New Zealand and Australia Trip
February 18 to March 8, 2019.
Day 1 – Monday, 18th
SuperShuttle to LAX from Doug’s place. Left at 4:15, arrived 6pm. For President’s day, the traffic was actually pretty good.
Qantas checkin at Bradley Terminal, gate 152, was efficient and PF Chang’s for dinner.
Evening flight on Qantas 56 from LAX to Brisbane. Seats 7e and 7f. Qantas 119 from Brisbane to Auckland. also seats 7e and f. Business class seats were reclining sleepers and actually worked!
Notice, we lost a day!
Day 2 – Wednesday, 20th.
Arrived Wednesday in Auckland in the afternoon, 2:30 or so.
Super shuttle from airport to Hilton, Princes Wharf was 85NZ$. Reasonable for 6 people with luggage. Great service on the planes and shuttle. They use a trailer to carry your luggage, while you ride in the van. We shared the ride with another couple going further. Kiwis drive on the other side of the road.
Dinner at Crab Shack on the pier, fush and chips, yummy after check-in. Room 305 at the Hilton Princes Wharf.
Day – 3 Thursday, 21st.
Woke to seeing the Azamara Quest bring docked right next to the Hilton. Later on, the Sunrise Princess docked as well, interesting compare/contrast. 700 vs 2600 guests.
Boarded the Azamura Quest around noon time, really painless process. Had all 6 of us process quickly and in time for a buffet in the rear of the ship. Ship’s staff suggested we board prior to our 12:30-1:00 pm slot. It was empty and we went right through.
Departure was prompt at 6pm and dinner was at the Discovery restaurant for all of us. You MUST wear pants. All 3 guys were busted.
Casino action afterward, tough table!
Day 4 – Friday 22nd.
The boat rolled gently through the night as we sailed up to Paihia and the Bay of Islands. Boat access to the town is via tender. These folks are very efficient. We arrived at 8am with the kids doing the glow worm excursion and we, leisurely, working through the morning on board. Plan was to meet our friends Gloria and Roger Tucker from NZ. They live about an hour south of Paihia and drove to Russell and then a short ferry to Paihai. We had a great lunch at Charlotte’s Kitchen ( http://www.charlotteskitchen.co.nz/) and time to catch up and reminisce about all kinds of stuff. We have tentative plans to travel with them to Fiji next year!
No tipping in NZ, we learned from The Tucker’s.
The return tender trip was wet, the weather is pretty dreary so far.
Meanwhile back home, we have a pretty good snow storm brewing with low snow levels. Uncle Jack has pics of the Las Vegas golf course under snow. It snowed in Santa Clarita and Granada Hills.
Day 5 – Saturday, 23rd.
We docked, on time, at Paihai. The weather last night was much improved and calmer for sleeping.
10:30 am Hobbiton adventure. On the bus for about 1.5 hours, then the 1 hour tour, the a 1 hour bus ride back. Russ, our tour guide was a wealth of information about EVERYTHING, especially NZ kiwi fruit. It is really called Chinese gooseberry or monkey pod fruit!
The tour was amazing and the photos don’t do the place justice. A definite highlight so far.
We snacked at the Patio Cafe after our return, about 4 pm. Dinner was about 7pm in the Italian themed in the buffet, rather than at the Discovery restaurant.
A nice sunset from the fantail during buffet dinner.
The captain came on and the weather for tomorrow does not lend itself to tendering at Gisborne. The swells are too high, so … we are bypassing Gisborne for a day at sail. Interestingly, the pilot boat captain for Wellington flew up to meet us and is now onboard. When the wind blows in windy Wellington, things can get exciting.
Day 6 – Sunday, February 24th.
Nice slow day cruising, supposedly.
Well, the swell picked up during the day and continued to worsen. Doug started a kidney stone issue and Lauren, and lots of others, are being affected with the waves.
For lots of folks, it was an interesting night! Dramamine II pills were available at the guest relations desk. I took one and it made me very groggy the next morning.
Day 7 – Monday, February 25th.
Arrived in Wellington and the kids did their tours. We hung around and went into town around lunch time. It was good to get on solid ground. We went to the oldest bar in town, the Thistle, (http://thistleinn.co.nz) had a great lunch and then toured the Botanical Gardens via the Wellington Cable Car, (http://wellingtoncablecar.co.nz) the funicular, in town.
After dinner, we did the AmAmazing opera performance in the Anglican Church in Wellington. It was pretty cool with orchestra and opera from the local Samoan church. Performances were from the movie, Moana.
Doug and Lauren decided to disembark, fly to Sydney, and reboard there on Friday. 3 days at sea with really no medical facilities would put everyone on edge. I totally agree with their approach. They left about the same time we headed into town.
Day 8 – Tuesday, February 26th.
Swell leaving Wellington, but, as the captain predicted, calm seas for our day at sea. Nice to cruise and see the sunset. Played bingo, no win.
Ate at Aqualina, the upgrade restaurant. Nice presentations and wait staff.
One hour time change, back.
Day 9 – Wednesday, February 27th.
Another nice day, not quite as calm, but still pretty pleasant cruising. Rain showers in the afternoon. Another dinner at Aqualina with Tommy and Rosie.
I went to the tsunami lecture after lunch and I slept through most of it!
Complimentary laundry, 2 bags today.
Lauren’s birthday today!
One hour time change, back again.
Day 10 – Thursday, February, 28th.
Another calm day, almost no wind. Ship made good time, so we are slowing down to meet our arrival window tomorrow at 6am. We are going about 12 knots and the humidity is rising.
Enough at-sea days, there are 2 more though, once we reach Australia!
We are now on Sydney time zone, the state of New South Wales observed DST. But, the state of Queensland, Brisbane through Cairns, does not. So we will lose another hour once we sail up the coast past Brisbane.
Today dinner at Prime C with Tommy and Rosie. It was pretty good, stick with the chef creations. My NY strip was just ok, but the others, filet mignon, pepper steak (the chef special) and the porterhouse were much better. The desserts at Aqualina, I thought, were much better.
Day 11 – Friday, March 1st.
The crew mentioned last night that the arrival into Sydney harbor shouldn’t be missed. Most folks were on deck 9 or 10 about 6:15am or so. Daybreak and coffee and rolls greeted us as we entered.
The view was beautiful and we docked at the White Port dock. We went through Australian immigration on board and were off on our bus tour of Sydney and the Opera House. Sydney is really quite clean and beautiful. The Opera House story is quite amazing.
We met up with Tommy and Rosie and Doug and Lauren after our bus tour. We went to the Botanical Gardens and searching for the oldest pub in Sydney. The garden had a meat eating carnivore plant display which was very cool.
We found the Fortune of War (http://fortuneofwar.com.au) and the Hero of Waterloo (http://heroofwaterloo.com.au) pubs in the “Rocks” section of Sydney.
A cab return back to the ship and we were onboard by about 6pm. Sydney is a beautiful and clean city, we need to return!
Day 12 – Saturday, March 2nd.
At sea day from Sydney to Moolaalaba. Visited with the acupuncture/ chinese herbalist and he suggested a remedy for kidney stones.
Day 13 – Sunday, March 3rd.
Arriving at Mooloolaba in the morning with a swell. After being ready and after the 8:30am breakfast, the captain announced that the swell did not allow for disembarkation and that we are moving on up the coast. We are not able to visit Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo and Rosie is really disappointed.
We will now be sailing for 3 more days and we have been sailing more than we have been in port. People are not happy. We made it known to Phillip, the head hospitality manager. At the noon briefing, the captain mentioned that the east swell had been for about the last week. That begs the question, since he knew that, why wasn’t there an alternative plan for today’s mooring?
The white table party on the pool deck is still planned, even though the waitstaff question that. It is held when the ship is in port, not traveling in swells.
Dinner at Discovery, the meal was really quite good, maybe they updated their menu for this impromptu day-at-sea. The white table party also went on but was rained out during the end of the event, all good, I think.
Day 14 – Monday, March 4th.
Day at sea and we have entered the Great Barrier Reef mid-morning. Staff “american” lunch being served at the Patio Bar area. This is the common meeting area we seem to congregate to as a family.
Airlie Beach by 6pm this afternoon we are promised with tendering to the beach from 6pm to 1 am. Tonight is the chef’s table, but I’d really like to have a nice dinner on the beach in Airlie. We cancelled our chef’s dinner and they gave us a credit, all good.
With a nice dinner in port planned, we set off on the first tender a little after 6pm. There was another tender after ours that was pretty packed, but we were early, so .. we were good and small. We returned to the ship about 8:15 pm after trying to find our mooring in a dark Airlie Beach bay. The poor tender driver did a great job, the officer on board was reading her charts with her iPhone and they could not find the dock. We tried at least 3 times and were finally dropped off at a private ramp, with sort of security. It didn’t feel right to all 6 of us, so we ran back to flag down the tender which still had some passengers returning to the boat. Two more of us followed the 6 of us returning. The hotel manager, Phillip, apologized when we returned. The other tender elected to return to boat while waiting for us to find the mooring.
I guess the captain spun it onboard, while he cancelled the rest of the tenders for tonight, as … someone took our mooring. Yeah, right. Our tender crew did a great job, someone else on board, messed up!
The next morning, the captain didn’t even give the tender crew any credit, not cool.
Day – 15 Tuesday, March 5th.
Rescue at sea at Airlie Beach!
One of the crew members on a the 6am reconassaince tender tender fell overboard. They were looking to find their mooring to resume offloading with 7am tendering. I just happened to open the window, to see a tender circling someone in the water. The officer of the tender last night and another crew member were lowered in the little ”Boston Whaler” and made the successful rescue. Not a mention was made at the 8am briefing. Strike 3 for this captain. I did see the officer and congratulated her on a job well done and mentioned to the captain that he was now FB famous. This was on our way to the Great Barrier Reef excursion.
The excursion was a bust. As described in the brochure, a 2 hour boat ride to a floating platform on the reef. Tons of people, rough seas just to get there, a tough swell and poor visibility and weather and a mediocre captain and crew. The buffet food was pathetic as well. Pass on these guys, Great Barrier Reef – Cruise Whitsundays company.
Day 16 – Wednesday, March 6th.
Townsville docking. It said on the program that we were tendering but no, he specimens are pretty amazing and we also were allowed into the turtle hospital.
The afternoon we spent relaxing onboard, the kids were off doing their things, back at Aquarium HQ and the Kangaroo zoo.
Day 17 – Thursday, March 7th.
Trip #2 to the GBR, this time to the Frankland Islands and Normanby Island specifically. The tour left at met at 8:15 in the Cabaret and we were on our way by 8:45. This trip included a 30 minute river cruise and then a 30 minute bay crossing to the island. The tour agent has a permit for the entire island. Normally, there are 150 or so people,cthis time only about 60 of us.
These guys were first rate, and A+! Guided group tour of the leeward side of the tiny island, a mini-sub, lunch and a guided ocean ‘safari’ (10$) upcharge after lunch. Again, first rate and on the return upriver, we saw a salt-warer crocodile!
Dinner at Hemmingway’s Brewery (http://www.heminwaysbrewery.com), right at the docking wharf. Great pizza and beer.
Private transfer arranged for tomorrow, we are checked in on Qantas. A long day tomorrow!
Our room stewards are Mario and Michael, they both did a great job. We need to reflect this on their reviews being sent out next week or so.
Crew wifi is 30$ for 6 hours.
Day 18 – Friday, March 8th.
Pretty confusing information from the concierge regarding our departure private coach. No luggage tags required, keeping our luggage and taking it off this morning.
Breakfast was from 6-8:30 am and we had to out of the room by 8am. We all met at 8am in the Windows Cafe for breakfast with our luggage. Departure off the oard was pretty easy, we just walked off and passed through immigration. Our shuttle driver was there and off we went to the Cairns airport. Folks here are very friendly!
Qantas business class checked us in and the agent was nice enough to check in the kids as well. We are all checked into LAX via Melbourne.
Take aways:
- Don’t come in monsoon season, September/October are best, maybe. Cyclone season is their summer and wet season. Australia had had hurricanes in January and February.
- Bring our own snorkel and mask, less stress!
- Make sure you check for cabin room size.
- Not sure about Azamara as a future cruise. Ship staff was ok, hospitality staff was amazing.
- Check seat assignments to eliminate engine noise, on the return from Melbourne to LAX, we sat in-line with the engines and they were annoying.
- Pay attention to the number of sea days on the cruise. They can be pretty boring, especially if the water is rough.