Anthem of the Seas - Transpacific: Honolulu to Sydney

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 13 sea days over 18 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Honolulu

   United StatesDepart

   Ships dock at Pier 2 beside the Aloha Tower, which for decades was the tallest building in Hawaii and still marks the edge of downtown Honolulu. You step off into a real working capital city of office towers and Chinatown lunch counters, not a resort strip - Waikiki is a separate place three or four miles east. Most Hawaii itineraries either start here or stay overnight.

   • Pearl Harbor: the USS Arizona Memorial, the Battleship Missouri and the Bowfin submarine
   • Diamond Head crater hike, which requires an advance reservation for out-of-state visitors
   • Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil, with the room where Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned
   • Waikiki Beach and the Honolulu Museum of Art

   Getting ashore

   Docks downtown at Pier 2 by the Aloha Tower; Chinatown and the palace are walkable, Waikiki and Pearl Harbor are not.

   Best months

   Year-round (Apr-Oct driest; Dec-Apr for humpback whales offshore)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Papeete

   French PolynesiaPort

   Papeete is the administrative and shipping capital of French Polynesia rather than the postcard version of it, and most Tahiti itineraries begin or end here. The quay is right in town, so you step off into traffic, gendarmes and a French-Polynesian city that works for a living. The scenery people came for is mostly on the other islands, or up in Tahiti's interior valleys.

   • Marche de Papeete, the two-storey municipal market for vanilla, monoi and pareu
   • Les roulottes, the food-truck park at Place Vaiete that fills up after dark
   • Point Venus and Matavai Bay, where Cook observed the transit of Venus
   • Musee de Tahiti et des Iles at Punaauia for Polynesian navigation and tattoo history

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Quai d'Honneur in the middle of town; the market is about a block away and no shuttle is needed.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

7. Day 7

   Moorea

   French PolynesiaPort

   Moorea is 17km across the water from Tahiti and looks like what people imagine Tahiti will look like - two deep bays cut into a ridge of jagged green spires. Ships anchor off and tender in, usually near Opunohu or Cook's Bay. The interior is the draw as much as the lagoon here, because the road climbs high enough to look down on both bays at once.

   • Belvedere Lookout above the saddle between Cook's and Opunohu bays
   • Snorkelling with stingrays and blacktip sharks in the shallow lagoon
   • Magic Mountain 4WD track for the view over the barrier reef
   • Temae Beach, the island's best public stretch of sand

   Getting ashore

   Tender in to a small pier in Opunohu Bay near Papetoai, or occasionally into Cook's Bay; either landing is a minor village, with the main commercial strip at Maharepa a good 10-15km away, so arrange transport.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

8. Day 8

   Raiatea

   French PolynesiaPort

   Raiatea matters more than it looks. This was Hawaiki, the departure point for the voyaging canoes that settled Hawaii and New Zealand, and its great marae is a UNESCO site. Ships tie up at Uturoa's town wharf, which is rare in French Polynesia - no tender queue. The island shares a single lagoon with Taha'a next door.

   • Taputapuatea marae, the most important pre-European religious site in the Pacific
   • Boat trip up the Faaroa, the only navigable river in French Polynesia
   • Uturoa market, busiest on Wednesday and Friday mornings
   • Fifteen-minute ferry across the lagoon to Taha'a for vanilla and pearl farms

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Gare Maritime in the centre of Uturoa - one of only two real cruise berths in French Polynesia; the town starts at the terminal door.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10 · At sea

11. Day 11 · At sea

12. Day 12 · At sea

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14 · At sea

15. Day 15

    Tauranga

    New ZealandPort

    The berth is at Mount Maunganui, on the ocean side of Tauranga Harbour, and the extinct cone of Mauao rises straight off the end of the wharf. Almost everyone treats this as the door to Rotorua's geothermal country, about an hour inland, which means a long coach day. Stay local instead and you get a surf beach and a good hill walk within ten minutes of the ship.

    • Climb Mauao, or circle its base track at sea level
    • Rotorua geothermal parks - Te Puia's Pohutu geyser or Wai-O-Tapu
    • Hobbiton Movie Set near Matamata, the longest excursion of the day
    • Mount Hot Pools, saltwater and right by the wharf

    Getting ashore

    Docked beside Pilot Bay at Mount Maunganui - not in Tauranga city, which is 6.7km across the harbour bridge; the Mount's beaches and main street are a short walk, and Rotorua is 78km, about an hour and a quarter each way.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar (southern summer)

16. Day 16 · At sea

17. Day 17 · At sea

18. Day 18 · At sea

19. Day 19

    Sydney

    AustraliaArrive

    Two terminals, and which one you get changes the day completely. The Overseas Passenger Terminal sits on Circular Quay east of the Harbour Bridge, with no air-draft limit and the Opera House directly opposite the gangway. White Bay, out at Rozelle, only takes ships that fit under the bridge, and it has no train, no ferry and no bus at the gate. Berths are assigned by availability, so nobody can promise you one.

    • Sydney Opera House backstage or architectural tour
    • The Bondi to Coogee clifftop walk, or just the Bondi Beach bus
    • BridgeClimb over the Sydney Harbour Bridge
    • Ferry across to Manly or Taronga Zoo for the harbour view back

    Getting ashore

    Docked either at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, five minutes' walk from Circular Quay's trains and ferries, or at White Bay about 6km out, which is taxi or rideshare only - 15-25 minutes to the CBD.

    Best months

    Oct-Apr (southern spring to autumn)