What a wonderful cruise! I know now that I could stay on for at least a month! Marcie and Tom were great cruisemates, and for the last two nights we got off the ship to eat dinner with Joanna and Tony. I met a lot of really great people who were WC'ers, and some who were not. Will report more tomorrow! (Loooong trip home!)

Welcome Home, Olivia!

Get some rest - we'll be here waiting on pins and needles for your cruise report!

Welcome Back, Olivia! Looking forward to an interesting report!

Welcome Back Olivia!!!!!

Hi, Olivia! Glad to hear you had such a good time.

Dying to hear ALL the details!!

Welcome back, Olivia ... and waiting to hear details!!

Masaki

Welocme home Olivia! Rest well.

Anthony

Glad you had such a good time and that you're back (with luggage, too?? Life is grand!!).

Looking forward to your trip reports and glad to hear Marcie, Tom, Joanna & Tony are reunited again. Those laundry rooms just won't be the same for the next 44 days ... Cheers, Anne

Welcome home. Will look forward to hearing the details of your fun trip.

Welcome Home! Can't wait to hear all the JUICY details!!!

Welcome home, Olivia! Really looking forward to hearing the details of your cruise after you've rested.

Olivia, welcome home. Rest and relax...but write more soon, PLEASEEEEEE!

Olivia,

Welcome home! Get some rest and then, please tell us all. We are waiting!!!
Glad you had a great time.

Betty

Welcome home Olivia! I can't wait to hear your trip report! I bet you took some beautiful photos as well.
Welcome back the the land of the "those left behind who wait for Marcies next post" ;)

Olivia,

So happy for you that you had such a wonderful trip. Can't wait to hear every single word about it. WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!

Olivia, glad your back and can't wait for more, we missed your frequent posts here, you have 24 hours off but must post at least 10 times a day for a month to catch up....r/wes

Welcome back Olivia!

Gosh, it seems as if you just left! Welcome home Olivia.

Welcome home, Olivia; I missed seeing your name on my buddy list. I'm glad you had a good time.

Welcome home and rest up! We'll wait patiently for your update!

Welcome back Olivia! Seems like you just left. Looking forward to your reports.
----
Leslie

Welcome back Olivia. Can't wait to hear about your cruise. Is a segment on a World Cruise any different than a regular cruise -- both in the activities for passengers and the treatment of segment passengers as opposed to full cruise passengers? Judith

Judith, the only noticeable difference between segmenters and full Word Cruisers is the extra excursions and occassional "treats" they get that are exclusive to world cruisers. For example, on my leg, Marcie et. al were treated to a lovely afernoon party in Christchurch that she said was fantastic. I was so busy enjoying my day there that I didn't miss a thing, except for croquet!

Here is my first installment...an e-mail I sent to myself off-line that for some reason I couldn't pick up in the computer room so I didn't bother continuing this practise each day. My room was not wired for the internet, and the computer room was really crowded when I wanted to use it most. Anyway, this post will just be about my pre-cruise experience. After that, I won't go into details for anything Marcie has already written about.

Getting here was the hard part, after that it got really easy! I was able to upgrade (for no charge, due to my new Star Alliance Gold Preferred status) on the domestic flight to LA, and get an exit row for the really long jaunt from LAX to Auckland on Air New Zealand and even managed some sleep since the flight was delayed and I was really tired. Those little Ambiens sure do the trick!

Upon arrival in Auckland for my two night pre-cruise stay, I was met at the airport by a RSSC rep, and whisked over to another area to meet my travel companions, 3 delightful couples from Arizona, Virginia and Michigan. We were then taken to the Hyatt Residence Hotel, where I was assigned a one-bedroom apartment complete with kitchen. It was very modern, Scandinavian in design, and had views of both the Sky Tower on the city side and the Auckland Harbor. At 2 p.m., after lunch at the hotel with 2 of the 3 couples I was with, we were picked up and taken on a 3 hour tour of the city. First stop was the Auckland Museum, where the group decided to attend the Maori Cultural Show with singers and dancers, since none of us had planned ship excursions that had this type of event. I could have spent 3 hours at this Museum alone, as they had great exhibits of the history of the native tribes of New Zealand who had come here and other islands in the Pacific from areas of Asia to the West. After this, our driver took us to residential areas of the city with lovely homes high on the hill over the Harbour before taking us further up the hill to a monument to WWI vets. This area had views of the mud flats from a vantage point other than the Harbour. We then went on to One Tree hill rather than Mount Eden for wonderful views over the city, sea and harbour. When we arrived back at the hotel, I was so tired I didn't want to eat out, so room service pizza sounded perfect since we were getting on the road again the next day.
We met the next morning to start our journey to the Coramandel Peninsula and made a stop to take a narrow gauge train up a mountain to a beautiful overlook. At the bottom was a pottery and many shops selling different pieces by several artists. It was sort of a messy and cluttered place, but I enjoyed the train ride more than I expected. Along the way up the hill on the train that hugged the wall on one side, there were pieces of pottery sort of embedded in between the rocks, and on some portions, the retaining walls were beer and wine bottles set in mortar for support.
For lunch in Coramandel, we were on our own, and I joined one of the couples for a short walk down the street where we found a nice little restaurant and had a great chicken dish. After lunch, it was a long drive to Coramandel, but the views along the east side of the Firth of Thames (eastward from Auckland) were beautiful. Our hotel for the night was located in Pauanui, on the Pacific Coast, and was called the Mercure Grand Puka Park Resort, which had 50 suites in 2-suite cabins built on stilts nestled among the trees and dense foliage. Dinner was included here, and our group met spontaneously for cocktails on the outside deck before eating together. Dinner was a la cart, and there was something for everything, and wine included with dinner.

The next morning, we were not scheduled to leave until 10 a.m., so we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. First thing, I walked down the hill to see the beach, and it was a steep hike back up to the hotel. Shortly before boarding our van, I was up on the outside deck taking in the views, and got stung by something. Here we were headed out into the bush in a remote area to get back to the ship, and I didn't know if I might be allergic to whatever it was that stung me. However, knowing that I was with two retired doctors (one an ENT and the other a plastic surgeon), I felt I was in good hands if my throat closed up. One could give me a tracheotomy, and the other could sew me up right later so I wouldn't have a scar!
Thankfully, all was fine, except that thing itches even a week later.

The drive along the way back to Auckland was long (10 am-3 p.m.) and by now we were eager to board. The scenery along the other side of the Firth of Thames was not as rugged, but still pretty. Along our drive the day before, we had been told of the terrible 'possum problem in New Zealand. They are different from ours, and have a furry body and tails. I had never seen so much road kill in such a short distance (sorry, no way to make that reference more delicate). We stopped in Clevedon for lunch, and there was a shop next door to the restaurant that sold tons of woolly stuff, sweaters, scarves, gloves, and shearling slippers. There were many things I would love to have bought, but they were all made of merino wool and 'possum! I don't think I will ever be able to buy a piece with that fur for the rest of my days. Anyway, the problem with these animals is that they eat, eat, eat, and can destroy the vegetation in no time. Our driver told me that if you see one on the road, you don't slam on breaks or veer around them. Rather, you aim for them, he said!

We were all happy to board the ship, and get through muster shortly afterward. Fortunately, I was able to change my cabin from all the way forward in cabin 900, down to deck 7. As it turned out, there was only one room between Tom and Marcie and me!

I have to get dressed for dinner now, (formal night tonight) but will write more later. New Zealand is lovely, and I feel blessed to have the good fortune to be here!

Keep it coming Olivia. So much fun to hear from you.

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

Claudia

Outstanding Olivia! Thanks for posting.

Olivia, that sounds like a great time!

I didn't realize that all the cabins weren't wired for the internet service!

Olivia,

Enjoyed reading your post. Your 'possum story made me laugh. :) I'm so glad you had such a nice trip. Can't wait to hear more.

Betty

Great to hear from you Oliiva; eagerly awaiting more!

Olivia, did you ever go on the bridge climb? Did Paul go with you? Inquiring minds want to know.

The voyage begins:

The first night onboard, I had dinner with Marcie and Tom and Ngaire's sister and brother, June and Brian. What delightful people they are! I look forward to getting to know June more on NINJA June 25. Don't think Brian is on that one. Anyway, it was an early night for me, way to much of the vino and jet lag. I awoke at 3 a.m. to some seas, took the dramamine and got up at 8 feeling better. We were at sea the first day out, and I enjoyed the lecture by David Broder, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Washington Post. He had 30 minutes to talk on 9 Presidents starting with Eisenhower, so it was not an in-depth thing, but interesting. Then Marcie called me for "Smoker's trivia", which is the 12:30 version of the one after teatime. She has a very good team, and they often win!

Dinner that night was formal, and I coat-tailed on an invitation that Marcie and Tom had from the Food and Beverage Manager and another lady who has done many world cruises. The officer was sort of inviting complaints, and this lady was quite forthcoming in her complaints about the spa prices, the number of computers onboard, and various other matters. When he said what space would you like to give up in order to have more room for computers, her answer was sort of "Well, that's your problem".

I excused myself at 9:50 to get to the show, that featured an Australian pianist doing everything from classical to pop to show music. I really enjoyed him. Joined Marcie in the Voyager Lounge for a drink, and then on to bed. The Voyager Lounge is really quite a gathering place for people before dinner, and when I would plan to meet someone there before having dinner together, it was always standing room only. Goes to show the socialization factor of all-inclusive.

In our first stop, Picton, I had chosen a different excursion than Marcie and Tom called Farmlands and Waterways. We started out with a catamaran ride (of the mostly enclosed variety with seats) on Queen Charlotte Sound with some lovely views, and stopped in a couple of coves to feed the birds. Lots of jellyfish in the water here! We disembarked at Momorangi Bay for transfer to the coach, and on to Blenheim and the Tastes of Marborough, which was really a shopping opportunity with some wine tasting. This was really just a fair excursion, not that great. Friends from the pre-cruise did the Marlborough Farm and Gardens which sounded much better, as it had the sheep-dog demonstration as well as a visit to a private home with beautiful gardens and a great lunch.

Back on the ship, I had a late lunch on the outside deck of Verandah restaurant, and really enjoyed the views of the bay surrounding us. That night, I enjoyed dinner with Stan and Shirley from pre-cruise, and Jane the librarian and we had a great time. Went to part of the show, Lullaby of Broadway, but have seen this before, so on to Voyager Lounge to visit Marcie and Tom and on to bed.

The next day was to be a sea day, but as Marcie has explained, the Captain went instead to an extra port stop in Akaroa. Now I have to tell a "Tom" story. I had hopped on the tender by myself, and noticed Tom and Marcie got on, and we waved. I noticed they had waited for me when I got off the tender and Tom says "Well, do you want to go with us and be in the way, or do you want to go off on your own"? People hearing this just started laughing! So we set out shopping a bit, and, trying to find a graveyard, entered some park for a short hike up a steep hill that had a beautiful view over the harbor. Marcie has put those pix on ofoto.

Back to the ship for another late lunch at my sunny spot outside Verandah. I lasted 10 minutes that night for the show, which was two brothers and their wives.

Christchurch: I was up early for my excursion that left at 8:15, and I really enjoyed that one. We paid a visit to a private working sheep farm, and the owner gave a demonstration with his border collie going WAY up a hill following different commands from his whistle. Left, right, straight ahead, stop, faster. This was fascinating to me! The sheep were of the Merino-wool producing variety. The farmer is getting out of it because there is no money in it, and will soon start raising lambs for the food market. Anyway, we had the obligatory sheep-shearing demonstration. We ended up at the Botanical Gardens, which were so lovely. as you know, I love gardens, and took a lot of flower pictures as usual. It was cold, and I returned to the ship for lunch and warmer clothing and returned to town to see more of them. Walking around is really easy here. Right next door to the Botanical Gardens there is a Museum that time did not allow a full look-see, and an Arts Center right across the street with tons of local artisans selling their wares (really good quality stuff), and down the street there is a plaza that is quite a draw for the tourists as well. I was sorry to have gone back to the ship, as it took a lot of time, and I just didn't have the opportunity to see all I wanted. Dinner that night was with M&T, their friends Roseanne and Victor (the ones who kept adding legs from Ft. Lauderdale), and Paul, who was exhausted from his long excursions. Show that night was an Irish comedienne. I left early as usual, and headed to bed since we were leaving in the morning early for our overland trip to Queenstown and Milford Sound. Marcie has already posted about this, and I will only reiterate that our jet boat ride on Shotover Gorge was one of the most fun things I've ever done on an excursion! We laughed and laughed. Watching the bungie jumpers over both the bridge and up on Bob's peak in Queensland was great, so fun to hear the reaction of the falling person. The views over Queensland from Bob's peak were spectacular. The only bad part about this excursion was no air conditioning in the hotel. Fortunately, I had a balcony and could open the doors, but it was so hot I slept on the couch in the living room rather than the bedroom.

By the time we were back on board, it was getting late, and our fjord viewing from the ship lasted not too long. Others who stayed onboard said it was a lovely day of cruising, and next time I will try it that way. I had made dinner plans with another couple from pre-cruise, and really enjoyed their company. Too tired to enjoy the show, with the Peter Grey Therhune singers.

Crossing the Tasman sea the next day was a little rough, but now I knew to take the meclazine(definitely NOT the mescaline I had reported to my daughter as my remedy) or dramamine anytime at sea for a precaution.

More later!

Colleen, no, that bridge climb excursion was canceled due to lack of minimum participation. Can you imagine that on a ship with 700 people, not only 6 would express an interest? Goes to show the activity level desired (or maybe it was the pricing) on this type of cruise. So I am saving that adventure for a future cruise with one of my daughters, who would surely be game!

Olivia,

Your reports are truly wonderful! Thanks for taking the time to write in such detail, despite the jet lag you must be suffering from! Hope to hear lots more very soon!

Olivia

If I am ever lucky enough to get there, I will be climbing that bridge. I can already see the headlines:
Yankee Tourist Dies of Fear on Syndey Bridge.
Don't care - I will go!

As if you have not heard enough from me today, I am going to post some "people onboard" thoughts, for those who might be interested. I have been very tired all day, and now I am feeling like it is the middle of the day. Need to get to bed soon!

I have always been reticent about traveling by myself, as my experiences were limited to going alone on the Voyager shakedown cruise, which was great, and on two of Ngaire's group cruises, MCF, and the Black Sea this past August. If you are on Ngaire's group cruises, things seem to take care of themselves so long as you are sociable and reach out and make plans for that "dinner" thing, which is what most solo cruisers fear the most. So I will address this issue from a "solo" point of view, since when I am traveling with one of my kids I never even think about it, nor should anyone. To begin with, had Marcie and Tom not been aboard this segment, I probably never would have done it. I had at least one "link" to other passengers. I did not want to be a burden for them, since I knew that they were already settled in for plans for dinner etc. and I did not want to use them as my "crutch". I met several new cruisers on my pre-cruise excursion for two nights, and had dinner with 2 of the 3 couples I met. Along the way, I became acquainted with others, and dinner was not a problem, but I was active in trying to put together tables to get others who did not know each other to meet. The excursions I took led me to meet others traveling alone, and I enjoyed having dinner with several of them.

The long-time WC'ers have their own little group, which welcomed Marcie and Tom, and I met several of them through them. They were always most welcoming and gracious because of my connection with Marcie and Tom. On our overland excursion off the ship, I met a lady from Conn. traveling with her 94 year old mother. They were veterans from the Viking group that moved over to Radisson several years ago. We were about the same age, and discovered that two of our children had attended the same boarding same boarding school in Conn. We both had 4 kids, and a lot in common. We had dinner together with another single lady on the WC. When I said I wanted to include another lady I had met, she sort of said she preferred smaller tables. That was fine with me, and we enjoyed our dinner together. You notice that a lot of the old-time WC'ers don't get off the ship much. I saw a lot of them in the atrium each day as I would walk downstairs to the reception area on deck 5, just seeming to hold court or something. Their dress sets them off. Never stuff like Marcie and I wear, it is full-court press for country club casual for these ladies, including hats for many! Since I missed one of the formal nights, I can't report much, except to say that when I met my librarian friend in the Voyager lounge one formal night, a couple entered the lounge with a real flourish! They were on their honeymoon! She was dressed in a very formal gown that was apricot in color and had a sort of train behind it! The Colonel shouted to him as they left not to step on it! By the way, that Colonel is something. I think I got his hairs up one night when I probed his service in WWII, and he told me he didn't have to defend anything about it. Thing is, when I did the math figuring his age, he was about 16 when he was a Colonel doing his thing about reporting deaths to the families during the war. Not sure my math was correct. He was always in the Voyager lounge during dinner.

One night in VL I met a man about my age who was cruising with his mother for just this segment. He was a smoker, and found solace in our little group at the "back" end of the bar where it was allowed. Marcie made a big deal over him and what a good son he was to travel with her, and he really appreciated it! When we met her later, she looked to be more like his older sister! She told me she did not like being around a lot of people she had met who were on for the duration that were always complaining! I wish I had met her earlier and had the chance to have dinner with her without complaining. It is funny how fellow passengers can give a negative bent to a cruise. I try to stay away from them. Anyway, that's my "gossip", will add more as it comes to me.

I love your "gossip" it is fun to read. Meeting the other passengers and observing people is half the fun of a cruise I think. You never know when you are going to meet people you really enjoy and will become really good friends with for the future. I have a lot of groups of 6 - 8 that all met on a cruise and now travel together. I think that is really neat.

We met a mother and son on the Crystal cruise. She looked like his wife. They were truly delightful people and we ate with them twice. Big crystal cruisers they managed to get me into the alternate restaurants with them so I did not have to eat at my set table and we could also go at a reasonable hour like 7.30 that way. They made the cruise for us really - a lot of fun to be with.

I have to admit I am really enjoying this. The stories about the people - I love the image of the "ladies in waiting" who never get off the ship - are great. We have a short story here, I know it. Jeff

Jeff, please tell!

Just for more information, since I am still up at an ungodly hour, I will say that the average age on this cruise was much older than I am used to, probably mid 70's, nothing wrong with that, as I will be there one of these days and hope to still be cruising! Lots of wheel chairs and walkers, but damn, those walkers are decorated with lots of stuff! I loved walking around with them!

I guess it takes a lot of years and money production in a big way to do this again and again for repeated WC's. I applaud all of them who are aboard who can do this.

Olivia...I am HERE, yet love reading your recap so much. I'll piggy-back a bit of information. There were 140 new passengers who boarded in Sydney and many are much younger (some realy young!) so this is definitely bringing the "average" age down.

Olivia is correct that other than the 1-2 parties or excursions that full WC had each segment, I see no difference in how the segment passengers are treated. Also, we do get 25% off on all laundry/dry cleaning services. The big difference between the two was the comp 1st class air (or $1,500 per person credit), luggage service (pick-up and delivery from home), the gala party at the St. Regis, limo service and the shipboard credit (anywhere from $1000-$2000 per person). Full WC passengers have received little gifts along the way such as brass engraved name plates on your cabin door, but once you're on the ship...everyone is treated equal from what I've seen.

Tonight they introduced something new which really went over well!! At 6:00 when the bell rung (as it does every night at this time) all passengers were asked to take their wine glass outside in the hall for a "block party". On our 7th deck, there was a terrific turnout with appetizers and wine served in the halls. This gave all of us a chance to meet our nearby neighbors. I had just jumped out of the tub and pulled a MarthaB and walked out (not too far of course!) in my terry cloth robe. It was such fun! Some were dressed to kill in their dinner clothes, some still had shorts on...and then there was me in my robe! Anyway, it was such a great idea and I hope they adopt this idea on all Radisson ships... Especially nice on longer voyages, when you're with the same people for such a long time. It really is a great ice breaker! They're soon to announce which floor's block party consumed the most liquor!

Tomorrow we have the comp jazz brunch at Hamilton's Cove (Great Barrier Reef).

Olivia we all miss you so much!! Dang, I knew I should have hidden you under our bed and not let you off this ship! BTW, the grieving widow is still on the ship with you know who. I'll keep you updated as the "World Turns". Tonight we're eating with J & T, Lynn/Frank and Linda/Arnold.

Today was sure my lucky day....I had a straight flush this afternoon at 3 card poker (won over $600) then our team won Trivia!