Returning from Australia Cruise

Majestic Princess Disembarkation

We are just back from our shortened Australia - Asia cruise on Majestic Princess.   Princess Cruises made the decision to cancel the Fremantle (Perth) to Singapore segment of our voyage based on uncertainty around port availability in Southeast Asia region due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). 

Since we had booked our flights with Princess Air, they were automatically rebooked by the cruise line.   We got our flight arrangements in our cabin on Feb. 19th.

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Our new flights were booked on Air New Zealand. We had a 7 AM flight from Perth (PER) Sunday, Feb. 23rd, to Auckland, New Zealand (AUK). We had about a two hour layover in Auckland followed by a direct 14 hour 55 minute flight to Chicago (ORD).

We had the option to stay on board Majestic Princess an extra day (Saturday, Feb 22nd) and then take a taxi at 3:15 AM to the airport. Since it was about a 30 minute taxi ride, we didn't want to risk having anything go wrong and missing our flight, so we opted to stay overnight at Country Comfort Intercity (Perth) hotel. They had a free airport shuttle which operates 24 hours a day, so that was the main deciding factor for us.

On Saturday morning, we disembarked Majestic Princess, handling our own luggage, and then took the Princess shuttle (provided for free) to Perth airport. When we arrived at the airport, we called the hotel to find out where to meet the shuttle. They directed us to Bay N (as in November). We weren't quite sure where that was, so we asked a flight attendant who pointed us in the right direction. We didn't have long to wait for the shuttle.

When we arrived at the hotel, we arranged to be on the 4 AM shuttle to the airport, dropped off our luggage in our room, and headed to Perth city proper by taxi for some sightseeing, including a Swan River Cruise which we booked upon arrival at Barrack Street Jetty (Elizabeth Quay) Perth. We'll write about our river cruise in another article.

Sunday morning, we got to the front desk about 15 minutes early and checked out. There were a couple other couples already waiting for the shuttle with one more also booked. Once they arrived, we headed to the airport which was a short distance away. By 4:15 AM we were checking in at the Air New Zealand desk in Terminal 1 (which is the International Terminal at Perth Airport).

Note: It is important that you know which terminal you are leaving from as they are spread out quite a distance and not easy to get to if you were at the wrong terminal. 

We went to checkin and were asked if we had a visa on our passports for New Zealand. Of course, we said "no" because we had never planned to be flying home from there. Our original plans would have been flying from Singapore to Japan to Dallas Fort Worth to Chicago. It never dawned on us that we'd need a visa, despite the fact that we'd had one last year when we visited there on our previous visit to the region. Princess Cruises had not made any mention of it on our flight change paperwork either. In fact, they simply listed the flight numbers and we needed to look up the itinerary online to even know the details.

The Electronic Travel Authority for New Zealand(eTA), is applicable to citizens from all countries that share a visa waiver agreement with NZ. Starting October 1st, 2019, visitors arriving from any of the 60 visa waiver countries are required to apply for an eTA to enter the island country.

Fortunately, there's an app for that. The Air New Zealand agent gave us an information sheet with step by step instructions to download the app and apply for the transit visa online. Here's the link to get a New Zealand Visa should your travels take you there (and you are staying in country). The cost for the NZeTA was $9 NZD. Within minutes we had applied and gotten the online visa issued and we were then able to checkin for our flights. We were really glad that we'd been close to the airport, so the we had plenty of time before our flight.

This was our first experience flying Air New Zealand. We really enjoyed the flights and service. The crew were extremely friendly. We had free WiFi on the flight to Auckland.  The food was good and the economy seating was decent for the long haul flight. I'd highly recommend them for a trip to Australia / New Zealand.

Ironically, in one of my travel professional publications today, there was a link to an article about an experimental Lie-flat Beds for Economy that Air New Zealand is investigating. Here's a video that shows their plans. We'd definitely pay for that upgrade on a long-haul flight. Hats off to them for their innovation. I look forward to a future flight in one of these #Skynest sleeping pods.

This is the first in a series of blog posts about our shortened Australia - Asia trip.  Despite the fact that we didn't get to Malaysia or Singapore, we will also share some of our past experiences, should your travel include Southeast Asia in the future.  We are starting in reverse order, from our disembarkation from Majestic Princess.   Hopefully, you've followed us live on our social media channels as well.  Don't worry if you didn't, as our anchor post will tie everything together for you.  Just click the image (left) to our diary post.

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Remembering the War

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Pou Maumahara 

Memorial Discovery Centre

Visitors can explore the stories behind photos, diaries and military collections and contribute further knowledge and information to create a legacy for future generations.

Hundreds of unique New Zealand war medals are on display, each one connected to an individual story. Explore the stories of these medals and their recipients through digital interactives.

The Discovery Centre is staffed by their very knowledgeable volunteers and space is provided for people to plug in laptops, sit down with books and soak up the rich history around them.

War Memorial

The top floor of the Museum is dedicated to the memory of fallen soldiers and included within the war memorial galleries is the spectacular World War One Hall of Memories. Nearly all the 5,325 New Zealand soldiers killed were buried overseas. Almost a third of all those killed have no known grave.

The Roll of Honour is engraved in white Sicilian marble slabs on the wall encircling the top floor. The letters have been cut into the face of the marble and inset with bronze leaf.  The spectacular stained glass lead light ceiling directly above the entrance foyer shows the Coat of Arms of all British Dominions and Colonies during the First World War.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page


Auckland Museum



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Journey Through Time

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Auckland Museum Origins

Upon entering the Origins Gallery, you might think that you've entered "Jurasic Park" and rightly so as you are greeted by lifesized replica skeletons of the four-metre tall cryolophosaurus and malawisaurus along with a flying pteranodon soaring through the air above the gallery.

Origins tells the story of the beginnings of the land and the origins of its plants and animals.
Many rare and unusual prehistoric objects are displayed, including a huge tooth from the largest shark that ever lived.  If your kids are into dinosaurs, they will love this gallery.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page


Auckland Museum



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Maori History Auckland Museum

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Māori Galleries 

Auckland Museum protects and cares for an outstanding and significant collection of more than 1000 Māori treasures (taonga). He Taonga Māori (Māori Court) and Te Ao Tūroa (Māori Natural History Gallery) are the main Māori galleries housing these treasures. There are many more held in storage.

There are a number of original full-size buildings in this gallery including Hotunui, the meeting house that was originally a wedding gift from Ngāti Awa in the eastern Bay of Plenty to Ngāti Maru in Thames. Te Toki ā Tāpiri, the last great war canoe used in battle and carved from a giant totara tree, takes pride of place. These are surrounded by a host of everyday objects once used for living, hunting and fishing to provide a holistic presentation of Māori life in Aotearoa before the arrival of the Pākehā.

Did you notice the carvings above have tongues sticking out?  I wondered why that was.

Traditionally it is meant to welcome visitors, but also to demonstrate their power and readiness to fight should the visitors decide to attack.

Te Ao Tūroa or the Māori natural history gallery, provides visitors with an opportunity for learning something about Māori knowledge and understanding of what is referred to by others as the natural world.

We spent 1.5 hours exploring the Māori exhibits at the Auckland Museum.  Since we were on a ship excursion, our time was limited.  To get a complete understanding of this culture would require much more time at the museum.   Fortunately, we captured many images during our visit which have more details about the people and their culture.  If you'd like to learn more we suggest visiting the museum's website as well as the Maori Source website.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Auckland City Drive
Auckland Museum



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