Author Archives: Serene

We were in Napier on January 21, 2025. As we woke up, our ship was heading to Napier, NZ.  Residents in Napier are the first in the world to see the sunrise given the international dateline. We are on board … Continue reading →

The ship arrived at our first port, Tauranga. Our shore excursion, Bay of Plenty: Rich Land, Rich Culture, was the last excursion group to leave the ship.  It made for a quiet couple of hours onboard as most people had left to … Continue reading →

  We were given late checkout at the hotel so had a relaxing morning.  We weren’t very far from the pier, a 10-15 minute walk that we had done several times, but we opted for a taxi given our luggage.  … Continue reading →

On our way to Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton, our guide told us more about New Zealand. Although New Zealand is made of 600 islands, there are just two main ones: the North Island and the South Island.  Aukland is on … Continue reading →

We woke to our first full day in Auckland with my Apple Watch bouncing back-and-forth between Thursday, January 16 and Friday, January 17.  I left it to sort itself out and it eventually did. One of the things that always … Continue reading →

Our passports got stamped in and out of Tahiti. That doesn’t always happen since everything is computerized. We boarded another 787 Dreamliner for our 5 hour flight to Aukland that would cross the international date line.  Tahiti is 23 hours … Continue reading →

We ate a light breakfast because we had a morning food tour! The resort’s breakfast buffet is very well done.  Unfortunately, neither of the dinners we had at the same restaurant were good at all.  It was our working plan … Continue reading →

We knew rainy days were coming because our snorkel tour in Tahiti was canceled before we even left Phoenix.  It is the rainy season in French Polynesia.  We would have taken that into account if we were specifically coming here … Continue reading →

Our next big adventure is to experience another item on Randy’s bucket list – snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Before that, we have a few days in Tahiti,  a few days in Auckland, and a two week cruise.  … Continue reading →

Before our final day, we had our final night aboard the Treasure of Galapagos.  Our ten person crew joined us in their dress uniforms so we had a chance to say goodbye and give them a thank you tip. Victor … Continue reading →