We are on board! It almost seems surreal that we are on board a ship again, but after much trepidation in the planning, it seems, on day one, that it was a great decision to make.
Of course this little voyage, Auckland to Auckland, via Brisbane, South Island NZ, is not purely for pleasure. It is research! The fact that we are enjoying ourselves is merely a bonus.
We had originally planned our ‘final’ trip to Europe in 2022, but that was all cancelled thanks to Covid and its devastating effect on the world. Our plans took a 2 year break, but they are back on once again.
We both dislike long haul flights, so agreed that if we could find sea voyages to and from England within a 6 month time frame, we would consider this one last trip. Finding a sea voyage to England from NZ or Australia is the easy bit; in fact we even had choices. Should we choose Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, our favourite ship, or try Queen Victoria which for us had a route of many unknown destinations. Queen Victoria won!
Now to find a trip home no later than July 2024. We need time in England, France and Sweden.
Whilst we were in Tahiti earlier in the year, we spotted a cruise ship in port. We checked out that it had left Vancouver and was heading to Australia. After a little more checking we discovered that there is a ship leaving Dover at the end of June and arriving in Auckland mid August! Perfect timing, but it was about to get better when we looked at the route home – Arctic Circle, New York, Easter Island and Tahiti sang to us.
But, it wasn’t our usual cruise line. It was one we have tried before and were left really disappointed! Hence the need for a ‘research’ trip. We are on Coral Princess, the ship that could bring us home in 2024.
We are still on board so that must be a good thing! Or we have no choice because we are in the middle of the Tasman, 2 days away from any land.
We are in fact enjoying this arduous research task!
Sorting out the morning coffee ritual is still work in progress. There are 2 ‘real’ coffee places and we have checked both. They are OK.
Families
There are many families on board enjoying their summer holidays. Seeing these family groups makes us remember our Queen Mary 2 trip with family. Happy memories!
First Port of Call
We had not intended going ashore at Brisbane, but in the end had no choice. Most passengers disembarked here with only a few of us who embarked in Auckland staying on board. Australia Border Force insisted that in order to clear customs, we had to pack all our possessions and leave our cases outside our cabins the night before arrival. Packing at the end of a voyage is one thing, but packing knowing the clothes still have to look presentable again, is another!
We were to leave the ship for possibly 5 hours whilst it was inspected.
As you can imagine there was much muttering about the stupidity of this inconvenience. We are certain that once we had found our luggage in the ‘shed’ and dragged it to the appropriate checkpoint, nothing happened to it until it was returned to our cabin a few hours later – not an X-ray machine in sight!
However, moaning aside we had a lovely day. Princess put on a shuttle to a local shopping centre and I had fun! We shopped and shopped – the bargains were that good!
Much happier passengers returned to the ship to unpack once more.
The DFO Experience
We really are country bumpkins! With great excitement we boarded the shuttle bus heading to the DFO shopping plaza. We were wide eyed to see eager buyers heading into the stores with empty supermarket trollies. Within a very short time, the same trollies were stacked high with purchases; mostly clothing and suitcases. Everyone was after a bargain!
Little girls were skipping about choosing new clothes. Grizzling little boys were not impressed with shopping.
If a shopping trip had been advertised as an excursion, we probably wouldn’t have considered it, but I’m so glad we took up the offer of this trip. Most satisfactory!
Movies Under the Stars
This ship has a huge movie screen on the upper deck. Often the choice of movies on a ship, doesn’t appeal to us but last night was the exception.
We lay back on deckchairs, snuggled under tartan rugs, to watch Bohemian Rhapsody. We loved it!
A great end to a busy day.
Food
Meals play big part on any cruise.
If I was asked to say in one word what the meals are like on board, I’d have to say, variable. Some are tasty and delicious, but unfortunately the majority are pretty ho-hum. However, we have realised that if you ask the waiter for his recommendation, you can be certain of a lovely meal.
Generally we avoid ordering steak on board any ship, but both times I’ve ordered grilled steak on this trip, the meat has been succulent and delicious.
There are also some surprises. When ordering tempura, one thinks of food in Japan or even our Wow Sushi at home. Tempura on this ship means sushi wrapped in breadcrumbs! Tasty, but not quite what was expected. It does us no harm to be surprised.
Entertainment
Shows and recitals on board are really important to us. Living in a small town means that we look forward to live entertainment when we are at sea.
The first night was very energetic at the cost of any musicality – but of course we are old fogies and what would we know.
We listen to a Jazz group before dinner whenever they are on and really enjoy them. The comfy chairs and a tipple or two adds to the ambience! In other bars there are music duos and groups playing some of which we enjoy more than others.
We have come to the conclusion that the resident entertainers are generally better than the ones on board for a few days.
Ports of Call
As we have visited/know many of the ports of call, we are not much interested in the organised tours. However, we do have family in some places. The day in Christchurch we had
a very rushed visit with a nephew we hadn’t seen in 8 years.
This morning, in Wellington, we had coffee with our first grandchild we hadn’t seen in 3 years. It was energising to share her humour and hear her news.
Tomorrow we were to meet up with a niece, but our route has been altered to avoid the bad weather and heavy seas. A shame, but perfectly understandable. We have been dodging a nasty weather system since leaving Brisbane.