After doing multiple extended vacations on our own (5 cities in 2 weeks, 7 flights, 5 hotels, etc.), we decided to make our next big trip a cruise! We were excited to be able to spend 2 weeks in New Zealand and Australia exploring the South Pacific! Hover over the drop-down menus to select a city and read what we did there!
Cruise Information:
Holland America, 14 nights
We picked this cruise line due to the ports of call. Royal Caribbean also had decent options; however, we wanted to go to as many ports as possible. Sadly we had to skip cruising the Fiordland National Park and Hobart due to rough seas, but instead we spent 2 days in Melbourne. It may have been the time of year, or the fact that not many other people are age have enough vacation time off for this long of a cruise, but it was primarily retired folks. We had fun with that though, made friends with our trivia team, enjoyed talking with other veterans on Veterans Day, and I had planned fun shore excursions (not through the cruise ship, they’re overpriced).
Original Itinerary:
- Auckland (We got there a day early to explore the town.)
- Tauranga (Rotorua)
- Napier
- Wellington
- Picton
- Akaroa (Christchurch)
- Port Chalmers (Dunedin)
- Cruising Fiordland National Park
- At Sea
- At Sea
- Hobart
- At Sea
- Melbourne
- At Sea
- Sydney