We left Sydney on the 16 Oct. '13 for a cruise to NZ. There was a problem getting to White Bay Cruise Terminal from Central Railway Station as there was no public transport with a cab costing $34, yet when leaving the ship on our return Princess supplied buses at $12 each to Central Railway Station. Why can't Princess supply a shuttle service to White Bay Passenger Terminal?
We missed three ports of calls, The Bay of Islands (ship's technical problem) Akaroa (closed wind condition) and Melford Sound ( wind 50 knots +). We were compensated for the missed ports.
Food onboard was excellent. Activities were good and the ports of call especially Tauranga good for walks and hot water pools. Most interesting was Napier with its history of the 1931 earthquate which destroyed the whole town. Dunedin brewery tour excellent with the tasting of about 10 varieties of brewage at the end very lovely.