Excursions in NZ to Australia cruises for late 2022

[Serendiptydesign]

Hi all, is anyone doing any of the Australia to Sydney  cruises for December 2022 and have any more information on the excursions. We are cruising from December 22nd Auckland to Sydney and we notice as there are only a small number of excursions listed on our MVJ. We will be able to book our excursions from late September so the list may change hope fully. Also has any one booked independent excursions while on this cruise and have more information to share. Thanks.

[cocoloveslilacs]

I’m interested in responses too.  We are on WC and that includes NZ and Australia.    Excursions look skimpy at this time. 

[Frenchberet]

We did this Viking cruise in March 2020.  We arrived in Auckland a few days early and booked a wonderful tour with Auckland Scenic Tours - Hobbiton/Waitomo Glowworm Caves Combo.  They picked us up at the hotel (we stayed at the Grand Mercure Auckland) early in the morning in a shuttle bus.  We were the first tourists to arrive in Hobbiton and hardly anyone else was there.  We got some great photos and, if you are a fan of the books and movies, it was almost like being in them.  The glowworm caves were very interesting too.  The day was the highlight of our trip.  
 

We also had some independent tours booked in Tasmania, Melbourne, and Sydney.  Unfortunately, Covid hit, and Australia closed its borders.  Our cruise ended just as we were arriving in Tasmania.  We had to cancel the rest of the tours.  

 

[Heidi13]

20 hours ago, Serendiptydesign said:

Hi all, is anyone doing any of the Australia to Sydney  cruises for December 2022 and have any more information on the excursions. We are cruising from December 22nd Auckland to Sydney and we notice as there are only a small number of excursions listed on our MVJ. We will be able to book our excursions from late September so the list may change hope fully. Also has any one booked independent excursions while on this cruise and have more information to share. Thanks.

 

I have spent much of the past 6 months arranging private tours in Australia and New Zealand for the upcoming World Cruise. All vendors I have used before have either gone out of business permanently or shut down temporarily.

 

The vendor in Sydney, finally accepted bookings, but were unable to accept funds at this time. In the past 2 weeks, I have heard from 2 other vendors that are starting to re-start their businesses.

 

I expect the cruise lines, including Viking are dealing with similar issues, so I expect it unlikely Viking will promulgate a full suite of shore-ex, on time.

 

The only private tour I was able to book in any of those ports was the Blue Mountain Tour with Anderson in Sydney.

[Serendiptydesign]

42 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I have spent much of the past 6 months arranging private tours in Australia and New Zealand for the upcoming World Cruise. All vendors I have used before have either gone out of business permanently or shut down temporarily.

 

The vendor in Sydney, finally accepted bookings, but were unable to accept funds at this time. In the past 2 weeks, I have heard from 2 other vendors that are starting to re-start their businesses.

 

I expect the cruise lines, including Viking are dealing with similar issues, so I expect it unlikely Viking will promulgate a full suite of shore-ex, on time.

 

The only private tour I was able to book in any of those ports was the Blue Mountain Tour with Anderson in Sydney.

Thank you so much for your reply, I had thought this may be the issue. We are  New Zealanders so completely understand as we are always hearing how difficult it is to get staff on our media. We are not really bothered and think we have chosen the few we would like to do. All the best for you planning and your future cruise.

[TERRIER1]

We did Australia and New Zealand with Oceania but booked all our own tours with people on the roll call.

 

In Sydney we booked a Blue Mountain Tour from the Tourist office and they picked us up at the hotel apartment. It was a great day. We took the bus there with some stops and then on the way back to Sydney they dropped us off for the ferry on the river. Great ride.

 

Melbourne has an excellent tram system and you can buy a ticket and hop on and off as you please to see the sights. 

 

Our cruise stopped in Geelong so we did the 12 Apostles from there. We used Gary from http://morethanatour.com.au/. They may go to 12 Apostles from Melbourne as well.

 

Our ship than went to Hobart Tasmania and we used https://www.showyoutasmania.com.au/index.php/our-tours/day-tours. We had late departures so we chose a 8 hour tour.

 

In Dunedin we used https://awesometours.co.nz/tours/cruise-ship-shore-tours/ that included Akaroa and Christchurch.

 

We did Wellington on own and went to the museum and walked around.

 

In Napier we hired a tour that is no longer in business. It took us to three wineries with tastings, the town of Napier and Te Mata Peak.

 

The company we used for Rotorua (Tauranga) is no longer doing day trips. We ported there twice so the second time we stayed in Tauranga and went to the beach.

 

A really nice day trip from Auckland is taking the ferry to Waiheke Island and the taking the bus around the island. You can also take a tour once you are there. There are loads of wineries.

https://www.fullers.co.nz/experiences-tours/day-tours/waiheke-island-explorer-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour/

 

Enjoy.

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by TERRIER1

[Serendiptydesign]

54 minutes ago, Frenchberet said:

We did this Viking cruise in March 2020.  We arrived in Auckland a few days early and booked a wonderful tour with Auckland Scenic Tours - Hobbiton/Waitomo Glowworm Caves Combo.  They picked us up at the hotel (we stayed at the Grand Mercure Auckland) early in the morning in a shuttle bus.  We were the first tourists to arrive in Hobbiton and hardly anyone else was there.  We got some great photos and, if you are a fan of the books and movies, it was almost like being in them.  The glowworm caves were very interesting too.  The day was the highlight of our trip.  
 

We also had some independent tours booked in Tasmania, Melbourne, and Sydney.  Unfortunately, Covid hit, and Australia closed its borders.  Our cruise ended just as we were arriving in Tasmania.  We had to cancel the rest of the tours.  

 

We completely understand how you feel we were about to leave New Zealand for The Homeland cruise in early 2020 but obviously due to covid it was cancelled. So this time we are going to try and travel around New Zealand and Australia so much closer to home as we about an hour from wellington New Zealand.

[Serendiptydesign]

4 minutes ago, TERRIER1 said:

We did Australia and New Zealand with Oceania but booked all our own tours with people on the roll call.

 

In Sydney we booked a Blue Mountain Tour from the Tourist office and they picked us up at the hotel apartment. It was a great day. We took the bus there with some stops and then on the way back to Sydney they dropped us off for the ferry on the river. Great ride.

 

Melbourne has an excellent tram system and you can buy a ticket and hop on and off as you please to see the sights. 

 

Our cruise stopped in Geelong so we did the 12 Apostles from there. We used Gary from http://morethanatour.com.au/. They may go to 12 Apostles from Melbourne as well.

 

Our ship than went to Hobart Tasmania and we used https://www.showyoutasmania.com.au/index.php/our-tours/day-tours. We had late departures so we chose a 8 hour tour.

 

In Dunedin we used https://awesometours.co.nz/tours/cruise-ship-shore-tours/ that included Akaroa and Christchurch.

 

We did Wellington on own and went to the museum and walked around.

 

In Napier we hired a tour that is no longer in business. It took us to three wineries with tastings, the town of Napier and Te Mata Peak.

 

The company we used for Rotorua (Tauranga) is no longer doing day trips. We ported there twice so the second time we stayed in Tauranga and went to the beach.

 

A really nice day trip from Auckland is taking the ferry to Waiheke Island and the taking the bus around the island. You can also take a tour once you are there. There are loads of wineries.

https://www.fullers.co.nz/experiences-tours/day-tours/waiheke-island-explorer-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour/

 

Enjoy.

 

Wow what a lot of information thank you for your response Terri, I will be following all  these links thru to see what I can find.

[TERRIER1]

4 minutes ago, Serendiptydesign said:

Wow what a lot of information thank you for your response Terri, I will be following all  these links thru to see what I can find.

Too bad a couple are no longer doing tours since they were really great.

[rnrcruzin]

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