We booked our 14 day New Zealand cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas as the second part of our back-to-back trip to Australia and New Zealand. We experienced the Quantum Class Ovation of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean Star Class suite offering, the “continuation” cruiser process, and the beauty and wonder of the fabled New Zealand scenery. Included an airline travel note that may help anyone on a partner airline flights returning from Auatralia.

The cruise: Embarking the Ovation of the Seas in Sydney, Australia we sailed on the Ovation to New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Picton, Dunedin and the Sounds, thus sampling New Zealand from the very North of the North Island to the very South of the South Island. We saw modern cities, very rural areas, wonderful scenery, interesting wildlife, and learned a lot about New Zealand and its people. We took only ship sponsored tours and tours designed for mild activity, usually bus or boat excursions that required little walking or climbing.

Ovation of the Seas: The Ovation is a Quantum Class Royal Caribbean ship designed with its Asian and Australian customers in mind, but not ignoring guests from other areas including Americans. Interestingly, our first cruise had a large number, maybe a majority, of Asians on board while this New Zealand cruise had large numbers, maybe a majority of Australians and Americans on board. We met wonderful people on both cruises. Read more