Guidebook Recommendations?

[Psoque]

Hi. We are taking the 1/6/08 sailing of Celebrity Mercury, which sails from Auckland to Sydney, with quite a number of stops in New Zealand as well as a few stops in Australia. This will be our first visit to that part of the world.

 

I have been browsing in bookstores for a guidebook that has relevant information about the ports of call. I'm not sure if a typical Australia or New Zealand guidebooks (from usual suspects, like Fodor's or Frommer's) will work well for us. Frankly, we have no idea which one to read.

 

Do any of you have any strong recommendations on a particular guidebook? Thanks.

[LimoBoy]

Hi. We are taking the 1/6/08 sailing of Celebrity Mercury, which sails from Auckland to Sydney, with quite a number of stops in New Zealand as well as a few stops in Australia. This will be our first visit to that part of the world.

 

I have been browsing in bookstores for a guidebook that has relevant information about the ports of call. I'm not sure if a typical Australia or New Zealand guidebooks (from usual suspects, like Fodor's or Frommer's) will work well for us. Frankly, we have no idea which one to read.

 

Do any of you have any strong recommendations on a particular guidebook? Thanks.

I would also recommend taking a look at some of the CC members own reviews, one by Mike Priesmen seems to be very popular from the comments made on the CC boards, if you have any trouble finding it then i can post a link. He did the cruise a few yaers back but things are pretty much the same. Hope thats helps, if you have and specific querries will try and help. The local information offices at each port of call in NZ are also a good source of info, they are called I-Sites and you can find them on the official tourism web site of NZ at http://www.newzealand.com

[rjscott]

I found the Australia Eyewitness Guide to be very good, and there is one for New Zealand as well.

[TeaBag]

I second the Eyewitness Guides. I love pictures:rolleyes: . I found the Australian one at out local Costco. I am ordering the NZ one from Amazon. If you get both from Amazon, you get free shipping! We will be home and suffering cruise withdrawl when you are on yours!!!

[JLC@SD]

I second the Eyewitness Guides. I love pictures:rolleyes: . I found the Australian one at out local Costco. I am ordering the NZ one from Amazon. If you get both from Amazon, you get free shipping! We will be home and suffering cruise withdrawl when you are on yours!!!

 

I highly recommend the DK Eyewitness Guides.....the photos and drawings are great and the books are easy to follow....:)

[Aussie Gal]

We always use the Eye Witness Guide Books when travelling overseas and I am sure they would be excellent for Australia but I would be more partial to buying Lonely Planet due to the fact that the owners live here in Melbourne and the books are prepared and printed here. I am sure they would be the most up to-date of all the guide books.

 

Jennie

[sayaguru]

Hi, I would go to Tripadvisor.com and go to the forums section of the places you are visiting. Eg Sydney- Do a post there- Tell how long you have in port and ask there for ideas of what to see.

[pinksuit]

Hi. We are taking the 1/6/08 sailing of Celebrity Mercury, which sails from Auckland to Sydney, with quite a number of stops in New Zealand as well as a few stops in Australia. This will be our first visit to that part of the world.

 

I have been browsing in bookstores for a guidebook that has relevant information about the ports of call. I'm not sure if a typical Australia or New Zealand guidebooks (from usual suspects, like Fodor's or Frommer's) will work well for us. Frankly, we have no idea which one to read.

 

Do any of you have any strong recommendations on a particular guidebook? Thanks.

 

Perhaps Frommers or Fodors. However, I would strongly recommend you going to AAA and siting with one of their travel advisors if you are a AAA member. They are very resourceful and can point you to interesting sites and information and including recommended guidebooks. I also recommend that you go to www.nationalgeographic.com. They have some "WONDERFUL" info. on both regions. I'm taking a group of 20 on the Princess Sapphire in Feb. '08 so it has been a lot of researching on my part.

Best wishes. PinkSuit.

[SheilaNC]

All of the guides mentioned already are quite helpful (although most guides will have more information that you can use in short port stops). In addition, I have fallen in love with the AAA Spiral guides for traveling since they, typically, include, a variety of walking tours for each city. They can be bought at Amazon and there is a special price if you buy both Australia and NZ... I plan to purchase them and they make great reading on LONG flights :)

http://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Spiral-Guide-Guides/dp/1595080392

[A J Theodore]

Let me add one more option - Insight Guides. Great pictures and very insightful, useful commentary. Before the individual pages/chapters on the individual sites and what to see and do, they have sections on history, culture, food, religion, etc. Those sections can (and should, I believe) be read before traveling as they give a very useful overview of the paces you are visiting and put them in context.

[SheilaNC]

Great idea to read about culture, etc. prior to cruising. The Maori people and culture and the amazing response of the NZ government to embracing their heritage as part of the overall NZ culture it fascinating. The same with the Aboriginal story in Australia. It would be a shame to visit these countries without a good understanding of the history and culture!

 

For NZ, if you haven't already rented the movie Whalerider, I highly recommend it as a good place to start.

[pinksuit]

Great idea to read about culture, etc. prior to cruising. The Maori people and culture and the amazing response of the NZ government to embracing their heritage as part of the overall NZ culture it fascinating. The same with the Aboriginal story in Australia. It would be a shame to visit these countries without a good understanding of the history and culture!

 

For NZ, if you haven't already rented the movie Whalerider, I highly recommend it as a good place to start.

 

Thanks Shiela,

That's a good tip! I'm going to look for that. Pinksuit

[pinksuit]

All of the guides mentioned already are quite helpful (although most guides will have more information that you can use in short port stops). In addition, I have fallen in love with the AAA Spiral guides for traveling since they, typically, include, a variety of walking tours for each city. They can be bought at Amazon and there is a special price if you buy both Australia and NZ... I plan to purchase them and they make great reading on LONG flights :)

http://www.amazon.com/New-Zealand-Spiral-Guide-Guides/dp/1595080392

 

That's a good one. I purchased that one the other day @ AAA.

PinkSuit

[ShamrockFL]

I have always found the Lonely Planet or rough guide to be excellent value. I have a collection of them from the places I have travelled overseas, and found them to be honest and give a true representation of the places I visited.Jasons travel guide is good for New Zealand too.

 

Just so you are aware, the next edition of Lonely Planet is due out in November, so if you can, wait for the new one.