For my 40th birthday, instead of throwing a big party I opted to celebrate by going on a big trip. This big trip – was a 14 Night Cruise around New Zealand with Princess Cruises (Jan 2024). It was definitely one of our more extravagant holidays, and whilst I understand the cruising experience isn’t for everyone – we love it. We love the idea of waking up in a different city each morning without having to pack and unpack each time to travel or change hotel rooms. Although, I have to admit this doesn’t work for every destination.. as some places just need that little bit more time inland to truly explore and experience its culture. However, it was fine in the case of New Zealand 😅

Whilst we truly relaxed and barely lifted a finger the whole trip because food was always abundant, and I especially loved indulging in all the prawn cocktails and room service and poolside cocktails – I have to admit by the end of 2 weeks I was so happy to have Asian street food options again, and have a bit more SPACE after being cramped in a room with the kids lol.

In saying that, our room wasn’t too shabby at all. We decided to upgrade to a Mini Suite which gave us a bit more space for 4 people as well as a bigger bathroom and a balcony. Definitely helped that at the time of booking, we got the Buy 2 Get 2 for Free deal. So we only had to pay for the 2 adults and the kids were free, which balanced out the costs quite nicely.

Some of the highlights of this trip include night entertainment shows were brilliant, my “Voice of the Ocean” experience was truly once in a lifetime, poolside vibes all throughout the trip was so relaxing, our trip to Hobbiton, and Larnach Castle, and the scenic cruising across Fiordland National Park despite the wet weather.. the views were stunning!

As for the itinerary, here’s what we ended up doing:

Date	Day	Time	Description	Notes
8/1/2024	Monday	5.00pm	Depart Melbourne	Parking booked via Parkhound: 219 Bridport Street West, Albert Park VIC 3206 There aren’t a lot of long term parking options in the Melbourne Cruise Terminal Port area, so I booked a private parking spot approx. 2km away for $115 for the two weeks, and just Uber to get to and from the terminal to parking space.
9/1/2024	Tuesday		At Sea
10/1/2024	Wednesday		At Sea
11/1/2024	Thursday	7.00am – 3.00pm	Fiordland National Park (scenic Cruising)
12/1/2024	Friday	7.00am – 5.00pm	Dunedin, New Zealand	Princess Excursion 9.15am – 2.00pm Olveston House + Larnach Castle Excursion
13/1/2024	Saturday		At Sea
14/1/2024	Sunday	8.00am – 6.00pm	Wellington, New Zealand	Car Hire: 9am – 4pm @ Omega Rental Cars 77 Hutt Road, Pipitea UNFORTUNATELY due to bad weather, the ship was unable to dock in Wellington so our stop here was cancelled. Thankfully the rental car company was perfectly understanding and gave us a full refund. So I thought I’d leave their details here to recommend, as they are easy to deal with AND the closest rental car company to the port.
15/1/2024	Monday	7.00am – 2.00pm	Napier, New Zealand	Casual / Flexible Day (Walking) – Bluff Hill Lookout – Centennial Garden Waterfall – Art Deco Walk – Napier War Memorial Centre – Napier Visitor Information Centre
16/1/2024	Tuesday	8.15am – 5.45pm	Tauranga, New Zealand	9am Mini Van Hire Pick Up 9am RitePrice Rentals TGA Port Shuttle Collection Point @ Nikau Cres 07 575 2726 11.10am Hobbiton Movie Set Tour + Lunch
17/1/2024	Wednesday	6.30am – 6.30pm	Auckland, New Zealand	Car Hire 9am – 5pm: Hertz Auckland Downtown 154 Victoria Street West – Auckland Domain / Auckland War Memorial Museum – Cornwall Park – Viaduct Harbour – Westfield Newmarket – Auckland Fish Market Other interesting places we didn’t visit: – Sky Tower – Weta Workshop Unleashed – Mission Bay – Mount Eden – Uncle Man’s Malaysian Restaurant
18/1/2024	Thursday	7.00am – 4.00pm	Bay of Islands, New Zealand	Princess Excursion 12.30pm – 2.30pm Glow Worm Caves Express Excursion
19/1/2024	Friday		At Sea
20/1/2024	Saturday		At Sea
21/1/2024	Sunday		At Sea
22/1/2024	Monday	8.00am	Back in Melbourne

As always, you can check out all the Stories I posted during the cruise on my Instagram page (check out my 3-part NZ Cruise highlights) as I currently don’t have the subscription plan to post videos on here.. so here are some of the photos but head over to Instagram to also see POV videos, and even snippets from the amazing nightly cruise entertainment shows onboard.