Our Australia/New Zealand Cruise was everything we had hoped for with exceptional sailing conditions. We flew to Singapore and stayed overnight in an extremely well located hotel in the Orchard Road vacinity, enabling us to explore the area and sample good food and hospitality. Then we flew from Singapore to Sydney and booked additional two nights stay before embarking our cruise ship. This was our first cruise to Australia so again explored the area, visiting many main attractions. Then abroad the beautiful Solstice for the commencement of our cruise. We experienced such magnificent scenery and wildlife which fulfilled our dreams. Having visited a wild life sanctuary in Hobart run by volunteers brought home the wonderful work carried out by all concerned. We fed kangaroos, emus, and marvelled over the Tassi Devils and, of course, the sleepy koala bears. We even got to cuddle a baby wombat.

Then onto the magical New Zealand Cruise. Again the wildlife was outstanding having booked a boat to see dolphins, fur seals, various species of birds including penguins, albatross, and much much more. The fiords where stunning and the bay of islands were out of this world. All our expectations couldn’t have been better. The war museum in Wellington is a must to see with very interesting aspects of World War I explained via audio screens. The end of our cruise was in Auckland so here again we booked additional nights to explore this area.

Instead of flying to UK Heathrow London Airport we flew from Auckland to San Francisco and stayed three additional nights so we could plan our last few days of our amazing journey. Just had to take the cable car from the centre to the wharf and experience the wonderful esplanade. We ate in Frankie’s world famous fish restaurant to sample the oysters. Needless to say, we also arranged to visit Alcatraz via the ferry on the main pier. My word what an adventure, we walked to the top of the slope to the jail and we were given an absolutely marvellous audio tour with fantastic sound effects. You were certainly given a clear picture of how the prisoners existed during their dreadful time there. We enjoyed this city, the people, and the restaurants very much. Read more