Er um!! we all live here so whatever we said would be biased. Having said that I have checked out these cruises and for what its worth I don't like the idea of one day in Sydney 1 day in Melbourne 1 day in Hobart then over to NZ - you have not SEEN anything!!!<BR>
Went on the Regal Princess last year. It was a very comfortable ship. Not as fancy as some of the newer ones. Food was very good. If you are going all that way, spend a few extra days and get a hotel in Auckland and one in Sydney. Yes, it was worth it.
We did the Mac Attack, a small boat, in the Bay of Islands. Went out to the Hole in the Rock. No need to schedule a ship tour. The tour offices were right there, where you got off the tender. You save a little money too. In Rotoroa, we did the all day trip, to see the sheep and geysers. Well, all day is too much. Pick something shorter. Some people thought Taranga was their favorite port, but we missed the whole thing, due to the length of our sheep tour.<BR> We did the train ride in Dunnedin. It was nice, but I wouldn`t do it again. it was cold and there wasn`t really that much to see.<BR> One of our favorite tours was a brand new tour in Wellington. We went to the rose garden, a rain forest, but the good part was the Planetarium. We learned all about the Southern Cross.<BR> In christchurch, we got a cab and just went into town on our own.<BR> We had been to melbourne before, and just went into town on our own, and went to the botanic gardens. <BR> My favorite was climbing the Sydney Bridge, again not a ship tour. Not at all hard! Hope this helps some.
