Crown Grill on board Golden Princess

Golden Princess has two specialty restaurants on board for a small cover charge of $25. 

Crown Grill is a seafood and steakhouse.

We went there the other night as a belated 20th anniversary dinner. Michael joined us too.

Trevor had the seafood bisque for entree and a steak for main course.

I had a lobster tail for entree and steak fir main course, Michael also had a steak. They are huge.....we couldn't eat it all!

The desserts are also very sweet!!

Auckland

Today we are in Auckland, our first stop on this cruise. We got off the ship and bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and did a trip around the city.

Now we are at the Viaduct precinct having lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant, Portofino's. We came here a few years ago and thought we would come back.

On our way back to the ship we took some cool photos of Golden Princess docked in the heart of the city

Tomorrow Tauranga....

Princess at Sea Smartphone Access

Many of you who have cruised before would know about the daily newsletter you get from the cruise line with the day's program on it. On Princess it's the Princess Patter, other lines have their own also.

Princess has introduced an online smartphone version that you can access for free while on the ship. You can look up the daily program on your smartphone. It uses the ship's wifi but does not charge you any internet fee.

Here is a screen shot 

Golden Princess New Zealand Cruise

Well we are on board Golden Princess! We boarded yesterday in Melbourne on a very hot day. Boarding was terrible, lines of people all the way down the road in the hot sun for over an hour just to check in suitcases. Very poorly organised.

Once onboard it was pretty easy to get some lunch in the Horizon Court cafe and then we unpacked until it was time to go to the emergency drill.

Golden Princess is a lovely Grand class ship, 109,000 gross tonnes. We have sailed on the Grand Princess before so this ship is familiar.

Michael was keen to check out the kids club and in fact spent the first night after dinner there meeting other kids.

Dinner was nice. I tried the Curtis Stone Roasted Pork belly which I had heard good things about. It was worth the try. We selected traditional dining on this voyage because I had heard terrible stories about anytime dining and didn't want that to be an issue every day. We were lucky to get our own table for four as requested and have some nice waiters.

We are in a mini suite on deck 9 this time, D310. Check out the photos.

We were greeted with a happy anniversary sign in honour of our 20th wedding anniversary. 

We have a lovely stateroom steward named Daisy. She has been very obliging and helpful already.

Rock climbing on Voyager of the Seas

Today our son Michael tried the rock climbing on the ship.

He got right to the top and rang the bell.

We thought he was very brave.

Melbourne, Australia

Today we are back on home soil, in Melbourne.

Today we chose to visit the Queen Victoria Market. We spent the morning shopping before returning to the ship. 

The weather was good, sunny but cool. Hail and rain was predicted so we were lucky.

As I sit here writing this, the clouds have rolled in so maybe the rain and hail will come after all.

Milford Sound - Fjordland National Park, New Zealand

The last of the fjords was Milford Sound the best one I think.

We had good weather, albeit cold, it was sunny for the most part.

Here are some photos of the majestic scenery, I think if God lived somewhere this would be it.

Doubtful Sound - Fjordland National Park New Zealand

Here we are in the second Fjord of today's scenic cruising, Doubtful Sound.

Dusky Sound - Fjordland National Park New Zealand

Today we are cruising through the Fjords

on the South Island of New Zealand. The first is Dusky Sound, named a sound but truly a Fjord. It's a cold morning but the sun has greeted us which is a rare treat in this area. This is our third visit here and I think it's the first time we have seen the sun in these parts.

The scenery here is dramatic and striking.

Dunedin (Port Chalmers)

We arrive today at Port Chalmers to a rainy, cold and cloudy day.

It's Sunday today but we are told the shops are open so we will take a shuttle bus into town and look around at the shops.

Here is the view from our balcony, logs and more logs.....

 We took the shuttle bus into Dunedin and went to the Cadbury factory. We walked around for a while and then came back to the ship.

Picton - Marlborough Panorama excursion

Today we are in Picton, New Zealand, a small port in the north of the South Island . We arrived to picturesque scenery of mountains all around and alongside us, a working port which seems to export logs.

 

Beautiful scenery here

We went on a four hour excursion to Marlborough country, where they make the lovely wine that Trevor likes so much. 17 degrees and no rain, not too bad for a day out in New Zealand.

Some picture of a few of our stops below:

Wellington - Lord of the Rings and Weta Cave and South Coast Excursion

Today we are in Wellington, our first port of call on this cruise. We arrived earlier than expected due to a medical emergency for one of the passengers. 

We went on an excursion to see some of the places where Lord Of the Rings was filmed. Our guide was actually in the movies and in the Hobbit movies! 

Michael was very excited about all this. We visited some of the places where the Middle earth scenes were filmed. We heard some stories about what happened during filming.

Here is a photo of one of the scenes 

We then went to visit the facilities of Weta  Cave, a special effects, props and makeup studio that works on major movies and got its name when they worked on Lord of the Rings and more recently the Hobbit movies. They are also famous for having worked on Avitar and many others. Peter Jackson is a part owner and the company is very sought after for its expertise in movie special effects, digital graphics and special make-up and prosthetics.

We were not allowed to take photos there so I can't share any but I highly recommend this tour for Lord of the Rings fans.

Voyager of the Seas Cruise to New Zealand/Australia March 2015

Here we are on board Voyager of the Seas for our 16 night cruise to New Zealand/Australia.

We are staying in grand suite 1252 on deck 10.

Our first port is Wellington, currently we are at sea for two days. A bit of movement on the ship but not too bad considering we are crossing the Tasman and the fact that a cyclone has been in the area.

Voyager has had a renovation since we were last on board. I will post some photos in the next few days.

Some changes on RCI since our last cruise just last August, no more wine bottle packages. You have to buy their new drink packages instead. We are not sure they are worth the cost as we don't drink enough!

Today Michael took advantage of a photo opportunity with the Penguins of Madagascar!

Goodbye Canada, USA here we come again!

As we sailed out of Victoria, Canada this afternoon it occurred to me that this was our last day of sightseeing and our last port before we arrive in San Diego. From there we fly home.....our trip is coming to am end.

As we returned to the ship today I got some good photos of the Disney Wonder too so I have posted these below.

I have also included some lovely shots as we were leaving the harbour, the Carnival Miracle shared the port with is today.

The Disney Wonder:

The Carnival Miracle: