DizzyLizzy5

I enjoyed your review - we are leaving on the Emerald in 3 weeks, for our first cruise and also staying at the YHA at the Rocks the night before.

Hoping the Emerald is a good fit for us. One of the travel agents asked me a few questions when I was booking and deciding on which line and he had no hesitation in recommending Princess. We are young 50s, not really into the party scene but like a variety of entertainment.:)

Some ships use a bread base under the pav, :eek:

Ewwwwww...just..ewwwww.

Oz and Hawka...you two can fight it out for the aussie rights to go first, I'm first in line for the Kiwis!! :D:p

They have pathetic dry little meringue nests with a dab of cream and two slivers of fruit that they insist on calling pavlova. Any resemblance to a real pavlova is purely in the minds of the executive chefs. :mad: :mad: :mad:

So do they need a Kiwi to offer to show them how to do it properly?:D

We will share our personal experience. The first time we did Aussie/NZ it was a 12 day cruise from Auckland to Sydney. We flew to Auckland 8 days early, rented a car, and enjoyed North Island, NZ. Our cruise then took us around South Island where we also enjoyed NZ. After we arrived at Sydney we flew up to Cairns to spend a few days on the Great Barrier Reef.

 

As we were flying back the USA, DW and I agreed that we enjoyed Australia....but had fallen in love with NZ (a place we could live). We have since returned (and spent 2 weeks driving around South Island, NZ) to both countries which has just deepened our love of NZ. We have met many others who have a similar experience.

 

So my advice is that if you are taking a traditional Aussie/NZ cruise.....somehow find additional time (a few weeks is ideal) to truly discover NZ.

 

Hank

As a Kiwi who hears how great NZ is, when the tourist has only experienced the Auckland area, I salute you! Big ups for taking the time to tour 'the big island'. :)