Along with Dale and Linda (Corey’s parents), we joined Holland America Line (HAL)’s MS Westerdam in Auckland, New Zealand, for a 30 day sailing: south around New Zealand, up the Australian east coast, and through Indonesia, to arrive in Singapore.

Holidays Onboard

Spending the holidays onboard a cruise ship is a wonderful experience. Seasons greetings fill the air and there’s a contagious cheer among the crew and passengers.

The ship is decorated with trees, garland, and impressive gingerbread houses. Many crew don Santa hats, and when a group of crew are working on something together, it looks like elves in a workship. Very funny!

The usual festivities include singing, hot cocoa, various church services, and even a visit from Santa!

The best part is that all the decorating, cooking, and then cleaning is all done by someone else!

It’s pretty well-known that cruises around the holidays are more expensive. But if you’ve ever thought about it, I recommend booking one. HAL makes it fun for the whole family.

While onboard we celebrated Christmas and New Year’s. Corey thought the NYE celebration reminded him of a ticketed land-based formal party, but with more to do in the hours before the countdown. The countdown portion was held in the main showroom with a great live band, free glasses of bubbles, and a loud countdown with the ship’s bell ringing at midnight. Such a fun time welcoming 2023!

We actually started drinking bubbles way before midnight (wink)!

We also sat on the back deck to witness the last beautiful sunset of 2022.

Also, Linda also enjoyed her first and last hot dog of 2022.

At this point in your reading, you may be wondering “what about the ports??!”

In just 30 days, we visited

• 5 ports in New Zealand (plus scenic cruising!)
• 7 ports in Australia
• 3 ports in Indonesia

New Zealand

We boarded Westerdam in Auckland. We didn’t spend any time in Auckland before embarkation, although we previous spent eight nights there at the beginning of our New Zealand adventures. We left Mount Manganui for a three hour drive to Auckland, with a quick and delicious stop for New Zealand savory pies and German sweets at Gabler Goodies, a bakery owned by a German immigrant making the best of both worlds. Highly recommend!

The weather was sunny and gorgeous. We spent sailaway up on deck enjoying the views from the hot tub.

Mount Maunganui, New Zealand

Our first port of call was Mount Manganui.

Wait! Didn’t you just stay there?? Yes, yes that’s correct.

This port is listed on the schedule as Tauranga, because the Port of Tauranga is actually in Mount Maunganui! At one point Mount Maunganui was its own town, but now it is essentially a suburb of the larger city. So we never made it to Tauranga proper when we were staying in The Mount, and we also did not go there when it was a listed cruise port!

But Mount Maunganui is a beautiful place so we were happy to be back after just a day’s absence!

We took it easy in this first port of call but spent a majority of time enjoying the lovely weather. The morning started with an easy hike around the mountain (instead of going over the top), which was followed by a lovely Thai massage and some light shopping.

Napier, New Zealand

We then sailed down to Napier which is famous for its art deco style. The town was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt with a consistent theme. It was a cute town, even though there were clouds and raindrops for much of the day.

We spent the day shuffling around the small streets and picking up some last minute gear for the rest of the trip. Between the Christmas sales at Mountain Warehouse, Kathmandu, and MacPac, we bought enough to make me think none of us will be able to zip up our luggage when it’s time to repack!

We made a few quick food and drink stops throughout the day. Mister D featured boozy doughnuts that are served warm with injectable fillings! We ate them while sitting in a local park.

We also enjoyed a wine shop / cocktail bar called Matisse. The rear of the establishment has a great selection of quirky wines, and we bought a few bottles, including a pet-nat sauvignon blanc. The cocktails looked outstanding, but unfortunately we had an early on-board time so we could not stick around!

Overall Napier was cute but our port time was 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM, which seemed like dead hours for the town. There was a literal welcoming committee when we arrived, dressed in 1930’s formal wear and posing with classic cars. But after an hour or so looking at buildings, then some shopping and snacking, there was not much else to do. Indeed, we noticed that a number of places (like Matisse) were opening at 5 PM, right when it was time to head back to the ship.

Picton, Marlborough, New Zealand

Our next stop was Picton, the gateway to the Marlborough wine region. If you know me well, then you know I love sauvignon blanc! What a treat to sample one of my favorite expressions of wine in the scenic vineyards.

A wine lover cannot visit the South Island without visiting one of the most famous sauvignon blanc regions in the world!

We hired a driver for the day through Na Clachan Wine Tours. Chris helped us plan in advance by asking our preferences and making great suggestions for an itinerary. We were whisked around to three fabulous wineries in a Mercedes. Our driver, Bill, was timely, knowledgeable, and was also entertaining during the drive.

We had a fun filled, wine filled day with a big beautiful lunch.

Christchurch (via Lyttelton), New Zealand

The next port of call was Lyttelton, which was the base for exploring nearby Christchurch. Both towns were devastated by an earthquake in 2011, and the Lyttelton cruise port was basically destroyed, meaning there were years without Christchurch as a port of call. In 2020, a new port and terminal was opened, and since New Zealand reopened, ships now dock at a state-of-the-art facility. The port offers a free shuttle from the ship to the center of Lyttelton.

While Lyttelton is a cute small town in its own right, we jumped on a public bus and headed right to Christchurch. The local bus system added express buses that were geared toward cruise passengers, and the driver sifted out riders who needed local stops from those who were riding all the way to Christchurch. Other than needing exact change in cash, it was a seamless voyage.

We continued on the public bus to the Christchurch Farmers Market, which is held in the outer neighborhood of Riccarton, on the grounds of the Riccarton House. It was a large, green park and the market had a variety of items. Linda had wished there were more crafts and goods being sold. It was Christmas Eve and there were a lot of baked goods for sale, along with a plethora of street food. We grazed on some badass brownies (spiked with chilies), savory bulgogi Korean pancakes, some more New Zealand savory pies, as well as flat white coffees.

We boarded a bus back so we could explore the town center. We walked around and admired both old and new buildings, including the Cardboard Cathedral. With the historic ChristChurch Cathedral still being renovated, the Transitional Cathedral has been the Anglican church’s home since the earthquake. It is a permanent structure, and does include cardboard tubing in the structural elements. Opened in 2013, it is one of the first buildings constructed following the 2011 quake.

In the afternoon we walked to the Canterbury Museum, which is currently being readied for a significant multi-year renovation. Half the museum is currently emptied out, but what is left are some highlighted exhibits from the last 150 years of operation. The museum was free and we were glad to catch at least some of it before it closes its doors for a renovation expected to take five years! Some highlights were a full street exhibiting 1800’s Christchurch, a wing showing some of the very-early collection and how it would have been displayed in that time, and also a full-size reproduction of a very-New-Zealand tourist attraction, the Paua Shell House (where a couple covered the interior of their home with with abalone shells and entertained visitors at the far south point of New Zealand).

After the museum we walked through the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, which are directly behind the Canterbury Museum. The gardens occupy a large space, with many flat trails.

I was really impressed with the old eucalyptus tree. The trunk was about 15 feet in diameter!!

After leaving the garden we walked through the Christchurch Arts Centre, located on the gothic grounds that formerly housed the University of Canterbury. The buildings are now home to museums, galleries, theaters, and a cinema. Like much of Christchurch’s old buildings, it was badly damaged in 2011, and there are still signs of ongoing restoration and repair on the campus. The café looked neat and if we had more time I would have stopped there for a cold beverage. Instead we walked through the grounds to appreciate the architecture, stopping for a moment in one of the galleries, and also stopping for an impromptu concert from an impressive 10-year-old pianist!

We then took a pretty walk along the river, passing walked along the river to a shopping plaza called Riverside Place, where we took a seat in the shade for a quick drink and snack.

It was a short walk back to the bus terminal to catch the bus back to Lyttelton, onto the shuttle, then onto the ship.

Dunedin (via Port Chalmers), New Zealand

The next stop we made was Port Chalmers. This is the port to visit Dunedin (Pronounced Do-NEED-in).

Port Chalmers is another cute port town that we bypassed. The public bus ride into Dunedin is around 30 minutes. Dunedin is a coastal city founded by Scottish settlers. We noticed a lot of natural redheads while we were out and about! We played a game and tried counting them but lost count once we got to around 10.

In the morning Corey and I visited the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street.

We then met up with Corey’s parents at the Dunedin Botanic Garden. It was a lovely garden with a lot of native and international plants and flowers. We took a tour on a large golf cart through both the lower and upper gardens. The upper area featured one of our highlights, a bird center featuring many examples of New Zealand’s native birds. Corey got up close with a cockatoo and the parrots were very cool (and talkative!). The garden is huge and we hardly scratched the surface.

After the garden we walked through the town center. We did a little more shopping then Dale and Linda took the shuttle back to explore Port Chalmers.

Corey and I hoofed around town on our own street art tour. The artistry was amazing and it was fun to peek my head around the corner and see dramatic paintings on various walls and buildings.

We finished our art walk at Speight’s Ale House for a beer flight sampler from the longstanding local brewer.

We also squeezed in enough time to fill our water bottle with spring water from the brewery. Speight’s chose their brewery location based on an abundant source of natural spring water, and they continue to provide a tap to share that water with the public. (Of course, the spring water can also be found in their various beers!)

It was a cute city so here are more photos from around town. Buildings and art:

The sailaway was scenic and many locals parked along the coastal road to wave goodbye as the cruise ships left for the day.

Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

The last place we visited in New Zealand we did not go ashore. It was a day of scenic cruising through Fiordland National Park, on the southwest side of the South Island. We slowly sailed through Dusky Sound in the morning and then through Milford Sound in the afternoon.

We found the best place for scenic cruising onboard: The Retreat on Deck 11. We reserved the family cabana for the day.

We had our choice of lounge chairs or dining chairs. Our cabana steward, Avery, took great care of us. Water and juice were provided, and we could also order bar drinks. For food, Avery would bring us items from that day’s buffet. The provided robes were soft and the slippers worked great.

The real highlight was the perfect weather and dramatic scenery. Here are some of my favorite photos and a cool time lapse video.

To close out the magical day we were treated to rainbows in the waterfall, sparkling wine, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

We stayed on deck until around 6 PM, when the ship hit the end of the sound and the wind started kicking up. Until that point, we could not have asked for better weather or views!

After leaving Milford Sound, the ship continued to the west, across the Tasman Sea toward Australia. More in Part Two!