Australia to New Zealand holiday Explorer cruise- 1 billion questions!☺️

[Mtinsc]

OK, so maybe not quite that many questions!
My wife and I are on the Explorer, cruising Australia and New Zealand over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays this year, we feel so lucky and so very blessed to be able to do this!  Hoping somebody who has done this journey in the past can enlighten us newbies- this will be our second cruise after having done the Navigator in the Caribbean and loving every minute of being on Regent!

1) How did you pack for your trip based on the weather? I have found weather reports to be all over the place from the low 60s (15c) to the low 80s (26c). Very curious what to wear on board, especially during the sea days which we have several of. I know Weather is a constant variable, but just asking for generalities based on your experience.

2) We will be cruising the sounds: Milford, Doubtful and Dusky: are these days that we do not want to book a spa treatment? Funny story here - we were brand spanking new first time cruisers on Holland America in Alaska and we found a day that was totally free for spa treatments, so we enthusiastically booked our massages. When we came out of the massage, heading back to our room we saw the gob smacking beautiful view of the glaciers and realized belatedly why no one had taken spa treatments at that time! We would like not to repeat that mistake on this cruise lol.

3) Specialty dinner reservations.  I know that there will be special dinners for Christmas and New Year’s, so probably best not to book a specialty restaurant on those nights? Will they have special dinners on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? Will the celebratory dinners just be in Compass Rose? Any rhyme or reason to booking the specialty restaurants for specific legs of this cruise?  I just don’t want to miss a special pop-up/surprise kind of dinner since my wife and I are both huge foodies!

4) Were there any shore excursions that you paid extra for and would definitely recommend above and beyond the included ones?

 

Thanks in advance, to all of you experienced Regent cruisers for indulging me here, and thank you also for the information you provide, invaluable!

Michael

[briar14]

@Mtinsc. 1. Layers always work to be prepared for any weather. 2. No spa appointments on Sound days! Milford, Doubtful, and Dusky Sounds are some of the most beautiful places I have been fortunate enough to see. 3. All restaurants will offer a traditional holiday choice along with a regular menu. Enjoy your holiday cruise!

[Cruise Queen MA]

Keep in mind that New Zealand has various climates (North vs South Island). Bring layers.

[Mtinsc]

Thank you both so much! And hello to a fellow Greenville traveler!

[RachelG]

Northern New Zealand may be warm while it will be cooler the further south you go.  I have a picture of myself out on deck at Milford Sound wearing long pants, a warm sweater and a fleece jacket, but on the same trip, have a picture from Auckland and was wearing shorts. So you need a variety.

[sanne]

Having cruised many times in NZ including on the Explorer for their Christmas/NY cruise there is no way to know what the weather will be like. You can expect it to be 30C in Auckland one day,  18C and raining the next. Milford sound a year or so ago was so warm we were in shorts and T shirts on the outside decks,  on a previous cruise we were in our winter gear including hats and gloves!  it was so cold and damp.
 

As previous posters have said, layers are the way to go. And be prepared for every type of weather. 

 

The ship always seems the same temp inside regardless of outside temps and for me, that was always a little cool.

[PoppyVelvet]

Australia is likely to be a lot hotter than 26C at that time of year!

[papaflamingo]

A couple of tours we did that we really enjoyed was HOBBITON MOVIE SET in the port of Rotura (Tauranga), New Zealand and also DUNEDIN PENINSULA - WILDLIFE & LARNACH CASTLE in the port of Dunedin, NZ.  This was the tour that visits the Albatross Observator and you see the Albatross in their nest.  It's the only mainland Albatross nesting site in the world.  If you find either of those interesting, we liked both tours. 

As for time in the sounds, you don't want to be in the spa, but on deck. The New Zealand fjords are spectacular. 

[Mtinsc]

Thanks all! Layers it will have to be then!
Papa, thanks for the heads up on that tour, I went back to try to change ours and that one is already sold out!  We are doing the Natures wildlife safari, so hopefully it will be just as good!

[sanne]

8 hours ago, Mtinsc said:

Thanks all! Layers it will have to be then!
Papa, thanks for the heads up on that tour, I went back to try to change ours and that one is already sold out!  We are doing the Natures wildlife safari, so hopefully it will be just as good!

Suggest that when you get on board have a chat straight away with destination services and tell them you’d like to be waitlisted for the tour to Larnach castle etc  … we have done this twice and is a great tour. 

[Snh lname]

We are on the same cruise. It’s our second Christmas cruise on Explorer, but the first was a Caribbean cruise as soon as things opened up post COOP. It was wonderful. The crew could not have been more friendly and helpful. We have run into many of the crew members on our 6 subsequent cruises on other RSSC ships.

 

Can’t offer any help as to Australia or New Zealand. We got our Australia VISAs a month or 2 ago. They have a great app to do this. The New Zealand VISA required going through a vendor that RSSC contracted with. Was reasonably painless but they tried to bill us for $60 for the service. We called RSSC and they straightened it out.

 

We were on Grandeur last Christmas and it was wonderful. The ship had Starlink and the Internet was great. We hope Explorer has been updated but we haven’t heard anything.

 

We will be in cabin 704. Hope to meet you there.

Edited September 12 by Snh lname

[TheShag]

Don't forget to go to the Roll Call for that cruise.