"Live" Majestic Princess, 33-Days, Apr 10th to May 12th, Sydney to Seattle (+6 Nights Sydney Pre-Cruise)

[wlbox]

Curious you are allowed to bring off personal refillable water bottles in Picton?  Do they actually check and take them from you?  

[call_your_mother]

5 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Tonight we attended the Chef's Table.  All I can say is OMG!!!  The appetizers were served in the Crown Grill Bar and then we did the galley tour during dinner service before sitting for dinner.

 

They adjusted the menu for our pescatarian diet.

 

 

 

 

 

I missed taking a photo of the first appetizer, oops!

 

The restaurant service bar.

 

 

 

 

 

Servers waiting at the meat station to pickup orders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it was food coma time!!!

 

 

 

Everything looked delicious! What are they charging now?

[azbirdmom]

On 4/7/2024 at 9:50 PM, LACruiser88 said:

We then took an Uber to Westfield's Bondi Junction Mall for a shopping safari!  This mall is huge with 6 levels and no where near the crowds of the downtown Westfield's Mall.

 

I had to search your post as I was fairly certain you had been there.  Such awful news today.  Prayers to those in Sydney.  😞 

[azbirdmom]

6 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Wow, they provided a lot more information to you than what we got in December!  We did use the priority service through the concierge to get on the first shuttle out of the port so we could catch the Wine HOHO that we had pre-booked.  Lines can be very long for the shuttles.  Enjoy your day there.

[LACruiser88]

5 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I had to search your post as I was fairly certain you had been there.  Such awful news today.  Prayers to those in Sydney.  😞 

So sad, tragic! 

[LACruiser88]

Another breakfast favorite, the BELT sandwich.  We substitute avocado for the bacon.

 

 

[LACruiser88]

16 hours ago, wlbox said:

Curious you are allowed to bring off personal refillable water bottles in Picton?  Do they actually check and take them from you?  

There was nobody checking anything when we got off the ship.

[HotRoot]

Brought a bottle of wine back on board with us.  No questions asked.

[LACruiser88]

2 hours ago, HotRoot said:

Brought a bottle of wine back on board with us.  No questions asked.

We brought back 3 bottles!

[ShipWalker]

18 hours ago, wlbox said:

Curious you are allowed to bring off personal refillable water bottles in Picton?  Do they actually check and take them from you?  

DW was sent back to cabin to remove her refillable metal water bottle when going into the theater to wait for our excursion.

 

It was the first of two trips back as she later decided she was wearing the wrong shoes. 😂

Edited April 14 by ShipWalker

[LACruiser88]

We had a great today in Picton exploring the Marlborough wine region on the HoHo Wine Tour bus!

 

We got off the ship at 8:30 and right onto the free shuttle bus to town.

 

Below you can see the main street in town.  The town of 4,500 was very quiet on a cloudy and cool Sunday.

 

 

We were booked on the first wine tour bus of the day at 9:30.  We would highly recommend this company for tours into the wine region.

 

We did four wine tastings, the last two below were our favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

We had a fantastic lunch at Allan Scott.  We would highly recommend their restaurant and wines.

 

Debbie had clams in white wine, black garlic and coconut.  I had the Green-lipped Mussels in a spicy coconut curry, delicious!!!  And a side of fries with aoli.

 

For dessert we shared an Afogato with a shot of Tia Maria.  Wow, it was superb!!!

[sailingkiwi]

Weather looks reasonable for Wellington tomorrow. Great day for sightseeing. It is feeling quite autumnal here now. 

 

Anyone headed to Te Papa, be prepared for it to be more crowded than a normal Monday as it is school holidays. 

[LACruiser88]

17 hours ago, call_your_mother said:

 

Everything looked delicious! What are they charging now?

Sorry, I forgot to answer you last night.  $140 pp

[LACruiser88]

 

 

The extra dish tonight in the Reserve Dining Room was a Seafood Medley with a Lemon Rissoto.  It was very good.

[LACruiser88]

[azbirdmom]

11 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We were booked on the first wine tour bus of the day at 9:30.  We would highly recommend this company for tours into the wine region.

+1.  We were very happy with the HOHO experience.  Did you make reservations for the tastings or just wing it?  We made a reservation for Wither Hills as we had been there on a Princess excursion on a prior cruise and just loved their Sauvignon Blanc.  It really is a great way to go,

Edited April 14 by azbirdmom

[LACruiser88]

2 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Did you make reservations for the tastings or just wing it?  

We did not make any reservations.  I would recommend reservations for Cloudy Bay.  They were fully booked, but the Manager was a big tennis fan and liked my Australian Open cap!  😊🍷🎾

[1emerald1]

10 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

 

 

The extra dish tonight in the Reserve Dining Room was a Seafood Medley with a Lemon Rissoto.  It was very good.

Love seeing frog legs back on the menu! I haven't had those on a Princess ship for 20 years.

[LACruiser88]

Good morning Wellington!  It is supposed to be sunny in the afternoon and no rain.

 

 

[tml1230]

LA cruiser 88, as usual another OUTSTANDING live from report! your photos are incredible....

we are doing this cruise next year and are taking copious notes!

 

I have been following your reports since we did a cruise on the regal princess from Europe that you reported on....safe travels and all the best!

[jkadventures]

20 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We brought back 3 bottles!

It is frustrating when a cruise line has a very restrictive policy on bringing personal wine onto a ship, and then is inconsistent on its enforcement. Princess’s alcohol policy clearly advises that bottles purchased during shore visits will be held by security until the end of the cruise. I certainly wouldn’t want an expensive purchase stuck in a closet so it can cook for a few weeks.  

[azbirdmom]

28 minutes ago, jkadventures said:

It is frustrating when a cruise line has a very restrictive policy on bringing personal wine onto a ship, and then is inconsistent on its enforcement. Princess’s alcohol policy clearly advises that bottles purchased during shore visits will be held by security until the end of the cruise. I certainly wouldn’t want an expensive purchase stuck in a closet so it can cook for a few weeks.  

It's been our experience that the closet is saved for hard liquor.  They seem to be more tolerant of wine brought onboard at ports.

[LACruiser88]

51 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

It's been our experience that the closet is saved for hard liquor.  They seem to be more tolerant of wine brought onboard at ports.

That has also been our experience in our many cruises throughout the world on Princess.  A few times we had to pay the corkage when bringing back wine from a port.  They have never kept the wine until the end of the cruise.

[LACruiser88]

Great day today in Wellington!  After taking the free ship shuttle to the city center, we walked to the cable car station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then hopped on the free shuttle to the Zealandia Sanctuary.

 

 

We began our hike into the Sanctuary hunting for the rare and elusive KaKa parrots.  The valley in which the Sanctuary is located is very Jurassic Park-ish.  It is lush, green and beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sanctuary is also home to the Tuatara.  The Tuatara are a rare reptile found only in New Zealand.  They are the last survivors of an order of reptiles that thrived in the age of the dinosaurs.  After about 30 minutes of searching for them in heavy vegetation, we found three of them!!!

 

 

A bit later, we found 3 KaKa parrots in a thick canopy of trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After climbing further into the valley, we finally found some Kakariki Parakeets.  They were impossible to photograph.  Below, I'm pointing to a tree where they were hopping branch to branch.

 

Below is what a Kakariki looks likes in an aviary.

 

A few more photos from the valley.  A big thank you to  @sailingkiwi  for the recommendation!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15 by LACruiser88

[LACruiser88]

After leaving Zealandia, we returned to the cable car.  Below is the view from the top of the cable car.

 

 

We returned to the city center and Debbie started hunting for her elusive prey.  Below I'm holding her catch of the day, something that I have becoming very proficient at!!! 🤣🤣🤣 

 

We returned to the ship and grabbed a couple of sandwiches at the International Cafe.  We were still a little hungry so we decided to get an ice cream. 

 

For the first time ever, I opted for one of the fancy ice cream sundaes.  But, I pulled a Jack Nicholson.  I choose one that had vanilla gelato.  Then, I asked them to hold the candy cane, the snickers bar, the crumbled Oreo cookies, and the chocolate sprinkles.  The result, vanilla gelato with chocolate sauce!