Review - NZ cruise Pacific Sun, 31st January

[Guest012]

It's all about dressing up, having fun and watching a bit of rugby. The atmosphere is obviously improved if we make the final.

Ruth

 

Ruth my bubble has been burst i thought everyone dressed like this all the time....:D the three guys in wigs we met in the grounds of Parliament House:eek:.....the atmosphere in Wellington was BRILLIANT and the people were all so friendly this was one of the days highlights..........cheer Shiona

 

[Ela 2]

We docked at the wharf in Mt Maunganui, the port for Tauranga. We had booked a van from Pegasus and they were waiting on the wharf with their vehicles lined up. The Diamond Princess that had been following us all the previous day tied up shortly after we did.

We set off on the 60km trip to Rotorua, travelling through lovely countryside. We took a detour to Lake Tarawera, the site of a volcanic eruption in 1886 that engulfed a tourist village. This is a beautiful drive that passes Blue Lake (Tikitapu) and the adjacent Green Lake (Rotokakahi). Blue Lake is an incredibly deep volcanic caldera while Green Lake is much more shallow with a sandy bottom.

 

We decided to go to one geyser/hot springs place in Rotorua rather than trying to rush around a few, run ourselves ragged and maybe find them repetitious. We chose Te Puia where we had a close-up view of the Pohutu Geyser that continued to erupt for more than half an hour. It was an incredible sight.

The walking track at Te Puia winds through a tree-fern forest and passes bubbling black mud pools, boiling water ponds and a blue lake. Included in our entry price, we saw a cultural performance and could visit a carving school and a weaving school.

Visitors to Te Puia can see kiwis under low-light conditions in the Kiwi House. Entry price was NZ$50 for the package deal. Take-away food is available inside at very reasonable prices.

 

There are so many attractions in Rotorua that a visitor could easily spend a few days. In a lakeside park there are boardwalks across hot steaming water and sulphur flats.

 

At Whakarewarewa, visitors can tour a village and watch a cultural performance, but there aren’t any large geysers. Visitors can observe the Pohutu Geyser from a distance by looking over the fence into Te Puia. Entry into Whakarewarewa is NZ$25pp.

 

At the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Area south of Rotorua the Lady Knox geyser is coaxed into action daily at 10.15am by an application of soap. Other attractions of Wai-O-Tapu are the Champagne Pool, Primrose Terrace and Artists’ Palette.

 

At Paradise Valley Springs and Rainbow Springs visitors can see rainbow and brown trout, as well as birds and other wildlife. The Agrodome rural theme park has an entertaining live sheep show. Among the more extreme activities on offer are bungy jumping and zorbing - rolling downhill inside a huge clear ball. Mount Ngongotaha has a gondola and luge rides.

 

We returned to the ship in time to see a Maori cultural performance at 5pm.

It was still fine when we got back to the ship, but later in the evening we watched the Diamond Princess depart in misty rainy conditions.

 

Evon.

[Riffraff]

Hi Evon, and Shiona,

Great to see pictures of Wellington, my old home town - glad you enjoyed it, it was a great place to live.

 

Thanks for the great review, - and congratulations to Lorraine as well for the third-most frequent cruiser!

 

Just a couple of comments comparing your cruise to ours, the cruise before yours- I loved the scones! The ones we had for afternoon tea were lovely, and not hard at all.

 

We did experience a bit of queueing for lunch, but not as bad as what it sounds like on yours - maybe with an older crowd more were going to the restaurant.

 

Shiona, had to laugh at your description of the scouting for the cane chairs - they are certainly popular! We were lucky once to be walking past at just the right time :D But you have to be quick!:)

[Ela 2]

We arrived in Auckland in misty showery weather where beautiful Auckland was not looking its best. The city is surrounded by water and known as the ‘City of Sails’.

 

We had decided not to hire a car because the ship docks virtually in the main street and most of the sights we wanted to see were close to the centre of the city. We also wanted to visit Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter.

 

Firstly we decided to take a short tour around the central part of the city on the free red bus. This doesn’t work very well as a sightseeing bus, but is great to go from A to B in the central city. There is a bus stop very close to the cruise terminal. Walk across Quay Street and about 100m down Queen Street. There is a second bus service, green buses called The Link, that covers an area further out from the central city. There is a small charge ($1.60) for each use of the Link bus.

 

We got off the red bus at the Sky Tower from where we planned to get the free shuttle bus to Kelly Tarlton’s. This was not a good idea when there were two cruise ships in town. The shuttle bus holds 10, and when we arrived there were already about 18 people in the queue. It only operates hourly, and we certainly didn’t want to wait well over an hour to get a bus. We suggested to some people nearby (Americans off the Diamond Princess) that we share a couple of taxis to Kelly Tarlton’s. Peter and I did the negotiating with the cab drivers (NZ$20 per cab) and off we went.

 

Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World was great. Entry costs NZ$29.50 (adults) and NZ$23 (seniors). My favourite section was where we boarded large ‘cars’ that moved through the penguin colony in an Antarctic environment. Visitors get very close to the penguins, both King and Gentoo species.

Other features are an enormous stingray tank and a moving walkway through a shark tank that gives a scuba diver’s view of fish. There are numerous smaller fishy exhibits including seahorses, piranha, lion fish and crayfish. We rate Kelly Tarlton’s as a ‘must see’.

The Auckland Explorer Bus leaves from just outside the wharf. It is a hop-on hop-off service that runs every 30 minutes (on the hour and half hour) past the main attractions in the Auckland area. These include Kelly Tarlton’s, Parnell Village and Sky Tower. The timetable shows what time it will be at each stop. Cost is NZ$35 for an all day pass or NZ$20 for a one hour ticket. I think this would be a good way to see the city.

 

Other options: Take a ten-minute ferry ride to Devonport, an historical maritime village nestled on Auckland's North Shore. Devonport Village has a wonderful range of unique specialty shops, cafes and restaurants. Thrill seekers can jump off the Sky Tower, attached to a cable. This didn’t interest us.

We stopped off for duty free alcohol at Galleria in Customs Street East between Queen and Albert Streets. There is an extensive range available and the price is better than on the ship, but nowhere near as low as in Vila. Our purchase was delivered to the ship.

Note - I have rushed to put this review up because a few CC'ers are leaving within a few days on a cruise to NZ and they expressed interest in the review.

Evon.

[Skyrules]

Morning everyone.... enjoying the review Evon.... and hello to Barry and Lorraine...... i think the worst part of lining up to lunch in the Burgundy was the queue hopping and pushing and shoving ... omg we have never ever anywhere in world witnessed such continual bad behaviour... on 4 occasions we shielded frail pax .....very disappointing....

We won't be cruising again on the Pacific Sun she is just a little too small for the amount of pax onboard.......and we didn't have a full house.........cheers Shiona

 

 

ps: Lorraine and Ray hope its not too wet up your way......found a little foto for you.....:D

 

 

 

Congratulations Lorraine!!!!

[Publicans]

Thanks again Evon. Great review.

1 more sleep for us!!

[Twosox]

Thanks Shiona for all the tips...

 

We will certainly try hard not to compare P & O to Celebrity or Princess, we try and take each cruise for what it is, no such thing as a bad time at sea especially with no flight to get there. Besides which it is impossible to compare cruises, the demographics are always diffeerent, age groups, weather conditions, ports of call, etc etc.

 

I appreciate your comments on the seating as even on our recent Celebrity cruise we had to battle to get deck chairs by the pool (understandable on a very hot cruise though) and with the usual performance of people tossing books etc on to hold them all day, we resorted to getting up there early in the morning to get a prime spot in the shade and basically spent nearly all day there, in and out of the pool. No doubt it will be too cold to do this

leaving N.Z. in July

 

The Pacific Sun sounds fun!! We have had a few friends on her in bad conditions at sea which has been unfortunate but we both have good sea legs so hopefully that won't be a problem.

 

We like to ballroom dance and rick n roll, will there be good music in any bar for that?? We find that also varies from cruise to cruise

 

Evon thanks for sharing your cruise with us, really great reading.

 

Cheers Linda

[Ruste]

Ruth my bubble has been burst i thought everyone dressed like this all the time....:D the three guys in wigs we met in the grounds of Parliament House:eek:.....the atmosphere in Wellington was BRILLIANT and the people were all so friendly this was one of the days highlights..........cheer Shiona

 

 

 

Shiona, imagine 20 men in Borat costumes then, fortunately they were young. Definitely a traffic stopper:) Ruth

[bazzaw]

Thanks Shiona for all the tips...

 

We like to ballroom dance and rick n roll, will there be good music in any bar for that?? We find that also varies from cruise to cruise

 

Cheers Linda

 

Hi Linda

 

Pac Sun has dance classes almost every day ( Ballroom and Rock) - and then encourages people to go dancing at night in the bars. No shortage of opportunity for dancing on the Sun

 

Barry

[Guest012]

Hi Linda and Ruth

 

Linda the Pacific Sun have a great dance band called Kryptonite who played most evenings in the Terraces Lounge they cover a multitude of genres ideal for ballroom and /or rock n roll dancing...

 

Ruth we saw so many characters.....including Gorillas.....spacemen.....plenty of crossdressers......you name it i am sure we saw it....... great great great........

Cheers Shiona

ps: we only touched on NZ but both felt very much at home.....a wonderfully scenic and friendly country....we'll be back.....

[Ela 2]

Hi Linda and Ruth

 

Linda the Pacific Sun have a great dance band called Kryptonite who played most evenings in the Terraces Lounge they cover a multitude of genres ideal for ballroom and /or rock n roll dancing...

 

Ruth we saw so many characters.....including Gorillas.....spacemen.....plenty of crossdressers......you name it i am sure we saw it....... great great great........

Cheers Shiona

ps: we only touched on NZ but both felt very much at home.....a wonderfully scenic and friendly country....we'll be back.....

Hi Shiona,

We had better mention that the gorillas, spacemen and crossdressers were going to the football in Wellington, not on the ship! :D

 

NZ is so beautiful, the ships' itineraries are great and prices are good. Beautiful ports and life on a cruiseship - what more can you ask for. :):)

 

Evon.

[Twosox]

Hi there Shiona and Evon

 

If you are at all interested in Rugby a trip to the sevens is a MUST. The costumes are amazing. We sat nex to a group of "Butchered Butchers" behind Bill and Ben the Flowerpot men, we had Mr Bean and Teddy, and about 25 Flash Gordons, young girls in the skimpiest outfits imaginable to get all the mens heads on swivels for both days. Men in nappies, I could go on and on. You name it it was there.

 

The dress up is such a huge thing that many order their outfits from China months before.

 

 

My husband and I were in the Railway Station en route to the Sevens and there was a Maori woman stamping tatoos on anyone who wanted them for a very reasonable price and they looked good. It was here that I heard a distinct Australian accent asking about the tatoos and saying she was off the cruise ship....I wasn't by any chance any of you guys was it??

 

Glad you have enjoyed NZ. We love our triips to Oz as well, especially the Whitsundays, Mission Beach, Port Douglas etc....and not to miss out on Tasmania.

 

We cruised into Hobart on the Star Princess and thought the harbour was lovely. We had a fantastic flotilla of local boats escorting us out...Good stuff

 

Linda

[Ela 2]

Hi Linda,

We are not interested in Rugby, but the costumes were amazing. All the young people seemed to be in such good spirits. :):)

Evon.

[DICKY BEACH]

Fantastic review, Evon. Love the pics. Glad to see you and Peter took plenty as usual. I've saved all your reports and will be using all your hard work and research next Feb' when we do the NZ trip on the Jewel.

Thanks again

Frank and Mary

[Ela 2]

Fantastic review, Evon. Love the pics. Glad to see you and Peter took plenty as usual. I've saved all your reports and will be using all your hard work and research next Feb' when we do the NZ trip on the Jewel.

Thanks again

Frank and Mary

Hi Frank,

You will love NZ. :):)

 

The rough weather in the Pacific should have died down by the time you leave next Saturday on the Pac Sun.

 

Evon.

[Bucky3]

Ela 2 - We are from California, and want to thank you SO MUCH for your wonderful review and pictures of New Zealand. We will be on the Star Princess next fall, and we are overwhelmed with all the information we have found while researching for this cruise! Your narrative has been so helpful in planning our time in port, and we have thoroughly enjoyed all the pictures.

 

I have a couple of questions: When you speak of a car "hire," do you do the driving yourself or did you have a hired driver? And, which "Antartic" experience would you recommend if we were to do only one?

 

Thank you again. We are so excited about this cruise - our first time to New Zealand and to Australia. Unfortunately, we will have only one day in Sydney, but we plan to see all we can pack into that Saturday!

[Ela 2]

In the US you would probably be more accustomed to the term "rental car". We drove ourselves. Your local driver's licence is acceptable. There is very little traffic on the roads and all you would need would be maps. Just remember to drive on the other side of the road!

 

The prices were -

Dunedin - Jackies - 4 door sedan NZ$59 + $15 to reduce insurance excess + $60 to deliver car to dock and return. The 8 seat van cost NZ$95 plus the same additional charges.

 

Tauranga - Pegasus - 4 door $90, no reduction of insurance excess available, no extra charge to bring to the dock.

8 seat van - $135 with no additional charges.

 

Wellington - Pegasus - 8 seat van $110 with no extra charges. I didn't bother to get a price for a 4 seat car because by then our group had grown to 8.

 

Antarctic experience - The Christchurch Antarctic Centre and Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland offer different experiences. At the Christchurch one you can experience Antarctic conditions and have an exciting ride on a Haglund all terrain vehicle. The penguins are little penguins (called blue penguins in NZ), not the larger gentoo and king penguins that are in the Auckland facility. At Kelly Tarlton's there are sharks, stingrays and other underwater creatures. Both the Christchurch Antarctic Centre and KellyTarlton's in Auckland are a bit out of the way. Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland costs half what the Christchurch Antarctic centre does.

 

I would find it difficult to make a definitive choice, but I would probably lean towards the Auckland one. I think you should look at what else you would want to do in your one day in each port to decide on which day you have a couple of hours spare. In my opinion, that would also make me favour Auckland. There is so much to see in central Christchurch that we would not have wanted to spend around three hours to visit the Antarctic Centre.

 

Enjoy your cruise. New Zealand is just so beautiful. :):)

 

Evon.

[diddy51]

On the same cruise, fully agree about the entertainment, John was a highlight for us as he was also on our table. The oasis is a waste of space, it should be aults only but not extra charge. Yes the laundry rage does live on. First trip to NZ and loved it:)

[Guest012]

Our table mates....yay.......hi di and john - heather and trevor...........missing our dinner chats......didn't we have a laugh......thanks for the kind words on John he goes back

into recording studio next week so will get a copy to you when its done.......cheers shiona

[Bucky3]

Evon - Thank you so much for the added information. We are so looking forward to this trip and appreciate all the input we can get!

[LuckiePuris]

Marg, see my reply to Evon.... I think the Champagne thing was just a glitch on that cruise, we certainly got Champagne the week before on Pacific Sun. And with the 3 courses, we didn't even notice it!! Some of the dishes that were previously listed seperately as Entree's now appear in the Soups & Starters course.

 

 

The good thing is that even though it may be only 3 courses, you can still order as many items off the menu as you like!! :)

[LuckiePuris]

Hi Evon - enjoying your review - never too many photos, would love to see more!! We're thinking of NZ next January on Sun Princess so all you have to say will be read with great interest!

 

Vera

 

 

Ditto Evon! Reading ur review / looking at your pics with GREAT ENTHUSIASM and loving the idea of NZ cruising!! :)

[LuckiePuris]

Hi Shiona

 

Now you have got me a little worried. As first time cruisers on P & O I have been a little concerned about crowding on the size of the Pacific Sun ...We are going on 5 July to Port Vila Noumea etc.

 

I posted a thread asking about crowding and received very few replies, which got me more worried, however one person said that they had not had a problem with seating in bars, on the decks etc.

 

We have cruised on Celebrity and Princess and have not noticed an obvious crowiding problem but the ships are basically twice as big with similar numbers.

 

Now that I have read this post I am very thankful as we will adjust accordingly and maybe eat brekky and/or lunch a little later if there seems to be a problem.

 

We are just so thrilled that we will have family and friends with us for the first time and we LOVE to be on the sea so all will be great regardless.

 

Cheers Linda

 

Hi Linda,

 

I have previously cruised twice on Pacific Sun and don't remember it being too crowded.

 

In the theatre show room, i would advise getting there early for shows / entertainment to make sure you get a good seat.

 

Even though the ship carries a lot of passengers, you never really notice that many are on board!

 

I think (??) now that Pacific Sun has anytime dining. I had anytime dining on Pacific Dawn. If this is the case, I would make sure to maybe ask the waiters what time is "peak" for dinner, and try to be there a little bit before that time. So that way you're still seated and can eat at a reasonable time, but dont have to wait too long for a table. After the first few nights, you'll find the right time to go. Not sure though if on Pacific Sun you need to make a dinner booking reservation for anytime dining??

 

Try and be early too to get the tender tickets, so that you are one of the first off the ship and make the most of your day in the port.

 

Happy Cruising :)

[Twosox]

Thanks for that, we will adjust accordingly. We like early dinner ( about 6.00pm) so that should be good,

 

Cheer slInda

[bazzaw]

The trouble with this cruise was all the rough seas that we encountered - I was just hoping that this small boat knew where he was going in Milford Sound, as we were following him. It was a wild day.

 

Barry