Thinking of Solstice in New Zealand

I am enquiring for a friend, they are thinking of sailing on The Solstice in New Zealand but are thinking of doing a back to back covering the ports of calls twice, has anyone done this? And are there enough excursions without repeating the itinerary. Many thanks.

I am enquiring for a friend, they are thinking of sailing on The Solstice in New Zealand but are thinking of doing a back to back covering the ports of calls twice, has anyone done this? And are there enough excursions without repeating the itinerary. Many thanks.

Im sure there are more than enough options in each port to go around twice.

Another option is going once, finishing in Auckland and joining a land tour - although this is not for everyone. Or finishing in Auckland then flying to Queenstown and doing day trips to the southern lakes - truly the "jewell in the crown". You could then fly out of Christchurch.

I am enquiring for a friend, they are thinking of sailing on The Solstice in New Zealand but are thinking of doing a back to back covering the ports of calls twice, has anyone done this? And are there enough excursions without repeating the itinerary. Many thanks.

Don't do a b2b. Combine a cruise with a land tour centred on SI. Travelling from port to some excursion centres can be very long.

Annie

A land tour after the cruise is definitely the way to go. We drove through both islands for 3 weeks and still didn't see everything we wanted to.

Land tour post cruise in NZ. Always sail from Sydney, the sail away is just spectacular, especially if you get a nice sunset. Doing a B2B means crossing the Tasman Sea twice, it can be a nice two days of relaxation or it can be a rough two days of bouncing around. We got lucky and had a very smooth crossing but the weather changed while we were in the Sounds and got so bad so quickly we had to skip the third sound and get around behind the South Island to get out of the wind. The wind was blowing 60 knots. That part was not fun.

I would do one cruise of New Zealand and not repeat ports but I would use extra time on pre and post cruise and spend time on land.

New Zealand is one of the nicest places we have ever visited.

Keith

Enjoy a cruise out of Sydney through to and around NZ. Then I recommend seeing NZ after cruise by land. So much additional beauty missed for the expense of a b2b if solely experiencing only the coastal fringes by cruise. South Island is beautiful and there are real beautiful gems of scenery and places to visit throughout the North Island too.

I would definitely combine a cruise with a land tour of the South Island. Lots of coach tours but we chose to car hire.

Agree about sailing out of Sydney, amazing! We're from NZ but live in Australia. Did Sydney to Auckland last year and then a two week road trip in the North Island, which meant the ports on the cruise were very relaxing - no need for long bus trips when you can do the sights after. We met a couple from the UK doing B2B, I think they were a bit over it by the 4th week, but we're all different. I would say that if you really want to see the best of NZ, cruise and land trip.