We got off the ship this morning and found a local company which gave bus tours around the Akaroa area - it's a very small town (more like a village) and it was lovely looking towards it as we took the tender in to shore. I had done a little research online before we came on the cruise and found out about this bus tour. It turned out that it wasn't that great a bus tour, so I sure need to do better research into private cruise tours next time.
The bus took us around Akaroa Harbour and up to a lookout with some amazing views. Then, they drove us to an overpriced cafe where they dropped us for 45 minutes. After that, it was a brief stop at a cheese factory where we could sample different types of cheese. Our last stop was back in the town of Akaroa. The bus stopped at the beginning of the main street (a few blocks from where the ship was docked) and we walked along it checking out the different stores along the way. We popped into a drug store so that Dad could buy a decongestant to help clear up his sinuses. Then, it was back to the ship. We would have liked to have seen more of this village, but we had to be back on the ship shortly after we got back from the tour.
View of the ship from the dock
cute house in Akaroa
Dad at the lookout
Me at the lookout
That night, the entertainment in the Theatre was 'Tango Buenos Aires' - a show featuring the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers. It was a fantastic show and was the best stage production show with a ship's singers and dancers that we have ever seen on any of our cruises.
DAY 7 - Tuesday, 23 January, 2018
Today's port of call was Dunedin - we had been there on our cruise in 2009 and had done a bus tour of the city as well as a tour of the Cadbury factory at that time. Dad was feeling really under the weather on this day and so we decided to give Dunedin a miss. We were disappointed as we had planned on taking a segway tour which we thought would be really fun. However, it wasn't a tour that we couldn't do somewhere else, so we weren't too worried about missing out on it in Dunedin. While Dad stayed in the cabin all day, I ventured out when trivia was scheduled and for meals.
DAY 8 - Wednesday, 24 January, 2018
Today was a sailing day through the Fjordlands of New Zealand - Fjordland National Park is the largest national park in New Zealand and one of the largest national parks in the world. We went into three of the sounds: Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds. A sound is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, and wider than a fjord. We arranged to have breakfast delivered to our cabin this morning and sat on our balcony to watch the scenery as we went through the three sounds. The first two were not much to look at as the clouds were too low, but Milford Sound was magnificent! All of the photos below were taken while we sailed through Milford Sound.
DAY 9 - Thursday, 25 January, 2018
Today was an 'at sea' day where we were crossing the Tasman Sea sailing towards Melbourne. It was another day of rest and relaxation for us. Dad still wasn't feel 'up to snuff', so we spent most of our day relaxing in the cabin other than doing the trivia quizzes and eating. When we did the crossing from New Zealand to Australia in 2009, the Tasman Sea was so choppy and I ended up having to take my sea sickness pills for two days. This time, I took them at first as a precaution, but when the seas weren't choppy, I stopped taking them and I was fine.
DAY 10 - Friday, 26 January, 2018
Today was another day 'at sea', so again another day of rest and relaxation and trivia, of course. Today was 'Australia Day' so the morning trivia quizzes were based on Australia. The first quiz was a general knowledge Aussie quiz and then they had an Aussie Entertainment trivia quiz. We didn't win, but thanks to our Aussie teammates, we didn't do too bad. :-) The 5 o'clock trivia was a regular general knowledge quiz. The show in the Theatre that night was a Michael Jackson impersonator named T.J. Cappola. Dad enjoyed the show more than I did. The music was way too loud, in my opinion, and it drowned out the singer's voice. Dad said that that was the way things were in Michael Jackson's videos. Dad also said that the guy didn't have a very strong voice, but he sure had the Michael Jackson moves down pat.
DAY 11 - Saturday, 27 January, 2018
Today we docked in Melbourne. Since Dad and I have been there a ton of times, we decided to just get off the ship and go for a walk close to where the ship docked. I was craving a chocolate bar (they don't have them available on the ship), so we walked up to 'Coles' - a grocery store - and then walked back to the ship. We decided to spend the afternoon after lunch sitting by the pool and reading our books / doing puzzles. It was very relaxing and very quiet since most people had gone on some kind of tour in Melbourne. The evening show in the Theatre was a comedy impressionist named Danny McMaster. He was absolutely hilarious - Dad and I was laughing through almost the whole show! :-)
DAY 12 - Sunday, 28 January, 2018
Another 'at sea' day and another day of rest and relaxation and eating and trivia quizzes - we love our 'at sea' days just as much as our 'at port' days. The show that night was, by far, the best show of the cruise. It was four young boys called 'The Boys in the Band'. They sang songs from 'Jersey Boys' as well as performed songs from the Beatles, the Bee Gees, the Jackson 5 and Simon Garfunkel. Their harmonies were amazing along with their dance moves. They were the only act on the cruise who received a full standing ovation from both levels of the Theatre and requests for an encore.
