Golden Princess Review
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We booked this trip to travel with our Austalian friends, so it was a double whammy of an excellent itinerary and a reunion from our Mediterranean cruise. I'd say the average age of the passengers on our ship was pretty high, as we are in our late 50s and were maybe among the youngest!
Melbourne: we traveled around the East coast of Australia before the cruise and our time in Melbourne really focused on the Australian Open tennis tournament. Coming back to Melbourne for the cruise, we took the bus from the airport to Southern Cross Station where we bought transit cards for the tram. We then walked a block to catch the trolley to the pier. After the cruise we reversed the process, stowed our luggage in lockers at the station and spent the day exploring the CBD before flying home that night.
Embarkation: I read lots of complaints about embarkation so was prepared for a bumpy ride, but it wasn't that bad! It was crowded and we had to wait our turn, but come on, the next stop is the cruise ship! Anyone who gets excited about having to wait needs to take a chill-pill because the ship will not be leaving without you if you're in the process of checking in!
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
Melbourne
We explored Melbourne for only one day after the cruise. We took the hop on hop off bus, which is always handy to get the lay of the land. Then we went up the Eureka Skydeck for a birds eye view of the city. It felt odd to see the Golden Princess at the dock and know she'd be leaving without us!
Auckland
We booked a private excursion with Claire from Gala Local Tours. Claire was waiting for us at the port and we set off in her comfortable 6 seater van. We spent a lot of time in the van as we were headed for the Glow worm caves, but Claire had lots of interesting information and is very personable. The Glowworm caves were fantastic and I highly recommend this otherworldly experience! My only regret with Auckland is that we didn't really have time to explore the city.
Tauranga
This day was booked with Zealandier Tours and our guide for the day was Kevin. He was friendly and provided lots of detail as we traveled to Rotorua. The geothermal pools and geysers were very interesting and I'm glad we got to see the Te Puia cultural show. Next up was Hobbiton, where I experienced cuteness overload! I'd say this was the highlight of our cruise for me. Our guide provided lots of behind the scenes information as we walked through the site. I highly recommend Zealandier Tours.
Wellington
We booked a walking tour with Walk Wellington. We met John at the Wellington Railway Station and proceeded around the CBD. This was really interesting with lots of history and some beautiful buildings. The tour finished at lunch time in front of Te Papa Museum, where we had time to explore on our own. I was less impressed with this museum than I expected, but there is something for everyone in this large building. We could have caught a taxi back to the ship, but chose to walk and it was a long walk!
Akaroa
We spent the day with Jeeves Tours and Bridget was our guide. We chose to not go into Christchurch, so enjoyed our day driving around the beautiful countryside. Our last stop of the day was a winery, where we sat outside sipping wine - so enjoyable!
Dunedin
Headfirst Tours picked us up at the port and then we had a walking tour with Athol. There are some beautiful buildings in Dunedin and it has an interesting history. After the walking tour we had a pub lunch and then took the hop on hop off bus before heading back to the ship with Headfirst tours.