Live from Majestic Princess 13 March 2019

[Colo Cruiser]

Awesome!

[Geoffa30]

A short video from the jet boat.

[madda]

Thank you for your blog, I am really enjoying it. We board the Majestic in Sydney when you disembark - looking forward to it. We haven't been on a ship this size before so that is a bit daunting (we are on Deck 15) and have never been this high before, the highest we have been is Deck 9. First time with Princess, we are long time Holland America cruisers so should be interesting to see the difference. Enjoy your time left cruising.

[bj24]

I am debating on whether to do this jet boat tour. Looks beautiful but it is all day.  Not sure whether do this or 1/2 day tour that allows time in the city also.  The jet boat part looks fabulous. How was the rest of the tour? Your honest opinion will help me decide.

[Geoffa30]

6 hours ago, bj24 said:

I am debating on whether to do this jet boat tour. Looks beautiful but it is all day.  Not sure whether do this or 1/2 day tour that allows time in the city also.  The jet boat part looks fabulous. How was the rest of the tour? Your honest opinion will help me decide.

 

We enjoyed the tour but similarly to many of the ports where we have done full day excursions (combination of Princess and independent ones), we have said that we wished we’d had time to explore the actual town where we docked. The Akaroa tour involved a 2.5 hour coach ride each way. We chose to do the jet boat first (45 minutes) as it was a little foggy when we arrived and so expected this to burn off in time for the 4WD part. It did. Jet boat was followed by reasonable lunch (45 minutes) which was buffet style - lamb, ham, baked potato, various salads plus a brownie and cookie. We then did the 4WD (90 minutes or so) which was nice. Travelled across the farm but with only one stop at the end to view the river where the jet boat part had been. Saw livestock and some incredible views - the left side of the vehicle got the better views on our tour. The vehicle had windows so it was difficult to take pictures. It’s a pretty bumpy ride. On the return journey, we stopped once to get some pictures of a valley / lake just outside of Akaroa. The guide kept suggesting we would get back to the ship in time for a quick look round the shops. This didn’t happen as we arrived when the last tenders were scheduled to depart. Crew were rushing us to get to the tender as soon as we got off the bus. Another three coaches arrived after us. These had been on the Tranz Alpine Train excursion.

 

We would recommend the tour but it was expensive and long.  

[bj24]

48 minutes ago, Geoffa30 said:

 

We enjoyed the tour but similarly to many of the ports where we have done full day excursions (combination of Princess and independent ones), we have said that we wished we’d had time to explore the actual town where we docked. The Akaroa tour involved a 2.5 hour coach ride each way. We chose to do the jet boat first (45 minutes) as it was a little foggy when we arrived and so expected this to burn off in time for the 4WD part. It did. Jet boat was followed by reasonable lunch (45 minutes) which was buffet style - lamb, ham, baked potato, various salads plus a brownie and cookie. We then did the 4WD (90 minutes or so) which was nice. Travelled across the farm but with only one stop at the end to view the river where the jet boat part had been. Saw livestock and some incredible views - the left side of the vehicle got the better views on our tour. The vehicle had windows so it was difficult to take pictures. It’s a pretty bumpy ride. On the return journey, we stopped once to get some pictures of a valley / lake just outside of Akaroa. The guide kept suggesting we would get back to the ship in time for a quick look round the shops. This didn’t happen as we arrived when the last tenders were scheduled to depart. Crew were rushing us to get to the tender as soon as we got off the bus. Another three coaches arrived after us. These had been on the Tranz Alpine Train excursion.

 

We would recommend the tour but it was expensive and long.  

THANK YOU for your honest review.    I am kinda of like you in that I like to have time to explore the towns where we dock. That is why such a long tour is hard for me to commit to. You have given me much to think about.

 

[naylum]

Thanks for the blog, following you in your travels, thumbs up for your pics .Naylum

[Geoffa30]

Currently on our way back to Sydney. Have had a good cruise - as is usually the case, some bad bits but nothing to overshadow the many good parts. I would say this is one of our best cruises not because of the cruise itself but because of the destination. So glad that we had great weather (hasn’t been too good on the way back to Sydney though) and didn’t miss any ports.

 

We are still working our way through the blog as having back to back ports has meant finding time to write has been tricky. The internet hasn’t helped either. It also appears Blogger isn’t the most user friendly way to blog - try as we might we haven’t been able to get photos in any order. Fingers crossed that by the time of our next cruise on the Sapphire Princess to the Baltic at the end of August, we’ll be more au fait with the best way of doing things. We also intend to take a laptop to hopefully make the process a little easier.

 

Here’s a random selection of more photos from our trip - they’re from Wellington, Napier and Tauranga (actually Rotorua and Hobbiton).

 

 

[Geoffa30]

The Log of the Cruise has just been delivered. We also had a health advisory notice about cold and flu symptoms due to an increased number of passengers reporting to the medical centre. Someone we met on a excursion was quarantined for a couple of days. Seemingly it was brought on by someone from the Northern Hemisphere.

 

 

[Frflatt]

Thank you for following along on our great adventure; it’s been fun taking you with us.

 

I’ve just published the last port day (Bay of Islands) and will get the last two sea days and flight home up over the weekend - still a bit jet lagged!

 

For those who don’t have the link it’s http://www.livinglifeonecruiseatatime.blogspot.com

 

Happy to answer any questions people may have.

 

Stephen

Edited March 29, 2019 by Frflatt

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you for your great review and wonderful photos. I have enjoyed following you on your adventure and are so pleased that you had such beautiful weather. Will look forward to your next review whenever that may be. Thanks. 😊

 

[Frflatt]

7 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

Thank you for your great review and wonderful photos. I have enjoyed following you on your adventure and are so pleased that you had such beautiful weather. Will look forward to your next review whenever that may be. Thanks. 😊

 

 

Thank you, glad you enjoyed - there will still be a couple more posts over the weekend (last two sea day and disembarkation/flight home) so please keep reading.

 

We will be going to the Baltic and St. Pertersburg in September so will be blogging then for sure - nothing booked before then but we are also booked on the Sky Princess in October/November and again in March.

 

Thanks again,

Stephen

[PurpleTraveller]

3 minutes ago, Frflatt said:

 

We will be going to the Baltic and St. Pertersburg in September so will be blogging then for sure - nothing booked before then but we are also booked on the Sky Princess in October/November and again in March.

 

Thanks again,

Stephen

 

Ooh! I will definitely look out for your blogs. Which ship are you going on to the Baltic? I went there on Crown Princess in 2017 and loved it. My review is in my signature in case you are interested. 😊

 

[Geoffa30]

1 hour ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Ooh! I will definitely look out for your blogs. Which ship are you going on to the Baltic? I went there on Crown Princess in 2017 and loved it. My review is in my signature in case you are interested. 😊

 

 

Will definitely check it out - just clicked on the link and one of the first couple of pictures (Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove) are from just down the road from where we live - will also check out the South America one as that is a cruise we’re definitely interested in doing. I enjoyed your Majestic Princess thread before - FYI the link in your signature for this one appears to broken.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, Geoffa30 said:

 

Will definitely check it out - just clicked on the link and one of the first couple of pictures (Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove) are from just down the road from where we live - will also check out the South America one as that is a cruise we’re definitely interested in doing. I enjoyed your Majestic Princess thread before - FYI the link in your signature for this one appears to broken.

 

Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully the link now works. Hope you enjoy the reviews and that they may be of some help. 

 

I love the Dorset coast - such a lovely part of the world! 

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by PurpleTraveller

[Kenswing]

Hey guys..  It was nice chatting with you on the tender back to the ship in Akaroa.. 

[cflutist]

1 hour ago, Kenswing said:

Hey guys..  It was nice chatting with you on the tender back to the ship in Akaroa.. 

 

Hi Ken, we really enjoyed chatting with you guys too and meeting others at the M&G.

[Kenswing]

22 minutes ago, cflutist said:

 

Hi Ken, we really enjoyed chatting with you guys too and meeting others at the M&G.

Hi Cheryl.  It was great hanging out with you and Ernie too.. 

[Geoffa30]

4 hours ago, Kenswing said:

Hey guys..  It was nice chatting with you on the tender back to the ship in Akaroa.. 

 

Was nice talking to you and your wife too - hope you both had a great cruise - we definitely did.