WELCOME TO WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALANDWe returned to the Avenue Saloon for a pre-dinner drink. We were joined mid-way through by Charles and Alice. We will be touring with them tomorrow and also have a dinner planned together. They are a lovely couple and we are so glad we met them through cruising. Then it was off to the Italian Specialty Restaurant Prego for dinner. We were joined by Crew Officer LeRoy. We have known LeRoy for many years. He started on Serenity in Waterside (back then it was called the Crystal Dining Room), moved over to the Reception Desk. From there he went to Shore Excursions and eventually became the swing Assistant Shore Excursion Manager. The last few years he has served as the Crew Officer. In this position he has many crew related responsibilities from training to room assignments and the planning of crew events. Below Anne Marie with Head Waiter Morne. Dinner was wonderful. The first photo is a seafood salad Keith had. This has been on the menu before but served in a glass rather than plate/bowl. A nice presentation. Evening entertainment included: Two shows performed by Comedic Impressionist Keith Scott. Two shows Sweet Soul Music performed on many voyages featuring the music of soul vocalists Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight Stevie Wonder and lots more artists. We slept well until early morning when the sea swells turned strong and we could feel the vibration and shaking of the ship and some noise outside. In time things calmed a bit although it went back and forth. Serenity was sailing to our next port of call of Wellington, New Zealand. We began the day with a workout for Keith and breakfast. Shortly after breakfast we saw the Tug Boat arrive. It was very windy outside, rainy and cold. We have been to Wellington, NZ in 2008, 2011, 2015 so this marks our fourth visit. We have done organized tours on two of the prior trips so today we just visited this city on our own. The population of the city is close to 215,000 residents. Wellington is the Capital of New Zealand and the third most populous areas of the country. Major highlights include: Te Papa Museum which opened in 1998 and includes dresses and textiles that date all the way back to the 16th century. Museum of Wellington City & Sea which opened in 1972 and contains four floors covering the history of Wellington. Cable Car & Botanic Garden. The cable cars were established in 1902 and the Botanic Garden includes several components including a Rose Garden, and Begonia House. Zealadia Karori Sanctuary is a protected nature area on 560 acres and was created in 1999. The sanctuary is home to various native birds and reptiles. Old St. Paul's Church which was opened in 1866 and is built in a Gothic Style and constructed from New Zealand's native timbers, with stained-glass windows. By the time we took the shuttle into town the rain had stopped. The sun came out for part of the walk around downtown. One of the local tourist people thought our ship would not make it in today given the strong winds. Thankfully we did. One of the local Ferries. Thought this was interesting. Enjoyed the rest of the day on-board Serenity. This included lunch at Marketplace and Paddle Tennis for Keith and a long walk for Anne Marie. Following is the Daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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NAPIER, New ZealandWe enjoyed a pre dinner drink at Palm Court so we could watch the arrival. At 4:45 PM Captain Birger spoke from the bridge and said the Pilot was running late and should arrive by 5:30 PM rather than 5:00 PM which would delay our arrival by around 30 minutes or more. Anne Marie with Nat. At one point we could see a vessel coming towards the ship and suspected it was the pilot boat and this was confirmed a minute or so later. We enjoyed dinner at Waterside and following are the dinner menus. Anne Marie had a Mushroom Salad Entree and Keith had Tuna Tartare. We both had salads and Red Snapper with Curry. The entree had the right touch of spice for us. We had docked at Napier at 6:30 PM last evening. Given the time of arrival we remained on board Serenity. We slept well and began today as we normally do with a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by breakfast in our room. This is our fourth visit to this city. Napier has a total population of 63,000 residents. The downtown area is a 10 minutes drive from thee port. Napier is a coastal city. The region is renowned for its wine-producing area of Hawke's Bay. Major highlights include: Hawkes Bay Museum is both museum and art gallery. National Acquarium which has the largest display of aquatic life and New Zealand wildlife. Acrt Deco Trust Building which has the look of thee Art Deco architecture which took hold in the city following the massive destruction of the city from the 1931 earthquake. Botanical Gardens which have several walking tracks and includes the remnants of two historic well which were used 100+ years ago. We have done tours in the past of Napier and the surrounding areas so we didn't plan a tour for today. Instead we took the shuttle into town. Today was the Art Deco Festival which included a parade. Many people were decked out in attire appropriate for the Art Deco period. We have mentioned this previously but we very much enjoy New Zealand. Each area has charm and character, the weather is terrific, there is so much beauty and the people are very nice. After returning to Serenity we enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. Afterwards, Anne Marie walked and Keith played Paddle Tennis. While Keith played Paddle Tennis he took a break to watch portions of an amazing flight show. Vintage Aircraft flew overhead. They did many maneuvers flying in formation and also flying solo and put on an amazing show. Anne Marie saw this while walking outside and took a few photos. Following is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith EN ROUTE TO NAPIER, New ZealandWe wanted to begin with additional photos from our tour of Hobbiton followed by a short video. Each Hobbit Hole is different and this includes its dimensions. Some are a few feet in depth while others are smaller. We enoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove and listened to Irina Guskova perform on the Violin. We have the same waitstaff team plus George as the Sommelier. We have never had George but have spoken to him in recent weeks. He has a terrific sense of humor and a strong knowledge of wine. Dinner was fabulous. Keith had the Snapper Sashimi. The ingredients were unique as it included Carmelized Bananan & Banana-Lime Ragout. A good description was yummy. Anne Marie had soup. After we had dinner salads we both had Maple Glazed Marlborough Salmon. You could smell the aroma of Maple as soon as the entree was place on the table. Another wonderful entree. The featured entertainment was Tenor Shimi Goodman. We left Tauranga at 11:15 PM because of the tides. We began the morning as we always do and you know the routine. This included a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center, breakfast in our room and a walk by the two of us. Also paddle tennis for Keith. Today was a sea day as the schedule calls for arrival to Napier by 6:00 PM. There were three lecturers on the schedule. They were: Captain Richard Hayman who covered all of the remaining ports of call for New Zealand on this voyage. World Affairs lecturer Robert Freedman spoke about the secure challenges facing both New Zealand and Australia. In the afternoon Jill Bruce spoke about Asia-Pacific region geology and volcanoes. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. In the morning and in the afternoon Keith returned to the Paddle Tennis Court to play Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie took another long walk on the Promenade Deck. Following is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO TAURANGA, New ZealandThank you Gilly. You are correct. Auckland is a terrific walking city. We began last evening with a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove. They held the muster drill for all newly embarking guests while we were there. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. We dined at the Italian Specialty Restaurant Prego. They revised the menu for this leg of the World Cruise and also added some new items to the menu. One of them was the Pan Fried Fresh Barramundi which is a local fish. Keith had this entree and thought it was delicious. The fish along with the items which accompanied it made for a tasty entree. Anne Marie had a half-portion of the Veal. This is the revised Prego Dinner menu. The featured show last evening was Crystal In Motion. We slept well as we sailed to our next port of call of Tauranga, New Zealand. We enjoyed the views before sunrise and as we were making our way into port. We began the day with our normal routine of a workout for Keith followed by Breakfast in our room. Tauranga is the fifth most populous city in New Zealand with a population of 150,000 residents. It is a popular tourist area in the Summer. The ports play a major role in the export of kiwi fruit, timber and dairy products. It is also the gateway for Rotorua which is one of New Zealand's most famous attractions. The last time we were here was in 2015 and we did a private tour with dear friends Bob and Glo. The tour included: Drive to the lake area of Rotorua and exploration of the Redwood Forest. The Redwood Trees are 115 years old and the seedlings came from the United States. Visit to a very active geothermal area [Te Puia] which includes 2 of only 8 spontaneous geysers in the world, The geysers were unlike any we have ever seen such as at Yellowstone National Park or in Iceland. One of the Geysers goes on for almost 90 minutes at a time. Visit to a genuine Maori village where boiling hot springs and fumaroles surround their homes. Drive into Rotorua city visiting the government gardens seeing many hot spa's and further geothermal activity including steam vents gushing from peoples back yards. One of the 2015 World Cruise shoreside events was also held that evening and was a Hobbiton. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend. We were determined to visit Hobbiton the next time we were here and this is precisely what we did today. We had Crystal Cruises arrange a private tour for us. We were met at the pier by a private car and driver,Peter, and taken to Shires Rest, the Movie set for an exclusive tour. We toured for ninety minutes by tour guide Hayden where we were met at the Green Dragon Inn by Russell Alexander, owner of the Farm where they shot the Lord of the Rings and Hobbiton trilogies. He joined us for lunch in the Marquee and then we were shown the behind the scenes of Hobbiton. This included the backstage where they make many of the items that are part of the set. We learned so much about how the property was selected, when and how the movies were shot and all of the little details which went into the selection of the farm and the filming of each of the movies. We forgot to get a photo with Russell. We did get one with the Chef who checked up on us a couple of times to be sure we enjoyed the meal. The meal was delicious. Russell runs Hobbiton while his brother runs the large farm. A couple of other items. This area is in need of rain as it has not rained other than a sprinkling for 45 days. This will be an issue if this continues including food for the sheep and cattle. 80% of the New Zealand Kiwis come from this area. Tourism is a bit down right now given the Coronavirus. This was an amazing day. Following is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO AUCKLAND, New Zealand - DAY 2These are the menus from dinner at Waterside. Our original plan was to have a light dinner in our room so we could attend the Elton John farewell tour. Unfortunately, he got walking Pneumonia on Sunday and had to leave his concert in the middle of it. The hope was he would perform on Tuesday and Thursday as planned. Unfortunately, we were notified he could not perform on Tuesday and it was rescheduled to Wednesday but we won't be in port by concert time. He will be in Sydney when we are there but we think the tickets are all sold out. Oh well. We tried. As it turned out we learned early this morning that the rescheduled concert for Wednesday and the one for Thursday were both cancelled and would be rescheduled for January of 2021. We won't be there so we will get a full refund for the cancellation. With the change of evening plans, we decided to dine at Waterside. A couple of food photos. The first was a freshly baked Lobster Strudel and the second photo is the Broiled Salmon Fillet. Today ended the third segment of World Cruise 2020 which sailed from Papeete, Tahiti to Auckland, New Zealand and began segment four. Segment four which is our last segment sails from Auckland to Sydney, Australia. We kept to our regular routine with an early morning workout for Keith and breakfast in our room. After breakfast we went off the ship into Auckland. We walked for quite awhile. Our destination was Auckland Domain. The route we took included separate bicycle and pedestrian walkways for much of the walk. We were impressed with this and a nice model for city planning. Once inside the domain we began on "Lovers Walk" which is a good description of all our walks. We made a right and we were in a lush area with inclines which took us to a higher elevation. Eventually we made it to the Duck Pond and we visited some of the other areas within the domain. We took a different route back to the City Centre. This included walking on a bridge which crosses the highway. We then walked by other areas. We stopped briefly at a cemetery. While the saying "Rest In Peace" has many connotations one which came to mind was the beautiful setting of the cemetery. We walked by the Auckland Museum as our walk continued. We got back to Serenity before embarkation began. We had lunch at Waterside. Can you guess what we had since it was the Embarkation Lunch? Yes, you are correct. Cobb Salad and a Flute of Champagne to toast our love for one another and the start of another leg of the World Cruise. We stayed on the ship for the rest of the day. This is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO AUCKLAND, New Zealand - DAY 1We began last evening at the Crystal Cove for a pre-dinner drink. We had dinner at Waterside. These are the dinner menus. We had two courses rather than our regular three course meal. A dinner salad followed by Mahi Mahi Tuna for Keith from the Moment Menu and Tiger Shrimp over Pasta for Anne Marie. The featured entertainment was Fosse which we attended. This show was first shown a few years ago and we were glad it was shown again. It was developed on the ship and at the time most of the singers and dancers and members of the Crystal Showband were not involved with its debut. Watching the show you would not realize they practiced it for less than two weeks. Rather, you would think this is one of the regular production shows. A very special show indeed. We slept well as we sailed to our next port of call stop of Auckland, New Zealand. We enjoyed another wonderful sunrise. We also saw the Pilot Boat arrive to the ship. Attached at the hip. LOL. After Keith worked out, we had breakfast in our room and got ready to explore Auckland. We have visited here several times over the years. Auckland is New Zealand's largest city with a population around 1.6 Million people. Its population is diverse and it is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. Major downtown attractions included the Auckland Museum, the Sky Tower, Parnell Village, the Maritime and the Auckland War Memorial Museums, The Auckland Zoo, Newmarket and Auckland Botanical Gardens. Auckland Museum provides both the natural culture and social history of New Zealand and its people. Sky Tower offers wonderful views of the city and its suburbs and can be seen from various vantage points across the city of Auckland. Maritime Museum is a terrific venue to learn about the history of seafaring in New Zealand. Auckland Zoo opened 98 years ago and is home to over 1,400 animals. Newmarket is an upscale area of Auckland including a retail district along with cafes and and restaurants. Auckland Botanical Gardens started in 1973 and opened to the public in 1982. It has six major gardens. The city is located between the Hauraki Gulf and the Hunua Ranges. The surrounding hills are covered in rain forests. There are many dormant volcanic coasts near the rainforests. The nice thing about the location of the cruise ship terminal is no shuttle is required to visit the city. The location is right in the middle of the city. As we left the cruise ship terminal we saw Hotel Director Scott Peterson. Scott will take over when Hubert goes on a well-deserved Holiday at the conclusion of this cruise. Less than a block from the terminal, we ran into former Crystal Symphony Shore Excursion Manager Jim whom we last sailed with in 2018. He is now assisting Crystal Land Programs with special projects. It was wonderful to see and visit with Jim. As was the case last year there is lots of construction downtown as part of the expansion of the subway system. There are lots of people who help direct the pedestrians and get them safely across the street. We made our way to different areas where we enjoyed views of Sky Tower, the Harbour, over to Albert Park and the nearby university. Apologies for the photo of the iconic Clock Tower. However, the only way to photograph was with the sun to the front of where we were. We made a few stops; one at a pharmacy and the other to a Mac Pac shop. No, not Mac as in Apple. Rather, Mac Pac as in outdoors type of clothing. We have purchased from the Mac Pac stores in Auckland and other areas within New Zealand and Australia including clothing in preparation for the Northwest Passage Cruise. We also checked out one of the train stations. We plan to see the Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road Concert this evening. Our original plan was to use Uber but we think we will take the train. Back on the ship we enjoyed lunch at Marketplace, Paddle Tennis for Keith, a walk for Anne Marie. This is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith |
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