New Zealand Cruise 2026

To celebrate Ron and Jean’s 50th wedding anniversary in March, they invited us to accompany them on a cruise around New Zealand. We shared a trip to Sydney in 2014, but never been to New Zealand, so we accepted the offer. We haven’t been on a cruise since before COVID, nor ever been on a cruise this long, so we expected new adventures. We were a little wary about the (temporary) air transportation messes, so to be more relaxed, we arrived in Sydney a day early, and left Australia after spending one more night there after the cruise. All went well.

 

We boarded the Princess Discovery in Sydney on February 14, for a 14-day cruise. It took three more days to get to New Zealand, where we had port excursions at The Bay of Islands, followed by Tauranga, Aukland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The last day near New Zealand was a cruise around the spectacular fiords. Three days later we arrived back in Sydney, then flew back to San Diego.

 

The best shore excursions included: (click on these links for pictures)

 

Sydney

 

Bay of Islands: Glow worm cave

 

Tauranga: Waihi gold mine

 

Aukland Cathedral

 

Wellington: Capital buildings

 

Christchurch

 

Dunedin: Lumberyards

 

Fiordland National Park

 

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The Sydney Opera House was just across the harbor from our cruise ship. You can see lots of tourists any time of the day; it’s a very popular place to visit.

 

 

 

The cruise ship had lots of variety in the dinner menus, and higher-class than a Denny’s! For example, the pineapple appetizer, cheesecake, baked Alaska, and onion rings.

 

   

The dinner menu one evening shows the variety of the appetizers and main courses. They all seemed pretty complicated, but the servings were usually pretty small, leaving room for dessert.

 

 

 

Carol joined a choir so she could participate in a short concert. Click on the picture to hear a short video of “Sweet Caroline”.

 

 

 

Since the main purpose of the cruise was to celebrate Ron and Jean’s 50th wedding anniversary, the dinner staff honored them with a song on the last night at sea. (Click on the image to get the video.) Carol and I are a few years away from that milestone, but you can see how much alike we all are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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