Live (of a sort): Down Under on Rhapsody of the Seas for Christmas/NYE

[KeywestK]

Hi Chris! Loving your blog--as always!! I'm sure you and Jim are having a phenomenal time down under, and I'm waiting for more reports! Belated Merry Christmas wishes to you both from David and me.

 

Karen

[margord]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... enjoying this report as well

 

your old pal

 

Hi Weary,

 

Always nice to year from you.

[silentbob007]

Day 8: Christchurch (Dec. 28)

Rhapsody arrived early in Christchurch, New Zealand, right before 7 AM. Our tour was to meet in the theater at 7:15, so it was also an early morning for us. With the dining room only opening up at 7 AM, we were forced to eat breakfast in the WJ which started serving its full breakfast at 6:30 this morning. Upon arriving at the theater, it was already evident that things were much more organized than yesterday morning, starting with the fact that the staff were meeting people as they came into the theater (instead of making them come to the front) and they already had signs in place for where each numbered sticker (corresponding to individual tours) would be sitting.

 

Christchurch is yet another industrial port, so once again it is impossible to walk off of the pier, which is actually in Littleton. Royal Caribbean, of course, offers a shuttle into Christchurch (20 minute ride) for $9 USD/pp each way. The port of Littleton offered a free shuttle off of the pier. If you wanted to try to find a cheaper way to do something, you could take that free shuttle. Some caught the public bus from Littleton to Christchurch for $2.80 NZD/pp each way (or one fare for 2 hours). Some also said that they were able to hire a taxi in Littleton for a cheaper price than could be had on the pier, so that’s something else that you can keep in mind.

 

The tour we chose to take was labeled “Christchurch Town and Country.” We started out by taking the long, scenic route to Christchurch (ie, over the mountain and not through the tunnel). There was a photo stop along the way, and then we continued to Christchurch itself. We were dropped off at Cathedral Square (which is also where the shuttles dropped, only they take the tunnel only) and given 30 minutes or so to explore. Many stores were closed as it was the first weekday after Boxing Day. Down the street a bit from Cathedral Square is the Avon River where some excursions head to go punting. I’ll just say this … save your money. I would call the Avon a creek more than a river, and the punting is just through some very shallow water along a public park. It might be relaxing to do if you came on the shuttle, but I don’t even want to look at how much an excursion there would charge you to do it.

 

Our next stop was the botanical gardens. We only got a cursory glance at the gardens because, as often happens with these bus tours, people returning late cut into our schedule. We were only given 15 minutes to look around the gardens and surrounding buildings. There seemed to be some nice grounds, but not really any time to explore them.

 

For the last part of our tour, we were taken about 20 minutes or so out into the country to the Manderley farm. On the farm, we were greeted by the owners, Mary and Ross. Ross gave us a sheep dog demonstration by sending one of his dogs all of the way up one of the hills to bring down a small flock of sheep while Ross gave the dog both verbal directions and directions on his whistle. After that, we were taken into the shearing building where Ross gave a shearing demonstration on one of his sheep. He also discussed some of the problems facing currently facing farmers. After the demonstration was over, we were invited into their home and onto their patio where Mary served coffee or tea along with some shortbread cookies and berry scones. We were then given some time to wonder a bit around the yard or sit, drink, and chat. There were toilets for the tour guests out front in their own building. After leaving the farm, we drove back another 20 minutes and were dropped off at the ship.

 

In the end, we liked this tour because it took us out in the country and we got to see a bit more than the standard “shopping” type tours. The farm was definitely the highlight and received more time than any other stop. This is a good “look around” tour, but otherwise, I think anyone interested in serious shopping or other types of sightseeing in Christchurch would be disappointed. I also have to say that, after all of the buildup of Christchurch being a very “English” city, it did not live up to my expectations. In my head, I for some reason envisioned something smaller and more quaint. Sure there were some examples of gothic architecture, but for the pieces that we saw of the city … well … it looked like a city … and the more I see, the more I suffer from what I call “city creep” where they all kind of start to merge, especially from a ground level.

 

Back on board the ship, there were afternoon activities and trivias to attend. The evening show was “Soul Mystique” which is labeled “As Seen on TV! … A Magical Transformation Spectacular Direct from Las Vegas & The London Palladium.” We arrived about 30 minutes early and were able to snag a seat, but with about 10 minutes to go until the show, almost every seat was filled in the theater. A few people lucked out, I guess, as we left about 20 minutes into the show. It turned out to be a dance show with a few quick-change acts dispersed through it. It wasn’t horrible, but it was not to my taste and I have seen better quick-change acts.

 

Next up: Picton, Wellington

Day 9 – Picton (Dec. 29)

 

Picton was a one-and-only stop for the Rhapsody, which is a shame because it was a nice little town without all of the over-the-top tourist stores and prices. You could tell that the townspeople were happy that the ship visited because they offered a free shuttle into town (once again, no walk-offs). Also, on the gangway exiting the ship, local women handed out fresh-flower, hand-made sprigs of flowers along with a pin to wear them around. Upon arrival on the main street (5 minute ride), the bus driver pointed out the locals whom you could ask for information or directions. There was a very pretty park, bay, and beach area right at the drop-off point, and a little bazaar was also set up in the park area selling local crafts. Some people got into trouble buying fresh cherries and apricots because the ship would not let them back on with them even though the New Zealand quarantine officials assured passengers they didn’t care what was brought on the ship, only carried off of it.

 

After a morning trip into Picton, we returned to the ship for lunch and an afternoon tour, Taste of Marlborough. This was an average tour and I won’t go into a lot of detail since it won’t be offered again the foreseeable future with the ship not stopping. We were taken to a shopping complex called The Vines which was small, over-priced and where we were given way too much time to look at the 6 stores, in my opinion. Then we were taken to a vineyard, Clos Henri, where we were given a fairly in-depth wine tasting. This was probably the most interesting part of the tour because we sampled wines of the same type and same vintage, simply grown in different types of soil on the property. Next we were taken to the Makana “chocolate factory” which was really just a shop with one plexi-glass wall overlooking where chocolate was being made. We were not given a tour or even a description of the process … just a few small samples and then plenty of time to make a purchase. In general, I dislike these kinds of shopping tours (I was thinking it would be more informational) because you spend a lot of money, and then you are taken to tourist places that are overpriced and where you are expected to spend more money without really getting anything else out of it. The vineyard was the most interesting, even though we didn’t see any wine-making (only tasting), because at least we were led through the tasting process and the grapes and soils were discussed.

 

There was a production show this evening entitled Pure Country. I’ll admit that I skipped this one as well as country music is not my favorite. It was very windy this night, with the wind spraying water from the high waves all over the deck 5 promenade. We kept a very slow pace with some circling as we only needed to go across the strait to Wellington.

 

Day 10 – Wellington (Dec. 30)

 

We awoke fairly early to find ourselves docked behind the Silversea Whisper in Wellington. It was a bright, sunny day, which was evidently the first nice day Wellington had seen in about a week, so we lucked out on the weather. It was quite breezy in Wellington, hence the nickname “Windy Wellington,” but it seemed like a very nice, medium-sized city.

 

On tap for today was a Wellington-area Lord of the Rings tour. The tour was arranged by fellow CruiseCritic member Susie2Shoes with tour operator Flat Earth. This ended up being quite a good tour, though it was a tad pricey at $145 NZD/pp. The flip side of that, of course, is that we rode in a very nice van, had a guide that really knew what she was talking about, and were on a tour with only 9 passengers. At the start of the tour, after we had picked up a few passengers at a local hotel, our guide (Andrea, I think) took us through the government district to show us the buildings a give us a little history. Then we headed out of town for our Lord of the Rings stops. Our first stop was along the road at the site of the quarry where the Helm’s Deep and the city of Gondor scenes. We then went to a small car stop along the river where one of the fellowship river scenes was filmed. Moving on, we visited the national park where the Rivendell set was created, and we also took a swing bridge over the water to see some authentic New Zealand wooded areas. Next we headed to a park where the Isenguard ground scenes were filmed. Finally we headed back into Wellington, past the Embassy theater where the Return of the King premier was held (and most recently, The Lovely Bones) and to Mt. Victoria where the hobbits hid from the black rider at the start of the first movie.

 

This tour was a very interesting combination of things you see and things you don’t see. On my own and without a guidebook, I would not have found any of these sites as they are literally spread all about. Also, we were told that the reason that Peter Jackson is given free-reign to film in New Zealand is that he makes sure that every trace of his production which takes place in natural settings is erased. This means that trees and plants are transplanted and then replaced after production. In fact, we were told that the only outdoor set pieces to remain are the ones from Hobbiton as they reside on private property (and amazingly enough, can be visited for a fee). Our tour was also given a little extra flavor because our guide works on Peter Jackson movies as a seamstress (though not LOTR), and the rest of her family does as well (she also mentioned that some of them were just on holiday after finishing work on Avatar with WETA Digital). Besides her own insight, she also brought along a book with movie stills so that when we reached a particular location, she could refer to it and perhaps point out remaining landmarks.

 

At the end of the tour, we were given the option of being dropped off in town or back at the ship. We considered being dropped off in town, but by this point we were tired and decided to return for a late lunch and a bit of rest. Royal Caribbean offered a pay-shuttle in Wellington, but it is also a port you can walk off in, though it is probably a 20—30 minute walk into the main part of town. I guess I haven’t mentioned this yet, but in every New Zealand port, you must show your SeaPass and photo identification to get back into the port area. All busses and shuttles are boarded by port security to check these items. Photocopies of passports are not accepted, so you either need to have your original passport or some sort of state-issued identification like a driver’s license (which is what I’ve been using). Younger kids are exempt from this, but I’ve heard some security guards raise concerns about teenagers coming back without ID. If you have teenagers, you might plan on bringing either a passport or some type of identity card just to avoid the hassle.

 

The headliner showtime this night was Danny Elliott. This was a pretty good show as his act is to play a wide variety of instruments, from guitar to bag-pipes. I thought that the music selection was a little weak, but overall, it was at least entertaining.

 

Next up: Napier, New Years

[silentbob007]

Day 11 – Napier (Dec. 31)

 

New Year’s Eve brought the Rhapsody to Napier, New Zealand. The story with Napier is that it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930’s, so the parts of the city that were rebuilt were built entirely in the Art Deco style of the time. Many of the souvenir stores sold trinkets fashioned in an art deco style (compacts, jewelry boxes, etc). Some people from the town also put on a car show at the port where they drove in their vintage autos and wore clothing from that time period.

 

Napier, once again, was a working port, so no one was allowed to walk out on their own. Napier provided a free shuttle into downtown, which took approximately 10 minutes or so. Once dropped off, you are right in the main shopping district which seemed more geared for locals in that it was made up more of retail stores and cafes rather than souvenir stores selling cheap, trinket-y type things. Napier also had some beach access, but I didn’t go down there, so I can’t make a comment as to the quality of the beach. Down one of the main roads was also the Art Deco center which offered not only art deco souvenirs for purchase, but you could also purchase local tours through them. I did not compare prices, but my guess is that if you wanted an Art Deco tour, this would be cheaper than one from the ship (which probably uses the same service).

 

The ship’s tour we decided to go on this day was called A Taste of Hawke’s Bay, which included a stop at The Filter Room to sample local micro-brewed drinks, the Silky Oak chocolate factory/museum, and finally, a stop at a sheep tannery. We chose to go with the afternoon tour as drinking in the morning didn’t sound too exciting, so our tour left at 1 PM (as opposed to 8 AM). At The Filter Room, which is a working brewery/restaurant, we were led into a large room with chairs and tables. At the front was the bar and lists of the various drinks the establishment made. We were able to choose 6 different beverages, ranging from hard ciders to lagers (they only had 2 non-alcoholic drinks), by placing the labels for the drinks we wanted in a rack, with the racks then filled with our selections. We were advised to just get one sample at a time so that it would move more quickly, but everyone seemed insistent that they get all of their drinks at once, so the wait was a bit long. Also, there was a bit of confusion because other patrons would come in to buy drinks, so some people were paying, others were not, and the line was muddled. We split one rack between the two of us and found that to be plenty (each rack held six glasses of maybe 8 ounces). The ciders, lagers, and ginger beers ranged from decent to fairly good, but I didn’t really taste anything that knocked my socks off. We were given an hour for this stop, so even with the line, there seemed to be plenty of time. There was not really anything else to do at this stop besides to do the tasting, purchase their merchandise, or to buy food from the restaurant.

 

After The Filter Room, we headed to the Silky Oak chocolate factory. Like “factory” in Picton, this consisted of a chocolate shop which had a section blocked off in plexi-glass so you could watch the workers making chocolates. We were given a few samples (chocolate seemed decent but the fillings were not). At this stop, at least, one of the store managers walked us through how they made their chocolates (buy it from Belgium, melt it, put it into molds, add fillings, close molds, chill). Besides the shop, we were also able to go through their chocolate museum and eat at the chocolate café (for an extra fee). The museum was interesting and consisted of placards and signs with scattered artifacts … it was nothing special, but it did at least show some effort. We were given about an hour at this stop as well, which was plenty of time. Some chose to make purchases at the café while others sat on the porch, but they were shooed away after a while because the café workers were anxious to stack chairs and close (it was NYE, after all).

 

Our final stop was at a sheep tannery. We were led through the back rooms of the tannery and given a description of the various machines, their purposes, and what sheep skins looked like at various states. The factory was not working at this point and as it turned out, the workers were all allowed to leave at 3 PM (we arrived at 4:20 or so) for the holiday, so the only people working were the guy giving us the tour and the woman working in the shop at the end. There seemed to be some decent prices on the items in the shop if you wanted anything that had to do with sheep skin or wool.

 

After the tannery, we were taken back to the ship while given a brief tour of the area. I wasn’t exactly happy when the driver stopped to let one couple run into a liquor store while everyone else waited, but at least they were quick. In the end, I was less than impressed with this tour as all it did was go to public establishments and give us the opportunity to buy things after small samples. I suppose people were most intrigued by the tasting and the chocolate factory, but both were underwhelming in my opinion. As for the drinking, if that is your goal, my suggestion would be to take the money you would spend on this tour, go to a local bar, and drink there.

 

Once back onboard, it was time to prepare for our third formal night. The dinner for NYE featured surf and turf with sirloin and prawns. Everyone’s table for NYE was decked out with paper top hats/tiaras, streamers, and noise makers. The headgear and streamers were a nice touch, but I soon felt an intense desire to toss whoever thought the noisemakers were a good idea overboard. We were seated next to a large family with many small children, and their racket along with the others throughout the dining room, made having a conversation next to impossible and left me with a splitting headache. One thing I’m going to write on my comment sheet to the company … save the formal night dinner and give out the party favors closer to midnight.

 

As for the NYE festivities themselves, the headliner showtime was singer Darren Williams. He was fairly entertaining. When things got closer to NYE, there were three party centers for the ship … the Viking Crown Lounge, the Centrum, and the pool deck. We pulled up chairs around the Centrum on Deck 7 and drank the sparkling wine we had pre-ordered. Closer to midnight they started giving out the standard, quite horrible, free “champagne” in monitored areas (though there were still at least one pack of roving, drunken teenagers). A few screens had a countdown to midnight and Captain Stein led the countdown in the Centrum once it got to the final 30 seconds. The party evidently raged well into the morning, though I have to say I was in bed by 12:30.

 

Day 12: Day at Sea (Jan 1)

 

New Year’s Day aboard Rhapsody was spend lazily sailing at sea. Most seemed to make a late morning of it, though the usual sea day activities were lined up throughout the day. I’ll forgo the details of my day as it wasn’t very interesting. On this day they held the Walk for Wishes where passengers wishing to donate at least $10 to Make-a-Wish were given t-shirts and participated in the walk-a-mile on deck with the captain, officers, and entertainment staff. The headliner showtime was Martin Lass, a violinist.

 

Day 13: Tauranga (Jan 2)

 

Since tides evidently play a huge part in arriving at the Port of Tuaranga, the Rhapsody had an early arrival (7:00) and departure (all aboard 4:15). The most popular destination at Tuaranga seemed to be Rotorua which has hot mud pools and other geothermal sights, but there were definitely other things to do. Local visitor information people boarded the ship and were available to give advice and maps out right before debarkation. While there was a free shuttle offered into the city of Tuaranga, this was a port you could walk out of on your own. Within close walking distance were two beaches (one next to the ship was black rock and one 5-10 minutes across the peninsula was white sand and much busier). There was also an extinct volcano to circumnavigate or climb right by the ship. We originally set out to walk the path around the volcano next to the ocean (about an hour’s walk we were told) but instead decided to climb the volcano. We took a paved, drivable path for most of the way. It was quite steep, but there were plenty of benches and places to stop and take in the view. Near the top we had to leave the road and take paths with more steps in them. It took us about 1.25 hours to reach the top and we could definitely feel it in our legs. We took a different path down that was almost all narrow steps and had very few rest points so if you are interested in climbing the volcano, I’d suggest the incline and not the stairs.

 

The entertainment for the night in the main theater was the Love and Marriage Gameshow and the crew talent show. I skipped both of these, but many seemed to enjoy them. The gameshow is fairly standard and definitely adult-oriented. I’ve caught a bit of the talent show on TV and most people seem to have really enjoyed it.

 

Next up: Auckland, Bay of Islands

[vivian02]

Chris,

Could you give us information on Disembarkment when returning to Sydney. Is there a self embarkment for those who want to carry their luggage off the ship? I heard from your sailing that people got to the airport without much time to catch their flights home. This information would be very much appricated. Thanks Tim

[Bob&Janet]

Chris,

Could you give us information on Disembarkment when returning to Sydney. Is there a self embarkment for those who want to carry their luggage off the ship? I heard from your sailing that people got to the airport without much time to catch their flights home. This information would be very much appricated. Thanks Tim

 

No self disembarkment from Rhapsody in Sydney I'm afraid Tim, everybody goes off in groups by colour. You will get a form to fill in during the cruise to let them know your onward arrangements.

 

Cheers

Bob

[vivian02]

Bob&Janet,

Thanks for the information. I heard your disembarkment ran a bit late and there is no "Self embarkment". I'll just have to see what disembarkment time Royal Caribbean gives us and plead mercy if its not early enough.

Nice to hear you had a nice cruise and the weather is alot warmer there than it is here.

Tim

[silentbob007]

Well after leaving Sydney at 11 AM on a Friday, I'm finally back at my apartment at 9:30 PM on ... well ... Friday. I will be glad when this day ends. ;) Anyway, I'll try to finish up my report this weekend and should have some pictures up tomorrow available through the link in my sig.

 

As was mentioned earlier, RCCL claims that Australian customs does not allow self-debarkation, so that is not available in Sydney. We were about 1.5 hours late getting in to Sydney on debarkation day, so that was a fine mess. Thankfully I thought that the 11:25 Delta flight to LAX was pushing it anyway so I wasn't flying out until next day. Some people (I'm assuming Aussies) had flights scheduled as early as 10 AM.

[margord]

Thanks so much for this live thread. I really enjoyed it.

[charliegirlac]

thanks for the review - really enjoyed hearing about it...

[silentbob007]

Hi everyone ... sorry for the delay on this last part of my travel journal, but life has interfered as it oft does. My photos are in the link in my signature, and I plan on posting more of a "review" in the near future. I also have pieces of a video journal/review that I will be cutting together and posting as well.

 

 

Day 14: Auckland (Jan. 3)

 

The Rhapsody arrived in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, at about 7 AM with debarkation soon after. This was a walk-off port, so if you want to strike off on your own, you can easily exit the ship and walk down the pier into the city. The pier actually felt unique here as it is filled with shops and even a hotel. Looking across at the Hilton out the ship’s windows, you might think you were parked next to another, very large ship with large, plant-decorated balconies.

 

Just wanting to look around, we decided to take the Auckland Panorama tour, and quite frankly, it was disappointing. We loaded onto a bus and were first taken to Mt. Eden where we were given 20 minutes or so to get out, walk around, and take pictures. Leaving Mt. Eden, we were taken to the Botanical Gardens and given about 40 minutes to look around inside the greenhouses. We then loaded back onto the bus and were taken on a very short hop to the Auckland Museum and given 30 minutes or so to look around outside (but obviously not enough time to go in). With that, our last stop, we were taken around to different neighborhoods and then dropped off at the ship. In other words, every place we were taken was a “free” stop and the rest of the time was spent on the bus … yes, I know … this is what you get with a panoramic. Frankly, however, you could get off the ship and grab the hop-on-hop-off bus on the main street off the pier and see most of the same stuff without the time limits for a cheaper price.

 

After our tour we explored the city by the pier a bit with most of our time spent looking in shops on Queen Street, which seemed to be the main shopping area. Upon returning to the ship, security was very tight. Beyond the usual metal detectors, there were also two other times where we had to display our IDs and SeaPass. It turns out that someone had attempted to illegally board the other ship in port that day so security was tightened everywhere. There was a small area right before getting on the ship with tables and souvenirs. After looking around, the pricing here was comparable (or better) than the shops out in the city, though obviously selection was limited.

 

Other highlights from the ship’s schedule on this day were tropical night and an evening on-deck buffet paired with dancing under the stars. The main show were illusionists Scott and Panitra Davies who did mostly card tricks … they were good, but still … card tricks for a large-venue performance (video camera and screens required). Oh, and on a side-note, the honey-stung chicken was once again offered in the Windjammer buffet for lunch … I felt like it was embarkation day all over again (though it was much fresher this day). ;)

 

Day 15 – Bay of Islands (Jan 4)

 

Sadly the first of the last-milestones arrived … our last stop of the cruise and our last day in New Zealand. Bay of Islands is a tender port, which means that you have to board boats to be taken ashore as the ship does not dock. As you may imagine, this does create a bottleneck for people trying to get off the ship, and people on ship’s tours are given priority. Diamond members received priority tender tickets in their cabins so they could get in line to board at any time they wished. Otherwise, tender tickets were handed out starting at 7:30 in the Schooner Bar. For those that don’t know, a tender ticket is a ticket with a number. Once you are ready to leave, you grab a ticket and wait in public areas for that number to be called. You can then proceed to the gangway to board the tender and be taken ashore.

 

We had a very early morning on this day taking a tour as we were instructed to report to the theater by 7 A.M. to be taken off of the ship. The tour we chose was the Glow Worm Caves and Kauri Forest excursion. We were in the tender probably by 7:30 or so, and in the bus by 8. This was intended to be a half-day tour, but let’s just say that our tour was extended. Our driver was quite entertaining an informative, but he was not too familiar with this tour. we made it to our first stop, the kauri forest, the people who were supposed act as guides were not waiting out in the turn-around as he was expecting, so after a brief stop, he continued down the road. Once he realized that he had gone too far, there was no place to turn the bus around as we were on a very narrow road on a large hill, so we had to continue for about 15 minutes until there was a space to turn around. We then, of course, had to travel 15 minutes back to the stop. By this time it was raining quite hard. We met our guides, were split into two groups, and then taken down a boarded walk into the forest. I had the unfortunate luck to go with the female guide who did not speak very loud (over the sounds of 20 people, rain hitting the trees, etc), and when she was asked to speak up, she instead told everyone they needed to get closer (we were already in a tight group). We were guided along this looping boardwalk for 15 minutes or so, and to be honest, the guides weren’t that necessary as the area was obviously setup for self-exploration with information placards along the way. After that, we got right back on the bus (not sure if there would have been more time if we had been on time or if it had not been raining) and headed towards the glow worm caves.

 

By this time, however, we had been away for 2 hours or so and people started to complain to the driver that they had to go to the bathroom (there were no restrooms at the forest). The driver eventually found a public restroom, but after more than half of the bus got off to use the small facility, we were now more than an hour late. Once we finally got moving again, however, we ran into another snag … a large accident had closed the road we needed. We ended up taking a single-lane, dirt road detour through the country. We finally arrived at the caves, waited for another bathroom break, were given a description of the caves by the owners, then led inside. Photographs were prohibited past the entrance. You essentially walked along a raised wooden pathway, and occasionally the guides would stop and have everyone turn out their lights to see glow worms at the top of the cavern. There were a few steep sets of stairs to climb inside and a couple of slightly narrow spaces. Once you exit the caves, you have to climb quite a few steps through the woods to get back to the entrance and the people who had any mobility issues really had problems at this point. As we loaded into the bus, the afternoon tour bus arrived (to signify how late we were). We made our way back to the ship, making a brief scheduled stop at an artistic public toilet.

In the end, our 4 hour tour turned into a 6.5 hour tour. Oh well, things happen. I would, however, still hesitate to recommend this tour. The forest part was a bit of a joke. Yes, you see some huge trees, but it is literally a few minutes on a looped path (perhaps I was just expecting more). Then the caves … there was a bit of speculation that the “glow worms” at this stop were faked. When the lanterns were turned off, they appeared just as dots on the ceiling. Others who did better glow worm grotto tours in other stops told us that everyone had to be quite or the worms would dim or go dark. There were no directions to be quite on our tour, and every speck seemed to be uniform in both size and brightness. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’m still suspicious.

 

Upon return to the pier, we boarded the tender and returned to the ship. The tender did not drop passengers off in any sort of commercial area, so if you wanted to strike out on your own, you would have to use a free bus to get to a more commercial area (unless you wanted quite a walk). Our tender ride was interesting as a speed boat cut in front of us, between the tender and the ship, causing perhaps a 5 –foot wake in otherwise calm water. We bounced around and actually slammed into the Rhapsody a bit until the water calmed down, though that didn’t stop one guy from continuously trying to get around the crew blocking the door and jump to the docking platform (believe it or not).

 

This night was the last formal night (thank goodness … 4 was more than enough for me). The evening show was The Rat Pack’s Back, which was obviously a tribute band. They were … OK, but nothing special. This night we started the process of returning to Sydney time with the clocks rolling back one hour at 2 AM.

 

Days 16 and 17 – At Sea (Jan 5-6)

 

The final two sea days were a little sad as we returned to Sydney, but they were definitely a bit smoother than East-bound trip across the ditch. The same sea-day routines were followed with activities all day, bingo, etc. The show on day 16 was Ballroom Fever, a dancing production show which I skipped. The show on the last night was The Artistry of Fluorescence which was definitely one of the most unique shows I’ve ever seen on a ship.

 

On the last day, Diamond members, as part of the Diamonds in December celebration, were given invites for a bridge tour. For some reason we did not receive invitations, but that was quickly remedied by the Phillipa, the Loyalty Ambassador. The invitations were very clear … show up at this place, bring the invitation and SeaPass for security, and know that ONLY the invited people could come. Of course, at least three parties tried to bring other people along and were flatly denied by bridge security. After that, we were led to the bridge in a group of about 15 or so and given what really amounted to about 20 minutes of face time with Captain Stein. All but a small section of the bridge was roped off, though we were able to look out the front and walk out on one of the side wings. The most amazing thing (and by amazing I mean rudest thing I saw on this cruise), however, were the two Italian passengers who decided they were bored about 5 minutes into the time and decided the only way to end the experience quickly was to talk as loudly as possible to each other over the captain (and ps … one of them was the same guy who kept trying to jump off of the tender while it was still bouncing around).

 

Self-debarkation of luggage is not allowed in Sydney due to customs and quarantine, so all large baggage was to be placed outside by midnight on the last night.

 

Day 18 – Sydney (Jan. 7)

 

During the noon report on the last day, Captain Stein briefly made mention of arriving a little late to Sydney. As it turned out, our 6:30 AM arrival ended up being about an 8:30 AM arrival. This left a few people who had booked early flights a wreck, but for everyone else, it meant that we pulled into Sydney at a reasonable hour and could truly be enjoyed. Both the Windjammer and main dining room were open for breakfast with most people heading to the buffet for the view (and to then clog up seats). We headed to the Diamond debarkation area (deck 5 dining room) which was also opened up for Platinum members on this cruise. They offered some juice, coffee, and rolls, but mainly it is just a place to wait for priority debarkation. At around 8:45 or so, Phillipa came through to find people who had early flights and escort them out. A little after 9:00, the rest of us in the lounge were given the go ahead do debark, and as we exited and hit the stairs, we ran into a huge mass of people coming from another lounge. Everyone forced themselves into a line to get off on deck 4, only to then find out that that exit was only for white tags. The others from above had (green?) tags and were supposed to exit on deck 1. This was a bit of confusion that could have been better handled. While the compass advertised two exits, you do not have a pick of the two. Certain tags must debark from either deck 1 or deck 4 because that is where your luggage will be waiting. If you try to get off on the wrong deck or too early they will send you back because your luggage will not be there. It was quite a mess trying to find our bags, and of course I couldn’t find mine for a while, but we finally claimed our bags, cleared quarantine, got in line to exit, then got into about a 15-minute long taxi queue (a lot of baggage to load).

 

A lot of people with early flights were going to struggle to make them, making me glad that I had decided to spend an extra night in Sydney. Here was my thinking … besides getting one last day in Sydney to explore and buy the souvenirs I had decided I wanted, I am hesitant to try to book an early-ish flight for a city, pier, and airport that I am unfamiliar with. Add in that I would be flying internationally and everything screamed to take it slow. I know a few people were booked on that day-of debarkation Delta flight at 11:20 AM and I hope they made it but I would have been totally freaked out.

 

Instead of being freaked out, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the Marriott Sydney right beside Hyde Park. This is a 5-star hotel I had won on Priceline for less than $100 USD a night, so I was curious how it would turn out. When we arrived a little after 10 AM, the lobby was quite full of people waiting around. When I checked in, I was told that a king room was available or that I could wait for a room with two beds. Not wanting to mess with storing luggage, I took the king room. It was a wonderful room with a view of the park, huge sitting area, huge bathroom, and a sleeper-sofa (so we had two beds anyway). Wired internet was available at $.55 AUD/minute with a 24-hour cap of $29 AUD (and it was much faster than the ship’s internet, of course). There was a 2.5% surcharge for any credit card usage by the hotel, and a $50 hold was placed upon check-in.

 

We ended up taking it easy this day. We did return to the harbor (about a 15-20 minute walk) and took a ferry to Manly where we ate lunch and did our souvenir shopping.

 

Jan 8 (the day that never ended)

 

We woke up early and grabbed a cab at about 7:30 to go to the airport. It ended up taking about 20-25 minutes to get to the airport from the Marriott and cost a little over $40 AUD. Upon arrival, we found the Delta line to be mostly full as they hadn’t opened the counter yet. Around 8:20 or so (3 hours before the flight), they opened up the line with about 4 agents. We had no problem checking in, though my large suitcase was now a little bit overweight. The agent was pretty cool about it though, checking to make sure that my second checked bag, my garment bag, was well below the allotted weight. Since it was, he went ahead and checked both through instead of making me try to re-arrange stuff on the spot or pay a large surcharge. I’m sure that if my bag had been extremely overweight it would have been different, but I think it was about 3-4 pounds or so.

 

After checking in, we had to clear Australian customs again by filling out a departure form. I must say, I’ve never filled out so many forms to both enter and leave a country. We then headed through security which I had expected to be a little slower because of the Detroit thing. After that, we progressed through all of the duty-free shopping available and grabbed some breakfast at McDonald’s, which seemed to be the place everyone was trying to shed the last of their Australian money. I used credit, but it still cost me over $12 for a combo with a sandwich, 2 hash browns, and a coffee. When we arrived at the gate, we saw the new security measures in place for flights to the US. The gate had been blocked off with walls and each person was required to show their passport and ticket to enter. Passengers were then randomly selected for additional screening (50% we were told, though all days before had been 100%) which consisted of removing everything from your carryon and a full pat-down.

 

I have to say that the flight back was definitely worse than the Sydney-bound flight. The same amount of meals and entertainment were offered, but leaving in the morning instead of the evening meant, at least to me, that it was much harder to sleep. In fact, I’d be surprised if I slept more than an hour. Thankfully some of the movies had changed so I had more to watch, but it was a long haul.

 

Upon arriving at LAX, the real fun began. We knew that we would be re-boarding the exact same plane to go to Atlanta, but we also knew we’d have to get off and clear customs. It started with deplaning and heading down a few hallways until you came to customs. They made non-US citizens wait while everyone else was filed into a few various lines. Our customs forms were glanced at by an agent, we were asked a few questions, then we headed to collect our checked luggage. Of course one of our four bags (my evil garment bag) was one of the last bags off of the plan, so we sat there for 20-30 minutes waiting for it. Once it arrived, we proceeded through the checkpoint and were pointed towards agricultural quarantine because we had honestly answered we had visited a farm. We placed our bags on a conveyor belt and then collected them on the other side of an additional scan and we were through. We then left the checked bags with security to be rescanned and checked back to the plane. At this point, we were outside of a secure area and had to find the security line to re-enter the gate area. Joy of joys, the security line by this point was contained in three switchbacks and out the door. We got in line then moved fairly quickly until people realized that they could circumvent the line by taking the elevator to the second floor. There was a single agent there to check IDs and send people into the security line while there were four agents at the bottom of a set of stairs checking, but they could only send people when the line had cleared as no one was allowed to wait on the stairs. Essentially the one agent at the top kept the queue from emptying very quickly by filling it with everyone going around the main line, slowing down the main line at the bottom. We finally made it up, through security, and by the time we were at the gate, our plane was boarding.

**Note** With this security process, unless your air journey ends at LAX, you will not be able to bring any duty-free liquids (read liquor) purchased in Sydney in your carry-on. I supposed you could try to get it into your bag before you re-check it, but I’m not sure you want to be trying to open you bag up and root around to get it secure and safe in there.

Our flight to Atlanta was fine and our final flight to Indianapolis was delayed a bit, but we finally arrived after all, of that at about 7 PM on the same day we had left in Sydney, leading to an extremely long and tiring day. By 9 PM, I was home for the first time in three weeks and in serious need of some sleep.

 

Coming soon: Summary and review

[donnaham]

...so sorry to hear about your 'Panoramic' tour of Auckland...yes, they ARE all FREE stops!!, and yes, the hop-on/hop-off bus doesn't have the time constraints.

A wonderful shop to visit if you are into genuine local New Zealand crafts is CraftWorld...it's a short drive (in a taxi, but NOT during rush hour!!) to the end of the Northwestern motorway to an 'open-air' shopping complex called Westgate. At this shopping complex, one could happily spend the day as there are lots of shops (including the craftmarket), a few cafes and a supermarket (foodstore).

[critterchick]

Chris, thanks for your postings! We'll be boarding her in a week! Woo hoo!

[sassy12]

Chris,

 

Thanks so much for this review of our trip. It brought back many wonderful memories. We loved meeting you and your Dad and all the other Cruise Critic members. It was nice to feel like we had so many "family" members on board with us.

 

Maybe we'll be on another cruise together sometime. Take care.

 

Bob & Sharon

[Ausgirl]

Chris, thanks for your postings! We'll be boarding her in a week! Woo hoo!

 

 

Take me with you!!!!!!!

 

You'll have a ball, we loved Rhapsody.

[silentbob007]

...so sorry to hear about your 'Panoramic' tour of Auckland...yes, they ARE all FREE stops!!, and yes, the hop-on/hop-off bus doesn't have the time constraints.

A wonderful shop to visit if you are into genuine local New Zealand crafts is CraftWorld...it's a short drive (in a taxi, but NOT during rush hour!!) to the end of the Northwestern motorway to an 'open-air' shopping complex called Westgate. At this shopping complex, one could happily spend the day as there are lots of shops (including the craftmarket), a few cafes and a supermarket (foodstore).

 

It was one of those things where we wanted to look around and the panoramic did just that. However, I think the disappointment lie in how much time was spent at the stops because once we arrived, of course, we saw how much Auckland had to offer.

[silentbob007]

Chris, thanks for your postings! We'll be boarding her in a week! Woo hoo!

 

Have a great time! Freezing here in Indiana and I truly miss both the warmth and the smiling faces. I also have to say that I've never been on a ship where the officers/staff mingled with passengers as much as this trip.

[UofMGoBlue]

Chris,

 

Thanks for the memories!

 

Laurel

[silentbob007]

Thanks Sharon and Laurel ... hopefully I'll get my video pieces cut together soon. :)