Royal Princess - New Zealand Roundtrip from Sydney

Where this cruise calls, day by day

10 ports and 4 sea days over 13 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Sydney

   AustraliaDepart

   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)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4

   Fiordland National Park (Scenic Cruising)

   New ZealandPort

   This is a morning spent on deck rather than a port. The ship turns in off the Tasman Sea and works its way into one or more of the fiords cut into New Zealand's southwest corner, where glaciated rock walls go up more than a kilometre straight out of black water. Rain is the normal condition and it improves things - every wall starts running with temporary waterfalls.

   • Mitre Peak standing over the entrance to Milford Sound
   • Stirling Falls and Bowen Falls, both fed straight off the tops
   • Fur seal colonies on the rock shelves near the fiord mouths
   • Bottlenose dolphins, which regularly run alongside inside the fiords

   Getting ashore

   No landing - the ship transits the fiords and turns around; the whole call happens from the open decks.

   Best months

   Oct-Apr (cruise season; expect rain in any month)

5. Day 5

   Dunedin (Port Chalmers)

   New ZealandPort

   Port Chalmers is a small deepwater port at the mouth of Otago Harbour, roughly 13km short of the Scottish-founded city it serves. There is a strip of cafes and galleries by the berth, but Dunedin proper and the wildlife of the Otago Peninsula both need transport. Between the albatross colony and the penguins, this is one of the better wildlife port days in New Zealand.

   • Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, the only mainland albatross breeding colony
   • Larnach Castle and its gardens on the Otago Peninsula
   • Dunedin Railway Station and the scenic train up the Taieri Gorge
   • Yellow-eyed penguin and sea lion viewing on the peninsula beaches

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Port Chalmers, 20 minutes from Dunedin's Octagon by shuttle bus or taxi - the shuttle is a paid one; some smaller ships instead continue up the harbour and berth about a kilometre from the city centre, so check which berth your ship has.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (southern summer)

6. Day 6

   Christchurch (Lyttelton)

   New ZealandPort

   Lyttelton is Christchurch's port, tucked in a drowned volcanic crater on the far side of the Port Hills, with a road tunnel doing the connecting. The 2011 earthquake wrecked the cruise berth and pushed ships to Akaroa for most of a decade; a new berth reopened here in 2020. Christchurch itself is still visibly a city being rebuilt, which is more interesting than it sounds.

   • Punting on the Avon and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens
   • Transitional Cathedral (the Cardboard Cathedral) and the earthquake memorial
   • Christchurch Gondola over the Port Hills back above Lyttelton
   • TranzAlpine train west through Arthur's Pass, for full-day excursions

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Lyttelton's cruise berth, which reopened in November 2020 and takes the largest ships; Christchurch is about 12km through the road tunnel, 15-20 minutes by shuttle or coach, with no walk-in option.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (southern summer)

7. Day 7

   Picton

   New ZealandPort

   Picton sits at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, one of the drowned river valleys of the Marlborough Sounds, and the approach through the sounds is the best part of the call. The town itself is small - the ferry terminal, a foreshore, and not much more. Behind it, 30 minutes south, is the Marlborough wine region that made New Zealand sauvignon blanc famous.

   • Marlborough wineries around Blenheim - Cloudy Bay, Brancott Estate
   • Walking a section of the Queen Charlotte Track from a water-taxi drop
   • Edwin Fox Maritime Museum, one of the oldest surviving merchant ships
   • Motuara Island bird sanctuary cruise

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Waitohi Wharf, with ships over 245m going to Shakespeare Bay a few minutes further out; you may not walk on the wharf, so a complimentary shuttle covers the 800m into Picton, and Blenheim is about 30 minutes on.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (southern summer)

8. Day 8

   Wellington

   New ZealandPort

   New Zealand's capital sits in a wind tunnel at the bottom of the North Island, wrapped around a harbour with hills coming down to the water on every side. Most ships tie up at Aotea Quay, a container berth a couple of kilometres north of the centre with a shuttle laid on; a lucky few get Queens Wharf downtown. It is a compact, walkable, coffee-obsessed city once you reach it.

   • Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum, free and genuinely good
   • Wellington Cable Car up to the Botanic Garden and walk back down
   • Weta Workshop tour out at Miramar
   • Zealandia, a fenced valley sanctuary with kaka, takahe and tuatara

   Getting ashore

   Almost always docked at Aotea Quay, a working commercial berth you cannot walk out of - the shuttle loop is effectively the only way ashore, covering the 2km to downtown; the rare Queens Wharf berth is a straight walk into town.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (southern summer)

9. Day 9

   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)

10. Day 10

    Auckland

    New ZealandPort

    Auckland berths its ships at Queens Wharf, which is the bottom of Queen Street, so the CBD begins where the terminal ends. It is a harbour city built across an old volcanic field, and the best of it is on the water rather than in the centre. Ferries leave from the terminal next door to the ship.

    • Ferry to Waiheke Island for the vineyards and Oneroa
    • Sky Tower observation deck, or the SkyWalk around the rim
    • Auckland War Memorial Museum for the Maori and Pacific collections and the daily cultural performance
    • Walk up Maungawhau/Mount Eden into the crater for the isthmus view

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf, the primary berth, or at Princes Wharf next door; both are about five minutes' walk from Britomart and the bottom of Queen Street, with no shuttle needed.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar (southern summer)

11. Day 11

    Bay of Islands

    New ZealandPort

    Ships anchor off Waitangi in a scattered archipelago at the top of the North Island and tender in. This is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, so the day has real historical weight alongside the boating. Paihia and Russell face each other across the water, connected by a constant passenger ferry.

    • Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the meeting house and the ceremonial war canoe
    • Hole in the Rock boat trip through Motukokako island
    • Ferry over to Russell, once a lawless whaling port, now very quiet
    • Haruru Falls and the boardwalk through the mangroves

    Getting ashore

    Tender only - no wharf in the bay takes cruise ships. Ship's tours generally land at Waitangi Wharf and independents at Paihia; a free shuttle links the two, or it is a pleasant 25-minute beach walk between them.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar (southern summer)

12. Day 12 · At sea

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14

    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)