Here are a few observations from our journey, some mundane, some slightly more profound but I’m not sure which is which.
- Ocean cruising is problematic, not something we will do often, if at all, again.
- Ocean ships crawl along at maybe 20 miles per hour. It’s an agonizingly slow way to cover large distances.
- Ships can only dock at certain coastal ports, making it difficult/inconvenient to get a sense of the interior of a country/region. Many of the most beautiful/interesting parts of New Zealand are the mountain ranges, fjords and lakes of the interior. We didn’t see them. I sort of knew that from the itinerary but it was more glaring on the ground.
- The ships often dock at industrial ports and passengers have to get shuttles to/from anyplace interesting. That means moving up to 900 people in tour buses which is always slow and mind numbing.
- If we ever do an ocean cruise again it probably won’t be on Viking, though we’re still fans of their river cruises. The river cruises tend to dock in the heart of town making it easier to come and go as one pleases. We’ve heard good things about Regent Seven Seas cruises, an even more first-class, all-inclusive line. If we try other ocean cruises someday it would likely be with them.
- There is the cruising itself (the time and experience on the ship) and then there are excursions (the experience in the port where you’re traveling).
- I’d say Barb and I enjoyed our time and experience on the ship but rather like an all-inclusive resort, four nights was about enough. The enjoyment diminished after that even though the Viking ship and crew were unerringly pleasant. The point of the trip for us was less about hedonism and more about learning something about where we were going…that may have put us in the minority.
- There were a ton of people, possibly the majority, who were there mainly for the cruising. Repeat customers on their umpteenth cruise, many of them on the ship for two or more legs of a 90-day journey from Auckland to Vancouver. These people were nuts, as far as we could tell.
- Among the most enjoyable experiences on the ship for me were entering and departing the various harbors, with our entrance into Sydney Harbor way at the top of the list. That morning alone pretty much made the whole trip worthwhile for me, made even better with some fine weather. Actually each of the port departures were highlights for me. I enjoyed spending time mostly alone on the upper deck watching the process with the tugs and pilot then watching the port slide by and recede in the distance.
- I was curious about the joys of open ocean cruise days. We ended up with four days “at sea” and my conclusion was that one or two is enough. It’s nice to have a down day to catch up on rest or notes or whatever, and the ship afforded plenty of nooks and crannies to find some personal space. But a couple of those days are all one needs, and they’re not a primary reason to go on a cruise as far as I’m concerned. The thought of doing a “repositioning” cruise with more days at sea no longer appeals to me.
- The excursions in port were hit and miss, and more of a miss directly in proportion to the amount of time we spent in a bus. Tauranga and the kiwi fruit tour was the worst – 90 minutes by bus to spend a lackluster hour in a community center promoting kiwi products and then 90 minutes back. The better mix was a quick overview of a port/city and then time to wander around on our own…but it’s a hit and miss experience wandering on foot and there’s only so much one can do when the ship is about to leave at 5pm. Melbourne worked out better because we had an extra (unscheduled) evening to wander.
- The on board lectures and education efforts were, on the whole, weaker than I’d hoped. The best thing about them is they were taped and available to view throughout the cruise. Our resident astronomer was excellent, the historian was mediocre and meandering, the naturalist/archaeologist (or were those two different people?) was largely incomprehensible. The Q&A sessions were mildly interesting but not very illuminating – more Q’s than A’s.
- I’d say Barb and I enjoyed our time and experience on the ship but rather like an all-inclusive resort, four nights was about enough. The enjoyment diminished after that even though the Viking ship and crew were unerringly pleasant. The point of the trip for us was less about hedonism and more about learning something about where we were going…that may have put us in the minority.
- I want to avoid grand pronouncements about the nature/character of New Zealand vs. Australia; we barely scratched the surface of either. That said…
- Both New Zealand and Australia are vibrant, interesting places to live and visit, very much European/English first world nations.
- They share an isolated, antipodean view of the world – they know they’re a long way from the rest of the world but they take pride in it…and delight when they can beat Europeans or Americans in any game.
- There is a seismic difference between Australia’s aboriginal cultures which had been isolated on the continent for 60,000 years and New Zealand’s Maori cultures which arrived maybe 600 years before the Europeans with a very different, more aggressive Polynesian-based culture.
- I saw very little real assimilation of the native cultures with the dominant Euro/English culture. I was hoping to see more of a sense of carving out a new, more inclusive Pacific identity but I saw little evidence of it.
- I know there is a lot more to see of both countries and if they weren’t so damn far away I’d be eager to spend more time exploring. But they are on the other side of the earth making it hard to justify the financial or ecological expense of getting there. I strongly suspect this one short foray into Australia and New Zealand will be all I will do.
- But there’s always TV and the internet. I’m a fan of both countries and cultures and will continue to be a happy consumer of their output.
- I’m glad I went; I don’t think I need to go back.