoping to see something of the Aurora Australis, which was predicted to be visible... too much cloud, so nothing was visible so I turned in.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 5a-Port Chalmers and Dunedin
December 10 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Arrival and docked at Port Chalmers approx 10:30 and we were off the boat early for the shuttle service into Dunedin. Welcome to New Zealand; I got frisked and searched at the terminal because the sniffer-dog didn't like my day bag!
At breakfast time I decided to book a brewery tour at the Speights Brewery, which wasn't until 14:00, so we spent the morning looking around Dunedin at the buildings and architecture, parks and shops. The buildings are really a mix of styles and period specific designs, from Victorian and Edwardian stylings to mid 20th centry retro, all of which has been kept and preserved in much of its natural styling.
We headed to Speights Ale house for lunch, a nice lamb pot pie and then I went on my tour of the brewery while the girls did their own thing for a couple of hours (log entry to come).
The brewery was a fascinating look at the history of one of the bigger brewing companies in New Zealand. The process though for brewing beer never changes, though they boasted using a Gravity Process where the process starts at the highest point in thr brewery and finishes at the bottom of the hill.
They also have claim to having tapped into an underground glacia-fed spring water source that they use in the beer, under a 100 year old agreement that the spring was also made available to the general public; there is a tap on the outside of the brewery on the street where you can fill up drink bottles and buckets. The boars and water filtration is the only part of the original brewery operating today; the rest has been upgraded. There was also a story where they were supposed to have 3 filtration vessels but at the last minute they only managed to get 2, but the infrastructure was in place for 3. There was no clear reason as to why the 3rd was never delivered from the manufacturer. It is thought the copper in it was put to better use elsewhere.
The brewery also had a huge investment of funds after the Christchurch Earthquake. The brewery in Christchurch fell down and it was questioned whether to rebuild or upgrade Dunedin to produce beer. So the government poured over 40million dollars into upgrading the brewery at Dunedin, so now much of it has been retained for tourist and historic value.
It was a fascinating tour overall and ended with a tasting of a variety of beers they have on offer.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 5b-Dunedin (by Lindsay)
December 10 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
While Steve was visiting Speight's brewery, Millie and I went and explored the city centre and the octagon.
We visited the First Church of Otago which is a Presbyterian church with amazing stain glass windows, detailed sculptures and altar. We had a lovely chat with the pastor who went through the history of the building and area.
We then had a play in the gardens where we noticed the fluffy bumble bees, we first saw in Tasmania.
We visited St Paul’s Cathedral and then on to the Dunedin public art gallery where Millie got to create a little art in the children’s area on the wall followed by some shopping.
While waiting for Steve, we played eye spy in the middle of the octagons park.
All of us then went to the Dunedin railway station before heading back.
The trip back was exciting, to say the least with the bus driver texting on his phone all the way on the windy roads that run along the inlet connecting Dunedin to Port Chalmers.
Once we were all back on board the ship, we were all pretty exhausted and had not been sleeping very well. So Millie went off to Kids Club after dinner and Steve and I watched a movie and started to wind down, with an early night to bed straight after Millie got back from Kids Club. Tomorrow would be a sea day and a rest day.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 6-At Sea
December 11, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 14 °C
Today was a sea day and an opportunity to rest. Sharing a room with a 9 year old is tough... we may need a holiday to recover from the holiday.
We all had a really good night sleep and I had had enough by 07:30 to get up and go for a jog on the running track. After a leisurely breakfast, Millie went off to Kids Club and I went and watched an Enrichment Presentation on the history of passenger travel by sea from the 1800s to the future. Lindsay went for a walk around the ship and chilled until lunchtime, when she had to collect Millie from Kids Club.
While the girls were having lunch, I went and did some laundry, had lunch and then joined the girls by the pool. Millie was swimming, but I had to finish the laundry and it was getting too cold to sit by the pool and read so I went into one of the restaurants to read. While reading people were crowding around the Promenade Deck balcony and I went to see what was going on. Dolphin's were "frolicking" in the wake of the ship. They were just swimming along with the ship, jumping in and out of the waves.
Dinner with Mum and Dad this time at Juneau restaurant and they went to a show at the Princess Theatre (a live performance from singer and violin player Fem Belling) while Lindz and I checked the photos from the shoot we had on Monday night.
Mum and Dad said the show was so good, Lindz and I went to the 21:30 show, then picked up Millie from Mum and Dad afterwards.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 7a-Picton
December 12 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Millie and Lindz slept late as all 3 of us had a really bad night; Millie waking every hour, etc.
I got up at 05:30 and went up on the top deck to watch the ship come in through Queen Charlotte Sound to dock at Shakespeare Bay, a working dock for harvesting and milling of Huon Pine and Douglas Fur.
When I got back to the room after having breakfast, Millie and Lindz had just finished getting ready and made their way down to the lounges to get their shuttle tickets into Picton.
I had a shore tour booked, Queen Charlotte Sound by Kayak, and it didn't meet until 10:45 so I went and had a seat at the Crown Grilled Bar and read my book for an hour before changing and heading to the Princess Theatre. We were 45 minutes late to our bus as there was a delay for buses for the 4 tours ahead of mine.
Once on the bus we drove for about 20 mins to Nagakuta Bay, where we met our guides for the Kayaking Tour.
They were 2-person Kayaks, and I pared up with a woman who was there with her 2 teenage children. We kayaked for just over an hour, about 2.5km around Nagakuta Bay. It did get a little windy, but was otherwise fairly enjoyabe and we saw jelly fish and a good number of Manta Rays.
After the tour we were shuttled back to the ship, the driver giving us a good little talk about Picton, as she is a local bus driver in the area.
Once back on board the ship aprox 15:00 I met up with the girls, got some afternoon tea and had a rest until our dinner booking at 17:40 and 80s theme night.
As we were leaving Picton, one of the tug boats ran along side the Discovery Princess with Santa on board, who gave the ship a send off.
Millie to Kids Club, while Lindz and I went and did the 1980s trivia, had some drinks and turned in for the night. After our bad night sleep last night, we needed the early night.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 7b-Picton (from Lindsay)
December 12 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Millie and I (Lindsay) left the boat early getting straight on the bus without needing to wait, just before getting on we got given a flower boutonniere.
When we arrived I asked Millie should we go get some Breaky the answer was overwhelmingly "yes' followed by a pointing finger and “Subway! For Breaky”. We could have gone anywhere but that’s where we went. It was the old railway building.
We then walked into town and millie played on a ship playground for a little while before we walked along the pier/beach and then we went to the local markets where we found some great little books with some kiwis in them and Millie adopted a new friend.; a recycled fabric turtle that supports the local wildlife carers. He’s now named “Unstold” which is the turtle from Nevermore.
We went to the museum and looked through all the history. Then headed to the park where the water had been turned on to make it a water playground. We spent a good hour there with Millie playing in the water and having fun, then moved onto a pond and hired a small toy sailboat to play with. Millie had a train ride, went on the old carousel and had an icecream.
Not without an element of drama, a big bumble bee landed on Millie's shoe and freaked her out.
We shopped a little and then came back to the boat. It was a lovely mummy daughter day.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 8-Sea Day
December 13, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
1 week since we first came on board. That time has really gone quickly.
It was another sea day between Picton and Tauranga.
I got up early and went for a 5km run, though a little later than other days. I really think Parkrun on cruise ships would go down really well and be quite popular, but it is not a thing, so I made my own. 22 laps of the running track.
Breakfast (getting a little tired of cooked breakfasts), clean up and some time today to relax.
For lunch, we decided to use one of our fine dining vouchers and arranged to have lunch at the Sushi bar on Deck 6, Ocean Terrace after getting Millie from Kids Club.
They were able to adapt the Sushi for Millie to include less spicy flavours. It was goooood!!! Millie also found herself a tagged duck!
After lunch Millie wanted some pool time, so we went to the heated pool and she played for a couple of hours. The sun really had some sting to it. They were also playing a recording of a Rolling Stones concert.
After the pool and an icecream we went back to th4 room to get ready for "Dress to Impress" dinner night and we participated in a Beatles quiz before turning in for the Night.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 9a-Tauranga and Rotorua
December 14, Tasman Sea ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
My body clock is so messed up with the chnages in time zones, but I also wanted to get some photos of the islands and headlands as we were sailing in. So I was up early for photos coming into Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. Got a close up photo too of the Statue of Tangaroa on the rock as we sailed passed and into Salisbury Warf.
We met for our shore tour and, once cleared to go ashore, we boarded a bus for 75 minute drive to Rotorua. It is amazing just how impatient people are on cruises to the point or completely disregarding the staff on the cruise and attempting to push their way in. When the staff say "1 row at a time" and it takes a guest to pull up people for not listening and trying to barge their way through, there really is a problem with human nature.
At Rotorua we were scheduled to visit the Whakarewarewa village for the Living Maori Village tour. When we arrived we were given lunch cooked in the hot rocks and steam from the natural geothermal heat generated in the area.
After lunch we were escorted by a young man who said he was the Chief of his Maori Tribe, which is one of the 48 tribes that live in the region around Whakarewarewa village. He gave an interesting account of the area, how battles were fought to retain posession of the region by the owners of the lands and a demonstration of the warcries used to intimidate and frighten off enemies. It is a fairly convincing tactic and understandable why the Haka is so effective a war "dance"; make yourself ad ugly and possible to keep invading armies away. He also explained the design of the house like the human body, why Maori design look the way they do and they treat the house, like another lifeform and entity, so it is treated with respect and reviered.
He also explained that with some of the Geysers in the area, the water exceeds boiling point, with the water being a fairly consitent 200°C in some pools. The minerals disolved in these pools are very good for the skin too.
We were also able to observe from a distance Pohutu Geyser; a leaping geyser of boiling hot water, again generated by heat from geothermal sources
After the tour, we experienced a demonstration of the story of the area, performance of their dances including the story behind the origins of the song Pokarekare ana.
It was about 2 lovers who were kept separate from each other by her father who was a chief on the banks of Lake Rotorua. The male lover lived on Mokoia Island (the main cone of the Rotorua vulcano) and would play his flute to let his lover know he was thinking of her, but she could not get to him. In the end she swam across to the island using gourds as floats and was united with her lover.
After th tour we barded the bus for the return journey to Tauranga.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 9b-Mount Maunganui
December 14 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
When we arrived back at Tauranga, our busdrive gave us a little tour of the area and beaches in the area before going back to the ship.
Millie and Lindz went back on board the ship, but I wanted to go for a walk, so I walked from the cruise warf up to the summit of Mount Maunganui. It was a really hard climb and very steep in places. Naturally, going down was a lit easier, mainly because it was mostly steps all the way, but it was hot work.
I made it back by about 18:30. The girls had already had dinner so I went for dinner in the Marketplace and after dinner went to a performance by one of the onboard talents Kathryn Relf singing the hits of Queen.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 10a-Auckland: Weta workshops
December 15 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Lindsay and I discussed what we wanted to do while in Auckland for the morning. We had tickets on the "Hop-on Hop-off" city bus service, which would leave from the Cruise Terminal and travel around Auckland to the many sights in the city. In the end we decided to get tickets to the Weta Workshops tour.
I got up early to watch as the ship passed into Auckland Harbour and it apparently got a "Royal" welcome as it was the first time into Auckland.
I heard there were some issues getting it into the harbour, as it is a very big ship, it may have actually bottomed out on the floor of the harbour.
We had breakfast and went to wait for our call for the bus.
The Weta workshops are right near the Skytower, boasting to be the tallest free-standing tower in the Southern Hemisphere.
Weta workshops are prop and costume making studios responsible for designing and building a lot of the creatures for films produced in NZ, most notably working with Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings films. We got a sneak peak of 3 different "concept" films from 3 different genres.
The first was a horror film, where we looked at makeup and costume prosthetics as well as creature props. They also had a horror slaughterhouse to go through; Lindz and Millie bypassed that one, but I went through.
Then the fantasy world, including an experience of being shrunk to the size of a pencil and how they produced props and vehicles using everyday items around the home. This included a visit to a filming miniature of a landscape for the fantasy film theorising what the earth would be like if dinosaurs did not die out. We tried our hands at building props and models for film, tracing sketches, using modelling clay and aluminium foil to build models.
Finally we looked at a science fiction concept of a robot from outta space that saved a primative tribe from a volcano hundreds of years ago which was found by a couple of archaeologists. It was an incredible and interactive experience, if a little rushed by the guide.
After Weta Workshops, we went our separate ways so I could got on my Harbour Bridge Climb, and Millie and Lindz could go to the zoo... but not before getting a photo in front of a giant Nutcracker in front of the Casino.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 10b-Auckland: Harbour Bridge Climb
December 15, Tasman Sea ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
This was one day on the cruise I was looking forward to. I had committed to do the Harbour Bridge Climb since January, having finally booked the climb in August. I have done Sydney Harbour and the Storey Bridges, so I was going to do this one as well.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge is the 3rd official bridge climb in the Southern Hemisphere, and the last one to tick off my list.
After leaving the girls at the Skytower, I walked the 3.5km along the harbour to the AJ Hackett Bungy. I was early and sat around for about 45 mins waiting for my climb. While waiting I got wind of a family group on my cruise lining up to do the Bungy Jump... the whole family. They can have that one!
There were 3 in my group for the climb; a father and daughter from the UK and myself. We suited up and headed out.
The bridge was built from 1955-1958 to link the 2 sides of the harbour otherwise it was a drive of over an hour to get from one side to the other, or you had to take a ferry, which could take a great deal longer. In the first few months of the bridge being open, over a million cars used the 4 lane bridge, which was unexpected, so they had to expand the bridge, adding on 4 more lanes (2 on either side) to the bridge to make it 8 lanes total from 1967-1969. They called this the "nip-on clip-on" addition. It uses a very different construction technique to the original bridge; the original is riveted and bolted, like Sydney Harbour bridge, but the new section is bolted and welded. We were also able to feel the bridge flex under the weight of the traffic using the bridge, and it is completely hollow!
The climb took a comfortable 90 mins, and we got to the top for some awesome views of the city.
After the climb I headed back to the cruise ship (another 3.5km walk), getting back with plenty of time before dinner at the Ketchikan restaurant.
After dinner, a show by Chantelle Delaney of many country and Australian classics and then to bed. It had been a huge day of walking and exercise.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 10c-Auckland (from Lindsay)
December 15 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
In the morning following disembarking and getting on the hop on and hop off bus tour we arrived at our first stop Weta Unleashed for the tour workshop. It was so much fun. Millie didn’t like the first stop which was a horror movie for creation of monsters and the makeup and prosthetics. But we loved the fantasy area with dinosaurs like Elves and baddies like Orcs. We also learnt some new techniques for creating things out of foil. The robot was kinda cool as well.
After that millie and I left Steve and went on the hop on and off bus again. We got a commentary with interesting facts about Auckland and the buildings until we got to the zoo.
We had a lovely time exploring after a quick lunch but the most exciting thing was we got to see a Kiwi. It was so close.
After all the noise the people were creating it was no surprise that it was hiding so I asked Millie to stay behind when they left and we waited in the dark until we saw some bushes move. Then I was looking through my night vision on my phone and it was right in front of us. They are much bigger than I thought but very cute.
We kept wondering until just after 16:00, just missing the last hop on and hop off bus back so we caught a taxi back to the ship. We went through the markets and I brought a necklace. It was a lovely Mummy and Millie afternoon.
When we got back on the ship, we had a play in the pool.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 11a-Bay of Islands (from Lindsay)
December 16 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Millie and I (Lindsay) had another day to ourselves as Steve was off doing his thing.
Millie and I got up early to again try and beat the busy period of people wanting to use the tender boat and go across to the island. While we waiting for clearance we had a bacon and egg muffin and a donut each in the cafe. It was a smart move as we were again the first ones off.
We tendered across and went for a walk through the markets. We wondered up and down the streets looking at the shops and had an icecream.
By 12:30 we had looked at everything and we bused it back to the warf, again avoiding the queues.
We had some lunch when back on board and then watched a movie and played some cards in our room while waiting for Steve to return.
As it was our wedding anniversary it was lovely to have the night to ourselves while Terry and Bernie babysat over dinner and dropped Millie off at kids club. Steve and I also went to a show and came back to towel swan’s on our bed.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 11b-Bay of Islands
December 16 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 22 °C
I was up early this morning, a walk around the walking track while taking photos of the islands as we were coming in to our bearth at Bay of Islands. We had to anchor off Waitangi and tender into the warf before they provided a shuttle bus service into Paihia.
Before heading into Paihia though, I had my shore tour, kayaking tour up the estuary to Haruru Falls. It was a great tour, though sharing a kayak with an American proved to be and interesting experience; everytime I would try to keep to the left of the estuary he would paddle us right. The falls were impressive. Paddling back down to our starting point was a lot easier than going upstream, as the tide was going out and we were paddling against it to make our way up the estuary. The whole way, the estuary is very shallow, but it used to be able to accomodate tall ships. Over time with erosion a lot of sand and silt has washed down to fill the estuary. Now it is so shallow we almost beached out kayak at one stage.
After kayaking, I made my way into Paihia, had a look at some markets, bought some fudge and had fresh fish and chips for lunch before making my way back to the ship about 14:00.
There was a bit of a wait to get on the tender, but once back I took it easy before we sent Millie to Nanny and Pa, and Lindz and I went for dinner for our anniversary, followed by the show by Dale Burridge, who seems almost a carbon copy of Anthony Warlow. It was an amazing show.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 12-Sea day
December 17, Tasman Sea ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Today was a pretty uneventful day, relative to the cruise as a whole. It was a sea day.
I started the day with a walk around the walking track but it was so windy and unpleasent I only did 4 laps and called it quits.
Millie went to kids club in the morning and Lindz and I just used the morning to chill. I attended the Enrichment talk about Pirates.
We picked up Millie at lunchtime and had Salty dog from lunch, which is the "take-away" and hotdog stand on board. It was actually hot food, rather than the regular food from the Marketplace, which is generally always not overly warm.
Millie had a play in the pool after lunch and I got to finish my book.
Also attended a Whiskey and Watches talk which was underwhelming.
After dinner with Mum and Dad, we took Millie to kids club disco night, and went and had a go at Musicals Trivia. We lost by 1 point, but got to the watch shop in time for the "Guess the watch" draw. Lindz won a model of the ship after 4 redraws (people not present) and she guessed the watch correctly (with a little help from me)
We also managed to score Millie a new Squishmellow.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 13-Sea day
December 18, Tasman Sea ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
I got up early and left the girls to sleep. We wound our clocks back one hour overnight, to start to bring us back in line with Australian time. It ended up being too windy for a run on the running track so I went to the gym and ran on a treadmill instead.
On the first day of Kids Club we enroled Millie in a cake decorating class. Today was the day for cake decorating. We originally arranged for the cake to be delivered to us for dessert in the Juneau restaurant, however we were told we would have to be back in our room to receive the cake at Midday. The cake didn't end up coming at midday and Millie started to get a bit worried about it. So Lindz stayed in the room and I took Millie out. There was supposed to be a Mario Carts competition at 12:15 in the Princess Live, but when we got there a quiz had just started, so they must have double booked the venue. So we went for lunch at the Salty Dog again.
While Millie was cake decorating I went to the enrichment talk about Piracy and pirates. Another fascinating presentation and some new information and history about the sea, I did not know.
After lunch, Millie wanted to play in the pool, so we went to the pool for a couple of hours and eventually Millie asked to get out, which she never does.
We got back to the room and Lindz has already started to pack her bags. We had also been delivered the tags and instructions for disembarkation as well as a letter from Santa for Millie. We all got ready for formal night and photos around the ship and then went fir dinner in the Juneau restaurant... and Millie's cake finally came! She was so proud of the job she had done decorating it. She was so proud she shared it with our waiters and her favourite waiter, Jose. But there was still enough of the cake left so we will have dessert tomorrow night as well. Towards the end of dinner they had a very loud Baked Alaska parade through the restaurant; apparently a tradition but we already had our dessert.
After dinner, Millie went to kids club for the western kids party and we made our way to the show called Spotlight Bar, put on by the performance crew.
A drink in the Paizza before picking up Millie from kids club and bed.Read more
2 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 14-Sea day
December 19, Tasman Sea ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
So begins the last full day of the cruise. We got a little messed up this morning, thinking we needed to wind our clocks back another hour, but as it turns out, this is to happen the night we come into Sydney.
Millie said goodbye to Jose and gave him a Christmas card (with a tip in it) at breakfast time in the Marketplace.
And as has become the routine, Millie was off to kids club for her last day enjoying the games.
While Lindz took Millie up stairs, I filled out paperwork and tags for re-entry into Australia.
Lindz had to attend a raffle at the same time as the Superhero quiz in Princess Live, so I went to the quiz and Lindz joined me after the raffle. 16/22, not so close.
This was also the last day for Duty-free shopping, so there were sales on a lot of onboard expensive items and souvenirs. I also used this as an opportunity to collect Lindz's Duty-Free grog. The rest of the Duty-Free grog was delivered to the room.
Lunch at Juneau in a different part of the restaurant. While we were having lunch and announcement came over notifying guests that the ship would be increasing speed for Sydney to offload a critically ill guest. They would have to be lifted out on Helicopter, with the Ambulance helicopter being sent out to collect them. We were told we would have to vacate our room for safety precautions. The back part of the ship was closed down with decks 19-14 at the back of thr ship off bounds to guests. We were on 14, aft, kids club closed which is on deck 17 so we had to quickly finish packing before we had to vacate our room. We spent the afternoon sitting on the Lido (pool) deck till the all clear given. And everyone on board got a show of the drama. It appears that it was not only the Toll Rescue Helicopter that took an interest in the drama; Australia Maritime Safety Authority also sent an aircraft to monitor the situation.
Once we were allowed back in our room, we got ready for dinner at Juneau for the last time. Left over Millie cake special for dessert and special farewell dinner menu. We also took the opportunity to say goodbye to our waiters tipped the best staff.
After dinner Millie was off to Kids Club and we went to the farewell variety show in the theatre at 19:30. A little girl in the audience was dancing up a storm and stole the show when she was invited onto the stage to dance. Then we went back to the room for a movie.Read more
0 likes
New Zealand cruise 2025
Day 15-Homeward bound
December 20 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Up at 06:00 for photos coming into Sydney, but it turns out that at that time we were just pulling into the dock. Missed coming in through Sydney Heads.
Dressed and went to the Marketplace for breakfast before collecting our stuff from the room and heading to our lounge to await our disembarkation call.
We got through baggage collection and security checking fairly quickly, but by the time we got outside it was raining in Sydney. It was fairly light, but the distance we had to go in the rain meant we did get wet, but it was also warm and we dried out pretty quickly.
Light rail from Circular Quay to Central staion where we found a seat in the cafe at Central and waited for our bus time of 2pm.
While we waited we caught up with Mum and Dad, and managed to see them off on their train back to Canberra. They got back in good enough time to collect us from the Bus station.
The trip home on the bus was fairly uneventful, and the bus wasn't full so we were able to spread out a fair bit.
There were no delays leaving Sydney, and made it into Canberra right in arrival time.
So ends our New Zealand cruise that we had been planning for for 2 years.Read more
0 likes

Trip end
December 20, 2025