A cruise around the world-heritage fjord area of New Zealand

[The OB]

On a recent cruise around NZ we were very impressed with this beautiful part of the world. A completely unspoiled world heritage area of peaceful fjords and gorges when sailing around the southern tip of New Zealand's south island. Not a road or electric pole or man-made thing in sight. Just wild beautiful handiwork of nature.

Andrew





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[J. A.]

That's a fantastic scenery, Andrew!
You certainly enjoyed this part of your cruise.

 

[The OB]

That's a fantastic scenery, Andrew!
You certainly enjoyed this part of your cruise.

Thank you Johanna. I'm afraid my photography efforts did not do justice to the real thing It seemed a peaceful yet, what's the word?, powerful kind of place, hard to describe. I think the closest I got to an atmosphere like that was driving through Glencoe Pass in Scotland some years ago. People and the Scots who have done that would know what I mean.
Andrew


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[scifan57]

Great photos, Andrew! I especially like the 8th photo, showing the results of two avalanches.

 

[J. A.]

Thank you Johanna. I'm afraid my photography efforts did not do justice to the real thing It seemed a peaceful yet, what's the word?, powerful kind of place, hard to describe. I think the closest I got to an atmosphere like that was driving through Glencoe Pass in Scotland some years ago. People and the Scots who have done that would know what I mean. Andrew Sent from Oz using Tapatalk

Honestly: Your pictures are better than you consider them to be. Experiencing all this beauty must have been breathtaking. No wonder that you're struggling for words.

Is the ship on your first picture your cruise liner?

 

[giradman]

Hi Andrew - great pics! The water w/ the mountains + low lying clouds remind me of our mountain trips here except the Appalachians are rounded and covered w/ trees. The boat looks fabulous - we were on a similar one on our 2-week land/water trip to Alaska years ago (I gained too much weight on the ship and had to starve for a month or so on our return - BUT the food was excellent). Dave

 

[The OB]

Great photos, Andrew! I especially like the 8th photo, showing the results of two avalanches.

Thanks sci, the ship had a ranger, an expert on that area, come on board to give commentaries which we could listen to on the ship's TV channel while admiring the views on our cabin's balcony. You're quite right, those are avalanche scars on that landscape, according to him caused by fairly recent earthquakes in that area.
Andrew



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[The OB]

Honestly: Your pictures are better than you consider them to be. Experiencing all this beauty must have been breathtaking. No wonder that you're struggling for words.

Is the ship on your first picture your cruise liner?

Thank you J. A. Yes that's the ship, the sun Princess, a beautiful white lady of 77000 tons. Here's a few more pics of the ship:

Andrew


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[J. A.]

The interior looks more like a Grand Hotel.
Considering the size of the ship, it must have been easy to get lost there.

 

[The OB]

Hi Andrew - great pics! The water w/ the mountains + low lying clouds remind me of our mountain trips here except the Appalachians are rounded and covered w/ trees. The boat looks fabulous - we were on a similar one on our 2-week land/water trip to Alaska years ago (I gained too much weight on the ship and had to starve for a month or so on our return - BUT the food was excellent). Dave

Thanks mate, but I would be struggling to compete with some of the fab pics you have been posting. It's not just the food on these cruises, it's the service as well. How about a waiter asking if you would like your lobster shelled?

But yeah, I can relate to the weight thing. I had to keep a check on mine by constantly climbing stairs rather than taking the lifts, as well as judicious use of the promenade deck for walking off a very indulgent High Tea of an afternoon
That Alaskan trip Dave? Is that the one in tourist ads for the "Inside Passage" cruise (Canada/Alaska tours)? I have never visited America or Canada and would very much like to see that part of the world. Soon I hope.
Andrew


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[The OB]

The interior looks more like a Grand Hotel.
Considering the size of the ship, it must have been easy to get lost there.

Yes, it's quite a luxurious layout. Lots of polished wood and brass and beautiful lighting throughout. The Sun Princess had just gone through a full refurbishment before our cruise...new carpets, new bar areas, enlarged theatres etc.
For a first-time passenger, yes it can be a bit daunting to become familiar with the layout, but maybe fun wandering around. We had cruised before on the Dawn Princess, sister ship to the Sun Princess here, so we were familiar with the layout which is exactly the same. That is a real advantage giving more confidence for heading straight to where you want to go.
Andrew


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[giradman]

Thanks mate, but I would be struggling to compete with some of the fab pics you have been posting. It's not just the food on these cruises, it's the service as well. How about a waiter asking if you would like your lobster shelled?

But yeah, I can relate to the weight thing. I had to keep a check on mine by constantly climbing stairs rather than taking the lifts, as well as judicious use of the promenade deck for walking off a very indulgent High Tea of an afternoon
That Alaskan trip Dave? Is that the one in tourist ads for the "Inside Passage" cruise (Canada/Alaska tours)? I have never visited America or Canada and would very much like to see that part of the world. Soon I hope.
Andrew

Hi Andrew - not to worry - your pics are beautiful! I agree that the service on these ships is just superlative - your second set of the inside again reminded me of our cruise to Alaska - this was probably 25 yrs or so ago (for some reason when I scanned in all of my old slides, I cannot find any of Alaska). But if you're curious, I can explain the itinerary w/ the help of a map; the trip was 2 weeks - first week on land (places visited indicated w/ blue arrows); second week was the cruise (marked w/ red arrows). P.S. Click on the map to see the arrows.

First week - flew into Fairbanks (probably July-August), then to Nome (panned for gold); day trip by small plane to Kotzebue, a small Eskimo village above the Arctic Circle - then back to Fairbanks and an all day trip to Denali National Park (6 million acres and larger than the state of Massachusetts and w/ fabulous views of Mt. McKinley - 20, 300+ ft., tallest peak in North America); finally an all day train ride down to Anchorage (viewing cars where on top of the train).

Second week - Boarded the ship in Anchorage; first stop was Glacier Bay (saw the glaciers calf - ice was brought back for us to sample!); then we entered the 'Inner Passage' to Juneau (great Alaskan seafood, shopping - bought a 3 ft. totem pole that sits in my den) - took a helicopter ride which landed on the Juneau ice field, just 6 of us standing on the ice; then off to Ketchikan where we took a ride w/ a dozen or so tourists on a large reconstruction of a Pacific Coast Indian canoe - had to paddle ourselves. Finally, to Vancouver and flight back home.

If you just have a week & love cruise boats (like my son & his wife), then the Anchorage to Vancouver trip would be fabulous - Sitka is an island that could be included (we missed it - lot of Russian influence from the old days!). Dave

 

[The OB]

Thanks Dave for that detailed info kindly provided. I will keep it in mind for future planning. I must say I envy you being much closer to the areas covered in your great travelogues with photos. Not sure about taking home that large totem pole though. May not fit into the aircraft overhead locker
Andrew

 

[giradman]

Thanks Dave for that detailed info kindly provided. I will keep it in mind for future planning. I must say I envy you being much closer to the areas covered in your great travelogues with photos. Not sure about taking home that large totem pole though. May not fit into the aircraft overhead locker
Andrew

Hi Andrew - not to hijack your wonderful thread, but I did take a few pics on my 'totem pole' (now only 3 ft tall and we had it shipped back to us) - located on a desk in back of my den chair; there are a few other art works, plus a wonderful metallic wall eagle kachina on the adjacent wall - totem pole is carved and painted from half of a log - the store in Juneau where we made the purchase had just thousands of Alaskan/Eskimo art works, including totem poles that were easily 20+ ft in height (wife refused to let me buy one of those! ) - Dave

 

[The OB]

Hi Andrew - not to hijack your wonderful thread, but I did take a few pics on my 'totem pole' (now only 3 ft tall and we had it shipped back to us) - located on a desk in back of my den chair; there are a few other art works, plus a wonderful metallic wall eagle kachina on the adjacent wall - totem pole is carved and painted from half of a log - the store in Juneau where we made the purchase had just thousands of Alaskan/Eskimo art works, including totem poles that were easily 20+ ft in height (wife refused to let me buy one of those! ) - Dave

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Now I do like that totem pole Dave! Shipping of that I would definitely consider. I just like the colours of it, which would enhance any den. (Love that den of yours, with obvious examples of your talented woodworking)
Unfortunately shipping and importing of wooden products into Australia could cause problems re customs. Friends of ours took back some carvings from Bali until they hit a customs wall and had them "set aside", read temporarily confiscated, until they stood up to demand a formal clearance, which they got fairly promptly, so thankfully were OK. But you need to take care.
Now a 20ft one! Hmmm, I don't think I would have got much further either from she who assesses totem pole sizes in our house. But gee, that would be nice to have one looking over ones shoulder behind a chair
Andrew



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