After cruising the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska and Tahiti, our next "bucket list" location was to visit Australia and New Zealand. We booked our cruise on the Diamond Princess which cruised from Auckland to Sydney with scenic cruising thru Fiordland National Park. We booked a balcony cabin (Caribe 335) with the larger balcony (which was used extensively).

We had enough frequent flyer miles to fly business class - but this would have required an additional 10 hours of flight time and switching airlines at least twice. Instead we flew thru LAX to SYD in free economy class seats which we upgraded to "Economy Plus," and loved the additional leg room. Note - we did purchase a day pass at the Delta Club at LAX, and used their shower facilities before boarding our 15 hour flight to Sydney.

After arriving in Sydney, we caught the last of our four flights to Auckland. Clearing Customs and Immigration we met our driver from Corporate Cabs to take us to our hotel. This worked out beautifully as our driver was waiting for us as soon as we exited the terminal. With a pre-arranged price of $85 (NZ) there wasn't a surprise charge due to rush-hour traffic delays when we arrived at our hotel. Read more