Into the Baltic

Day 7 - Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen
A much calmer sea as we sail into Copenhagen.  The funny thing is that the coastline we can see is actually Sweden (Denmark is on our starboard).  Although we berthed at 7.30, breakfast is not until 8.00, but no hurry as we only intend to walk around the city,  The weather forecast is good, with an expected high of 17 degrees.  I decided that today would be a good day to bring out the shorts!

We are somewhat annoyed that there are no proper maps onboard and the one provided is minimalistic to say the least.  We were hopeful that there would be a tourist office at the port, but no there was nothing, in fact there were very few people about at 9.00 when we took off.

We (sort of) headed in the wrong direction initially, but in my defence it was because I was looking for the Castle, rather than the Palace.  This would prove to be our misdoing through the day.   Anyway, a nice young woman saw us studying our map at the first set of traffic lights and directed us in the right direction, with a shortcut through the Fort (we didn't know about that, but this is where the guards live).  Anyway it was well worth the walk and on the other side we reached the Palace. 

Vivian was sure the changing of the guard was at 10.00, but other info. had it at 11.30., Well, we are still not too certain where we were but at 10.00 a contingent of bearskinned guards marched out and processed around the courtyard, replacing guards as they went.   We then trekked over to the castle & gardens.  The gardens were a great disappointment and this has been common so far.  Anyway, at the castle we found the Army band practising their maneuvers and playing music, such a "Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen" and we saw a much larger contingent of guards going through their pre-parade dressing.  But come 11.30, everyone disappeared.  One of lifes mysteries.

By now it was time for a coffee (just before lunchtine), so headed towards what initially appeared to be the university area and found a cafe/bakery,  Delicious Danish of course along with coffees, which were tasty but not overly hot.  The cost was eyewatering, but at least there was free WiFi.  With the WiFi I was able to update our location on the tablet and we now had realtime tracking, which proved very valuable later (when I took a wrong turn).  Our next destination was the town square/hall etc.  On our way there we passed through the main shopping and eating areas, which were very busy as it was after 12.00, but once again the prices were well out of our range.  That is the thing with the Scandinavian countries, high standard of living but high prices - certainly when we try and convert it back to NZD.

Admired the Town Hall etc., which pretty well takes up a whole large block and when we were at the rear we saw the top of a Ferris wheel at Tivoli gardens.   It looked only a short distance away, but after doing a other block and a bit we decided that it really was too far.  Vivian was starting to tire and the temperature was up in the mid 20s.  Also we were the furthest from tne ship, so headed down to the water and home.  I must admit that it was further than I anticipated and with so much of the City being separated by waterways, we had a "challenging" trip!

Once again Copenhagen is a cycling city, but at least here they have designated cycling lanes so we weren't accosted by cyclists from behind.  But we did forget to look out for them when crossing the road - the seem to have priority even at pedestrian crossings.  I think I remember that from when we were in Amsterdam.  The other thing which struck me later was that most people live in apartment buildings.   Undoubtedly out of town there would be some stand-alone buildings, but from the port, as far as the eye could see there were apartments and more apartments.  Still they are reputed to be the happiest people.

Our last stop was really just 100 metres from the ship and this was to see the "little mermaid"  and although we'd been told how small she was, we were still surprised at the size - but at least we have the photo to prove it, along with hundreds of others (mainly Asian at this time).  I forgot to mention that there were 4 cruise boats in port, including P&O Britannia, which is the same design as the Royal/Regal/Magestic Princess (nearly 4,000).  Only one other ship was berthed close to town, the other 2 were about 4 or 5 kilometres away, so we were lucky in that respect.

Ah, back on board, with no queues this time thankfully.  Up to the Lido for a bite and cool drink then a bit of a rest before we sailed out just before 4.00.  We were the first ship to leave and we had to reverse several hundred metres to turn around in the harbour - there was not much room aft.  The ships exchanged foghorns as we departed.  On leaving the port we turned right and continued our way through the narrow strait between Denmark & Sweden, passing over the tunnel which is part of the 10 mile bridge/tunnel/causeway recently constructed between the 2 countries.  Interestingly,  this narrow passage which we travelled through allowed us just 4 metres clearance under the ship - we went *very* slowly.

We had a very early evening as we were tired after our day's activities and the lack of any entertainment to stimulate us.  The dining room was pretty empty and once again we dined alone as our remaining other couple were doing a big all say trip.  Anyway they didn't miss anything as the main course (pork chop) was simply inedible.  The Head Waiter offered a replacement, but frankly I was not interested.  The food on this cruise has not been that good, either by choice or quality.  I do miss the left hand side "always available" on Princess.

Day 8 - Another sea day, another formal night
We are at last in the Baltic and what perfect weather.   Although I must admit it was a bit chilly on our mile walk this morning, the day has continued to improve.  Sitting on the balcony before dinner with the sun streaming in  it must be in the mid 20s.  The sea is glasslike and we are steaming along at about 13kts.  Well to be honest  it is not really that far to go to Stockholm and I suspect that the idea is to break the port days a bit, particularly as we have 4 days in a row coming up.

We actually made it to afternoon tea today after bridge but were not overly impressed.  It was very rushed and we had to wait for ages to get scones.  Come 4.30 exactly, tables were cleared in front of you and although I appreciate that they needed to get the ballroom set up for tonight, but somewhat indecent haste we felt.  It is a pity to have to leave the balcony and the sun, but that is one of the penalties of early dining, although we wouldn't survive late dining! 

Once again, just the 4 kiwis at our table (the other 2 women only lasted day1) - Phil & Raewyn from Alexandra.  Phil was in Air Traffic Control and we have quite a large number of mutual acquaintances. A mighty small world indeed.  At lunchtime we sat with a English couple (not hard to do on Cunard) and in conversation "have you sailed Cunard before" it transpires that we had indeed sailed with them before, on the Queen Victoria last year.  They did the whole world cruise and we were the first people ever that they'd met who had cruised on any of their previous cruises.

Tomorrow is Stockholm and then we become a little port intensive with the highlight being St Petersburg on Sunday/Monday, so in advance I apologise if this blog is not as regular 😀.

Photos:
View from the Fort  moat
Changing the guards
The castle
Band practice
Canal
Little Mermaid
Bridge over to Sweden

Hamburg & beyond

Day 5 - No hamburgers in Hamburg
I must confess my geographical ignorance that I was not aware that Hamburg is a) reached from the west b) some 70 miles up the Elbe River.  But what I did know from the Captain's report yesterday was that we'd be sailing up the river early in the morning.  I woke up about 5.30, mainly as I could detect sunshine outside (sunrise was 4.53).  Yes, we had entered the river and sailing towards the city.  It reminded us of the European river cruise, as there were some magnificent houses, castles etc. along the way.  Once again we did a 180 degree turn around in the middle of the river - OK, I won't bother to comment any more, as this is obviously the norm!

We berthed at 7.00, the same time as breakfast and once again were given a table fully aft by the window.  We were not really in a hurry but got off before 9.00.  As this is our first EU port, we had to have our passports scrutinised by the German Police.  He seemed intrigued that we had only 1 stamp in our passport.  He handed them back after applying a very large stamp!

The weather was fine but with a cold breeze, but we had studied the map and decided that we could walk along the river to the centre of town and see the sights. By my reckoning,  it was about 3km from the ship.  One of the problems was the cobblestone walkways and the other was the prevalence of  bicycles-they don't hold back and always seemed to approach from behind.

Our initial destination was the new Opera House, which apparently only opened in January.  This is located in the newer Hafen area, still on the water, but away from the City.  We found our way there, but also found a queue of several hundred (at least 500).  We joined the queue but fortunately a student, who seemed to be part of crowd control, told us that the queue was actually for people wanting to by season tickets for 2018!!  If we just wanted to view the building, just to go to the head of the queue to get tickets there.  We'll, that saved a lot of time.  The ticket girl spoke good English & gave us tickets, which we then put in the turnstile and away we went.  As an aside, I later looked at the tickets and they were for 1 hour entry at a cost of €3.  We didn't pay anything and neither did anyone else, so don't know what all that was about.

Interestingly,  the theatre is part of/on top of the Westin hotel, but accessed over some 6 or 7 stories by a couple of very long escalators.   Most impressive.  At the top of the escalators is the foyer, covering pretty much the whole floor, but with outside viewing all around.  Excellent way to see the City, but extremely windy.  We could not access the actual theatres, but there were yet more escalators heading up and out of sight.  While we could have had a coffee there, Vivian thought that it would be better down on the street.  So we did.

We came across this little Cafe (which turned out to be Austrian), which had delicious looking cakes & pastries,  so Vivian had an apple strudel along with a latte, and I just had the coffee.  Forgot to mention that the strudel came with lashings and kadtings of whipped cream.  The bill can't to €13.50 and I think that half of that was for the cream 😀😀  One of the girls spoke a reasonable amount of English,  but the other one, none, so it made it interesting.

While we were sitting there a youngish German couple sat beside us and we chatted at bit - he spoke excellent English but she a little less.  We asked if they were from Hamburg but no she said they were from Koblenz and started to explain where it was.  We said that of course we knew it as we'd been there 6 years ago for the national flower festival and yes, we had taken the gondola over to the castle.  Well, they nearly collapsed - he is a musician and he was in the band playing up at the castle when we visited.  How about that for a small world.

By now it was after 11.00 so we headed over the various canals to the old city centre, looking for the Rathaus (Town Hall, but very appropriate).  We were once again surprised how much of Hamburg is built on canals.  We understand that a lot of the City is actually reclaimed land, so perhaps that explains it.  Found the Town Hall quite easily- it is a magnificent building.  Got the photos, the clock chimed midday and a shower of rain appeared.  Fortunately it was just a passing shower, as we reorintated our map to head to St Michaels Church.  North Germany's largest Baroque church, seating 2,500.  No, we did not climb the 449 steps to view the City.   But we did manage to find the original 17th century widows Almshouses adjacent to the Church.  The map and other information simply said that they were in a blind alley - what they didn't say was that most are now occupied as little shops, so to certain extent it was more good luck that we found them.

Well, showers threatening, we feel that we've seen enough, so retrace our steps back to the ship.   A few light showers on the way,  but not enough to stop us.  The worst thing was that we were now walking into the wind.  Made it back to the ship terminal and couldn't believe the queue for port security.  It took us nearly half an hour to get back on board- so much for German efficiency.  Had room service lunch of toasted sandwich & chocolate cake - yummmm.

Quite a tiring day where we must have walked between 10-12 kilometres,  so we took it easy before dinner.  Straight into bed afterwards.  The weather was pretty overcast and it did not seem that there would have been much to see on our sail out.  Incidentally, we (dis)embarked a couple of hundred Germans, but I am not sure whether the ones getting off had just done a 2 night cruise, or whether they were the remnants of the previous Mediterranean cruise.

Day 6 - at sea again
During the night we felt some distinct movement of the ship and when we woke, it was quite an angry sea and very overcast.  We have been passing by numerous oil rigs in the North Sea and in many cases these have been surrounded by a couple of dozen wind turbines.  A nice combination of (non)renewable energy resources.  Thankfully a wet and windy sea day was the perfect recipe for me to get this up-to-date, also helped by Vivian's line dancing and bridge.

After line dancing we had a coffee and pastry and then up to the stateroom for a freshen up before lunch.  Horrors, Vivian found that she had someone else's black cardigan, it seems that someone else at line dancing picked up hers by mistake.  So off the Customer Services,  but no-one had handed hers in, so she left the "new" one there.  I suggested that she leave her details with CS (which I would have thought they would have asked for).  So off we go down to CS and Vivian stops an Asian woman from Hong Kong, who had been at line dancing.  Although she did not know it, she *did* have Vivian's cardigan!   Apparently she had not really noticed that she did not have buttons on hers, so just as well we bumped into her, as otherwise it would probably never have been returned.

We are currently travelling around the tip of Denmark and will shortly be sailing down the east coast.  The swell has been larger, but the weather generally has improved, with clear skies.  Still very cold though. Tonight is yet again a formal night and it is also the Captain's Cocktail party.  We don't intend to go and are more than a little disappointed at Cunard, as there is no formal invitation, just a note in the Daily Programme that the party is for everyone, depending only on early or late sitting.  A recipe for a dignified bun fight. 

We had planned to go to afternoon tea today after bridge, but when we arrived, the Queens Room was full and there was a queue of at least 50.  Adjourned to the stateroom for room service Green Tea & chocolate cake.  Tomorrow we arrive in Copenhagen and hopefully more sheltered waters for the next week.

Photos:
Adjacent to Cruise Ship Terminal
Across the Elbe to the Opera House
Opera House
Escalator up
Lobby
Vivian and the cream!
Typical canal
Rathaus interior
Exterior of Rathaus
St Michaels inside
Exterior of St Michaels
17th century Almshouses

All aboard MV Queen Elizabeth

Day 2 - to Southampton
The coach journey to Southampton took 2 1/4 hours, although half a  hour of that was calling in at Terminals 4 & 5.  Funny how the weather changed 4 or 5 times during the trip, with showers,  then fine, showers and eventually fine when we reached Southampton just after midday.  A £5 taxi ride to the Ibis and we were all checked in and in our room by 12.30, which was really good as check-in was not offically until 2.00.  First thing was a shower and then despite my initial misgivings, a snooze (until 5.30).

We decided that we needed some fresh air, so went for a walk to/through the new shopping centre(s) not far away.  I admit that I was not excited by the food offerings at that time so we returned to the hotel about 7.00.  Had a pizza & dessert, which were more than adequate and enjoyable and once again retired.

Day 3 - E Day
What a difference a good night's sleep makes.  We woke just after 6.00, feeling pretty well 100%.  As I was making the early cup of tea, there she came up the river to her berth at the Mayflower Terminal.  Looked great as she sailed by (& out of sight).  Breakfast at the hotel was once again very good.  We were going to wait until midday to check out, but thought that as they'd been so good in letting us in early, we'd vacate the room before we walked back to town. 

To cut a long story short, probably a mistake of mine saw us back in the shopping centre, where we checked out the wine at M&S, but then moved to John Lewis', where Vivian found a new handbag - well I suppose at least it is off the shopping list now.  We bought  2 bottles of red wine for £12, which while not overly cheap, better than USD 50 each (plus 15% gratuity) onboard.  The coffee at Costa, was disappointing, but not worth complaining about.  What we have found however is that the "old" paper £'s are no longer accepted.  Our taxi driver yesterday told us & the chap at Costa confirmed it.  New notes were introduced a month or so ago and the old ones are not wanted - I commented that it makes UK look a bit like a banana republic.

Anyway we returned to the hotel and sat around for a little while until calling a taxi just after 1.00.  Another £5 ride to the ship, where we were surprised at the lack of passengers.  No queues,  just walked straight up to the check-in counter,  2 minutes max and straight onto the ship.  Very impressed.  Our stateroom is in a similar position to our usual Princess one, so had no trouble in finding it.  Interestingly,  our Cabin Steward told us that the balcony furniture was brand  new, having been delivered this morning.

Obligatory safety briefing at 4.00.  This time, not only did they scan us in, but the cabin stewards had to physically check to ensure no-one was hiding out!  We set sail about 4.45, and this was quite a feat in my books.  The ship was birthed facing up the river and we sailed a bit further up to the container & scrap metal berths and then did a 180 degree in a pretty narrow bit of water.  What surprised us was that there were no tugboats involved.  I can not recall any other ports where we have not had tugs to assist.  Our Captain is Danish and a woman probably in her late 40s.  A lot of the other staff are also female, including our Entertainment Manager (seem to have done away with Cruise Directors these days).

The sail out gave us a good view of the countryside until it was time for dinner.  We are on early sitting at 6.00, as 8.30 is just too late for us.  After dinner we met up with our Cruise Critic group who we are doing St Petersburg with.  This culminated in a Trivia session, as they are avid trivia fans.  In fact one couple do about 6 lots of trivia a day!  The show as the usual singers & dancers, followed by the 4 Seasons tribute - which we have also seen before.

Day 4 - A sea day
A pleasant day started with the Church service conducted by the Captain followed by a walk around the Promenade - unfortunately 3 times around is only .9 mile, so we did an extra half lap.  After coffee, time for lunch (got to fill up following the exercise) and then Vivian has bridge - Don, from our CC group is a keen player and fortunately Cunard gave a bridge director on board, so with 5 sea days there should be plenty to keep Vivian occupied and time for me to update this blog.

Did not have time for formal Afternoon Tea, so ordered room service Green Tea and cake.  The sea is very smooth and we can see a few oil rigs in the distance.  We sat outside and enjoyed the late afternoon,  finishing off the free bubbly given to us by the ship.  Tonight is the first of a number of formal night's, so at least I didn't have to think about what to wear.  The food tonight was decidedly average.  We missed the comedian and had an early night, as tomorrow is Hamburg.

Photos:
Queen Elizabeth arriving
Snails invading Southampton wall
Sailaway!

Day 1 - For the love of flying

A very relaxed start to the day - checking & rechecking that everything is either packed, not packed, turned off or otherwise in order.  Crikey  we are only away for three and a half weeks - as we have done previously. The weather was perfect and as I'd checked in on line, we felt pretty smug as we headed out of Warkworth.  Oops, that is as far as we got- traffic came to a complete standstill and it was then an hour to get the next 6 or 7 kilometers.  There had  been an accident at the top of the Pohuehue viaduct and with usual Police efficiency, the road was basically closed both ways, while they do their "investigation ".  However the remained of the trip was good, getting to the Park & Ride by 11.45.  Roughly an hour late, but speedy processes through the Airport still left us just enough time for a coffee and muffin  before being called for boarding.

As we are flying direct to Heathrow, via Hong Kong we have "upgraded" to Premium Economy on Cathay Pacific.   I am updating this with roughly half way to go and we have been well fed and watered and the larger seats etc, makes it well worthwhile.  This leg is on the A350-900, so I'll compare it later when we do the next leg on a Boeing 777.  We are flying at 41,000 ft at a speed of 940 kph,  which is quite a bit faster than we were doing a few hours ago.  Our flight path was towards Brisbane and then up the eastern coastline.  We passed directly over Bundaberg and probably over Moore Park Beach, where we were last month, seeing Alastair & family.

Moving right along, we arrived at Hong Kong roughly on time and after yet more security screening we headed off for coffee.  A sign said "food & drinks" so we walked and walked until we found a Starbucks.  Wow, HKD74, which I found out from internet banking was roughly $6.60 each coffee.  Thankfully we aren't in HK too long.  We had a slight problem in that although we are holding boarding passes, we do not have a gate #.  As luck would have it, after coffee we found a flight board and our departure is Gate 1- we are down in the mid 40s.  Good exercise and it only took about 15 minutes.  We still had an hour until scheduled boarding.

Boarding did not happen on schedule, however we were all onboard at our planned departure time.  The captain then made the announcement that as there were no winds on our planned route, it will only take just over 11 hours but as planes are not allowed to land at Heathrow before 6.00, we will sit here for another half an hour or so.  As an aside  the captain is Irish.

Comparison time.  This leg is a Boeing 777-300ER, a much older plane compared to the Airbus, and it looks as though it is either on lease or purchased from a Korean airline  as signs are in  Korean rather than Chinese.  We have the front seats in PE, by the emergency exit.  Plenty of legroom, but no storage and a smaller foldaway screen.   The programmes are not as extensive - we had live TV before and Vivian was keen to find out the result of the UK election.  Not being negative, but the food is not as good, but by now, who needs food or entertainment?  No, this is the sleep sector.  Pleased to say that we got a few hours on and off and that should keep us sane when we get to UK.

We made it.  Currently we are sitting in the Coach Station at Heathrow, waiting for our bus to Southampton which leaves at 9.45.  As usual we had allowed plenty of time in case plane was late.  However as expected we were about half an hour early- just as well with UK Border Control.  Hate to say it, but made LA look quite civilised.  To be fair, first thing in the morning and there are heaps of planes arriving (mainly with "Aliens").   Breakfast on the plane as ho-hum, so we stopped off at the Giraffe Stop by the Arrivals and had a lovely Flat White & bacon sandwich.  Don't mention the price.  Of course the pound has taken a bit of a hammering overnight, but of course I bought GBP 2 weeks ago, not that it will break the bank.  Good to see the NZD gain against USD,  as all onboard expenses are in USD - long may it continue.

We are still pretty perky after all these hours awake.  I am a believer in "No Jet Lag" natural remedy.  Hope to keep going until my usual sleep time (8.00ish 😀).  We'll see.  Weather is great so far.  Oh, btw, we flew over all our Baltic ports, not that we could see anything at 3.00 in the morning.

Cunard calls - Baltic & Norwegian Fjords

June 2017

The bags are (almost) packed, the check lists checked (again) and we are almost off (yes, again!)

On 6 June we fly out with Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong to Heathrow, then down to Southampton, where we board Queen Elizabeth on Saturday 10 June for 14 night Baltic cruise.  On return to Southampton, we stay on board (figuratively) and then enjoy a 7 day Norwegian Fjord cruise before returning home on 3 July.   

Dawn Princess - NZ cruise. The final update

Yes, that was all months ago, but going back to where we left off, Akaroa.

Back on board safely and pleased to be ahead of the crowd.  We were quite impressed with the sail-out, as it was calm & the sea smooth - only to be broken by the Captain's announcement that as we approach Cook Strait overnight we are going to have another frontal system with high winds and seas.  Don't think he's got it right - all looks too good!

Sunday:
OK, he was right.  A bumpy evening and we woke to find ourselves tied up in Wellington with horizontal rain and bitterly cold.  But I am used to Wellington, so undaunted we queue up (oops Elite again, so mini-queue!) for the shuttle into town after breakfast.  One "advantage" of the recent earthquakes is that the terminal and wharf adjacent is closed, so we are berthed a 100 or so metres further north, but with no pedestrian access, we have to use a shuttle and on this occasion they are free.  A mad rush through the rain to the bus (about 20 metres), still saw us pretty wet, but at least we got into the CBD (on a Sunday!!!!)

Vivian's main objective was to visit David Jones Department Store, in the old Kirkaldie & Stains premises.  Well, we were hugely underwhelmed and it didn't take us long at all to leave the store and brave the elements and head for our "favourite" Cafe, Astoria.  I used to go there when I lived/worked in Wellington and more recently it was our meeting place with my late Aunt Lois.  So we had a lovely coffee & muffin and toasted Lois.

Time to head off.  Ah ha, the Wellington wind caught Vivian as she was about to cross the street - rubbish bin lid took off and gave her a bit of a fright.  However we managed to cross Lambton Quay and being tourists, took refuge in Farmers!, where I bought a T shirt, followed by Hallensteins just down the road where I bought another 3 (for the price of 1).  Don't you just love to spend $$$$$s, just to buy stuff you could at home?

Fortunately there was a break in the weather, so we made our way back to the bus stop and waited, waited, waited.  Buses came for the "other" cruise ship in town, but we waited for the non-arrival of our shuttle.  The queue grew and quite frankly the staff were out of their depth in trying to keep us out of the (then) rain.  When the bus did arrive, the numbers had swelled into the hundreds and they were letting on the more recent arrivals until we rebelled and forced our way aboard - hey, there was lunch waiting for us back on board.   And yes, we did do lunch to warm up once we got back.  The family had gone ashore separately and gone to Te Papa etc., so we didn't meet up until later - Happy Hour!

Still very rough as we sailed out of Wellington and headed up towards Napier.  Madeline was particularly excited at the large waves rolling past the dining room window.  Pleased to say though that although there was a good swell, the Dawn princess handled it well.

Monday:
We had planned earlier in the cruise that we'd have breakfast on our combined balconies when we arrived in Napier.  Well, we did and while it wasn't raining (well, a few showers) it was a bit chilly, so rugged up and breakfast together.  Unfortunately as be had "backed in", we overlooked the operational part of the port and were on the colder side.  After breakfast we headed into Napier, once again on the free shuttle.  The aim was to buy Vivian a new possum/merino cardigan from the place I bought one a couple of years ago.  Traipsed down Marine Parade to the shop, only to find that it had moved to the CBD.  Eventually found it and quite frankly I could easily have walked out.  New owners had no idea of marketing or goodwill.  When I asked about discount and commented how there was a "GST rebate" last time, the response was "well if you are on a cruise ship you can afford it".  Bad response.

We were only in port until 2.00, so decided to get back up to the shuttle and back to the ship.  Great timing, as we only had to wait about 5 minutes for the shuttle, but by then the queue had grown (funny how that seems to happen when we are around) to several hundreds.  Guess what, got back on board and the rain came - sorry for those folk still queuing.

Tonight is our final formal night and more importantly for us it was the Captain's Cocktail Party for the 40 most travelled passengers.  On other & longer cruises this is generally a special luncheon, but hey the food was simply amazing and no lack of refreshments.  Had a good chat with Captain Slight, who is the last Captain for the Dawn, which is going up to Singapore at the end of May to become P&O Pacific Explorer!

Tuesday:
Dawned (pun intended) glorious in Tauranga.  Hard to believe the difference a day (or two) makes.  We had arranged to meet our friends Margie & Ash, who we cruised the world with in 2015 and part of last year's Circle Pacific.  Sure enough, the they were sitting waiting for us and off we went in the Daimler plated ASHTON.  First we had a coffee at Palmers Garden Centre in Welcome Bay (where they live), before viewing their home and collecting picnic gear as we were off to one of their holiday homes.  This one is at Pukehina and Margie bought it a couple of years ago on the spur of the moment, mainly as a retreat for her painting and writing.  Lovely spot, lovely food, lovely company.

All too soon it was back to the Mount and on board for our final sail-away.  Could not have thought of a better place to finish our holiday.  The bad news however was that serious packing now required as the bags have to be out before dinner.  Ah well, we'll be home in 24 hours, so doesn't really matter too much.

Wednesday:
Good bye Dawn Princess and goodbye Port of Auckland.  Shuttle to Fiona's and then into the car and home.  A great time and although the weather was not the best, we all had a great time.

Giants House - Akaroa

Giants House - Akaroa

Giants House - Akaroa

Breakfast in Napier

Vivian & Ash

Pukehina

Our final dinner

Raging final deck party

New Zealand at last - delayed posting!

Nothing like a summer cruise across the Tasman, when the weather thinks that it any other season but summer.  Pleasant enough though but a little lumpy.  By Wednesday evening it was decidedly bumpy but we were fortunate in having a following wind.  Still warm enough for Richard and I to sit on the balcony when we had drinks before the Captain's Cocktail party.  Yes, Formal Night again -  the last one for this cruise.

Overnight there was some relatively strong winds but surprisingly when we got up, the weather was much improved.  It was quite strange reading on line about all the devastation going on, particularly in Wellington,  when we were sailing through Cook Strait in beautiful sunshine and very calm seas.  We had excellent views of the top of the South Island from starboard side.  Actually got in our walk before the final of Vivian's line dancing.  As we head down the South Island,  we are keeping relatively close to avoid the squally conditions.  Very changeable indeed.

At the Captain's Cocktail party last night, he mentioned that the top 4 nations on board (in ascending order) UK, US, NZ & AU.  Not surprising, but from observation I would have thought that there were more Chinese, but as they can only do their demographics from the passport type, many presumably come from one of the above countries.   The thing is that the Asians (& this also applies to a number of other European nationalities) tend to keep together as family or bigger groups, rather than integrating.   So between the larger groups hogging facilities, there is clearly a lack of understanding the normal "rules" for queuing etc.  Say no more.

Friday:

I certainly spoke too soon, as the sea conditions changed drastically mid-afternoon.  The swell has risen to almost 6 metres and the wind has certainly got up.  We are of course heading southwards and therefore are plowing into it.  We were not so gently rocked to sleep overnight, with plenty of banging, plunging and shuddering!   However we woke just after 7.00 just as we were entering the heads of the Otago Harbour.  Sun was out and obviously little in the way of waves, but boy,  is it cold!  The high is expected to be 11, so I think it must have been 8 or 9 at that time.  Yesterday the on board shop was Selling  puffer jackets flat out as most passengers thought they were on a summer cruise, not a winter one.

The family have taken the Taieri Gorge train excursion,  so they had to be up early.  We had nothing planned,  so took our time over breakfast and then took the shuttle into Dunedin ($15 each return).  A lot of other passengers decided to do the same thing at the same time, so a bit of a wait for buses to come out to Port Chalmers.  Once in the city, where it was just as cold & breezy, we walked out to the botanical gardens.  It was roughly 45 minutes each way.  Worth the walk and it was interesting to see how much of the city is occupied by the University.  We had morning coffee in the botanical gardens but still can't work out why it was called Croc O Dile,  with crocodile theme.  Anyway very pleased not to see any, plus coffee and muffins were lovely.

We braved the upper deck for sail-away and it was just as cold if not more so.  Great views on the way out of the harbour,  including passing the Taiaroa Heads and seeing all the Albatross  nesting there.  As soon as we passed that, we headed inside to warm up.  Fortunately the sea conditions had improved and this time we were going with the wind and the seas.

As part of our booking we have a "free" dinner at the Steak House.  This is of course just a part of the Horizon Court screened off from the rest, although I must agree that the atmosphere was quite pleasant.  It was quite incredible watching us sail up the east coast (we were on Port side) in absolutely calm conditions, barely a ripple and the sun setting (OK couldn't see the actual sun, but was that time of the evening) over the hills.

The food was good, possibly very good, but honestly we are no longer into large steaks and although I ordered a small cut, it was still too much for me.  Certainly they were perfectly cooked and the whole meal was great.  Would I actually pay for such a meal again - probably no, mainly as we can not do justice to it.  Perhaps however another specialty restaurant, just not steak.  That is my call anyway.

Saturday:

Next morning sees us anchored in Akaroa, so the joys of tendering.  Dare I say it, but black does have it's privileges.  We rocked up to the dining room to get tender tickets - #1010 and they called for tickets up to #730 plus Elite to board.  Well,  that saved us a good half an hour or so.  We walked to the far end of town.  Despite passing a couple of cafes on the way (with specials  $8.50 for coffee & croissant) etc., we made our way back to the middle of Akaroa, to the cafe we'd visited 2 cruises ago.  Yuck - food looked revolting and no ambiance etc.  So back to the far end of town a drink a delightful coffee and cake for $9.50.  Anyway the walk was good to work off the calories.

Just as we were finishing about 12.00, Fiona txted and we arranged to meet them sort of half way back towards the pier to go to the Giants House.  OK, up the hill we all went, but it was certainly worth the effort.  Magnificent garden and artistry, a little like Parc Guell in  Barcelona, but all in mosaics.   We had a great time and at least the walk back was downhill.  As luck would have it, we arrived at the end of the pier and a tender was just about to leave - but not us!  However was only 10 minutes until the next one.

I checked with the Captain's Circle guy and established that we were actually 4th (typically NZ) on the first sector, so missed out by 7 days!  I think that we are a bit further down the list this time  as there are lots of Americans on board flashing their black cards.  I am far more discrete keeping it under my shirt.   Good news however, we are on the guest list for the 40th most travelled passengers after Napier - more later.

Tasman Sea and Sydney

Saturday
Of course as soon as we left the Bay of Islands the Captain put his foot to the floor and we hummed along at 21kts.  The weather remains mainly overcast and a bit chilly.  There is a little swell and movement felt, but I think know he is trying to make time/distance, so has not had the stabilisers out.  Neither Benjamin nor Madeline are feeling very bright and Benjamin has spent most of the day in his cabin.   Fiona & Vivian however have had a very active day with Napkin folding, Tai Chi and then line dancing  (all before lunch).  Vivian also found people to play bridge with in the afternoon.  All too much for me.  Oops, sorry forgot Happy Hour!

Formal night tonight and this was preceeded by the Captain's Circle Cocktail Party.   How strange to have all Gold to Elite and barely fill a quarter of the Vista Lounge.  For a change the are only 49 Elites and the most travelled  (a Ray Chapman from Auckland) had just 350 days.  Farewell dinner was really good and I had 2 servings of the Lobster (everyone else had Beef Wellington, except Madeline, who is enjoying the Kid's menu).  Once again, I must comment that the lobster was really good and 100% on the Sun quality.   The adults did the Song & Dance show after dinner, but really the children are not coping very well and spent the whole day in their cabin.

Sunday
A lot more movement in the sea, but not enough to put us off our walk around the deck before coffee.  Fiona joined us and Richard came down too.  The children are still not good and Fiona was going to get them up to have something for brunch.  Vivian has line dancing at 12.30 and although Fiona was going to join her this did not happen ☹  They went for a pizza and when it arrived, Madeline went pale and then Benjamin vomited.  Oh dear.  To explain, between about 11.00 to 3.00 we went through a frontal system with a reasonable swell coming side on, so the ship certainly had lots of movement - even Vivian's line dancing was cut short.

I am writing this at 6.30 pm and there is barely a swell and the sun is shining but that is what happens at sea,  I do feel sorry for those who are unwell, particularly the ones disembarking who have to have their bags out for collection in an hour or so.  And they have had such a good cruise all the way until this little outburst.  No, the children did not come down for dinner but then we did not do the show tonight,  as potentially we have an early start tomorrow.

Monday
Woke up around 5.30, probably because I heard noise from the pilot boat.  Sure enough we were quietly sailing up Sydney Harbour in perfect dawn conditions (for the Dawn Princess! ).  Really great to see.   We were being followed by the Celebrity Spirit and as we went under the bridge, she went to the OPT.  Darn, it would have been a lot more convenient- not to mention cheaper if we had been there, rather than way out in White Bay.

Usual breakfast routine followed by coffee - no walk as I am sure we will have enough plenty of that later.  Left the ship around 9.15 and made our way through Immigration.  One of the annoyances as a transit passenger is that we must just line up with all the disembarking passengers - and that took some time.  Still, we were not in any hurry.  The taxi rank was highly organised and we were in a maxi taxi in less than a minute.  About 20 minutes later & $42 lighter, we arrived at Circular Quay.  A bit breezy but nice temperature.

Our tour of the Opera House was not until 11.00, so took our time.  The tour was great,  but a little disappointing that 2 of the 3 theatres were in set construction mode, which meant that photography was prohibited.   That said, very interesting to see around and up close.  The tour finished promptly at 12.00 and, no, we declined the $50 photo package and booklet!

While we had been waiting for our tour, we saw "Choo choo train", which run some through the Royal Botanic Gardens adjoining.  This was an excellent way to get around (part of) the 75 acres and in the heat, we certainly would not have walked very far.  Very good value and we enjoyed this too.  Looking for food however proved to be a little more difficult.  In the end we elected to go back to the ship.

The HZ was absolutely crowded with all the new arrivals,  but we were fortunate to find tables outside.   Despite my known aversion to the HZ, I must admit that the food was very good.   Vivian sussed out the NZ Ice Cream- 1 clip on the coffee card, but I elected to skip this as I am trying to be good........

Just as we were about to leave, the Captain made an announcement that because of the extreme weather system in the Tasman this week, we will NOT be going to Fiordland,  but rather setting a more northerly course to go through Cook Strait  (which will be interesting!)  and down the east coast of the South Island to still reach Dunedin on Friday.  Very disappointing, as this is the second time we have missed the sounds due to weather,  but at least we are better off than those who have travelled from far & wide.  On that, while we expected to board mainly Australians, there are many travellers from all over the world - particularly Asians & Americans.  There are also plenty of kids on board.  We have been told that there are over 400 registered with the various Kids Clubs.  I think that our grandchildren are going to participate on this sector.  Yes, a day on shore and some food seems to have brought them back to life 😀

Tuesday
A day at sea and yes, grandchildren are all go, Vivian has had line dancing and bridge and I have had a day of updating this blog.  The sea is pretty calm and we are steaming along at 20 kts.  Sun is shining and everything is good.

Photos
*  Ladies on balconies en route to Sydney
*  Early morning arrival in Sydney  (2)
*  Madeline & Vivian and a wave by Opera House
*  Opera  House  (2)
*  Train (3)

Days 1 & 2

Well after roughly a year of planning, departure day has arrived.  Thursday dawned fine and relatively calm after a very windy summer so far.  All looks good, at least for departure day.  Had a leisurely breakfast on the deck and as the car was already packed, took our time before driving down to Fiona's.   As we approached the Harbour Bridge, there she was, Dawn Princess, our home for the next fortnight.

Our official boarding time was 1.00, but with the early arrival of the shuttle and lack of traffic, we were ship side just after 12.30.  Fortunately check-in had opened and we were aboard in no time.  Fiona & Richard have a balcony cabin adjoining ours and Benjamin & Madeline are just down a bit in an internal. Because Princess (& other lines) do not allow children to be in a cabin by themselves, officially Richard & Madeline are next to us and Fiona & Benjamin in the internal.  So there is a fair amount of swapping of access cards going on.

We of course had lunch at the Horizon Court and the quality was very good.  In fact there many things on this ship which are far superior to the Sun Princess, even though (or probably because) she is going to P&O in May, as the Pacific Explorer.  Our balcony area has all been freshly painted and overall the ship looks good.  Our cabin steward arranged to unlock the balcony partition between our staterooms, so we can sit outside together.

Auckland put on a brilliant day and after our mandatory safety drill, it was time to cast off and head north.  We went up to Deck 11 aft and then 14 but were underwhelmed by the sailaway-  there was none.  The wind was cold but fortunately we also found the burger bar up there which we had never used before and Madeline was satisfied with at least 2 plates of chips.  OK, Richard & I had some too.  It was good to acquaint Madeline with a food source she can go to any time she wants.  Subsequently she did, at Benjamin's biding I understand.

As it is only 150 miles up to Paihia, we travelled really slowly at around 11kts.  That said, while I had anticipated passing by Algies Bay around 8.00, it was nearer 9.15 until we estimate that we did that.  We were of course at dinner and the sun had set by then so nothing to see for us.  Our Filipino waiters, Jeff & Fidel are great and really looked after Benjamin & Madeline.   Fiona has been named Princess Fiona  (from Shrek).  The quality of the food is thankfully back to Princess standard.  There was a deck party after dinner, where Vivian & Fiona danced away.  Madeline was washing her hair and the "boys" just watched on.  A lovely evening.

Apparently just over 400 passengers embarked in Auckland and we were surprised that there were a large number from both UK & USA who joined us Kiwis.  Being a school holidays cruise, there are different dynamics to what we have previously experienced,  with (obviously) children of all ages and generally a younger age group, with quite a few grandparents!   Sadly though  there are still a very large number of walkers - not just the elderly.

Friday dawned bright and clear, which was a blessing, as we are in the Bay of Islands and this is a tender port.  We are tendering to Waitangi wharf and a shuttle runs to Paihia.  Vivian was most disappointed that her planned Waka excursion had been cancelled through lack of bookings.  So as we were just going to wander around,  we opted to take a late tender at about 10.00.  The downside was that the wind had got up a bit by then, so was a bit bumpy going over.  We were very impressed with the shuttle service and we were in Paihia in no time.  Just went through the local market set up to sell goods made entirely in Northland.  They were very good quality and "reasonably" priced - no, did not buy anything though.  Vivian was impressed with the stall selling Murano glass necklaces and yes, she did import from Venice!

Fiona and family wanted to go through Waitangi Treaty grounds, but we'd done that 4 or 5 years ago, so while they took the shuttle back, we walked the 3 or 4 kilometres back to the tender.  Worked out well, as we pretty well immediately got a tender to the ship, whereas when they turned up half an hour later, there was a queue of about 500.  Enjoyed a pizza for lunch (something we really missed on Sunday Princess).  We sailed away on time at 4.00 and although almost immediately down came the clouds and a light drizzle.  A bit of a pity as we didn't get to see the land up around the top.  Looking at the land in BOI though, it seems that they could do with every drop.

We have a couple of sea days coming up and most of the passengers are looking forward to the rest as it has been full-on with port calls for them for the last week - something that we too can look forward to next week.

Photos - still haven't got this part sorted.
* about to sail out of Auckland
* arrival in Bay of Islands
* market time with Madeline & Fiona
* ship at anchor off Russell
* the elusive Waka?

Preamble

This new blog is intended to cover our travel in both 2017 & 2018.

Our first cruise is with our daughter (Fiona), son-in-law (Richard) & 2 grandchildren - Benjamin (14) & Madeline (12) on the Dawn Princess around New Zealand.  We set sail from Auckland on 12 January and now the Christmas festivities are behind us, we are starting to "think" about packing for this cruise.