Diamond Feb 13 NZ / Australia Review

[MVPinBoynton]

We have just posted our review of our wonderful cruise on the Diamond Princess from Auckland, NZ to Sydney Australia. It is on our website, www.thepreismans.com. It is a long one, so I apolgize for the slow download. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend going "Down Under". It is a wonderful part of the world.

[CKforensic]

WOW!! That has to be one of the best reviews that I have ever seen!! Thank you so much for providing the detail, pictures, and menus. We will be leaving tomorrow for Sydney and I was hoping that somebody would post a thorough review of their cruise. This is perfect!

 

Many many thanks,

Chet

[jazzmom]

Did the icon get removed? I wasn't able to find a link for Australia.

 

Looking forward to reading the review! Thanks

[MVPinBoynton]

Chet,

I am glad you enjoyed it. I wish we could have finished it sooner, but it is a slow process.

 

Jazzmom,

We had a problem with the webserver earlier serving up an older cached version. If it isn't there, just click on your browser's refresh button and it should update.

[jazzmom]

Thanks for the great review... I was able to see the link the next time I tried your homepage. I know that you had mentioned previously that you were thinking about the Eagle Glide at Tahune, on Tasmania. How did you decide on the Airwalk instead? I'm now not sure what we are going to do in Hobart, since we planned for a private tour - but now that our morning is really going to be cut short because of immigration, I may take your suggestion of booking a Princess tour.

 

Thanks for the input.

Kathy

[MVPinBoynton]

Kathy,

We had planned on doing the Eagle Glide right after the Airwalk, since they are in the same place. But due to the two hour delay and the longer than anticipated drive, we passed on the Eagle Glide.

 

Definitely take a Princess tour when in Hobart. We were going to do the one that went to Mt. Field National Park and a nature park (not Bonorong). The folks that had tours that went to Mt. Field were raving about how great it was; as were people that went to Bonorong.

[maxx]

What an absolutely fantastic review. Your photos are outstanding. Sydney is my home town and we always try to play "tourist" a few times a year. It's such a vibrant city, we locals take it for granted.

Your review of NZ is amazing. I want to visit & plan to in a few years. Tasmania has changed a little since I was last there.

I particularly enjoyed your review of the Diamond Princess. The pics are incredible. Thank you so much.

[cands]

Thank you so much for posting the review. You are quite the ambassadors for New Zealand and Australia:)

Please come again, and tell your friends!

 

We had a bit of a chat about Vegemite on one of the other threads. I'm now convinced that your NZ friends sabotaged the Vegemite - after all they are Marmite fans.

Thats the only way you could make such disparaging remarks about our national spread. ;)

 

Steve.

[CKforensic]

MVP, do you think that we would get much out of Christchurch if we were to rent a car and explore on our own? We were also thinking of going off on our own in Tauranga, but will probably try to book with Ian. Your thoughts?

 

Many thanks!!

[MVPinBoynton]

Maxx,

You are fortunate indeed to live in such a beautiful city with beautiful people to match.

 

Steve,

Believe me, I have been telling everybody how wonderful NZ and Aus are. I am your biggest fan now that I have been Down Under. I was wondering the same thing about the vegemite. I just can't imagine it being so totally different. Perhaps since they don't care for it that much, it might have been very old and stale. I will try it again if I get a chance. I could kick myself for not trying it when I was on the Diamond, since it was in the Horizon Buffet.

 

CK,

Since we weren't in the city of Christchurch for very long, I don't know how much you would even need a car. Most folks seem to enjoy just walking around the lovely town. I wouldn't drive to Arthur's Pass, since it is a pretty long trip.

[NH Cruiser]

Mike/Carol . . . an excellent job on your review. We agree that the Australia/New Zealand cruise gives us all a different perspective of those two countries. The people were amazingly friendly. We missed Christchurch due to gale-force winds, which only gives us a good reason to add this cruise back on our list to repeat. Sydney was spectacular. We spent 3-1/2 days there and only scratched the surface.

 

We never heard why we were delayed leaving Sydney. There was a support ship tied up most of the day and we thought it was because their work was not completed. The send off from Sydney was wonderful. It was great to see so many people at the cruise terminal to wave goodbye and then all the people taking flash pictures as we sailed out.

 

We were a little disappointed in the Diamond. The theatre experience is a disaster waiting to happen with people standing and sitting on the stairs. I can't imagine them building a theatre to hold 705 people when the ship sails full at 3000 passengers (we were sold out). Horizon Court food was mediocre at best and we had the Corporate Executive Chef on board. The area where you got your food is way too small. People were darting back and forth from one place to another, and several times plates went crashing to the floor.

 

For those staying over in Sydney, the best experience for personal interaction with koalas and kangaroos is Featherdale Park. We played with a koala for more than 20 minutes and could have stayed longer but it was near their closing time. You walked into a penned area to play with the kangaroos. Healesville is a sanctuary and you cannot interact with the animals. At the birds of prey show, Beatrice, the osprey, went AWOL and didn't return while we were there. Our guide said she often takes off and that's why they put her at the end of the show. Looks like she came back since you saw her only a few days after we were there.

[MVPinBoynton]

Jean,

I am glad you enjoyed the review. I was disapointed for you when I read on the boards that Diamond missed Christchurch. I know you had looked forward to this cruise for a long time and missing a port as nice as Christchurch is really unfortunate. I hope your crossing of the Tasman was as pleasant as ours. We were expecting the worst and got the best. The only times we went to the Horizon was early in the morning and for late lunches when it wasn't prime time, when the small serving area wasn't an issue.

 

Beatrice, the Black Buzzard, must have disappeared after our visit, since we were there before you. Sorry you missed her. She was the highlight of the show. It sounds like Bonorong would have been similar to your visit to Featherdale Park. We will have to check them out on our next visit.

 

I hope Bill enjoyed his walk on the Harbor Bridge. It did look like it would be an nice experience.

[CAPinBoynton]

Hi Jean,

 

Did you see the picture of the Belted Galloway that we saw in Hobart? We thought about you when we saw her. We needed to have Rafi there to talk her into coming closer! :)

 

At Healesville, it was indeed the Osprey who takes off; and she did so when we were there. However, Beatrice is the Black Buzzard. She was a real scene stealer. :D

[Von]

Thank you for your indepth review Mike and Carol, I couldn't open all the photos but the ones that did were great.

 

It was nice to read such a glowing report of both our country, NZ and Australia. Sometimes we think living so far away from the rest of the world we miss out on much. However, having traveled in many areas of the northen hemisphere both on land as well as cruising we always come back to NZ thinking how lucky we are to live here. So nice to hear that other folk think that both our countries are worth a visit.

 

In two days time we will be flying to Sydney to join DP on Tues 21st for the return cruise to Auckland. The weather this summer hasn't been that great and usually the autumn is settled with cool evenings but nice sunny days. Needless to say we hope crossing the Tasman will be OK. Mind you, we have sailed Drakes Ppasage a couple of years ago in rough seas but taking "Sea Legs" works a treat for me.

 

We did appreciate your comments about the ship especiay the dining arrangments. I celebrate a birthday while at sea and keen to have dinner that evening in Sabatinis. I thought we would book that as soon as we boarded, would that be recommended?

 

It will be interesting to sail into NZ ports we are familar with, but we will not be doing any of the excursions, probably just blob around and enjoy the ship on those days. This is the first time we will have been on such a large ship. previous three cruises have been on much smaller ships with around 750 passengers,

.

 

Only 2 more sleeps and we're off!!

Von

[MVPinBoynton]

You should reserve Sabatinis as soon you can to get the time you want. You can also reserve it by calling or emailing Princess before you get on the ship. You might have to be a Captains Club member though. I will say there is very little to do on the ship when it is in port, especially since the weather will be cooler and sunning at the swimming pool won't be too comfortable. Have a wonderful cruise and thank you for your comments.

[NH Cruiser]

Carol, I thought I read Beatrice was the osprey but must have misread which name applied to which bird. I have no idea what the birds' names were. We were so enthralled with the show and the birds that I didn't pay much attention to the names nor did I write them down. By the time we got home we were lucky to remember even our own names.

 

Von, our crossing of the Tasman Sea was smooth the first day and only slightly rough the second day (nothing to worry about). Our worst sea day was after we did an overnight in Dunedin because of gale-force winds, which seemed to follow us up the coast of New Zealand. That night we rocked and rolled quite a bit. Enjoy your cruise.

[cands]

I hope your crossing of the Tasman was as pleasant as ours. We were expecting the worst and got the best.

 

Mike,

I want to experience some rough seas. (at least once). We have been across the Tasman twice (mill pond), across Bass straight twice (flat seas).

We've been across the South Atlantic and Drake's Passage (very moderate seas), and ditto the Pacific.

 

I've never been seasick (and I come from a family of projectile vomiters:eek: ). So I want to experience what it's like on the high seas - just once. Maybe the Tasman Sea will perform in November?

(and I know - be careful what I wish for;) )

 

Steve.

[CAPinBoynton]

Von,

 

In the past, some people have told us that all of the pictures didn't open for them. It usually happens when you have a slower connection speed, since there are so many pictures. It usually corrects the problem if you do this: After you pull up the review, wait a minute, and if all of the pics don't open, hit your "refresh" button. I am hoping to have the EasyShare album finished by the end on next week. There will be a link to it at the bottom of the review after I finish. It will have hundreds of pictures from the trip.

[Betty anne]

Thank you MvPinBoynton,for the excellent review of your trip.The pictures were fantastic. I enjoyed reading every bit of it.

I was one of those who embarked on the 25th. and you watched us sail away.

I have to concur every observation you made. .This was my second trip to Down Under,and still I have the desire to return again, as there were some excursions that you took ,that I didn't.

The tour arranged for us in Tauranga, by Ian,was excellent.I have nothing but praise for his company.That was a nice picture of him.

Thanks again

Betty anne

[CAPinBoynton]

Just in case anyone is interested, I have just finished the EasyShare Photo album. It has 548 photos of our Diamond Princess Cruise. You can access it by going to our website at www.thepreismans.com and clicking on NZ - Australia yellow button. Scroll down to the end of the review and you will find link to the album.

 

Enjoy ---

[NH Cruiser]

Carol/Mike, I finished posting my pictures last night and finally had a chance to look at your EasyShare album. You did a great job and I especially enjoyed the Christchurch pictures, since we missed that port. The pictures of the Birds of Prey show at Healesville were very really good. Mine didn't turn out because the birds were just too fast for my camera. Thanks for sharing your pictures.