Shore Excursions

[Travel 25]

Here is a list of possible shore excurisions we are considering in the following ports:

 

Cairns---Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park at night or Professor Paddy Colwell Reef Teach

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park or Sydney Aquarium & Wildlife World

 

Melbourne---Great Ocean Road or Serendip Open Range Sanctuary & You Yangs Regional Park

 

Hobart---Cadbury Chocolate Factury, Bonorong Wildlife Park, or Port Auther

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre or Otago Harbor Wildlife Cruise

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour or International Antarctic Center

 

Wellington--- Te Papa Tongarewa Museum , Karori Wildlife Santuary , Seal Coast Safari , or Wellington Harbor & Storm Coast Tour

 

Tauranga---Tauranga Highlights & Kiwi 360 or Rotourua Wonderland & Maori Experience

 

Auckland---Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World & Antarctic Encounter Would this be similar to the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch?

 

Thanks for any input and suggestions. Steve

[aussi cruiser]

While I have not been to all of the places you list, the following would be my choices!

 

While in melbourne I would definatley go for the Great Ocean Rd. It is truely breathtaking.

http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/12apostles/index.asp

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park

http://www.visitbluemountains.com.au/index.php There is so much to see and do in the blue mountains.

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre.

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour

This is such a wonderful trip I did it all the way to Greymouth 20 years a go and will be doing it again in Jan 2008. Authers Pass is beautiful.

 

Good Luck have Fun.

 

Star Cruises East Coast Australia 2001

Oceania Insignia Venice to Barcelona 2003

Oceania Nautica Stockholm to London 2005

Princess Diamond Mexico 2007

[Aquarians]

Here is a list of possible shore excurisions we are considering in the following ports:

 

Cairns---Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park at night or Professor Paddy Colwell Reef Teach

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park or Sydney Aquarium & Wildlife World

 

Melbourne---Great Ocean Road or Serendip Open Range Sanctuary & You Yangs Regional Park

 

Hobart---Cadbury Chocolate Factury, Bonorong Wildlife Park, or Port Auther

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre or Otago Harbor Wildlife Cruise

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour or International Antarctic Center

 

Wellington--- Te Papa Tongarewa Museum , Karori Wildlife Santuary , Seal Coast Safari , or Wellington Harbor & Storm Coast Tour

 

Tauranga---Tauranga Highlights & Kiwi 360 or Rotourua Wonderland & Maori Experience

 

Auckland---Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World & Antarctic Encounter Would this be similar to the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch?

 

Thanks for any input and suggestions. Steve

 

Kia ora i Aoteatoa,

It would depend on your interests & the time available, plus cost. Having lived in some of the Places you have mentioned my comments are:

Dunedin, Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre

Christchurch: Tranz Alpine Train Tour. Check how long it takes as if you go over to the west coast it will be a long day. Are you going to Milford Sound? If so you will see magnificant mountain & fiord scenery there & may want to stay closer to Christchurch, especially as the port is at Lyttleton, about half an hour out of Ch.Ch..

Wellington: Probably the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum , Karori Wildlife Santuary , Seal Coast Safari tour.

Tauranga: Rotorua is NZ's 'must see'. You would probably see a Kiwifruit farm on the way to or from the Mount anyway. Don't miss Rotorua!!

Auckland: Kelly Tarlton's is on the waterfront. I haven't been to the Ch.Ch. Antarctic Center but imagine that would be more extensive. There are a lot of other places in Auckland you could see.

For all these places the Tripadvisor web site might help. I have been to most of the places you are mentioning in Australia. Some of them are full day tours and you may have to look at the time. Will leave that part for the Aussies to comment on.

Let us know if we can you you further.

Ka kite koe

Aquarians

[kazzacruise]

Here is a list of possible shore excurisions we are considering in the following ports:

 

Cairns---Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park at night or Professor Paddy Colwell Reef Teach

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park or Sydney Aquarium & Wildlife World

 

Melbourne---Great Ocean Road or Serendip Open Range Sanctuary & You Yangs Regional Park

 

Hobart---Cadbury Chocolate Factury, Bonorong Wildlife Park, or Port Auther

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre or Otago Harbor Wildlife Cruise

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour or International Antarctic Center

 

Wellington--- Te Papa Tongarewa Museum , Karori Wildlife Santuary , Seal Coast Safari , or Wellington Harbor & Storm Coast Tour

 

Tauranga---Tauranga Highlights & Kiwi 360 or Rotourua Wonderland & Maori Experience

 

Auckland---Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World & Antarctic Encounter Would this be similar to the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch?

 

Thanks for any input and suggestions. Steve

 

 

Hi Ive been to a few of these places and my thoughts are

Sydney- blue Mt Tour and Featherdale Farm

Melbourne- Great Ocean Road

Hobart- Port Arthur Have been to Cadbury Chocolate factory and thought it was pretty ordinary

Christchurch- both were good but train went very slow due to hot weather upsetting tracks What time of year are you going? Kerrie

[Travel 25]

Thank you for the quick replies. We are going on the Mercury cruise sailing on February 17 , 2008 from Sydney arriving in Auckland on March 02 2008. We are doing a 3 night pre-cruise Cairns. In most ports we only have 8 to 10 hours for sightseeing. We both love wildlife and spectacular scenery. Thanks again.

[bobsydney]

Here is a list of possible shore excurisions we are considering in the following ports:

 

Cairns---Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park at night or Professor Paddy Colwell Reef Teach

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park or Sydney Aquarium & Wildlife World

 

Melbourne---Great Ocean Road or Serendip Open Range Sanctuary & You Yangs Regional Park

 

Hobart---Cadbury Chocolate Factury, Bonorong Wildlife Park, or Port Auther

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre or Otago Harbor Wildlife Cruise

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour or International Antarctic Center

 

Wellington--- Te Papa Tongarewa Museum , Karori Wildlife Santuary , Seal Coast Safari , or Wellington Harbor & Storm Coast Tour

 

Tauranga---Tauranga Highlights & Kiwi 360 or Rotourua Wonderland & Maori Experience

 

Auckland---Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World & Antarctic Encounter Would this be similar to the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch?

 

My tuppence worth is:

 

Cairns: Both suggestions sound interesting though I haven't done BUT unique must-see attraction there are the Great Barrier Reef, Daintree National Park and the train/skyway round trip to Kuranda.

 

Sydney: Blue Mountains is great and really worthwhile but it is an all-dayer. If you do the aquarium and wildlife world, which are both in the city, there will be time to see some of Sydney's other icons like Bondi Beach, Opera House, etc

 

Melbourne: Definitely the Great Ocean Road ... it is one of the GREAT drives in the world.

 

Hobart: Port Arthur is unique from a historical perspective and far better than a chocolate factory!

 

Dunedin: I would do the land tour based on what people on this forum have said. They have also consistently recommended a private tour (Ray's Tours I think) so do a search for more details

 

Christchurch: I wanted to do the Tranz Alpine on our cruise but figured that time would be really against us to do it properly ... and the the expensive ship excursion only goes half-way anyway. The Antarctic Centre would be my choice (and it's highly recommended by people who have been there) and I am trying to fit it into our day in Christchurch. Problem is travel time as it is 30 minutes each way from the city (and the city, where we want to spend some time, is itself 30 minutes from the dock.

 

Wellington: don't know, we're just spending the day exploring the city.

 

Tauranga: No question about it ... Rotorua is a MUST DO!!

 

Auckland: I am told that the Kelly Tarlton centre is not as good or extensive as the centre at Christchurch. As other people have said, there is lots of things to see around Auckland city and in my view no real need to take an excursion. We intend to do the city sights and if time permits take a ferry ride over to the north shore.

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Bob

[Budget Queen]

Are you only considering ship excursions??

 

I drove to Port Arthur and Rotorua for a fraction of the ship tours, with the bonus of making the best use of my time (no staying with a "group", bus loading/unloading etc)

 

The Cadbury Factory in Dunedin, is an easy walk to, if you can block out some time.

 

I did the Antarctic Center in Christchurch, just excellent, in my opinion, again, went independent using city bus- purchase the $10 all day ticket- cheaper than individual. Also did the gondola, since it was a crystal clear day.

 

Wellington- just go to Te Papa on your own, a harbor walk from the ship- if you have no mobility limitations- museum is free.

[SheilaNC]

Travel 25,

Have you been to our very active Roll Call? There is lots of information about private excursions planned by several groups that may be on interest to you and it's a wonderful group. Look forward to seeing you there. Just look under Celebrity/Mercury/Feb 17, 2006 Sydney to Auckland.

[Johanna7]

As Sheila stated, also go to Celebrity to check out the people who are on there. Me for one. Also, please register for the cruise connection party as we need 25. We had 53 before and it went to zero due to a computer glitch. If you registered earlier, it would have been wiped out. Please reregister.

 

We have booked the ship tour to Roturua, the one that was $220 US each and I know private can be cheaper but we have been on lots of cruises and 3 times we were back late but fortunately on a ship tour, not private, and the ship was waiting for us. I have also known people who had to fly to their next port (maybe train in NZ) and it cost a fortune. Most didn't have anything but the clothes they wore and a few dollars. The rest was in their cabin.

 

For a full day tour we will always take a ship tour. Although I like to gamble now and then, not that much.

 

We have been to Bonorong in Hobart on a ship tour and then had lunch on the ship and walked in the town. As it was a Saturday, it was market day and it was fascinating. Used up all our Aussie money there but it was okay because the next stop was New Zealand.

 

As for the trans Alp tour, we didn't take it but many people on the ship we knew did and were not impressed. Yes, the weather was great. It then cost $204 and they claimed that $200 was for the trip and $4 for their box lunch which wasn't good. We have always found ship tour lunches to be lovely and enjoyed them. That one wasn't but we didn't take it.

 

We have taken the Auckland Harbour cruise and it was great. We did not book it through the ship as we had 2 extra days in Auckland. It was only $30 NZ and you got free coffee and stuff and it was super. We even paid the seniors rate. It is right near the terminal where you land on March 2.

 

In Christchurch we did the Antarctic tour and the kiwi zoo tour and liked the zoo tour but we are not big on snow and ice and storms at the Antarctic centre. We baled out early and sat in the gift shop/restaurant and had a coffee and met nice people. If we want to see that, we just look out our window here. We go in our winter to get away from the cold, snow, ice and slippery conditions.

[Kathie44]

Travel25--We are doing Mercury Jan. 20 and have booked some of the same tours: Blue Mtns and Wildlife, Great Ocean Road..., Bonorong Wildlife Park..., Royal Otago-Larnach Castle and Rotorua Wonderland...

Also, Banks Peninsula and Akaroa Tour (Christchurch) and Wellington City Highlights

4 1/2 weeks till we leave home. We have 1 extra day in Syd and 2 extra days in Auk. We may book an Aukland tour the day we disembark, but are waiting to see when we will be visiting with our former pastor, now stationed near there.

The weather here "is frightful" and we are so ready for a taste of summer. "D

[Capt Blood]

Is it possible to see much of the Great Ocean Road while on a day trip off of a cruise ship?

 

 

 

While I have not been to all of the places you list, the following would be my choices!

 

While in melbourne I would definatley go for the Great Ocean Rd. It is truely breathtaking.

http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/12apostles/index.asp

 

Sydney---Blue Mountains & Featherdale Wildlife Park

http://www.visitbluemountains.com.au/index.php There is so much to see and do in the blue mountains.

 

Dunedin---Royal Otago + Larnach Castle + Penguin Place + Royal Alabtross Centre.

 

Christchurch---Tranz Alpine Train Tour

This is such a wonderful trip I did it all the way to Greymouth 20 years a go and will be doing it again in Jan 2008. Authers Pass is beautiful.

 

Good Luck have Fun.

 

 

Star Cruises East Coast Australia 2001

Oceania Insignia Venice to Barcelona 2003

Oceania Nautica Stockholm to London 2005

Princess Diamond Mexico 2007

[bobsydney]

Is it possible to see much of the Great Ocean Road while on a day trip off of a cruise ship?

 

I would have to say no. Somebody from Melbourne/Victoria may be able to confirm, but my best guess from when I did it is that it is a minimum 6-7 hour round trip in order to see the Twelve Apostles etc, but that would be without taking the time to stop and enjoy the sights and villages along the way. I think therefore that it is only an option if your ship is doing an overnighter in Melbourne.

 

You'll just have to come back to Australia sometime and do it then as 2-3 day drive :).

 

Cheers

Bob

[mochuck]

I also wouldn't advise going to the Blue Mountains or Featherdale if you only have one day in Sydney. You are better off to stay in or very near to the city and see the Harbour, the Opera House and the Bridge.

 

The Blue Mountains is at least a 2 hour bus trip from the dock which means you will spend at least 4 hours of your precious day on a bus. If you have more than one day THEN do the Blue Mountains etc.