We're home from a Celebrity Solstice cruise/tour starting in Auckland, NZ on March 16th. This was our 2nd Celebrity cruise ( the first was many years ago), and was chosen because of it's itinerary and the reputation of the Solstice. We've never traveled that far from home before (we live in Tennessee), so about the only negative about the trip was the air travel.
We left Knoxville for Auckland on March 11 arriving there on the 13th, using Air New Zealand premium economy seats from LA to Auckland. Compared to Delta, ANZ is in a different class. The seats were great, food fantastic, and plenty of entertainment throughout the 12 plus hour flight. I had pre-booked the Supershuttle from the airport to the hotel and that went very well. We stayed at the Hilton Auckland on the harbor and had a harbor view room. A great choice for luxury and comfort. The harbor views from our room and other places in the hotel were fabulous! The food there was great, also. There are many places to eat in the area around the hotel.
We had booked the Hobbiton Express tour thru Bush and Beach for the 14th and had a great time. We really would not want to have missed seeing that. We booked Bush and Beach the next day for a half-day Auckland tour and a half-day tour of Auckland's west coast, beaches, and rain forests. That was a bit tiring but well worth it to see all that we saw.